It Comes With A Promise Series

It Comes with a Promise

Exodus 20:12

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/ComesWithPromise.html

Indiana Jones has become popular again this year, and this has prompted us to revisit the original trilogy. One highlight from the 2nd film was when ‘Short Round’, the young boy, says to adult Indiana, “You listen to me you live longer!” The Bible says it’s the other way around, but the promise is still there!

The first 4 commandments were about our relationship with God. We now begin looking at the next 6 which are about our relationships with others...and mom and dad come first.

People who have trouble getting along at home have problems with the rest of society. The family is the basic structure of human civilization. God ordained the family before He ordained government, or the church.

1. The Parents.

You owe your very existence to your mom and dad. You had nothing to do w/ who they would be. You didn’t get to vote on it. You didn’t visit a parent store and choose them. Your parents likely had hangups of their own, they weren’t perfect.

Ill.—some of us have to put a bit of a positive spin on our family tree [dog using it!] Like the 2 high school boys who tried to honor their dad on Father’s Day by putting together for him a book on their family history. The problem was that their uncle George had been executed some years before. The oldest boy said, no problem, and here’s what he wrote in the book: “Uncle George was selected to occupy the Chair of Applied Electronics” at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties. His death came as a real shock”!

You couldn’t choose your parents, but they didn’t choose you either. God gave you to them. The only exception is those who were adopted. To be adopted is a beautiful thing, and if you were adopted you need never feel 2nd class. Rather, you can feel chosen! The pro abortion crowd chants “better aborted than adopted” and that is utter foolishness that I take exception to.

Either way, no child is here by accident, and all really were chosen by God, just as He adopts us into His family! It doesn’t matter who your parents were, or what they were like...even unsaved parents...this commandment is to obey them too! And when you were conceived, God was there! The value of a child is not dependant upon the circumstances under which that child was conceived.

Psalms 139:14-16

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

A child is a precious gift. And parents, we have 3 awesome responsibilities to our kids:

• Their physical care—we guard them and meet their needs. In love we sacrifice to make it happen. I’ll never understand dead beat dads who don’t take responsibility. Ill.—10 year old Johnny laid a paper on the table for his mother. It was a bill—it said: Washed car=$5. Took out trash=$5. Cleaned my room=$5. Total=$15. The next day his mom left a bill on the table for Johnny which read: Washed clothes 520 times=$2,600. 16,950 meals=$85,000. Sat up at night when sick many times=$5,000. Gave birth to you=no amount sounds right. Total amount owed= “I love you!” Kids, let your parents help you. You will have many big decisions to make soon, and you have no experience to draw from. But your parents have much experience and have learned much, but no decisions to make. Doesn’t it stand to reason that God wants you to listen to them and work together?

Proverbs 4:1

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

Proverbs 1:8

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

• Their emotional care. We need to provide them a strong foundational platform upon which to build the rest of their life. A child is a clean slate, and what we engrave on them early will shape their values for the rest of their life. If you tell a kid he’s no good then sooner or later he’ll prove you right. We are to love them, lead them, and one day have to lose them.

• Their spiritual care. The first concept of God for a child they get from their parents. You are a skylight thru which your kids get their first glimpse of God! What an awesome responsibility. I’m thankful for our youth pastor and a whole great staff of loving leaders throughout our children’s ministries, but may we never forget that the primary responsibility for our kid’s spiritual development lies within our own home. Ill.--No man is a failure who teaches his children to follow God. You may not be able to buy them expensive toys. You may not be able to get them their first car, or the best clothes, but you can give them the most important gift and it’s free! The world looked at Noah like he was a failure, but when it all came down, his family was alive on the ark!