Instruct & Discipline in the Home!

Ephesians 6:4 (part 2)

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

I am teaching the third message in our new sermon series, called, “Transforming Stories of the Next Generation.” In this message, I will continue my teaching on Ephesians 6:4, focusing on what it is we are supposed to be instructing our kids at home and how discipline works in conjunction with that training up of our children in the way they should go.

First allow me to set up the context for this Ephesians 6:4 passage, by examining its context, starting in Ephesians 5:1-6:4. After doing so, I want to highlight how that same context is paralleled in Colossians 3:21.

In order to be fruitful and effective in the Spirit-filled life, there are three areas of a child that must be instructed and disciplined:

Orthodoxy – mind – what is it you believe (right thinking / orthodoxy). This is often all we think about when forming our children; it’s the Bible reading and knowledge of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Beliefs matter! What we think matters!

Orthopathy – heart – what is it you experience that shapes your feelings and marks your character (right emotions / affections matter!). The life of the Spirit, unity with God, manifests the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 has a development to it).

Orthopraxis – body / soul (living being) – what is it you do, not just occasionally, but your practices of the faith (right living / lifestyle matters!). Your rule of life – the rhythms and rituals that form you (2 Peter 1).

To keep it simple, right thoughts, lead to right emotions, lead to right actions.

We are transformed through the renewing our minds (Rom 12), to fulfill the Greatest Commandments (Matt 22). To ensure a child is marked by Christ, formed in Him, the parents must look at the whole person and not just a part of the child. This is where discipline is involved. Discipline goes hand in hand with instruction. Let’s look, once again at Hebrews 12:7-17, and learn why discipline: Love, holiness, peaceful fruit of righteousness, wholeness (peace with all men).

This is how parents bring about the promise of Ephesians 6:1-3 for the child – success in life.