Saturday was our five15 BIG MEETING; message 3 of our Drivers Ed series was from Proverbs 1:8-9, entitled HOV: Proverbs on Family.

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.

Zoe, the daughter of my friends Kenny and Amy, was two years old when she took the family mini-van for joy ride into the middle of a cornfield. But what do you expect: she’s never had any instruction in how to drive a car. In order to drive a car well, you need instruction on how to do it. The same is true with life: to live life well (meaning: in a way that pleases God), you need instruction. If we do what comes naturally, or try to figure it out on our own, we’re not going to do any better than two year old Zoe. God intends for the family to be the school of godliness in the life of a teenager.

From these verses I explained that there is a simple lesson or teens and a simple lesson for parents. The lesson for the teens: Listen to what you learn at home. The lesson for the parents: provide instruction.

Here are the quotes I used:

“The son is called to “listen to” the father. The Hebrew word denotes more than the simple act of hearing; it implies obedience. The son must act on the instruction that follows, not just learn it as brute fact. The negative is used in reference to the mother’s teaching, but it implies the same thing. To not “neglect” her teaching means to act on it.” Tremper Longman

“God essentially says this: ‘I have designed the family to be my primary learning community. There is no better context to teach the truths that need to be taught so that my people should live the way they should live.’” Paul Tripp

“The most powerful way to keep your children from being attracted by the offers of camaraderie with the wicked is to make home an attractive place to be. Young people do not run from places where they are loved and know unconditional acceptance. They do not run away from homes where there are solid relationships. They do not run from homes in which the family is planning activities and doing exciting things. Tedd Tripp

Parents: look for the discussion questions tomorrow.

Categories: five15 blog