The Gospel and Parenting - Chapter 2 "What Does the Gospel Say?"

MAIN IDEA: What might look different in my day-by day practices of parenting if the gospel reshaped my perspectives and priorities?

Four ways that the gospel can reshape our parenting

  1. The Gospel reshapes parenting by revealing a Child's true identity.

    1. Children are wonderful gifts from God but they are more than that. Our child or children are first and foremost our potential or actual brothers and sisters in Christ.

  2. The Gospel reshapes parenting by calling parents to become disciple-makers.

    1. The process of disciple-making looks different for every family. The approach to disciple-making is negotiable; but the practice is not.

    2. Christian parents are their child sole instructor in Scripture.

    3. It is the duty of the Christian parent to prioritize and implement consistent practices of discipleship with their own children.

  3. The Gospel reshapes parenting by providing us with a purpose larger than this life.

    “Morality, happiness and success aren't bad of course-but they are miserable goals for parenting. If these goals are our definition of successful parenting, the gospel is not shaping our day-by-day parental practices. Apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, focusing on good morals tends to result either in self-righteousness or rebellion in our children. What makes children happy in the short term may not direct then toward Jesus Christ in the long term, and financial success is no guarantee of lasting joy or peace. None of these values last pass this life. And yet, these are the dominant values in our culture when it comes to parenting." page 33

    1. The gospel calls us to seek a purpose for our children that is so much larger than this life.

    2. The gospel call us to see our children as potential bearers of the gospel to generations yet unborn.

    3. When it comes to our children, we should ask ourselves some tough questions...

      1. What would it profit your child if they gain an academic scholarship and yet never experience consistent prayer and devotional times with their parents?

      2. What would it profit your child to succeed in a sport and yet never know what it mean to truly follow Christ, by living in a home that is not afraid to release any dream that makes them to busy to disciple one another.

      3. What would it profit your child to be accepted in the finest college but never leverage their lives for the gospel?

      4. Think about these two statement...(caution)

        1. I would rather have my child on the other side of the world seeking God's glory than in a house next door to me seeking their own glory."

        2. "I would rather have my child in a grave in God's will than in a mansion resisting God's will."

    4. The Gospel reshapes parenting by freeing us from the belief that our value depends on our parenting.

“Romans 8:15-17 and Galatians 3:26 tells me that because of the grace that comes through the gospel, God’s disposition toward me does not depend on how I perform as a parent. I did nothing to gain God’s favor and there is nothing that I can do to keep God’s favor. Through faith I have been adopted in Christ.”