Parenting Toward the Gospel - Part 1

It would seem that all sincere Christian parents would desire that their children be saved. They would want their children to believe the gospel and have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Unwittingly, however, many parents are undermining the gospel in the very way that they rear their children. The practice of parenting can be crucial to laying a foundation for the gospel in the hearts and minds of one's children.

What do I mean by “a foundation for the gospel”?

Well, first, let’s consider what the gospel is. The gospel, by definition, is “good news”. This, of course, means nothing apart from a biblical context. The “good news” is that man can be reconciled to God through the person of Jesus (who is indeed the Messiah) Who died to satisfy the just penalty of the law and then rose again! This good news is set against the backdrop of the sinfulness of the human race that, in Adam, fell from its innocence and purpose of pleasing God. This sinfulness causes a separation, yea, an enmity with God.

Thus, the gospel includes these aspects:

God – the One whose character is expressed in the law
Sin – the despising of that law and choosing of another way
Separation – a loss of relationship and the rewards of that relationship
Confession – agreeing with God about our faults and condition
Reconciliation – the restoration to friendship and favor

Unfortunately, many presentations of the gospel step over the first of these five aspects – God.

Yes, God is assumed in the gospel; but a problem facing this generation is the wildly varying understandings of God. If we don’t understand God, then we don’t understand the gospel. If we hold to a skewed perspective of God, we likely will teach a skewed gospel. According to Scripture, God is the self-existent, Sovereign Creator of the universe. He outranks everybody and everything. We are subject to Him and owe Him our reverence and obedience. (Colossians 1:16-17)

The law is an expression of His character and is intended to demonstrate to fallen humanity their true nature and point them to Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:19-20; Galatians 3:24) If we see the law as an expression of the character of God, then we cannot easily dismiss its value as “only for Israel” or “only important in the Old Testament”. Rather, it has the purpose now that it has always had, not the saving of people, but the bringing of guilt upon people. It demonstrates to fallen humanity that they are not what they so often want to think that they are. They are sinners. They have broken God’s law – that is, they have despised the expression of God’s character. In essence, all sinners have counted the character of God unworthy of imitation. But, in fairness, they have done this because they have an inward bent to sinfulness. They want to sin because of their sin nature. (I John 1:8) This is not an excuse, but simply the truth. The sinner must recognize his nature, his rebellion, and his consequent plight (bondage to sin), and respond appropriately.

A vital concept intertwined with sin is the issue of separation. The effect of despising God’s character is rejecting His person. Those who sin cannot “disagree agreeably” with God, because they are not equals. He is the Almighty. Sinners either submit or reject. There can be no peace with God while overtly disregarding His precepts. King David provides a classic picture of the effect of sin in the life of a believer. He indicated in Psalm 32 that, in his unrepentant state, he was miserable, and in his open-hearted confession (Psalm 51), he asks God to cleanse him and restore the joy of the salvation that God offers.

The sin and consequent separation can only be remedied one way – repentance and confession, which seem to be two sides of but one decision. Repentance, by definition, is “a change of mind”. The sinner must change his mind, possibly about a number of things including his sin. True confession indicates such a mindset. Confession is not simply admission (“OK, OK, I’m a sinner – so what?”), but agreement with God. Confession is, literally, to say the same thing about your sin as God says about it. When a man sees his sin like God sees it and takes God’s side in condemning himself, he is confessing.

Now to the good part: The proper response to sin discussed above effects reconciliation. Paul boils down the gospel call to one statement in 2 Corinthians 5:20. He writes that God’s children are ambassadors, and their message is this: “Be ye reconciled to God.” Mankind is at enmity with the holy, Creator God. But Jesus Christ took the penalty of man’s sin on Himself and rose from the dead – defeating death – and “now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). The sinner can be restored to a position of friendship with God. He can be restored to his original purpose of pleasing God (Rev. 4:11). But all of this can only be accomplished because of the work of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). It is left to individuals to acknowledge their bondage, change their mind about it, call out to God to save them from it, receiving Jesus Christ for who He is – Master and Deliverer (John 1:12; Rom. 10:9,13).

Maybe you’re asking how in the world child rearing has anything to do with the gospel as just explained. Now that the various aspects of the gospel have been elaborated upon, let’s consider how parenting can affect a child’s perception (or reception) of these.

First, a child will not properly understand God if he does not understand authority, which can and should be consistently modeled in the home. The practice of many parents indicates that they have missed a crucial truth: someone has to be the boss in the home. It is illogical, and frankly anti-biblical, to dwell as peers with your children. Parents are not on the same level as their children in many ways. Now, this does not mean someone in the home has to “be bossy” necessarily. But the truth of the matter is, someone is going to be in charge, and if it’s not the parent, it will be the child.

A child will have a much harder time understanding his obligation to submit to God if he is never given an understanding of submission in general. If he will not submit to his parents’ authority, why would we expect him to submit to God’s? Parents must assert and teach their God-given authority in the home. They must not prepare their children to be infidels by allowing them to be rebels. Laying the foundation for the child’s reception of God’s truth starts with imparting an understanding of authority structure.

PART 2