Everybody Ought To Go To Sunday School (Sunday School: Past Present Future)

Sermon Preached by Pastor Larry C. Brincefield

7/18/04

Title: Sunday School: Past, Present, & Future or “Everybody Ought to Go to Sunday School”

Text: Judges 2:10-11

Introduction

1. Sing this song with me:

“Everybody ought to go to Sunday School,

Sunday School, Sunday School

The teenies and the teens

And the big Nazarenes.

Everybody ought to go to Sunday School.”

2. Sunday School is important to me…Let me tell you why:

• Sunday School was a place where I learned about Jesus…

• Sunday School was a place where I learned about God’s Word, the Bible…

• Sunday School was a place where I had fun…

• Sunday School was a place where I was accepted…

• Sunday School was a place where I made very good friends…

• Some of my best friendships today, started in the Sunday School when I was a child.

• Sunday School was a place where I had a teacher who loved me…cared about me…prayed for me…and loved me.

• Sunday School was a place where my faith began to sprout…

• Where it was watered and tended…

• And began to grow…

• And in fact, a large part of what I am today as a Christian I owe to Sunday School.

• But let me go on to say that Sunday School is not just for children…

• As adults, when Kay and I were first married…

• And we lived in a city where we didn’t know many people…

• We found love, acceptance, and friendship in a Sunday School.

• Now, at 41 years old…I have been a student of Sunday School as a child, a teen, and an adult.

• I have taught Senior Citizens in SS…

• I’ve taught adult discussion oriented SS classes…

• I’ve taught teens…

• And I’ve taught Children…

• And even as recent as today…Sunday School continues to be a blessing to me.

3. As I began to think about Sunday School…

• I looked back through my files to see what type of sermons that I’ve preached on Sunday School in the past…

• And to my surprise, to my knowledge, I’ve never preached an entire sermon devoted to Sunday School…

• A shortcoming I plan to rectify today!

Read Text: Judges 2:10-11

1. Sunday School Past

A. The first ever Sunday School was started back in 1780 in England,

• Robert Raikes, a man who ran a newspaper…

• And happened to be a Christian (a rare combination we don’t see too often today).

• Raikes was concerned by the plight of poor children

• who were forced to work long hours, six days a week in factories.

• He used his newspaper to expose and many other problems of his time.

• one day, Raikes was at work in his office when he couldn’t concentrate because of a group of noisy and rowdy children outside his window.

• He was deeply concerned by the behavior of these children,

• many of whom wandered the streets cursing and swearing and spending their time getting into trouble.

• From his work in visiting prisoners and lobbying for prison reform,

• Raikes also became aware that many prisoners’ lives had been shaped by their deprived childhood.

• In response to these experiences, Raikes set up a Sunday School,

• A place where children we taught to read and write and taught the basics of the Christian Faith.

• His idea was soon copied and Sunday Schools soon spread all over the country of England.

• Within two years, there were over 200,000 children attending Sunday Schools in England.

B. Actually, we can go back even further into history and see Bible teaching similar to what we think of as “Sunday School”

• Early in Jewish history, we see a program similar to what we think of as Sunday School.

• In the Old Testament period, God intended for parents to provide spiritual instruction to their children in the home.

• But, unfortunately, many parents failed in this responsibility…

• And perhaps a major part of the problems the early jewish people faced…

o Falling away from God…

o Conquered by their enemies…

o Carried away into exile…

• Was the result of this failure to teach children belief in God and His Word.

• Our text says, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel” Judges 2:10 (NIV)

• After the Israelite people returned from captivity…

• They decided that the religious instruction for their children was of vital importance…

• 500 years before Christ was born…

• Schools were set up to provide religious instruction to children from age 5 on up.

• Now, these certainly weren’t called “Sunday School”…