Online Sermons
Lesson #9 - Cultivating Discipline
Series: Home-BuildersLESSON #9 – CULTIVATING DISCIPLINE
INTRODUCTION
“If we fail to discipline our children, we will have undisciplined children. Undisciplined children,
sadly enough, become undisciplined adults, and this becomes an unbearable situation.” / Knofel Staton
PSALM 127:3-5a and PSALM 128:3
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them…Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, within your house, your children like olive plants around the table.
~ Just as learning to aim well is critical to good archery skills, so, too, with the parenting of children:
AIMING WELL CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
- As with growing healthy olive plants, cultivating wholesome children requires attentive nurturing (Eph.6:4).
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE PARENTING SKILLS OF YOUR MOTHER AND FATHER?
Absentee … Preoccupied …Unassertive … Easy-going … Hard to please … Despot … Demanding … Young and ill-prepared …
Clueless … Hands-on ... Benevolent dictator … Enabler … Spoiler … Indulgent ... Milque-toast … Democratic … Other
AS A PARENT YOURSELF, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE OF PARENTING?
WHAT CHILD-REARING MODELS ARE TAUGHT IN THESE TEXTS?
~ 1Thess.2:7 & 11 ~ Eph.6:4 ~ 2Tim.1:5 ~ Col.3:21 ~ Prov.1:8-9 ~ Prov.4:1-4
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO CULTIVATE OBEDIENCE?
~ Must children be taught to obey their parents? Why?
- Eph.6:1 / Children, OBEY your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- Eph.6:2-3 / HONOR your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise),
that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.
~ How critical is it to set boundaries for children?
- Are mistakes tolerable? … Is respect for others to be demanded? … Is lying permissible?
- Is sassing a big “no, no!”? … Should outright defiance be handled swiftly and “severely"?
~ Is discipline an expression of love? - cf. Prov.3:12; 15:10; 19:18
- Heb.12:7 / It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
- Prov.13:1 / A wise son accepts his father's discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
- Prov.13:24 / He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
- Prov.29:15 & 17 / The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.
Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul.
DISCUSS THE PROS AND CONS OF VARIOUS KINDS OF PUNISHMENT
~ The Look … The Snap of Fingers … A Pinch … Scolding … Time Out … Privileges Revoked … Spanking … Grounding … Other
- Does the punishment need to fit “the crime”? … Should the personality of the child help determine the penalty?
- Does “the rod” still have a legitimate place in child-rearing? - cf. Prov.22:15 & 23:13
~ Prov.22:6 / Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it?
How would you assess this proverb? It is always true! … It is generally true! … It is a pipe dream and seldom holds true!
