Lesson 1 | The Main Point
Teaching your family
The first teaching priority
This course is all about teaching, and teaching is meant to start in our families. Thus, before we get too far along, the question must be asked—do you teach the scriptures to your family?
Consider this classic banner text from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We are first called to the greatest commandment of all—to love God with our all. From there, Moses puts his focus on teaching our children as the very first manifestation of this love for God. It is because God's words are on our hearts that they naturally also rule in our houses.
How? Moses breaks it down in four ways: family devotionals (“talk of them when you sit in your house”), informal discussions of the scriptures (“when you walk by the way”), attention to the Word before bedtime (“when you lie down”), as well as first thing in the morning (“when you rise”). Is this your practice? If not, God calls you to repent. Your job as a parent starts with teaching your children the Bible—may God help us live up to this great calling.
Mothers: Now of course this responsibility first falls upon fathers. But if your husband is a non-believer, or simply disobedient in this area, the answer is not to give-up before trying. Graciously encourage your husband to lead in this way. If he refuses, ask his permission to take the lead yourself, in submissive hope that one day he will replace you.
Bound on your hand, fixed between your eyes, written on your walls
Verses 8 and 9 are also important to filling out the exhortation of this text, but require a bit more thoughtfulness to interpret correctly. Consider how these ideas are spoken of in the book of Exodus.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord... You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. —Exodus 13:6-9
Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt. —Exodus 13:13-16
One thing is for sure, we are not being commanded to place a box containing Scripture passages connected to a leather strap upon our foreheads (as traditional Judaism contends). That would be an absurd understanding of Deuteronomy 6, as confirmed in Exodus 13. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and redemption of the firstborn are to be a “memorial” in our minds, not a box bound to our heads!
The meaning here is a poetic call to do the Word (thus it is bound to our hands) and think about it throughout the day (thus it is as an ornament hanging upon our minds).
So too the command to write the word on our doorposts and gates. The point is not enclosed boxes that we kiss for good luck as we enter and leave a home. Nor is it a stack of great theological books which simply sit upon our shelves to make us feel like good Christians. The point is that God's word would be always before us—be it a poster on your wall or background on your computer.
What's the point?
The bottomline comes down to this. A parent's first call to teach is not to those outside his/her family, but to his very own children. And this teaching is to be done by saturating our homes with the word, in our interactions, practices and decor.
Practical considerations for teaching young children
When we begin teaching the Bible to our young children it can be intimidating. If that is where you are at, consider the following suggestions.
- Keep it short and sharp. It goes without saying, and yet it is easy to forget—our young children have short attention spans. If we want to teach them in a way in which they can receive the instruction, we must keep it to the point and keep the point clear.
- Engage hearts. This should be true of all of our teaching, but is particularly easy to forget when working through the basics with small children.
- Gauge understanding. The purpose is not to get through the devotionals. The purpose is for your children to get the devotionals. Thus, we must look into their faces and ask lots of questions to know what they are following.
- Practical living. Whenever possible, allow the word to change they way you do things at home. On whatever it touches, let it rule. This, more than almost anything else, will leave lasting impact on your children.
- Center your family around God. Approach you family Bible times as opportunities to come to God. Thus, ask God to speak to you before you read, and thank God for what he has taught you when finished. Encourage your kids to pray too.
- Teach gospel and not moralism. It is so much easier to teach children rules, than to ground them in theology. But the central message of the Bible is not rules, and we must convey this to our children.
When to begin
How old should our kids be before we begin teaching them God's word? On the one hand, this is an impossible question to answer as it is impossible to discern just how much they understand before they are able to communicate. But on the other hand, the answer is easy. For there is no downside to beginning from birth. You will get practice, and they will pick up truths of God as soon as God gives them the capacities to do so.
And don't assume that will take years. Just think of it—John the Baptist was already responding to Jesus from the womb, when he jumps at his presence!
Not just at home
I will never forget an exhortation I once received to remember that the kids in my church are no less image-bearers of God in need of the gospel, and thus should no less be considered in sermon preparation. “Do not ignore them,” I was told, because certainly Jesus never would have. Sure, there is much they will not understand. But could we not at least design a sentence or two in the message for them?!
Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God
Jesus (Mark 10:14)