Nathan's New Business

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brandnewbox/ruler-pencils-a-brilliant-idea-invented-by-a-kid

Nathan is raising money for this incredibly fabulous idea.  Who wouldn't want to have one of these?

Courageous Parenting: The Discipline of the Lord

How do we raise our children?  Ephesians 6:4 says to raise them in the disicpline and instruction of the Lord.

What is the discipline of the Lord?  Hebrews 12 is one great place where this concept is fleshed out.  Verses 5, 7, 8, 11 use this word "discipline." 

Heb 12:5-11 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

One thing that strikes me is that while I am seeking to raise my kids with God's discipline, I realize that in the process of me disciplining my kids, God uses that process to discipline ME!  That resets the whole process when I think that God wants to use the process in my life to make me like him as much as he wants to use it in my kids lives to make them more like him.  That's huge.

Verses 6-8 shows that the disicpline of the Lord is an affirmation of adoption.  The one being disciplined is a child of God.  That's good news.  God only disciplines his own children.  So if you're being discipline, remind yourself that this is a sign of God's love and care for you.

Then make sure that your love and care for your children comes across in the way that you discipline them.  This means affirming your love for them, caring for them and reminding them of the big picture of what discipline is for.

Verses 9-11  seem to be an encouragement not to be provoked to anger by God's discipline.  Don't get mad, realize that God is using it for you to grow and become all that he wants you to be.  God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  All discipline yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 


Father, help me to welcome your discipline in my life. Let it bring peace to me!
And help me to reflect your purposes in my discipline of my kids.  By the way that I talk to them, by my own attitude, help me to show them love and purpose in the discipline.

I think to do this right with our kids, we need to be able to draw the lines between our discipline, and the changes that come in our kids' lives as a result of our discipline.  Drawing these lines will keep us sane (because it IS working--albeit slowly), and it will keep our kids encouraged (so that they can see God's plan IS working in their lives as they grow and mature). 

Parenting that Is Courageous

I saw Courageous last week.  It was an incredible movie.  I highly recommend it to everyone.  It's not perfect, but it's inspiring and it deals with real issues of parenting and being a dad that I personally deal with.  Great for Christians to encourage them to embrace God's call to intentionally parent.  Great for non-Christians to get to see how Christians think about the challenges and the solutions to parenting in our day and age.

My best endorsement of the movie is that it's made me want to grow as a Dad.  What does the Bible say about what makes a great parent?  It's pretty simple, though not easy for all it's simplicity.  Ephesians 6:4 sums up the role of parenting with one thing to do, and one thing not to do. 

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

So, two things:

1. Do not provoke your children to anger. 
2. But bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord

Let's flesh this out a little:

1.  Do not provoke your children to anger.  Do not make them angry.  Do not exasperate your children.  Do not make their lives difficult, or frustrate them.  Do not debilitate them with frustration.  Do not pile on them.  Do not parent out of convenience for yourself, but parent out of love for your children.  Do not make them angry.  For me, this means I need to be more patient and more present.

2.  Raise them in the Lord's discipline and instruction.  This is a command to have your parenting mirror God's parenting.  Raise your children as God raises his children.  According to this verse, God raises his children through discipline and instruction.  God disciplines out of love, not anger (Psalm 103:13).  God instructs us so that we would become mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28).  This is done through gospel discipleship.

Webbed-Feet, Signs, and Children

If it quacks like a duck, then baptize your children!

Let’s play a game: I’m thinking of something…
It has feathers, and webbed feet. It swims and flies. And it quacks.

So here’s the first question: What kind of nose/mouth does it have?
Answer: A bill.
How do you know? Because after reading the description, you know it’s a duck, and you know what a duck’s nose/mouth look like.

Now a second question: What do it’s young do when it goes swimming?
Answer: The young follow, swimming in a line.
How do you know? Because it’s a duck and we’ve all seen that this is what the ducklings do.

Let’s play again: Now I’m thinking about something in the Bible…
It’s the sign of God’s covenant with people.
It meant you were in a relationship with God
It was a sign and a seal of God’s blessings
It was a physical act, but it had real, spiritual significance.
It meant that you were washed and forgiven.
It was a seal of the righteousness of faith
It meant that you had a new heart.

So here’s the first question: What is it?
Answer: Circumcision.
Surprised? Did you think I was going to say Baptism?
Do you think that circumcision was physical, but baptism is spiritual?
Do you think that circumcision was outward, but baptism is inward?
Do you think that circumcision merely indicated that the recipient was part of national Israel, but that baptism indicated that the recipient was part of God’s family?

These thoughts are not supported by Scripture.

Many people who argue for the practice of infant baptism do so on the basis of the practice of infant circumcision in the Old Testament. Those who are opposed to the practice of infant baptism respond that you can’t compare the two because they aren’t the same. Many claim that God applied the sign of circumcision to children because it was a merely an outward, physical sign in the flesh that has no bearing on the infant’s spiritual status before God. They argue that since baptism is entirely a spiritual reality, it cannot be applied to anyone who doesn’t have their own personal relationship with God, as confirmed by their own profession of faith.

While the reasoning makes some logical sense, it is contrary to what the Bible says about circumcision. Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with people. It was a physical act, but it had real, spiritual significance. It meant that you were washed and forgiven. It meant that you had faith and were considered righteous in God’s sight. It meant that you had a new heart and a new self.
If these things are supported by the Bible, then it shows that God has no problem putting a “Spiritual” and an “Inward” sign on infants. If these things are supported by the Bible, then God has no problem putting a sign on infants that says they have a relationship with him even before they make their own profession of faith.

Both Circumcision and Baptism have the same eight characteristics. See the chart with the Scripture references below (you'll have to click on it to see the last column):

This is compelling. It’s new to many people who have been taught a different understanding of circumcision. If baptism and circumcision have the same significance, and if circumcision was applied to the children of believers, then baptism should be as well.  Every argument that can be made against infant baptism can also be made against infant circumcision.  And the arguments against circumcision don't hold water.  This is why biblically speaking circumcision and baptism both quack to the same tune.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was an explicit verse that equated these two signs of God’s covenants? If only there was a passage that equated these baptism and circumcision, then the connection would be even more explicit… There is!

Colossians 2:11-12 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

These two verses shows that in the New Testament, baptism is considered a circumcision made without hands. Baptism is the New Covenant sign that replaces circumcision for God’s people.
So, let’s go back and finish the game we started…
I’m thinking about something in the Bible…
It’s the sign of God’s covenant with people.
It meant you were in a relationship with God
It was a sign and a seal of God’s blessings
It was a physical act, but it had real, spiritual significance.
It meant that you were washed and forgiven.
It was a seal of the righteousness of faith
It meant that you had a new heart.

So here’s the first question: What is it?
Answer: We can’t tell! It’s either circumcision or baptism.
How do you know? Because these are both signs of God’s covenant and this is what the Bible says that God’s signs mean.

Now a second question: What happens to the children of believers with the sign of the covenant?
Answer: The children receive the sign—they are circumcised or baptized
How do you know? Because it’s a covenant sign, and God has been putting the sign of his covenant on the children of believers from the beginning of the Bible.

So baptize those children of believers! God wants them to grow up with the sign of his covenant!

Are Children Part of God's Covenant Family? New Testament Textual Proof for Infant Baptism

 

Ephesians 6:1-4 is an incredibly strong textual argument for infant baptism.  Both the instruction to children and the instruction to parents prove that in the New Testament, the children of one or more Christian parents were considered part of God’s covenant family.  If they are part of God’s family, then they should be given the sign of the Covenant.  Which means they should be baptized.

What’s interesting is that these are verses that EVERY church knows and would quote and teach its parents and children—even churches that don’t believe that children are part of God’s covenant family until AFTER they make their own profession of faith. See how the details of these verses make it abundantly clear that this was the teaching of the Apostle Paul and the early church. 

The Instruction to Children

Ephesians 6:1-3  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  ² "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise),  ³ "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land."  

1. Obey “in the Lord.”  This means that they are “in the Lord.”  They are united to Jesus and so they should receive the sacrament that demonstrates this union.  Reading the rest of Ephesians helps you understand all that the phrase "in the Lord" means.  Paul uses this phrase over 25 times in 6 chapters.
2. In verse 2, Paul quotes the 5^th commandment, which was part of the covenant between God and his people in Exodus 20.  This means that they are in covenant with God, and so the sign of the covenant should be applied to them.

The Instruction to Parents

Ephesians 6:4  Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

1. The discipline and instruction of the Lord means “the Lord’s discipline and instruction.”  Hebrews 12 makes it perfectly clear that the Lord disciplines his CHILDREN.  He doesn’t discipline those who aren’t his children.  This means that if parents are to raise their children with God’s discipline and instruction, then parents are to treat children as though they are God’s children.  God’s children are part of his family.  God puts his name on his children and his covenant sign.

These verses clearly indicate that children were considered part of God's family.  They were in the covenant, and so they should be given the new covenant sign of baptism.

What's as important and maybe even more important is that this means that Christian parents should raise their children in the gospel, helping their children to grow in their experience of the blessings that they have from Jesus. 

If God Is Always Present, Why Pray for His Presence?

Do we need to offer prayers which invoke God's presence, asking him to be present when he already is?

This touches on a pretty interesting dynamic actually when it comes to discipleship, sanctification, and living by faith.  We have all the blessings in the heavenly places in Christ, so why do we pray for God to bless us?  I’ve been thinking about this concept and how we communicate it in ministry for 18 years. 

Easiest biblical example of this is Ephesians 1.  In v3-14, Paul describes all the blessings that we have in Christ.  These blessings are ours.  In v15-23, he then prays that we would understand these blessings.  “I pray that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him… that you would KNOW the hope of your calling, the riches of his inheritance in the saints, and the power that works in you—it’s the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.” 

You have these blessings, but Paul is compelled to pray that you would understand them.  I think this is a clear model that we apply to this situation.  God is present, yet we pray that we would know his presence.  I like Genesis 28:14—“Surely the Lord is in this place, AND I DID NOT KNOW IT.”  May our prayers of invocation help us not to make this same mistake!

The other place in Scripture that directly relates to sanctification is Romans 6:6 and Romans 6:11. 

V6—For we know that our old self was crucified with him… that we should no longer be enslaved to sin.
V11—Therefore consider yourself to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Again, Paul is saying that though we have the blessing of being crucified and risen with Jesus, we have an obligation to “consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God…”

To me, this has been the most powerful impetus for personal growth in my Christian life.  Some theologians call it the relationship between the indicatives and imperatives in Scriptures.  All the imperatives are based on the indicatives.  God calls us to walk in holiness because he has made us holy in Christ.

Big issue:  how do we close the gap that exists between what God says we are in Christ and our daily experience?

I think it’s faith:  Faith that drives us to believe we are what God says we are, faith that drives us to practice what God has called us to do because he’s given us all his blessings and power.

How do we grow this faith?  Prayers which invoke God’s presence and bring us into greater awareness of who we are in him.

Love for Work as Evangelism

I've often said regarding how to think about Christians sharing their faith with their friends, "We should love people so much that they would understand and be blessed by our faith."  Thinking this way helps us avoid both extremes of (1) being obnoxious and (2) of never talking about our spirituality.

With the passing of Coach John Wooden, it's made me wonder if his example might help us apply this statement to our work.  "He loved his job so much that people understood and were blessed by his faith."  

This may not be something everyone can connect with.  I know many people hate their work, and others are learning how to love it.  But for those who can learn to love their work, or who already do, let your love move you to thankfulness and a vigor to do it well.  Realize that in your work you are imaging God who creates, maintains, and restores the world and let that realization prompt  you to do your work in his name and so that others might see how he does what you do.

This would bless Christians in the church to follow suit.  It would also bless folks who aren't Christians, enabling them to understand and be influenced by Christianity's ability to see that work can be a wonderful gift and blessing.