Proverbs 3:3-6

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The text I’d like to meditate on at this time is from Proverbs chapter three, verses three through six.

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good success
in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:3-6)

After God has taught us what he would have us believe, and do we see what’s required of us. Jesus said in his sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 5:48) you must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. And if we see that what’s required of us is perfection, that can quite frequently lead us to despair. Why even try? And perhaps even disappointment that well, I thought this was supposed to be easy, but there’s a great deal of difficulty that I have to accomplish.

We need then, to be perfected in holiness. And so this passage contains one of the most famous Bible passages, and one that’s well worth memorizing in verse five of Proverbs chapter three.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

And that’s a motto that we can come back to day after day, because this perfection that God requires of us is not possible for us to accomplish. We can’t do it. We won’t ever get even close. And so we come to the passage here that starts: Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. That could be a command. Remain steadfast in your love. Remain in your faithfulness. Show that perfection before God. But really, what it’s saying is, let not God’s steadfast love and God’s faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck. The perfection that God demands of us, he gives to us. He gave that ultimately in Jesus who died on the cross, for all of our imperfections, we call them sins, trespasses, transgressions, iniquities. All different words for the same thing. Failure to live up to the perfection that God requires. Jesus paid the punishment for that. He died with that, so that our sin, our iniquity, our imperfection is gone. It died. And as a result, Jesus also then gives us his perfect record. He was not sinful in any regard. He never committed a single trespass. And that record is counted as ours because of God’s promise. And that’s what this summarizes. God’s steadfast love and faithfulness is his love for you and his faithfulness to his promise to you that he would give you life in His Son, that he would give you His Son’s perfection and holiness.

So when we come to the heaven that God has promised to us, we won’t come as stained and filthy people, but we’ll be clothed in the white robes that John saw in his revelation, (Revelation 7:9) the people clothed in white robes, because their robes are washed in the blood of the lamb. That’s how we get our perfection. It’s given to us by Christ through His Word. Each time that word comes to us, declaring our sins forgiven and strengthening us with the Holy Spirit, it comes with his purposes so that we have the perfection of Jesus in us right now.

Even though we see in our daily lives how often we are imperfect, how often we fail, we have that perfection from Jesus, given to us, and we’ll see it in eternity, that perfection in the most glorious way. But all because we’re looking at not ourselves, but God. We don’t trust in our own wisdom, our own understanding, but we lean on God. We trust in the Lord with all our heart because he gives us everything.

Proverbs 16:18, James 4:6, Philippians 2:8

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The Bible talks a lot about pride. Proverbs 16 says this

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit precedes a fall. (James 4:6)

James four tells us that

“God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 16:18)

That’s some strong language from God that speaks against the sin of pride. But I have to be honest, if I’m watching my kids and I see them do something kind for someone else when they don’t think anybody is watching, or if they do something amazing. I’m proud of them. And I’m sure you felt this too, that if you’ve worked a long time on a big project and it comes out well, you’re proud of the work that you do.

So why do we use this positive word to talk about something that God speaks against? Is all pride sinful? Here’s the distinction. So even in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam work. Work is a gift from God. Adam was to care for the garden. He was to name the animals that God had created. And so that sense of accomplishment, that good feeling that we have when a job is well done, that’s not sinful pride. That’s not what God is speaking against here. It’s gratitude. We’re saying, thank you, Lord, for enabling me to do what you’ve called me to do. Thank you, Lord, for giving me this job to complete.

Instead sinful pride is the opposite. It’s taking for ourselves what belongs to God. It’s taking credit for what he has given to us. And saying this instead belongs to me. Pride is dangerous because it takes the glory that belongs to God alone, and it keeps it for ourselves. At its core, pride is self worship. It’s setting ourselves up at the center of the story instead of God. And here’s the thing God loves us too much to let us stay there.

Because if we think that we are good enough for him, if we think that we can prove ourselves to him, we’ll never understand our real need for him. It’s only when we let the law work and remove any sense of self-righteousness from us, that we can truly understand what he has done for us, that we can truly understand the love that he has shown to us. And nowhere is that love more clearly shown than in His Son and our Savior, Jesus.

Now we look at Jesus and there is no pride there. There is no need for self-promotion. There is no need to prove himself. Philippians two says this

He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.(Philippians 2:8)

Jesus came not to take the glory, but to serve. He came in complete humility to dress himself in human flesh, to live for us, and then to go to the cross to die for us. And it’s on that cross where every single one of our sins was paid for, even the sin of pride. So when you feel that sin of pride creeping in, or when you have that question in your mind, is this gratefulness to God over a job well done? Is this a sense of accomplishment or is this sinful? Ask yourself this: am I pointing others to me? Or am I pointing others to my God? Am I giving the glory and gratitude to him, or am I taking it for myself? Am I trying to prove to God that I’m good enough? Or am I resting in the fact that Jesus is enough for me? Because that’s the good news. He is.

Because of Christ all of our sins are forgiven because of him we can live in total, complete gratitude. And the more clearly we see the love and the forgiveness that Christ has won for us, the more we can live not in self glory, but in gratitude and gratefulness for what he has done for us. The Lord’s blessings to you.

Romans 8:28, Proverbs 3:5-7, John 8:32

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Have you lost touch with reality? Sometimes I do. And I’ve realized that many of the challenges we face, and much of the stress and anxiety that I feel is related to when I lose touch with what’s real. Many of the challenges that we face with other people throughout the day they stem from forgetting that each person we see, each person that we see is someone who is created by God. Loved by him. Jesus has died for them. Often the issues we have with relationships is when we forget that about people and we treat them as less.

You know, when we’re interacting with people at work or at school, and we don’t treat them like the special creations that they are. When we’re driving on the road, and that person cuts us off, and we just treat them like a nameless vehicle that we’re screaming at and not an actual person that Jesus died for. When we’re commenting online and there’s just something about when you have a screen between you and a person that you can just easily just forget their humanity. And then how many challenges come out of that forgetfulness? That come out of forgetting what’s real about them?

But it’s not just the challenges we face with other people. Often I get to thinking I got to carry the weight of my day. I got to figure it all out. Sometimes I get the feeling like if I don’t accomplish this, it’s all going to fall apart. That life’s going in a negative direction. You can just get in this downward path mentally. But none of that is real. None of that is true. And so the beautiful hope, though, that we have, is that today we can simply be reminded of what is true. Today, I’m here to remind you of what is true.

I’m here to remind you that every person you see is a person who is created by God, loved by God, that Jesus came into this world to die for, and he rose again for. Every person you see. All the people you see at school, at work, in the car, online, and the person you see also in the mirror. Jesus died for you. He rose again. You are through faith in Jesus, right with God. And as someone who is right with God, you can ask for forgiveness from others. You can forgive others. You can begin to heal where there have been those challenges. And when it comes to the stress, the anxiety, as someone who is right with God, your life is in his hands. You can know that God is for you today. That today does not ultimately depend on you, but on him. He is carrying out his plan for you. Your life is part of this plan. He’s working all things for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) When you’re weak, he is strong. When you don’t know the way, you can trust him. With every step you take. And he will make your path straight. (Proverbs 3:5-7) Those are the things that are real.

No wonder Jesus said that when you know the truth, the truth will set you free. (John 8:32) When you remember the truth, when you remember what’s real, it can change everything. So today, when you face challenges with other people, when the stress and the anxiety rises, do a little reality check. Stop and remember. Wait, is what I’m thinking, is what I’m feeling, is it based on what’s real? Or is it based on something else? When you realize that you’ve gone off and bought into the lie, lay it before the cross. Be reminded that you are forgiven. That you are right with God. Embrace that forgiveness. Embrace that forgiveness with others when necessary. Experience the comfort of the gospel. Remember what’s real.

Proverbs 12:25

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Years ago, when I was in seminary, I remember one of our professors giving us this advice. He told us to save the cards and letters and emails in which people gave us compliments and to throw away those that gave us criticisms. Part of the reason for us to save those letters and cards and emails was so that we would have something to look at when we did receive criticisms from members of our church.

I have to be honest that I haven’t received so many letters that I’ve kept over the years but those I have, I have treasured. And I’ve often looked at them again and again for words of encouragement, maybe at times when I have felt discouraged.

Why could it be so difficult for us to hear criticism? Well, I think a big part of the reason is not only is that person telling us of our ports and failures, but we already have a voice that reveals our faults and failures to us. That’s an internal voice that each and every one of us hear is that every time that we do a project or have a performance and so forth, we recognize our errors, we recognize our mistakes and we beat ourselves up internally for making them.

How important then it is to hear compliments. In Proverbs 12 verse 25, it says this

Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs him down, but a good word brings him joy. (Proverbs 12:25 EHV)

We can think about that internal voice that we have. Maybe can bring about anxiety over all of the things that we’ve messed up, things that we’ve done wrong. But how positive a good word can be, how that can bring joy to someone and encourage them in their work to do even better. Yes, compliments are certainly a good thing to hear, but you know what? Even the best of compliment isn’t going to totally silence that voice inside.

We’re always going to hear that voice that brings up our faults and failures and sin. But there is a good word that can silence that voice, a good word that does truly bring joy. That good word is the Gospel. It’s the message that Jesus is our Savior from sin. That Jesus lived a holy and perfect life flawlessly, never once doing anything wrong. Never one’s making one mistake. And he did it for you and for me to cover all of our mistakes, to cover all of our sins, everything that anyone would ever criticize us for Jesus did it perfectly and right, and he covers us now with his perfection, holiness, and righteousness.

What comfort we can find in that good news to know that God doesn’t see our sins, our folds, our failures, our mistakes, but through faith in Christ, he sees only Jesus’ holiness and righteousness. And he assures us, in his word, we are his dearly loved children. What comfort that brings to us and joy, even though we know our mistakes, we know our faults and failures. We know that we have a Savior who covers them all. And we know that we are right in God’s sight because of him. Amen.

Proverbs 30:8-9

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In the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 30, the inspired writer says this.

Do not give me poverty or riches. (Proverbs 30:8)

Seems like a wise saying, doesn’t it? But is it something that you’d really pray to God, do not give me poverty or riches? I think many of us maybe would want to just tweak that a little bit to say do not give me poverty, but only riches, after all, we think about the tremendous benefits and blessings that comes from having wealth, from having riches. Might think if having a little is good. Well, having more, what would be so bad about that?

But the writer goes on to say this:

Give me food in the amount that is right for me. Too much, and I may feel satisfied and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” Too little, and I may become poor and steal and profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8-9)

You know, the writer explains the danger for him to be impoverished. He worries that if he’s in poverty, he’s going to be tempted to steal or is going to be tempted to curse God. On the other hand, if he has an overabundance of wealth, he maybe thinks that all of his needs are satisfied. So what use is there for God?

It’s very clear what the writer is concerned about. He’s not so concerned about his material possessions, he’s concerned about his relationship with God. He’s concerned about his faith. And so he prays this give me food in the amount that is right for me. What an awesome prayer that is asking that God would give us what is best for us, thinking about what is most important, protecting our faith in Jesus Christ.

Is that always our top priority when it comes to this life? A lot of times we think about how much we don’t have or wish we had more. Maybe it seems that all of our life can be trying to acquire more and more stuff, more and more riches to make sure that our future is secure. What is most important isn’t it our faith in God? Faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ, who forgives all of our sins? Faith in him, who promises not just a few years of a nice retirement here on this earth, but in eternity, forever, in that perfect place called heaven. And so we pray, give me food in the amount that is right for me.

Here’s an interesting thought. What if God has already answered that prayer? That’s not so strange to consider, is it? God knows everything, and God certainly wants us to be saved, come to the knowledge of the truth, be with him forever in heaven. Is so far fetched to believe that God has not already answered that prayer to give us our food in the amount that is right for us? How does that change your perception on wealth or the things that you have? That God has provided what’s best for you because he’s most concerned not with all of your material blessings that you have, but he’s concerned about your relationship with him and he wants to keep that secure. He wants to keep you close to him.

Yes, may God ever help us to focus on what is most important, focus on our faith and our relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ, may we ever pray, give me food in the amount that is right for me, Amen.

Proverbs 30:8-9

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One of my favorite childhood board games was called Squatter. For Americans, it’s probably a little like Monopoly, but it’s about a sheep station. Well, or a sheep ranch. The idea is to get as many sheep and to improve your property as quickly as possible. You can see the similarity with Monopoly, the goal of the game is to make as much money as possible as soon as possible.

Can you play life that way? With the sole goal of amassing as much money as quickly as possible? I suppose you can. But most of us understand that life is more than money, that there are things in life that are of much greater value than a balance in a checking account. Might be close friends, family, might be time in helping others and other pursuits that benefit humanity. Money isn’t the only thing that has value in our lives.

So how do we keep a proper perspective with regards to money? If we recognize that we can be distracted by it and not appreciate then the other valuable things in the world around us how do we keep our mind with the proper priorities? The wisest man to ever live, Solomon, wrote this in Proverbs 30, verses 8 and 9

Do not give me poverty or riches. Give me food in the amount that is right for me. Too much, and I may feel satisfied and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” Too little, and I may become poor and steal and profane the name of my God.(Proverbs 30:8-9)

Solomon was seeking that right balance. Don’t give me poverty or riches, he prayed to the Lord, give me what is right for me. That’s an interesting statement “right for me.” Some of us may do well with lots of money, Solomon was certainly rich, others of us may not do well with poverty. God knows us the best and he knows what we can handle. And what is good for us. So regardless of our economic status, we should be praying, Lord, give me what is good for me. If it’s a little more money, OK, if it’s a little less money, OK, do what’s right for me.

And God has done what’s right for you. Because the greatest wealth that you need is spiritual wealth. The forgiveness of your sins and he has send Jesus to be just right for you. Jesus has taken away all of your guilt, all of your spiritual poverty, and he’s claimed it as his own. And he paid off your debt through his suffering and death, and Jesus has made you rich in good works by living a perfect life for you, so that now in God’s eyes, you just right, your sins are forgiven and you are perfect.

So don’t let pursuit of earthly wealth, don’t live pursuit of anything that you think is valuable, cut you off from the wealth that God has given you in Jesus. May his forgiveness and his perfect life fill your heart in your life with peace, amen.

Proverbs 27:19, Matthew 15:19, Psalm 51:10

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Many years before I became a pastor, I really spent a lot of my summer wakeboarding and I remember a friend of mine one day came out on the boat with us and he decided to snap a few pictures. A few weeks later, he handed me a few prints. He mentioned that he decided to put a Bible passage on one of the pictures because he knew I was going to become a pastor and he wanted to make sure that I hung it in my office and I’ve done that very thing to this day.

The passage that he chose was this from Proverbs 27, verse 19

As water reflects a person’s face, so a person’s heart reflects the person.(Proverbs 27:19)

I wonder if he saw my look of passion for the sport on my face reflected off the water, something that he could see, and that’s why he chose the passage. Or maybe you just chose a passage out of the hat because he needed something to put so it actually put it up in my office. Who knows? Over the years, though, as I’ve hung that picture in my office, I’ve wondered a lot about that passage. I think the first half of it is very easy to understand as water reflects a face. We know how you look into some water and you see your image, right? You see what you look on the outside.

What about the second half? So a man’s heart reflects the man. Many biblical scholars believe that’s referring to this truth, that really who you are is determined by what’s inside, what’s inside your heart. Deep down. It’s kind of a scary thought, if you think about it. Jesus himself said,

To be sure, out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and blasphemies. (Matthew 15:19)

Kind of a scary thing to think about your true identity being what you see in your heart. Now, that same day when my friend took that excellent picture of me jumping off the wave just at the perfect time, looking like I was totally in control, he also took another picture. A picture that I don’t display in my office. In fact, it sits right behind the other picture in the very same frame. It’s a picture of an epic fail.

Between the two pictures, I’ve wondered if that’s really that second picture that probably characterizes best my skill at wakeboarding. I’m really not as good as that first image gives that impression. But I’m actually pretty terrible.

Isn’t that the case when it comes to looking deep down inside of us, seeing our own heart? Yes, maybe we give the impression to everyone else on the outside that we’re upright and good. We want to do the right thing all of the time. But in our heart of hearts, we know our sin. We know our sinful desires. For this reason that King David said in Psalm 51

Create in me a pure heart, O God. Renew an unwavering spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

David knew his sin and he asked God that he would purify his heart, that he would renew an unwavering spirit within him. That’s exactly what God has done for you and for me. Through faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, through being washed in the waters of baptism, he has given us a new heart, he has cleansed us of our sin, given us new life and a new identity in him. And he’d have us not look upon our old sinful nature and see that as that our identity, but to see our new self that has been created by the Holy Spirit in us, the new life that he has given, that’s been purified by him through his blood to see that as our identity. He’d have us live in that identity.

Let us rejoice in what God has done for us, that he has made us new people in Christ, that he has given us a new heart as we are new men, new people in Christ. Amen.

Proverbs 23:26

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Proverbs 23:26, says

My son, give me your heart. (Proverbs 23:26)

God wants you to give him your heart, what does that mean? What does it mean to give someone your heart? Well, putting your heart into something that usually means that you are going to give more than just lip service, you’re going to be dedicated to something, you’re going to expend energy and put time into something that you’re going to do so happily, joyfully, because your heart is in it.

Story is told of a little girl who went up to her father and asked, Daddy, what does it mean to give your heart to God? How do you do that? And why should I give my heart to God? The father then turned to his daughter and said, “Do trust me? I want you to go and get your piggy bank and bring it to me.” And so the little girl went and she got her piggy bank, she brought it back to her father. He left the room for a few moments and then he came back and he handed that piggy bank, which had been nearly empty, back to his daughter. It was now full of coins and money. And he said, “this is what happens when you give your heart to God. When you trust him and you give your heart to him, he takes your heart, but he returns it to you full of all the treasures of Jesus.”

It’s not a fearful thing for us to give our hearts to God. It’s not something that we do under threat. Instead, it’s something that we can do happily and joyfully trusting that God will take our hearts and he will fill it and give it back to us again. If we were to give our hearts instead to the world, well, what does the world do? It tries to fill our hearts with all sorts of gloom and despair, with fears and doubts. Satan loves to take that kind of heart from the world and use it as his own personal punching bag.

But when we come to the Lord and we turn and trust and we give our heart over to the Lord, he is happy to fill it with with pardon and peace, with light and love. Give your heart to God. That’s no problem. In fact, we can trust him. He cares about that heart, he wants to fill your heart with all the treasures that belong to him. He wants your heart to be full of peace and eternal optimism because it is a heart that knows that it has a place with God forever in heaven.

And we can give our hearts happily over to God, like that little girl who trusted her father with her piggy bank, we can trust God with our hearts. We know that he cares about that heart. And we also know his dedication and the energy that he puts into us when we consider his heart. We see that in the work of his Son, our Lord Jesus, who willingly came into this world, who put his heart into us to win our salvation for us. The lengths that he went in order to win our forgiveness, living for us, dying upon the cross, rising from the tomb, there can be no doubt about the heart of our Lord Jesus, the heart that he has for us.

And when we know the heart that God has towards us, that encourages us to happily hand our hearts over to him, trusting him to fill our hearts with his Peace.

Oh, Lord, take our hearts and fill them with your love. Amen. God’s peace be with you.

Matthew 5:48, Hebrews 12:14, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Proverbs 3:5

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Are you a do it yourselfer? I know about a year ago I decided to take on the project of rebuilding my deck. A few boards were rotten and I wanted to fix the problem. And I didn’t want to hire a contractor because I thought that cost too much. Now, I ended up replacing about 75% of my deck and it maybe doesn’t look the prettiest. I’m sure there isn’t perfectly square angles or perfectly precise cuts, but I think it’ll do the job as long as no one looks too closely. I’m hoping that my do it yourself project is going to last me another five years.

Now there are some things that we can do it ourselves. Maybe it’s rebuilding a deck. Maybe it’s something like changing the brakes on your car, or maybe wiring a new socket for a light bulb. Certain things that we can watch YouTube videos for, to understand how to do, and probably do an OK job with them. Without wrecking them too terribly.

But there’s other things that we better not do it ourselves. Think about heart surgery. It’s probably not enough YouTube videos out there to watch that you’re going to feel confident to perform heart surgery on someone, nor should you. No, for that you need to have proper training. You need to trust the experts who know what they’re doing. Put your life in a doctor’s hands rather than in your own.

Sad to say I think there are many people that are do it yourselfers, not in the medical profession, or not even in the construction profession, but concerning religion. Many people that want to make their own way when it comes to what they think is right concerning religion. And so maybe they think “I think I got it figured out. As long as I do enough good things I’m certain that God is going to find me as acceptable. Or at least if I do more good things than bad things certainly he can’t prohibit me from coming into heaven. Or as long as I just try to be better than everyone else, yes God will let me in.”

But the problem with this do it yourself approach is that we really don’t consider the big question “how good is good enough?” And realize that if we’re talking about being right in God’s sight and getting into heaven then we shouldn’t be asking ourselves “what do I think is good enough?” But “what does God think is good enough to get into heaven?”

Think about what Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 48

“So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

Think about what the writer of the Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 12:14

Pursue peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

God reveals to us in his Word that our best won’t cut it. In fact we need to be perfect. We need to be holy, without that we won’t see the Lord. How important it is then to pay attention to God and His Word, not turn to ourselves for the way of salvation and religious truths, but to turn to God. To turn to his Word. God provides the solution to our problem. The way to make us right with him, the way to know that we are going to heaven, he says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. It says

God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Scriptures talk about one who had no sin, yet who became sin in our place for us. That, of course, is talking about Jesus Christ. And yet it says because Jesus took our sin upon himself, bore it in his own body, suffered and died on the cross for us, that he gives to us righteousness, holiness, perfection is ours through faith in Christ making us acceptable before God the Father.

Yes, when it comes to do it yourself projects, there’s maybe some things that are OK if we try to do on our own to save a little bit of money. But don’t try to do it yourself religion. How important it is instead to turn to God and His Word and to find His truths there for the way of salvation. It says in Proverbs 3.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

Let us pray, Lord God help us to always trust in you and not in ourselves for salvation. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Proverbs 13:24

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Raising kids is tough. It’s hard to know what to do for them and when to do it. Raising kids is tough because they need to be disciplined. They’re just like us. They’re sinful to the core. Sometimes they make mistakes. Other times they deliberately do what they know is wrong. How is a parent supposed to respond? What’s a parent supposed to do? Raising kids is tough.

Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, gives us some advice in Proverbs 13:24. He wrote:

A person who withholds his rod hates his son, but one who loves him administers discipline promptly. (Proverbs 13:24)

Solomon speaks about discipline and he says that he loves his son disciplines him promptly. But he also says that whoever hates his son withholds the rod. So there is obviously an obligation of parents to discipline their kids. We have two synonyms that we’ll use interchangeably, but there’s really a subtle difference between their meaning. And those two synonyms are discipline and punishment.

Punishment is the extraction of a payment for something done wrong. So for instance your speeding, you get pulled over, the officer writes you a ticket, you have to pay the fine. The fine is the punishment for speeding. It’s the payment for something done wrong.

Discipline is subtly different from punishment. Discipline isn’t looking at the past, the wrong done, discipline is looking forward to the future. It’s about shaping the child into who God wants them to be. So discipline is carried out in love.

To be able to discipline my children then I’ve got to separate myself from anger. When my kids do something wrong it’s very easy for me to get angry at them and maybe even ‘discipline’ them at that time, but if I’m doing it in anger I’m not really disciplining, I’m punishing. I’m wanting to extract a payment.

Discipline lovingly looks at the child and says it’s not good for you to do that so I’m going to take action so that you don’t do that in the future. Discipline is done in love. That’s the way that parents are to shape their kids. And that’s the way that God shapes you. He disciplines you through hardship. It’s not punishment. God’s not trying to extract a payment. He’s not angry with you, but he realizes it’s not good for you to keep doing that. So I’m going to take action. I’m going to usually send hardship so that you don’t do that anymore.

So God loves you. And disciplines you. He shows you that he’s not angry with you because he punished Jesus in your place. All those things that you’ve done wrong in the past, Jesus made the payment for them. So you are forgiven. You are dearly loved by God and so he disciplines you. He wants to shape you into the person he wants you to be.

So with that same attitude lovingly look at your children. Don’t punish them. Don’t be angry with them. Love them and shape them. Discipline them as God disciplines you. Amen.

Proverbs 3:5

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God has given a pair of organs to your body that take in light and imagery, they behold beauty, you have a pair of them, they sit right about here, they’re called your eyes.

God has given another organ to your body that takes in data, it learns to think about it, and comprehend it, and then use it to make decisions. We call that organ your brain.

The Lord has given us still another important organ to your body, one that pumps blood all throughout the body, it’s made up of two ventricles, and four valves, and it’s attached to a whole system of veins and arteries, and we call that organ your heart.

What is the organ for faith? What is the organ for faith? Now faith isn’t a physical part of your body, but the Bible teaches us to know about faith and it does so by likening faith to an organ of the body. So we read in the Proverbs:

Trust in the Lord [Have faith in the Lord] with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5)

When the Lord teaches us about faith. He does it by using, among other things, the organ of the heart. To have us learn about what it is to trust or lean entirely on the Lord. Now faith doesn’t have two ventricles and four valves and it’s not connected to veins and arteries that pump physical blood around your body, but knowing about the organ of the heart does help us know something about God given faith.

First of all, just like the heart that sits in your chest cavity and does all kinds of good for your body and life is a gift to you, you didn’t do something to earn it, so also with faith. Faith is gifted. It is gifted to you and to me by God. And secondly just as the heart first receives the life blood of the body into itself and then as it distributes that life blood also then throughout the body, so also with Christian faith. First of all faith receives it passively takes to itself the life blood of Christ. His living and dying and rising again for you and for me. And then the heart of faith pulses that life blood throughout your body and it teaches you to think what is good. And it teaches you to speak and confess what is good and it teaches you to do what is good in God’s eyes and benefit to your neighbor.

Our hearts by their very nature the Lord speaks like this through the prophet as equal our hearts that we are born with are cold, and they are stony, and they are dead toward our neighbor. The Lord says we must have a new heart. And this is exactly what is given to us with faith. A new heart, one that is given the blood of Christ and that then pulses with the blood of Christ that it might be of benefit to our neighbor. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Amen.

Matthew 19:14, Proverbs 22:6

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What do you want most for your child or children? Some might say that they want him or her to be happy. Some might say they want him or her to be a good person. Some might say they want them to be successful which probably starts with good grades in school. Some of them are sports minded parents might say they want them to excel at a certain sport, but are any of these the most important thing for your child?

Wouldn’t what you want most for your child be to see them in heaven with you someday? I know that’s what it would be for me. And Jesus wants to see them there as well. We read in Matthew 19 verse 14.

Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. (Matthew 19:14)

And this is where we can have our greatest impact as a parent. There is probably no one that you can reach better or influence more than your child. They are your own personal mission field you can say. And so how do we take advantage of this tremendous opportunity?

Well it begins with bringing our child to the waters of baptism. Baptism isn’t just a rite by which they become an official member of the church. Baptism is the power of God. It’s where God connects us to Jesus his life and his death and washes away our sins. It’s where God works faith in your child’s heart so they receive this forgiveness. And that’s where God adopts your child, claims them as his own, so that they are all God’s children and heirs of eternal life in heaven.

But our work doesn’t end there. We read in Proverbs 22 verse 6.

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

Having baptized our children we raise them up in the word, we take every opportunity to teach them God’s Word of Life which feeds their faith. We do this by leading them at home and family devotions. We regularly routinely bring them to church. And we bring them to Sunday school even as we attend bible study. We also show them the love and forgiveness of Jesus in our lives and in their lives. When they misbehave, yes, we scold them, but we also tell them that we love them and Jesus loves them and this is why he came to Earth is to win forgiveness for them and nothing will ever change this.

This is our hope as parents especially for the times that we fail. It’s our hope for children and it’s the hope of the world. What privilege we have to share this message of full salvation with the world and especially our children Amen.