KID’S STUFF 1 – KIDS ARE SPECIAL TO GOD
Text: Deut. 6:1-9
Introduction:
1. Occasionally, someone will approach me and ask, “How much time do you spend preparing a sermon?”
2. I really can’t answer that question, and today’s lesson is an example of why.
3. I have been thinking, praying and researching and studying this subject for the last 5 years.
4. I believe that this series will turn out to be one of the most important series I have ever preached or ever will preach. It deals directly with the future health of this congregation and churches all over the world.
5. Churches all over America are in decline and even those of us that are growing are not growing as fast as the population.
6. The percentage of non Christians is growing in our country. Our country is growing more secular and more pagan.
7. At the root of the problem is the fact that we are not placing enough emphasis on the most important segment of the church.
8. What is that segment? Most would say the adults.
9. However one researcher recently wrote,
After all, aren’t adults the ones who call the shots in the world and determine the nature of our current and future reality? If the family is central to a healthy society and a strong Church, shouldn’t we invest our resources predominantly in the adults who lead those units? When it comes to grasping the substance, the subtleties and the implications of the Christian faith, don’t adults possess the greatest learning and intellectual capacities? Strategically, isn’t it more important for us to equip adults so that they can use their gifts and resources to advance the Kingdom? No, no, no and no. In retrospect, my view was so far off the mark that I didn’t just miss the boat—I missed the entire ocean! (G. Barna Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, pp. 11-12)
10. Many of us have figured out that our emphasis is misplaced, so we looked around and we noticed that the majority of our teens leave the church when they graduate from high school. This phenomenon had worsened steadily since the 60’s
11. So, we shifted our emphasis to the teens.
12. In many congregations the second staff member added is a Youth Minister who in reality is a Teen Minister – NOT a Youth Minister.
13. Walk into many cutting edge PDC “mega churchec” and you will find that one of the largest rooms in the building is the “Teen Room.” The walls and ceilings are probably painted black. The dominating feature in the room is a stage. Over the stage are rows of large black stage lights. The stage is populated with teens playing contemporary Christian Rock music with guitars, drums and keyboards. In the back you will see a bar that serves soft drinks and snacks. A corner of the room may be set up as like a small coffee house and the walls may be lined with video machines.
14. You see over 100 teens talking, bouncing to the beat, or waving their hands in the air. And you think, this is awesome they’ve figured it out! They are reaching the teans!
15. But then you analyze the numbers and discover that only a very tiny number make of the core group of teens that are truly committed. The vast majority are there to be part of the “teen herd experience.” When they graduate and go off to college, marry or get a job they no longer fit the “herd” and since their commitment was to the group experience instead of Christ, they nearly all leave, never to return.
16. So what is the solution? We are placing the emphasis too late in life.
A series of studies conducted regarding the age at which people accept Christ as their Savior , , , discovered that the probability of someone embracing Jesus as his or her Savior was
• 32 percent for those between the ages of 5 and 12;
• 4 per¬cent for those in the 13- to 18-age range;
• 6 percent for people 19 or older.
In other words, if people do not embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior before they reach their teenage years, the chance of their doing so at all is slim. (Barna)
17. After years of research one author wrote,
The importance of building strong spiritual foundations at an early age is again confirmed by recognizing that in 2003, there was virtually no difference between the spiritual standing of adults and those exiting their childhood years. Specifically, 4 percent of 13-year-olds were evangelicals compared to just 6 percent of adults; 34 percent of the 13-year¬olds were born again, which was slightly less than the 38 percent found among adults. In other words, by the age of 13, your spiritual identity is largely set in place. Thousands of people decide to embrace Christ as their Savior each year, but from a statistical vantage point the number of Christians is not increasing—the new believers are essentially replacing the Christians who died or those who renounced their faith in Christ. My tracking of religious beliefs and behavior for more than a quarter century has revealed that the spiritual condition of adolescents and teenagers changes very little, if at all, as they age.
18. The answer to the questions I have been struggling with for the last five years is that we are starting too late. We have the emphasis on the wrong place.
19. By age 9 a child’s “world view is largely in place, and if God is not the focus of that world view then the child filters all of the information the world sends him/her differently
20. A Child’s world view filter is set by adolescence
21. A child who knows that God loves him and has a purpose for his life sees a butterfly and is impressed with how much God must love him
22. An adolescent who is nonspiritual sees a butterfly as the result of blind fatalistic chance.
23. The Bible makes it quite clear that children are uniquely special to God. If you examine what the Scriptures say about children, you will discover how precious they are to Him. In His eyes, they represent a multitude of attributes and possibilities:
Discussion:
I. Children are a gift from God.
A. He grants children to adults as a special sign of His love to us and as a means of personal fulfillment
Deuteronomy 7:13 (ESV) He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.
Psalms 127:3-4 (ESV) 3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.
Adults receive special blessings through their children.
God provides supernatural benefits of many types to family and friends through children, and He matures us through the challenges of parenting
Numbers 5:28 (ESV) But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.
Deuteronomy 28:4 (ESV) Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
Deuteronomy 28:11 (ESV) And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
II. Children are desirable.
A. From the beginning of human history, God has instructed us to have children. In fact, the intentional decision of a married couple not to have children is viewed as a bad choice
Genesis 9:7 (ESV) And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it."
Deuteronomy 6:3 (ESV) Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Luke 1:24-25 (ESV) 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 "Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."
III. Children need to be taught how to think and act in relation to God and His ways.
A. One of the greatest adult challenges is passing on appropriate knowledge and behaviors to their progeny. We were created to be in relationship with Him, so our under¬standing of His nature and expectations is a significant under¬taking
Exodus 12:24-27 (ESV) 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, ’What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, ’It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ " And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
Deuteronomy 4:9-10 (ESV) 9 "Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ’Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
Deut 6:1-7
Deuteronomy 31:10-13 (ESV) 10 And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."
Psalms 78:4-6 (ESV) 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. 5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,
Proverbs 22:6 (ESV) Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
IV. To have a fruitful relationship with God, children must be taught to obey Him.
A. Obedience is one of the central duties of humankind. Throughout Scripture, God exhorts His people to be raised to follow His commands and reap the benefits of such obedience
Proverbs 8:32-36 (ESV) 32 And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. 34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, 36 but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death."
Proverbs 19:26-27 (ESV) 26 He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who brings shame and reproach. 27 Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.:
Jeremiah 2:30 (ESV) In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
Ephesians 6:1 (ESV) Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Colossians 3:20 (ESV) Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
V. God wants to have a genuine relationship with His children.
Matthew 21:15 (ESV) But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant,
Mark 10:13-16 (ESV) 13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
Ephesians 6:4 (ESV) Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
VI. God enjoys the nature and personality of children.
A. The Scriptures specifically identify attributes such as sincerity, humility, naiveté, vulnerability and simplicity as qualities found in children, and He treasures these characteristics
B. Matthew 18:3 (ESV) and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
C. Matthew 19:14 (ESV) but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."
D. Philippians 2:15 (ESV) that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
