High Pointe Baptist Church | Austin, Texas

Reading to Your Children

Juan Sanchez — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:45:07 +0000

Reading to Your Children

“And these words that I command you today . . . You shall teach them diligently to your children . . .” (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7, ESV).

In light of the recent sermon series on gospel parenting, I want to offer a brief list of some reading materials that you may find helpful. You should work through these materials to make sure they are biblically sound as they lay out particular doctrines and that they will be of benefit to your particular child(ren). Don’t just take my word for it, be a discerning reader!

One thing for sure, you should be reading Scripture with your family on a regular basis, and you can enhance your family Scripture reading with helpful devotional material. Beware of children’s material that merely promotes moralism. I prefer books that help explain the storyline of Scripture (biblical theology) and present a BIG God! Here are some helpful suggestions:

General Resources

God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation by Andreas J. Köstenberger
Gospel-Powered Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting by William P. Farley
Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp
Instructing a Child’s Heart by Tedd and Margy Tripp
Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens by Paul Tripp

Devotional Resources for Use with Younger Children

Catechism for Boys and Girls (available at our information table
Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland
The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sallie Lloyd-Jonesa
The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm and Gail Schoonmaker
Window on the World: Prayer Atlas for Children by Daphne Spraggett and Jill Johnstone

Devotional Resources for with Use Older Children

Grandpa’s Box: Retelling the Biblical Story of Redemption by Starr Meade

Resources for Use with Pre-Teens/Teenagers

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

Moms and dads read Scripture with your children regularly and supplement Bible reading with the catechism and devotional reading. Each family must find a way which works best for them. I pray that these resources may be of great benefit to you and your family as you seek to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Love,

Pastor Juan

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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
By Juan Sanchez. © High Pointe Baptist Church. Website: highpointeaustin.org

The Humility of Parenting

Juan Sanchez — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 16:18:11 +0000

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

(Ephesians 6:4, ESV)

I have a confession to make. Parenting is the hardest, most humbling task I have to do. If ever I think I have already obtained the goal of the upward call in Christ Jesus, parenting helps me realize how far I have yet to go. While parenting our daughters, my shortcomings are magnified and my sins exposed. However, I want to suggest that parenting can and should be a means of our sanctification. Allow me to share some thoughts on why the humility of parenting is of great benefit to us.

Parenting exposes the progress of our sanctification. Before we ever teach our children the truth of who God is for us in Christ, we will be declaring our faith as we live it out before them. Our children are watching us, noticing our hypocrisies, lies, speech and conduct. Parenting is so hard and humbling because our family observes us when we respond to the difficulties of life, when we have conflict with our spouse and when we have conflict with one another. It is at home where living in light of the gospel counts the most, but for too many this is where it matters the least. Let us make it a priority to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ so that we may live holy lives before our family. May we as parents provide a picture of the gospel at home.

Parenting helps us better understand and apply the gospel. Unfortunately, much parenting has behavior modification as its ultimate goal. If this is the case with our parenting, we will necessarily be instilling in our children a works-righteousness mentality — “do this, and/or you’ll get this.” I do not mean to imply that we should not hold our children to a biblical standard or that we should not discipline our children when they transgress God’s standard. My point is simply that keeping commandments is not the ultimate goal of parenting. The ultimate aim of parenting is that our children would “set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:7) or as Paul says, that our children would become “wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 3:15).

A biblical understanding of the gospel takes into account human inability to please God; therefore, we set God’s standard before our children to show them what God requires. Sinfulness and rebellion against God’s standard receives God’s judgment, so when our children transgress against God’s Word, we discipline them accordingly with the purpose that they would understand God’s justice. Throughout our parenting we should continually be displaying God’s unconditional, steadfast covenant love, grace, mercy and forgiveness so that they would see that while their rebellion deserves punishment, God is willing to forgive sin through the person and work of His own Son, Jesus Christ.

As we parent we should continually point to the greatness of our God and His works. We should share with our children God’s continual faithfulness and present Christ as the one who satisfies all our longings. Oh, may our children have a BIG view of God because we as parents have a BIG view of God. May they see our passion for God’s glory through the exaltation of Christ so that one day they too may confess that Jesus is Lord and their all in all.

Love,

Pastor Juan

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
By Juan Sanchez. © High Pointe Baptist Church. Website: highpointeaustin.org

The Goal of Biblical Parenting: Raising Children who Hope in God

Juan Sanchez — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 16:08:45 +0000

He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God . . .(Psalm 78:5-7, ESV)

What is your goal in parenting? Is it to have well-behaved kids? Is it to produce good citizens? Is it to make sure your kids get a great education so that they may do well in school and land a great money-making job and have a fulfilling career? Perhaps you have a noble, Christian goal like seeing your children profess faith in Christ. What does the Bible teach us regarding the role of biblical parenting and its goal? Allow me to answer this question by first addressing two other related issues. Before we can even talk about the goal or purpose of biblical parenting, we must understand a specific pre-requisite.

The Pre-requisite of biblical parenting: The truths of God must first be on our hearts. We cannot pass on to our children what is not first in our own hearts (Deut. 6:6). This means that moms, dads, grandparents, teachers, ALL of us must saturate ourselves in the Word of God. We must seek God and thirst after God as in a dry and weary land (Psalm 63:1). And where has God revealed Himself but in His Word? We must continually listen to and receive God’s instruction in His Word as illuminated by the Holy Spirit of God. When we stand firm in God and His Word, when we are saturated in the Word of God, when we are embracing His will, then we can share that with others; only then can we practice biblical parenting.

The Practice of biblical parenting: We must pass on what we know about God, His Word, His work and His ways to the coming generations. God has established His testimony; He has given us His word; and He has commanded that we teach these truths to our children (Psalm 78:5). As a matter of fact, we are to teach these truths to our children with great diligence, taking advantage of every opportunity the Lord grants us (Deut. 6:7).

Just what exactly should we be teaching our children? The psalmist answers: we are to teach our children God’s Word, work and ways not just for the sake of Bible knowledge but for the sake of a personal knowledge of a powerful God. We are to share with our children the praises of God; we are to remind them of His strength in delivering us from death and for daily struggles; we are to tell them of His wondrous works from creation to redemption to personal answered prayers! Do you share with your children the wonders of God’s glory and might? When we show and teach and tell our children of the awesome God of Scripture who is alive and at work in our meager lives, we are practicing biblical parenting and approaching its goal.

The Purpose of biblical parenting: That the coming generations might put their hope in God. The goal or purpose of biblical parenting is not mere Bible knowledge or well-behaved kids; the true goal of biblical parenting is that the coming generations may not forget God but instead, set their hope in God (Psalm 78:7). We should be painting such a large picture of God in our homes as we talk about Him and His strengths and His wondrous works and His glory, that our children would have confidence in God, not in this world or the things of this world. Note this well, our goal is not simply that OUR children would hope in God, but that the coming generations would hope in God—our grandchildren and great grandchildren. Can you imagine what a legacy we would leave if we passed on such truths to our children and their children?

Love,

Pastor Juan

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
By Juan Sanchez. © High Pointe Baptist Church. Website: highpointeaustin.org

Husbands, Love and Honor Your Wives!

Juan Sanchez — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 23:08:12 +0000

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her; . . (Ephesians 5:25, ESV)

Marriage is a God-sealed, covenantal, life-long relationship between one man and one woman, who are created as spiritual equals. This covenant is to be lived out in mutual love and respect under male leadership. Perhaps some of you were following along with this description of marriage until the last three words: “under male leadership.”

The reason some people struggle with male leadership is not because of its biblical understanding, but rather, they struggle with the sinful distortion of male leadership known as male domination as described in Genesis 3:16. As a result of Adam’s sin, the woman was told her desire would be for her husband’s role as leader and the man would respond in tyrannical domination. Consequently, what many experience today is the perpetual battle of the sexes: the woman fighting to lead and the man suppressing the woman in tyranny. This is not the biblical picture of male leadership, and it is not the biblical picture of marriage given to us in Genesis 2. It is important to understand that feminists, in opposing biblical male leadership, fail to distinguish between male leadership and male domination. Therefore, they argue against male leadership on the basis of male domination.

As Christians, we need to know that the Bible clearly argues against tyranny of any kind and that male leadership is not male domination. The Bible seeks to correct such distortions, and in Ephesians 5, we see how the apostle Paul paints a picture of a Genesis 2 marriage in an effort to correct wrong views of the husband and wife relationship produced by the fall.

The Bible commands that male leadership be exercised in love (Ephesians 5:25). This is a strong command, which if not followed hinders the husband’s prayer life (1 Peter 3:7) and disqualifies him from church leadership (1 Timothy 3:2). This is an important reminder for all married men who tend to forget to express love for their wives. So then, husbands, how ought you to love your wife? Thankfully, the Bible spells out for us how to express marital love.

First, we are to love our wives with a sacrificial love. The love that we express toward our wives is not a “warm fuzzy” kind of passing love but a lasting and sacrificial love. We are to love our wives as Christ loved the church, and He gave His life for the church. Husbands, are you willing to die for your bride?

Second, we are to love our wives with a servant love. If we are to love our wives in the way that Christ loved the church, then we must remember that Christ did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom (Matthew 20:28). Remember, Christ said that true leaders do not lord it over people, but they must be servants of all (Mark 10:42-45). Husbands, how are you serving your wife?

Finally, we are to love our wives with a sanctifying love. The purpose of our love is that our wives would grow in holiness, just as this is the purpose of Christ’s love for us. Let us resolve to love our wives in the way that Christ loves His church. I can’t imagine any woman who would reject such love.

Love,

Pastor Juan

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
By Juan Sanchez. © High Pointe Baptist Church. Website: highpointeaustin.org

Authority and Submission: Aren’t Those “Fightin’ Words”?

Juan Sanchez — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 16:31:42 +0000

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22)

“You’re not the boss of me!” These are words I remember hearing from a very young age on the playground of our elementary school in Florida. You have to admit that there is a part of all of us which rebels at any notion of authority and still declares to those around us, “You’re not the boss of me!” Whether we like it or not, authority and submission are all around us. Citizens are to submit to governing authorities; employees are to submit to employers; children are to submit to parents. Submission is part of our lives because without it we would live in chaos. But is submission to authority just a pragmatic response to the need for order in society, or is it based on something else?

The Bible’s answer is that authority and submission are grounded, not in culture but in God Himself. Part of the mystery of the Trinity is that though God is one in being or essence, He exists in three persons simultaneously: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As God’s saving plan has been unfolding in history, there was a point in time when the Father sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16). The Son came and died on the cross in obedience to the Father (Philippians 2:8). Throughout the Bible we see that the Son, though equally God Himself (John 10:30), submits to the Father (John 7:28). For this reason the apostle Paul can say that God is the head of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3). It must be emphasized, however, that authority and submission within the Godhead, do not mean that Jesus is inferior to the Father, for then He would not be God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though each equally God, have different roles in God’s saving plan. Yet the question remains, how does this apply to us? Simply put, we are created in the image of this God who is three in one. Part of being created in the image of God is that we also live with the reality of authority and submission.

Having established the grounding of authority and submission, we can now try to understand our relations in this world. Since all humans bear God’s image, we are all spiritual equals in the eyes of God. Nevertheless, we have different roles to fulfill in God’s created order. Our difference in roles should not be taken to mean that some people are superior to others. When we come to the husband and wife relationship, the Bible says that wives are to submit to their husbands. Rather than revolting at the idea, women need to understand exactly what this means. If the husband’s leadership resembles Christ’s (Ephesians 5:23), then his leadership will be marked by love, which means that the wife is simply submitting to the husband’s loving care. As John Stott says, “Whenever the husband’s headship mirrors the headship of Christ, then the wife’s submission to the protection and provision of his love, far from detracting from her womanhood, will positively enrich it.” Authority and submission, then, are not “fightin’ words;” they are words to live by.

Love,

Pastor Juan

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
By Juan Sanchez. © High Pointe Baptist Church. Website: highpointeaustin.org