The visible church at large in the West does not realize how badly it has been influenced by Humanism. This has led to terrible Theology (God), Hamartiology (Sin), and Anthropology (Man). Many professed believers in the West have a low view of God, a small view of sin, and a high view of man, without realizing it, this is true.

It is also true that the visible church at large in the West has been influenced by Feminism. The problem is not Rick Warren appointing women pastors as much as it is the 1689ers trying to explain away Titus 2, and God’s clear words concerning the vocational design and role of men and women. Warren is downstream from we 1689ers in that scenario. Even those who are trumpeting the fact that the office of pastor is reserved for qualified men, are, at the same time, celebrating or excusing career women, even when they are wives and mothers. You are more likely to see a wife and mother who primarily works outside of the home during the week than you are to see a woman covering her head in the assembly of the saints on the Lord’s Day. This is to our shame. The decline of head coverings (no matter your position on the subject), and the rise of career women, are both directly tied to feminism and the church’s unwillingness to stand firm against that God-hating ideology. If you add to these the use of grape-juice instead of wine in the Lord’s Supper, you have an unholy trinity of negative effects on the visible church because of our allowing a little bit of leaven from Feminism to leaven the whole lump.

However, I think there is any even bigger problem and blindness of the church in America—the visible church at large in the West does not realize how badly it has been influenced by Pragmatism, which leads to terrible Ecclesiology. Men have by and large handed their children’s education over to the organized church at best, and the civil government at worst. Why? “Because this works,” they say, “Because children need age-segregated education” they say, “Because children cannot sit still in worship” they say, “Because the Sunday School teachers are better equipped to teach the children than their fathers” they imply.

There is a correlation between the fall of the Church’s health in the West and professed believers handing their children over to the Civil Government and programs within the local church for their education. Men and women handed over their children by and large to the State, and many became good little Humanists. Men and women also handed over the education of their children to programs within the local church, which led to many becoming wishy-washy little moralistic therapeutic Deists. As Fathers abdicate their responsibility, the home suffers, the church suffers, and society at large suffers. Father’s are like the rudder God has put in the ocean of His world. If you turn the rudder wrongly or you destroy it altogether, do not be surprised when the home, the church, and society are dashed continually against the rocks.

So what is the answer? Practically speaking the answer is for husbands and fathers to simply do what Christ has both exemplified and commanded them to do in the Scriptures: first, by taking responsibility for the physical and spiritual well-being of their wives, and, second, by taking responsibility for the physical and spiritual well-being of their children. Paul does not say, “Bring your wife to the pastors if she has questions.” No. He says, “If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home” (1 Cor. 14:35). Paul does not say, “Husbands bring your wives to the pastors to have them wash her with the water of the Word.” No. He says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” (Eph. 5:25-26). Moses does not say, “Bring the children to me so I can instruct them in the Law and the Promises.” No. He says, “You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deut. 6:7). Paul does not say, “Take your children to the programs of the church so they can be trained in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” No. No. No. He says, “Fathers, bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

If men would teach their wives and children the Scriptures and how to honor Christ in all spheres of life, Humanism would be dismissed as foolishness, Feminism would be hated as wickedness, and Pragmatism would been exposed as unfaithfulness, especially by those who truly belong to Christ. Sadly, these deadly ideologies dominate many professed believers and professed Churches and even Christian homes. Men, you and I must teach our wives and children the Scriptures and then apply them, so that we may glorify and enjoy God in all of life! If you and I are going to do that men, we must be good theologians. Whether you are a husband now or not, a father now or not, odds are you will be, therefore all of you must pay careful attention.

Why must husband and fathers be good theologians? Let me first put it negatively from Jeremiah 10:21. Then we will put it positively from Ephesians 5 and 6. After sufficiently answering why husbands and fathers must be good theologians, I want to give you practical applications by way of directions.

I. WHY MUST HUSBANDS AND FATHERS BE GOOD THEOLOGIANS, NEGATIVELY SPEAKING?

I) If you are not laboring to be a good theologian, you are acting stupid. “For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered” (Jer. 10:21a). “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6).

II) If you are not laboring to be a good theologian, you will not prosper in any way that really matters. “For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered” (Jer. 10:21b).

III) If you are not laboring to be a good theologian, those in your charge will be harassed and helpless. “For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered” (Jer. 10:21b).

II. WHY MUST HUSBANDS AND FATHERS BE GOOD THEOLOGIANS, POSITIVELY SPEAKING?

I) All of you must labor to be a good theologian because our triune God is worthy to be known, loved, worshipped, proclaimed, and glorified. You cannot know God savingly or personally apart from the Scriptures. You cannot love Christ apart from knowing Christ. You cannot worship Father, Son, and Spirit aright if you do not know them and how God wants to be worshipped. You cannot rightly proclaim God from your neighbors to the nations if you do not know Him. You cannot glorify God with this one life He has given you unless you know what He commands and He promises.

II) Husbands and would-be husbands, you must labor to be a good theologian because it is your duty to teach your wife. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” (Eph. 5:25-26). “If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home” (1 Cor. 14:35).

III) Fathers and would-be fathers, you must labor to be a good theologian because it is your duty to teach your children. “Fathers, bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). “You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deut. 6:7).

III. PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR HUSBANDS AND FATHERS.

I) Men, you need to teach the high doctrines of the Scriptures about God, man, sin, and salvation.

Husbands and Fathers, as you teach through the Scriptures, you need to teach:

The Existence and Attributes of God (Theology Proper).

The Sufficiency and Preciousness of Christ (Christology).

The Power and Fruit of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology).

The Authority, Inerrancy, Necessity, Clarity, and Sufficiency of the Scriptures (Sola Scriptura).

The Dignity, Ruin, and Restoration of Man (Anthropology).

Sin and Temptation (Hamartiology)

The Three Uses of the Law of God (Nomology).

The Depths of the Gospel of Grace (Soteriology).

How Christ Wants His Churches to Function (Ecclesiology).

The Providence of God (wise and wonderful for the saints; wise and fearful for sinners).

II) You need also to train up your children, and even your wives where necessary, to be faithful stewards of what God has entrusted to them.

Husbands and Fathers, as you teach through the Scriptures, you need to train up your children especially in:

Personal stewardship. You need to model for and instruct in personal discipline, and like Paul say, “I buffet my body and make it my slave” (1 Cor. 9:27).

Bodily stewardship. You need to model for and instruct in using the body God has given you as a steward, fueling, exerting, and resting it for His glory.

Familial stewardship. You need to model for and instruct in providing and protecting for your family. Your boys and girls should be learning by your example and instruction what a godly man looks like as provider and protector.

Financial stewardship. Teach your children how to earn, give, budget, stay free from debt, save, and invest as a steward of the money God has entrusted to you.

Cultural stewardship. Teach your children the importance of obeying the cultural or creation mandate to be fruitful, multiply, and take dominion for the glory of Christ.

Vocational stewardship. Train your children how to glorify the Lord vocationally, whether as a man outside the home or a women inside the home.

Marital stewardship. Teach your boys how to be men who love their wives like Christ loves the church; teach your girls how to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. Teach your children the glorious picture of the gospel in the marriage covenant.

Chronological stewardship. From an early age, you should teach them how to make the best use of the time. You cannot create more time. Teach them how to use it now, and model that.

Relational stewardship. Teach them how to treat older men, younger men, younger women, and older women.

Spiritual stewardship. Teach them the the importance of, and give them instruction in, private worship, public worship, and family worship.

IN CONCLUSION, let me exhort you to begin or continue to do family worship daily in your home. Family worship should be offered up daily not primarily because of the instruction, but primarily because the Lord is worthy of receiving sacrifices of praise. “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness” (Ps. 29:2). However, instruction is a part of family worship, and it is hands down the best way to fulfill your domestic duties, men, concerning teaching your wife, your children, and even laboring to grow in grace yourself.

How can we best actively obey the First Commandment, from which the rest of the Ten Commandments flow? Daily family worship. John Angier rightly noted, “The more we worship God in secret, the fitter shall we be for family worship, and the more we worship God in our families, the fitter shall we be for public worship.”

Men, how can you best train up your children in the way they should go, so that when they are old they will not depart from it? Daily family worship. Spurgeon proclaimed, “If we want to bring up a godly family, who shall be a seed to serve God when are heads are under the clods of the valley, let us seek to train them up in the fear of God by meeting together as a family for worship.”

What can we do to take part in reforming society at large, society that is in such shambles as we find it in the third decade of this 21st century? Daily family worship. Richard Baxter said, “You are not likely to see any general reformation, till you procure family reformation. Some little religion there may be, here and there; but while it is confined to single persons, and is not promoted in families, it will not prosper, nor promise much future increase.”

How can we do our part to see revival and reformation in the church both locally and at large? Daily family worship. In the preface to the 1689 Baptist Confession of faith, the signers wrote, “There is one spring and cause of the decay of religion in our day. . . and that is the neglect of the worship of God in families.” As it was in the late 17th century so it is (and far worse!) today. Most professed Christian adults grew up never even hearing the phrase family worship, much less practicing it in their homes. That must not be so with the next generation.

Husbands and fathers, you must be a good theologian so you can know God and so that you can teach Him and His ways to your wife and children, never handing them over to the State or programs within the church. The best way to do that is to devote yourself, for the glory of the Lord, to daily family worship. If you have not already, start immediately. Christ is worth it.