Can a child still be raised today without losing heart, toward their parents or toward God? This sermon dwells on two short sentences of the apostle Paul about children and parents (Colossians 3, expanded in Ephesians 6) and shows that the heart of parenting is not comfort or all-round development, but handing a child a true picture of God and inviting them into a relationship with him. There is room here for wise boundaries, for a parent saying “I am sorry”, and for an honest look at why obedience can be the first step of faith. Listen, no cheap advice, but a question worth asking yourself.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Colossians 3:20-21 Paul speaks to both children and fathers. What might have been revolutionary about these words for people living in a culture where children had no voice at all?
- What do you think it means not to embitter children, or literally not to provoke them so they lose heart, and what might that look like in practice?
- The speaker claims that the heart of parenting is passing on to our children a true picture of God and inviting them into a relationship with Him, rather than their happiness or success. What in this idea moves you, and what makes you push back?
- The story of the sheet of paper where a question mark appeared instead of a father shows how our experience with parents shapes our image of God. How has your home influenced the way you see God today?
- The sermon brings together a parent's willingness to apologize to a child and the wise setting of boundaries, like Al Pacino's mother did. Why are both needed to show a child who God really is?
- Obedience to parents was called the first step of faith, and Bonhoeffer said that only the one who obeys believes. In which specific relationship or situation this week do you want to practice obedience, forgiveness, or wise boundaries?
