Today’s lesson is about family. Specifically I want to talk about children.
Let me start with a childhood story and see if I can connect with some of you kids here today. When I was growing up in North Alabama, I remember every year around this time Mom, Dad and all us kids would pile into the car and travel about an hour from Tuscumbia to Moulton for a gathering at Grampaw and Grammaw Melson’s house. Here we came to celebrate Christmas with my Mom’s side of the family. My Grampaw and Grammaw Melson had 7 surviving kids and all of them married and had lots of kids of their own. Most of my cousins came in bunches of 4 to 6. Most were boys (16 boys, 11 girls):
Uncle Calvin Melson – Lindsey and Karen (Uncle Calvin had some problems and we hardly ever saw him and his family).
Uncle Gilbert and Aunt Anne Melson – Cindy, Sandra, Butch, Mike, and Tim.
Uncle Dallas and Aunt Nadine Yeager – Sam, Tim, Tom, Ben, Mark, June.
Uncle Jack and Aunt Olean Owens – Diane, Judy, Rusty, Donna and Berry Wayne.
Uncle Dee and Aunt Sarah Melson – Kathy, Keith, Gay and Laura.
Dad and Mom – Carol, Greg, Jonathan, and David.
Uncle Billy and Aunt Anne Melson – Phillip and Phyllis.
Most of us would converge on the old home place early on a Saturday morning and all of us boys would soon be outside popping fire crackers and generally working mischief with Grampaw’s old black-smithing tools. Our parents were usually all inside visiting.
Grampaw’s house was old and drafty. It had at least four fire places and that was all the heat in the house. On one side of the house the fireplaces were closed in and a pot belly coal stove was standing there for heat. Wow, could that thing throw the heat! We had to go into the room with the open fireplaces just to cool off! I think Grammaw cooked from a wood stove until I was 8 or 9, then the Aunts and Uncles bought her an electric stove and oven. What a loss. I remember Grammaw washing clothes out in the yard in a ringer washer. You filled it with a water hose and after the clothes were satisfactorily processed, they were sent through a ringer to ring out as much of the water as possible. Then you hung them out to dry. Those were the good old days.
My earliest childhood memories include seeing Grampaw Melson pretty aggravated at us boys. Looking at things now from an adult perspective, I’m a little surprised that all of us grandkids lived into adulthood. It’s a living wonder Grampaw didn’t kill at least one of us for messing with his stuff. I believe Grampaw loved us, but I think he often got an overdose of grandsons running around his place. I remember having a healthy fear of him. But Grampaw read his Bible every evening and brought his family to church in a horse drawn wagon until mom was 16, at which time he bought a truck. I remember all of us going to Aldridge Grove Church of Christ on Sundays. When Grampaw was trying to quit using tobacco he’d have a pocket full of gum. I remember him giving it out to us kids after church. Imagine getting a family of 9 up and ready for church every Sunday! Mom told me that lots of time they’d walk. It was only two miles, but that’s a pretty good parade.
The Bible has a lot to say about parents and children. Some of the fullest pictures of the family in the Bible are in the Old Testament. There we learn how God created the family in the first place and how He designed us to work and relate with one another. The first family was not successful. The first born son of Adam killed his younger brother because he was mad about God accepting his brother’s worship and rejecting His own. The earliest family stories are terrible. After 10 generations the world is so filled with violence and wickedness the Bible actually says that God is sorry that he has made man on the earth, and decides to destroy them all in a flood. Only one man and his family are spared.
What does this tell us about the earliest families? What about the children? Does the Bible say that children are born with a clean slate? Where is that verse anyway? Listen to what God says after the flood as Noah is offering a sacrifice in Genesis 8: 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. (Some translations say, “youth”) And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
What are some hard things the Bible says about children? Here’s a few difficult ones.
Listen to God’s word in Psalms 51:5 KJV Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psalms 58:3 Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.
Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
Isaiah 48:8 "You have not heard, you have not known. Even from long ago your ear has not been open, Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously; And you have been called a rebel from birth.
Eph. 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Just listen to Romans 5:19 and think about it for a minute. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
Paul says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God… I have been told that the “all” there does not include children.
Now, stringing all these verses together paints a pretty dim view of humanity, even from childhood, does it not?
Were it not for the gracious words of Jesus, we would have to conclude that children are very bad off very early on. But there are two major things in scripture that point us in a different direction concerning the condition of children. First is the birth of Jesus Christ, himself. It is very difficult to reconcile the notion of original sin and the fact that Jesus Christ was born of woman and as Luke lists the genealogy of Jesus, he includes Adam. The second major challenge to the doctrine of children born in sin comes from the lips of Jesus himself. Listen to these words of Jesus in Luke.
Luke 9:46 And an argument arose among them as to which of them might be the greatest.
47 But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side,
48 and said to them, "Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for he who is least among you, this is the one who is great."
Luke 18:15 And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them.
16 But Jesus called for them, saying, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17 "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all."
What about the children? It is partly from the words of Jesus here that we discover the hope of the children. We also realize that God’s word does not contradict itself. What Jesus is saying here does not undo what Paul says or what the Psalms or Proverbs teach us. The hope of children is in Jesus. As Solomon said, “Remember your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come…”
It is generally true that children easily believe what they are told by those they trust. Children still have hearts and minds that can be easily shaped and formed with discipline and instruction. They may have folly bound up in their hearts, but discipline can still drive it out! As I said a couple of weeks ago, there is almost no hope in scripture for a full grown fool. On the other hand there is great hope for the child who receives godly discipline and loving direction from dedicated Christian parents and teachers.
The church Jesus died for is here to reach and teach our generation to know and follow Jesus Christ. We exist for the glory of God and the salvation of men, women and children!
What are we to do with our children? How can we help them so that they do not grow up in folly and wickedness? How can we guide them through the perils of this world and its dangerous influences? This is part of why Jesus Christ built the church. It is certainly why God made the family. Malachi 2:14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.
This passage is a bugger to translate, but one thing in it is clear: God is seeking godly offspring from his people! God designed marriage and established the religious practices of his people so that we would not only be godly ourselves but would produce godly offspring.
Beyond the immediate family, God has brought us together in Christ as a church family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ… children of God, here to bring up children that become children of God as well as to reach out to others who are lost and bring them to Christ to become children of God. How are we doing here?
We must not fail here. The future of our children and children’s children is at stake in the very decisions and direction we take in life.
Let me speak to the youth for a minute, I mean those of you 20 and under. You young guys who sit in the front and sing out and try to worship, I thank God for you! Let me tell you something, the closer you get to Jesus Christ the better. The greater you devote yourselves to following Jesus Christ, the better. God has amazing plans in store for you if you will not break faith but keep walking in His will. None of you is perfect, and that’s not what I’m talking about, but everyone of you is able to trust in God and live for Him. Every single one of you! May God help you do it! May you never give in to this world and give up on following Jesus! Do you know why we built on to this new building? It is so we can have a place and space to teach and train and direct you in your walk with God. A place dedicated to helping you follow Jesus Christ!
10 years ago at this church we had about 65-70 people here and only 15 or so were 20 and under. Today we have around 65 – 70 who are 20 and under. God is telling us something.
Let me talk to parents now. Parents, do you remember when commitment to church trumped sports and school activities and even work? I do. For those of you parents who have dedicated your hearts to faithfulness to Jesus Christ above ALL ELSE, let me say, I thank God for you! Please hear me clearly! Your sons and daughters are very likely to walk in your steps early on, but they will be challenged with even greater pressures and influences than we were when grew up. They will not have the same protections we had in the entertainment world or in the schools. When Jenny and I lived in Concord, NH, we either home-schooled our kids or put them in a little Christian school. One of the elders there who didn’t like me very much, accused me in a meeting of thinking my kids were too good for their school systems. His kids went to Concord High School and both of them are unfaithful today. I told him that I thought all of our kids at church were too good to put them into that godless environment. Homosexuality and sexual promiscuity were rampant and there was a weird pride about it among many of the teachers and staff there. One of the elder’s own sons told me all kinds of terrible things he faced day after day with no support. Ultimately it had its effect on him. He lived in two worlds. One told him to deny his flesh and the other called him to indulge it.
Parents, know this: your children are worth whatever it takes to save their souls. They are worth all you can give and all you have to give to bring them to Christ and help them build up saving faith in Him. You will never regret making difficult decisions that the world will mock you for making. You will never look back on doing whatever you have to do to help save your children from the enemy of God and wish you hadn’t. But, listen to me… there are no guarantees. Your children have the same free will you do. You can do everything right and they can still choose to rebel against God. But the likelihood of success is greater if you give it your best.
The most important thing you can do for your children is love your spouse. That’s number one! Show your children what a husband and wife who love God and one another look like! There is nothing more important for them to learn from you!
Number two. Make it your commitment to be at every service of the church and even show them that you mean business by putting this above sports, school activities or even your own work. We have joked about how going to church isn’t a heaven or hell issue, but that misses the point. Commitment to Jesus Christ IS a heaven or hell issue, it IS a life or death matter and we demonstrate our commitment to Jesus Christ at least in part by our commitment to the assembly of God’s people! Why is it that we don’t want our kids to miss a day of school? Why is it that we do not skip days of work? Yet at the same time we look at church attendance as optional. Why? Are you more committed to education and employment than you are to Jesus Christ? Don’t let your school or sports or job commitment outshine your commitment to following Jesus Christ! I know that there are extraordinary circumstances, but those extreme circumstances should not shape the rules and ethics of our lives, Jesus Christ should.
Number 3, be lovingly, spiritually involved in every aspect of your children’s lives and build spiritual conversation and activity into ALL of them. Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk in the Spirit. Walk in the light. Speak the words of scripture and share your faith and hope in God with them constantly. Ask them how they are doing and listen. Share how you are doing and pray together. Do not separate their lives into holy and secular categories. Remember that you are IN CHRIST, all the time, period, or you are not in Him at all.
Finally, let me speak to our mature members: those 50 and above here. That includes me.
Brothers and sisters, we have got to work hard and supporting and helping these parents and children and single adults here. We have got to take the initiative in this. We must! We can’t let them go it alone.
