“Keeping Our Kids Out of The Concrete”
Introduction:
What is happening in our nation today? What is happening to our children and young people? Why are so many compromising, struggling, drowning and even dying? Why does it seem that each of the last few generations is taking longer and longer to mature?
Being from NJ, the analogy that comes to my mind is that, in one way or another, our children and grandchildren seem to have been fitted with “concrete boots”! Either their positive growth is stunted and slow, requiring much more effort than should be necessary, or they are just plain sinking fast, incapable of carrying this “weight” back to the “surface.”
Our first, or at least natural response, is to wonder: “Where is God?” “How could He let this happen?”
Read e-mail favorite: “Wow, What A Wake-Up Call!”
Prayer:
A TRAGIC CYCLE
Throughout the history of God’s people, Israel, we see the constant repetition of the same 4-fold cycle: Rebellion – Retribution – Repentance – Restoration
Joshua’s Generation: experienced wandering in desert, saw parting of red sea, received Ten Commandments, fought battle of Jericho, first to enter the promised land & easily conquered all armies in their way. They remained faithful to God & His Law. Knew price the generation before paid for disobedience. Intimately knew LORD & witnessed His mighty wonders!
Next Generation: Children of Joshua & men who fought beside him; sons & daughters of women who gathered the manna in the wilderness. This generation grew up “feeding” on first-hand stories parents told of God’s deliverance & provision. Did not see walls of Jericho fall; heard rumblings of Mt. Sinai, parting of Red Sea, etc. Did not know same or extent of hardships of parents and thus of God’s needed & faithful provision. Yet, day & night, parents taught them such things – when they sat at home & when they walked along the road, when they tucked them in at night and when they woke up in the morning! As a result, that generation stayed faithful, knew their LORD, knew retribution, repentance & restoration. And they were blessed with peace and prosperity.
Third Generation: Had it easiest. Parents & Grandparents made all the real sacrifices, did all the hard “ground work” - settled land, protected borders, established a nation feared & respected by others, agriculture, trade, etc. Transformed nation into a flourishing, growing enterprise. Therefore, this generation grew up with everything! However, the Biblical account in Judges tells us that something went terribly wrong with this third generation after the exodus.
Scripture: Judges 2:8-15
WHAT HAPPENED? WHY?
They returned to rebellion. Time proved that just as God is true to His promises, so His warnings of the cost of apathy and sin will be fulfilled for those who choose that path!
How could this generation rebel, after their grandparents had personally experienced the mighty hand of God and their parents had grown up hearing this eyewitness accounts again and again?
Because, regrettably, both the re-tellings and the spirit behind them began to fade. Therefore, the 3rd generation grew up less influenced by their parents – who knew the LORD & what He had done for Israel – than by the culture around them. A culture filled with idols & counterfeits.
How did it come to this? What suddenly happened? There are a lot of reasons we could and often do offer up. But, there is only one that genuinely explains it: the one & only explanation given in Scripture. The 3rd generation of free Israelites grew up and “... Knew neither the LORD nor what He had done for Israel” (v10).
While their parents gave them many material blessings, they ultimately failed them.
They made sure children lacked nothing material.
Mothers taught daughters how to perform their responsibilities well, that they might attract and marry rich & influential husbands.
Fathers taught sons how to be sure to succeed in the working world, gaining wealth & power in the process.
Sounds pretty good so far. But, one essential problem: in the midst of al of this, they never got around to sufficiently teaching God’s Word!!! But, hey, they had camels to trade, barns to build, parties to plan, weddings to attend – a hundred things to do, all of seeming importance and haste.
Despite likely good intentions, moral & spiritual instruction consistently got crowded out. The failed to tell the stories of God’s deliverance & provision. Failed to hold on to God’s Word. Failed to “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when lie down and when you get up ...” (Dt. 6:7).
A MIRROR ON OUR DAY
Is it just me, or does much of this sound familiar?
children influenced less by parents than culture
culture filled with idols, counterfeits, and lies
culture that can’t tel right from wrong, b/c all is relative.
Can’t tell the diff. btw. human & animal, male & female, reason & madness, art & pornography, knowledge & ignorance.
A generation that knows neither the Lord, nor what He has done for those who follow His commands.
Just consider these statistics:
Every day (in 1994):
1,000 unwed teenage girls become mothers
1,106 teenage girls get abortions
4,219 teenagers contract sexually transmitted diseases
500 adolescents begin using drugs
1,000 adolescents begin drinking alcohol
135,000 kids bring guns or other weapons to school
3,610 teens are assaulted; 80 are raped
2,200 teens drop out of high school
6 teens commit suicide
SOURCE: Taken from "Right from Wrong" (1994) by Josh McDowell page 18.
Who Has A “Biblical” World-View?
Only 4% of adults
Only 9% of “born-again” Christians
Where? States in which a Biblical world view is least common: La, and the six states in New England.
* Barna Research Group, 12/1/2003
How To Get to Heaven
In a 2002 survey 75% of 2,000 people interviewed said that they believed many religions could lead to heaven, including 61% of those who had a “high personal religious commitment.” Even 48% of “highly committed white evangelical Protestants” thought many religions could lead to heaven.
* Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, March, 2002 as reported in www.ministriestoday.com, July/August, 2002.
Religious Literacy
Just as schools teach reading, writing and arithmetic, Boston University’s Stephen Prothero thinks religion ought to become the “4th R” of American education. He notes although 90% of people in the U.S. claim they are Christian, only a few know anything about religion. Only 10% of American teens can name all 5 major world religions while 15% cannot name even one. About two-thirds of adult Americans believe the Bible holds the answers to all or most of life’s basic questions, yet only half can name one of the four gospels and most do not know the first book in the Bible is Genesis. Prothero stresses the importance of having at least a general knowledge of religion to better confront the domestic and foreign challenges facing the U.S.
Religious Liberty, Stephen Prothero, Harper Collins, 2007
Views on “Morally Acceptable” Behaviors, by Generation (base: 1024)
Mosaics
Busters
Boomers
Elders
Gambling
75%
67%
60%
51%
Co-habitation
75%
72%
60%
41%
Having an Abortion
55%
48%
46%
36%
Using Profanity
60%
49%
30%
20%
Getting Drunk
50%
48%
33%
15%
Homosexual Relations
40%
41%
32%
14%
* Barna Research Group, 11/3/2003
The Home & Salvation
Several years ago the results of a 50-yr. study of Christian and non-Christian homes was released. Based on the data, the researchers shockingly concluded that, in American culture, the chances are better for a child growing up in a non-Christian home to become a Christian than for a child growing up in a home that has an indifferent, apathetic commitment to Jesus Christ!
Do I have your attention? Please listen carefully. As much as we like to, as popular and comforting as it is, we CANNOT blame the media, society, gov’t, courts, etc. for this sad state of affairs. Why not? B/c God’s Word makes abundantly clear that it is the parents first, church second that God holds accountable to the spiritual welfare of our children! As Christian parents, we need to take responsibility for the influences we allow in our kids’ lives! What do we allow, explicitly or implicitly, to influence them? What environments and ideas do we place them in?
Too often we have failed not only to take charge of our children’s education, but even to take part in it – at least spiritually. Too often, we expect others to take responsibility to what our children know and what they value! When we do this we proverbially feed our children to the wolves. We unwittingly allow others to encase their feet with concrete boots and throw them into the great, dark ocean of indifference.
We have NOT put God’s Word upon our hearts and done with it as the LORD almighty instructed in Dt. 6:7. “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when lie down and when you get up ...”
WHAT ARE WE TO DO? A NEW CHALLENGE FOR DISCIPLESHIP
Sponge Illustration: Maximum fullness? Optimal performance? The key is saturation! How full the sponge becomes depends entirely on how long I saturate it in the water. Once fully saturated, I can use it to great effect. Sure it may then lose some water, even pick up some dirt. But, by rinsing in water I can both remove the dirt and make it full again. So it is with us and our children in relation to Christ! Want your child to be as full of Christ and all He offers as possible? Then keep saturating them in His Word and among His people! Not one, or two, or three hours a week but every day and to every extent possible at your disposal!
Getting Practical:
1.Tell your children & grandchildren how Christ saved you and why you needed Him.
2.Tell your children & grandchildren how God has continued to show His faithfulness to you throughout the years and why you still need Him.
3.Daily teach the Scriptures, and then LIVE it before them – in good and in bad.
4.Take EVERY opportunity to saturate them in an environment that is filled with the Spirit of God.
- Sunday School
- Corn Kids
- Olympians
- Youth Group
- Work days & special events
- Service Projects
- PBCA
We must take time with our children – slow down, reduce our workload, make the spiritual equipping of your children your hobby and top priority! Begin to teach them God’s Word when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when lie down and when you get up ...
