Kingdom Parenting: An Illustration from Psalm 127

It was a privilege for Joy and I to be with the Vintage Church family a few weeks ago. Pastor Dustin was gracious enough to ask me to write a follow up blog. Here are some family principles Joy and I try to implement and practice from Psalm 127 as we shape, sharpen, and prepare to send our arrows into the world.

The Bible is full of pictures of family & home life, Psalm 127:1,4 states, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain…Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.” Since I love family and bow hunting, this was a very interesting illustration to me.

Parents, Lay A Solid Foundation

Anyone who has lived in New Orleans recognizes the importance of a solid foundation. The sounds of pile drivers creating a solid foundation in our mud soaked city are everywhere. Laying a gospel foundation is critical in your role as a parent. It is impossible to lay a foundation if you do not have a foundation. How does the gospel impact your parenting worldview? Immerse yourself in the gospel, grow in the gospel, lay a gospel foundation in your home. The gospel should inform our worldview, transform our life, and conform us to Jesus. Any foundation apart from the gospel is to build and labor in vain.

Parents, Parent With Courage

The Psalmist did not say that children were the “tools in the hands of a farmer” or “utensils in the hands of a cook”. I suppose he could have, but under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he chose, “arrows in the hands of a warrior,” which I think is significant and meaningful. Warrior (gib-bor) translates to hero, champion, valiant, mighty, strong… You get the picture? It speaks of courage. Effective parents must parent out of courage in the post-Christian culture we now live in. In twenty-one years of pastoral ministry, I have found that parents want my counsel, but often lack the courage to act on that counsel. Your pastors can give you counsel but they cannot give you courage. Be courageous in your parenting. Have a view to glorify God as you raise your arrows.

Parents, Your Arrows Should Be Carefully Made

Years ago I was driving through Montana and was able to stop at the “Battle Of The Little Big-Horn Battlefield.”  I was able to see a group of Indian men who where part of a battle reenactment actually sit and make arrows from wood, arrowheads from rock, and put it all together with animal parts. One word described this: “disciplined.” They had a focused, monotonous duty to make and shape a weapon from a branch. To turn a branch into an arrow requires considerable time, care, and skill, as evidenced by the Indians on the reservation that day. Here’s a question: who is going to be the primary shaper of your kids? …School friends? TV? Movies? Magazines? Technology? Sports? If you don’t shape them, someone else will.

Parents, Your Children Are Weapons of War

The current Christian parenting ethic aims to raise good, successful, well-behaved (publicly) kids and to keep the safe from harm. Do What….? We are in an epic battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of Christ. Lord, give me the grace to raise courageous gospel-warriors! My prayer is that God will use them as swift, penetrative, and offensive weapons to advance the gospel and unleash great damage on the kingdom of darkness. Paul continually reminds us that we are in a battle against the world, flesh, and the kingdom of darkness. As believers living for God’s glory, we should train our children to live like they are in a war and serve their King Jesus as Gospel arrows that are fired into a lost World.

Parents, Your Arrows Should Go In The Direction They Are Fired

Charles Haddon Spurgeon writes, “To this end we must have our children in hand while they are yet children, or they are never likely to be so when they are grown up; and we must try to point them and straighten them, so as to make arrows of them in their youth, lest they should prove crooked and unserviceable in after life.” -Spurgeon, C. H. (1993). Psalms. Crossway Classic Commentaries (274). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

As we teach, train, and fire our “arrows” towards Jesus and the Gospel, our hope and prayer is that by God’s grace they are saved and fired out as weapons of war, obediently living for His glory. As parents, it is critical that we begin firing our “arrows” at the right targets early in life. Many of us fire our “arrows” into the world as we target success, money, prominence, status, and worldliness. Just remember- there is a great chance that your “arrows” will go just where you trained them to go.

If you’d like to learn more about a biblical perspective on parenting, you can check out the materials from the recent Equip night that George and Joy Ross led at Vintage by clicking on the link HERE.