"For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments" — Psalm 78:5-7
Years ago I recall hearing the line, "God has no grandchildren." The implication is that no child is born into this world already a child of God. Every child, in order to have eternal life, must be born again. No one will enter heaven on someone else's "coattails," someone else's faith. That, of course, lays upon every Christian parent the responsibility to evangelize his/her own children.
Our text for today reinforces and expands upon that. While it is true we cannot save our children, it is no less true that we can, should, must introduce them to the word of God and instruct them in its principles. We have a responsibility given, in fact, to communicate God's truth to generations to come. It is to be noticed that this responsibility is not laid upon the church, nor upon the mothers, but upon the fathers. That is not to suggest, of course, that the church or mothers have no role to play, but to recognize that the matter of communicating the scriptures to our children is first laid upon fathers in the Divine order.
Godliness, in the scriptures, is never made the first priority of institutions or women, but always of men. The "man of God" is the emphasis of scripture. If God gets the man, the family will be in a position to be aligned with Him. If the men are godly, and about their Father's business, the church will be more of what it should be.
Notwithstanding the cultural shifts that have taken place in my lifetime, the scriptural emphasis has always conferred headship upon the male, and with it, responsibility for obedience to God and His word. Eve was made a "helpmeet" for Adam. "Adam was first formed, then Eve [I Tim. 2:13]."
The New Testament treats the subject at some length; e.g. :
"But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God… For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man [I Cor. 11:3-9]."
Feminizing the home (or the church) is to violate the divine order and to suffer inevitable consequences. This has nothing to do with the dignity of women, nor of their capability. It has to do with the divinely prescribed order of authority and responsibility in the nature of mankind, and is a reflection of the fact that their is a similar administrative order in the Godhead. "The head of Christ is God." Jesus Christ said, with reference to His Father, "I do always those things which please Him [John 8:29]." Nowhere do we find Him usurping the Father's role, which would introduce rebellion into the trinity. And the Holy Spirit, though equally God, is ever subject to the direction of the Father and the Son: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: [Jn. 15:26]." And, "… when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,… he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak… [Jn. 16:13]."
If the father is not a Christian, then of course the burden shifts. But where a man professes to be born again, and God gives him children, their indoctrination in the word of God is his god given responsibility. To bypass it is to disobey God.
"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4) "That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments."
For the generations to come,
"Pastor" Frasier
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