Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 21:2 (Fall 2016)
Article: Sons In The Faith
Author: Adam Kareus

JBMW 21:2 (Fall 2016) p. 15

Sons In The Faith

Adam Kareus

Associate Pastor
River Valley Community Church
Fort Smith, Arkansas

First Exposure

4:30 in the morning in a parked truck outside of a fitness center, this was where I first encountered discipleship. My father worked out every morning before work at our local fitness center. And since he liked to be at work early, he was usually one of the first people inside the fitness center when it opened up at 5am. It was his routine to do his quiet time and Scripture memory while he waited for the doors to open. So when twelve-year-old me, his fourth son, expressed interest in growing in my relationship with God, my dad invited me along.

So there I was, memorizing Scripture for the first time and getting ready to work out. It was my first exposure to the NavPress’s Topical Memory System, one I still use today. It was my first exposure to having a set apart time to dedicate to the Lord, which is a habit that I continue today (minus the working out at 5 am). Many patterns for my devotional life were started in a truck, waiting in a fitness center parking lot.

Son In The Faith—Paul To Timothy And Titus

There is a reason that Paul calls Timothy and Titus his sons in the faith (1 Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4). It is that discipling and training the next generation is akin to parenting. Colin Marshall and Tony Payne describe it like this: “Training is parenting. It’s loving someone enough to want to see him or her grow and flourish, and being prepared to put in the long-term, faithful work that will (in God’s mercy) see

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that happen.”1 If we care about the next generation in the faith, then we should care for them like parents.

This is a call for a relational approach to discipleship. It is in this relationship that more than information alone is transmitted. You can have the privilege, honor, and responsibility to help guide a person through life. In a very real way this is where theology meets real life. This close relationship is also “a vehicle for one of the key elements of Paul’s training of Timothy—imitation.”2 We are not training people in just knowledge, but also in how that knowledge is lived out. We are training Christians in a way of life.

The Natural Flow

This training should naturally happen in our homes. Fathers and mothers should be passing down the “good deposit” to their children, pressing on them the truth of who God is and His love...