PART ONE: Preparation

In Part One of this rite of passage, you will study selected psalms that give you a theological vision for parenting. Specifically, you will study these psalms to help you understand the core principles of a life devoted to God. These foundations will give you a solid base from which to understand the noble duty of parenting. The foundation of this study will be based upon six sessions that engage biblical teaching, cultivate community devotion, encourage personal reflection, and facilitate spiritual disciplines. As you explore these core sessions, you will discover six crucial areas of building Christian hearth and home: worship, intergenerationality, shepherding care, character development, discipline, and mission. These sessions will explore various parental duties: cultivating devotion to our heavenly Father, passing the faith tradition across generations, caring as shepherds of a family flock, moral formation in the fear of God, parental protection in godly discipline, and raising children for world impact. The introductory session helps you (and those in your parenting community) get oriented to this process. The concluding session provides a time for reflective review as well as preparing you for the next major part of the rite of passage.

Introduction

No Longer Two: Receiving Children as Gifts from God

Overview

“I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him, I now dedicate the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.

Parents, consider the condition of your children; and the loud cry of their condition unto you, to endeavour their salvation! … Know you not, that your children have precious and immortal souls within them? They are not all flesh. You that are the parents of their flesh, must know, that your children have spirits also … Are you solicitous that their bodies may be fed? You should be more solicitous that their souls may not be starved, or go without the Bread of Life. Are you solicitous that their bodies may be cloath’d: you should be more solicitous, that their souls may not be naked, or go without the garments of righteousness.

This opening session serves as an orientation for a rite of passage into Christian homebuilding. Specifically, this rite of passage celebrates and marks the journey of raising children and building a home in a way that honors and glorifies God. No longer two (just husband and wife), you are welcoming children into your family and into the world. The stakes are high. The investment made in a child’s life in the early years can profoundly shape a person well into adulthood. But the joys are greater than the challenges. Few things are more rewarding than to see children grow in godliness, embrace the truth, take ownership of their faith, worship the Lord, and serve God’s purposes in the world. In this introductory session, you will preview the overall structure of this process and explore the underlying rationale for such a rite of passage. Additionally, you will study a core passage from the life of Jesus that highlights this milestone in his earthly life. Parents, spiritual mentors, trusted peers, church leaders, and the wider church community are all integral to this journey into Christian parenting. These key people are invited to this introductory session so that they can support and encourage you as you gain a theological vision for parenting your family in its collective life with God. The starting point of this great and noble work is the realization that our families belong first and foremost to the Lord.

Key Idea

Our home belongs to the Lord.

Introduction Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

Be Thou My Vision

Verse 1
Be thou my vision,
O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me
Save that thou art.
Thou my best thought
By day and by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence
My light.

Verse 2
Be thou my wisdom,
And thou my true Word;
I ever with thee
And thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father,
I thy dear child;
Thou in me dwelling,
With thee reconciled.

Verse 3
Riches I heed not,
Nor vain, empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance,
Now and always.
Thou and thou only,
First in my heart,
High King of Heaven,
My treasure thou art.

Verse 4
High King of Heaven,
My victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys,
O bright Heav’ns Sun!
Heart of my heart,
Whatever befall,
Still be my vision,
O Ruler of all.

Scripture Reading

But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Do You hear what these children are saying?” they asked. “Yes,” Jesus answered. “Have you never read: ‘From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise’?”

Responsive Call

Reader: Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord a new song—His praise in the assembly of the godly.

All: Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

Reader: Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.

All: For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the afflicted with salvation.

Reader: Let the saints exult in glory; let them shout for joy upon their beds.

Opening Prayer

Gracious Lord, we thank you for the gift of family. Inasmuch as marriage is a sacred covenant, parenting is a holy vocation. We want to raise our children before the Lord. So we come to consecrate our home, our family, our house, and our children to you. Help us build a home on the foundations of your word. Assist us in making our hearth and home hospitable. May our family order be a testimony to others. May our failures be opportunities to cling to your grace. May our hopes be rooted in your promises. May our ambitions be aligned with your will. Help us to kindle love in our home so that others may come to know the wonderful salvation that is in Christ. Help us, O God, we pray! Amen!

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Focus your thinking around the key idea and biblical wisdom. Review the introduction and discuss the scriptural proverb to help orient you to the main theme of this session.

Introduction

But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

Every Christian family ought to be, as it were, a little church consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by His rules.

You are no longer just two. At this season of life, you are welcoming children into your family. This is God’s design. It is a beautiful blessing and a weighty responsibility. You likely feel both of these competing realities simultaneously. At times, you are deeply moved by the invaluable gift of your child (or children), grateful for this new life intricately fashioned in the image of God. Other times, you are overwhelmed by the new duties and countless activities involved in nurturing your little ones. As God allows, the blessing of marriage eventually turns into the privilege of parenting. According to God’s design, a husband and wife committed to each other in the covenant of marriage are called to be fruitful, bear children, form a family, and build a home consecrated to the Lord. Many times family life emerges by having biological children. Sometimes families are established through the adoption and fostering of children in need. In all cases, healthy families are foundational to society, and families become strongest and most stable when they have a vision for being a godly family—a household fully devoted to God. Rather than wandering aimlessly and unprepared into your parental duties, this study seeks to mark this milestone in your life in a way that helps you think about your parenting vocation from a biblical and God-honoring perspective. Godly parenting begins with consecrating our family and children to the Lord. In fact, it begins with fully dedicating ourselves, as parents, to God. In this session, we will overview the process of this rite of passage and discuss a biblical foundation for what we will experience in the weeks to come.

Biblical Wisdom

The righteous man walks with integrity; blessed are his children after him.

Core Principle

This biblical proverb gives us insight into the nature of Christian parenting. It teaches us that one of the main means of parenting is a parent’s faith maturity and Christian character. The person who “walks with integrity” is considered “righteous.” Essentially, a life fully consecrated to God results in a transformation of one’s personal character. Those who live a life devoted to God can hope for God’s favor on their children: “blessed are his children after him.” This rite of passage process offers a pathway for you to mark your entrance into parenting: to order your home after God’s design, to establish your home on Christ, to cultivate a home that enjoys God’s blessing, and to make a plan to raise your children in the ways of God. This study is an invitation to Christian homebuilding, beginning with the sobering reality that our home and hearth usually take the shape of our own character. Let’s seek the Lord in our homebuilding endeavor by taking a look at the landscape of our own lives.

Group Discussion

Exploring the Biblical Text

Study God’s word together. Read the passage. Annotate the text and record your reflections on the following page. Answer the discussion questions, using the biblical commentary to help. Then, discuss the passage as a community.

Scriptural Passage

^2:21 When the eight days until His circumcision had passed, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He had been conceived. ²² And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer the sacrifice specified in the Law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what was customary under the Law, ²⁸ Simeon took Him in his arms and blessed God, saying: ²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation, ³¹ which You have prepared in the sight of all people, ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”

³³ The Child’s father and mother were amazed at what was spoken about Him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your soul as well.”

³⁶ There was also a prophetess named Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who was well along in years. She had been married for seven years, ³⁷ and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. ³⁹ When Jesus’ parents had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the Child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.

Discussion Questions

Searching the Text

Seeking the Truth

Evaluating Our Lives

Dedicating Hearth and Home to God

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast.”

The business done in the home is nothing less than the shaping of the bodies and souls of humanity. The family is the factory that manufactures mankind.

Introduction

Bearing children is a major milestone in life and faith. But childbearing is not the same as child-rearing. The gift of each child born into the world is soon followed by a sobering sense of duty and responsibility to raise each child in a God-honoring way. All parents are accountable before God for how they raise their children. The weighty responsibility of this godly duty is balanced by the sacred worthiness of the work. During the child-raising journey, parents experience deep joy and painful difficulty, they anticipate hopeful dreams and fearful uncertainties, and they feel initial excitement and eventual exhaustion. In our families, in the raising of our children, and in the cultivation of holy homes, we are enlisted in a great and glorious endeavor. Through the family, society is shaped, the community is formed, the church is established, and the generations build God’s kingdom.

God has not left us without guidance in the sacred work of building Christian hearth and home. As with every other area of life, Christian parents look to Scripture to align their families and to shape their parenting vocation in accordance with God’s inspired plan. In Luke 2:21–40, Jesus was dedicated to God. In the temple, the eternal Son of God incarnate in human flesh was presented to God the Father. As God-honoring parents, Mary and Joseph modeled faithful devotion and parenting foundations. Entrusted with raising God’s Son, they treasured baby Jesus most by offering him back to his heavenly Father. Not only does their example help us consider the work of parenting in general, but it calls us to the very specific duty of establishing our families—our marriages, our homes, our children—on the person and work of Christ. Every child is a gift and blessing from God, a gift best kept secure in God’s safekeeping care. But Jesus is a special gift from God: God’s one and only Son given to mankind for salvation. There is no better starting point to the parenting journey than to consider how to consecrate one’s family and child to God by laying a family foundation of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who came into the world as a human baby. Let’s look to Mary and Joseph as paradigmatic examples of this most noble task of building hearth and home devoted to the Lord.

Consecrated to the Lord: Establishing a Family Devoted to God

Soon after Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph performed several faithful acts that dedicated the infant Christ to God: circumcision, naming, presentation, and sacrifice. As a Jewish practice, Jesus’ circumcision established him within the Israelite covenant community. Naming Jesus was both an act of obedience—heeding the angelic message by giving him “the name the angel had given Him before He had been conceived” (2:21)—and expectation—anticipating Jesus’ work of salvation. The journey to Jerusalem to “present Him to the Lord” (2:22) was a law-abiding act which “consecrated [Jesus] to the Lord” (2:23). The sacrificial offering of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” (2:23) took place “when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete” (2:22; cf. Leviticus 12:1–8). This worshipful act signified atonement, cleansing, and removal of impurity. Emphatic in this biblical narrative is the devotion of Mary and Joseph to live “according to the Law” (2:22; cf. 2:21, 23–24, 27, 39). For the holy family, personal faith, marital priorities, and family life were aligned and submitted to God and his word.

Although Christians are not bound by Jewish law, the faithfulness of Mary and Joseph provides an inspiring example to families welcoming children into the world. Our very first acts as Christian parents should not be child-centric but God-focused. That is, to mark one’s home by worship, to consecrate our children to the Lord, to elevate the need for purification and atonement, to embed oneself in the community of faith, and to honor God’s word as authoritative are fundamental foundations for all faithful families. Joseph and Mary tended to baby Jesus as stewards of a gracious gift given to them by God. They realized that they could only best care for their child when they viewed that child as first belonging to God. Their firstborn son, Jesus, was first and foremost God’s eternal only begotten Son. God had entrusted him to their temporary care. A family devotes itself to the Lord as it realizes that each and every child is a gift from God. And we raise our children as temporary caretakers of that which ultimately belongs to God.

The godliness of Joseph and Mary was paramount in shaping their home and cultivating their family culture. Importantly, the godliness of one’s marriage inevitably sets the tone for a family’s culture and values. Holiness and intimacy enjoyed between husband and wife irrigate the garden of the home. The vibrancy of a Christian marriage rests upon the individual devotion of each spouse to the Lord. As leader of the home, the father’s piety is pacesetting—families most often go the way of the dad. The mother’s godliness fosters a fertile environment for faith formation. The godliness of a home, including the maturity of husband and wife, is sustained by the church and contributes to the well-being of the Christian community. In reality, child dedication is a matter of family consecration: surrendering one’s family wholly to God before the people of God. This wholehearted devotion takes place across several vectors: the child devoted to God, parents committing themselves to raise the child in the faith, and the church community committing itself to the family and the child-rearing process. Whether one has children or not, to be devoted to the Lord is to be dedicated to helping all the children in the body of believers grow to full maturity. Families and churches mutually edifying each other in devotion to the Lord is the sweet symphony of being a part of the people of God.

Into the Temple Courts: Raising a Family Rooted in Faith Community

Even though Jesus was born when Mary was a virgin, both Mary and Joseph raised Jesus as his parents (2:33). The collaborative nature of parenting—a duty shared between husband and wife—is reinforced by the loving support of a covenant community. Jesus’ dedication in the temple (2:27, 37)—the gathering place of worship for God’s people—signifies the important role of community in homebuilding. It was in the temple that Jesus’ parents met two godly individuals: Simeon and Anna. Simeon was “righteous and devout” (2:25). His life was surrendered to and guided by the Holy Spirit: “the Holy Spirit was upon him” (2:25), “the Holy Spirit had revealed to him” (2:26), and he was “led by the Spirit … into the temple courts” (2:27). Anna lived a life characterized by spiritual service: she was “a prophetess” (2:36). Statements about her marriage (2:36), widowhood (2:37), and constant presence in the temple (2:37) highlight her godly character and uncompromising devotion to God. Her faith formation and maturity are emphasized by a myriad of spiritual practices: worship, fasting, prayer, and gratitude (2:37–38). Jesus’ presentation in the temple, in the context of aged and godly saints, represents the important role the faith community plays in raising godly children.

No parent was meant to raise children alone. Not only is parenting the teamwork of husband and wife, but it is also the responsibility of the faith community. Children raised in a Christian church community can mature as they are surrounded by older believers who take their faith seriously, practice spiritual habits, cling to God’s promises, rehearse God’s redemptive work, and build their lives on God’s saving promises. Seasoned believers in the faith community, like Simeon and Anna, can become a support to parents as they seek to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Godly examples of faithful believers who live a life worth emulating are one of the most powerful tools of faith formation. One’s home life is faithfully fashioned as it is regularly surrounded by the godly influence of mature Christian community.

For all believers, to be devoted to God is to be dedicated to God’s people. One cannot exist without the other. There is a mutual interdependence that exists between families and churches. As a family of families, church maturity can often be measured by the health of its household units. Conversely, family maturity is reliant upon a strong faith community. The busyness of family life, the exhaustion of daily (and nightly) parenting duties, the difficulty of troubleshooting household dilemmas can easily keep us from the church. Many have foregone church fellowship in the name of caring for their families (cf. Hebrews 10:25). What a woeful and foolish decision! It is precisely in the church community that a household can blossom into a family of faith. For it is in the church where the larger purposes of God are worked out in his world and where God’s people—including parents and children—get regularly acquainted with God’s great and glorious promises to his people.

As You Have Promised: Fastening a Family Secure to God’s Word

Parenting in community is fueled by divine promises. Jesus’ dedication in the temple was more than just about the supportive influence of the faith community. It was about the God who works to save his people and form the community of faith. Inasmuch as Simeon and Anna represent godly Christian community, they more fundamentally signify the hope of salvation. Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (2:25) and Anna was “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (2:38). Consolation and redemption are brought about by God’s “salvation” (2:30), made possible by “the Lord’s Christ” (2:26). The message of salvation—in fact, the culmination of all God’s promises—is good news revealed about Jesus Christ (2:33, 36), the only one who saves people from sin, judgment, and condemnation. This salvation God had “prepared in the sight of all people” (2:31). God made promises and came through on his promises so that salvation could become available for all people (2:31–32) who embrace Christ. All centers on Christ. He is the one who will reveal the thoughts of mankind (2:35). Jesus is the center upon which all people—individuals, families and communities—rise and fall (2:34).

In this biblical narrative, obedience according to the Law (cf. 2:21–24, 27, 39) is buoyed up by faith that God does “as [he has] promised” (2:29). Christian homebuilding is an intentional setting of one’s family on the rock of God’s unalterable promises. And all of God’s good promises are fulfilled in Christ. In fact, this narrative reminds us that all Christian homes are built on Christ. First, Simeon “blessed God” (2:29) for the Christ—an act of worship—which turned into a blessing of the holy family: “then Simeon blessed them” (2:34). The blessing of the home was connected to a heartfelt praise of God for the salvation that he had brought to fruition in Jesus. Consequently, Christian homebuilding must establish a gospel-centered, Christ-focused, salvation-oriented foundation. This is what child dedication, Christian homebuilding, and family order are all about.

Parenting’s main goal is for children to embrace Christ and experience his salvation. Homebuilding begins with a commitment to establish a household in Christ. In this story, Christ is more than an example of child dedication. He is the means by which salvation can come to our household. A child dedicated in each Christian home must ultimately be devoted to the Christ child dedicated in Jerusalem. When a home is dedicated to Christ, the family can bask in divine comfort, enduring peace, worship-filled awe, and everlasting joy. The first steps in ordering a home are submitting the home to Jesus as Savior and Lord.

And the Child Grew: Cultivating a Family as Context for Spiritual Growth

All child dedication and homebuilding rest on the hopeful gospel message announced during Christ’s own dedication in the temple. Parenting is difficult and challenging work. Sometimes the parental duty can feel burdensome and overwhelming. Sometimes it can cause pain and heartache. This biblical text even testifies that Mary would experience pain as Jesus’ mother: “a sword will pierce your soul as well” (2:35). Divine promises sustain parents in what can be a painful and difficult work. But God’s promises in the gospel are not just for the life to come; they are also given to sustain us in the realities we experience in this present life. Christians parent in hope, trusting that the difficult labor of parenting gives birth to spiritual fruit and Christian maturity. In this narrative, Jesus’ godly and faithful parents provided a rich context for faith formation (2:39). No doubt, their worship in the Jerusalem temple continued as faithful family formation in “their own town of Nazareth” (2:39). Over the course of time, Jesus “grew and became strong,” he was “filled with wisdom,” and “the grace of God was upon Him” (2:40). In fact, we learn that Jesus grew holistically across various domains of life (2:52).

Parents hope for growth in their children like the development Jesus experienced. When the gospel is the foundation of a home, it provides a fertile context for spiritual formation. Godly parents long for growth, strength, wisdom, and divine grace for all in their household. To teach the gospel without instructing in godliness is a great fault and failure of unbiblical parenting. Christian parents build their homes on Christ when their preaching of the gospel of Christ translates into moral instruction in the ways of Christ. Salvation is not possible outside of Jesus: salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. If parents miss this simple point, all their efforts are vain and worthless. But no better pattern for godly living exists than Christ himself. Christ himself should be the curriculum of our home. Inasmuch as parents must keep the gospel at the center of their home, they must embody, exemplify, and commend Christlikeness as an overarching formational goal. Building a home is like planting and cultivating a garden where seeds of infants sprout, grow, blossom, and bear fruit for righteousness.

Helpful metrics of godliness are outlined in Jesus’ own development and formation. Although Jesus was fully God, he was also fully human (without sin). He experienced growth and maturity common to mankind. It is important to notice the holistic dimension of Jesus’ growth. Over the course of his infancy, childhood, and youth, Jesus experienced physical, intellectual, moral, social, and spiritual development (2:40; cf. 2:52). This record of Jesus’ development provides a helpful blueprint for Christian parents. With Jesus at the faith foundation of our families, we should uphold Jesus as the ultimate example by which we should shape our lives. Jesus is the means of salvation and the model of godliness. Our parenting should facilitate formation in all areas of life: establish faith in Christ, cultivate intimacy with God, promote holy relationships, instruct in biblical wisdom, foster physical well-being, encourage spiritual discipline, and stimulate moral living. But lest we think we discharge our parenting duty in human strength, we should remember that the key to the godly culture in the household of Joseph and Mary should be the key to our homes as well. The definitive mark of Jesus’ life was that he was under the canopy of God’s gracious favor. If we hold any hope for our families to be mature in godliness and our children to be courageous saints, it will be by the grace and favor of God. Let us pray that our children rest under the supernatural safety and enabling power of God’s grace.

Conclusion

Jesus’ dedication in the temple teaches us about parenting as much as it also recounts the gospel. Certainly, Christ’s birth and dedication announce the good news of salvation to a lost and sinful world. But the events of this biblical narrative also help parents order their home and establish their family with Christ at the center. Christian homebuilding is a matter of establishing our homes on the foundation of Christ. Child dedication signifies that parents are serious about submitting their whole family to Jesus, the Christ child dedicated in the temple in Jerusalem. In sum, a Christian home is dedicated to God, rooted in Christian community, established on God’s promises, and well-ordered to maximize spiritual growth. Taken seriously, these simple yet profound truths will help a family welcome its first children into the world (and into their family) in a way that seeks the child’s best. And the child’s best is a life fully offered to the Lord.

Session Summary

• Jesus’ parents were fully devoted to the Lord and consecrated Jesus to God with wholehearted commitment, aligning their lives and family according to God’s word.
• The godliness of parents directly affects the godliness of the home. Godly parents make sure their personal walk with the Lord and their marriage are both growing in Christlikeness.
• Godly families are rooted in Christian community because the community of God’s people provides a rich context for spiritual growth through faith practices, godly examples, and corporate worship.
• Christian families build their homes on God’s promises, which are ultimately fulfilled in Christ. The good news of salvation in the gospel must serve as the foundation and focus of all parenting work.
• Christian homebuilding fosters a context in which children can grow in godliness and faithfulness to the Lord. Parents should see Jesus as the example for holistic spiritual growth.

Charting the Path Ahead

Reflect on the session and envision next steps. Record key takeaways from the lesson. Conclude your time by praying as small groups and a whole community. Review next steps.

Final Review

Small Group Prayer

Corporate Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son. He is the hope of the nations. He alone is the good news of salvation. He is the longed-for consolation for those suffering. He is the promise of enduring peace. He is the only comfort for the hurting. And he is the redemption of the world. Only he is the Savior of repentant sinners. May Christ be the foundation of our home, the vitality of our marriage, the focus of our family, and the source of eternal life for our children. Help us to embrace him like Simeon. Assist us in celebrating him like Anna. Give us your grace to build our family on Jesus, the Lord’s Christ. We consecrate our children to you, dedicating these precious ones to Christ, the Promised One, dedicated in Jerusalem. May our children believe in Christ as Savior and Lord. May they grow in Christlikeness of character on a daily basis. Help us as parents to model this way of life. Help us, O God! Amen!

Next Steps

• Meet with a mentor to review this session.
• Memorize the biblical proverb.
• Complete the spiritual disciplines over the course of the week.
• Finish your personal and parenting projects.

Introduction Orientation and Overview

Orientation and Overview

This section of the book helps to give you an overview of the rite of passage. It will summarize the main movements of the process and preview the main topics of the study. Use this section to orient yourself and your church community.

Structure and Overview

Part One: Preparation

In the first part of this rite of passage, you will study six key roles of parents: priests, stewards, shepherds, teachers, protectors, and overseers. Each of these sessions is divided into three sections: a community-based study around the topic, spiritual disciplines for the intervening week, and reflective projects to apply and implement parenting principles in your family life. The expanded content of these topics is listed below.

Part 1: Preparation
Introduction	No Longer Two: Receiving Children as Gifts from God • Key Idea: Our home belongs to the Lord. • Biblical Exploration: Luke 2:21–40
Session 1	Under God’s Fatherly Care: Building a Home Devoted to God • Key Idea: As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. • Biblical Exploration: Psalm 103:1–22
Session 2	Between the Ages: Nurturing Faith in the Next Generation • Key Idea: As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. • Biblical Exploration: Psalm 78:1–72
Session 3	Over the Flock: Tending to Our Children Like Shepherds • Key Idea: As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. • Biblical Exploration: Psalm 23:1–6
Session 4	In the Fear of God: Instructing Children in Godliness • Key Idea: As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. • Biblical Exploration: Psalm 34:1–22
Session 5	Under God’s Protection: Godly Discipline and Divine Protection • Key Idea: As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. • Biblical Exploration: Psalm 94:1–23
Session 6	For the World: Leaving a Legacy in Society • Key Idea: As overseers, we build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. • Biblical Exploration: Psalm 127:1–5; 128:1–6
Conclusion	In the Service of the Lord: Consecrating Our Homes to God • Key Idea: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Part Two: Challenge

The challenge phase of this rite of passage is a family camp experience. During this time, church leaders, mentors, and peers will enjoy God’s creation as they meet with God, practice homesteading skills, and cultivate relationships with one another. A more developed outline of this time is sketched below.

Part 2: Challenge
Daily Devotionals	Near to Those Who Call on Him: Cultivating Intimacy with God: • Morning Reading: Learning the practice of spiritual reading. • Midday Prayer: Marking the day in prayer, song, and community. • Evening Reflection: Practicing the habit of daily examen.
Outdoor Experiences	Homestead: Practicing Parental Duty in the Outdoors • Homemaking • Hearth Building • Shepherd’s Carry • Table Setting • Night Vigil
Community Building	Homes of Holy Testimony: Homebuilding in the Household of Faith • Project Review • Celebrations and Struggles • Worship and Tradition • Value and Education • Discipline and Mission • Life Spheres • General Reflections

Part Three: Celebration

The third part of this rite of passage concludes with a time of celebration. In this final movement into Christian parenting, each parent will give a personal testimony of God’s work in their life over the course of this experiential study process. This will also be a time for each parent (and family unit) to express their commitment to build Christian hearth and home for the Lord. The time ends with a ceremony in which the church community surrounds the parents and families with encouragement. The basic overview of this final phase is summarized below.

Part 3: Celebration
Personal Testimony	Reporting on God’s work in your life.
Community Confession	Sharing your commitment to take responsibility in life and faith.
Celebration Ceremony	Concluding the rite of passage with a time of celebration and praise to God.

Part Four: Journal

The fourth part of this rite of passage is journal space for you to collect your thoughts, observations, and prayers along the way.

Mentoring and Community Roles

This rite of passage is best completed in the context of close relationships. Crossing into a new season of life is best facilitated with a network of trusted fellow travelers. In a Christian setting, these relationships can come from family, friendships, and the church community. Church leaders or heads of household help guide and direct this process, usually occupying the main teaching role. Going through this rite of passage with a group of peers can reinforce the ideas and provide a supportive community into the future. Mentors help encourage the participants along the way, helping them reflect on learnings, providing a structure for accountability, and promoting internalization of key biblical teachings. Usually, mentors have gone through the rite of passage or have already passed into the next season of life, showing that they are equipped to help and encourage participants in their own journey. The family and church community bolster the rite of passage by orchestrating the experience, providing a spiritual learning context, and seeking to maximize the holistic and experiential essence of the rite of passage. Family and church are to be the main environment in which this rite of passage is worked out. Couples are encouraged to work through sessions individually and collectively. Here are some steps to make this rite of passage a rich and full-orbed experience.

• Identify trusted church leaders to teach and lead the main sessions.
• Pair up participants with mentors. Have mentors periodically touch base with participants throughout the experience. Prepare mentors for their task throughout the main study sessions (Part One) and the mentoring sessions during the outdoor challenge experience (Part Two).
• Gather a group of peers who are going through the same experience together. While this rite of passage can be done individually, it will be an enriched experience with a community of peers.
• Marshal the extended family network and church community to help encourage, organize, and facilitate this experience. These groups can also help prepare for the time of celebration.

Expectations of Mentors

Mentors play a significant role in the formation of godliness in our personal lives, church community, and family culture. Seasoned and wiser saints offer much in the way of spiritual formation in the lives of younger believers. We have intentionally built in mentorship in this rite of passage process. We want the mentoring connections to be meaningful to mentees but also feasible for mentors. We have listed minimum expectations for mentors that would provide a spiritually rich experience. Please prayerfully consider playing this role in the lives of those going through this process. In this process, mentors serve their younger brothers and sisters in the faith by making the following commitments.

Prayer and Encouragement

Offer focused prayer to the Lord and encouragement to the mentees.

• Regularly pray for your mentees throughout the whole process.
• Reach out with periodic and proactive encouragement along the way.

Gatherings and Meetings

Attend three core in-person meetings.

• Join the Introduction session in order to get oriented to the themes, projects, and mentoring responsibilities.
• Join a midway Intensive gathering during which participants  review sessions, share projects, and spend time in prayer.
• Join the Conclusion session, a time to celebrate learning, review projects, and prepare for the camping trip.

Mentoring Sessions

Facilitate mentoring sessions during the camping trip.

• Attend the main daytime portion of the camping trip during which mentors will host small group mentoring discussions.
• Be available for encouragement, prayer, and support during this time.

Follow Up

Follow up with mentees over the months following the rite of passage.

• Arrange one follow-up visit or conversation after the rite of passage to encourage and support the mentees in their continued progress and development.
• Pray for the mentees in their work over the next six months.

Session One

Under God’s Fatherly Care: Building a Home Devoted to God

Overview

And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

We may take great comfort from considering that, God stands to us in the relation of a Father … He must from His very nature do everything in the best and most perfect manner, and in the fullest also; we may be sure He will be to us better than ever any earthly father has been to a son … We have a Father in heaven; and He will not come short in the fulfilment of even one of the functions of a parent … And because He is a Father you may expect all tender comfort.

The first session of this study explores the source of all godly parenting: God himself. Just like Christian devotion to God is based upon God’s unfailing commitment to us, so our parenting work is fueled, sustained, ordered, and empowered by a vibrant relationship with God as Father. To know and trust God as Father—to experience his divine compassion and tender love—is essential if we are to care for our children in the right way. After all, the whole aim of our parenting work is to initiate our children into their own relationship with God. Spiritual practices, household habits, and family worship all serve to establish our children in the Christian faith and to take ownership of their spiritual life, enjoying their own walk with the Lord. Our job as human parents is to encourage a relationship with God as Divine Parent: our heavenly Father. In this way, parents are like priests in their homes. Their sacred calling is to nurture children in the worship of God, a most holy work that begins with us fostering a most humble walk with the Lord.

Key Idea

As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care.

Session 1 Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

The Tender Love a Father Has

Verse 1
The tender love a father has
For all his children dear,
Such love the Lord bestows on them
Who worship him in fear.

Verse 2
The Lord remembers we are dust,
And all our frailty knows;
Man’s days are like the tender grass
And as the flow’r he grows.

Verse 3
The flow’r is withered by the wind
That smites with blighting breath;
So man is quickly swept away
Before the blast of death.

Verse 4
Unchanging is the love of God,
From age to age the same,
Displayed to all who do his will
And reverence his name.

Verse 5
Those who his gracious cov’nant keep
The Lord will ever bless;
Their children’s children shall rejoice
To see his righteousness.

Scripture Reading

You, O Lord, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. Why, O Lord, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

Responsive Call

All: Do not be terrified or afraid!

Reader: The Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt.

All: Do not be terrified or afraid!

Reader: The Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.

All: Do not be terrified or afraid!

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, we take comfort in your love and compassion. Your tender care is a refuge for us at all times. You look upon us in our need and mercifully come to our aid. You know our limits and daily provide us with just what we need. You are fully aware of our weakness and you grant us your own strength. You accept our confessions and receive us back with your forgiving embrace. Because of your grace, we are children of God. As your children, we are most loved and treasured. As we think about our parenting work, we are easily overwhelmed by the task. But we know you sustain us in what you call us to do. We know our children belong to you more than they belong to us. As we serve our families as parents, help us to do so as children of God. May our children see in us a childlike faith that moves them to trust and adore you. Be to us our heavenly Father as we nurture our children in worship of God. Amen.

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Focus your thinking around the key idea and biblical wisdom. Review the introduction and discuss the scriptural proverb to help orient you to the main theme of this session.

Introduction

At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.”

It is a sweet compound of faith that knows God to be my Father, love that loves him as my Father, joy that rejoices in him as my Father, fear that trembles to disobey him because he is my Father and a confident affection and trustfulness that relies upon him, and casts itself wholly upon him, because it knows by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit, that Jehovah, the God of earth and heaven, is the Father of my heart.

God is a loving and caring Father to his children. As divine parent, God is not merely the exemplar of loving parenting work; he is its eternal source that energizes and enables godly parenting. We can only love our children toward God as we cultivate and sustain a vibrant relationship with God as Father. The childlike faith that defines our trust in our heavenly Father is the foundation and fuel for parenting our children in a godly way. Parents are God-appointed intermediaries—like priests—leading their home in the worship of God. Certainly, parenting work is epitomized by God the Father. But God is more than a parenting paradigm; God himself is the power, strength, and vitality each parent needs to be faithful in this most important work of rearing children. Godly parents can only build Christian hearth and home with the divine aid and loving presence of God the Father.

Biblical Wisdom

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Core Principle

The foundation of all parenting is our relationship with the Lord. Few things like the responsibility of child-rearing can make us confront our limits, weaknesses, and inabilities. The invitation to parenting is an invitation to the life of faith, to “trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Faith in God requires us to heed a second instruction: “lean not on your own understanding.” Trust in God means we must divest trust in ourselves. However intelligent or educated a person may be, the work of child-rearing will expose the unreliability of our own wisdom and the inadequacy of our skills. Parenting requires trust in God—a humble confidence that God equips and enables us to build Christian hearth and home. God backs his instruction to parents with good and gracious promises. If we fully depend upon God—“in all your ways acknowledge Him”—there is a hope that he will direct our steps—“He will make your paths straight.” We are not alone in the parenting work, not only because we have a faith community, but because we have a loving heavenly Father who is desirous to direct every step of those who genuinely trust in him.

Group Discussion

Exploring the Biblical Text

Study God’s word together. Read the passage. Annotate the text and record your reflections on the following page. Answer the discussion questions, using the biblical commentary to help. Then, discuss the passage as a community.

Scriptural Passage

^103:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name. ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds— ³ He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases, ⁴ who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion, ⁵ who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. ⁷ He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel. ⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. ⁹ He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever. ¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. ¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. ¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. ¹⁴ For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass—he blooms like a flower of the field; ¹⁶ when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more. ¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the Lord extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children— ¹⁸ to those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts. ¹⁹ The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Bless the Lord, all His angels mighty in strength who carry out His word, who hearken to the voice of His command. ²¹ Bless the Lord, all His hosts, you servants who do His will. ²² Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Discussion Questions

Searching the Text

Seeking the Truth

Evaluating Our Lives

Nurturing Family Life in God’s Fatherly Love

Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

Let all the wondrous influence you possess in forming your child and fixing his destiny be wielded for this one thing—to satisfy the desire of the Savior’s heart, and make your child wholly His …. Dear parents! who have taken the Savior as your only teacher in the revelation of the mysteries of Divine love, let Him teach you the preciousness of your little ones. Learn to see in them what He does; in His light your care of them will become a blessing to yourself and to them.

Introduction

In this first session, we explore this fundamental principle: each parent’s relationship with God as Father is hugely significant in sustaining, shaping, and energizing all parenting work. Relationship with God best outfits us for our parenting vocation. To know and enjoy God as loving Father is to equip ourselves to build Christian hearth and home. In Psalm 103:1–22, the Bible gives us a compelling picture of God’s divine parental care toward his people. This biblical hymn of praise explicitly attests to and celebrates the fact that God treats his people like a loving father. Throughout the psalm, the author fleshes out specifics of how God cares for his people, inviting us to establish our lives—and parenting—in God’s fatherly love. No father or mother can expect to care for their children—or build a godly home—without being sheltered, sustained, and supported by God’s divine love for his people. It is under the coverage of divine compassion that our parental labors have divine power.

Christian homebuilding is an expression of a life of worship and devotion to God that is animated by God’s fatherly love, sustained by God’s divine care, and established upon God’s covenantal faithfulness. Where worship, devotion, piety, faith, and obedience have priority, child-raising takes on a Christian character. If worship is the sturdy foundation of every healthy Christian home, it requires us as parents to cultivate our life with God. The business done in the home—which has a most important influence upon society—has its genesis in our walk with and worship of God. We neglect this foundation to our great peril and embrace it to our enduring joy!

All That Is Within Me: Being Captured by a Vision of God’s Glorious Rule

The dominant refrain in Psalm 103 is “bless the Lord” (103:1; cf. 103:2, 20–22), an invitation to praise God for his character and work. This psalm—an uninhibited hymn of praise—extols God for his “holy name” (103:1) and his “kind deeds” (103:2). When the psalmist cries “O my soul” (103:1; cf. 103:2, 22), he shows us that genuine praise should come from the depths of our being—sincere adoration exclaimed from our inner person. God-honoring worship is also an act and attitude of wholehearted devotion, offering to God “all that is within me” (103:1). Such undivided resignation to the Lord shapes our focus and attention, making us careful to “not forget” (103:1; cf. 103:18) divine kindness in its many-sided array. The psalm tells us that God deserves worship from “all His angels mighty in strength” (103:20), “all His hosts” (103:21), and “all His works in all places” (103:22). God is worthy to be worshiped by all creation—animate and inanimate.

This psalm makes it clear that worship of God invigorates a life of piety and obedience. Genuine worship is more than verbal homage and energetic song. Those who truly worship God are his “servants” (103:21) who “carry out His word” (103:20), “hearken to the voice of His command” (103:20), and “do His will” (103:21). God’s people are marked as “those who keep His covenant” (103:18), and those who “remember to obey His precepts” (103:18). The life of obedience comes from an underlying faith in God, made possible because God’s people “fear Him” (103:11; cf. 103:13, 17). The fear of God moves God’s people to submission, expressing their devotion as those who live under “His dominion” (103:22).

Every godly parent’s hope and desire should be to establish their home on the foundation of worship. Worshiping families are marked by exuberant praise of God’s worth, godly fear of God’s majesty, humble obedience to God’s commands, and willing submission under God’s rule. Parents best lead their homes by regularly acknowledging God as King. Parental authority is only a derivative authority (an authority given by God) that seeks to use its own position and influence to direct its household under the safety of God’s benevolent rule and reign. A godly home recognizes that “the Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all” (103:19) and earnestly seeks to make its household under this same benevolent rule.

Parenting work is buoyed by a life of vibrant worship of the Lord. This most basic and vital aspect of the Christian life—doxology—is the foundation of all godly parenting. To the extent our walk with the Lord is vibrant and sincere, our parenting vocation will be focused and fervent. Our lateral, human-to-human relationships with our children will only be as formative and meaningful as our vertical relationship with the Lord is real and healthy.

Elevation of God’s majesty is the best starting point for parental fidelity in the home. The home is a place to experience and recount God’s peerless character and powerful deeds. Child-rearing is not ultimately a matter of deference to parental authority, but of fostering devotion to God. Each child’s responsibility to honor and obey his parents is a means to inculcate a reverence to the ultimate authority, God himself. To raise children Godward is to raise children who will trust God in faith and serve him in obedience. Hearth-building and homebuilding are a matter of cultivating a family culture of worship, devotion, obedience, fear of God, and submission to God. To build our home in this way, in the end, is to have our home placed under God’s merciful and compassionate dominion.

As a Father Has Compassion: Resting in the Fountain of God’s Fatherly Love

In great detail, this psalm celebrates God’s love for his people. God’s love is compared to the love a father has toward his children: “as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him” (103:13). God’s fatherly care for his people is best described as “loving devotion” (103:4; cf. 103:8, 11, 17)—a love that pledges itself to the well-being of another in covenant faithfulness. God’s covenant love expresses itself in unwavering commitment and unconditional fidelity. It is love beyond emotion and sentiment. It is care galvanized by divine promise, divine trustworthiness, and divine relationship.

God’s multifaceted love toward his people is further explained in this psalm. Showing tender care for his people, God’s love is “compassionate” (103:8; cf. 103:13). Exhibiting redeeming kindness, God’s love is “gracious” (103:8). Showing patience, God is “slow to anger” (103:8), showing mercy to repentant sinners (103:9–10). Emphasizing the depth of his divine care and the faithfulness to his people, the psalm testifies that God is “abounding in loving devotion” (103:8). God’s love is wide, separating us from our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (103:12). God’s love is immense: “as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him” (103:11). The immensity of God’s love corresponds to its unending and eternal nature: “from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the Lord extends to those who fear Him” (103:17).

Love is the heartbeat of parents toward their children. Although human parents cannot perfectly replicate divine love, God’s compassion for his people is the great pattern and power of all parental love. When our love for our children takes the shape of God’s paternal love for us, we can remain committed to our children regardless of the circumstances. We can discipline with faithfulness, clarity, and grace. We can provide what is best for our children without catering toward their unsanctified desires. We can call our children to self-control, self-restraint, and self-denial as an act of formation and not mere punishment. We can display self-sacrifice even when our children do not deserve it. Our love for our children will only be “right-sized” when it is God-shaped.

Crowned with Loving Devotion: Following the Pattern of God’s Tender Care

God’s fatherly and covenantal love is expressed in unparalleled divine care. The body of this psalm elaborates upon God’s “kind deeds” (103:2) to his people (103:7). In his mercy, God “forgives all your iniquities” (103:3). His disciplining anger turns into divine pity for those who trust in him (103:9–10). More than just ignoring our sin, God has graciously “removed our transgressions from us” (103:12). In his power, he “heals all your diseases” (103:3). In his grace, he “redeems your life from the Pit” (103:4). In his covenant loyalty and fatherly care, he “crowns you with loving devotion and compassion” (103:4). In his benevolence and provision, God “satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (103:5). In his moral perfection, he “executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed” (103:6).

Parental care for their children should take the shape of God’s love for his people. Parental authority that is domineering and manipulative is misshaped and malformed. Parents should express their love for their children in the way that God cares for his people. Exemplifying God’s own loving devotion, godly parents display kindness, extend mercy, practice forgiveness, and show grace. Christian homes should be places of healing and little communities where divine redemption is enjoyed. Parents who experience God’s loving devotion to his people can testify of divine grace to their progeny. Christian homebuilding should bask in God’s good gifts with gratitude and foster an environment where compassion is amply shown. Christian families should cultivate biblical values of righteousness and justice, caring for the oppressed. In the end, collective parental care toward children is the expression of God’s divine kindness that each parent has individually received.

God’s covenant-keeping love is also gentle and sympathetic to his people. He knows that people are not like himself. God is fully aware of our finitude and limitations. The psalm tells us that God “knows our frame” and is “mindful that we are dust” (103:14). Certainly, humanity is noble and beautiful and “blooms like a flower of the field” (103:15). But the intrinsic dignity and splendor of humanity is tempered by its fleeting and passing life: “as for man, his days are like grass” (103:15) and after a short time “the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more” (103:16). The grandeur that is every human life comes to an earthly end, usually sooner than we want. God not only tenderly cares for us in our limited and weak estate, but he extends over his people a covenant love that will never end: “from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the Lord extends to those who fear Him” (103:17). God’s fatherly love cares for his people in the fragility of the present life and for unending life to come.

God’s care for us is our model and means to care for our children. Parents must be fully aware of children’s weaknesses, limitations, and frailty. What a parent knows from years of life experience, a child has yet to understand. Child-raising requires patience, a God-given longsuffering to come alongside smaller and immature human beings to help them grow and mature. Children are resilient, but they are also fragile. The early years of a child’s life are often most formative and shaping, impacting personhood, character, and values for many years to come. Modeled after God’s own parental care for his people, a godly parent seeks for the home to be a garden, cultivated for each child to bloom and blossom into all that God created them to be. But most importantly, parental vocation must tend to the eternal nature of each and every child. Godly parents celebrate the dignity of each child, helping them to bloom into all that God created them to be. But homebuilding that simply attempts to maximize the “bloom” of this temporary life amounts to parental neglect. The parent’s greater task is to help each child find coverage under God’s eternal loving devotion, a love that secures eternal life and unending relationship with God.

Those Who Keep His Covenant: Enjoying Relationship within God’s Faithful Promises

If the parent’s primary duty is to bring their children under God’s everlasting covenant love, then they must learn how to guide their children into relationship with God. God establishes his relationship with his people in a covenant (103:18). In this covenant, God promises faithfulness to his people and summons his people to covenant faithfulness by trusting God and following his commands (103:17–18). This passage calls people to fear of God (103:11, 13, 17). This fear is a way of describing genuine faith: a deep reverence toward God and abiding trust in God that results in awe of and attachment to God. Those who have sincere faith in God will express their faith in obedience (103:18, 20–21). Homebuilding in piety—encouraging genuine faith in and earnest obedience to God—can have a generational impact where God extends his righteousness “to their children’s children” (103:17).

Godly parents are gospel-centered, seeing their primary earthly vocation as fostering their children’s relationship with God. There is no guarantee that parental faithfulness will translate into faith for each and every child. Ultimately, genuine faith is the work of God in the heart of each and every person. Nevertheless, a vision of parenting should foundationally be one that cultivates faith and obedience—the fear of God that leads to heeding God’s commanding word.

But faith does more than merely enable obedience. Faith in God fosters attachment to God. Entrusting oneself to God initiates us into a covenant relationship with God. Our relationship with the Lord is secure, guarded and protected by God’s own good promises and faithful character. As we experience intimacy and security in our relationship with the Lord, so we are able to cultivate a home environment that fosters healthy forms of bonding, attachment, and connection. It is in the home where children first learn what healthy relationships entail. By keeping God’s covenant front and center in our home, we can even hope for faith formation in the generations to come.

Conclusion

Christian homebuilding is a matter of cultivating vibrant worship of the Lord, encountering God’s tender love, experiencing God’s compassionate care, and enjoying God’s covenant faithfulness. Cultivating Christian hearth and home is a matter of receiving God’s grace and mercy in our lives. Our homes and hearths become welcoming and hospitable to others once we experience the extraordinary and unparalleled divine welcome of God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace. When parents maintain a life and faith of vibrant worship, their homebuilding endeavors benefit from God’s blessing. Ultimately, this is the main aim of all parenting work: loving our children toward the love of God. As parents, may our devotion to God build a home that is under God’s benevolent rule. May our experience of God’s love and goodness fuel us to love our children with compassion, mercy, and faithfulness. May we build a home that experiences God’s righteous care for generations to come, even to our children’s children!

Session Summary

• God is the ultimate example of parental love and care. We learn best about parenting from the way God loves and cares for his people.
• Our relationship with God as Father shapes our own parenting work. We can only give to our children what we receive from God.
• Christian parents are like priests, nurturing their family in the worship of God. A heart of devotion to God is fostered by habits and practices of regular family worship.
• Godly parents seek to place their home under God’s covenant love, fully submitted to God’s righteous rule. Christian homebuilding cultivates devotion to God: genuine faith that leads to covenantal obedience.
• To be in covenant relationship with God is to experience an attachment to God. Parents should develop healthy attachments and bonds with their children to help them learn what it is to enjoy an intimate and close relationship with God.
• The Christian home is a place to teach gospel truths: redemption, mercy, forgiveness, and grace. Ultimately, the parent-child relationship is to introduce children to relationship with God—not to maximize earthly life’s temporary and fleeting pleasures, but find coverage in God’s everlasting love.

Charting the Path Ahead

Reflect on the session and envision next steps. Record key takeaways from the lesson. Conclude your time by praying as small groups and a whole community. Review next steps.

Final Review

Small Group Prayer

Corporate Prayer

Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless your holy name. Our Father in heaven, we cannot number the kind benefits you have shown to us. You have been to us a loving and tender Father. Help us to love our children as you have loved us. Grant us the power to teach them the fear of God. Make our home a place of worship and devotion to the Lord. Help us to celebrate you, to praise you, and to magnify you. Place our home under your covenant protection. Bring all of our children—each and every one—into a saving relationship with you. May they taste the goodness of God in their own hearts. Not in our strength, but by your power, help us to fulfill our calling as priests in our home. Keep us from the allure of temporary pleasures. Establish our family in the everlasting love of God. Guard us from stubborn resistance to your command. Assist us to find your righteous rule our sweet freedom and joy. Help us, O God! Amen!

Next Steps

• Meet with a mentor to review this session.
• Memorize the biblical proverb.
• Complete the spiritual disciplines over the course of the week.
• Finish your personal and parenting projects.

Session 1 Weekly Disciplines

Scripture Reading

Read the main biblical text studied in this session. Use this passage to spend time in reflection and prayer.

Prepare Your Heart

Pray this prayer to prepare to meet with the Lord. Spend a few minutes in silence, quieting your heart and focusing your mind.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

Read the Passage

Reread the biblical passage studied in this session. Read it slowly and reflectively. You will use this passage to guide your time of prayer.

Key Passage: Psalm 103:1–22

Parallel Passages: Psalm 136:1–26; Matthew 5:43–48; 6:25–34; John 14:15–31; 1 John 2:28–3:24

Consider the Truth

Pray the Text

Rest in God’s Presence

After praying to the Lord, sit in silence for a few minutes. Rest in God’s presence, recognizing his knowledge of and love for you. After a few minutes of silence, pray this prayer.

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Topical Study

Study the key themes of this session by reading and reflecting on parallel passages collected below.

Verse Collection

Prayerfully read through the selected passages of Scripture, identifying important truths they teach. Mark verses that you find encouraging.

Exodus 4:22–23

Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the Lord says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’"

Deuteronomy 32:18

You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Proverbs 3:11–12

My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, and do not loathe His rebuke; for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

Malachi 3:17–18

“They will be Mine,” says the Lord of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

1 John 3:1–2

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

2 Samuel 7:14–15

I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I moved out of your way.

1 Chronicles 28:6–7

And He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him as My son, and I will be his Father. I will establish his kingdom forever, if he resolutely carries out My commandments and ordinances, as is being done this day.’

Psalm 68:5–6

A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

Isaiah 49:15–16

Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you! Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

Isaiah 64:8

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Isaiah 66:13

As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.

Matthew 6:7–8

And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Romans 8:14–17

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Hebrews 12:5–7

And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

James 1:16–18

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

Concluding Reflection

Review and reflect on the passages you just read. Identify verses that you find most convicting, challenging, and comforting.

Art Observation

Use the artwork on the following page to help you reflect on the teaching of the session. Use the Scripture passage and questions below to help guide your thinking.

Scriptural Reading

The following biblical passage describes a basic essence of the Christian life. Read the biblical passage before you observe the painting.

“Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.

Painting Reflection

Take time to observe the painting. Use the following questions to prompt your reflection. Record observations, insights, or questions below.

Observations

Spiritual Practice

Use the following activity as a concrete way to commune with the Lord. Set aside enough time to complete this activity in its entirety, following each step as a guide.

Getting Quiet Before God

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Acknowledging God as Father

After several minutes of silence, offer this prayer to God. Pray with open hands facing upwards to symbolize you stand before God in complete openness.

Almighty God, I am weak and frail. Surely, I am a noble creation of your powerful hands. But I am also a fragile creature. My strength is limited. I am prone to temptation. I easily wander from your paths. I still struggle with pain from the past and uncertainty about the future. But I know your “power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Help me to live by the reality “that when I am weak, then I am strong” (12:10). In your love and tender care, I am not overcome by enemies, not bound by sin, not plagued by the past, and not afraid of the days to come. Help me to rest in your covenant love and fatherly care. Amen.

Meditating on God’s Tender Care

If you can, find an object that is fragile (like a glass). Spend time staring at this object, reflecting on what makes it fragile and what kind of care is necessary

Praising God for His Care

Come to God with humility and complete dependence. Ask him to cover the sins of the past and instruct you in the ways of his will for the future.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save. When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever. He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts those who are weighed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates. The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Hallelujah!

Imagining Life the Other Way

Use the imaginative question to consider life outside of God’s care. Let this exercise stir gratitude and praise in your heart.

Entrusting Yourself to the Lord

Entrust yourself to the Lord’s care, offering him praise and honor as your caretaker, provider, and deliverer.

Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and lovely to praise Him! The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Record Final Thoughts

Journal Reflection

Journal your thoughts on this week’s study. Use the questions as prompts to guide your time in journal reflection.

Reflection Questions

Session 1 Reflective Projects

Personal Project

The following activity helps you internalize the biblical teaching and develop theological wisdom for parenting by grappling with the implications of the teaching in your own life.

Project Explanation

Write (or record) a descriptive portrait that expresses God’s fatherly relationship with you and his people. (i.e., prayer, poem, recording, prose description, drawing, dramatization, narrative, etc.)

Example Prayer

Father, You have adopted me into your family; I am an heir of the Most High; you love me enough to discipline me; you want my best and forgive my worst; comfort comes from your nearness and your presence; you know I am weak and you still want me; you delight in me with Your everlasting love. Although I do not merit your love, you pour it out in abundance. Although I was estranged from you in my sin, you brought me near and adopted me into your family. No force or power in all the world can separate me from your love. I belong to you. In fact, my belonging to you is more significant than any achievement, accolade, or accomplishment. You are not satisfied and pleased with me because of my performance. You uphold me by the righteousness of your Son. I daily find myself drawn to lesser loves while I know that you are the spring and fountain of all joy. You are not harsh with me, though you are fierce in your wrath. You know my weakness, and you have sent your son to condescend to my loneliness. No greater father is there than my maker and redeemer. This is to whom I belong. Amen.

Parenting Project

In faithful homebuilding, parents proactively apply biblical wisdom to establish their family. The following project helps you thoughtfully implement the timeless truth of God’s word into the specific situation of your family.

Discuss with Your Spouse

Project Explanation

Weekly Habits for Family Worship

In this project, you and your spouse should sketch out a typical week for your family. Identify the weekly rhythms that will help your family become a home of worship and devotion to the Lord. Consider fixed times for family dinner, family worship, and family recreation. Identify the specific habits and practices you want to incorporate in your family, considering the uniqueness of the morning, afternoon, and evening hours. Factor into your plan times of collective family worship, private devotion, and regular church fellowship.

List of basic spiritual habits:

• Bible Reading and Memorization
• Prayer and Fasting
• Sabbath Rest and Church Fellowship
• Service and Evangelism
• Generosity and Giving
• Praise and Worship

Family Worship Liturgy

Design a family worship session that you can use to lead your house in a time of praising the Lord. Look through the basic elements of a time of worship and seek to incorporate them into a liturgy—a planned and ordered time of worship. Consider how to make this time interactive with the members of your family, encouraging as much participation as possible.

List of basic elements of family worship:

• Scripture Reading
• Memorization
• Singing
• Prayer (Thanks, Praise, Confession, Petition)
• Catechism/Confession
• Encouragement

Session Two

Between the Ages: Nurturing Faith in the Next Generation

Overview

Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.

The power for good or evil that resides in a little child is great beyond all human calculation. A child rightly trained may be a world-wide blessing, with an influence reaching onward to eternal years. But a neglected or misdirected child may live to blight and blast mankind, and leave influences of evil which shall roll on in increasing volume till they plunge into the gulf of eternal perdition.

God is accomplishing his work throughout the ages. In every generation, God has preserved his people. Across the epochs of human history, God works his mighty salvation. The story of the world is the grand narrative of God achieving merciful rescue and gracious redemption of people from all cultures and all times. One of the main vehicles that passes the faith from one generation to the next is the family. Godly homes are tributaries that nurture and nourish devotion to God in the lives of others. Good or bad, the influence of a family extends for generations. By nature, families are intergenerational. Children, adults, and the elderly coexist in mutually edifying ways. But the intergenerational dynamic of the family precedes the current generation (through the influence of one’s ancestors) and extends to those yet born (marking the lives of one’s descendants). Importantly, the church—as a family of faith—is also an intergenerational community. Each generation must look back to its forefathers with thanksgiving and caution as it considers what it means to live out the faith in the present age. When children are born, our focus should (rightly) turn toward the future, reflecting how our parental work can pass on the faith for generations to come. But we look best toward the future in hope with a deference to the past. Such is the great and noble work of parenting: stewards dutifully passing on the faith of our fathers to the next generation.

Key Idea

As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers.

Session 2 Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds

Verse 1
Let children hear the mighty deeds
Which God performed of old,
Which in our younger years we saw,
And which our fathers told.

Verse 2
He bids us make his glories known,
His works of power and grace;
And we’ll convey his wonders down
Through every rising race.

Verse 3
Our lips shall tell them to our sons,
And they again to theirs;
That generations yet unborn
May teach them to their heirs.

Verse 4
Thus shall they learn in God alone
Their hope securely stands;
That they may ne’er forget his works,
But practise his commands.

Scripture Reading

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob.

Responsive Call

Reader: Lord, You have been our dwelling place through all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

All: I will sing of the loving devotion of the Lord forever; with my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.

Reader: The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace, like gold purified sevenfold. You, O Lord, will keep us; You will forever guard us from this generation.

All: For the Lord is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.

Opening Prayer

God of the Ages, you have been faithful to your people in all generations. We confess: the word of the Lord endures forever. We proclaim: your works are mighty and merciful from age to age. We stand in between the generations to bear witness to your great name and your glorious redemption. We are beneficiaries, heirs of the faith from devoted generations that have come before. We are stewards, tasked with responsibly passing on the faith to the next generation. Help us to declare your word and works to our children. Assist us to make known your wonders to our children’s children. Empower us to build a Christian home to serve the generations yet born. Make us vehicles that keep the faith intact, preserve the truth, and recount your spectacular deeds. Form and fashion our home that every family member would learn to put their trust in God. Amen.

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Focus your thinking around the key idea and biblical wisdom. Review the introduction and discuss the scriptural proverb to help orient you to the main theme of this session.

Introduction

Hear this, O elders; and give ear, all who dwell in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.

The Christian home is a stewardship. The parents are stewards of God … They are invested only with delegated authority. Their home is held by them only in trust. It belongs to them in the same sense in which a household belongs to a steward. It is not at their absolute disposal … These children are the heritage of the Lord; they are not at the absolute disposal of their parents; but merely entrusted to their care to be educated and dealt with according to the will of God … Thus the interest of the child should be the reward of the parent. God will, it is true, reward the faithful steward of the family … As the faithful stewards of God, we should dedicate our household in all respects to Him, and make it tributary to His glory.

God calls parents to be primary caretakers of their children. As caretakers, parents must assume the role of a faithful steward—a servant who seeks to use their position, power, and influence to diligently oversee that which has been entrusted to their care. God has not only entrusted our children to us, but he also charged us with the responsibility of delivering the truth to our children. Fundamentally, the primary duty of stewards is to please the master, putting into order a household that ultimately belongs to God. As stewards, parents recognize God as the master of their home. As such, God’s will serves as the charter for all family life. His authority operates as the governing rule of the household. His revealed truth is the creed and canon confessed. His revealed word is the blueprint and design for family order. God has delegated to parents the responsibility to raise their children in the truth and pass on the faith to the next generations. In this way, children belong more to the Lord than they belong to their parents. The stewardship of parenting vocation requires that fathers and mothers see themselves as a part of an intergenerational community of faith, nurturing devotion to God in a way that preserves and promotes the faith for future generations.

Biblical Wisdom

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.

Core Principle

Parenting takes place in the midst of the generations. We are recipients of the past and cultivators of the future. The intergenerational nature of the family (and the Christian faith) is a most precious gift. Within a home, it is considered a great blessing to see one’s children’s children. As the proverb says, “grandchildren are the crown of the aged.” Godly parents who see their children raise children of their own recognize this as a God-given privilege not experienced by everyone. Grandchildren are honor, joy, and dignity to those advanced in years. As much as grandparents bask in the blessing of grandchildren, children find great honor and dignity in their parents. The proverb teaches that “the glory of a son is his father.” Children find importance, worth, meaning, and significance from their parents. Instinctively, children look up to their parents as objects of affection, sources of security, and models of emulation. Godly families well-ordered after God’s design enjoy the rich interaction, mutual dependence, and joyous celebration of the generations. When families dysfunction and decay, generations turn against each other to their dishonor and hurt. But godly parents foster the health of their home by relishing in the intergenerational nature of child-rearing—past, present, and future.

Group Discussion

Exploring the Biblical Text

Study God’s word together. Read the passage. Annotate the text and record your reflections on the following page. Answer the discussion questions, using the biblical commentary to help. Then, discuss the passage as a community.

Scriptural Passage

^78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth. ² I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning, ³ that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us. ⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the Lord and His might, and the wonders He has performed. ⁵ For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, ⁶ that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born— to arise and tell their own children ⁷ that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments. ⁸ Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹ The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle. ¹⁰ They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. ¹¹ They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them. ¹² He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. ¹³ He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall. ¹⁴ He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night. ¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas. ¹⁶ He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. ¹⁸ They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved. ¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

²¹ Therefore the Lord heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel, ²² because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation. ²³ Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens. ²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven. ²⁵ Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. ²⁶ He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might. ²⁷ He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. ²⁹ So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. ³⁰ Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths, ³¹ God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe. ³³ So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror. ³⁴ When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. ³⁶ But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues. ³⁷ Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant. ³⁸ And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath. ³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! ⁴¹ Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They did not remember His power— the day He redeemed them from the adversary, ⁴³ when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. ⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink. ⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. ⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust. ⁴⁷ He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet. ⁴⁸ He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning. ⁴⁹ He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels. ⁵⁰ He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague. ⁵¹ He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham. ⁵² He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. ⁵³ He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.

⁵⁴ He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired. ⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. ⁵⁶ But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees. ⁵⁷ They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow. ⁵⁸ They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols. ⁵⁹ On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely. ⁶⁰ He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men. ⁶¹ He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary. ⁶² He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage. ⁶³ Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs. ⁶⁴ His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine. ⁶⁶ He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame. ⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim. ⁶⁸ But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved. ⁶⁹ He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever. ⁷⁰ He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; ⁷¹ from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance. ⁷² So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

Discussion Questions

Searching the Text

Seeking the Truth

Evaluating Our Lives

Passing the Faith to the Next Generations

But You, O Lord, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations.

Every father of a family should consider himself as charged with the souls of those whom he hopes to leave behind him, and as contributing to the future propagation of the truth, by every act of devotion performed in his house. Wherever he has a tent, God should have an altar.

Introduction

When we think about the nature of a family unit, we must marvel at God’s creative genius. Through families we maintain a connection to the distant past and leave a legacy for the coming future. It is not uncommon for a family unit to have three or four generations living at the same time, experiencing this intergenerational reality in real time. The tight-knit bonds of intergenerational family relationships are powerful, shaping our values, beliefs, character, and worldview. Each individual person owes his existence to an extended ancestry of marriages and births that were ultimately out of his control. Families exist to bring other humans into the world that will eventually form families of their own. Only God knows the impact our lives and families will make in the distant future. According to God’s design, the family is a self-propagating organism—called to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. The joy of marriage naturally gives way to the desire for children.

But marriage and family are meant for more than mere procreation. Because our children embody the future, it matters what kind of people our children become. Children require nurture, care, and guidance. Left to themselves, children will be misshapen and malformed. Parents are frontline workers in faith formation: nurturing devotion to God by passing the faith to the next generation. Psalm 78:1–8 is a spectacular parenting psalm that captures this vision for parenting. While surrounding culture defies God’s design for family, marriage, and parenting, it is incumbent upon Christian parents to restore God’s vision for godly parenting: parents are stewards of God’s timeless truth who pass on the faith of the fathers to their children by cultivating a family life of intergenerational relationship, Christian community, and devotion to God. One of the greatest ways to impact society is by faithfully attending to the raising of our children after God’s design. Let’s be attentive to how this psalm can help us understand parenting as a most sacred duty before God, toward our children, and for the sake of the world.

Our Fathers Have Relayed to Us: Parents as Stewards of Divine Truth

God has appointed parents as stewards of the truth. Godly leadership in the home must involve depositing the content of the faith to their children. Psalm 78 draws attention to this crucial calling in the family and the faith community. God’s people can only reach maturity if they establish their lives on divinely revealed truth. As God’s revelation to mankind, the Bible contains “instruction” (78:1) to be heeded. Through the Holy Spirit, God’s inspired word has been preserved by the “words” (78:1) of his faithful followers. Divine truth is not always easy to understand, but, when it is embraced with faith, God’s words are like “parables” (78:2) that help elucidate the riddles and quandaries of life. These parables record the story of God’s redemptive work in saving his people. The truth of God’s word is an ancient and timeless truth, revealing “things hidden from the beginning” (78:2) that were previously concealed but have been progressively revealed over time. God’s word not only contains “law” (78:5)—commanding us in the ways of life—but also bears “testimony” (78:5) to God—inviting us to put our faith and trust in the Lord. Ultimately, the truth of God’s word bears witness to God: declaring “the praises of the Lord and His might” (78:4), celebrating “the wonders He has performed” (78:4), and recounting “His works” (78:7). Parents are best caretakers of their children by being faithful custodians of the truth.

Parents must not be mere defenders of the truth. They must faithfully deliver the truth to their children. It is important that parents and families have a vision and strategy for communicating God’s truth to their children. Helpfully, Psalm 78 offers a mosaic of terms to describe the act of delivering the truth: “open mouth” (78:2), “utter” (78:2), “relayed” (78:3), “not hide” (78:4), “declare” (78:4), and “tell” (78:6). While the psalm addresses the responsibility of the teacher in faithfully delivering the truth, it also enjoins the recipients to humbly accept the truth: “give ear” (78:1), “listen” (78:1), “heard” (78:3), and “known” (78:3; cf. 78:6). Communication of the truth is a two-way street: faithful teachers who pass on the truth intact to the next generation and a younger generation that is humble, teachable, and receptive to accept the truth as divine revelation.

Christian parents are temporary caretakers of their children. God has lent children to us for a short time in order to raise them in the faith. While we will always enjoy a parental relationship with our children, this relationship will change over the years. The years when children live in our home are to be focused on faith formation. The aim of parenting is to eventually release the next generation into the world, rooted in uncompromising godliness and fervent faith. From a biblical standpoint, the stewardship of children involves being custodians of divine revelation. At its most basic level, Christian formation in the home is a matter of delivering and receiving: Christian parents bear responsibility to faithfully and earnestly deliver the truth to their children, and children bear the responsibility to humbly and simply receive the truth in genuine faith.

Like church leaders, parents are spiritual leaders in their home. One of the most fundamental jobs of a “parent as pastor” in homebuilding is to communicate God’s truth to the family. Biblical truth should be the canon by which all other truth claims are measured. The character of God should be the defining standard of what is good, right, and moral. The testimony of God’s works should form the exuberant confession and collective memory of the household. The unchanging ancient truths of Scripture should be the sure guide to navigate every modern complexity and conundrum. The redemptive storyline of Scripture should shape worldviews about the true story of the world. A home and hearth built on the truth—testimony about God’s holy character, inestimable worth, and redemptive work—grows a family strong. Foundationally, strong families make the community healthy. In turn, healthy communities impact and influence surrounding society. Leading one’s home in faith formation is one of the best ways to leave a mark in the world that lasts beyond one’s limited life.

To the Next Generation: Being Intentional about Intergenerationality

The work of faith formation is an intergenerational work. But as this psalm attests, the influence and impact of generations is multifaceted. In one sense, we are the recipients of the faith from the previous generation: the truth is that which “we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us” (78:3). As recipients of the faith, the current generation is responsible to deliver the faith to the next generation: the truth we have received “we will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation” (78:4). This responsibility is a moral and spiritual duty assigned from God: God “commanded our fathers to teach to their children” (78:5). Our intergenerational duty should not be onerous but hopeful. We should bear witness to God’s word and works so that “the coming generation would know them” (78:6). Our vision of faith formation should include “even children yet to be born” (78:6). But the aim of faith formation is not simply to deposit the content of the faith, but the capacity for each generation to pass on the faith for themselves. Even more, this vision of intergenerational faith formation aims to impact the unborn generation so that they will “to arise and tell their own children” (78:6). But not everything from past generations is worthy of emulation. Inasmuch as we should receive the faithful testimony of truth passed down, we should also be warned by faithless examples from the past: to “not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation” (78:8).

The life of faith is intrinsically intergenerational. So should parenting intentionally be. The Christian family is the glad beneficiary of the faith from saints in prior generations. Even if one cannot identify Christians in their own family tree, each believer is indebted to the interconnected chain of families and communities who preserved the faith from generation to generation. As a believer, faithful saints in the past are your heritage—your spiritual fathers and mothers—even if they are not in your immediate bloodline. As parents, we should strive to make our parenting as intergenerational as possible. We should celebrate the ancient faith, rehearse the lives of the saints of old, and share testimony of God’s past dealings with his people. We must warn about the mistakes of the past and forecast the challenges of the future. We must train our children to not only embrace the truth, but have the competency to pass on the truth to others. We must be ever cautious of the danger of forgetting God. We must build strong our collective memory: frequently retelling the true stories of God’s dealings with his people. We must see children as a heritage from the Lord. In the raising of children, we are nurturing future adults, those who will have families of their own. We should reflect on how our parenting work can impact three, four, or five generations into the future. According to this calling, no parenting plan would ever be complete without a concerted effort to incorporate the faith community as a mainstay in their family life and faith formation efforts.

He Established a Testimony: Recentering the Role of the Faith Community

The transfer of truth to the next generation is a community venture. The appeal to faith formation in this psalm is clearly set within the covenant community—“give ear, O my people” (78:1). God established his revealed truth “in Jacob” and “in Israel” (78:5). Both of these phrases serve as references to the collective of God’s people. Even the repeated household terms in this passage—fathers (78:3, 5, 8) and children (78:4–6)—depict the larger corporate body of God’s people as a faith family investing in the homebuilding of each individual family unit. The household of faith has the building of healthy family units as one of its main tasks. Not only does the family play a vital role in intergenerational faith formation; God’s people also function like a family, sharing in the work of passing the faith to the next generations.

Christian hearth-building must be set within the context of the faith community. While the sphere of the family is sacred and God-ordained, individual family units do not possess within themselves all that is needed for child-rearing in the ways of God. Although each family should function like a “little church,” it should not be a replacement for the church. Within the faith community, parents find plentiful resources for their parenting vocation: intentional mentoring, marital exemplars, spiritual oversight, biblical teaching, meaningful fellowship, personal accountability, corporate worship, moral development, doctrinal instruction, habit formation, selfless service, material aid, and missional purpose. None of this means the parents forgo their primary shepherding role and hand over the child-raising responsibility to the community. Rather, it means that godly parenting earnestly fulfills its faith formation responsibility by setting its household firmly in the life of Christian community. Christian community assists in the passing of the faith to the next generation. The faith community is like a spiritual incubation chamber that nurtures families, marriages, and children to be spiritually mature.

That They Should Put Their Confidence in God: Nurturing Devotion to the Lord

Faith formation in the home and in the faith community aims to nurture people in devotion to God. This psalm makes explicit the purpose of our intergenerational and community-based parenting work: “that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments” (78:7). This purpose statement highlights a threefold goal for the next generation: genuine trust in God himself, vigilant memory of God’s deeds, and faithful obedience to God’s word. True devotion to God must involve receptivity of the truth and rejection of falsehood. The psalmist describes the goal of faith formation as forsaking the faithlessness of previous generations: to “not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God” (78:8). But avoiding falsehood and error is not enough. We need to nurture children who entrust themselves to God.

Christian homebuilding is a matter of nurturing Christ followers in devotion to God. When parents communicate God’s word to their children, too often they merely seek a child’s behavioral conformity to family rules. While respect of a parent’s authority, order in the home, and obedience to God’s commands are important, none of these represents the overarching goal of Christian parenting. Above all, Christian parents should seek for their children to put their confidence in God (cf. 78:7). Genuine faith in God will express itself in devotion; genuine devotion will display itself in the fruit of sincere obedience. A parent ought to forgo all convenience, any ease, and every worldly benefit for their children to have wholehearted trust in God. When this faith is born in the child, parents must nurture this faith: helping them to not forget God’s works and to express their faith in obedience to God’s commands.

Again and Again: Retelling the Sacred Story to Our Sons and Daughters

The rest of the psalm (78:9–72) narrates the true stories of God’s dealings with his people. The author cyclically rehearses key portions of Israel’s history, telling of God’s marvelous works—“what He had done, the wonders He had shown them” (78:11). This record of God’s dealings with his people across the generations recounts God’s miraculous liberation from Egyptian slavery (78:12– 14, 42–53), God’s supernatural provision during wilderness wanderings (78:15–16, 19–20, 23–31, 40–41), God’s gracious enablement to take the promised land (78:54–55), and God’s righteous anger (78:21–22, 31, 59) and just punishment (78:30, 33–34, 59–64) for his people’s faithlessness. Broadly speaking, the history of Israel tells a narrative of faithlessness. Despite God’s glorious works, God’s people showed cowardice in battle (78:9), infidelity to the covenant (78:10, 57), disobedience to God’s commands (78:10, 40, 56), forgetfulness of God’s works (78:11, 42), brazen and perpetual sin (78:17, 32), rebellion against God (78:17), willful testing of God (78:18, 41, 56), inordinate craving (78:18, 29), doubt and unbelief (78:19, 22, 32), lack of reliance upon God (78:22), false repentance (78:37–38), grieving God (78:40), provoking God (78:41), and the vile practice of idolatry (78:57– 58). This heavy and harrowing list of faithlessness is the result when people do not place their confidence in God (78:7, 22). Generations can go awry without faith in God. But God remains faithful, calling his people out of sin and into genuine repentance (78:32–37), undeserved grace (7:38– 39), and divine victory (78:65–72). The psalm ends with the hope of God’s promised Messiah coming to deliver his chosen people. God shepherds his people under the skillful hands and pure character of God’s chosen deliverer (78:67–72).

The redemptive story faithfully recorded in the Bible is the faith heritage of every believer. While God’s truth can be stated in propositions, much of the Bible is an unfolding narrative of God’s gracious work to redeem his unworthy and undeserving people. Not only should parents rehearse the story of their own particular family, but they are responsible to ground their children in the story of stories. God’s word records the history of God’s ancient people as our story. Those who place their faith in God become inheritors of God’s work among his people. We should retell the true stories of God’s dealings with his people, because it tells the true story of the world. The faithlessness of our fathers serves as a grave warning. The enduring truth must become our firm bedrock. The wondrous works must stir us to worship and praise. God’s grace and forgiveness should encourage us to embrace a broken and contrite heart of genuine repentance. By retelling the story, we proactively build a faith memory in our homes that encourages confidence in God and hope in his redeeming grace.

On the lap of a mother civilizations have been laid, as she sings, teaches, and comforts her little ones. Culture is built by fathers instructing and teaching their children about God’s wise word and wondrous works. Through fireside chats and long strolling walks, grandparents have forged societies by their storytelling of the days of old. Pastors, teachers, and elders have been world-builders—and fashioners of culture—by telling the next generation the things that have been since the beginning.

Conclusion

Few vocations are more challenging and rewarding than parenting. When God forms a family, he invites us to cultivate a home. Christian homebuilding requires us to properly and precisely view ourselves as custodians of truth—divine revelation of God’s words and works that serve as the only sure foundation for meaningful existence and everlasting life. Establishing a home on the truth will require us to grapple with the intergenerational nature of parenting—grateful for past faith heritage, dutiful in forming the next generation, and hopeful for impact across many future generations. The intergenerational perspective of godly parenting helps us see the important role of the community of faith—an intergenerational context to incubate faithful followers of God. All this work aims at cultivating faith—confidence in God. May God help us rise up and form the next generation in our homes and church communities with this grand, God-sized vision that can sustain us in the midst of daily responsibilities, encourage us when undergoing great difficulty, and embolden us to stand firm regardless of the uncertain challenges on the horizon for each generation.

Session Summary

• The goal of parenting is to pass the faith to our children: to faithfully deliver God’s word and fervently recount his works to the next generation.
• Parenting is an intergenerational endeavor. We are influenced by the past generations. We should seek to parent to influence generations of those not yet born. We should heed the failures of past generations as warnings.
• Godly families help the church grow; healthy churches help families mature. The church is a family of families that seeks to establish homes in the faith.
• Godly parents nurture faith in God: to put their confidence in God and follow his commands.
• Passing the faith to the next generation involves sharing the history of God’s saving work: a true story of redemption that culminates in the work of Christ on the cross.

Charting the Path Ahead

Reflect on the session and envision next steps. Record key takeaways from the lesson. Conclude your time by praying as small groups and a whole community. Review next steps.

Final Review

Small Group Prayer

Corporate Prayer

Eternal God, you have been the dwelling place of your people for all generations. God who is not bound by time, accomplish your purpose from age to age. God who is not limited by place, work your redemption in all creation. God who is not subject to shadows of change, fulfill your word in every generation. Make us godly stewards, who faithfully testify to your word and fervently recount your works. Keep our children from forgetting, ignoring, or dismissing your marvelous deeds. Move them to place their confidence in the one and only true God. With thanksgiving, make us grateful for the faith of previous generations. With humility, help us learn from the mistakes of the past. By your grace, help us to break cycles of sin and end strongholds of wickedness. With earnestness, help us to invest in our children as a most noble calling. We consecrate our children to you. We embrace our parenting role as custodians and caretakers of precious little ones who ultimately belong to you. Help us, O God! Amen!

Next Steps

• Meet with a mentor to review this session.
• Memorize the biblical proverb.
• Complete the spiritual disciplines over the course of the week.
• Finish your personal and parenting projects.

Session 2 Weekly Disciplines

Scripture Reading

Read the main biblical text studied in this session. Use this passage to spend time in reflection and prayer.

Prepare Your Heart

Pray this prayer to prepare to meet with the Lord. Spend a few minutes in silence, quieting your heart and focusing your mind.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

Read the Passage

Reread the biblical passage studied in this session. Read it slowly and reflectively. You will use this passage to guide your time of prayer.

Key Passage: Psalm 78:1–72

Parallel Passages: Exodus 13:1–16; Deuteronomy 6:20–25; Joshua 24:1–33; Psalm 105:1–43

Consider the Truth

Pray the Text

Rest in God’s Presence

After praying to the Lord, sit in silence for a few minutes. Rest in God’s presence, recognizing his knowledge of and love for you. After a few minutes of silence, pray this prayer.

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Topical Study

Study the key themes of this session by reading and reflecting on parallel passages collected below.

Verse Collection

Prayerfully read through the selected passages of Scripture, identifying important truths they teach. Mark verses that you find encouraging.

Genesis 18:18–19

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.

Deuteronomy 4:9

Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 6:20–23

In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?” then you are to tell him, "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household. But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.

Deuteronomy 32:7

Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.

Deuteronomy 32:45–47

When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law. For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Judges 2:10–11

After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works that He had done for Israel. And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

Psalm 22:27–31

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him. For dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—even those unable to preserve their lives. Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation. They will come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn—all that He has done.

Psalm 44:1

We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.

Psalm 48:12–14

March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers, consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation. For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.

Psalm 71:17–19

O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come. Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You?

Psalm 102:18–21

Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the Lord. For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the Lord gazed out from heaven to earth to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death, that they may proclaim the name of the Lord in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem.

Psalm 103:17–18

But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the Lord extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children—to those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.

Psalm 145:3–5

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable. One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts—the glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will meditate on Your wondrous works.

Isaiah 38:19

The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

2 Timothy 3:14–17

But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

Concluding Reflection

Review and reflect on the passages you just read. Identify verses that you find most convicting, challenging, and comforting.

Art Observation

Use the artwork on the following page to help you reflect on the teaching of the session. Use the Scripture passage and questions below to help guide your thinking.

Scriptural Reading

The following biblical passage describes a basic essence of the Christian life. Read the biblical passage before you observe the painting.

Your sons will succeed your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land. I will commemorate your name through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you forever and ever.

Painting Reflection

Take time to observe the painting. Use the following questions to prompt your reflection. Record observations, insights, or questions below.

Observations

Spiritual Practice

Use the following activity as a concrete way to commune with the Lord. Set aside enough time to complete this activity in its entirety, following each step as a guide.

Getting Quiet Before God

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Acknowledging God as Father

After several minutes of silence, offer this prayer to God. Pray with open hands facing upwards to symbolize you stand before God in complete openness.

Almighty God, you know my end from my beginning. In your sovereignty, you placed me in my family of origins. By your grace, I am now forming a family of my own. I recognize that my parents were not perfect. But I also acknowledge that I was not blameless either. Help me to accept my upbringing with gratitude, thankful for the ways you preserved me. Assist me to order my own family according to your will, humbly seeking to honor you in all things. In this journey of parenting, thanks be to you that you are my loving heavenly Father and the church is my faith family. Form and shape our family as you see fit. I submit myself and surrender my family to you. Amen!

Family Picture

If you can, find a picture of your parents. Spend time reflecting on your upbringing, identifying what you appreciated and regretted about your upbringing.

Humbling Yourself Before God

Come to God with humility and complete dependence. Ask him to cover the sins of the past and instruct you in the ways of his will for the future.

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose iniquity the Lord does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Seeking God’s Help

Ask for God’s help to embrace a life of devotion and commitment to the Lord. After praying to God, use the following verse as a way to close your time with the Lord.

When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night. For You are my help; I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

Record Final Thoughts

Journal Reflection

Journal your thoughts on this week’s study. Use the questions as prompts to guide your time in journal reflection.

Reflection Questions

Session 2 Reflective Projects

Personal Project

The following activity helps you internalize the biblical teaching and develop theological wisdom for parenting by grappling with the implications of the teaching in your own life.

Project Instructions

Take time to reflect on your upbringing and family heritage. Consider dynamics that give reason for gratitude (i.e., things you appreciate about your upbringing), forgiveness (i.e., things that you need to forgive your parents for), and repentance (i.e., things you need to confess and for which you need to ask for forgiveness). Write a letter to your parents that expresses these thoughts to them. In this letter cast a vision of what you want your parenting to be to impact future generations—a vision for the generations.

Example Letter

Mom and Dad, I am grateful for your faithfulness to the Lord in raising us as children. You loved each other well as husband and wife, and that gave us security and stability in the home. You opened your home to guests. You served the church with focus and attention. I am sorry that I made seasons of life more difficult than they ought to have been. My anxiety and emotional struggles controlled my behavior in ways that made things challenging for the family. I did not fully respect you all the time. Please forgive me. I know that you were not perfect. There were times when I wished some things were different. I forgive you of these things and own my own responsibility during this time. I commit the past, present, and future to the Lord. Your loving son.

Letter to Your Parents

Parenting Project

In faithful homebuilding, parents proactively apply biblical wisdom to establish their family. The following project helps you thoughtfully implement the timeless truth of God’s word into the specific situation of your family.

Discuss with Your Spouse

Project Explanation

Monthly and Yearly Habits for Family Tradition

In this project, you and your spouse will think through how you want to pass the faith to your children. Specifically, you will chart out an annual and monthly plan for the year that allows you to proactively build a family tradition. Of course, these traditions can adjust as your family grows. But make sure that these traditions help foster confidence in God. Consider: “What would we want to do on a monthly and annual basis that will build a home that is marked by confidence in God?” Or: “How can we proactively plan annual and monthly rhythms that will help pass on the faith for four to five generations from now?”

Consider the following ideas:

• Family Vacation and Field Trips
• Service and Mission Opportunities
• Festal Celebrations and Holidays (Holy Days)
• Community Events
• Hospitality and Welcoming
• House Cleaning, Family Ordering, and Calendar Planning
• Formative and Educational Opportunities
• Outdoor and Nature Experiences
• Sabbaticals and Times of Spiritual Retreat
• Annual Examen, Reflection, Renewal, and Resolutions

Monthly Planning Calendar

Session Three

Over the Flock: Tending to Our Children Like Shepherds

Overview

I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the Lord.

Christian parents! See and accept your blessed calling; you are the shepherds of the Divine love to tend and feed the lambs. In His Church the Chief Shepherd has many shepherds to care for the flock, but none who can so care for the lambs as the parents. ‘He makes Him families like a flock:’ it is to parental love, inspired and sanctified by redeeming love, that Jesus looks for the building up of His Church … ‘Feed My lambs:’ when this word is made the law of a parent’s duty, what gentleness and love will it inspire, what heavenly hope, what faithful, watchful care, and what an unceasing life of faith in the love and grace and blessing of Jesus on our home.

God has appointed parents over their children. But we must not wield parental authority merely for our own benefit, treating children like servants and slaves. Instead, we should be over our children like a good shepherd is over his beloved sheep. Christian parents are to view their home as God’s flock entrusted to their care. There is great promise, inspiration, and practical help in viewing the parenting vocation as shepherding work. First, Christian parents are under-shepherds, caretakers who tend to their domestic flock as servants of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. As such, Christian parents are sheep in God’s flock before they are shepherds over their children. They learn to care for their children as they receive God’s loving shepherding care. Second, shepherding work parallels duties of godly parents. Shepherds protect, guard, feed, and tend to the flock with utmost care. To embody the role of a shepherd in one’s home is to display selfless love, put on Christlike humility, cultivate a watchful and vigilant spirit, and nourish their children in the love of God. As pastors tend to the church as God’s flock, Christian parents are to view their homes in a churchly fashion—as a flock that requires attentive and godly shepherding oversight.

Key Idea

As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us.

Session 3 Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Verse 1
Savior, like a shepherd lead us,
Much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us,
For our use Thy folds prepare:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.

Verse 2
We are Thine, do Thou befriend us,
Be the guardian of our way;
Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us,
Seek us when we go astray:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Hear, O hear us when we pray;
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Hear, O hear us when we pray.

Verse 3
Thou hast promised to receive us,
Poor and sinful though we be;
Thou hast mercy to relieve us,
Grace to cleanse, and pow’r to free:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Early let us turn to Thee;
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Early let us turn to Thee.

Verse 4
Early let us seek Thy favor,
Early let us do Thy will;
Blessed Lord and only Savior,
With Thy love our bosoms fill:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still;
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still.

Scripture Reading

Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Rally Your mighty power and come to save us. Restore us, O God, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Responsive Call

All: Hear, O nations, the word of the Lord, and proclaim it in distant coastlands.

Reader: The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock.

All: For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him.

Reader: They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the Lord— the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds.

All: Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.

Opening Prayer

Overseeing God, we entrust ourselves to you, great Shepherd of the sheep. We are hungry: make us lie down in green pastures. We are thirsty: bring us to calm and refreshing waters. We are weary: grant us rest and restoration in our souls. We are prone to wander: lead us in the paths of righteousness. We are weak: defend us from foe and give strength to our feeble frame. We are lost: rescue us from sin and safely bring us into your fold. The world is fierce and unforgiving, dangerous and depraved, perilous and corrupt. For us and for our family, carry us through the valley of the shadow of death. As we have received your all-wise and ever-good shepherding care, help us to tend to our children, caring for them the way you have cared for us. Make us faithful shepherds of our family flock. Help us, O God, we pray! Amen.

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Focus your thinking around the key idea and biblical wisdom. Review the introduction and discuss the scriptural proverb to help orient you to the main theme of this session.

Introduction

He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

Again, “Come near to me, Lord, since I am a man, and being a man am weak, and nothing can make me strong but thy presence. I am a man, so weak that if thou depart from me, I faint, I fall, I pine, I die; come near to me, then, O Lord, that by thy strength I may be encouraged and be fitted for service … Come near me, then, my God, though I am so feeble, and as a tender parent feeds his child, and the shepherd carries his lambs, so come near to me.”

God is the Great Shepherd of his people. Showing his benevolent care, God provides for the needs of those who belong to him. With divine might and unsurpassable strength, God protects his people from predator and foe. Leading his people on the paths of righteousness, God disciplines and corrects. God demonstrates his love for his people in his tender care and loving supply. God nurtures, guides, secures, defends, and oversees his people as a diligent shepherd watches over his flock—all out of love and concern. Christian parents must care for their children the way that God tends to his people. When godly parents view their home as a flock, they can start to learn how to shepherd their children the way that God has shepherded them. In fact, parents best shepherd the flock of their families when they entrust themselves to God’s shepherding care. Parents fulfill their shepherding role best when they assume their role as under-shepherds: God’s representative caretakers assigned with the task of guiding their children under the gracious supervision of God’s shepherding care.

Biblical Wisdom

Be sure to know the state of your flocks, and pay close attention to your herds.

Core Principle

Parenting work is like the work of a shepherd. A faithful shepherd provides for his sheep, defends them against enemies, leads them on safe paths, and corrects them when they err. A good shepherd shows his care for his sheep out of great love and genuine concern. But a loving shepherd is best able to care for his sheep when he knows what they need. This proverb calls us to “be sure to know the state of your flocks” and “pay close attention to your herds.” Shepherds must be attentive to their flocks. Good shepherding care depends upon the ability of the shepherd to accurately and regularly know the condition of one’s sheep. Likewise, parents must carefully attend to their children: understanding their needs, watching for danger, scoping the environment, evaluating their health, nurturing their growth, and admonishing them toward godliness. Parenting as shepherds requires this first great work: paying close attention to our surroundings, knowing the needs of one’s children, discerning evil influences in the world, and cultivating a God-honoring family culture.

Group Discussion

Exploring the Biblical Text

Study God’s word together. Read the passage. Annotate the text and record your reflections on the following page. Answer the discussion questions, using the biblical commentary to help. Then, discuss the passage as a community.

Scriptural Passage

^23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. ³ He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Discussion Questions

Searching the Text

Seeking the Truth

Evaluating Our Lives

Shepherding Work in the Family Flock

Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Act lovingly to your children. In all your counsels and commands let them read love. Love will command honour; and how can a parent but love the child who is his living picture, nay, part of himself. The child is the father in the second edition.

Introduction

Perhaps no context more shapes a person than the family setting. Family life is intensely formative. It is in the home that young children learn about faith, morality, relationships, values, work ethic, and life habits. During our earliest years of life, we are shaped by conversation, hobbies, humor, and shared experience in the home. The values upheld on the hearth eventually trickle into mainstream society. The influence of the family can go in two directions: leading children on the paths of righteousness or misguiding them on the road to destruction. We often indirectly “pick up” as much from our family culture as we do from direct instruction. Consequently, how we parent our children is as important as what we do in our care and instruction of our children. The mode of parenting is as crucial as the content of our teaching and substance of our discipline.

Although many metaphors helpfully describe a parent’s role and calling, one dominant biblical metaphor stands out to capture a godly mode of parenting. Throughout Scripture, leaders are commonly referred to as shepherds—overseers who care for God’s people like a herdsman tends to sheep. This term is used of Israel’s rulers and church leaders. Even God himself describes his relationship to his people with shepherding terms. For this reason, we turn to Psalm 23:1–6 to aid us in our parental journey of Christian hearth-building and homebuilding. This psalm will help us learn basics of good shepherding in hopes to apply these skills in the way we care for our children. Ultimately, we hope to shepherd our children like God shepherds his people. Certainly, parents are not a replacement for God, but they are set up in their parental role as representatives of God. Because God relates to us as a shepherd, we should apprentice ourselves to his way of divine care. In the Lord as “my shepherd” we will surely find no better example to learn how to faithfully tend to our family flock.

The Lord Is My Shepherd: Exploring God’s Shepherding Work

God rules with divine strength, righteous character, and loving concern. He is unrivaled in the way he cares for his own. God’s people express their deep appreciation for and childlike trust in God’s care with the words: “the Lord is my shepherd” (23:1). The shepherd image is quite vivid, depicting a vocation that involves oversight, care, guidance, and consistent supervision. God tends to his people as a shepherd watches over his flock—alert, attentive, tender, circumspect, and vigilant. Sheep depend upon the shepherd for their livelihood and safety. Shepherds feed, protect, lead, and defend their sheep, even at the cost of their own lives. God as shepherd and believers as sheep are both fitting descriptions. What is noteworthy in the opening confession of this well-known psalm is the claim that God is “my” (23:1) shepherd. This is a claim to personal relationship with the overseeing and caregiving God. God’s shepherding care extends across his flock but is also tailored to the individual needs of each member of his covenant community. As a shepherd knows his sheep and as sheep know their shepherd, so God is personally and relationally involved in caring for his people.

Parenting work done in a shepherding mode emulates God himself—the Shepherd of shepherds. Sheep are needy, weak, and vulnerable. Left to themselves they wander, stray, and get into danger. Without a shepherd to defend them, sheep are easy targets for predators. But sheep are most treasured by a loving shepherd. Parents need to be vigilant shepherds of their children, studying the way God cares for his own people. Parenting children involves the work of providing for the needy, caring for the weak, defending the vulnerable, and guarding the flock from harmful predators. But godly parents must not only learn to shepherd as God shepherds; they first must be shepherded by God. In fact, parents’ ability to shepherd their children is directly related to their own submission to and receptivity of God’s shepherding care. We ever remain more fundamentally God’s sheep than God’s under-shepherding servants. Said another way, parents shepherd their children best when they are submissive sheep under God’s faithful shepherding hand.

Green Pastures and Quiet Waters: Enjoying God’s Plentiful Provision and Guidance

The opening of this psalm describes God as a shepherd who provides for his people. God’s kindness and tender care are highlighted by the way he brings his people to “green pastures” and “quiet waters” (23:2). In these places, sheep can safely find food and drink. Green pastures bear witness to the fact that God supplies sufficiently for his people. Quiet waters attest to God sustaining his people in rest and repose. The result of God’s provision is that the sheep “shall not want” (23:1). All their needs are met by the benevolent and open-handed shepherd. God holistically cares for his sheep—body and soul. In the psalm, God’s shepherding care results in a refreshed and renewed inner being. God’s provision causes the sheep to testify: “He restores my soul” (23:3). God nurtures and uplifts, feeds and encourages, and nourishes and rejuvenates. He sustains body and fortifies soul. But God’s provision is more than kindhearted holistic supply; it is omniscient personalized care. God knows everything that his sheep really need, being intimately involved in their lives. God is the sovereign and unerring guide and director of the sheep’s movements. The sheep testify about the Lord: “He makes me lie down” (23:2), “He leads me” (23:2), and “He guides me” (23:3). God is able to amply and abundantly meet the needs of the sheep because he is an all-knowing and all-wise shepherd. Ultimately, the physical provisions for the sheep culminate in moral guidance: God guides his people “in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name” (23:3). God’s shepherding care expresses itself by leading his people to the best of all goods: God himself.

God appoints parents over the care of their children. Like a shepherd, parents are in a position to know more about the world and life than their children. From birth, infants are like sheep, utterly reliant upon their God-appointed caretakers. It can feel draining and depleting to constantly meet the needs of our children. The joy of parental work is providing for the needs of precious little humans who can offer us nothing in return. In this way, parenting demands a selfless spirit of constant sacrifice and outpouring generosity. Like faithful shepherds, loving parents put the needs of their children before their own comfort, convenience, or ease. But faithful parenting that lovingly and holistically meets the needs of our children is an honorable and joyful work. Christian homebuilding involves providing a place where needs are met—physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual. A home with parents who embrace shepherding care will communicate God’s unmatched omnibenevolence by their thousand little acts of daily provision. As Christian hearth and home become a place of loving provision, they also become a place of nurture and formation—a place where trust is built, dependence is rewarded, faith is established, security is experienced, and goodness is embraced. Certainly, parents need to decipher the difference between a child’s needs and wants. Parents want to give good things to their children, but they need wisdom so that their parental provision does not spoil the child. Parents always seek to offer their children what is best. In the end, this means guiding our children on a path where they can experience God’s shepherding care for themselves.

Your Rod and Staff Comfort Me: Receiving God’s Caring Protection and Correction

God’s provision for his people includes his protection over them. God’s loving supply is matched by his loyal strength. God is no weak overseer; he is an unmatched shepherd-warrior. God watches over his sheep with a guarding eye and mighty hand. He guards them from dangers without and threats within. He protects his sheep from enemies, and disciplines his sheep away from dangerous paths. The psalmist testifies about God’s defending and discipling care: “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (23:4). The rod is a weapon used to ward off predators; the staff is an instrument of guidance, correction, and leading. Together, these two shepherding tools represent God’s protection and discipline. Comfort is found in God’s safeguarding rod and his corrective staff. God uses his power to protect his people from enemies and to guide his people on the right path. Divine power applied in this way results in comfort. Sheep take refuge in God’s power to defend them against foe and fiend, adversary and opponent. But sheep also come to love God’s merciful correction as much as his mighty protection, because they know his powerfully guiding and corrective hand is keeping them from eventual danger.

Parental work is a balanced work of protection and correction. God-appointed shepherds over their home, parents safeguard their children from evil, defend them against evildoers, shelter them in difficulty, and guard them in a violent and vicious world. Equally, parental work involves correction and discipline: warning about immorality, admonishing against bad relationships, rebuking falsehood, and confronting dangerous and deadly living. Protection and correction are not antithetical to each other. To protect a vulnerable child is to demonstrate love and care. To correct an errant child is equally an expression of love and care. The rod in one hand and staff in the other is a faithful way to raise children. Godly discipline is a form of parental protection; parental protection can prove the loving intent of godly discipline. Certainly, parents can be overprotective—coddling children to the point where they face no difficulty or danger, which only leaves them unprepared for life. But parents can also forsake their protective duty, offering up children to a vulturine culture and society. To shepherd as God shepherds us, we must bear both mighty rod and righteous staff toward comforting ends.

You Are With Me: Experiencing God’s Peace-Giving Presence and Nearness

Divine protection does not mean that God keeps his people from all danger and difficulty. This psalm assumes that sheep will find themselves in harrowing circumstances. When sheep enter difficulty and danger, God’s presence is their enduring peace. Even when God’s sheep “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (23:4), they can enjoy rest and repose. The constant refrain of God’s people is a confession of trust in God’s immanent presence: “You are with me” (23:4). The presence of God overpowers all menacing threats, allowing God’s people to bear witness: “I will fear no evil” (23:4). Protection does not mean avoiding all difficulty, but seeing how God provides in the midst of surrounding enemies. In fact, God’s people testify that God will “prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (23:5).

As God’s presence offers peace to his people, parental presence is a mainstay for the Christian home. Our faithful presence with our children can be one of our greatest ministry modes to our children. Children thrive by healthy attachment and bonds with their parents. Healthy bonds with parents in the younger years can best prepare children for their independent release into the world. As children build their trust in parents who faithfully shepherd them, the hope is that the children are learning to trust ultimately in God. There is a distorted version of reliance upon parents—a codependence in which parents care for their children for their own sense of self-worth, self-esteem, and self-significance. In this malformed view of parenting, parents care for their children for the benefit it brings back to themselves. If not careful, this unbiblical mode of parenting can create entitlement, spoil character, and stifle faith. But there is also an unhealthy absenteeism in parenting, where parents are not involved and not present with their children in meaningful and healthy ways. Sometimes parents hand over the responsibility of parenting to others in the community, forsaking their primary duty to shepherd their children. No person is in a better spot to influence their children than the parents. We must avoid self-serving codependence and irresponsible absenteeism.

Much is at stake in our parenting venture. In many ways, parenting amounts to preparing our children to live faithfully in a dangerous world—a world rife with dark valleys, deadly shadows, evil forces, and hostile enemies. Faithful presence with our children helps them learn how to face difficulty with hope in God. As shepherds, we walk with our children in painful valleys so that they are prepared to endure suffering for themselves. Daily, we commune in the presence of God so that our children can learn to trust God and find victory over death itself. As a family, we live faithfully in a sinful world—embracing countercultural values in our home, teaching our children how to walk with God, and showing them through our example how to fear no evil. We feast on God’s bountiful provision while enemies surround, adversaries malign, foes ridicule, and opponents intimidate us. All the while, we do not flinch at their threats. We prepare our children for this dangerous and deadly world by entrusting them to God’s shepherding care.

I Will Dwell in the House of the Lord Forever: Looking Ahead to God’s Future Promise

God shepherds his people toward future promise. The end of the psalm expresses confidence that God’s people will eat a banquet even though their enemies surround them (23:5). In this banquet, God’s people enjoy his blessing, signified by the phrase, “You anoint my head with oil” (23:5). The blessings God provides for his people are promised to be abundant: “my cup overflows” (23:5). But God’s banquet feast is more than physical food and drink (cf. 23:1). God promises that he will bountifully supply for his people, giving them a continuous supply of unending good: “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life” (23:6). But our shepherding Lord promises even more: eternal fellowship with God for all time. The climactic conclusion of this psalm bears witness to this promised reality of eternal life with God: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (23:6). A faithful shepherd, God leads his people securely from this life into the world to come.

Godly parenting is grounded upon God’s promises. Faithful parent-shepherds orient their children to God’s blessing, training their appetites to long for all that is truly good, beautiful, and right. Certainly, some of God’s promises are experienced during our brief earthly lives. In response to these provisions, God’s people offer up thanks and praise to God. But some of God’s promises will only come to fruition in the future: eternal life, unending fellowship with God, final defeat of enemies, removal of sin and unrighteousness, and defeat of the shadow of death. When parents discharge their parental duty as faithful shepherds, they calibrate their family culture to God’s good and trustworthy promises. As Christians, a healthy family culture will yield the fruit of godly virtue when it longs for God’s blessings and promises above all else. Christian homebuilding involves celebration of God’s faithfulness, thanksgiving for timely provision, praise for undeserved blessing, expectation for bountiful supply, and hope for full life of unmixed good and world without end. No better parenting plan exists than to build hearth and home on the foundation of divine promise and unmerited blessing.

Conclusion

Godly parents follow God’s example as a faithful and loving shepherd. But godly parents first recognize that their shepherding capacity to give care to their children is directly dependent upon their accepting God’s shepherding care in their own lives. We can only give to others what we first receive from God. As faith-filled sheep we faithfully shepherd our children. In this way, God’s shepherding example becomes a most helpful and holy paradigm for parenting. In our work of provision, our vocation of leading, our duty of protection, and our ministry of presence, may we emulate the strong and kind shepherding care we have experienced from God in our own lives.

Session Summary

• Parents are primary shepherds of their children and should care for their children the way God cares for his people.
• As shepherds, parents should provide, guide, protect, and correct their children with love. As shepherds are present with their flocks, so parents should minister to their children with faithful presence.
• Parents shepherd their children by leading them into God’s promises—certain hope of a blessed future.
• Parents shepherd best when they receive God’s shepherd care in their own lives.

Charting the Path Ahead

Final Review

Reflect on the session and envision next steps. Record key takeaways from the lesson. Conclude your time by praying as small groups and a whole community. Review next steps.

Small Group Prayer

Corporate Prayer

Almighty God, you have shepherded your people throughout the generations. We are grateful to be numbered among your flock. Our greatest blessing is that we belong to you. In your grace, you sought and rescued us. In your goodness, you have provided for our daily needs. In your mercy, you have refreshed our souls. In your power, you have treaded on our foes. In your patience, you have kindly led us on the righteous paths. We are unable to shepherd our children in our own strength. Our failings are too great. Our strength is too feeble. Our hearts are too weak. We are only under-shepherds to this great work of parenting care. We can only shepherd them as you continue to daily shepherd us. Help us build Christian hearth and home. Make our home a place of green pastures and still waters, eternal life and righteous ways, loving correction and tender comfort, unending goodness and divine mercy. Help us, O God! Amen!

Next Steps

• Meet with a mentor to review this session.
• Memorize the biblical proverb.
• Complete the spiritual disciplines over the course of the week.
• Finish your personal and parenting projects.

Session 3 Weekly Disciplines

Scripture Reading

Read the main biblical text studied in this session. Use this passage to spend time in reflection and prayer.

Prepare Your Heart

Pray this prayer to prepare to meet with the Lord. Spend a few minutes in silence, quieting your heart and focusing your mind.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

Read the Passage

Reread the biblical passage studied in this session. Read it slowly and reflectively. You will use this passage to guide your time of prayer.

Key Passage: Psalm 23:1–6

Parallel Passages: 1 Chronicles 11:1–3; Jeremiah 23:1–4; Ezekiel 34:1–31; Revelation 14:1–5

Consider the Truth

Pray the Text

Rest in God’s Presence

After praying to the Lord, sit in silence for a few minutes. Rest in God’s presence, recognizing his knowledge of and love for you. After a few minutes of silence, pray this prayer.

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Topical Study

Study the key themes of this session by reading and reflecting on parallel passages collected below.

Verse Collection

Prayerfully read through the selected passages of Scripture, identifying important truths they teach. Mark verses that you find encouraging.

Psalm 28:8–9

The Lord is the strength of His people, a stronghold of salvation for His anointed. Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them and carry them forever.

Psalm 78:70–72

He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance. So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

Isaiah 40:10–11

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him. He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

Jeremiah 3:14–15

“Return, O faithless children,” declares the Lord, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

Jeremiah 23:1–4

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the Lord. Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the Lord.

Ezekiel 34:2–6

Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock? You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts. My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’

Ezekiel 34:11–16

For this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out. As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land. I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will tend My flock and make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’

John 10:11–15

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.

1 Peter 5:1–4

As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Acts 20:28–29

Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

Matthew 9:35–36

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

John 21:15–17

When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.” Jesus asked a second time,“Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.” Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”

Concluding Reflection

Review and reflect on the passages you just read. Identify verses that you find most convicting, challenging, and comforting.

Art Observation

Use the artwork on the following page to help you reflect on the teaching of the session. Use the Scripture passage and questions below to help guide your thinking.

Scriptural Reading

The following biblical passage describes a basic essence of the Christian life. Read the biblical passage before you observe the painting.

“Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.

Painting Reflection

Take time to observe the painting. Use the following questions to prompt your reflection. Record observations, insights, or questions below.

Observations

Spiritual Practice

Use the following activity as a concrete way to commune with the Lord. Set aside enough time to complete this activity in its entirety, following each step as a guide.

Getting Quiet Before God

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its pasture—a noisy throng. One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate, and go out by it. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord as their leader.

Acknowledging God as Shepherd

After several minutes of silence, offer this prayer to God. Pray with open hands facing upwards to symbolize you stand before God in complete openness.

God, we know you are gathering your flock from among the peoples. You are establishing your people across the nations. You are establishing your testimony throughout the world. In our home, we can participate in your great work, shepherding our children into your shepherding care. Help us to take this job seriously. Assist us to fulfill this work faithfully. Empower us to discharge our duty lovingly. Make us fit shepherds of our family flock. To the glory and praise of God! Amen.

Defining Home Values

Go through every room of your house and take a walk around the outside of your house. As you visit each room (i.e., kitchen, living room, bedroom, etc.), prayerfully consider what currently defines your family values and what values you want to characterize your home. As you walk outside of your house, prayerfully reflect on what kind of testimony you want your home to have in the surrounding world.

Praising God for His Care

Come before God with praise and joy. Celebrate him for his power, provision, and care.

Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and lovely to praise Him! The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.

Imagining the Investment

Consider what it will take to care for your family as shepherd. Reflect on what it will take to cultivate a family culture defined by godly values.

Entrusting Yourself to the Lord

Entrust yourself to the Lord’s care, offering him praise and honor as your caretaker, provider, and deliverer.

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Record Final Thoughts

Journal Reflection

Journal your thoughts on this week’s study. Use the questions as prompts to guide your time in journal reflection.

Reflection Questions

Session 3 Reflective Projects

Personal Project

The following activity helps you internalize the biblical teaching and develop theological wisdom for parenting by grappling with the implications of the teaching in your own life.

Project Instructions

Consider how parenting is shepherding work. Write a job description for parenting that describes it in shepherding language. Consider the challenges that will be faced, the skills that will be needed, the motivations that will be essential, and the outcomes that will be hoped for.

Example Job Description

• As a shepherd, I am tasked to lead and guide my children. I will steer them to the timeless truth of God’s word and to the paths of righteous living.
• As a shepherd, I am called to feed and nourish my family. I will study God’s word so that I can teach my family about and nurture my family with your eternal revelation. I will provide for my children in body and spirit, keeping them from unhealthy teaching and falsehood.
• As a shepherd, I am called to protect and guard my family. I will be a sentry to my home, being watchful of what is happening in surrounding culture. I will not let evil and wickedness infiltrate our walls or ears or hearts. I will be vigilant and wise with technology, cautious to not unleash the digital world prematurely upon my children, teaching them how to use it wisely, and modeling this in my own life.
• As a shepherd, I will minister and care for my family with my faithful presence. I will be around the family and involved in their lives. I will study each of my children personally, so that I know their heart and they know my voice.
• As a shepherd, I will place our home under the safekeeping of Christ—the Good Shepherd. I will teach them that the safest and most blessed life is to be one of God’s flock, fully entrusted to Jesus’ care.

Shepherding Job Description

Parenting Project

In faithful homebuilding, parents proactively apply biblical wisdom to establish their family. The following project helps you thoughtfully implement the timeless truth of God’s word into the specific situation of your family.

Discuss with Your Spouse

Project Explanation

Family Values

In this project, you will list your family values. First, work through the categories to help describe your family. Then, summarize your convictions into a summative statement (i.e., bullet points, creed-like statement, lyrics, etc.). The aim is identify values that will define the culture of your home in a summary form. Consider the following categories to evaluate current values and envision more God-centered values:

• Current Evaluation

• What we give most of our time to now (i.e., time, money, discussion topics, etc.)

• How people might describe our home now

• Future Aspirations

• The characteristics we want to define our home

• The things we want to be most important to us

• Summary of biblical values to define our family into a family creed

Session Four

In the Fear of God: Instructing Children in Godliness

Overview

Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many. I will guide you in the way of wisdom; I will lead you on straight paths.

First, then, if you would train your children rightly, train them in the way they should go, and not in the way that they would … If, then, you would deal wisely with your child, you must not leave him to the guidance of his own will. Think for him, judge for him, act for him, just as you would for one weak and blind; but for pity’s sake, give him not up to his own wayward tastes and inclinations. It must not be his likings and wishes that are consulted. He knows not yet what is good for his mind and soul, any more than what is good for his body. You do not let him decide what he shall eat, and what he shall drink, and how he shall be clothed. Be consistent, and deal with his mind in like manner. Train him in the way that is scriptural and right, and not in the way that he fancies.

In this session, we explore the role of parent as teacher. Infants are born into the world without a well-formed understanding. They need to be taught. Children do not inherently perceive danger, grasp truth, or walk in righteousness. They need instruction, guidance, teaching, and direction. Youthful naivete is initially inevitable and proves the need for education. Parental education is more than transfer of information; it is instruction in wisdom, discernment, and prudence. To gain wisdom is to gain skill in life, navigating the complexities of the world with God-honoring orientation. To educate in wisdom is to teach children what is true, good, beautiful, and right—leading them in a path of moral formation and training them to love what is holy. At its core, character development is rooted in the fear of the Lord. If we could summarize the underlying aim of all parenting work, it is this most simple yet demanding task: instruct children in the fear of the Lord. When deeply rooted in godly fear, children can grow up to be wise in the face of difficulty, godly when surrounded by evil, just in the midst of injustice, and faithful when experiencing suffering.

Key Idea

As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord.

Session 4 Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

Come, Children, Learn to Fear the Lord

Verse 1
Come, children, learn to fear the Lord
And that your days be long,
Let not a false or spiteful word
Be found upon your tongue.

Verse 2
Depart from mischief, practice love,
Pursue the works of peace;
So shall the Lord your ways approve,
And set your souls at ease.

Verse 3
His eyes awake to guard the just,
His ears attend their cry;
When broken spirits dwell in dust,
The God of grace is nigh.

Verse 4
What though the sorrows here they taste
Are sharp and tedious too,
The Lord, who saves them all at last,
Is their supporter now.

Verse 5
Evil shall smite the wicked dead;
But God secures His own,
Prevents the mischief when they slide,
Or heals the broken bone.

Verse 6
When desolation, like a flood,
O’er the proud sinner rolls,
Saints find a refuge in their God,
For He redeemed their souls.

Scripture Reading

Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever.

Responsive Call

Reader: To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

All: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding. His praise endures forever.

Reader: Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him.

All: The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.

Opening Prayer

Good Lord, you are the epitome of kindness and the pinnacle of joy. All that is righteous, pure, satisfying, and delightful is found in you alone. Worldly dainties have nothing to offer. Sinful pleasures cannot enrich or assuage our empty, pining hearts. Quench our thirst. Satiate our hunger. Fulfill our longings. Satisfy in us all that is inconsolable. Help us to taste and see that the Lord is unmixed Good. Make our home a place that magnifies your glory, celebrates your goodness, enjoys your presence, and bears witness to your greatness. May we instruct our children in the fear of the Lord, the only sure foundation for joy and bliss. May the fear of God overrule and overcome all base and baseless fears. Build a Christ-centered hearth and home that follows you in genuine faith, heartfelt honor, and wholehearted obedience. Amen.

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Focus your thinking around the key idea and biblical wisdom. Review the introduction and discuss the scriptural proverb to help orient you to the main theme of this session.

Introduction

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord that I am giving you this day for your own good?

What children are to be at a more advanced age, depends on the character they form in childhood. There is no subject of more momentous interest to the world, therefore, than the efforts of parents to educate them in the fear of God … In a few years, our sons will become the agents in all that is interesting to the church and the world, and our daughters every where exerting a happy, or baleful influence throughout human society. Our sun begins to set, theirs just begins to rise. Before we are aware of it, we shall be in our graves, or laid aside as useless, and our children occupying our places of labor and business, and exerting our influence and authority … If our children are educated in the fear of God, the happy influence of their moral training will be extended through a long line of descendants, and be diffused far and wide over the earth.

The ultimate aim of parenting is to nurture children in the fear of the Lord. Only with this most vital foundation in genuine faith can children experience true moral formation. When the fear of God is sown in the heart of the child, the core character of the youth undergoes a radical and dynamic change. They become new creatures in the Lord, orienting their conduct, speech, thoughts, desires, intentions, and relationships to what pleases God. When children grow in Christian character, their change of life is more than external modification of behavior, a change which does not weather difficulty or hardship. Genuine growth in godly character—that is, the cultivation of Christian virtue—is a substantive and lasting change. Those who fear the Lord can endure hardship, experience loss, face persecution, undergo disappointment, and suffer unmentionable ordeals with an abiding trust in God. What better aim of parenting can exist: to raise children who relinquish their autonomy, revere God, relish his goodness, rest in his promises, and reform their life based on what pleases God. To build Christian hearth and home in the fear of the Lord—a fear that rests upon tasting the unalloyed goodness of God—is to raise children as agents of transformation in the surrounding world.

Biblical Wisdom

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Core Principle

The parenting vocation is a teaching work. God appoints all parents to be primary teachers of their children. The proverb pointedly commands us, “train up a child in the way he should go.” The nuance to this instruction is important. First, training requires more than periodic lectures or verbal warnings. The best training is truth put into practice in daily life and modeled by a worthy teacher. Second, parents are to train their children in the “way he should go.” There is a way that children want to go. The natural bent of children is to sin, selfishness, and destruction. The way he should go is a path of faith, self-surrender, and righteousness. Parents are the primary agents of education for their children. While there are many topics of education that are important to explore, a parent’s most important work is to introduce children to faith in God. This proverb holds a promise along with its command: “when he is old he will not depart from it.” This promise is not an absolute guarantee of a child’s faith outcome. Sadly, children who receive godly training can walk away from the faith. Ultimately, children are responsible to apply parental teaching to their lives. Nevertheless, this proverb’s promise summarizes a general, observable truth: raising children in God’s ways will have a lasting effect on their lives.

Group Discussion

Exploring the Biblical Text

Study God’s word together. Read the passage. Annotate the text and record your reflections on the following page. Answer the discussion questions, using the biblical commentary to help. Then, discuss the passage as a community.

Scriptural Passage

^34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. ² My soul boasts in the Lord; let the oppressed hear and rejoice. ³ Magnify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together. ⁴ I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. ⁵ Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed. ⁶ This poor man called out, and the Lord heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.

⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them. ⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! ⁹ Fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing. ¹⁰ Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. ¹¹ Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ¹² Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days? ¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. ¹⁴ Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry. ¹⁶ But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth. ¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears; He delivers them from all their troubles. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit. ¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all. ²⁰ He protects all his bones; not one of them will be broken. ²¹ Evil will slay the wicked, and the haters of the righteous will be condemned. ²² The Lord redeems His servants, and none who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

Discussion Questions

Searching the Text

Seeking the Truth

Evaluating Our Lives

Forming Faith in the Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord leads to life, that one may rest content, without visitation from harm.

No man more truly loves God than he that is most fearful to offend Him … Lord, who can know you and not love you, know you and not fear you; fear you for your justice and love you for your mercy; yes, fear you for your mercy and love you for your justice, for you are infinitely good in both.

Introduction

As we seek to build our home on biblical and God-honoring foundations, we realize that homes are more than brick and mortar. The household that occupies the house is far more important in our work of Christian homebuilding. This means that our work of parenting involves focused work on our children growing into godly men and women. At its core, parenting is a work of faith development and moral formation. What we are seeking is much different from mere management of a child’s external conduct. Christian parents aim for spiritual change at the level of character and virtue. As we will learn, at the foundation of lasting spiritual transformation is the fear of the Lord. Consequently, we turn to Psalm 34:1–22, a passage that invites children to come and learn the fear of the Lord. When the fear of God is at the foundation of a home, we can cultivate an environment where our children can come to experience and embrace God for themselves in genuine faith. Only as this happens, can we hope for our children to be formed in godliness, a righteous character that comes from love of the glory of God, delight in the goodness of God, experience of the grace of God, and hope in the promise of God.

At All Times: Building Worship Habits to Live in God’s Presence

Psalm 34 opens with a call to worship. The terms in this passage highlight what a life of worship entails: blessing (34:1), praising (34:1), boasting (34:2), rejoicing (34:2), magnifying (34:3), and exalting (34:3). Specifically, this psalm offers a call to continual doxology: unceasing worship of God “at all times” and adoration that will “always be on my lips” (34:1). It is also a call for corporate worship—to praise God “with me” and to exalt God “together” (34:1). To continually and corporately worship God is to find an effective and substantive remedy for life’s many challenges. This is why the humble, lowly, poor, needy, afraid, and distressed are invited to worship God (34:2, 4, 6). Communing in God’s presence with a spirit of praise and a heart of worship is faith treatment for a life filled with difficulty and struggle.

This psalm’s introduction is yet another reminder that worship is at the heart of the Christian life and should be at the foundation of all Christian homebuilding. When a family consecrates itself to the Lord, it sets itself apart for one all-consuming purpose: exulting in the glory and goodness of God. Fathers and mothers will steward their parenting role best to the extent they prioritize corporate worship in their family. The appeal for continual worship in this psalm is instructive. Certainly, it is a call to develop habits of worship. Parents serve their family by cultivating habits of worship early on in the lives of their children. But designated times of family worship are not the only ways to cultivate a family life of God-honoring worship. Families can express God’s praise all the time. During the thousand menial tasks and unending daily routines, we can let the praise of God “always be on my lips” (34:1). Over time, the worship of God in ordinary and special moments builds a consciousness of God, teaching our children how to continually live in the presence of God.

Come, Children, Listen to Me: Calling Our Children to the Fear of God

A life of worship is fueled by the fear of God. At the center of this psalm—and at the center of the Christian life—is a healthy and holy fear of the Lord. The psalmist describes what happens to “those who fear Him” (34:7; cf. 34:9), enjoins the saints to “fear the Lord” (34:9), and summons children to be instructed in “the fear of the Lord” (34:11). Importantly, this summons is given to children: “Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (34:11). In the Bible, the fear of the Lord is a synonym for genuine faith. When people genuinely fear God, they demonstrate faith in God by seeking him (34:4, 10), looking to him (34:5), calling out to him (34:6), and taking refuge in him (34:8). Genuine faith as fear of the Lord results in divine aid (34:4), deliverance (34:4, 7), radiant joy (34:5), freedom from shame (34:5), gracious salvation (34:6), protection (34:7), blessing (34:8), and bountiful provision (34:9–10). Amazingly, when we have a fear of God, we can be delivered from all our other fears (34:4). Far from a fear that repels, the fear of the Lord is that which attracts and draws us toward the Lord in all his beauty and splendor. Those who fear God are those who “taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:9). They honor God in his holiness, revere God in his majesty, take God seriously concerning his judgment, and cherish God for his goodness.

The thematic repetition in this passage not only helps us pinpoint a major biblical theme or a vital element of Christian living, but also helps focus our parenting work on a most essential foundation. At its core, the parental vocation teaches children the fear of the Lord as the essence of biblical faith. The fear of God involves awe of God’s beauty, esteem of God’s glory, terror at God’s wrath, submission to God’s authority, and trust in God’s benevolence. From infancy and childhood to adolescence and young adulthood, parents are key in helping children navigate their fears—learning to discern what is appropriate fear and fending off irrational and baseless fears. Healthy and holy fear of God will vanquish every other lesser fear. It will make a life whole and sturdy, fit to endure great difficulty without abandoning loyalty to God.

So much of life is determined by what we fear. And learning to fear God rightly is of utmost importance in our home. But faith-building by teaching the fear of God is not fear-mongering manipulation nor authoritarian intimidation. Inasmuch as the fear of the Lord deters us from evil and alerts us to the dangers of self-centeredness, godly fear also attracts us to majesty of God, fostering awe, attachment, and allegiance that are constitutive of faith. To fear God is to bow before his might and take refuge in his power. To be drawn to God in fear is to be still and know that he is sovereign God, a truth which can calm inner fears and anxious hearts. To revere God’s glory is to stand in amazement at what he has done and surrender ourselves to his service. To be terrified at his wrath is to come and receive his grace to be rescued from the path of condemnation. To treat the holy God as the one and only and in a category by himself is also to love and adore him as our God. Different from all the other fears that plague us, a healthy and holy fear of God draws us into relationship with God.

Godly parenting in the fear of the Lord teaches children to relish the Lord as much as to revere him. Not accidentally does this psalm put the fear of the Lord alongside a personal experience of God’s goodness. Faithful parenting aims to help children “taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:9). Parental work seeks to help children unquestionably know for themselves (through experience of personal faith) that God is good. In fact, parental work as a whole is training a child’s appetites for what is ultimately good: God himself. A faith-building curriculum in the fear of God is an appetite-forming endeavor, training desires for what is wholly good, cultivating awe for what is truly beautiful, and establishing faith in what is unalterably true. When parents teach their children the fear of God, they introduce them to a fear that fosters heartfelt worship, strengthens childlike faith and dependence, shapes desires, results in divine blessing, and triumphs over all other fears. A faith defined by such holy fear cannot but result in life transformation and spiritual growth.

The Man Who Delights in Life: Aiming for Deep Transformation in Character Formation

Biblical fear of God produces godly character and conduct. According to the psalm, those who fear the Lord “keep [their] tongue from evil” (34:13), “turn away from evil” (34:14), “do good” (34:14), and “seek peace and pursue it” (34:13). Those who embody godliness in life are those who have tasted the goodness of the Lord (34:8). Therefore, the person satisfied in the Lord practices righteous living as a person who “delights in life” (34:12). Those who reject evil and do good are those who have a desire for “good days” (34:12). Faithful followers are called “righteous” (34:15) in contrast with the wicked who “do evil” (34:16). In fact, those who fear the Lord experience God’s divine favor: “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry” (34:15). Genuine faith in God that is expressed in a holy fear of God results in deep, dynamic, and enduring change of life and personal character.

Essentially, godly parenting orients itself toward the goal of moral formation. This does not mean that parental work is reduced to mere behavioral modification. While godly parenting upholds God’s commands as the code of their household, moral formation is more than mere compliance to ethical commands. There is nothing wrong with focusing on good behavior, well-mannered politeness, and social courteousness, but godly parenting cannot remain at this superficial level. Although parents should attend to a child’s behavior—external conduct—Christian parents aim at a much deeper change—godly character. When speaking of God’s people, this psalm characterizes them as godly in speech, action, character, desire, and purpose.

In summary, those who fear the Lord in genuine faith are called righteous—mirroring the character of God. The character of their lives is fundamentally oriented to God, taking on a God-shaped form. Christian homebuilding is a matter of faith formation toward a transformation in godliness—a change at the level of one’s person, being, and very self. Children who modify their behavior only to placate parental nagging usually do not sustain their adjusted conduct when the pressures of the world mount. Instead, they quickly conform to the patterns of the world. But those who have a fundamental change in character—due to a deep and abiding faith in and fear of God—maintain their godliness in the face of temptation, sin, injustice, cultural pressure, and targeted suffering.

Parenting toward character formation requires parents themselves to embody the character they hope to inculcate in their children. By far, the most powerful tool in teaching is imitation. Students learn best by modeling themselves after their teachers. This is true for the development of skills and it is especially true in the area of virtue formation. No better place than the home is there for children to grow in character. In their parents, there should be a model of godliness worthy of emulation. This is where parenting becomes one of God’s greatest instruments of sanctification. Our children are often mirrors of our own selves—reflecting back to us our gifts and our flaws. Once we recognize the importance of character formation and the power of our individual example, our children also become a motivation for us to take seriously our own formation in godliness. Our children will watch our speech, conduct, time management, relationships, and attitudes and often take after us. They will observe how we endure difficulty and learn to face hardship in ways we have modeled to them. Rather than shirking this duty as a teacher, let us embrace the fact that God has intertwined our own personal faith formation with the character development of our children.

The Afflictions of the Righteous: Raising Children Who Can Be Righteous Sufferers

Christian parents are called to train their children to maintain faith in God in a godless and hostile world. While the wicked face judgment, receive punishment, and experience just condemnation (34:21), the righteous will be delivered (34:22). The promise of ultimate deliverance for the righteous does not mean that they will not presently suffer. In fact, the ending of this psalm is a faithful testimony of the “afflictions of the righteous” (34:19). Biblical fear of the Lord draws God’s faithful followers to deeper and more intimate trust in the Lord, knowing that they will encounter difficulty as they follow the Lord. Those who fear God rightly will cling to him desperately. When difficulties rise “the righteous cry out” (34:17) to the Lord for help. God’s people oppressed by “all their troubles” (34:17) look to the Lord for deliverance. The “brokenhearted” (34:18) seek God’s comfort and the “contrite in spirit” (34:18) plead for God’s rescue. In the end, the fear of the Lord causes the righteous to “take refuge in Him” (34:22). The righteous sufferer knows that God hears his cry (34:17), provides complete deliverance (34:17, 19), offers his comforting presence (34:18), secures salvation (34:18), protects his own (34:20) and redeems his devoted servants (34:22).

Popular and cultural parenting seek to mitigate suffering in the life of their children. While Christian parents do bear a responsibility to protect and guard their families, godly households are places that prepare children to suffer well while maintaining faith in God. During the work of Christian homebuilding, parents must seriously warn about the plight of the wicked, summoning children to the fear of the Lord expressed in genuine faith. Genuine faith warns children about the path of destruction if they nurse a casual, dismissive, or irreverent attitude to God. But parents must also give an account of righteous suffering—an honest portrait that God’s people will endure hardship as a test proving the genuineness of their faith. We must not shirk from this duty. The fear of the Lord establishes a hearty and unfeigned faith in God that outfits our growing children to withstand unspeakable pain and difficulty. What a wonderful and demanding parental vocation: calling children Godward in faith and sending them into the world to suffer as righteous followers of Jesus who take refuge in God.

Conclusion

In this psalm, we learn about an important goal of parenting: character development in the fear of God. The logic of the passage is timeless and speaks to all generations and all cultures. Christian homebuilding fosters a family life of continual worship, establishing habits of worship that teach our children to continually live in the presence of God. Our most basic lesson must be to summon our children to fear God—taking his righteousness seriously, honoring his glorious worth, and relishing his unalloyed goodness. Healthy fear of God is an expression of genuine faith that results in deep character transformation. In turn, godly character represents such a dynamic change in a person’s life that they can be a righteous sufferer in a hostile world. In sum, godly parents aim for children to experience God for themselves in all his glory, his goodness, his righteousness, and his gracious deliverance. May God help us to build hearth and home with our spiritual mantle bearing witness to the fear the Lord!

Session Summary

• The Christian home should be a place of continual worship.
• Christian parents are the primary teachers of their children. The ultimate aim of their instruction should be to teach their children the fear of God.
• The fear of God produces lasting change of godly character. Parents need to orient their parenting work toward character formation.
• Godly parents prepare children to be righteous sufferers. Parenting work should help prepare children to face hardship, suffering, and persecution without abandoning their faith in God.

Charting the Path Ahead

Reflect on the session and envision next steps. Record key takeaways from the lesson. Conclude your time by praying as small groups and a whole community. Review next steps.

Final Review

Small Group Prayer

Corporate Prayer

Heavenly Lord, we have tasted and we have seen that you are good. We have experienced the blessing of taking refuge in the Lord. We have come to enjoy the freedom of the fear of the Lord. There cannot be an end to your praise because there is no end to your wonderful works. Your praise must be continually on our lips because there is no match for the perfection of your beauty, the splendor of your character, or the glory of your majesty. We want our parenting to be an act of worship. Help us to instruct our children in the fear of God, first embracing this fear in our own lives. Equip us to raise our children in godliness and holiness, that their core character would be conformed to Christ. Form in our children the faith of a righteous sufferer, one who clings to you in the best and the worst of times. We are unfit for this task. Open your eyes to us, and see our need. Incline your ears to us, and hear our cries. Turn your face toward us, and show us your mercy. Stretch out your arm, and help us in our weakness. Help us, O Lord, we pray. Amen.

Next Steps

• Meet with a mentor to review this session.
• Memorize the biblical proverb.
• Complete the spiritual disciplines over the course of the week.
• Finish your personal and parenting projects.

Session 4 Weekly Disciplines

Scripture Reading

Read the main biblical text studied in this session. Use this passage to spend time in reflection and prayer.

Prepare Your Heart

Pray this prayer to prepare to meet with the Lord. Spend a few minutes in silence, quieting your heart and focusing your mind.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

Read the Passage

Reread the biblical passage studied in this session. Read it slowly and reflectively. You will use this passage to guide your time of prayer.

Key Passage: Psalm 34:1–22

Parallel Passages: Psalm 15:1–5; 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1; 2 Timothy 3:1–9; 2 Peter 1:3–15

Consider the Truth

Pray the Text

Rest in God’s Presence

After praying to the Lord, sit in silence for a few minutes. Rest in God’s presence, recognizing his knowledge of and love for you. After a few minutes of silence, pray this prayer.

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Topical Study

Study the key themes of this session by reading and reflecting on parallel passages collected below.

Verse Collection

Prayerfully read through the selected passages of Scripture, identifying important truths they teach. Mark verses that you find encouraging.

Deuteronomy 6:6–9

These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 11:18–21

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to give your fathers.

Deuteronomy 31:12–13

Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates so that they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law. Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

Proverbs 1:8–9

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.

Proverbs 2:1–5

My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you, if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding, if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 3:1–4

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for they will add length to your days, years and peace to your life. Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 4:1–5

Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive. When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother, he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.”

Proverbs 4:20–22

My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.

Proverbs 6:20–23

My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life.

Proverbs 7:1–3

My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 20:7

The righteous man walks with integrity; blessed are his children after him.

Proverbs 23:22–25

Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him. May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

Proverbs 28:7

A discerning son keeps the law, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.

Proverbs 30:17

As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.

Isaiah 54:13–14

Then all your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their prosperity. In righteousness you will be established, far from oppression, for you will have no fear. Terror will be far removed, for it will not come near you.

Ephesians 6:1–4

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Concluding Reflection

Review and reflect on the passages you just read. Identify verses that you find most convicting, challenging, and comforting.

Art Observation

Use the artwork on the following page to help you reflect on the teaching of the session. Use the Scripture passage and questions below to help guide your thinking.

Scriptural Reading

The following biblical passage describes a basic essence of the Christian life. Read the biblical passage before you observe the painting.

“Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.

Painting Reflection

Take time to observe the painting. Use the following questions to prompt your reflection. Record observations, insights, or questions below.

Observations

Spiritual Practice

Use the following activity as a concrete way to commune with the Lord. Set aside enough time to complete this activity in its entirety, following each step as a guide.

Getting Quiet Before God

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

Let those who fear the Lord say, “His loving devotion endures forever.” In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Acknowledging God

After several minutes of silence, offer this prayer to God. Pray with open hands facing upwards to symbolize you stand before God in complete openness.

Make our home a place that fears the Lord. We know that we cannot cultivate genuine faith in our children without embodying it ourselves. We gaze at your glory, and recognize there is none like you. We come to terms with your justice and kneel before you in humble repentance. We acknowledge your majesty, and fall in awe of your beauty. We are confronted by your righteousness and confess you as the Most High God. We taste your goodness and count you as our ultimate good. Help us to live in the fear of the Lord. By fearing you, may we triumph over all our fears. Amen.

In the Dark

Take fifteen minutes to sit in the dark. During this time, reflect on things that you fear. Make a list of this fears. Consider how the fear of God overcomes these fears.

Praising God for His Care

Come before God with praise and joy. Celebrate him for his power, provision, and care.

O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield. The Lord is mindful of us; He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron; He will bless those who fear the Lord—small and great alike.

Imagining the Change

Consider how your life would change if you no longer were controlled by your fears.

Entrusting Yourself to the Lord

Entrust yourself to the Lord’s care, offering him praise and honor as your caretaker, provider, and deliverer.

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

Record Final Thoughts

Journal Reflection

Journal your thoughts on this week’s study. Use the questions as prompts to guide your time in journal reflection.

Reflection Questions

Session 4 Reflective Projects

Personal Project

The following activity helps you internalize the biblical teaching and develop theological wisdom for parenting by grappling with the implications of the teaching in your own life.

Project Instructions

Reflect on the sacred call of parenting as a vocation in faith formation. As you recall the biblical passage studied in this session, contemplate the responsibilities involved in this work. Write a series of resolutions (short statements of commitment and intent) that describe your aspiration to fulfill your parental calling. As you write your resolutions, incorporate the passage’s principles and teachings in your statements of commitment.

Example Resolutions

• I resolve to guide my children in a life of humble obedience to God’s commandments.
• I resolve to teach my children the true character of God and that there is only one God who deserves our full allegiance and worship.
• I resolve to encourage my children to love God with their whole being.
• I resolve to care for the whole person of each of my children: body, mind, heart, and soul.
• I resolve to establish God-honoring traditions in my family in order to build a faith memory in my children and in my household so that the faith will transfer intact to the next generations.

Parenting Resolutions

Parenting Project

In faithful homebuilding, parents proactively apply biblical wisdom to establish their family. The following project helps you thoughtfully implement the timeless truth of God’s word into the specific situation of your family.

Discuss with Your Spouse

Project Explanation

Family Education Plan

In this project, you will outline an education plan for your children. You should think about various goals for each of your children across various spheres of life. Use the template on the following pages to describe goals and strategic plans for each child. Consider this plan an effort in instructing your children in the fear of the Lord.

• Physical Objectives: Goals for body, health, skills, and competencies.
• Spiritual Objectives: Goals for faith, character, and godly discernment.
• Intellectual Objectives: Goals for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
• Relational Objectives: Goals for relationships, friendships, and biblical community.
• Learning Plan: A concrete and measurable plan to achieve scripted goals.

Session Five

Under God’s Protection: Godly Discipline and Divine Protection

Overview

For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.

Parents! If your children do not meet with a spirit of piety in your houses, if, on the contrary, your pride consists in surrounding them with external gifts, introducing them into worldly society, indulging all their whims, letting them follow their own course, you will see them grow vain, proud, idle, disobedient, impudent, and extravagant! … If they observe that no worship is paid to that God of whom they hear, the very best instruction will prove useless; but by means of Family Worship, these young plants will grow … Your children may leave the parental roof, but they will remember in foreign lands the prayers of the parental roof, and those prayers will protect them.

The world is a threatening place. Dangers abound. Enemies lurk. Opposition schemes. Trouble menaces. Life in this fallen world can often feel like fierce combat on a hazardous battlefield or an arduous journey in treacherous terrain. We face physical hardship, spiritual attack, emotional turmoil, and relational drama. While we feel this multifaceted peril in our own lives, we also recognize the surrounding danger as we press into our parenting work. To be entrusted with the care of children requires vigilance and attentiveness because of the dangerous surround in which we raise our children. Inherently, parenting is a work of protection. Sin will tempt our children onto paths of destruction. Satan will launch attacks against our families. Opponents of Christianity will devalue biblical teaching. Contemporary culture will wage incessant war against the truths and values of the faith. In the midst of dangerous times and hazardous settings, parents are God’s appointed protectors of their homes. With watchful eye and faith-filled prudence, parents are tasked with defending, guarding, and protecting their families. But, as we will see, parents best fulfill this protector role as they learn to entrust themselves and their children to God’s safekeeping.

Key Idea

As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping.

Session 5 Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Verse 1
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper he, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Does seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Verse 2
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name,
From age to age the same;
And he must win the battle.

Verse 3
And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God has willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.

Verse 4
That Word above all earthly powers
No thanks to them abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still;
His kingdom is forever!

Scripture Reading

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Responsive Call

Reader: How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.

All: With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.

Reader: I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

All: Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your statutes.

Opening Prayer

Almighty Lord, this world is filled with trouble, danger, and trial. But none of these threats is more powerful than you. You are our shelter from every peril. You are our refuge in the face of myriad danger. You are our fortress in the midst of all conflict. You are our security during battle, our safe-haven from temptation, and our conquering Lord against the spiritual foe. Your discipline is loving correction from the path of destruction. Your presence is our ever-present dwelling place. As we experience your all-powerful protection, help us to be protectors and guardians of our home. Make us vigilant, watchful, prudent, and circumspect. Help us to protect our children without pampering them, to oversee them without overindulging them. Ultimately, though, we entrust our home to your safekeeping. Watch over us and our children. Keep us from sin. Preserve us from trouble. Sustain us in difficulty. Save us from eternal condemnation and infernal judgment. Yes. Lord! Carry us to life everlasting. Amen!

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Focus your thinking around the key idea and biblical wisdom. Review the introduction and discuss the scriptural proverb to help orient you to the main theme of this session.

Introduction

Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.

Precious, no doubt, are these little ones in your eyes; but if you love them, think often of their souls. No interest should weigh with you so much as their eternal interests. No part of them should be so dear to you as that part which will never die. The world, with all its glory, shall pass away; the hills shall melt; the heavens shall be wrapped together as a scroll; the sun shall cease to shine. But the spirit which dwells in those little creatures, whom you love so well, shall outlive them all … Soul love is the soul of all love. To pet and pamper and indulge your child, as if this world was all he had to look to, and this life the only season for happiness—to do this is not true love, but cruelty. It is treating him like some beast of the earth, which has but one world to look to, and nothing after death. It is hiding from him that grand truth, which he ought to be made to learn from his very infancy,— that the chief end of his life is the salvation of his soul.

Love motivates and energizes parents to be protectors of their children. Like watchmen who guard a city, fathers and mothers are spiritual wardens of their home, protecting their children (and all who enter therein) from danger and threat. As parents, we know that we do not have the strength or wisdom to provide perfect security. This is why the parents first and best act is to entrust their home—themselves, their children, their guests—to God’s safekeeping. Under God’s watchful eye, a Christian home can become impregnable and unassailable. This does not mean that Christian families are immune to difficulty, pain, or hardship. On the contrary, some Christian homes may experience the greatest attacks from the fiercest opponents. Nevertheless, a home under God’s protection is most secure, and God alone can bring the enduring safety we long for and need. Godly discipline is part of a parent’s protective work. Parental instruction aims to set children on the paths of life. Parental correction seeks to redirect children off of the paths of destruction. A home under God’s protective care takes seriously its duty to raise children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, the path of true security and safety.

Biblical Wisdom

Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be party to his death.

Core Principle

Parents are spiritual sentries—guarding their homes by keeping them under God’s protective care. Parental discipline is one of the practical ways that parents can establish their home in God’s safekeeping. This proverb tells us, “discipline your son, for in that there is hope.” For parent and child, discipline can feel inconvenient, uncomfortable, painful, and intrusive. But godly discipline is a sign of genuine love. Biblical discipline sets the child on the path of life. In doing so, parents will “not be party to his death.” When we forsake discipline, we make our home porous, allowing any number of danger and sin to enter the home, prey on our children, influence their minds, and subjugate their hearts. In essence, to forsake discipline is to be culpable of our children’s destruction. It amounts to leaving door and window ajar, allowing any predator or threat to enter. But we need not be overwhelmed nor overcome by deadly dangers and snares in the world. We have a parental “hope” that gives peace, comfort, and consolation. Entrust your home to the Lord through the practice of godly discipline and make your home a fortress, a refuge, a citadel unto the Lord.

Group Discussion

Record Your Thoughts Below

Exploring the Biblical Text

Study God’s word together. Read the passage. Annotate the text and record your reflections on the following page. Answer the discussion questions, using the biblical commentary to help. Then, discuss the passage as a community.

Scriptural Passage

^94:1 O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth. ² Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud. ³ How long will the wicked, O Lord, how long will the wicked exult? ⁴ They pour out arrogant words; all workers of iniquity boast. ⁵ They crush Your people, O Lord; they oppress Your heritage. ⁶ They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless. ⁷ They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”

⁸ Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise? ⁹ He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see? ¹⁰ He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline? He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge? ¹¹ The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile. ¹² Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law,

¹³ to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. ¹⁴ For the Lord will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage. ¹⁵ Surely judgment will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. ¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?

¹⁷ Unless the Lord had been my helper, I would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. ¹⁸ If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your loving devotion, O Lord, supports me. ¹⁹ When anxiety overwhelms me, Your consolation delights my soul. ²⁰ Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree? ²¹ They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. ²² But the Lord has been my stronghold, and my God is my rock of refuge. ²³ He will bring upon them their own iniquity and destroy them for their wickedness. The Lord our God will destroy them.

Discussion Questions

Searching the Text

Seeking the Truth

Evaluating Our Lives

A Daring and Dangerous Venture

I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps. Correct me, O Lord, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.

There is much more mercy in what seems to be harshness, than in false tenderness. Let the child see, that we are resolved; that we are not to be diverted from our duty by the cry of weakness or passion. Far better that the child should cry under healthful correction, than that the parent should afterwards cry under the bitter fruit to themselves and children, of neglected discipline … Sharp chastening may fail later to accomplish, what a slight rebuke in the early course might have wrought. But is there not too often a voluntary blindness, that does not choose to see what it is painful to correct? The false notion—‘Children will be children’—leads us often to pass over real faults, and consider their tempers and waywardness too trifling to require prompt correct. And thus sin, winked at in its beginnings, hardens in all strength of deep-rooted corruptions.

Introduction

The world is filled with danger—physical, spiritual, emotional, and relational. The broken and fractured systems of the world seem to multiply peril and hazard. Sin has corrupted God’s good world and turned a garden paradise into a treacherous terrain. Daily, humanity experiences the world in dizzying conflict—evil opposing good, death taunting life, and wickedness seeking to undermine righteousness. In this world, it often seems like evil prevails, the wicked prosper, and enemies thrive. The world has rebelled against its Maker. Godless society is turned against the Lord. Culture is opposed to God. One should expect that, in a fallen world where sin rules as a cruel despot, those things which matter most to the Lord will be under attack. This is the case with the family. In his revolt against the Lord, the prince of darkness marks the household as one of his most hated targets.

However hostile is this world to the things of God, we need not (and we should not!) lose hope. God is the refuge and fortress of his people living in a dangerous land. The church is a haven to the people of God. And parents are God’s appointed protectors over their homes. Psalm 94:1–23 gives us insight into how to parent in evil days. This passage will help parents become vigilant in their homebuilding endeavor, raising godly children in a godless age. Helpfully, the psalmist highlights God’s loving discipline through which he corrects and instructs his people toward wisdom. Those who heed God’s discipline gain rest, security, and blessing. Importantly, God is the great example of all our parenting labors. But God is more than just our parenting pattern. He is the safety and security to which all godly families run. In the midst of a godless society and prevailing wickedness, building Christian hearth and home involves the work of placing our family in God’s safekeeping. This passage may not seem to offer immediate principles of parenting. But when it is studied on its own terms, we gain a theological vision—a God-centered way of seeing the world and our parenting work—that serves as a great help in establishing our homes in the Lord.

How Long Will the Wicked Exult: Raising Godly Families in a Godless World

The psalm opens by calling out to God as the “God of vengeance” (94:1) and the “Judge of the earth” (94:2). This desperate plea to God is a petition for God to act: to “shine forth” (94:1), to “rise up” (94:2), and to “render a reward” (94:2). Essentially, it is a prayer for vindication: for God to display his justice, act on behalf of his creation, and pay retribution to God’s enemies. It is a confession that God’s people live in evil times. Since the fall of Eden, God’s people have always lived in a wicked world. Each generation of humanity can legitimately say, “The days are dark, the night is prolonged, and the age is perilous.” The wicked prowl and the righteous suffer. The righteous psalmist asks for God to shine forth and dispel the darkness, to rise up and administer justice, and to pay back evildoers according to their corrupt ways.

As judge, God opposes those who oppose him. The objects of God’s wrath are the “wicked” (94:3; cf. 94:13, 16, 20). The wicked are “proud” (94:2) and “arrogant” (94:4) people who rejoice in evil (94:4), boast in wrongdoing (94:4), violate God’s people (94:5), oppress the needy (94:6), and heedlessly reject God (94:7). They are “workers of iniquity” (94:4; cf. 94:16), who live contrary to God. Their godlessness is proven by their words (94:4, 7), heart intentions (94:2–3), and actions (94:5–6). The righteous psalmist asks God to no longer delay his judgment—“how long” (94:3)—but to act according to his holy and righteous character.

This psalm gives an honest picture of our sinful world. The days are evil. The times are dangerous. The wicked menace and threaten. We live in a world opposed to God and antagonistic to God’s people. Rebellion against God results in hostility to the community of faith. Faithful parenting takes place in dark and evil days. The world is opposed to God, expressing its rebellion in enmity, ill-will, and violence. Godly parents must reckon with the reality that evildoers abound and seek to supplant God’s people—and their family—in their defiant rejection of God. Christian parents face many dangers in raising children in godless society. In an evil world, threat to the family can come in the form of physical danger, spiritual attack, mental suffering, emotional turmoil, moral compromise, and relational hardship. This many-sided attack to our homes compels us to develop vigilance and alertness. Few battlegrounds are more fierce than the warfare for our children.

While parenting requires a watchful spirit, it also demands a discerning eye. Some of the greatest threats and dangers in our parenting come from within the sinful human heart. Underneath all godlessness in society is pride (94:2–4)—the exaltation of self against God. All societal corruption comes from the sinful workings of the heart. Pride inevitably turns a person against God, God’s people, and the needy (94:5–7). Pride is unprejudicial in who it infects and injures. In fact, it resides as a poison in every human heart—yes, even the hearts of our youngest children. The exaltation of self is a subtle but sinister threat that endangers the home. While parents raise their children in the midst of a godless society, they also do battle against the depraved and self-promoting human heart.

The world is a dangerous place. God has appointed parents as protectors of their home, seeking refuge in God to establish his righteousness. Parents must guard their homes from wickedness and sin—resisting dangers from without and mortifying enemies from within. They must confront falsehood about God and cling to him in truth. They must abandon misplaced pleasure, rejoicing in that which dishonors God. Godly families must embrace a countercultural lifestyle and diligent spirit to dethrone the fiendish foe of pride. As we protect our homes by the shield of genuine godliness, our families can become protectors of others—to be defenders of the helpless and needy. A godly home fosters a sense of justice in its collective consciousness such that it exerts the influence of its countercultural lifestyle on the surrounding world. Ultimately, the godly home longs for God to establish justice on the earth. This is their enduring hope.

Blessed Is the Man You Discipline, O Lord: Committing to Discipline and Instruction

The second portion of this psalm addresses humanity. It calls people to “take notice” (94:8) and “be wise” (94:8). It is a summons for people to leave their senseless and foolish condition and to become wise and discerning (94:8). In this context, wisdom comes from a foundational truth: God knows all things. He created the ear and hears all (94:9). He made the eye and sees all (94:9). He “knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile” (94:11). God does not “lack knowledge” (94:10). Being all-knowing (omniscient), God instructs humanity: he admonishes, disciplines, and teaches (94:11; cf. 94:12). Contrary to a godless society, God’s people are a new humanity in the fallen world. They live faithful to the Lord who sees all, knows all, and understands all. Living before God’s all-knowing and searching eye, God’s people showcase to the world the manifold wisdom of God, a wisdom that comes from living under the authority of God’s unerring word.

To heed God’s instruction is to gain true wisdom, God-given understanding necessary to navigate this perilous world in which we live. Those who heed God’s instruction receive God’s favor: “blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law” (94:12). Those who heed God’s word and submit to his discipline are granted “relief from days of trouble” (94:13). The wise and faithful instructed in God’s word escape God’s wrath, condemnation, and judgment which are reserved for the wicked.

There is a “pit … dug for the wicked” (94:13), but the righteous will not fall into it. As God’s people embrace a countercultural life—a life formed by discipline and instruction in God’s word—God promises to “not forsake His people” and “never abandon His heritage” (94:14). God’s righteous judgment will be established. God’s justice becomes the code by which the godly live: “the upright in heart will follow it” (94:15).

Parenting amounts to raising children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Godly discipline involves both admonishment (rebuke, chastisement, correction) and teaching (instruction, formation, education). Like all Christian disciples, children need to know the paths of righteousness. They need to be taught and instructed. In the process of this instruction, beliefs and understanding find alignment with God’s guiding word. But alignment to the truth can only happen if discipline counterbalances instruction. To know the paths of righteousness is different from walking in these paths. Discipline corrects and reorients children to God’s ways when they stray from the path. As God models for us in this psalm, Christian parents must occupy the role of teacher: teaching and correcting, instructing and chastising, educating and rebuking.

To raise children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord is to cultivate a home of wisdom—calling children out of their senseless simplicity, youthful naivete, and foolish ways into the ways of prudence and true understanding. The truly wise turn to God. In a godless society where people face the danger of proud evildoers and the pending reality of God’s wrath, the safest place to be is among God’s people. Wisdom teaches a person to heed these dangers and take refuge in God. God disciplines his people as a means to bring them into wisdom, to preserve them and bless them. The wise who take refuge in God from godless society and divine wrath love God’s righteous correction and treasure God’s eternal truth.

The wise who embrace God’s word live a countercultural life. They are a contrast to godless society in the way they follow the paths of righteousness. The Christian family is designed by God to incubate a countercultural lifestyle of biblical belief, godly living, and holy justice. Family life should not only teach children how to navigate the dangers of a godless world; it should teach children how to live a countercultural life such that they become a compelling witness to the world and a transforming influence on the world. Wise children formed in the family nest—formed by godly instruction and discipline—become salt and light to a dark and dangerous world.

The Lord Has Been My Stronghold: Seeking Divine Protection for Your Home

The psalmist celebrates God as protector. The wicked “band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death” (94:20). In the face of powerful systems of evil and wickedness, the righteous person recognizes their own weakness. At the foundation of their life and faith, God’s people recognize their own frailty: their “foot is slipping” (94:18). They know that they face pending death—“the abode of silence” (94:17). They are barraged by “anxiety [that] overwhelms” (94:19). All people are fragile in the face of human wickedness and divine wrath. But the righteous person finds safe haven in the Lord. He trusts God as his “helper” (94:17). He clings to God’s “loving devotion” to support him (94:18). He rests in God’s “consolation” (94:19) as a delight to his soul. For the righteous, God is a “stronghold” and “rock of refuge” (94:22). In fact, God is a conquering warrior who ultimately defeats the wicked. Speaking of the wicked, the psalm testifies that God brings “upon them their own iniquity” and destroys them “for their wickedness” (94:23). God is the one who rises up against the wicked and stands against the evildoers (94:16). God does not ally himself with the wicked (94:20). Instead, he is the guard and defense of his people.

In his power and faithfulness, God protects his people. While parents need spiritual vigilance in order to rightly parent their children in a godless society, they also need childlike faith to entrust themselves to God’s safekeeping. The psalm that began in a plea for justice concludes with a confession of trust. The best thing parents can do is to entrust their family to God’s loving care. God will watch over, guard, and protect our children better than we can ever do. Parents best discharge their duty as protectors when they lead their home to trust God as stronghold and refuge. When God is our shelter and defense, we enjoy his loving devotion and fatherly comfort. To teach children how to find safety in God is foundational to all other parenting work. In fact, this rudimentary lesson is essential for our discipline plan to have godly effect. All godly correction and instruction is about making God our safety and security.

Conclusion

The battle for hearth and home is where spiritual combat is often most fierce. The enemy knows that if he can destroy the home, he can corrupt society, afflict the church, bruise the believer, revile the gospel, and oppose the works of God. We all parent at a time when the days are evil. The fallen world presents a most challenging backdrop in which we must raise our children. But God is not surprised. Vigilant parents who seek for God’s justice will submit themselves to God’s disciplining hand. They will receive correction and instruction with humble faith. As God disciplines them, they will discipline their children—in love, patience, truth, and righteousness. Their discipline will be oriented to building wisdom and discernment. Further, parents will seek God as their ultimate security. They will lead their family by placing it under God’s protective care. Christian homes that are secure in God’s stronghold can in turn become a safe haven for the needy and helpless around them. Let’s accept the challenge to raise our families with loving discipline so that they can be instruments of righteousness and justice in an evil and depraved world.

Session Summary

• We parent in evil days. The world is filled with danger and peril. Spiritual enemies seek to destroy families, attacking parents and children. Families face enemies from without (rebellious, godless society) and within (proud, sinful hearts).
• Godly discipline is an act of love toward our children. Godly discipline should be both instructive and corrective. Discipline is a way that parents act as protectors and guardians of their home.
• Godly discipline and instruction aims to cultivate wisdom and understanding. Biblical wisdom helps teach children how to live skillfully in the world in a countercultural way that will be a witness of God’s truth and a transforming influence in the world.
• Godly parents direct their children to trust in God. Parenting work involves cultivating faith in God’s protective care: to not hide from God but to hide in God. Christian homes are marked by God’s protective care. Godly parents entrust their homes to God’s safekeeping.

Charting the Path Ahead

Reflect on the session and envision next steps. Record key takeaways from the lesson. Conclude your time by praying as small groups and a whole community. Review next steps.

Final Review

Small Group Prayer

Corporate Prayer

Most High God, be our dwelling place. Help our home to make its home in you. As parents, we need you to be our refuge and fortress so that we can stand against foe and temptation, endure pain and suffering, and overcome weakness and frailty. Our greatest prayer is that you deliver our children—that you show them long life and satisfy them with your salvation. Grant to our family—each and every one—life in your name. We surrender our hearth and home to you. As parents, we are your appointed watchmen over our children. Make us vigilant and aware. Keep us awake and alert. Grow us in grace and godliness. Help our discipline to be instructive and corrective, consistent and compassionate, formative and restorative, loving and just. May we teach our children—through word and example—not to hide from you, but how, in faith, to hide in you. Help us, O God! Amen!

Next Steps

• Meet with a mentor to review this session.
• Memorize the biblical proverb.
• Complete the spiritual disciplines over the course of the week.
• Finish your personal and parenting projects.

Session 5 Weekly Disciplines

Scripture Reading

Read the main biblical text studied in this session. Use this passage to spend time in reflection and prayer.

Prepare Your Heart

Pray this prayer to prepare to meet with the Lord. Spend a few minutes in silence, quieting your heart and focusing your mind.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

Read the Passage

Reread the biblical passage studied in this session. Read it slowly and reflectively. You will use this passage to guide your time of prayer.

Key Passage: Psalm 94:1–23

Parallel Passages: Psalm 91:1–16; Proverbs 29:15, 17; Ecclesiastes 8:11–13; Hebrews 12:1–17

Consider the Truth

Pray the Text

Rest in God’s Presence

After praying to the Lord, sit in silence for a few minutes. Rest in God’s presence, recognizing his knowledge of and love for you. After a few minutes of silence, pray this prayer.

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Topical Study

Study the key themes of this session by reading and reflecting on parallel passages collected below.

Verse Collection

Prayerfully read through the selected passages of Scripture, identifying important truths they teach. Mark verses that you find encouraging.

Deuteronomy 8:5–6

So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and fearing Him.

2 Samuel 7:11–15

The Lord declares to you that He Himself will establish a house for you. And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I moved out of your way.

Job 5:17

Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Psalm 118:15–18

Shouts of joy and salvation resound in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord performs with valor! The right hand of the Lord is exalted! The right hand of the Lord performs with valor!” I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.

Psalm 119:66–68

Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments. Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your word. You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statute.

Proverbs 2:6–15

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity, to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints. Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul. Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity, from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness, from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil, whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.

Proverbs 3:11–12

My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, and do not loathe His rebuke; for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 4:5–6

Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.

Proverbs 12:1

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

Proverbs 13:24

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

Proverbs 14:26

He who fears the Lord is secure in confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge.

Proverbs 17:10

A rebuke cuts into a man of discernment deeper than a hundred lashes cut into a fool.

Proverbs 22:15

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Proverbs 23:13–14

Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die. Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

Luke 11:11–12

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

1 Corinthians 11:31–32

Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Colossians 3:20–21

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.

Revelation 3:19

Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

Concluding Reflection

Review and reflect on the passages you just read. Identify verses that you find most convicting, challenging, and comforting.

Art Observation

Use the artwork on the following page to help you reflect on the teaching of the session. Use the Scripture passage and questions below to help guide your thinking.

Scriptural Reading

The following biblical passage describes a basic essence of the Christian life. Read the biblical passage before you observe the painting.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

Painting Reflection

Take time to observe the painting. Use the following questions to prompt your reflection. Record observations, insights, or questions below.

Observations

Spiritual Practice

Use the following activity as a concrete way to commune with the Lord. Set aside enough time to complete this activity in its entirety, following each step as a guide.

Getting Quiet Before God

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

O Lord, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.

Acknowledging God as Father

After several minutes of silence, offer this prayer to God. Pray with open hands facing upwards to symbolize you stand before God in complete openness.

Gracious Lord, you are our refuge and fortress. We live in a world filled with danger and threat. No enemy can contend against you and succeed. For ourselves and our homes, we need your strength to be our protection. We need your discipline to correct our erring steps. We need your instruction guide us on the paths of righteousness. We need your understanding to give us wisdom. We need your faithfulness to be our shield and shelter. We entrust ourselves to you. Keep us under the shadow of your wings. May all your enemies see in us the beautiful wisdom of God put on display in our hearts, lives, speech, families, and children. Amen.

Meditating on God’s Tender Care

Take 10 minutes to sit out in the sun, reflecting on the dangers, difficulties, and threats that you and your family face. Then, take 10 minutes under the shade to reflect on how God is your protection and refuge.

Praising God for His Care

Come to God with humility and complete dependence. Ask him to cover the sins of the past and instruct you in the ways of his will for the future.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Behold, the Protector of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is the shade on your right hand. The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul. The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.

Imagining Life the Other Way

Draw a circle on the ground. Imagine this space as fully protected by the Lord. Stand in the space and imagine how life would be if you entrusted yourself to the Lord’s safekeeping.

Entrusting Yourself to the Lord

Entrust yourself to the Lord’s care, offering him praise and honor as your caretaker, provider, and deliverer.

Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near. You are my hiding place. You protect me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.

Record Final Thoughts

Journal Reflection

Journal your thoughts on this week’s study. Use the questions as prompts to guide your time in journal reflection.

Reflection Questions

Session 5 Reflective Projects

Personal Project

The following activity helps you internalize the biblical teaching and develop theological wisdom for parenting by grappling with the implications of the teaching in your own life.

Project Instructions

Write a prayer of protection over your children. Use the language of Psalm 94:17–23 to guide your prayer. Put the names of your family members in the prayer.

Example Prayer

God, unless the Lord is Abigail’s helper, she will dwell in silence. Her foot will be prone to slip, but may your loving devotion, compassion, and faithful care support her. Help her to find security in your steadfast love. When she is anxious, be her consolation. When she is filled with sorrow, be the delight of her soul. While the evil prowl in the world, be Abigail’s stronghold and rock of refuge. Do not let her form a foundation on shaky ground. Bring justice upon the wicked and establish Abigail in your loving grace.

Prayer of Protection

Parenting Project

In faithful homebuilding, parents proactively apply biblical wisdom to establish their family. The following project helps you thoughtfully implement the timeless truth of God’s word into the specific situation of your family.

Discuss with Your Spouse

Project Explanation

Family Discipline Plan

In this project, you and your spouse will outline a discipline plan for your family. You should consider the underlying convictions and principles that support your discipline goals as well as give concrete expressions to rules and strategies for raising your children in the faith. This should all result in a succinct family code that defines the discipline of the house.

• Family Convictions: The timeless, biblical truths that guide our house discipline.
• Wisdom Principles: The wisdom teachings that inform our approach to discipline.
• House Rules: The basic guidelines for conduct and family life that define and govern our home (general enough to apply to any circumstance).
• Discipline Strategies: The means by which you will restoratively correct and formatively instruct.
• Family Code: The rule of life or code of ethic that defines and orders your family life.

Session Six

For the World: Leaving a Legacy in Society

Overview

Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Youth is an ocean of dangers. Within, without, on every side they are beset with perils; the flesh is most strong and stirring, the world is most amiable and taking, besides, the wicked one is subtle and tempting, ever striving to hale them to hell … Children are compared to arrows … Now we know that sticks are not by nature arrows; they do not grow so, but they are made so; by nature they are knotty and ragged, but by art they are made smooth and handsome. So children by nature are rugged and untoward, but by education are refined and reformed, made pliable to the divine will and pleasure. They are also compared to corner-stones … which are rough and unfit for use, as they are taken out of the quarry, and therefore must be hewn and carved before they are laid in the foundation.

Children are a gift from God. The sober responsibility of parenting children must be balanced with exuberant thanksgiving over the blessing of each child. Children bring joy to the present and represent a promise for the future. They signify God’s favor and move us to deepened trust in God. They remind us of life’s simplicity and press us into the profound. They make life full and offer a work that is fulfilling. They reflect us (in person, personality, and feature) but also urge us toward greater holiness of life. They receive the nurture from their family of upbringing only to eventually contribute to church, society, and the world. God works out his will through children and families. What we build on hearth and home—and what kind of children we launch into the world—leaves a lasting impact on the globe. In fact, to build Christian hearth and home according to God’s design is one of the great ways to participate in God’s worldwide mission. Godly families raise children in the faith and send them out as salt and light. Like arrows, children are shaped, sharpened, and sent into the world. Like stones, children are honed, carved, and established as part of God’s people. With our families before us, we are servants of God, tending to our children as God’s vessels. We build our homes to build God’s kingdom. We sharpen our children to serve God’s will and work.

Key Idea

As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord.

Session 6 Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

God Is Working This Purpose Out

Verse 1
God is working this purpose out,
As year succeeds to year;
God is working this purpose out,
And the time is drawing near;
Nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be:
When the earth shall be filled with
The glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

Verse 2
From utmost east to utmost west,
Where human feet have trod,
By the mouth of many messengers
Goes forth the voice of God:
“Give ear to me, ye continents,
Ye isles, give ear to me,
That the earth may be filled with
The glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.”

Verse 3
Let us go forth in the strength of God,
With the banner of Christ unfurled,
That the light of the glorious gospel of truth
May shine throughout the world.
Let us all fight with sorrow and sin
To set the captives free,
That the earth may be filled with
The glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

Verse 4
All we can do is nothing worth
Unless God blesses the deed.
Vainly we hope for the harvest-tide
Till God gives life to the seed.
Yet nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled with
The glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

Scripture Reading

Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

Responsive Call

All: Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who serve by night in the house of the Lord!

Reader: Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the Lord.

All: May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

Opening Prayer

Holy Lord, we receive our assignment as your humble servants. Ours is a home assignment: to build our family on the foundation of Christ. We know that this will be difficult and demanding work. Strengthen us for this noble task. We know that this work holds great promise. Comfort us when we fail. Console us when we grieve. Correct us when we err. Help our homebuilding work to be fully submitted to your will, oriented to your purpose, and supported by your grace. Our children are a heritage from God. Having received our children as gifts from your generous hand, we consecrate them back to your impeccable care. Grant our children sincere faith in Christ. Teach them to keep in step with the Spirit. Make the glory of God their all-consuming passion. Unless the Lord build this kind of house, all of our efforts are in vain. Great Architect who has built the heavens, establish our hearth and home as one of your holy array. Assist us in this great work, we pray. Amen.

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Focus your thinking around the key idea and biblical wisdom. Review the introduction and discuss the scriptural proverb to help orient you to the main theme of this session.

Introduction

The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength. The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.

Observe here, Children of the youth are arrows in the hand, which, with prudence, may be directed aright to the mark, God’s glory and the service of their generation; but afterwards, when they have gone abroad into the world, they are arrows out of the hand; it is too late to bend them then. But these arrows in the hand too often prove arrows in the heart, a constant grief to their godly parents, whose gray hairs they bring with sorrow to the grave.

God is working his purpose out. His will is guaranteed to come to fruition. He has an eternal plan to restore his fallen creation and redeem his people for himself. God is unhindered in this work. In his eternal plan, God will triumph over evil and vanquish all of his enemies, forgiving sinners, saving the lost, and restoring fallen creation to everlasting bliss. As we experience God’s saving grace in our lives, he invites us to join his mission in the world. To accomplish his grand and glorious purpose, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. Jesus is God’s one and only Son, who accomplished for humanity a work that he alone could perform. Nevertheless, as believers in Christ, one way for us to participate in God’s mission is for us to send our sons and daughters into the world ready to serve God, follow his Son, and do his will. This puts parenting work in the center of God’s mission. As we experience the blessing of children, we should view Christian homebuilding as a way of participating in God’s global work. In raising godly children, sharpening them as arrows and honing them like stones, we can change the world—for the gospel and for God’s glory.

Biblical Wisdom

By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure.

Core Principle

Parenting is homebuilding work. This proverb reminds us that we need prudence to build our homes after God’s design: “by wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established.” In short, a strong, mature, and established home is rooted in biblical wisdom. Parents need wisdom to lay the foundation of a godly family. In addition, parents need to instill wisdom to their children. But parenting is more than just building a strong home; it aims for a flourishing family. The flourishing of the godly family is one of its great testimonies in the surrounding world. This proverb tells us about a house built by wisdom: “through knowledge its rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure.” To build Christian hearth and home God’s way is to experience the promise of divine favor in abundance. We not only need God’s truth to understand the blueprint of a godly family; we also need God’s strength to build our home in God’s way.

Group Discussion

Exploring the Biblical Text

Study God’s word together. Read the passage. Annotate the text and record your reflections on the following page. Answer the discussion questions, using the biblical commentary to help. Then, discuss the passage as a community.

Scriptural Passage

^127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the Lord protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain. ² In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved. ³ Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. ⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth. ⁵ Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.

^128:1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways! ² For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours. ³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table. ⁴ In this way indeed shall blessing come to the man who fears the Lord. ⁵ May the Lord bless you from Zion, that you may see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life, ⁶ that you may see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!

Discussion Questions

Searching the Text

Seeking the Truth

Evaluating Our Lives

Of Arrows, Quivers, and Olive Shoots

O house of Israel, bless the Lord; O house of Aaron, bless the Lord; O house of Levi, bless the Lord; you who fear the Lord, bless the Lord! Blessed be the Lord from Zion— He who dwells in Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by his rules.

Introduction

All families have a purpose. A family’s values are shaped by this purpose, creating a sort of household culture. Misguided purposes and values can corrupt a family’s life and do damage to a child’s formation. But godly aims can sanctify and prune a family to be a sharpened tool in the hand of God. Recognizing that each family has a purpose is an important first step. A brief glance at a family’s budget (how they spend their money), calendar (how they spend their time), and conversation (what they talk about) all serve as barometers, revealing the overarching purpose of that household. Family habits and traditions also reveal and expose a family’s mission. The guests we entertain and the friends we share life with also give us a clue into what our families are all about—their driving cause and reason for existence. Just like all humans live for something, all families operate their collective life by some underlying purpose.

In order to build Christian hearth and home in a godly way, we must be grounded in godly purpose and mission. God has given us the blessing of family not to be hoarded and clutched for our own enjoyment. The gift of family life is only realized to its fullest as we enlist our families in God’s global work in the world. The portrait of a pious home in Psalm 127:1–5 and 128:1–6 helps us understand what values, purposes, and aims should define family life. As we build Christian hearth and home, we must understand that God is building a house for himself. This is not a house of brick and mortar, wood and stone. He is building a house of his people. Amazingly, our homebuilding efforts can contribute to this great work of God in the world. Let us attend to these coupled psalms with open hearts, wise minds, and ready hands as we consider what it means to place our homes in the establishing, safekeeping, and benevolent hands of our trustworthy Lord.

Building the House: Viewing Homebuilding as Meaningful Work

Establishing a home is good and godly work. The opening of the psalm highlights and honors the work of building a house (127:1). In the Old Testament, the idea of a house can speak about a physical dwelling place, a family unit, an entire ancestry, and the temple (the dwelling place of God where he met with his people). In biblical thought and in the Christian life, these are all connected. Part of God’s overall mission is to redeem and build a people for his name. The building of God’s people takes place through godly family units that extend their faith influence across generations. The building of a godly house is intensely spiritual work: raising godly children, cultivating a Christ-centered home culture, fortifying God’s covenant people, and influencing wider society.

In building a house God’s way, we hope to experience a fruitful and flourishing home. The great fruitfulness of a thriving home is not food that we eat but the children we bear. In this portion of the Bible, children are compared to “olive shoots” who come from the “fruitful vine” of the blessed and pious wife (128:3). God’s blessing expressed in the form of children is considered both “the fruit of the womb” and God’s “reward” to his people (127:3). But the godly family exists for the prosperity of something beyond its own household unit. In Psalm 127:1, the building of the house is parallel with the protection of the city. Correspondingly, Psalm 128:5–6 attests that the long life of the God-fearer is gifted with seeing “the prosperity of Jerusalem” and his “children’s children.” In these psalms, the building of the family is parallel with securing and establishing a city—the collective of families that form the larger community. Building hearth and home is set within the broader endeavor of establishing God’s people and securing the best for the whole of society.

Importantly, the text points out the vanity of trying to do homebuilding in our own efforts. God alone makes our efforts meaningful and purposeful. This is not saying that human work is in vain. It says that human work without the Lord’s undertaking is in vain. Builders should still “labor” (127:1) diligently and watchmen should still “stand guard” (127:1) vigilantly. Diligent and vigilant work may well require us to “rise early and stay up late” (127:2). The difference is this: those who fear the Lord do not do their work in anxious toil. Those who give themselves to the Lord in wholehearted trust can enjoy God’s provision and “eat the fruit of [their] labor” (128:2). The faithful know that the building of the home, the security of the city, the fruitfulness of one’s work is dependent upon God’s help and enablement.

While these psalms speak about a meaningful work in general—honoring the dignity of all good vocations—the biblical texts are extremely family-centric. Certainly, believers should seek good work: building, securing, watching, toiling, and making (127:1–2; 128:2). The labor of our hands matters to the Lord. In fact, God has prepared good work for his people. Our job is to walk in the work that God has prepared in advance for us (cf. Ephesians 2:10). When we consider the full scope of our lifework—the total work of our lives that we offer to the Lord—one of the most significant things we can do is to build godly families. The psalms attest to the fact that healthy and holy families are a core element for all of the other work that we do. Godly families give work meaning, help work endure, and make work enjoyable. Building a godly household is one of the main ways we can have influence in God’s covenant people and in the surrounding world.

Unless the Lord: Establishing Deep Dependence upon the Lord

Both psalms invite families into a deep devotion to God. The repeated refrain “unless the Lord” (127:1) is as much a statement of faith as it is of fact. No household can be established, just like no city can be secured, unless the Lord does the work. God’s people are marked by a wholehearted reliance upon God. This is more than external religious show. Genuine trust is an enduring quality because it is an internal reality. Utter dependence upon the Lord is born out of the fear of the Lord. Not only will God’s blessing be upon “the man who fears the Lord” (128:4), but divine benevolence will extend to “all who fear the Lord” (128:1). Sincere faith expressed in the fear of God reforms our conduct so that we “walk in His ways” (128:1).

Better than decorating a home with material embellishments is to furnish a home with fear of the Lord—a husband who leads the home out of a vibrant personal faith in the Lord, a wife who is fruitful in home and faithful in devotion to God, and children who trust, love, worship, and obey God. The personal faith of the individual members of a household make up the real collective character of a home. Equally, individual expressions of faith are molded by the family’s overall culture of God-fearing devotion to the Lord. Exemplified by a godly father, modeled by a pious mother, and embraced by dutiful children, the fear of God underlies all other God-honoring family activities. If a family wants to be oriented to God, impactful in the world, and a blessing for generations to come, it begins with this most important beginning of personal and household faith.

May the Lord Bless You: Enjoying Divine Favor, Full Peace, and True Prosperity

The fear of the Lord puts us in the path to receive God’s blessing (127:5; 128:1–2, 4–5) and guards us from vain pursuits (127:1–2), anxious toil (127:2), shameful scorn (127:5), and hopeless need (128:2, 5). Those who entrust themselves to the Lord in wholehearted trust experience divinely given rest: “He gives sleep to His beloved” (127:2). God causes them to flourish (128:3) and extends to them his goodness: “blessings and prosperity will be yours” (128:2; cf. 128:5). Faithful God-fearers also enjoy God’s promise of peace: “peace be upon Israel” (128:6). While God’s people enjoy his blessings in all areas of life, God’s blessings are particularly experienced within the home: “your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table” (128:3).

It is easy for families to get entangled in worldly pursuits. Surrounding culture endlessly allures people toward its broken version of the good life. Its great marketing strategy is pleasure, enjoyment, and happiness. But it cannot deliver on what it promises. The world’s vision of the good life is a crooked path that will lead to destruction. One of its focused targets is families and children. Surrounded by ideologies of the world, parents can feel pressure to acquiesce to the world’s version of the good life. Without thinking, families can embrace a pace of life, invest in a flurry of activities, and spend an inordinate amount of money all in pursuit of worldly happiness. Parents can compare themselves with other families and measure their parenting worth by the earthly possessions and temporal experiences they give their children. But it is a fool’s errand to chase elusive and disappointing delights of the world. Instead, we ought to seek God’s blessing. A family devoted to the Lord can enjoy true prosperity: enduring peace, profound joy, sustained rest, and everlasting life. Godly families forsake the pursuit of worldly happiness to embrace the superior offer of divine blessing.

When He Confronts the Enemies: Treating Family Life as a Battlefront Combat

Psalm 127 concludes by saying that a full and flourishing home will be a man’s honor and defense in the public sector: “he will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate” (127:5). Because there is a moral, religious, and spiritual conflict that exists in this fallen world, the life of faith is depicted as warfare. In a society opposed to God, God’s people must prepare themselves to face enemies and opposition. This psalm attests that godly families are one of the greatest weapons in the fight of the faith. Children are compared to “arrows in the hand of a warrior” (127:4). The man who is not ashamed is the man “whose quiver is full of them” (127:5). The man who has “children born in one’s youth” (127:4) is depicted as a man of honor, vigor, and valor. While having many children is a true blessing from God, Psalms 127–128 put together refuse for us to turn our children into idols. A family dedicated to the Lord—along with children who fear God (cf. 128:1, 4)—are considered God’s beloved (127:2). God is working through godly families for something bigger than the family. As arrows are meant to be launched into the world (and, in particular, released in battle), a godly home raises children not only as a heritage but as a weapon for the Lord’s work.

A well-ordered home aligned after God’s design is one of our greatest testimonies in and defenses against a godless society. As Christians, we confront godless culture by building godly families. We invest in a hopeful future by raising Christian children. We battle against a lost society—expressed in moral deviance, false doctrine, gross injustice, errant ideology, and distorted worldview—by cultivating the fear of God in the home. We bring about transformation in the larger world by building Christian hearth and home. In our parenting work, we are not simply nurturing children, but raising adults who embrace the faith and serve the Lord in their own generation. Importantly, the battle for society takes place on the mantle of the family. The personal heritage and blessing that is a godly family is also a redemptive blessing and spiritual influence to our fallen world.

May See Your Children’s Children: Hoping for Generational Impact

Godly parents who take their responsibility seriously not only seek to raise children fit for the fight of faith, they also seek to make a generational impact. In God’s design, families extend beyond the life of their parents. If taken seriously, parents can establish a home that transfers godly values, biblical ideals, pious examples, and timeless truth into the next generation. These biblical texts say that “children are indeed a heritage from the Lord” (127:3). In fact, godly parents are given a vision of seeing their “children’s children” (128:6). The blessing of seeing faithful followers of God in subsequent generations outshines any prospect of material wealth, public renown, vocational advancement, bountiful fare, or palatial estate.

These psalms summon us to invest in our children, considering how our parenting work can impact generations to come. Moreover, they call us to invest in that which lasts—forsaking temporary treasures and fleeting dainties of earthly promise to store up eternal treasures in heaven. These psalms teach us that investing in our children is investing in that which lasts. The final benediction—“Peace be upon Israel” (128:6)—is a community blessing and an eschatological hope. The joys of Christian homebuilding on earth can bear fruit into eternity. Parenting our children in a godly way is part of God’s redemptive work—restoring his fallen world into a new creation. As such, Christian parents who build their homes after God’s design can make an investment in heavenly treasures that last.

Even though we gaze at the glorious and hope-filled vision of Christian parenting, these psalms do not guarantee what our children will become. These psalms serve like wisdom sayings. They offer us a reliable portrait for how things work in God’s economy, but they do not unequivocally mean that every single parental experience will be the same. Tragically, not every godly parent will meet their grandchildren. Sadly, not every godly family will bear children. Not every parent who fears the Lord will have children who maintain their faith in Christ. Many times, God’s promised blessings may not materialize this side of eternity. Nevertheless, this does not mean God’s promises are not true and trustworthy. Instead, the portrait of a pious home with God’s promised blessings will certainly come to fruition in the world to come, if they only come to reality in part during this brief earthly life. Eventually, the generations will end, and the Lord will return. Only then, in retrospect, will we be able to see how the investment in our families and children were summed up in the work of Christ. Only then will we see how God’s steering hand used our fragile and frail efforts to accomplish his purposes in the world. Only then, after many have forgotten our name, will we hear from the Lord who has written our names in the book of Life: well done, good and faithful servant.

Conclusion

God’s wisdom in the psalms is rich and rewarding. It not only offers us a blueprint for a godly household order, it also captures our spiritual imagination for what a vibrant family life looks like. The vocation of homebuilding is God-honoring work. In many respects, it is a central and vital work in our larger lifework. The work of faithful homebuilding flourishes when marked by the fear of God, first by parents and then by children. God has given promises of blessing for faithful families and dutiful parents. But faithful building of hearth and home is meant to have an impact beyond itself as a means of influencing society, contending for the faith, impacting generations to come, and investing in eternity. An important work of God’s new creation, Christian parenting is oriented toward building God’s kingdom for life in the world to come—world without end. Done according to God’s design, few vocations, like Christian homebuilding, make a greater impact in the world. To this end, may we consider our calling as parents noble and fashion our family around God’s grand and eternal purposes.

Session Summary

• Christian homebuilding is meaningful work. This work cannot be done without the Lord’s help. The work of parenting is one of the most significant parts of our lifework.
• A parent’s personal faith and devotion affect the way they go about their parenting work. Godly parents can exemplify their devotion to the Lord by means of the way they raise their children.
• God blesses the godly home. He shows his favor on godly families who fear God. Parents must orient their family to God’s enduring blessings and give up the pursuit of temporary worldly pleasures.
• Parenting is a most important vocation vital for God’s work in the world. Parents are to raise children so that they can be launched into the world in the service of God’s will. Parents should raise their children to make a generational and global impact.

Charting the Path Ahead

Reflect on the session and envision next steps. Record key takeaways from the lesson. Conclude your time by praying as small groups and a whole community. Review next steps.

Final Review

Small Group Prayer

Corporate Prayer

Gracious God, left to ourselves, we will fail at this great and noble work of parenting. We need your wisdom to guide us in the way of truth. We need your presence and power to enable us daily for this most important work. We need your grace to cover our sin, weakness, and insecurity. Make our family fit and faithful for your work. Establish our home in the service of your will. Fill our home with favor and blessing. Make us fruitful and multiply the gospel through our children. Shape our children into sharpened arrows, ready to be launched into the world. Nurture our children like olive shoots, sincere in godly faith and bountiful in gospel fruit. What is built in our hearth and home, use as instruments for your eternal purpose. Help us Lord, we pray! Amen.

Next Steps

• Meet with a mentor to review this session.
• Memorize the biblical proverb.
• Complete the spiritual disciplines over the course of the week.
• Finish your personal and parenting projects.

Session 6 Weekly Disciplines

Scripture Reading

Read the main biblical text studied in this session. Use this passage to spend time in reflection and prayer.

Prepare Your Heart

Pray this prayer to prepare to meet with the Lord. Spend a few minutes in silence, quieting your heart and focusing your mind.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

Read the Passage

Reread the biblical passage studied in this session. Read it slowly and reflectively. You will use this passage to guide your time of prayer.

Key Passage: Psalm 127:1–5; 128:1–6

Parallel Passages: 1 Kings 5:1–6:38; 7:1–12; 8:22–66; 1 Chronicles 22:2–19; Psalm 122:1–9; John 15:1–17

Consider the Truth

Pray the Text

Rest in God’s Presence

After praying to the Lord, sit in silence for a few minutes. Rest in God’s presence, recognizing his knowledge of and love for you. After a few minutes of silence, pray this prayer.

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Topical Study

Study the key themes of this session by reading and reflecting on parallel passages collected below.

Verse Collection

Prayerfully read through the selected passages of Scripture, identifying important truths they teach. Mark verses that you find encouraging.

Genesis 33:5

When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, "These are the children God has graciously given your servant.

2 Samuel 7:11–14

The Lord declares to you that He Himself will establish a house for you. And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

2 Samuel 7:25–29

And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised, so that Your name will be magnified forever when it is said, ‘The Lord of Hosts is God over Israel.’ And the house of Your servant David will be established before You. For You, O Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, ‘I will build a house for you.’ Therefore Your servant has found the courage to offer this prayer to You. And now, O Lord God, You are God! Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing the house of Your servant will be blessed forever.

1 Kings 8:17–20

Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’ Now the Lord has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built the house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

Psalm 33:16–19

No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save. Surely the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His loving devotion to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

Psalm 52:8–9

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever, because You have done it. I will wait on Your name— for it is good— in the presence of Your saints.

Psalm 92:12–15

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain, to proclaim, “The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and in Him there is no unrighteousness.”

Psalm 132:11

The Lord swore an oath to David, a promise He will not revoke: "One of your descendants I will place on your throne.

Ecclesiastes 5:11

The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.

Isaiah 3:10

Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

Isaiah 65:22–23

No longer will they build houses for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat. For as is the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain or bear children doomed to disaster; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord—they and their descendants with them.

Ezekiel 19:10–11

Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters. It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage.

Ezekiel 28:25–26

This is what the Lord God says: “When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they have been scattered, I will show Myself holy among them in the sight of the nations. Then they will dwell in their own land, which I have given to My servant Jacob. And there they will dwell securely, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will dwell securely when I execute judgments against all those around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”

Hebrews 3:4

And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

Concluding Reflection

Review and reflect on the passages you just read. Identify verses that you find most convicting, challenging, and comforting.

Art Observation

Use the artwork on the following page to help you reflect on the teaching of the session. Use the Scripture passage and questions below to help guide your thinking.

Scriptural Reading

The following biblical passage describes a basic essence of the Christian life. Read the biblical passage before you observe the painting.

Then the little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them. And the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Painting Reflection

Take time to observe the painting. Use the following questions to prompt your reflection. Record observations, insights, or questions below.

Observations

Spiritual Practice

Use the following activity as a concrete way to commune with the Lord. Set aside enough time to complete this activity in its entirety, following each step as a guide.

Getting Quiet Before God

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Acknowledging God as Father

After several minutes of silence, offer this prayer to God. Pray with open hands facing upwards to symbolize you stand before God in complete openness.

Faithful Lord, we thank you for our family. We cherish the gift of our home. Our children are a heritage from the Lord. We want to raise children that will be sharpened arrows, instruments in your hand. Help us in the great and noble work. We want to treasure our children as blessings from your gracious hand. Help us to see our children as divine gifts from a good God. We want our children to mature to so that they can faithfully serve you. Help us to not merely bear children, but to raise in them in the Lord. May our children learn to fear you. May our lives as parents be worthy of emulation. May our table be full of your blessing. May our home be full of your provision. May our children be instruments of righteousness in the world. Build your house through the building of our home. Amen and amen.

Meditating on God’s Tender Care

Find a stone and space enough to throw the stone safely. Reflect on the stone ready to be launched forward. Consider what it would take for your children to be ready to be launched into the world. Make a list of these characteristics. Then throw the rock. Reflect on how you want your children to be impactful in the world for the Lord’s purposes. Record these thoughts.

Praising God for His Care

Come to God with humility and complete dependence. Ask him to cover the sins of the past and instruct you in the ways of his will for the future.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the highest places. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts. Praise Him, O sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars. Praise Him, O highest heavens, and you waters above the skies.

Imagining Your Blessing

Use the imaginative question to consider life outside of God’s care. Let this exercise stir gratitude and praise in your heart.

Entrusting Yourself to the Lord

Entrust yourself to the Lord’s care, offering him praise and honor as your caretaker, provider, and deliverer.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise on account of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger.

Record Final Thoughts

Journal Reflection

Journal your thoughts on this week’s study. Use the questions as prompts to guide your time in journal reflection.

Reflection Questions

Session 6 Reflective Projects

Personal Project

The following activity helps you internalize the biblical teaching and develop theological wisdom for parenting by grappling with the implications of the teaching in your own life.

Project Instructions

Think about the responsibilities God has given you as a disciple, spouse, and parent. Reflect on your weaknesses to fulfill these duties in your own strength. Then, consider what a blessed family looks like and write a series of beatitudes (Blessed is…) statements to describe the blessed home.

Example Beatitudes

• Blessed is the family which walks in the fear of God.
• Blessed is the family which cherishes each child as a gift from God.
• Blessed is the family which fully depends upon God to build the house.
• Blessed is the family which tends to marriage as the bedrock for their household health.
• Blessed is the family which risks its comfort for the work of the Lord.
• Blessed is the family which raises children to be sharpened arrows to be launched into the world.
• Blessed is the family whose parents stand sentry over its house like watchmen.
• Blessed is the family which prizes eternal things and does not lay up for itself treasures on earth.
• Blessed is the family which invests in their children for the sake of their children’s children.

Family Beatitudes

Parenting Project

In faithful homebuilding, parents proactively apply biblical wisdom to establish their family. The following project helps you thoughtfully implement the timeless truth of God’s word into the specific situation of your family.

Discuss with Your Spouse

Project Explanation

Family Vision and Mission

In this project, you and your spouse will describe the vision and mission for your family. Your family vision is a statement that describes the future hopes for your family. You can think of your family vision as the impact you hope to make with the members of your family and those outside of your family. Your family mission statement identifies the overarching purpose for your household—the underlying “why” for all your parenting and family activities.

• Vision Statement

  • Overarching Idea: Transformative impact and outcomes
  • Key Question: Where are you going?
  • Time Orientation: Focuses on the hopes and prospects for your family in the future.
  • Elements: Includes sphere of influence, strategic efforts, and future reality.

• Mission Statement

  • Overarching Idea: Underlying purpose and drive
  • Key Question: Why do you exist?
  • Time Orientation: Focuses on your family’s underlying purpose that drives every aspect of your family life.
  • Elements: Includes unique contribution, driving cause, and aspirational goals.

Family Vision and Mission

Family Vision Reflection Questions

Family Vision Statement

Family Mission Reflection Questions

Family Mission Statement

Conclusion

Conclusion

In the Service of the Lord: Consecrating Our Homes to God

Overview

And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because He is our God!

The family—how much of a nation’s happiness and prosperity depends on that institution as a nursery, a school, a society, a sanctuary, a little church, and an emblem of the great family—“the whole family” … part of which is in heaven, and part still on earth.

In this final session, you will review the main topics of this study. This time of community reflection affords an opportunity to discuss key ideas, raise lingering questions, and summarize noteworthy insights gained over the course of the previous weeks. Take time to encourage and pray for each other. You have invested a lot of time and energy in Scripture study, personal reflection, and parenting projects. Digest the previous weeks together, celebrating all that God has taught you. Additionally, during this final session, your parenting community will prepare for the outdoor experience of family camp. Use this time to orient yourselves to the daily devotionals, mentoring sessions, and outdoor experiences. Consider this a preparatory meeting to think through logistics so that you can maximize the time together on the camping trip. This is a moment for your parenting community and church to make an emphatic declaration that you and your home will wholeheartedly live in the service of the Lord.

Key Idea

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Review

Conclusion Community Study

Tuning Our Hearts to the Lord

Unite your hearts together in worship. Use the community confession, corporate song, Scripture reading, responsive call, and opening prayer to enter God’s presence together.

Community Confession

By God’s grace and through faith in Christ, our home belongs to the Lord. As priests, we will nurture our children in God’s fatherly care. As stewards, we will pass on the faith of our fathers. As shepherds, we will lead our children as God shepherds us. As teachers, we will instruct our household in the fear of the Lord. As protectors, we will entrust our family to God’s safekeeping. As overseers, we will build Christian hearth and home as a heritage from the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For God’s glory, for our good, and for the sake of the world! Amen and amen!

Corporate Song

As for Me and My House

Verse 1
As for me and my house,
We will all serve the Lord;
We will walk in His footsteps
Day by day;
All our talents we will bring
Consecrating ev’rything
To the service of
Our Savior and King.

Verse 2
As for me and my house,
We will all serve the Lord;
His commands and His precepts
We’ll obey,
What He says to us we’ll do,
Where He sends us we will go,
In our Master’s
Joyful service below.

Verse 3
As for me and my house,
We will all serve the Lord;
We will walk in His footsteps
Day by day,
We will labor, watch and pray,
Seek for those who’ve gone astray,
And will point them to
The blessed old way.

Verse 4
As for me and my house,
We will all serve the Lord;
In the home, on the street,
Or o’er the sea,
We will publish far and wide,
How the Savior came and died
To redeem us
And to make us all free.

Scripture Reading

Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left.

Responsive Call

Reader: Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

All: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Reader: The Lord our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes.

All: Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!

Opening Prayer

Faithful Lord, we dedicate our home to you. Protect us from false gods and idolatry, lest we give our hearts and homes to that which will only disappoint and destroy. Keep us from wrong belief, which will lead us into all forms of godlessness. Instead, help us to be strong and obey all of your word. Prevent us from becoming enamored with worldly delights. Rather, help us to have an eternal vision for our everlasting home. We devote our marriage, our children, our family, and our guests to you. Root out sin and evil. Plant within us truth and holiness. Remove our cowardice and compromise. Establish us in courage and wholehearted devotion. Depose impostor kings and counterfeit gods. On the contrary, build us firm upon your word, pure in the worship of God, and at peace in your all-knowing and all-powerful embrace. Amen.

Session Review

This section of the book helps you and your community review the main teachings of this study. It will also serve to orient the whole group to the outdoor experience.

Session Review

Main Idea Review

Review all sessions and their main ideas. Share which sessions, biblical texts, and key ideas encouraged you the most and challenged you the most.

Project Review

Take time to review your projects over the past weeks. Share your projects with each other, celebrating the progress made, shouldering the burdens of difficulties discovered, and helping all to hone their work and put it in a more full and complete form.

This section of the book helps to give you a preview to the experience section of this rite of passage. We have provided suggested elements to this outdoor experience, but this space allows each church to customize the experience.

Planning

Preview the Challenge and Celebration sections of this rite of passage. Use this time to prepare expectations for the trip. Specifically, orient participants to the daily devotionals, outdoor activities, and community building experiences. Also, preview the Celebration section which comes after the trip. Spend time praying for the time together and planning details for the trip.

Part 2: Challenge
Daily Devotionals	Near to Those Who Call on Him: Cultivating Intimacy with God: • Morning Reading: Learning the practice of spiritual reading. • Midday Prayer: Marking the day in prayer, song, and community. • Evening Reflection: Practicing the habit of daily examen.
Outdoor Experiences	Homestead: Practicing Parental Duty in the Outdoors • Homemaking • Hearth Building • Shepherd’s Carry • Table Setting • Night Vigil
Community Building	Homes of Holy Testimony: Homebuilding in the Household of Faith • Project Review • Celebrations and Struggles • Worship and Tradition • Value and Education • Discipline and Mission • Life Spheres • General Reflections

Part 3: Celebration
Personal Testimony	Reporting on God’s work in your life.
Community Confession	Sharing your commitment to take responsibility in life and faith.
Celebration Ceremony	Concluding the rite of passage with a time of celebration and praise to God.

Logistics

Use this space to plan any trip logistics that are needed—assigning various roles and responsibilities, gathering supply lists, and discussing specific schedules and timetables.