Question/Answer
5 or younger
Q. 21. Who is our Redeemer?
7 or younger
Q. 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
8 or younger
Q. 14. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.[38]
10 or younger
Q. 10. How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image,[26] in knowledge,[27] righteousness, and holiness,[28] with dominion over the creatures.[29]
Q. 45. Which is the first commandment?
A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.[119]
Q. 63. Which is the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.[151]
12 or younger
Q. 42. What is the greatest commandments?
High school or younger
Q. 33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace,[91] wherein he pardoneth all our sins,[92] and accepteth us as righteous in His sight,[93] only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us,[94] and received by faith alone.[95]
Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace,[97] whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God,[98] and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.[99]
Anyone
Q. 1. What is mankind’s purpose?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.[2]
Some of these are tough questions and I heard some great answers. Some of you, depending on your upbringing, may have heard these questions before. They are part of the Westminster Shorter Catechism – an old tradition used by protestant believers to instruct their children in the faith. What is amazing is that in some 19th century Presbyterian homes in America, children as young as 7 would be able to answer these questions and more like them.
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In years past, according to Josh McDowell’s 2006 book titled “The Last Christian Generation”, between 55% and 66% of churched young people have said that the church will play a part of their lives when they leave home. Today only 33% percent of youth say that. That means that roughly only 3 out 10 youth that graduate out of this church will not become active participants in a church again. Much of their belief about Christianity, truth, reality and the church comes from a distorted view they have gleaned from the world around them.
However, in the past decade, young people have been the most spiritually interested individuals in America. Studies show that 65% desire a close relationship with God. It’s not their interest that is in question – but rather how are they forming their view of God? And what brand of religion are they adopting? Post-modernism and weak, biblical teaching have resulted in some staggering statistics amongst American teens:
63% don’t believe Jesus is the Son of the one true God
58% believe all faiths teach equally valid truths
51% don’t believe Jesus rose from the dead
65% don’t believe Satan is a real entity
68% don’t believe the Holy Spirit is real entity.
It’s not that they haven’t embraced a version of Christianity; it’s simply that the version they believe in is not built on the true foundation of what is biblical Christianity. And when our view of truth becomes distorted, then how we view God, ourselves, and others is profoundly affected, and this also manifests itself in how we think and act. When young people lack a biblical belief system, they are:
225% more likely to be angry with life
216% more likely to be resentful
210% more likely to lack purpose in life
200% more likely to be disappointed in life.
They are also:
48% more likely to cheat on an exam
200% more likely to steal
200% more likely to physically hurt someone
300% more likely to use illegal drugs
600% more likely to attempt suicide
Turn with me to Deuteronomy 6, starting in verse 4. As we turn there, let me say that I understand and know that not every one in this room today finds themselves in the same circumstance of parenting and raising a family at home. You may still be living at home, either fully dependent upon your parents, or as an independent adult. You may be single. Your family may only consist of you and your spouse. You may be married to an unbelieving spouse. You may be divorced. You may be empty-nesters or grandparents. A lot of the message today, by nature of the passage we will study, does focus on raising a family. But I believe in the words we find in 2nd Timothy, that all scripture is useful to teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. This passage likewise is worthy of everyone’s focus.
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Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
The very first verse in this passage is the basic confession of faith in Judaism. It is, if you will, their creed. It is a statement of the monotheistic nature of God, which distinguished Judaism from all other polytheistic religions at the time.
Following in verse 5 is a familiar line – we just sang it. Otherwise known through the mouth of Jesus as the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This phrase “with all your heart, soul and strength” is a way of saying the whole person. It is not enough for Christians to simply to go through certain motions in their life and worship. True godliness means that all our abilities, as well as all we possess, are given to God in worship.
Verse 6 continues: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.” I spoke of this idea last week in our four elements of congregational worship. We are to be indwelt by the Word – to make our lives a habitable place for the Word of God to reside. To have the Word upon our hearts means that in all things we turn to God’s Word for the decisions we make.
Continuing on in the next few verses we see the very first teaching pedagogy of Israel. How was the older believer going to teach the Word of God to the younger generation? By talking “about it when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” By tying “it as symbols on your hands and bind(ing) it on your foreheads. By writing “it on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
The older generation of Israelites were instructed to discuss the Word with the younger generation in all matters of the day: Through family study and as a natural or casual conversation in the family household. It encompassed all aspects of life – from the moment they rose from sleep to the time they laid down.
Putting this into context of today, for those who are currently raising children, is God’s Word a topic at your breakfast table, at your dinner table? Are you taking the time to discuss God’s Word with your family? As you head to the store or run an errand with your child in tow, are you always talking on the phone, or are you engaging your kids in what they think about life, creation, relationships, school, church? Are you weaving God’s Word into every conversation?
And what about tying the Word on our hands and binding it on our foreheads? Do we need to be doing this in a literal fashion? As you saw earlier during the children’s message, some Jews thought so, especially the Pharisees, and began to wear the tephilim. Eventually this tradition was passed on to the rabbis and is still done today by orthodox Jews. During Jesus’ day, the Pharisees probably wore them all day long to give the impression that they were pious men, constantly praying. Jesus speaks of the outward, false worship of such men in Matthew 6 when he says “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.”
Most likely, we should not literally interpret verse 8 by placing an object on our forehead or hand, but instead figuratively have the Word at hand, ready to put into action and always in front of us, as in the image of the sword, ready to retrieve either by memory or physically. This would help in teaching not only our children to learn God’s Word, but us as well.
There is a little more debate on whether to interpret verse 9 in a literal or figurative way. Earlier you saw a mezuzah, a small box or decorative item that contains scripture and is attached to the doorposts of Jewish homes. And actually orthodox Jews will carry this a bit farther and have mezuzahs in every room of their house. It is not clear when Israel began to interpret this passage literally, although it has been recorded that ancient Egyptians had their doorposts and gates inscribed with omens. Perhaps to claim this tradition for God, the Israelites physically put the Law on their doorposts to signify that their home was guarded by God’s Word. I disagree with a literal interpretation simply because in most cases in the Bible, God’s call to Israel, and to believers, was to live counter-culturally, not inter-culturally. His command for the Israelites to be circumcised is an example of a counter-cultural command. Circumcision, during this time and place, was a counter-cultural practice. Likewise, living holy lives, or spiritually circumcised lives, in our time and place, is a counter-cultural practice.
I believe that a better interpretation for verse 9 would call us to have our homes a sanctuary for God’s Word and for our homes to be a beacon of light. If you place something on a doorpost, everyone who walks or drives by will see it. So, likewise through our lives and witness, we are to make it known to our neighbors that our homes are a place where God’s Word is taught and where truth abides. A place that is known to raise children by God’s standards. A place that holds daily family worship time and joins with the fellowship of believers in worship at least once a week.
\\\\\\\\\\\\As we read the scripture in Deuteronomy 6, it is easy to miss an important observation: There are three statements in verses 4 – 6 concerning our relationship with God: 1) God is one; 2) Love the Lord Your God with your whole self; and 3) Have the Word upon your heart. I believe that these are placed before the instruction to teach because they are crucial prerequisites for teaching. If we are to model the Christian faith to the younger generation, then we need to be at the very least, struggling with living these commands. If there is any apathy in your life towards God’s Word and it simply doesn’t matter to you, then your children will reflect your attitude. They will develop an apathy. They will develop a laziness. They will settle for mediocrity.
Now I’m not saying that as a parent or guardian you need to be going to seminary, spending large amounts of time and money on a Biblical education, learning Greek and Hebrew, or be in full time ministry. What I am saying is that you should be growing in your knowledge of the Word and in your faith. Whatever knowledge you have, wherever you are at in your walk with the Lord, you should be growing.
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There is a dangerous philosophy of parenting in the evangelical church at large. The figures I gave at the beginning are simply the manifestations of this danger. The danger is this: parents are not taking responsibility for teaching the Bible to their children. There are too many in the American evangelical church that think the youth pastor or Sunday school teacher is the answer for teaching God’s Word to their children. There are too many who drop their kids off at Awana and mentally make a check on their list of parental goals – my child is memorizing scripture – check. My child is involved with the youth group – check. I bring my child to church on Sundays – check. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard from various people this statement “We decided to find a church so our children would have a good, moral upbringing.”
Don’t misunderstand me - Awana, Sunday School, the youth program… these are all good things and I believe that a church is called to have these kind of programs. BUT THEY ARE NO SUBSTITUTE.
I praise God that He has called Pastor Tim and Gina to this church to minister to our youth. I pray for God’s blessings on their ministry. But Pastor Tim will never, ever be the best possible teacher that your child could have. He can never, ever be a substitute for godly parenting. Don’t ever place that expectation upon him. He will pour his heart into our youth and will pray for them by name, as he has already begun doing, but he will NOT and CANNOT be the parental substitute for teaching and modeling holy living. The parents must take on this responsibility and take the responsibility seriously.
What can be done? For those of you who still have children at home, don’t waste any more time. Prioritize. Make time for daily, or at least weekly, family worship. If you desire at all to see your children come to faith in Christ and own that faith as their own, then take the time now to spend quality time in the Word together.
For those who are married and you presently don’t have any kids in your care – take the time and do regular devotions together. There is no time like the present to start a good thing. If you are single, find someone else you can trust and spend time with them in the Word as part of a weekly habit.
I realize that family worship time may be a foreign concept to many and that some would not know how to begin. You don’t need to play a guitar or piano or have a beautiful singing voice to worship God as a family. All you need is a Bible, or devotional guide, to teach from. Another good resource to have is a hymnal or worship song book. You can find these in Christian bookstores or online bookstores for minimal cost. Teaching a song or hymn is a good way to learn and understand scripture and if you don’t play an instrument or can sing a cappella, then buy some recordings. In addition to the reading of Scripture and singing, prayer is a must during the family worship time.
Summer and I have a long way to go in our family worship time. We haven’t arrived yet. At this point, I am sad to say, we are only worshiping as a family one day a week for 15 minutes. My goal is to have a 15 minute family worship time 6 days per week. Currently, during our family worship, we spend time singing some songs. After we sing, we move onto a scripture passage. Lately we have been using our son’s Awana book as a guide. We will take his memory verse, look it up in the Bible and read the paragraph surrounding the verse. Then we ask our children, who are still pretty young, a very basic question or two about what we read, having them repeat the key verse in the passage. Then we pray for God to help all of us in applying the verse to our lives. It’s very simple, really. There is not much prep time, but more family time together. Family devotionals do not have to be researched sermons or Sunday school lessons. Just getting into the Word and letting it teach you and your family is the first step. However, I do know that a curriculum can help in this activity so I am providing for anyone who wants one a resource pamphlet which may help in your family worship. You can pick this up at the welcome desk after the service today.
Terry Johnson, in his work, “The Family Worship Book” has made some interesting calculations and observations on the impact of family worship:
“If your children are in your home for 18 years, you have 6, 570 occasions for family worship (figuring a six-day week, because the 7th day is spent with the larger family of God). If you learn a new Psalm, Hymn or modern worship song each month, they will be exposed to 216 in those 18 years. If you read a chapter out of the Bible a day, you will complete the Bible four and a half times in 18 years. That’s 1 and a half hours of family worship per week, and 1,404 hours over the course of 18 years. When you establish your priorities, think in terms of the cumulative effect of this upon your children, upon yourself and all this without having to drive anywhere.”
You need to make family worship a priority. Whatever the activities are that seem to crowd your lives to the point that they choke out your family worship time, find a way to navigate though them or stop them all together. The highest priority in a family’s life should be that of family prayer and studying God’s Word. All activities are subservient to this one.
And if you are not in a place when you are directly responsible for a child’s spiritual growth, don’t let these admonitions pass you by. If you have been a part of this church for any number of years, you have probably witnessed several baby dedications. If so, then you have made the same commitment to each of these children which I have made. During a baby dedication ceremony, a charge to the congregation is given and it goes something like this: “Do you as a church family commit to surround the child with the Love, Grace and Truth of the Body of Christ Jesus; will you stand with them in prayer, speak the truth in love into their lives, serve them in humility and encourage them in the Word of God?” Usually at the end, the congregation repeats with “I do” or “we do”. I usually don’t hear anyone not verbally agree to this charge.
So, as a congregation, we are all responsible for the raising up of the children of this church. This is a call to discipleship, to mentorship. Invest your time into mentoring those younger than you so that you may pass on to that person the grace which God has so mercifully given to you. Invest your time in teaching Sunday school. Invest your time in working with the youth. Invest your time in working with Awana. Invest your time in nurturing the little ones in the nursery or toddler rooms. Invest your time in a discipleship or mentoring ministry. If a young person ever comes to you and asks you to mentor them one-on-one in the Christian faith, never turn them down, for you would be turning down an opportunity of a lifetime to invest your God-given wisdom, an investment which will always multiply hundredfold. There are too many spiritually starved children in this world simply because no one has taken the time to invest. I praise God so much for our Sunday School teachers and youth workers – they are doing an invaluable service.
Although church programs are an extremely important encouragement and tool in our spiritual growth, it will always be in the family unit where the greatest teaching can occur. It is up to you parents if the modeling and teaching you are putting out there in front of your children grow spiritual giants in the faith, or apathy for God’s Word.
The following is an excerpt from a sermon I heard given by D.A. Carson at a Conference this year. The focus of the conference was on the father and son relationship. Dr. Carson, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and well known theologian – also one of the many transcribers of the New International Version Bible, spoke on his own relationship with his father and his memories of his youth:
“I learned to pray by listening to my parents pray in family devotions. Learning to pray and reading the Bible during family devotions was all part of growing up. In our family, from the earliest that I can remember, we had family devotions. During devotions it was our habit for each person to read a verse. Mom always started and all the rest of us read around, it didn’t matter how long or short the verse was or how many names it had in it. And if you were old enough to list anything, then one of the others gave the verse to you line by line so that you participated too. Just because you were two and couldn’t read yet didn’t mean you didn’t participate. Somebody gave you a few words and you repeated them, then the next few words and so on.
And then if you came from a strong Christian home you remember other things. My father was a preacher and I can remember him preaching to vast crowds of 25 people. After church on Sunday we would, as a family, sing through various hymns and Christian songs and then eventually the kids played their instruments, forming a little Baptist combo, while the dinner was being made. After dinner we would play family games. But every once in a while, dad wouldn’t be there and I would go looking for him. More than once I found him, on his knees, in tears in front of his chair, in his study, interceding with God for the people to whom he had just preached – all 25 of them. No one taught me to do that except by the modeling, which is everything.”
Dr. Carson concluded with this thought and I will too: “The worst kind of home to be brought up in is the one with many pretensions and low performance, the best kind of home to be brought up in is the one with few pretensions and high performance.”
Can the modeling of a humble, small church pastor and father produce spiritual giants? Actions will always speak larger than words. An aspiration or desire to do something isn’t the same as actually doing it. The best kind of home to be brought up in is the one with few aspirations and more action.
