Lesson 385 - Junior

Memory Verse

"Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest;  yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul" (Proverbs 29:17).

Notes

God's Plan for Obedience

God is an orderly God. His universe was created and is sustained in an orderly manner, based upon obedience -" following the plan of God. Nature follows God's plan, but what about man?

As you boys and girls know, the planets, including our earth, are sustained precisely in their orbits. This is according to the ordinance of God. The vegetation, the flowers and the trees, bud and blossom, at a precise time of year according to the plan of God. Even the animals, the fish, the fowls reproduce at a precise time of life because God has ordered it so.

Man is different. God has given him a free will. He is not compelled to obey God, but he is happy if he does and he is cursed if he does not. God wants a happy people who obey Him because they love Him. He delights in them and they delight in Him; and to such people there is a promise: "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" [PS:37:4]).

God has made a careful, precise plan for each boy and girl, each man and woman, and those who obey and follow that plan are happy and blessed.

Love Commands Obedience

The first thing of which a child is conscious in this life is the care and love of Mother and Father. That is the way God intended it to be. God shows His love and care for us through the love He puts into the hearts of parents who love and serve Him. The children of such parents are cradled in love; they are brought up in the fear of God and disciplined by love. Blessed indeed is the child who is born into a Christian home!

True love does not cater to every whim and fancy of a child. Love is strong and supporting. Love commands obedience, and that is the happy way.

Obedience to Parents

Children take their first steps on the Royal Road to Happiness as they learn to obey their parents. The first verse of our text is addressed to parents: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" [PRO:22:6]).

Day by day they teach their children the way they should go as revealed in the Bible. Way back in the time when Moses brought the Children of Israel to the borders of the promised land, he said to the people: "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, . . . And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" [DEU:11:18-19]).

< p>If we are obedient, our life here will be "as the days of heaven upon the earth." If we do not obey, we feel the lash. This, also, is God's plan; for "the rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame" [PRO:29:15]).

 

Timothy's Example

How many people received such godly training in their youth we do not know, but we read in the Bible about young Timothy. His mother Eunice was a Jewess, as was his grandmother Lois; so no doubt this kind of discipline and training in the Word of God was Timothy's portion as he grew up. He responded to the words his mother read to him out of the Word of God, and he became a true Christian.

Timothy was well-known as an obedient, faithful son; and when Paul the Apostle came to Timothy's home town on his second missionary journey he recognised him as a valuable Gospel worker, and took him with him on some of his missionary journeys.

Obedience to Ministers

Children acquire the habit of obedience to authority under the influence of their godly parents, and when they are old enough to take a part in church services, they are ready to obey their Sunday School teacher and their minister, as God has said: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account" [HEB:13:17]).

Obedience to Civil Authorities

Later, when they go to public school, the habit of obedience continues. They obey the teacher's rules in so far as they do not conflict with their service to God. They obey the traffic rules, and the laws of the city and country in which they live, as they have been taught from the Bible: "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work" [TIT:3:1]).

Obedience to God

Above all, they have learned to obey God because they love Him. He is the greatest of all those whom any person is to obey. And it is easy to know what God wants us to do, because Hew has written his commands in the Bible. In school we learn by reading the textbooks and by hearing what our teachers say. We learn God's will by reading the Bible and listening to the Teacher whom Jesus sent into the world -- the Holy Ghost who speaks in our hearts and tells us it is right to obey.

Christian's Privilege

Now that we have considered the influence that godly parents have upon their children, let us consider the privilege children have to help their parents. Each Christian parent has a part in the Gospel work. For Mother it may not be a part that is seen by others. Her part may be praying and keeping the home for her family. Father may attend street meetings; he may drive the Sunday School bus; he may testify; he may preach.

But whatever part Mother and Father have, the children can help. They can do all things without murmurings and disputtings, and that is God's way [PHL:2:14-15]). At prayer time they can take their turn reading the Bible, and joining in prayer at the family altar.

At one time the Prophet Joel said that even the babies should be brought to church where children and the older people worshiped the Lord. In other places in the Bible God says: "Let all the people say, Amen." He wants all the people, the young and the old, to express their belief in His Word.

Abraham's Example

Abraham and Sarah were godly parents about whom we read in the Bible. They loved God and were careful to obey Him. Abraham did not complain when he had only a faithful servant, Eliezer, to be his heir; but when God promised Abraham a son in his old age, he believed God. God called Abraham His friend, and said: "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him" [GEN:18:17-19]).

God knows each of us today, too. Are we true and strong in faith? Are we keeping the way of the Lord? Are we saved and doing His will? Are we living so that God may bring upon our parents the good things he wants to do for them?

God had promised Abraham the land of Canaan, and that all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him; but, you see, the fulfilment of those promises depended upon the children serving God.

Where Do You Stand?

Could it be that your parents want to go to camp meeting, but because you will not do right, they have to stay home? Could it be that God wants to send them out as missionaries, but because you are not saved they cannot go?

May it be said of you that you appreciate the Gospel, that you have a keen sense of the value of your father's religion, and will stand with him as he says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" [JOS:24:15]).

Questions

1. In what time of life should a person be trained in the way he should go?

2. What does a child bring to his mother if he is left to grow up without reproof?

3. Of what nationality was Eunice, Timothy's mother?

4. On the authority of what Book was he probably trained as a child?

5. In what manner did God say he would bless Abraham?

6. What were the children to do so the Lord could bring these great blessings upon Abraham?

7. Who said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD"?