Scripture/Catechetical Memorization; Bodily Stewardship

Introduction: Winding Down the Series on Child Training

0:02 How Not to Foul Up the Training of Your Children This is cassette number 36 in a series given by Pastor Albert N. Martin in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church on December 8, 1991.

0:16 In looking back through the file in which I keep all of the notes from this class, it hardly seems possible, at least to me. It may seem not only possible, but improbable that we began this study on the last Lord's Day of 1990. And so, God willing, the last Lord's Day of 1991 will see us completing this series of studies under the general heading of How Not to Foul Up the Training of Our Children. And that will represent some 40 studies in the course of the 52 Lord's Days of this past year.

0:59 And having begun, by addressing the very critical matter of the overall climate of the home and how it is to contribute to the training of our children, we have focused for the bulk of our time upon opening up the implications of the clear directive of Ephesians 6-4 addressed explicitly to fathers, but implicitly to mothers and any involved in the training of children in a Christian context. Fathers do not...

1:31 ...provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.

1:40 And after spending many class sessions dealing with the biblical doctrine of the rod or what constitutes the chastening which is of the Lord and calculated to nurture, to build up, to benefit our children, we have spent even a longer period of time on what constitutes godly admonition. And we have used the book of Proverbs as our primary source book, almost our exclusive source book, in answering that question. And as we have done so, we have seen that according to the book of Proverbs, there is one foundational element that must undergird all the admonition that we seek to give to our children if it is to be the admonition which is of the Lord. And that great issue is articulated in Proverbs 1-7 where we read, the fear of the Lord is not just the beginning, but the fear of the Lord is the chief part. It is the major building block in all wisdom. And then we've gone back through the book of Proverbs and we have isolated and identified some...

2:56 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. I made it. ...9 major categories.

3:01 ...9 major categories that are emphasized repeatedly in the book of Proverbs as being issues of crucial importance in the admonition of our children.

3:13 And now as we attempt to begin to wind down this series, what I propose to do today and, God willing, next Lord's Day morning, is to deal with five crucial concerns under the heading of miscellaneous aspects of parental nurture. These are not aspects of nurture that are found primarily in the book of Proverbs, but they are found in the general teaching of the Word of God. And I know of no other organizing principle but to call them miscellaneous aspects of parental nurture. And there is no particular significance in the order in which I will address them.

3:56 And to underscore that, may I urge you to consider them. As though we were dealing with 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pieces in a pile. Doesn't matter whether we start here and go this way or start here and go this way. There's no particular significance.

4:15 The only significance for me as the teacher is that I've tried to arrange them so that those that would be covered in one class hour that would take more time to cover, I'm taking today the two of them and, God willing, taking up the three. Subsequent ones next week. And here are the five areas of miscellaneous concern with regard to parental nurture. Number one.

Exhortation 1: Do Not Deprive Children of Scripture and Catechetical Memorization

4:43 Do not deprive your children of the manifold benefits of Scripture memorization and of catechetical instruction. And I've labored hard and long in the choice of my words. I've said do not deprive your children. I didn't say don't damn them, don't curse them, don't abuse them by withholding, but I've said do not deprive them, indicating that there will indeed be a fundamental deprivation upon our children if we do not subject them to the manifold benefits.

5:27 Not just benefit, but manifold benefits of Scripture memorization and catechetical, not mere memorization, but catechetical instruction. All right? So if I've labored hard in the choice of my words, please don't regard that choice lightly or substitute other words and have me say something I have no intention of saying. What then, first of all, are the manifold benefits of Scripture memorization?

Manifold Benefits of Scripture Memorization

6:01 Well, let me very quickly list four that come to my mind very, very quickly. Number one, you are planting in the minds of your children the seed of divine life. When you, by one means or another, engage in a parental structured discipline by which your children are forced, hopefully, sweetfully, tactfully, in a way that makes it a delight, but nonetheless, by a choice not their own, they are made to memorize Scripture, what are the benefits of doing this? Well, the first and fundamental one is you are planting in their minds the seed of divine life. For we read in James 1.18, of His own will begat He us by the word of truth. God's activity in bringing about divine begetting of Spirit and spiritual life is by means of the word of truth.

7:05 1 Peter 1.23, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God. And because of that biblical language, which is sperma, I was going to use, we ought to impregnate their minds with the sperm of spiritual life, and that would be biblical. But thinking some of you might be offended, even at biblical imagery, I chose to say you're planting in their minds the seed of divine life.

7:36 Romans 10.17, faith comes of hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And as Paul traces out Timothy's spiritual pilgrimage, he says in 2 Timothy 3.14, that from a nursing babe, a brephos, a babe in arms, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

8:06 And that is the first and great benefit of Scripture memorization. We are planting in the minds of our children the seed of divine life. Now notice, I did not say we are making the seed germinate in their hearts. We can't do that.

8:24 We are making the seed come to life. I didn't say that. We can't do that. Any more than we have the power to make life come out of a seed that's placed in the earth.

8:36 It fructifies and brings forth fruit only if Almighty God is pleased to make it do so. Likewise, God alone can bring divine life to our children. But He expects us as spiritual husbandmen to put the seed of the word of God into the soil of the minds of our children. But then there is a second benefit of Scripture memorization.

9:03 It is this. You are riveting to the minds of your children the perspectives of unchanging truth. You are riveting to their minds the perspectives of unchanging truth. They face a world full of men's opinions.

9:24 They face a world looking at it through the distortions of their own sinful faculties. According to Romans 1, they look at a world in which they will put down the very truth that that world screams to them from the heavens, from the stars, and from the earth beneath their feet. But when we engage in a pattern of establishing Scripture memory with our children, we are riveting to their minds the perspectives of unchanging truth. Matthew 24, 35.

9:59 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. John 17, 17. Sanctify them in thy truth. Thy word is truth.

10:12 Psalm 119. The sum of thy words is truth. Add up the words of God in Genesis, and Exodus, and 2 Kings, and Song of Solomon, and Romans, and Revelation, and when you add it all up, you do not have truth, you do not have truth plus men's ideas, truth plus men's passing opinions, truth plus ancient prejudices. You have truth, pure truth, unmixed truth, nothing but the truth.

10:41 And the great benefit of Scripture memorization is we are riveting to the minds of our children the perspectives of unchanging truth. Thirdly, another manifold blessing is you are honing the consciences of your children by an inflexible standard of right and wrong. You are honing their consciences by an inflexible standard of right and wrong. According to Romans 2, 14 and 15, the function of conscience is a con-created experience of all of the creatures of God.

11:22 And even when men never see a verse of the Bible, conscience functions accusing or excusing all men. But sin has affected all of our faculties, including conscience. The Bible speaks of a defiled conscience, of a seared conscience. And even the conscience of someone who's been regenerated can be wrongly instructed, and that's what makes him a weak brother.

11:50 His conscience is imperfectly instructed. So what are we doing by Scripture memory? With our children, whether they are regenerate or not, we're honing their consciences by an inflexible standard of right and of wrong. And this, under the blessing of God then, will be instrumental in bringing them to a felt sense of their need of Christ.

12:17 For the Scripture says, by the law comes the knowledge of sin. That sin, by the commandment, might become exceedingly sinful. Psalm 1911, Moreover by them is thy servant warned. What things ought constantly to have red blinking lights attached to them?

12:41 Well, it's by the word of God that we set an inflexible standard of the red blinking lights, the things that can only bring death and destruction. Psalm 119, verse 9, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? The answer, by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Well, if that's so, then verse 11 follows, Thy word have I laid up in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

13:10 Now, we can't put the word in their hearts. No, only the regenerate one. But we can rivet it to their consciences by a program of ministry. That's the memorization of the scriptures.

13:25 And then the fourth of the manifold benefits is you are imparting an inestimable treasure to them. You are imparting an inestimable treasure to them. Isn't this one of the very things that Solomon emphasizes? And I've just been quoting the scriptures, hoping to do two things, to economize on time, not to show off, but also I hope to underscore the benefit of memorizing scriptures.

13:53 You have it ready at your fingertips when needed and your children the same. Proverbs 4, verses 20 to 22. My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear to my sayings.

14:06 Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thy heart, for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. He says, regard my words as a precious treasure, an inestimable treasure, that which the psalmist describes in Psalm 119 and verse 72 when he compares the worth of the word of God to the treasures of this present world and says the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Let me put it crassly.

14:50 God may so order your life that the only inheritance you may leave to your children is your threadbare clothes in the closet and your false teeth in the chopper hopper. But if you leave them a legacy of having established a framework of storing up the word of God in their hearts, you have done more than the person who leaves them a marvelous estate that causes them to be set for life. The law of thy mouth is better than thousands of gold and of silver. Do not deprive your children then of the manifold benefits of scripture memorization. You say, Pastor, I don't know how to go about it. See Tom Welsh. I spoke to him last night.

15:42 It's been a while since I've seen the Bible Memory Association brochures and they've been growing and expanding over the years and they have lovely, lovely programs of memorization all the way down to three and four year olds. The materials are there. There's no excuse. You can take the basic verses that you have found to be helpful to you that may be connected with your catechetical instruction, your family worship.

16:08 It's not a matter of not having the tools, dear people. It's lacking the conviction of the necessity of the duty and the discipline to implement it. And particularly, living in a framework where education is not where educationally memorization is looked upon as an impediment to intellectual development. Nothing could be further than the truth, further from the truth.

16:30 And this whole anti-structure, anti-memorization, anti-wrote mentality in the educational climate of our day is humanistic and anti-God to the core. I thank God I was reared in an educational framework where I was forced to learn my phonics, forced to learn the multiplication tables, forced to memorize by rote grammatical rules and had them pounded into me. I thank God for those things for they form the framework of true intellectual development and expansion and expiration. Do not deprive your children then of the manifold benefits of scripture memorization. But then, what are the manifold benefits of catechetical instruction? By catechetical instruction, I mean taking a proven catechism and using it as a basis of teaching. In the course of that teaching, you will have your children memorize the words of the catechism, but you are not content simply to have them memorize the words, but you are teaching them the words of the catechism as a framework of instruction.

Manifold Benefits of Catechetical Instruction

17:46 Well, what are the blessings? I state three of them, and this is not exhaustive. Number one, you are planting in their minds a precise statement of the central issues of biblical revelation. You are planting in their minds a precise statement of the central issues of biblical revelation.

18:11 For example, in the catechism for boys and girls, which is a Baptist version of the little smaller catechism I guess I left it in the back. Mr. Davies very kindly fulfilled his promise and brought these up from the bookstore. Oh, there it is.

18:29 I left it down there. Thank you. Thank you. This catechism for young children published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

18:38 No, this has been altered from a Baptist standpoint. I'm sorry. And Truth for Eternity Ministries in Grand Rapids, our sister church there, has taken the children's catechism, which originally was meant to be a reduction to a very young level of the shorter catechism, begins with the well-known question, who made you? And the answer, God made me.

19:01 What else did God make? God made all things. Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory.

19:10 How can you glorify God by loving him and doing what he commands? Simple questions, taking the central issues of the word of God. Why ought you to glorify God? Because he made me and takes care of me.

19:27 Are there more gods than one? No, there is only one God. What is God? God is a spirit and does not have a body like man.

19:35 You see, you're taking the central truths of the word of God and implanting in the minds of your children a precise statement of those central issues of biblical revelation. When you come then to the shorter catechism, whether in the form of Spurgeon's catechism, which is a really shorter version of the shorter catechism with several Baptist alterations, or this wonderful work that David Simpson has just published, the shorter catechism, a Baptist version, made with a vinyl cover. Kids can drool on it and all the rest, and you can wipe it off. Eighty-pound paper that a kid's got to be pumping iron before he can even tear it.

20:20 And really it's made for years of use in the home. You come then to that age level where you want a more profound statement of these central truths of the Bible. What more profound than that first question of the shorter catechism? What is the chief end of man?

20:38 Son, honey, sweetie, why did God make you? The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And they have in those words more solid biblical sense than in all the philosophies of all the philosophers of all the ages. And a distillation of the whole central truth of biblical revelation.

21:07 That's one of the manifold blessings of catechetical instruction. Planting in the minds of your children a precise statement of the central issues of biblical revelation. That's why when preaching through those central issues a number of years ago in the series entitled Here We Stand, I could do no better as an outline for the study of various doctrinal issues than to take the definitions of the shorter catechism. What is repentance?

21:35 Repentance unto life is a saving grace. It comes from God. Whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, conviction of sin, and an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. The elements of faith permeate through repentance.

21:51 Does with grief. Grief, the elements of true sorrow present in repentance. Grief and sorrow of heart turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Full purpose, not perfect.

22:11 And endeavor, not sinless performance. But solid, sincere endeavor. Precise statement of all that we glean about the biblical doctrine of evangelical repentance beautifully and succinctly stated. That's the great blessing of catechetical instruction.

22:33 You're planting in the minds of your children statements of the central issues of biblical revelation that are precise. Secondly, you are planting in their minds a comprehensive overview of the central issues of theology. You are planting in their minds a comprehensive overview of the central issues of theology. True systematic theology rooted in the Bible is simply an attempt to extract the beautiful face of God's truth and to identify the two eyes and the nose and the ears and the hair and the neck and the mouth and to see the face of truth in all of its native beauty. Without systematic theology you have caricature. You have a Nixon nose. You know what I mean by that?

23:32 When everyone was caricaturing former President Nixon they always caricatured his nose or a Bob Hope nose. Or you think of some other person who has a feature that is an outstanding feature and caricature puts it out of its due proportion so that though you recognize who is being represented you do not see it in proper proportion. Beauty is not the presence of attractive eyes, symmetrical ears, but it's the combination of all of those features in due proportion individually but in proper relationship one to another. And how crucial it is that we and our children have a grasp upon systematic theology so that they do not and we do not have a grotesque concept of God's truth. And this is the benefit of catechetical instruction because a catechism worthy of being used as a teaching tool and a basis of memorization sets forth a comprehensive not an exhaustive but a comprehensive overview of the central issues of systematic theology. And for some of you converted out of pagan backgrounds and never having been exposed to a catechism I urge you as part of your own devotions you get a copy of this new Baptist version

24:59 of the Shorter Catechism and start memorizing it until you have this thing down pat. It'll put you light years ahead of others who may have sat under a sound ministry for decades but who've never disciplined their minds to acquire a comprehensive overview of the central issues of systematic theology. And then thirdly and this is critical I've had people say well I just want to give my kids the Bible why give them a man-made document the catechism? Listen carefully.

25:29 By catechetical instruction you are immunizing their minds against erroneous and heretical notions. You are immunizing their minds against erroneous and heretical notions. Most catechisms have been framed with the awareness that a precise understanding of any major truth of the Bible has not been arrived at in a straight line. The Spirit of God working in the people of God has led them to come to that truth often like this.

26:10 Here's the truth of God on a given issue. And in our attempt to come to that truth we go through the midpoint and then other passages bring us back and correct us and by degrees like a pendulum coming to rest the truth then is articulated. For example this whole matter of the person of Christ. It was one of the great issues thrashed out in the early centuries of the church and in the catechism you have embodied the richness of what the people of God came to understand when the pendulum of the search for an accurate statement on the person of Christ came to rest.

26:49 And the whole concept of Christ having two distinct natures and yet united in one person forever. The natures remaining distinct not co-mingling and coalescing. Two distinct natures in one person forever and this is what is beautifully stated in questions in the larger I mean in the shorter catechism. Likewise with regard to the matter of the doctrine of justification.

27:21 How people wrestled with this whole question on what grounds am I justified? Well the statement in the shorter catechism is beautiful. What is justification? It's an act of God's free grace whereby he does certain things.

27:37 Whereby he imputes something to the sinner and that imputation is nothing other than the righteousness of Christ. It is not based on anything wrought in them confusing regeneration and sanctification with justification or done by them it's not by works but imputed to them and received by faith alone. The word alone is the whole issue of the reformation. Sola fide and the Roman Catholic would not deny that you're justified by faith but it's the word alone that nailed Rome to the wall and exposed her system as fallacious and anti-Christian. Well you see if we implant in our children's minds these catechetical definitions we're immunizing their minds I didn't say their hearts. I'm using my words carefully. We're immunizing their minds.

28:43 Now if their hearts remain perverse they will trample over what we put in their minds. A perverse mind is rooted in a perverse heart never the other way around. Kinks in the brain start with kinks in the heart and we can't change the heart but we can impregnate the brain the mind with precise statements thereby seeking to immunize them against their own desires and heretical teachings. Now where can you get those catechisms?

29:18 They're all down in the bookstore and I mean this sincerely if the cost of any of them is an impediment to anyone who otherwise would desire to do it please please I'll speak for my fellow elders say I want this badly I can't afford this my budget won't allow for it I'll go on record and charge this to the elders account charge it to my account I won't speak for my fellow elders charge it to my account I just paid up everything last week so I know it's zero zero right now so you charge it as Paul said if he owe it to you anything charge that to my account I mean that I would have no Christian no parent in this place have the price of one of these catechisms keep you from imparting to your children the manifold benefits of this instruction now the tools are available there's no excuse start as soon as possible A S A P it's amazing how you can seize time one of the ways I taught one of my children the children's catechism was back when we had them in a Christian school in another town and it was a 15 minute drive every morning we would work on the catechism and over the course of several years it took me a long time but you've got to be committed

Exhortation 2: Impart a Biblical View of Bodily Stewardship

30:48 committed saying I believe this is part of the nurture in the Lord but then secondly there's my second miscellaneous exhortation as I've exhorted you do not deprive your children and may I say for some of you adults yourselves of the manifold benefits of scripture memorization and catechetical instruction A biblical view of the stewardship of their bodily health. Do not fail to impart to your children a biblical view of the stewardship of their bodily health. Now again, I've chosen every word carefully and deliberately. I'm concerned about a biblical view of bodily health. That is a view of bodily health which will never lead our children to body worship, one of the great sins of our day.

32:00 God alone is to be worshipped. The soul is more important than the body. Matthew 10, 28. As surely as the Bible says, thou shalt worship.

32:10 The Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. It says, fear not those which kill the body, but after this have no more that they can do. But fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Paul said, my outward man is perishing, but my inward man is being renewed day by day.

32:33 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 17. So a biblical view of bodily health will never lead. To body worship. It will not lead to an obsession with the body at the expense of the soul.

32:49 And furthermore, a biblical view of bodily health will never lead to a humanistic idea of the attainability of perfect health in this present fallen world. Much of the new age movement, something I hope to preach on within the coming year. God sparing me and sparing us. One of the elements of much new age thinking is that the potential for perfect health is within us.

33:19 And if we can only get it released, we will have perfect health. Now listen carefully. I'm going to be misquoted in spite of my careful choice of words. Some schools of chiropractic have a theology that is anti-biblical and anti-God.

33:37 Now I didn't say, if you go to... Oh, a chiropractor, you're anti-biblical and anti-God.

33:43 I didn't say that. Honestly. Tape will prove it. But I can prove, if I wanted to take the time, that certain schools of chiropractic thought believe that perfect health is locked up in your spinal column.

34:02 And get all the subluxations out and the full nerve energy released to every cell in your body, and you will have perfect health. That is anti-God and anti-Bible and anti-Christ and anti-truth.

34:20 And so is every other form of so-called holistic medicine that promises perfect health. And the health, wealth and prosperity gospel falls in the same category of nonsense.

34:33 A biblical view of bodily health takes into account the reality of the fall. The fact that these bodies are slated for death. Which means the degenerative process will be evident all along the way. But a biblical view of the stewardship of bodily health will be based on several strong biblical pillars.

Pillars of Biblical Bodily Stewardship

35:00 Number one. Pillar number one. The sixth commandment is divine law. The sixth commandment is divine law.

35:11 And here in the catechism, we have some very helpful insights as to the meaning of the sixth commandment. Question number seven. What is the sixth commandment? The sixth commandment is, you shall not murder.

35:26 What is required in the sixth commandment? Listen carefully now. The sixth commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?

35:43 The sixth commandment forbids the taking away of our own life, whether violently with a gun at the temple, or subtly, but nonetheless really, by the unnecessary accumulation of plaque in the arteries that are around the heart, causing premature heart attack. Yes. Or by the sucking of cigarette smoke into the lungs. Or through the mucus.

36:14 Yes. Or the mucus membrane by chewing tobacco or dipping snuff, and thereby putting unnecessary carcinogens into our system. The sixth commandment forbids the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tends thereunto. Hmm?

36:40 That's a pretty good solid pillar on which to build a biblical view of the stewardship of bodily health. The second pillar, Christ is our great pattern. Luke 2.52, it says of our Lord Jesus living in those humble peasant circumstances there in Nazareth, that under the tutelage of Mary and of Joseph, for he went down and was subject unto them, and in that setting he advanced in wisdom and stature.

37:10 And if you have a marginal reading that says stature can mean age in this context, it does not mean age. The Greek word here is exactly the same one used in Luke 19.2 or 3, regarding Zacchaeus, who was small of stature. Ephesians chapter 4, where we are told that the body of Christ is to grow up into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

37:38 And though the Greek word itself, helikia, can mean age, there are other contexts where it clearly refers to stature. And I believe Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, has nailed the issue down with great accuracy. Compare verse 40. Wisdom is placed first because Jesus had at twelve already revealed its possession in a high degree.

38:02 He kept attaining more and more of it. We refer to helikia, to bodily stature, not to age, for it need not be said that he grew older. That's self-evident. Most of the pictures of Jesus are too weak.

38:17 He must have grown into a strong, impressive, commanding figure. These pale, anemic Christs ought to be abolished from our imagination. And I say amen to that. What he was when haggard under the lictor's lash, what he was under the dehydration and deprivations connected with the cross, is one thing.

38:42 What he was as a young man, growing up and being prepared for three years of the most intense and arduous ministry is quite another. And the Holy Ghost says he grew in stature. When muscles ought to begin to ripple in a young man, they rippled in our Lord. And the benefits of physical exercise and of physical labor as they developed that body for the rigors of the ministry that lay before him, that development was so evident that the Holy Ghost underscores it.

39:17 He not only grew in wisdom, but he grew in physical stature and strength and impressiveness as well as in the favor of God and in his social development that we'll touch next week in favor with men. So as we seek to find the pillars on which to construct a biblical view of the stewardship of the bodily health of our children, the sixth commandment, this divine law binds them, the sixth commandment, as beautifully interpreted in the Shorter Catechism. Secondly, Christ is our pattern. Thirdly, redemptive purchase is the highest motive.

40:01 And by that I'm simply trying to articulate 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. What know ye not? That your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which you have of God, and you are not your own, you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body which is his. Yes, the body is God's by right of creation, but redemptive purchase is the highest motive.

40:30 And as we pray for the salvation of our children, as we press the claims of the gospel upon them, so we should say, when you embrace the Lord Jesus, when you become a Christian, or if we have reason to believe that they have, and they believe they have, we say now that you profess to be a Christian, your body is not your own. It was bought on the cross of Christ. You are now to glorify God in such a way that you reflect the same worth of the body that God did when he purchased it by the blood of Christ. Then we could add to that the biblical doctrine of the resurrection.

41:11 We could add many pillars. But I am not here to give a whole theology of the stewardship of the body. But this will at least sow some seeds, I hope, in your mind. Now, what will this involve practically?

Practical Application: Diet

41:23 If I am committed as a parent to nurture my child in the admonition of the Lord with reference to this whole issue of imparting a biblical view of the stewardship of bodily health, four simple categories. Can you think what they are going to be? Diet, exercise, rest, and medical assistance. And I don't think you need to make it any more complicated than that.

41:53 Diet. And what is the key text you teach your children when you have learned it yourself and applied it so that you can make it stick? 1 Corinthians 10.31 Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, starting with these most elementary exercises in which we are one with the animal kingdom, they must eat and drink to stay alive, so must we.

42:21 So God says, write down to the lowest, most crassly, carnal, not in the sense of evil, but fleshly exercises of eating and drinking, or whatsoever you do, all the way out to the most noble, elevated exercises of mind and heart, do all to the glory of God. Well, how then can God be glorified in the eating and the drinking of our children if we leave them ignorant of established patterns of good eating, instructing them in the principles of good nutrition, warning of the sins of gluttony and self-starvation, and we need both warnings in our day, warning them of the consequences of gross deprivation, of concern for these matters. I'm amazed at the indifference to these things among parents who say they love their children. Well, Adele Davis was not right theologically, but in some ways the little cliché is helpful when she said, you are what you eat, and our body does feed upon the nutrients that we put into it, and God has put in his world those things that are calculated for our good. And therefore, in this matter of diet, establish your children

43:50 in good eating habits, stated meal times, no snacky-snacky-snacky all day. Or when they become adults, they become people who find their refuge in food, and their food becomes the pacifier they never throw away. Your child is not hungry all day, but if you let him, he may snacky-snacky-snacky all day, you must establish the eating patterns of that child. And then as they get older, you must instruct them in the principles of good nutrition.

44:22 You must instruct them. Mommy, I want this. Well, why can't I have that? Because too much of that is not good for you.

44:30 God says, let all things be done in moderation. Every creation of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer, 1 Timothy 4, 4 and 5. But let all things be done in moderation. And the medical facts with regard to excessive salt in the diet, excessive fat in the diet, the medical facts with respect to insufficient bulk in the diet and fiber in the diet.

45:02 Dear people, these things are too clear and too well established to ignore them and not to pass on to our children some basic instruction in nutrition and surely to warn them of the sins of gluttony and self-starvation. How can we do so with a good conscience if our own jutting bones indicate we have an anorexic mentality or our own corpulence indicates that we have no control over our own mouths and what we put into it? Now I'm talking bluntly, but dear people, blunt talk is in order. It's a responsibility we have.

Practical Application: Exercise

45:45 We need to view the bodies of our children, those girls, as future possible mothers who need to be Proverbs 31 women, strong to do the tasks of one who's going to follow the pattern of that woman who fears the Lord and whose children who rise up and call her blessed. But I must hasten. Secondly, exercise. You say, now, Pastor, where are you going to get a text for exercise?

46:09 Ah, I have one. One of the most abused texts in all of the Bible, 1 Timothy 4.8. Paul had just said to Timothy, exercise yourself unto godliness.

46:19 But then he says, for bodily exercise is profitable for a little. And probably means for a little time. But godliness is profitable having promised not only of this life, but of that which is to come. Well, by comparison, exercising yourself to godliness is far more important than exercising yourself into good cardiovascular condition.

46:44 Because eventually, the cardiovascular system is going to shut down and you're going to die. But godliness will carry you on into the age to come. So comparatively, physical exercise is here. Spiritual exercise is here.

46:58 But viewed in isolation, Paul says bodily exercise is profitable. That's a positive statement of the Holy Ghost. You want to argue with Paul? Then you argue with him.

47:13 And it's an established fact that for the ordinary person without unusual problems, I know there are exceptions, that for an adult, some 20 to 30 minutes of intense activity that makes the heart pump and makes the blood circulate called aerobic exercise of some kind would probably neutralize, I forgot what the latest statistics are, the percentage of heart ailments and heart failures and heart diseases. It's unbelievable. We have a nation of couch potatoes, male and female. And we need to work with our children in establishing good patterns by example and then by precept and structure. And then as they grow up, in this matter of exercise, have them keep three areas in their minds. Cultivation or development of strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular conditioning. Those are the nuts and bolts.

48:18 Strength, flexibility, cardiovascular conditioning. Now, am I saying we want to see every man become an Arnold Schwarzenegger? No, I'm not saying that at all. But what I am saying is that if a man is to be able to have a commanding bearing and demeanor, if he can add to the girth of his arms and his chest by some regular strength and some regular exercise and add to his ability to put out in demanding work for hours at a time without being like an old wheezing pack mule ready to go to the glue factory, then does it not glorify God?

49:02 If he manifests, you know, God must not be such a hard taskmaster after all. His child looks pretty healthy and happy. Some people are a terrible testimony to the goodness of God. In their physical appearance and the basic cause is not the sovereignty of God, it's their own willful ignorance of the place of exercise in the maintenance of good health.

49:25 And I remind you, the sixth commandment forbids anything that contributes unto the taking away of our life or the lives of others. But then I hasten the third area's rest. Well, here we have many texts, Ecclesiastes 5, 12, which speaks of the sleep of the laboring man being sweet. Psalm 127, 2, it's vain for you to rise up early to go to bed late.

Practical Application: Rest

49:51 It's the picture of the man saying, I've got to cheat on sleep. It's the only way I can make ends meet. The only way. He said, no.

49:58 He giveth unto his beloved literally in sleep. That is, God can do for you what you would never anticipate if you will get sufficient rest in order to be able to work with quickness of mind and sufficient strength of a refreshed body and psyche. Proverbs 3, 24, another key text. You have Mark 6, 31 where Jesus said, come apart and rest a while.

50:26 You have the example in Mark 4, 35 where Jesus himself took a nap in the middle of the day in a boat in the midst of a storm. There are times, you see, when naps are necessary. For what end? Not to be the sluggard who folds his hands and sleeps to avoid responsibility.

50:45 But Jesus was so exhausted from ministry that he needed new reserves of strength for the ministry that awaited him the other side of the lake. And so the nap was a means to an end, not an indulgence of a sinful end in itself. So we must impart to our children, if they're going to have a biblical view of the stewardship of bodily health, not only these perspectives on diet, exercise, but also rest. Remember Elijah.

51:14 When he was discouraged, God saw that the state of his heart and psyche was due in great part to his exhaustion. So he put him to sleep, woke him up, fed him, let him go back to sleep. And only when he was rested did he then start dealing with his spiritual need. Well, in the two minutes that remain, medical assistance.

Practical Application: Medical Assistance

51:33 In a fallen world, God has given means of alleviating some of the results of the curse. Doctors are gifts, doctors are gifts of God. The moderate use of pills and medication, the great principle of Paul's admonition to Timothy. Be no longer a drinker of water, but take a little wine.

51:54 Moderation. Medication for thy stomach's sake and thine oft infirmities. And we must seek to have a biblically balanced view of medical assistance where we do not set a pattern and encourage a pattern for every little twitch and every little ache running to the medicine chest for pills. We're a pill-oriented generation.

52:18 But if the child has a severe headache or is running a fever, given some liquid aspirin to help bring it down is certainly proper and appropriate. And likewise, with the use of doctors, we must pray that God will help us to impart to our children a biblical view of the stewardship of their bodily health. You say, Pastor, if we take this seriously, parenting's going to be a job, ain't it? Sure is.

Conclusion and Prayer

52:45 Sure it is. But I could not bring this series to a close without bringing these two exhortations. God willing, next week we'll have three more. Let's pray.

52:54 Our Father, we thank you that for every duty laid upon us there is already grace stored up for us in Christ. And we would echo our new understanding of duty with the affirmation of the apostle who said, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Give each of us as parents strength to do these things that will profit our children. For those, our Father, who need personal application of these things, give grace that they may be done in the strength of Christ and to your glory.

53:37 May we be enabled to rear a generation that thinks biblically by turning your truth, as we have stored up the word in their minds by memorization, as we have chiseled out theological distinctions by catechizing. Lord, may we raise a generation that has a biblical view of physical health. O Lord, help us by your grace in all of these things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

54:05 You have been listening to How Not to Foul Up the Training of Your Children by Pastor Albert N. Martin. These cassettes are distributed by the Trinity Book Service. If you would like a free listing of other audio cassettes and books, please call us at 1-800-722-3584.

54:26 Or if you prefer, you can write us at the Trinity Book Service, Post Office Box 569, Montville, New Jersey 07045.