All youth and parents are invited to the six14 corn maze fun event!
When: Sunday, Oct. 12 after church
Where: Keller’s Farmstand in Oswego
Cost: $8/person
You can ask Rosie Mertens for more details.
Also, some who missed the last six14 meeting asked about a recording. We did not record the message, but Tab has provided his manuscript: my_parents_part_1_authority
We’re up to chapter 9 in Instructing a Child’s Heart, entitled “Wisdom and Foolishness.” The entire chapter is like a great movie trailer enticing us to benefit from the book of Proverbs! Their illustration of how our culture is like a department store in which all the price tags have been changed says it all (p. 117). Proverbs exposes the false value system of our fallen world and helps us value what is truly valuable in God’s sight.
In light of that, I would encourage you to consider embarking on a study of Proverbs with your youth. To do so effectively, get the commentary by Derek Kidner on Proverbs (and note his topical section covering some of the central themes in Proverbs – it’s outstanding!). You can get his commentary from online vendors such as Amazon or Westminister Bookstore.
One tip: if you do study Proverbs, make sure that you treat it like the Tripps do – putting everything in the book under the motto for the entire book found in chapter 1, verse 7, “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Tying all that you discuss back to that motto reminds us that everything in Proverbs should be seen theologically, flowing from “the fear of the LORD.” And this motto will keep us gospel-centered in our study of Proverbs, since it’s only those who are transformed by the gospel that know, love and fear God rightly – and thus embrace the wisdom of this God-fearing lifestyle.
We will study Proverbs as a church beginning next February. If you think of it, please pray for our preparation for that series as I’m looking forward to it very much! In the meantime, consider benefiting with your youth from these messages from CJ Mahaney on “Lady Wisdom” in Proverbs 1. The messages are introduced on the Sovereign Grace Ministries blog in this way:
The book of Proverbs is a unique gift to those in their teenage years. Whether you’re a parent or a teen, do you value the wealth of wisdom contained there? In these two messages, C.J. highlights the danger of foolishly “dissing” Lady Wisdom, and the importance of listening to her words.
Two audio recordings from Worthy08, the recent Covenant Life Church parent-youth retreat:
Part 1: The Danger of Dissing Lady Wisdom 
C.J. Mahaney
Proverbs 1:20-33
August 19, 2008
Worthy08 parent-youth retreat; North East, Maryland
52:56 run time; 97.0MB MP3
Download or listen here.
Part 2: The Danger of Dissing Lady Wisdom
C.J. Mahaney
Proverbs 1:20-33
August 19, 2008
Worthy08 parent-youth retreat; North East, Maryland
46:19 run time; 84.9MB MP3
Download or listen here.
Grateful to be walking with you in this holy task of parenting!
-Tab
Last Saturday, I so enjoyed being with you once again! Here’s a recap of the content, followed by the discussion questions and fellowship points we provided. Please follow up with your youth on these matters. I’d encourage you to set aside a specific time to pursue fellowship together about this important issue of responding to your authority in the very near future. Parents, I would also encourage you to read chapter 7 of Instructing a Child’s Heart, entitled “Authority is God’s Plan.” It would make an excellent follow up to this message.
MESSAGE POINTS -three implications about parental authority from Ephesians 6.1-3:
NOTE: Our hope and help in the gospel: see Eph 1.7, 5.18
DISCUSS – questions used in discussion groups:
APPLY – suggested fellowship points to continue the conversation:
Wow! Lots of good stuff in chapter 8 of Instructing a Child’s Heart! That’s a chapter well-worth rereading! It’s hard to know how to sum all that up and provide some simple application, but here’s my attempt. It seems to me like there are three main points to take away.
1. Recognize that our children/youth are always worshiping.
The Tripps provided great reminders again and again that our children are hard-wired for worship. We all are; that’s part of what it means to be made in the image of God. The Tripps put it like this: “God designed children for worship. The only question is, what will they worship?” (p. 93). They go on to reference Romans 1, where verse 25 makes this point abundantly clear: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.” We’re tempted to make that exchange all the time (both parents and children); that leads to the second principle I would highlight.
2. Don’t feed the idols.
They list a number of ways we can make this exchange: power and influence, pride and performance, possessions, pleasure and sensuality, fear of man, friendship (being devoted to peers over parents), and being “in the know.” This is just a sample list of potential idols but a very instructive one nonetheless. They go on when unpacking the implication of this principle on p. 106 to make some very helpful points about the ways our priorities as a family can feed the idols, saying: “Families are so overcommitted to activities that there is precious little time for meals together, family devotions, or simple conversation and family enjoyment.”
Here’s a helpful way to evaluate if we are unintentionally feeding some idols: what priorities are reflected in our family schedule? The point is not to avoid all other activities; the point is simply that our priorities inevitably get reflected in our use of time, energy, finances, etc. As the Tripps say: “…don’t present a worldview in which life consists in these things, and God is just icing on the cake. God is the cake!” (p. 106). If you’re wondering how to evaluate activities practically, I don’t think I can improve on the decision tree they provide on p. 107.
3. Dazzle them with the glory of God.
Instead of feeding the idols, let us direct their inbred desire for awe and wonder in a God-ward direction such that they are dazzled with the glory of God above all else. And the best way we can dazzle our teens is to be dazzled ourselves. That, it seems to me, is the most important take-away from this chapter: let’s be dazzled as parents in the glory, splendor and majesty of God! Put into practice in your own devotional life the three elements they recommend: (1) meditate on spiritual truths; (2) provide yourself with spiritual enticement; (3) express your spiritual delights.
Let our children & youth say that mom and dad are dazzled above all by the glory of God, as seen in the beauty and wonder of our Savior especially!
I’ve updated the calendar page to reflect a few recent changes. Click here to view the current schedule.
-Andrea
Hello, Growth “Groupies”! I had a great time with all of you parents and high school youth who were there last time! I hope you enjoyed our time together as well!
As a reminder, for next time please do the following:
In terms of future dates, I’m shooting for the 1st Saturdays of each month. So here’s what we have:
All of these meetings are planned for 8 a.m. at my house. Please note that we did need to make some adjustments to other meetings to work around the Paul Tripp parenting seminar. I’m sorry about that; I think that context will be well worth the shift though!
I’m back in Instructing a Child’s Heart now, chapter 7 (“Authority Is God’s Plan”). In this chapter we are reminded to teach our children to recognize and submit to our God-given authority as parents. I appreciated the very positive way in which the Tripps showed us how to teach that principle to our children.
First, they put the reality of our children’s need to submit in the broader context of God’s establishment of authority in all spheres of life. After describing various spheres and roles of responsibility God has established they say, “Instructing our children regarding the authority structures that God has created will form their thinking about the very concept of authority. This formative instruction is far more profound than merely training our children to obey. It gives them a model of how God has made things and how they are all supposed to function” (p. 83).
And then they make this excellent point about why setting the call to obey our authority in that larger context of all of life is so important: “When our children clearly understand that authority structures come from God, obedience to parents will not seem to be a random requirement. It will be clear that obedience is an opportunity to be part of the order and beauty of creation and is an act of trust in God” (p. 83).
A helpful question to consider would be: to what degree would my child/youth/teen see obedience as an “opportunity to be part of the order and beauty of creation”? The degree to which they see it as an opportunity is the degree to which they understand that all of life will reflect God’s authority in various ways. I know that I haven’t made those connections for my own children, showing them that throughout their lives they will be under various forms of authority as expressions of God’s authority. But I see now how that can help them embrace submission to mom and dad as that opportunity.
Second, the Tripps also helped me see how I could teach submission to my authority more positively with the helpful locomotive illustration on page 88. After highlighting ways that “it will go well for (them)” as they obey (Eph. 6.1-3), they provide this illustration in the side-bar that shows the fallacy of what we think of as true freedom. Simply put, the locomotive is not confined to the tracks in some freedom-restrictive way. Quite the contrary is true: the locomotive is free to be free in the ways it’s designed to be as it runs on tracks laid for it. Imagine if we said: “‘What a shame that [the locomotive] is restricted to the confines of the tracks. Let’s set the locomotive free and allow it to run across the meadow, through the woods or wherever it would like to go.’ How free would the locomotive be? It would be quickly mired in the soft ground of the meadow” (p. 88).
So we protect and serve our children as we consistently teach them the importance of submitting to our God-given authority in the home. May they (and we) learn this lesson well, and be free to run on the tracks God has put before us!
-Tab
For this week’s Thursday thought, I want to explain further what we’re doing in this new context we’re calling Age of Opportunity. We created this context out of a desire to provide more ongoing support and care for you as parents (especially parents of youth). Think of it as a care group supplement for parents of youth. It’s not intended to be a substitute for your care group in any way whatsoever, but we’ve come to recognize that it’s very difficult to provide ongoing support for parenting in our current care group structure. We want that parental support to occur in care group as often as possible, but (in an ongoing way) our care groups probably aren’t going to be sufficient to support parents well, given all the other areas of our lives in which we already seek to pursue fellowship in our care groups.
So, we’re planning on seven meetings in this Age of Opportunity series for the coming ministry year. Each meeting will be comprised of a time of teaching, followed by some interaction or Q & A, and small group discussion and prayer. For the content of the teaching, I simply cannot improve on Grant Layman’s series of messages, “Reasonable Expectations for Teens,” so we plan to listen to those messages in our meetings this year. They include some very helpful and practical interviews with CJ and Carolyn Mahaney that I think you’ll enjoy and benefit from very much. I also plan to supplement those messages with some teaching from our friend Kenneth Maresco (also coming to us via recording).
You could certainly listen to those messages on your own (in fact, I would encourage you to do so), but I think that a context set aside like this in which we give our undivided attention to what we’re hearing, followed by a time to interact and discuss what we heard, will serve us quite well. So please make plans to join us this Saturday (at 7:30 p.m.) in Plank Jr. High’s multipurpose room (where the younger children’s ministry classes are held, down the center hallway, past the men’s bathroom).
I look forward to being with you, trusting God’s powerful grace together for this holy task of parenting!
-Tab
