God’s Created Order

God has designed the structure of the family for his glory and its individual’s spiritual growth

Parents provide love and spiritual training for their children

Children grow as they obey their parents, receive their parent’s discipline, and ask questions

The loving care of a father and mother pictures God’s care and training for His children

The active reception of godly parenting by children brings them to faith and grows their faith

The relationship of parent and child is the God-given medium for teaching and modeling purity

The love and training of godly parents and the child’s active reception of godly parenting are strengthened by gospel-centered relationship between parent and child

Let’s look at how parents and children can foster and nurture a gospel-centered relationship

Parents – Deut 6:6-9; Eph 6:1-4; Col 3:13-21

Parents build relationships with their children by creating and facilitating a gospel-centered environ 

Parents create and facilitate an environment of honesty and openness

Establish truth of the gospel by teaching the law of the Lord, law of the Land, law of the family

Establish normal spiritual convos by checking in often and asking open-ended questions

Help your children see the links between their beliefs, thoughts, & actions

Help your children see how the gospel interacts with their beliefs, thoughts, & actions

Redeem your time with your kids with simple, caring conversations

Parents create and facilitate an environment for confession

Confess sin to God (1 John 1:9)

Confess sin to others (James 5:17)

Teach and model confession to children and spouse

Parents create and facilitate an environment for forgiveness

Teach and model forgiveness by owning sin, acknowledging its consequences and God’s design, asking for the forgiveness of the affected party/ies, and granting forgiveness to others

Children – 1 Cor 12:12-13, Heb 12:7-11, Deut 6:4-9

Children build relationships with their parents by trusting God, trusting and obeying their parents

Children receive their parent’s godly love and training when they understand God’s call to parents

Godly parents desire and do what is best for their children

Physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually

God’s call for parents to use discipline to display God’s love and training for them

Children value talking to their parents when they see their parents value prayer and hate sin

Reasons for not talking to parents: Fear of consequences, shame/guilt/embarrassment, desire to continue in sin, rejecting the gospel or God’s design in the family

Children trust in God grows as their parents trust God in their children’s faith

Recognizing that both are sinner in need of the gospel

Recognizing that the gospel make parents and children actually brothers and sister in Christ