Heath Lambert: Here at ACBC we believe that the Bible is sufficient for all the problems of life that people can face. We don’t mean medical problems or things of that nature. But we mean, as we struggle to think through the meaningful issues of Christian living, we believe that the Bible provides all of the answers to those questions that we address. That’s why the subtitle of our podcast is providing biblical solutions for the problems that people face. Sometimes in the Bible, we don’t have explicit language answering our complex questions with an easy answer. God did not give us a Bible that is exhaustively sufficient, that tells us every single detail about everything we’d like to know. He gave us instead a Bible that is comprehensively sufficient, it tells us all the kinds of things that we need to know to think through the issues that we struggle with. The reason he did that is important to know because we might like, in one sense, the easier approach of having exhaustive answers for everything. But exhaustive answers aren’t possible because only the mind of God is an exhaustive and authoritative resource. Every other resource either has to be comprehensive or not. And the comprehensive nature of the sufficiency of Scripture is a benefit for other reasons too. Number one, it challenges us to think through complicated issues and to renew our minds according to Scripture in that way, rather than just getting easy answers. We also learn as we study a Bible that is comprehensively sufficient rather than exhaustively so, that God has made us free in some areas, but there are some matters about which God has not legislated. Some matters are crystal clear: we ought not to commit adultery, we ought not to steal, but there are other matters that are fine in one situation, not fine in another. There are other issues that are fine for some people and not fun for others. And this is why the sufficiency of Scripture and the comprehensive sense is both a challenge and a blessing for Christian people.
And that brings us to the Christmas season and the search that many parents are going through right now to find a present for their children. And many of us have children in our homes that would like an iPhone for Christmas or some other kind of smartphone, and many parents are wondering right now, should I buy my child an iPhone for Christmas? The question about purchasing an iPhone for our children for Christmas is not one of those things that are clearly presented in the Bible. That means, at the outset, we should understand there to be a measure of freedom for parents as they think these matters through. I suspect that some people listening to this podcast will, in fact, purchase an iPhone for their child this Christmas, and other parents listening to this podcast will not do so. And what we want to do on the podcast this week is think through some of the issues that should be on our minds from a Biblical perspective as we consider whether to buy our child an iPhone.
The first principle that we can think through, according to Scripture, is the financial principle. You think of a passage like Proverbs chapter 27:23-24, which says, “Know well, the condition of your flocks and pay attention to your herds, for riches are not forever nor does a crown endure to all generations.” It’s a text that teaches the importance of financial stewardship, saying that as believers, we need to understand our finances, and we need to be careful with what we have because it will not last forever. It can be squandered very easily. As we’re thinking through whether to purchase an iPhone for our child this Christmas, we need to consider that this is an incredibly expensive purchase. It is in the hundreds of dollars, and that’s even if you get it with a contract and that kind of thing. You are going to pay hundreds of dollars just for the equipment. And then there’s going to be more expense as you pay for the service that this equipment is going to receive. And then there’s going to be more expense as your child after they have the iPhone is going to want more things to go along with it. If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk. So there’s going to be earbuds, and there’s going to be apps, and there’s going to be music and all different kinds of things to purchase. And so, you need to consider the cost financially that you’ll be asked to extend over the life of this purchase. And it’s also worth noting that probably once you begin to purchase phones for your child, you’re not going to stop. So this will be the beginning of a device that your child will have from now on, and you need to consider financially whether that’s a wise investment for you right now.
A second reality biblically that we can consider together is the issue of the unique personality of your child. In 1 Corinthians12:14ff says, “the body is not one member but many, if the foot says, because I am not a hand, I’m not a part of the body. It’s not for this reason, any, the less a part of the body, and if the ear says because I’m not an, I am not a part of the body. It is not for this reason, any less a part of the body, if the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body just as he desired.” Now, this is a text about the distribution of spiritual gifts to Christian believers. But one principle we see under the surface of the text here is that God has not chosen to make everybody the same. As a matter of fact, every single one of us though there are many things we share in common, are individuals, and that’s true with our children as well. Our children have very different personalities. I have three small children living in my house and cannot treat each one the same way. Some of us have children that are going to be able to receive the gift of an iPhone or some other kind of smartphone and be able to handle that responsibility very well. We also have children in our home, some of us do, that are going to receive the gift of a smartphone and not be able to receive that very well. It’s going to make them selfish. They’re going to obsess over it and want to pay attention to that all the time. They’re not going to want to do other things like chores and their home that they need to do. And so you need to ask the very careful question: if we can afford this if this is something in which we want to make an investment, is this something that my child can handle? Is it something that this particular child can handle? And if the answer to that is honestly no, then this is where parents are going to have to have some courage to say no. There is pressure; my oldest son has many friends that have smartphones, and he’s one of a very few number of people that do not have a smartphone. And we have had to say this is not the right time for you and for our family to do this, and that’s a hard thing to do, it’s a hard thing to say. We want to make our children happy, but if you make a decision that this is not something that your child needs, you need to have the courage to parent them in that way.
The third principle that we can think about as we consider whether to get our child an iPhone for Christmas is what we want the focus of our family to be. A passage like Ephesians 6:4 is helpful to us; it says, “fathers do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” The focus of our homes is not to be, first and foremost, the entertainment and the fun things that we do together. But it’s first and foremost to be about the discipline and instruction of the Lord. We need to have an environment in our homes where people are being brought up in the love of the Lord. They’re being brought up in the love of the family, and this is going to mean all kinds of things. It means that our homes should not just look like people with their faces on a phone, with their faces on an iPad. It should look like kids playing out in the backyard kids, kids connecting with other kids in the neighborhood, parents reading stories to their children, families watching movies together, studying the Bible together, and playing games together. You’ve got to decide what is the focus in your home going to be. And once you’ve made that decision, then you have to ask, is an iPhone in one or all of my children’s faces going to mess that up? And how are we going to regulate the use of that thing? And so you’ve got to decide what do we want as a family and then make decisions out of the overflow of that.
There is a fourth category that I think we can consider as we decide whether or not to purchase an iPhone for our children, and that is the reality of our children’s safety online and with this equipment. The principle of Ephesians 6:4 is operative here as well in that text. Fathers in particular, but all parents in general, are given the responsibility to care for their children’s welfare. We need to understand that when we place an iPhone in In our children’s hands, we are giving them a very dangerous device. They can access pornography; they can access hateful ungodly things. They can be exposed to bullying from their friends; they can be exposed to inappropriate communications on text messages with their other friends. We need to know that once we give our children that, that world is opened up to them. There are ways that parents can protect their children online, and in fact, we’ve talked about that on a previous podcast here at ACBC. But you need, as a parent, if you’re going to do that to first understand that that is a risk and second do whatever it takes to stem the risk. And so this is going to require responsibility on the part of parents, who would protect their children from sin and death online.
So, should you buy your child an iPhone for Christmas? Well, that is a question that you have to answer. But faithfulness requires that. as you answer it, it’s not just about giving your kid what they want. It’s not just about giving your kid what all their other friends have. It is about: Can we afford it? Is this a wise financial investment? Is this something that my child can handle? Is this something that is going to aid the larger focus in our family on godliness and being well-rounded individuals? And is this something that can protect my child’s safety and walk in the Lord? So Christians can know that biblically we have freedom on this issue, but whichever one we decide, there’s work. If we decide that this is something we should pursue, then we will have to figure out how to pay for it. We’re going to have to figure out how to nurture the environment and our home, how to minister to our children, and how to protect them. And if we say that this is not something for our children, after we’ve thought through these issues. Then we’re going to have to figure out how to help them understand that we love them and are making decisions for their good.
