Counseling: Don't Provoke your children to anger Flashcards
Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord
Themes and indicatives in Ephesians 1-3
God the Father
- initiative of Blessing
- revealed himself
- mercy shown to us
- provided a way for us
- made us alive
Jesus Christ the beloved
- way for blessing
- redeemed through blood
- forgiven of trespasses
- provided access to God
- reconciled us
Holy Spirit the Guarantee
- Promise of Blessing
- Sealed as a pledge
- marked us as belonging
- provided us with wisdom
- made us a dwelling place
Themes and indicatives of Ephesians: Riches of God
In the beloved
- Our peace (1:2)
- Our Blessing (1:3, 6-7)
- Our Salvation (1:4-6,13-14, 3:8,16)
- Our Hope (1:7-9, 11-12, 18-19)
- Our sanctification (1:4,90)
- Our ultimate reality (1:1, 3-4,6,11)
Summing up of all things (1:10,20-23)
- Jesus our victorious Sovereign!
Prayer for Strength to Endeavor
Ephesians 3:14-19
Difference between imperatives and indicatives
indicatives lays out the facts, and imperatives lays out the commands
Imperatives of Ephesians: To walk
To Walk (4:1, 17, 5:2, 8, 15)
- to make one’s way progress
- to regulate one’s life
- to conduct oneself
- to live out the implications of our faith
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called Ephesians 4:1
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Imperatives of Ephesians: To Lay Aside
Lay Aside Old Ways (4:22-23)
- Do not steal (4:26)
- Do not participate in darkness (5:11)
- Do not get foolish or drunk (5:17-18
Imperatives of Ephesians: To Put On
Put on new Ways 4:24
- speak the Truth (4:24)
- Be kind (4:32)
- Be filled with the Spirit (5:18-21)
Role of the husband
To Sacrifice, Serve, and Lead, to recognize the wife’s worth.
Role of the wife
To Honor, Respect, Help, to recognize the husbands responsibillity
expectations for children
Ephesians 6:1-3
The parent child relationship
Ephesians 6:1-3
A mother’s love and compassion for her children (Isaiah 49:15)
A father’s care in giving his son good gifts (Matthew 7:9-11)
Parental responsibly to gaurd and manage the home (Galatians 4:1-2, 2 Corinthians 12:14)
Role of the father
Ephesians 6:4
…and fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Historical context:
- Patria Potestos: The Roman-Greek view that the father is the head of the house hold. Fathers were the magistrate of their own households. Fathers had the power of life and death over their child and could execute a child he wanted to, without legal ramifications. The father would hold his power till the age of 60 and then it would transfer over to the eldest son. Fathers had responsibility for the moral and spiritual care of their children, and training and leading the household in the fear of the lord
To provoke with anger means to arouse to wrath, to exasperate, to embitter. It refers to the fact the children are not mere objects to control, but souls in need of guidance/shepherding
The heart is already bent towards evil, and when we provoke our children to anger, we are moving them into the direction of the natural inclination of the heart, and opening an opportunity for the devil’s influence
When we provoke children to anger, all we are doing is modeling self-centeredness, and it does the child not good.
Examples of sinful provocation
- Exessive or severe discipline (e.g. quick to punish)
- Unreasonable expectations or demands
- Abuse of authority (all law not grace)
- Arbitrairness or unfairness (inconsistency)
- critical spirit
- Vexation through nagging and condemnation
- comparing children to others
- Humiliation
Results of provoking children to anger
Discouragement, anger, bitterness, grudges, lack of respect and honor, a hardened hart, becomes a gateway to further disobedience
