Raising Up Disciples (part 2)

Last week I started a blog series in hopes of helping parents with the grand, God-given task of discipling their children. It's a wonderful privilege, but also an overwhelming one. I find that many parents are a bit intimidated by the thought of discipling their kids. After all, discipleship is about guiding our children to grow as followers of Jesus. That's a huge responsibility.

One of the main challenges is knowing precisely what to teach. I've distilled it down to six topics. These are the irreducible minimums of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. These are the absolute musts of the Christian faith. These are the six topics parents should focus on.

There are many ways to teach these six topics to your kids. You can pick a topic each week and concentrate on that one topic the whole week; and rotate through the topics every six weeks. You can teach a different topic each day of the week (focusing on a different one Monday through Saturday). You decide what's best for you and your children.

As you take steps along this journey, please keep in mind three important factors. First, your kid will never graduate from any of these topics. None of us ever do. These are life-long pursuits. All Christians are always to be growing in their understanding and application of God's truths. Second, you will find that the six topics are inextricably connected. They are not isolated subjects. Therefore, you will want to look for ways to connect the dots. And third, always, always, always remember that the goal isn't intellectual knowledge for the sake of intellectual knowledge. The goal isn't behavior modification for the sake of having well-behaved kids who make us look good in public. The goal is spiritual transformation. The hope is for God's truth to penetrate our children's hearts. The hope of discipleship is for our children to grow in genuine, personal faith - to be authentic followers of Jesus who both know the truth and who live out the truth.

Before we get into the topic here's a disclaimer: I don't write short. I'm an Ent (if it's worth talking about, it's worth taking a long time to say). I realize we live in a Twitter culture. We want advice in 140 characters or less. However, what I'm endeavoring to do is something that requires time and space. It requires our investment. We must be willing to learn so that we may teach. I say that not only to justify my long-windedness but to urge you to give the necessary time to grow so that you may raise up a mature follower of Jesus.

With that, let's take a look at discipleship topic #1 - My God.

The single most fundamental truth of Christianity is the reality that God is Triune. If the doctrine of the Trinity is not true, the entirety of the Christian faith collapses and implodes on itself. The Trinity refers to the tri-unity of God - the three-in-oneness of God. It is a profound mystery far beyond our human capacity to grasp, however, the teaching of the Bible is clear: there is one God who exists in three Persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each member of the Godhead is fully God, possessing all of the divine attributes and characteristics of God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share the same essence, substance, character, will, purpose, and glory. Further, each member of the Trinity is distinct from the others. In other words, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. There are three distinct divine Persons within the Godhead, but there is but ONE God.

Why is this so important? If Jesus Christ is not God (God the Son), then we are still in our sin and without hope. Only God Himself could pay for our sin. Think about it. On the cross God poured out wrath upon Jesus on account of the sin of the world, and Jesus survived. No created being could withstand the judgment of an all-powerful, non-created God. Only God Himself could face His power and live to tell about it.

Genesis 15:1 says - After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you." Abram has a vision and he is terrified. He's afraid for his life because he finds himself in the presence of all-powerful, all-holy God. Knowing his sinful heart, he cowers in fear. Instantly, God says to him, "Do not fear." God tells him precisely why he has no reason to fear - "I am a shield to you." In other words, God Himself will protect Abram from God Himself. This is a picture of Jesus. Jesus is the grace of God shielding us from the justice of God. Jesus went to the cross to absorb the wrath that is deservingly aimed at us on account of our sin.

One of the core tenets of the Christian confession is believing that Jesus Christ is God; not a god, but God Himself. He is Emmanuel (God with us). He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. His name is above EVERY name. He is our God and our Creator. This is a truth that we carefully want to teach our children. We want them to refer to Jesus as "my God."

Here are some Scripture references to discuss with your children and teach them the Trinity and divinity of Jesus:

• John 1:1-4, 9-14
• Philippians 2:5-11
• Colossians 1:13-22
• Hebrews 1:1-3
• Matthew 28:19 (note the singular name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
• 2 Corinthians 13:14 (note the equality between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
• Titus 2:11-14; 3:4 (God and Jesus are both referred to as Savior)
• John 10:30

This is not an exhaustive list of Scriptural texts on the subject but it should give you a good start. Pick one these texts, pray out loud with your kid asking for God's help, read it with your child, ask them what it says, have a conversation, and explain it to them (as best you can). Then, tomorrow, next week, or in six weeks (depending on how you want to go about it), pick another text and follow the process.

It's not possible to understand the Trinity, but it is essential that we believe in the Trinity. It's hard to grasp the truth that Jesus was fully God and fully man, but it is a non-negotiable truth of the Christian faith. All Christians struggle with these truths, but all Christians accept them. That is in fact what it means to be a Christian. It's placing our faith in the doctrine of the Trinity and in the divinity of Jesus.

If we desire for our children to mature as followers of Jesus, we must take the time to pour this truth into their hearts. If we teach nothing else, we must expose them to this truth. Ultimately, all theological error (heresy) is a failure to accept and embrace this truth. We don't want our kids to fail. We want to set them up for success - spiritual success - and that requires that we come alongside them and pour essential truth into them.

If you'd like an additional resource on the Trinity, click here to listen to a message on the topic (Holy Spirit - Trinity). Scroll down to the May 31, 2015 podcast entitled INdependence: Helped. The message is particularly on the Holy Spirit but I spend a considerable amount of time discussing the Trinity.

May these few thoughts help you in raising up a love-filled, faith-filled, hope-filled follower of Jesus. As a parent, you have no greater responsibility. May God bless your efforts.

In awe of Jesus,
Pastor Rick