TLP 186: A Parent’s 5 Jobs, Part 3 | Interpreter

The reality is that we're all going to succumb to a delusion at some point, and in that moment we're going to be in desperate need of a correct interpretation of life and truth.

Welcome to Truth, Love, Parents, where we use God's Word to become intentional, premeditated parents. Here's your host, AM Brewster.

Welcome back to our Parents 5 Jobs series. Please start in Episode 184 to get caught up with the first two responsibilities, and before we get to the third job today, I'd like to thank Scott and Mindy for supporting us every month.

We are a listener-supported ministry, and patrons like Scott and Mindy make it possible for us to glorify God by equipping parents all over the world to be intentional, premeditated, disciple-making parents.

And I also want to remind you of Matt and Sonia, two other patrons who are heading up our very first TLP meetup in Dallas, Texas on September 17th, 2018. If you're going to be in the area, we'd love to have you stop by.

We want to be whatever blessing and encouragement we can be to you. So whether that means hanging out, prayer, counsel, teaching, or whatever, we want it to be a profitable time for you. So find someone to take care of the kids that night and plan to attend our first ever TLP meetup.

I can't wait to meet you face-to-face. If you'd like to attend that, please email us at teamtlp at truthloveparent .com or like us on Facebook and click that you'll be attending. And if you'd like more information about how you can become a patron for as little as one dollar a month, you can click on the five ways to support TLP link in the description of this episode.

Scott, Mindy, Matt, and Sonia would highly encourage you to do that. Okay, so what is the third job God has for us parents? Our first job is ambassador, and that job description makes it clear from where our authority and strength comes.

And it also delineates what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. And before we dive into 2 Timothy 3 .16 today, last time we talked about how God has revealed Himself in His Word and expects us to parent using it.

And since He's created the Bible to do four specific jobs, we as ambassador parents should use the Bible to accomplish those roles in our children's lives. So the second job at which we looked was educator or teacher.

God wants us to use the Scriptures to educate our children in who He is and how He created life to be lived. But you know what? Sometimes teaching's just not enough. Have you ever noticed that it doesn't seem to matter how many times you tell your child not to touch something hot, they end up doing it anyway?

Why does that happen? Well, like we saw in our Mearest Christianity series, it boils down to what they believe. It's a worldview problem. They heard you say it was hot, they know what hot means, but they have a different take on the outcome, so they touch it.

What this reveals is that your children have an interpretation problem. Their interpretation of reality is delusional. Therefore, in 2 Timothy 3 .16, God informs us that He created His Word to act as an interpretive.

Guide.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching and for reproof. The noun translated reproof is a hapoxogomena. That means it's only used one time in the entire Bible. Still, the concept is used throughout Scripture.

To reprove means to refute an error. Here's how it works. Instruction informs the child what is right, but when the child decides that his version of right is more right than the Bible's, then we have to exercise our next job by refuting their delusion.

Now, we did discuss the importance of interpretation once before, in episode 104, which would be a great follow-up to today's discussion. We looked at 2 Timothy 4. From there, we built a framework for our interpretation that included rebuking and exhorting, and we looked at a number of other important prerequisites to being a good interpreter.

But today, we're going to go even further in our understanding of being an interpreter parent, and we're going to do that by looking at one of the verb forms of the word in 2 Timothy 3 .16. It's used 16 times in the New Testament, but we're going to look at just six principles for ambassadorial interpretation.

Our principles of interpretation are these.

1.

God Interprets Life for Us

God interprets life for us. In John 16 .8, we read, "...and when He," referring to the Holy Spirit, "...comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.". Now, I know that the idea of interpretation and conviction seem very different, but they're actually identical.

To convict someone of something is to convince them that they're wrong. In essence, to persuade them that their view of reality was incorrect. Their interpretation of life was inaccurate. We see this principle of divine reinterpretation in Hebrews 12 .5, "...my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by.

Him.".

And Jude 1 .14 -15 says, "...behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly.". Episode 123 was called, Parenting Like the Holy Spirit, and it was based off John 16 .8.

As an ambassador parent of God, it makes all the sense in the world that God would use us to accomplish the task of helping our children interpret life correctly, of helping the Holy Spirit to convict our kids.

God Commands Us to Interpret Life for Others

The next principle is that not only does God interpret life for us, but, number two, He commands us to interpret life for others. In Matthew 18 .15, He says,. "...if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault.

Between you and him alone, and if he listens to you, you've gained your brother.". In Ephesians 5 .11, it says,. "...take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.". 1 Timothy 5 .20,.

"...as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.". In Titus 1 .3, "...this testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.".

The reality is that we're all going to succumb to a delusion at some point. We're all going to believe, if even for a moment, that we are right and God is wrong. And in that moment, we're going to be in desperate need of a correct interpretation of life and truth.

And the same goes for our kids. That's why God created families to work the way they do, and why He called us to live in community. We need each other to keep our heads on straight. I praise God that when I'm not thinking right, my wife is able to point me to truth.

And I praise God that when she's living in a delusion, I'm normally interpreting life correctly enough to help her. And the same should go for us in our parenting. Unfortunately, it too often occurs that we and our children are both living in a delusion that needs reinterpretation.

Now, I keep using the word delusion, but I think we need to understand it a little bit.

Better.

Interpretation Is Necessary When Delusion Is Present

So, number three, interpretation is necessary when delusion is present. In John 3 .20, it says, For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed.

First of all, that you and your kids are living in a delusion is revealed by sinful living. Second Timothy 4 .2 -4, Reprove with complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.

They will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. We see there the fact that they are suiting their own passions, they're living how they want to live. Letter B,. Delusion is also revealed by worldly desires that contradict God's truth.

Titus 1 .9 supports this reality when it observes that an elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it.

My friends, it's actually really easy to spot misinterpretations of life. If it contradicts God's word at any point, it's a delusion, it's not reality. And C, we have to understand this, in 2 Timothy 4 .4 we also see that people who are in a delusion will desperately fight to remove themselves from the presence of people with the correct interpretation of life and instead surround themselves by others who share their delusion.

John 3 .20 gives us another instinctual response of delusional living which is very similar to this. Sinful people will hate the light and run from the light. The verse right before this one says people love the darkness rather than the light because their works are evil.

When our kids aren't interpreting life correctly, we not only need to seek them out because they may not be interested in hearing what we have to say, we also have to make sure we're giving the correct interpretations of life.

We mustn't ask them to trade their delusion for ours. That's why, number four, ambassadorial interpretation must expose delusions to the light of God's word, a .k .a. truth, Ephesians 5 .13. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.

I've seen this work time and time again. The most hardened, unreasonable child must either accept the veracity of God's claims or deliberately make arguments they know are false because they don't want to admit they're.

Wrong.

But whether they admit it or not, they know the truth. Their delusion is slowly being shattered. But when we demand that our kids stop worshiping themselves, which is definitely delusional thinking, and ask them instead to worship us, we have substituted their idol for our.

Own.

I say it a lot, but I must keep repeating myself because you and I do this far too often. If our children aren't interested in worshiping God, what makes us think that they want to worship us? Of course, the problem isn't that we think they want to worship us, it's just that we are so bowed down at the altar of our own selves, we're not able to see reality.

One person put it this way, it's hard to see anything correctly when our noses are shoved in our own belly buttons. And I tell the guys at Victory that they'll never love others when their eyes are rolled back into their heads.

This is why we use terror tactics against our terrorist children. They're living in a delusion that sin is okay. They're yelling at us, browbeating us, complaining, being unkind, whatever. But since we're living in a delusion too, we yell at them, threaten them, make it about me versus them instead of us versus sin.

My friends, and I'm saying this for me as much as I am for you, we will never cure our child's delusion by injecting our own. Ambassadorial interpretation can only happen within the context of God's revealed truth, His light.

But as we well know, there's a second requirement when it comes to reinterpreting life. Number five, interpretation must be motivated by love. Revelation 319, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

God reinterprets life for us because He knows we'd otherwise be destroyed. This ties into the last point as well because true love for our kids will compel us to want God's best interest for them. When motivated by true love, we would never dare to force our delusion on our kids.

Again, the issue is that when I'm worshiping at the altar of self, I'm loving myself, not God and not my child. If you haven't heard our Four Family Love series yet, please check it out starting in episode 128.

Now before we look at our last principle for being an interpreter parent, please give your attention to my wife.

Hello, everyone.

I hope this episode was a blessing to you. All right. Now, when the episode's over, click on the link below to get our free episode notes and then share this series with a friend who would be encouraged by it.

And if this episode has helped you better understand your role as an interpreter parent, please consider rating and reviewing Truth Love Parent in iTunes or on Facebook. And now for the conclusion of today's show.

Your Authority to Reinterpret Comes from God

Okay, by way of review, God is in the business of helping us reinterpret life, but He also commands us to participate in the same responsibility. And we know we need to move from teaching to interpreting anytime sinful actions or desires are present.

We also need to watch out for when our kids run from truth and surround themselves with people who share their delusions. And when it comes time to help our children reinterpret the realities and situations in life, we must rely on God's truth and God's love, lest we accidentally lead them into our own misinterpretations.

And lastly, number six, your authority to reinterpret another's life resides in God. Titus 2 .15 says, Declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. This ties us back to the first and second principles, but it's so important to verbalize.

How many of you have ever been convinced by your own children that you're a bad parent for correcting them? How many of us have ever convinced ourselves that we're bad parents because we're doing things the world says are horrendous?

My friends, if you're being an ambassador parent who's accurately and lovingly applying God's Word to your family, you can rest assured that you are pleasing the Lord. Don't let anyone steal your peace.

And if right now you're struggling to have peace in your parenting, we have a series just for you. It's called Peaceful Parenting and it starts in episode 69. I really pray that it'll be a blessing for you.

Okay, so God wants us to imitate Him in our parenting. Therefore we teach our kids what's right. And when they decide that God's Word is wrong, we need to help our kids interpret life correctly by reproving them.

But what happens if they don't listen? What happens if they do? On our next episode, we're going to study the fourth parenting job to which God has called you. And don't forget to check out patreon .com to learn more about supporting TLP.

And feel free to write us at counselor at truthloveparent .com if you'd like some personal advice or teamTLP at truthloveparent .com if you'd like to suggest a topic for the show or sign up for our TLP meetups.

Remember, friends, your kids are going to slip into delusions from time to time. Make sure you're there with the truth and love to pull them out.

See you next time.

Truth. Love. Parents. Is part of the Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you become an intentional premeditated parent. Join us next time as we search God's Word for the truth your family needs today.