I was listening to John Piper last week. This sermon is Raising Children who Hope in the Triumph of God from 1988 on Ephesians 6:4. You can listen or read it at the link. Here are just a few comments that really made me think.
Therefore I conclude that whatever else it means to bring our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord—the King and Commander and Ruler of all things—it means this:
- Bring the children up to hope in the triumph of God.
- Bring them up to find their place in the triumphant cause of the Lord Christ.
- Bring them up to see everything in relation to the triumph of God.
- Bring them up to know that the path of sin is a dead end street no matter how many cool and famous people are on it, because the cause of righteousness will triumph in the end. Christ has already struck the decisive blow on Good Friday and Easter morning.
I get excited
- when I think of the family as a breeding ground for children who hope in the triumph of God,
- or when I think of it as a training school for teaching what is true and false about what the world is really coming to,
- or when I think of it as a boot camp for fitting out young soldiers of Christ for the greatest combat of the world,
- or when I think of it as a fortress for protection or a hospital for healing or a supply depot for replenishing the troops or a retreat center for R and R,
- and I get especially excited when I think of the family as a launching pad for missiles of missionary zeal aimed at the unreached peoples of the world.
Doesn't that just whet you appetite for more? Check it out for some encouragement.
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