TLP 391: A Parent’s Final Words

The point is, David is not necessarily calling Solomon to embody a litany of culturally acceptable maleisms. He's calling Solomon to become the man God wanted him to be.

Season 16 and the Focus of the Show

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

Welcome to Season 16 of Truth Love Parent and Season 1 of The Celebration of God. Now, whether you're new to the show or you've been with us since the beginning, I strongly encourage you to subscribe to Truth.

Love. Parent for weekly parenting encouragement and challenge every Tuesday. And then subscribe to The Celebration of God for weekly instruction for how you can turn every day into a discipleship opportunity for your family.

Those episodes post on Friday. So Tuesday and Friday. Once on Tuesdays, once on Fridays, every week you can have two opportunities to be challenged and sharpened in your parenting. Now, today we're going to be talking about a famous parent's final words.

But before we do that, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about myself. Every 10 episodes or so, I like to include an interesting tidbit about myself. It's never anything life changing, but many of you find it fun.

So I've, just so you know, I've never been a swimmer. In fact, my wife and I have often discussed that if our kids were ever in an emergency situation in the water, it would be best for her to jump in and save them, lest the kids and I both find ourselves in an emergency situation in the water.

Well, after 40 years and multiple attempts to learn how to swim, there was this weird light bulb moment for me this year. Now, I'm not going to go into all of the details, but something finally clicked.

And though obviously I'm not planning to enter any competitions or become a lifeguard or something, I do feel much more comfortable in the water than I ever did before. Now, it's still not my favorite thing to do.

And I have a lot of work before I'd ready to save someone in an emergency life-threatening situation in the water, but I'm actually, for the first time, enjoying being in the water. And I think there's a big overlap between my story there and how some of you feel about parenting.

You're just not comfortable with it. Sure, you hold your own. Your kids aren't in mortal danger because of your parenting, but your parenting just hasn't yet clicked for you. Well, I don't know if today's show will be what you need to help you start feeling more comfortable in your God-ordained role as a parent, but Team TLP and I definitely pray that Truth Love Parent will be used by God to give you confidence in your parenting.

Of course, obviously, you'll never have confidence in your parenting if you're not doing it for God's honor and glory. So, let's learn how to do that in particular by getting into today's discussion. And as always, free episode notes and transcripts are available at TakingBackTheFamily .com.

David's Final Words to Solomon in 1 Kings 2

The vast majority of believers are familiar with David, the man after God's own heart. They know about his confrontation with Goliath, they've heard about his interaction with Bathsheba, and they know that he wrote many of the Psalms.

But do you know what David's final words were to his son Solomon? How does a man after God's own heart, a man who's had many ups and downs in his life, how does he speak to his child on his deathbed? What should be our final words?

Have you ever thought about that? Or better yet, before we start thinking about our final words, maybe we should be thinking about our daily words. Well, let's consider 1 Kings 2 verses 1 through 4. As David's time to die drew near, he charged Solomon, his son, saying, I am going the way of all the earth.

Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the Lord may carry out his promise which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.

Now, the majority of us are not royalty, so obviously none of us are too focused on having any of our kids rule a country, but there are so many other fantastic truths with which we need to grapple today.

Honesty About Mortality and Human Frailty

How are these final words of David instructive to our parenting? Well, number one, we need to be honest about who we are. None of us are immortal, none of us are perfect, and yet so many parents try to interact with their kids as if they are.

We promise we're never going to leave our kids or let anything bad happen to them. We don't confess our sins, and we don't regularly communicate our need for Christ. What we say, and far too often what we don't say, sends all of the wrong messages.

Instead, our children need to know that we are no different than they are. We're frail, mortal, finite beings who have a sin nature and wrestle every day with the flesh. The only significant differences should be our ages and the fact that we're more submitted to loving and obeying God than they because we've just had more practice.

You see, David was honest with Solomon about the fact that he was going to die. He wasn't pretending to be some immortal demigod like many of the contemporary kings of that time. He wasn't calling for worship from his son.

He knew he needed to prepare his son for a time when he would be gone. And that's our second point. Number two, we need to prepare our children for when we're gone. It's not that big of a deal that, you know, when they're young our kids rely on us for everything from eating to changing their clothes to wiping their behinds, but we don't want to always be like that, do we?

Of course not. We want them to learn all of those skills and many more, and sometimes the sooner the better. Whether we're preparing our kids to be Christ-honoring adults long after we're gone the way of the earth, or we're preparing them to make mature Christ-honoring choices when we're just not around, our parenting should constantly be focused on teaching our kids to be independent of us.

Now, I'm not saying that our kids should be fully independent of us while we're still alive, but one day, Lord willing, they will outlive us, and then we can say with all certainty that it is God's will for them to not need you anymore.

But I think too many parents like for their kids to be dependent on them. They'd like to have someone for whom to care, and they handicap their kids by not teaching them to be responsible and affluent and capable.

Just today, my 10-year-old daughter was asking if she could learn to mow the lawn. Now, in my mind, as long as she can start and push the mower, I'm all about her learning how to do it. And her brother, who's been mowing the lawn for a few years now, was more than happy to have her help.

So, Ivy mowed about 25 of the lawn. She did a great job, and there's no reason she should be kept from at least learning to do it. My kids wash the dishes, do the laundry, mow, weed whack, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, garden, help with the bees, train dogs, and a plethora of other responsibilities, of which they have been doing many for years and years.

Because one day, neither my wife nor I will be there to do it for them. But that's just a start. What about choosing to obey? What about choosing to love? How about desiring to read God's Word, pray, and be a shining light to His truth and love in this dark world?

My daughter may be able to go her whole life without ever mowing another lawn, but she can't please the Lord for even a second without learning how to not lean on her own understanding and acknowledge God in all of her ways.

Right now, she needs to be learning to deny herself, take up her cross, and follow Christ. Whether we're dead or we're just in the next room, that's something for which we need to prepare our kids. Number three, we need to instill in our kids spiritual strength.

Of course, David was talking to Solomon, but is the command to be strong therefore and show yourself a man inappropriate for our girls? Interestingly enough, the sentence could also be rendered, be strong therefore and become who you were meant to be.

The word translated show is a unique word that often has the idea of becoming something, and the word translated man can be used of an indefinite individual. The point is, David is not necessarily calling Solomon to embody a litany of culturally acceptable malisms.

He's calling Solomon to become the man God wanted him to be. And we can equally call our daughters to become the women God has called them to be. And we know exactly how David thought a man should live because he explains it in his next breath, and it's applicable for women too.

But before we do that, let's review here for a second. Let's not wait until our deathbeds to be honest about who we are, to prepare our children for when we're gone and instill in our kids spiritual strength.

Let's do that today. And how do we instill in our kids that spiritual strength? What does that look like? Well, number four, we need to set our children up for success by expecting them to love God and, by natural extension, the Bible.

Quote, "...keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.".

Now, talk about some overkill, okay? David could have just said, obey God by doing everything written in the scriptures, but instead he leaves no room for confusion or misinterpretation, because this is what it means to be a man.

This is what it means to be a woman of God. Keep is the word used for military guardsmen protecting something important. To walk in his ways is to follow his ordained path at all times in every facet of life.

There is no room for turning back or stepping off the road. Those are the verbs, keep and walk, but listen to how David itemizes the Bible of his day. He refers to God's charge. This refers to the solemn duty as prescribed by a commanding officer.

Solomon was told to walk in God's ways. And the word keep comes back and is applied to God's statutes, commandments, and ordinances, which are understood to refer to the three portions of the Jewish law.

There were the ceremonial laws, the moral laws, and the judicial judgments. Now, some commentators debate whether each of these words refer to a specific portion of the law or if David was simply using them in conjunction to make it clear that none of the scriptures should be ignored.

Either way, I think he made his point well. The word testimonies likely refers to the written and visible evidences of God's character and deeds. And for Solomon, all of this was encapsulated in the law of Moses, which was specifically the first five books of the Old Testament.

Now, if Solomon could then succeed in all his ways with only five of the 66 books of the Bible we have, how much more prepared will our kids be if we call them to keep and walk in God's word? And notice that this is not a simple request or hope or wish or desire.

David is charging his son. The word charge means to appoint or command, to give an order or instruct. And his language leaves no room for misunderstanding. He didn't say, your mom and I would really like it if you chose to obey the Bible.

No, he said, keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies according to what is written in the law of Moses. That is a clear and simple imperative sentence.

It was the expectation. Listen, I'm starting season 16 this way because we're going to talk about some difficult and controversial things this season. Your children are being faced at nearly every grade level with heavy concepts that have disastrous spiritual and physical ramifications.

Transgenderism, homosexuality, socialism, anarchy, abortion, pedophilia, cohabitation, racism, and the like are things American kids are facing on nearly a daily basis in the public schools and on social media.

And even if your kids aren't in or on those arenas, they're likely interacting with kids who are. If anyone hopes to be able to come to right conclusions about any of these topics, they're going to have to be versed in the Bible.

History has taught us over and over that no one comes to right conclusions about a single one of them without agreeing with God in one way or another. Our world is in a tumult. Our children are being targeted in the womb and out of the womb.

Demonic forces and the world system want to disciple your children to follow in their ways. Their own sinful flesh wants them to sacrifice their lives on the altar to self. We can't afford to wait until we're all on our deathbeds to charge our kids to love the Lord and walk in His will.

Daily Parenting Words Should Aim at Love for God and Scripture

So, what does this practically look like? Well, let's review the points again and apply them here. We must be honest about who we are, prepare our children for when we're gone, and instill in our kids spiritual strength by expecting them to love God and, by natural extension, the Bible.

Well, the first way to practically live this out in your home is by revisiting the first point. Are you honest with yourself about yourself? You desperately need God. Regardless of what you think about yourself, you do.

You need Him just as much as I do. But if you try to conquer the day without spending time with the Lord, if you dedicate hours and hours to games and sports and movies and cringe at the thought of giving God more than 10 minutes a day, or if you make decisions based off of your feelings or the cultural quote-unquote wisdom of the day, then you're not being honest to yourself or your kids about your own need and about life in general.

The best way to instill in someone the importance of a belief or practice is to wholeheartedly believe it yourself. Here's an example. Some of you have kids who root for admittedly poor teams simply because someone important in their life roots for that team.

Some of your kids want to major in a field about which their favorite teacher was passionate. Your kids likely approach their family traditions the same you do because they care about what you care about.

If you want your children to be spiritually strong, by all means, charge them to love God and obey the Bible. But if you're not going to do it yourself, don't expect too much from your kids. That's the application for today.

Read the Bible. Use the Bible. Speak the Bible. Parent from the Bible. Make family decisions with the Bible. Make church a priority. Make discipleship the expectation for your family. Use the celebration of God in that process.

Then when you take the time to charge your kids to love God and obey his word so that they may become the people God created them to be and have spiritual success in this world, they'll already understand what that kind of lifestyle looks like, and they will likely have experienced some of the benefits as well because they saw it in you.

I hope you'll subscribe and listen to every episode this season. It's going to be a bumpy ride as we traverse the untamed wasteland of unregenerate thought, but we must do it if we're going to teach our children how to do it themselves when we're not around.

Please share this episode on your favorite social media outlets and never hesitate to reach out for help at counselor at truthloveparent .com or by calling 828 -423 -0894. Remember, if we want our children to grow up into Christ, that's right, we must parent in the truth and love of God's word, and we must charge our kids to do the same.

To that end, join us next time as we look at the reality of rebellion.

Truth. Love. Parent 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.