Parents,
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes
in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John
3:17-18).
Do
we believe these words from Scripture? God’s word is absolutely clear in
teaching us that those who believe in Jesus as the crucified and risen Lord
will have salvation and eternal life. Those who do not believe in Jesus will
receive damnation as the eternal judgment against sin. If we believe this then
there will be nothing we will want more for our children than that they
continue in the life of faith as Christians when they are grown up. We will want to act in ways that help them to
become faithful believers as adults.
God’s
word teaches that he has commanded you to raise your children in the faith: “Fathers,
do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline
and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:3). Foundational to this life in
Christ is the reception of the Means of Grace each Sunday in the Divine
Service. Through these gifts the Holy Spirit delivers forgiveness and
strengthens faith. As the explanation to the Third Commandment states, “We
should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but
hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”
Your
actions are teaching your children what really matters in life and will play a
large role in determining the pattern of life they will follow as adults. Your
children should be learning to assume: “On Sunday we go to church. This is what
our family does.” A Sunday without the Divine Service should seem strange.
If
on any given Sunday you are just as likely not to attend church (or more likely
not to attend as several Sundays run together), you are teaching your child
how not to be a Christian. Recognize that our culture has changed. When my
parents were growing up, being a Christian was viewed as a positive thing by
the world. When I was growing up, being a Christian was viewed as a neutral
thing. In the world where your children are growing up, being a Christian is
now viewed as a negative thing. This increasing secular nature means that the culture
leads people away from practicing the faith. In our world, sporadic attendance
at the Divine Service teaches children that it is not important, and trains
them not to attend when they grow up. The culture will make sure they end up
that way.
To
raise children “in the instruction of the Lord,” they need to learn what is in
the Scriptures. How is this happening in
your family? As pastors teach Catechesis, they find that youth do not know
basic biblical accounts. They do not because Scripture was not read at home,
and they did not attend Sunday school with any regularity.
And
so, I return to the point with which I began in citing the passage from the
Gospel of John: Do we believe these words from Scripture? If we do, then there
is nothing more important than having our children grow up to be practicing
Christians. In the seeking this goal
there are three things you can do to be faithful in your vocation as a Chrisian
parent:
1.
Bring them to the Divine Service each Sunday.
2.
Bring them to Sunday school each Sunday.
3.
See that Scripture and the Small Catechism are read in your home each
day.
Please
contact your pastor if you have any questions about how the last of these can
be done, and about spiritual formation in your family life.
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