The Paideia of the Lord, Part 2

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction (paideia) of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)

It is God's charge to parents, and to fathers in particular to bring up their children in the instruction (paideia) of the Lord.  This work happens primarily at home and only secondarily at school.  If that's true, what are we supposed to be teaching our children exactly?

Fathers, let's suppose you wanted to teach your children about football. (I know that's a real stretch, but hang with me.)  Where would you start? Most likely, you would start by watching a game together and get your children interested in watching football.  You would likely share your passion for your favorite team.  Then, so your child could understand what was going on in the game, you would explain the rules and the roles of the players so that, as you watch the game, your time together would be more meaningful.

So let's shift gears and get back to more important things - the things of the Lord.  How would this model of instruction look in that setting?

1. You would learn about the Lord together.

2. You would share your passion for the Lord with your children as you seek the Lord together.

3. You would explain the basics of the Christian faith and the Bible to your children so that your times together would be more meaningful.

If this is the approach we should take, then seeking God together in regular times of family worship of family devotions is critical.  You would never just talk to your children about your favorite football team and never watch a game together.  So we should also never just talk to our children about God without worshipping Him together as a family.  Every Christian family should seek to worship God at three or four levels:

1. Personal or private worship/devotion.

2. Family worship/devotion.

3. Corporate worship/devotion with God's people in church every Lord's Day (Sunday).

Added to these three should be a time for husband and wife to come together and pray regularly as a couple.

Now what should these times of devotion look like? They should include prayer, Bible reading and study, and singing praises to God.  The first kind of worship is the most basic and important.  Private or personal worship fuels our passion for God and our knowledge of Him and His ways.  Family worship brings us together to share our passion and knowledge with our children and should also be designed to help us prepare for corporate worship in church.

Who has time for all of this? Good question.  Then again, who has time to learn about and watch sports regularly? Who has time to read, listen and debate about politics? If we can find time for our favorite football team or the latest political debate, surely we can make time for the Lord and His worship in our daily and weekly routines.  It is vital and our children will not grow in the paideia of the Lord without it.  I cannot tell you how many teenage boys I know who can talk endlessly about football and baseball but who seemingly know nothing about God or the Bible.  Is this really the way we want to be raising the next generation?

Yes, this is hard.  Yes, it is a battle.  I struggle with it myself daily.  Think about it: Satan doesn't care if you spend lots of time surfing sports web sites or listening to political talk radio, but he will fight to keep you from your Bible and from leading your family in the worship of God.  Let's call upon the Lord and, by His grace, not let our enemy triumph over us and our families.