HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

Lesson Two

PARENTS (2): PARENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CHILDREN

Burden to Impart:

The children should be impressed with the responsibility their parents feel toward them and bear: to love them and provide for all of their needs. The parents do this joyfully and happily because they love them. Their parents must also be responsible to the Lord for them and answer to Him concerning them, for He gave them to the parents to raise up. For this reason they must train their children in the Lord's right way and even discipline them when they go astray (Prov. 22:6; 29:17; 3:12).

Memory Verse: "For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights" (Proverbs 3:12).

Facts to Teach:

  1. Men and women were created with a desire to have children. When a couple is expecting a child, a feeling of joy and blessing grows within them as the months go by. Also, a feeling of longing and love grows within them for the child whom they have not yet even seen, but is already a part of their family.
  2. The first responsibility that the parents have toward their children is to fulfill the very desire God put within them when they became parents: to love and care for their children.
  3. The next responsibility that parents have toward their children is to provide for their physical needs for survival and growth: food, clothing, shelter, etc. This is not felt as a burden or chore to parents, it is their joy (Matt. 7:9-11).
  4. Because the children were given to the parents by God they also must answer to God for them. They must be responsible to train up their children in the right ways of the Lord (Prov. 22:6) and discipline them when they go astray (Prov. 29:17; 3:12; cf. Heb. 12:6-8). Although this is a sorrow to the parents, this is their responsibility before the Lord. A positive example of this in the Scripture is seen in Job 1:5. A negative example of this is seen in 1 Samuel 3:13.