What Do You Do When You Can’t Get to the Heart?

The Biblical Basis for Obedience

Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.”

Two qualifying statements to this sentence:

• “in the Lord”
• “for this is right”

Eph 6:2, “ ‘Honor your father and mother’ “—which is the first commandment with a promise — “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Definition of Obedience: Obedience is the willing submission of one person to the authority of another. And this submission is essentially manifested in two ways:

For the child, obedience is more than just doing what he is told.

It means doing what he is told—

• Without Challenge or Excuse
• Without Delay
• Without Grumbling or an Attitude

Practical Tip to help when you are asking your children to do something: have them come to stand before you (physically) before you give them a command.

Teaching Obedience - from our perspective as Parents

• A Call for Consistency.

• The same rules, the same standards.

• A Call to Encouragement. (Book suggestion: https://www.amazon.ca/Future-Men-Raising-Fight-Giants/dp/1591281105)

• Discernment in our parenting.

• Remember to be gracious with our kids.

IV. Some parting thoughts:

- Goals for our Parenting

Another reason why we parent is because we want our children to learn to live under gracious, godly authority.

Two dangers we need to avoid:

• Legalism.

• Licentiousness.