Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.
5 sermons cite this verse
… verse 4, fathers, notice there, it's not excluding mothers, but there is a prerogative especially to fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Yes, children must obey their parents, they must always honor them, but parents, especially dads, let us not use that as an excuse to provoke our children, to needlessly poke them in the eye, to strut around with our authority in a way that simply leads to their exasperation. Now, why this first command, obey your parents in the Lord? Paul says very simply, this is right, almost as if he didn't expect any other explanation. He'll give one other reason in a moment, but as if he could assume everyone knows, and probably in that ancient culture everyone would have obviously agreed, may not be such in our day, that everyone knows this. And we who have the commandments and the Scriptures and have been taught this, we also ought to know this. It is simply the right thing to do that those parents who sacrifice for you, mother who gave birth to you, the father who provides for you and protects you, of course, to them we ought to show a special honor and obedience. Colossians 3.20, Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. …
… 5, verses 22 through 33 of displaying the gospel and a husband's selfless sacrificial love for his wife, a wife's submissive respect and love for her husband, which leads to Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 4, and a father and a mother loving their child in a way that reflects the love of God for that child. There's so much we could talk about here, but just to bring the data on to bear on why this is so important, do you know what percentage of women seeking abortions are unmarried in our country. Approximately 86%. So almost nine out of 10 women in our country who seek abortions are unmarried. We in our culture have decoupled sex from marriage and the effects are tragic for children in the womb. the devilish fruit of sexual immorality is the death of millions of boys and girls and do you know who's the most influential person in a woman's decision to have an abortion research shows it's the father of that baby there's not even a close second And most fathers are at best abdicating that decision, if not encouraging it. …
… Paul speaks on Proverbs 22, 6 here. He says, and you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. And so as we begin to close this morning, the very last thing that I would want for any father today would be the very last thing that God would want for you today and that would be to feel shame because of your shortcomings instead the right thing to feel would be a holy conviction which then energizes you to leave and do better. It's never too late to step up to the plate and walk in the calling that God has for you as a father. Maybe you've made plenty of mistakes. maybe God would lead you to make a phone call today and apologize it's time to start fixing our mistakes one by one and just like a big ship takes a while to turn around so it may take some time some time to get things right with your family but it's never too late you and I as fathers rising to the occasion and leading our family and serving the Lord is a decision that can have a generational impact. Truly, an impact that we may never get to see. Just the other day, I saw a short yet very powerful video that I wanted to share with you fellow dads and moms today for sure about how important it is to concern yourself with your family spiritual welfare and how that is a legacy worth leaving let's watch it together …
… it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." That is a minimalist approach to the family, and yet it covers everything. There are plenty of places you can go and get bad advice about the family. This is the foundation of all God's design for the family, directed at children and at parents. I don't need to belabor the point. We all know that the family is being assaulted. I mean, it's just wholesale. Men are being assaulted by the culture and have been for a long time. Women are recast as toxic, a toxic patriarchy that has had a destructive impact on society. Women are the abused targets of this toxic patriarchy by being forced to stay home and have children and never find their real fulfillment, which would come to them in the corporate location, because that's where women need to be fulfilled. …
… You are fathers. Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Who? Fathers. And so this individual that is going to be called husband is an individual who's going to be responsible for washing his wife by the water of the word, leading her in the word, and setting the tone and leading in the discipleship of the children as well. Which means, women, if we are willing to pursue a man who's not a believer or to pursue a man who's not mature in the faith or committed to the faith enough to lead in this area of word that we are actually saying that it doesn't really matter all that much to us whether or not our children have the kind of discipleship that God intended for them to have. Again, I don't write the mail. I just deliver it. If you're in a situation or a circumstance, because I realize there may be women here, and you're saying, I wish somebody had told me this before, because now I'm in a relationship where I'm married to a person who's not a believer. …