1. Child Abuse Ephesians 6:1-4

2. Introduction Always with us –“International Year of The Child” (1979) –Injuries and deaths every year A worse problem –Never seen on the news –“Spiritual” child abuse

3. Rear Children Without Discipline What is discipline? –Teaching and training (Ephesians 6:4) –Praise and punishment

4. Rear Children Without Discipline Punitive aspect –Biblical (Proverbs 13:24; 19:18; 23:13, 14; 29:15) –Motivated by love (Hebrews 12:5-11)

5. Rear Children Without Discipline Praise also necessary –Not to discourage them (Colossians 3:21) –Lack of praise is discouraging

6. Neglect Spiritual Training Children learn what is important –The story of the “dear old book we love so well” –Illustrates where the emphasis was

7. Neglect Spiritual Training Cannot depend on the church –Not enough and not meant to be –Other influences at work

8. Neglect Spiritual Training Importance of Bible teaching –Command to Israel (Deuteronomy 4:9; 6:6, 7) –Command to us (Ephesians 6:4) –Example of Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15)

9. Provoke Children To Wrath Bible warnings –Possible (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21) –Can be guilty though well intentioned

10. Provoke Children To Wrath Ways to do this –Unreasonable demands –Undue severity when punishing (2 Corinthians 2:6-8) –Use discipline as an outlet for anger (Ephesians 4:26)

11. Provoke Children To Wrath More ways –Criticize and never praise –Back down on your word –Never allow any self-expression

12. Expose To Harmful Influences Anyone recall Three-mile Island nuclear incident? –Parents rushed to the schools –Why? Concerned about the harmful effects of radiation

13. Expose To Harmful Influences What happens in our homes? –Harmful television, literature, internet surfing (Philippians 4:8) –Unwholesome music (Galatians 5:19-21) –Affects all of us (1 Corinthians 15:33)

14. Provide A Bad Example Live what we teach –Can’t teach honesty, and cheat on our taxes (Romans 13:7) –Can’t teach morality, and be ungodly (Romans 12:1, 2) –Can’t teach faithfulness, and miss the assemblies (Hebrews 10:24, 25)

15. Provide A Bad Example Children are smarter than we think –Can recognize hypocrisy (Romans 2:17-23) –How can we expect them to respect us?

16. Be Selfish Must not make arbitrary decisions –Cannot be too busy working, entertaining, etc. –This causes trouble

17. Be Selfish Consider Lot’s example –Not enough consideration of his family (Genesis 13:10-13; 19:26-36) –Lost his wife –Defiled by his daughters

18. Conclusion Are we guilty of child abuse? Give our children what they need