PASTORAL CHAT
The year 2023 will end soon; one more month to go. So far, it has been a year full of trouble and turmoil in the world and also in the church. Despite all the trials and tribulations, we cannot but thank God for His sovereignty and faithfulness in our lives, for He is watching over us and keeping us safe and sound. As the hymn by Mrs F W Sheffield goes,
God is still on the throne, And He will remember His own; Though trials may press us and burdens distress us, He never will leave us alone;
God is still on the throne, He never forsaketh His own; His promise is true, He will not forget you, God is still on the throne.
We live in a polarised world, but praise God for a united church. The Session with Pastor, Elder, Deacon are working together harmoniously for the glory of God and the good of the church, “that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil 1:27). True Lifers are also worshipping and serving together happily and peacefully. This unity and peace is precious and should be zealously guarded. May all members be reminded of their solemn vow: “I promise never to disrupt the unity and peace of TLBPC by any action whatsoever on my part.” “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps 133:1).
Indeed, truth plus charity equals unity. We find this taught in Colossians 3:12-15, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
What good fruits do we see from such unity? One good fruit is the recent ordination of Samuel Joseph as a Minister of the Gospel. That is another commissioned officer added to the Lord’s army for the advancement of His Gospel kingdom (Matt 28:19-20) and defence of the Reformed faith (Jude 3). JK
BIBLICAL PARENTING (I)
Rev Samuel Joseph
The Promise of Parenting
We all know that parenting is not easy. There are many challenges, as infants and children require constant care and attention, and can be difficult to deal with. Parents may easily be discouraged, and may be led to wonder about the meaning and purpose of it all. Why go through the trouble and heartache of raising a child? Are we simply bowing to some biological imperative? Without the Word of God, it will be difficult if not impossible to make sense of this. As Christians, we need a biblical perspective of what parenting is; we need a biblical perspective of our children: who they are in God’s eyes, how they fit in to God’s plan.
For this we must go back to the beginning, to the opening chapter of Genesis. Here in verses 26-28, we see described the entrance of man, as the pinnacle of God’s creation; the order and structure of the creation week is such as to place emphasis on this final creative act of God, when He made man, male and female, in His image. As well, the next chapter describes in detail how the woman was made, to be a suitable companion and helper for her husband. Both together are intended by God for the generation of children: this is God’s first command to man (Gen 1:28), to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, exercising dominion over it; this is God’s purpose for man ‒ man is meant to fill the earth with the image of God, and the first human pair was made for this end.
But this original goodness and purity has been corrupted, as we know, by the fall. Now the curse has been pronounced, and we are all sinners by nature: depraved, rebels, incapable of living in accordance with God’s will. Left to ourselves, we fill the earth with violence (Gen 6:11-13). This is restrained by the power (Ps 76:10) and provision (Gen 9:6) of God. What does this mean for that original purpose of God in the human family? On the one hand it tells us something important about our children: that they are sinners. What is innate in children is corrupt and sinful; they cannot be left to their own devices, but need guidance, training, supervision, discipline; this is part of parental duty. We are raising, not little angels, but sinners (Ps 51:5), just as we are in ourselves.
Yet all is not bleak, despairing, hopeless, because prominent in that very curse first pronounced, is also the promise, the first gospel (Gen 3:15) ‒ the promise of a Saviour, the promise of a people chosen by God for Himself, whom He will redeem from the kingdom of darkness. Very significantly, the promise is that this Saviour will come through the line of human descent: He will be the seed of the woman. This is something recognised by Adam, in his naming of Eve (Gen 3:20), and something recognised by Eve herself (Gen 4:1). This first childbirth was quickly to end in tragedy, as we see in the biblical record; this teaches us again of the great reality of sin and its corrupting influence ‒ but Abel was replaced by Seth (Gen 4:25), and God’s plan continued to unfold. Man is still made in God’s image; there is still hope for the human race; and that hope is to be realised in obedience to the very same command first given, which is therefore repeated after the flood (Gen 9:7).
We learn here, then, not just the sober reality of the sinfulness of our children, but the wonderful promise of God’s purpose for them. Far beyond filling the earth now with violence and death, we see the good purpose of God to redeem from among our children a people for Himself, and to fill the new earth with His image fully restored in His saints redeemed in Christ. Surely this is a great encouragement for us as parents, when we can fit the sometimes mundane and tiresome details of daily parental life, into this grand scheme and divine plan! Indeed we are not just fulfilling a biological imperative, but participating in a divine and glorious purpose: a recovery, despite the entrance of sin, and really a glorious consummation, of God’s initial pure creation.
On the basis of this broad, biblical perspective, we are now in a position to consider the promise of parenting. Inasmuch as parenting is part of God’s plan for humanity, it comes with His promises. Our children are part of God’s plan, not there merely to fulfil our own plans. God is closely concerned with them! Remember how the Lord Jesus roundly rebuked His disciples for despising the little children, and for thinking that they had no place at the Lord’s side (Matt 19:14)! There is a special place for such children in the Lord’s kingdom: in their lowliness and relative meekness, they exemplify something most commendable from the point of view of the kingdom. We are often full of plans and ideas for our children; we are very involved in their lives ‒ but we must recognise that there is no divine promise associated with our own parental plans, while there are great promises associated with God’s plan for our children. That, then, should be our primary concern as parents.
God is interested in our children; He cares for them as individuals, as His creatures made in His image; and He has a particular purpose for each one. That purpose, in the first place, involves their salvation. This is where a covenantal understanding is important: of course we are not privy to the secret counsel of God in election, yet God reveals Himself as a covenantal God, binding Himself by covenantal relationships with His people: relationships that place great emphasis on the family. So even in the New Testament, we find God’s promises in the gospel being proclaimed with a view to families (Acts 2:39, 11:13-14, 16:15, 16:31-32, 34, 18:18). As believing parents, we recognise that our children are a special heritage entrusted to us by the Lord (1 Cor 7:14). This then leads us to act on the basis of God’s promises: yes, our children are sinners, in need of salvation; but these are sinners entrusted by God to our care. Surely we should lay hold on that as a sign of God’s special concern for them, and make it our priority as parents, to preach the gospel to our children, to teach them, to do all we can to promote their salvation!
God’s purpose for our children, in the second place, involves their service. Our aim as parents should be to bring up our children as saints of the Lord; our focus should not be primarily on their worldly success. The measure of parental “success” is the faithfulness of our children, and that must be the focus of our prayers and desires for them. In line with this, we have also God’s promise, in Proverbs 22:6 ‒ note that this is not an absolute guarantee, since the focus is on the parents’ responsibility rather than the responsibility of the children; yet it is not less than a promise, that if we do our part faithfully as parents, we have biblical warrant to hope that God will also work in our children, to watch over and keep them, even when they leave our care. To train our children in God’s way is to train them in the best way: if they are taught faithfully, God plans to use that very training to save and preserve them. Taken rightly, this promise must spur us on to do our duty, and not to neglect or shun it.
This then is the view of our children we need to have. This right perspective leads us to adopt the right priorities, and to grasp rightly the promises given to us by God in His Word. Surely there is great encouragement in this, that the Lord has His purpose and is at work in and through us, to prepare the next generation of His saints and servants! We may not see the fruits of our own efforts, but we should be comforted to recognise by faith that God often works in the lives of parents, because He has purposed to use their children mightily. Consider how God moved in Hannah’s life, because He had a purpose for Samuel; consider, also, how God used Eunice and Lois to teach young Timothy (2 Tim 1:5, 3:15), who would become a blessing to many! There is great spiritual work involved in family life, even with all its prosaic and tiring routines. Let us not give in to a narrow view of family life, as though we are only preparing the next generation to live and die in this world, and prosper only materially. No, God’s kingdom is advancing, in this generation and in the next, if the Lord tarries; let us do our part as parents, participating in God’s great plan and purpose, for the work of the kingdom, that this fruit may endure for eternity. This is the promise of parenting.
