Paul provides a preview of Christian parenting and it’s results in his letter to the saints at Thessalonica. As converts to the Christian faith, they did not have Christian parents so the apostle had to play both roles. They were the first generation of believers, but were given an example in the Apostle Paul of how to raise the next generation to believe.
1 Thessalonians 2:7
But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.
Children need to be nourished and cherished. They need someone to gently be with and for them. They must be nursed on pure, spiritual milk so that they might grow up to consume spiritual meat. They need their meat cut up for them in the meantime and the love of a mother gladly assumes that responsibility.
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
Fathers provide the means that provide the nourishment. They bring home the goods that mothers turn into good meals. But fathers do not merely play support to the mother's role. They lead in breathing courage into their children. They rally the troops and given the charge that inspires young hearts to rise up and follow. Fathers set and enforce the standards. They provide consistent discipline through their constant vigilance.
1 Thessalonians 2:13
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
The goal is not merely that the child would honor and respect their father and mother, but that they would honor and respect their Father in heaven by honoring and respecting the earthly father and mother that God gave to them. The goal isn't merely to follow the standard, but to love it. The aim is not simply conformity in conduct, but purity in belief.
1 Thessalonians 4:8
He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
As a result, if a child rejects the counsel of his or her Christian parents, the child is not just rejecting his or her parents, but is found to be rejecting God. Parents are ambassadors for Jesus deployed by the Father. Parents are like private missionaries sent on behalf of the King to His tiniest subjects.
1 Thessalonians 4:1
Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
Parents, like Christ, are easily pleased and impossible to satisfy. A father delights over his toddler's first mumbled words, but would be hard pressed to be content with the inarticulate ramblings of his teenager. A mother might rejoice over her daughter's first attempts at steps, but would not be satisfied if she walked that way down the aisle. Because God loves us, He cannot be content with out immaturity; but because He loves us, He is always cheering for us right where we are.
1 Thessalonians 4:10
And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.
The result of Christian parenting is Christian children. And just as the Father calls us ever onward and upward, to Narnia and the North, so a parent never stops wanting what's best for their child. They never cease hoping for more and more.
In summary, all Christians are children of God. Those to whom God gives children should expect Christian parenting to do for their children what God has already done for them. We see this played out in the Apostle Paul's parenting of the Thessalonians and trust that it was paid forward in their parenting of the children God gave them.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
By covenant, we keep those within and gain some from without and in due time conquer the world for Christ and kingdom, King and Christendom.
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