PARENTHOOD a divine stewardship Volume 1 Issue 1May 1996
Stewardship Neither failure in work nor failure in marriage can be compared with failure in parenthood. Why? Because when one is already grown up, he is well able to protect himself. But the child who is committed to you cannot protect himself. Could you go to the Lord and say, "You entrusted me with five children, and I lost three of them," or, "You trusted me with ten and I lost eight of them"? The church cannot be strong if this sense of stewardship is missing. How can the gospel be spread over the earth if you lose those born to you and then have to try to recover them from the world? You should at least bring your own children to the Lord. For you to not nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord is wrong. Remember, it is the responsibility of the parents to bring up their children in the Lord. Forgive me for saying this for it is my own word, but the worst failure in the church is the parents. No one is in a position to control parents. The children cannot. If you treat yourself indulgently, you will also treat your children loosely. How important for the parents to have self-control; how necessary for them to give up their own freedom. Otherwise, how can they stand before their God and give account for the souls entrusted to them? Watchman Nee, Do All To The Glory Of God,p. 75.	The Need of Parental Restriction In 1978, Brother Witness Lee conducted a series of meetings which he titled, Life Messages. In these meetings he often opened for questions from the congregation. At one of these meetings, a question was raised concerning how we should balance the Christian teaching we give to our children with their training in proper moral and ethical behavior. The question and answer are printed below.—Editor [Question] As a new Christian and the mother of four children, I would like to know how much scriptural teaching I should impose on them and how much I should insist on their behaving properly. [Answer] This is a very practical matter. As human beings, we fell and need the Lord's salvation. After the fall, God came in to restrict man. For example, God imposed restrictions on the woman because the fall had come in through her (Genesis 3:16); this restriction was actually a protection.	In human society today, chaos would prevail were it not for the restraints of ethical teachings, the police, and the law courts. These have been ordained by God to limit the fallen race. Since our families are part of the fallen race, we as parents must exercise God's ordination to restrict our children by ethical teachings, regulations, and discipline. For proper human living in your home, you must teach your children to behave properly by honoring their parents, caring for their brothers and sisters, respecting their neighbors, and not stealing. Do not say that ethical teachings are apart from Christ and therefore worthless. The necessities of our human existence are one thing; the experiences of Christ, another. For our human living we must buy groceries, do laundry, lock our doors to prevent burglaries, be careful about fire, open and close windows, and cook and eat. Besides taking care of these earthly matters, we are also learning to experience Christ. These are two different areas; both are needed. Witness Lee, Life Messages, Message Ten, pp.89-90 (continued on page 3)

PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

Volume 1 Issue 1May 1996

Stewardship

Neither failure in work nor failure in marriage can be compared with failure in parenthood. Why? Because when one is already grown up, he is well able to protect himself. But the child who is committed to you cannot protect himself. Could you go to the Lord and say, "You entrusted me with five children, and I lost three of them," or, "You trusted me with ten and I lost eight of them"? The church cannot be strong if this sense of stewardship is missing. How can the gospel be spread over the earth if you lose those born to you and then have to try to recover them from the world? You should at least bring your own children to the Lord. For you to not nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord is wrong. Remember, it is the responsibility of the parents to bring up their children in the Lord.

Forgive me for saying this for it is my own word, but the worst failure in the church is the parents. No one is in a position to control parents. The children cannot. If you treat yourself indulgently, you will also treat your children loosely. How important for the parents to have self-control; how necessary for them to give up their own freedom. Otherwise, how can they stand before their God and give account for the souls entrusted to them?

Watchman Nee, Do All To The Glory Of God,p. 75.

The Need of Parental Restriction

In 1978, Brother Witness Lee conducted a series of meetings which he titled, Life Messages. In these meetings he often opened for questions from the congregation. At one of these meetings, a question was raised concerning how we should balance the Christian teaching we give to our children with their training in proper moral and ethical behavior. The question and answer are printed below.—Editor

[Question] As a new Christian and the mother of four children, I would like to know how much scriptural teaching I should impose on them and how much I should insist on their behaving properly.

[Answer] This is a very practical matter. As human beings, we fell and need the Lord's salvation. After the fall, God came in to restrict man. For example, God imposed restrictions on the woman because the fall had come in through her (Genesis 3:16); this restriction was actually a protection.

In human society today, chaos would prevail were it not for the restraints of ethical teachings, the police, and the law courts. These have been ordained by God to limit the fallen race. Since our families are part of the fallen race, we as parents must exercise God's ordination to restrict our children by ethical teachings, regulations, and discipline. For proper human living in your home, you must teach your children to behave properly by honoring their parents, caring for their brothers and sisters, respecting their neighbors, and not stealing.

Do not say that ethical teachings are apart from Christ and therefore worthless. The necessities of our human existence are one thing; the experiences of Christ, another. For our human living we must buy groceries, do laundry, lock our doors to prevent burglaries, be careful about fire, open and close windows, and cook and eat. Besides taking care of these earthly matters, we are also learning to experience Christ. These are two different areas; both are needed.

Witness Lee, Life Messages, Message Ten, pp.89-90

(continued on page 3)

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