The Sh’ma: The Learning Curve

“… Impress them on your children” (verse 7a).

The Sh’ma represents a call for the church to train and equip parents to become spiritual leaders in their own homes.

The Hebrew word that is translated as impress suggests a 24/7 learning curve. If children are to understand that Jesus is with them every minute of their lives, Jesus needs to be a constant presence.

The church cannot accomplish such a high goal with even the best curriculums or armies of religion instructors.

Nor should it.

God never intended for the church to replace the work of the home. Nor is it the home’s role to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the church. Each venue has its own spiritual objectives and outcomes (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). The two, however, must learn to work in tandem. Sometimes their activities will overlap. For example, Christian men, women, and children join their fellow Christians to pray together during corporate worship. But we also teach our children to pray with their families at home.

A critical part of the church’s ministry is to prepare, train, equip, encourage, and support parents by giving them a strong, biblical foundation from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In ancient times, God authorized Moses to serve as the people’s pastor. Moses carried out that role when he communicated God’s will to the people in the Sh’ma.

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Today, in the vast majority of our congregations, the church’s ministry to, and through, parents and the family is not considered a very important facet of ministry work. In fact, in many congregations, this particular facet of ministry has not been happening for some time. Before parents can raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, they will need to understand how law and gospel apply to their lives. For this, they need training. (See Luther’s “Table of Duties,” in his Small Catechism.)

To prepare parents for carrying out their difficult task, God’s church needs strong pastors, Christian educators, and staff ministers to focus more of their time and energy on the training and preparation of godly parents for their God-given leadership role at home. Luther said that understanding the tension between law and gospel was the most difficult to understand and apply of the Bible’s teachings. If the church on earth is to grow numerically, it will first need to shore up its existing member constituency.

GROUP DISCUSSION

• What is the pronoun them referring to in Deuteronomy 6:7a?
• Why would God want godly parents to impress The Ten Commandments on their children?
• Why might some Christian parents be reluctant to teach all of the commandments to their offspring? What is the best way to deal with such reluctance?

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me (Moses) to teach you (the Children of Israel) to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ³ Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. ⁷ Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

DEUTERONOMY 6: 1-9