And the words are very specific. It says not only did they not know God in some kind of personal faith way, it says they didn't even know what He had done for Israel. They didn't know the facts of their own redemptive history. And what happened is they immediately began to serve the gods of the surrounding culture. Get this principle. If we are not enculturing our children in the things of God, they will be enculturated by the surrounding society. That will always happen. Your children will not remain neutral. They will not remain cultureless. Because of what God's called me to do, I get to do this material around the world. And often, I'll be in a situation where there'll be some teenagers around and I'll try to get three or four of them in a corner, and I'll say, "Can I interview you for a moment? I'm safe, I'm leaving." And it's been a sad experience for me, I'll be very honest with you because what I've experienced again and again is under a thin veneer of faith, our teenagers are buying the idols of the surrounding culture. The way they think about what's important, what their hopes and dreams are, their real operational values, their definition of the good life does not emerge from the Word of God. So you look back at this passage and when you read this passage that records such a shocking thing, you ought to immediately ask yourself, “How in the world did this happen?” And maybe you'd be tempted to think, "Well, the prophets must not have prophesied faithfully and the judges must not have judged righteously. And the priests must have failed in the mediatorial duty." And whatever you would say about the failure of those offices, the reason for the unbelief of these children fall smack dab in the laps of moms and dads. You say, "Well, Paul, what's your proof of that?" Well, when God is preparing Israel to go into the Promised Land, He gives them their final set of instructions. It's found in Deuteronomy, the first several chapters. And I love this passage of Scripture. It's power-packed with information. It sort of has that feel of the kind of conversation a parent would have with their teenage child as they drop him or her off for the first semester at a residential university. You try to download every good thing you've ever talked to that child in about 45 seconds. You're talking like this. [Gibberish sounds] The child says, "Yes, I will. No, I won't. I wouldn't think of doing that. You can trust the mom. I'll call you. That would never happen." And God says essentially this. “Parents, I have chosen the family to be My primary learning community." That is the essence of the job of the family. Parents, if you're going to get the family right, you need to know that God's goal for the family is perseveringly and comprehensively and expansively educational. I'm not talking about homeschooling here. I'm talking about the fact that the family was ordained by God to download to children all the essential facts of the human existence, facts apart from which you cannot be what you're supposed to be and do what you're supposed to do. That's the job of the family. And know this, the church was never given by God to replace you. Parents, the church is given to equip you to do your job. The state is not there to replace you. At best, the state will protect you as you do your job. The school will not replace you. At best, the school will support you as you do your job. You have an essential role in the development of this child, so that this child would understand things that you absolutely need to understand if in any way you're going to live the way you were designed to live and be what you were designed to be. Now, that sort of begs the question, what in the world does it mean for the family to be a learning community? What does that look like? And I want to spend this moment with you unpacking that. Well, the first thing it means is the family is made by God to be a theological community. Maybe you're sitting there thinking, "You have got to be kidding me. I just wished that my son's bedroom didn't look like a bomb site. I wish my five-year- old daughter wasn't so argumentative. I wish my kids would for once act like they have a twit of love for one another."
Transcript: Session 1
GETTING TO THE HEART OF PARENTING
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