Years ago, most families with homes in the country used an outhouse. A boy in one family hated it, because the outhouse was hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and it stunk all the time.
The outhouse sat on the bank of a creek, and the boy determined that one day he would push that outhouse into the water. One day, after the spring rain, the creek was full, so the boy decided that he was going to push the outhouse into the creek that day. He got a large stick and pushed and pushed and pushed. Finally, the outhouse toppled into the swollen creek and floated away. That night the father confronted his son and said, “Someone pushed the outhouse into the creek today. It was you, wasn't it son?”
“Yes,” the boy answered.
Then he though a moment and said, “Dad, I read in school today that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and didn't get into trouble because he told the truth.”
The father replied, “Well son, George Washington's father wasn't IN that cherry tree.” (Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story, Zondervan, 2011, pp. 111-112; www.PreachingToday.com)
Raising children and grandchildren is not always easy. You want to pass your faith on to the next generation or two, but sometimes you wonder if they’re really getting it.
Now, there’s no sure-fire guarantee that people of faith will raise children of faith. But you can create an atmosphere, a context, where your children and grandchildren are more likely to make your faith their own.
The question is: How? How do you pass the faith on to the next generation or two? How do you create an atmosphere for faith in your children? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11, where we see how Abraham did it for his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Hebrews 11:17-18 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” (ESV)
God had promised Abraham that he would have many descendants through Isaac. And yet God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a whole, burnt offering, which Abraham nearly did before God stopped Him.
I like the way Martin Luther, the great 16th Century reformer, told the story of Abraham and Isaac form Genesis 22:
Abraham was told by God that he must sacrifice the son of his old age by a miracle, the seed through whom he was to become the father of kings and of a great nation. Abraham turned pale. Not only would he lose his son, but God appeared to be a liar. He had said, “In Isaac shall be thy seed”, but now he said, “Kill Isaac.” Who would not hate a God so cruel and contradictory?
How Abraham longed to talk it over with someone! Could he not tell Sarah? But he… knew that if he mentioned it to anyone, he would be dissuaded and prevented from carrying out the [request].
The spot designated for the sacrifice, Mount Moriah, was some distance away; “and Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his [donkey], and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and [cut] the wood for the burnt-offering.” Abraham did not leave the saddling of the [donkey] to others. He himself laid on the beast the wood for the burnt offering. He was thinking all the time that these logs would consume his son, his hope of [many descendants]. With these very sticks that he was picking up the boy would be burned.
In such a terrible case, should he not take time to think it over? Could he not tell Sarah? With what inner tears he suffered! He [loaded up] the [donkey] and was so absorbed he scarcely knew what he was doing.
He took two servants and Isaac his son. In that moment everything died in him; Sarah, his family, his home, Isaac. This is what it is to sit in sackcloth and ashes. If he had known that this was only a trial, he would not have been tried. Such is the nature of our trials that while they last, we cannot see to the end.
“Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.” What a battle he had endured in those three days! There, Abraham left the servants and the donkey. He laid the wood upon Isaac and himself took the torch and sacrificial knife. All the time he was thinking, “Isaac, if you knew, if your mother knew, that you are to be sacrificed.”
“And they went both of them together.” [Nobody knows] what here took place. They two walked together. Who? The father and the dearest son – the one not knowing what was in store but ready to obey, the other certain that he must leave his son in ashes.
Then Isaac said, “My father.”
And [Abraham] said, “Yes, my son.”
And Isaac said, “Father, here is the fire and here the wood, but where is the lamb?” He called him father and was [concerned] lest he had overlooked something.
And Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb, my son.”
When they [came] to the mount, Abraham built the altar and laid on the wood. Then he was forced to tell Isaac. The boy was stupefied. He must have protested, “Have you forgotten: I am the son of Sarah by a miracle in her old age, that I was promised, and that through me you are to be the father of a great nation?” And Abraham must have answered that God would fulfill his promise even out of ashes.
Then Abraham bound him and laid him upon the wood. The father raised the knife. The boy bared his throat. If God had slept an instant, the lad would have been dead. I could not have watched. I am not able in my thoughts to follow. The lad was as a sheep for the slaughter. Never in history was there such obedience, save only in Christ. But God was watching, and all the angels. The father raised his knife; the boy did not wince. The angel cried, “Abraham, Abraham!” [and stopped him from sacrificing his son].
Then Luther concludes: See how divine majesty is at hand in the hour of death. We say, “In the midst of life we die.” God answers, “Nay, in the midst of death we live.”
Historian Bainton adds: “Luther once read this story for family devotions. When he had finished, Katie [his wife] said, ‘I do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that.’”
“‘But, Katie,' answered Luther, ‘he did.’” (Martin Luther in “Martin Luther – The Later Years and Legacy,” Christian History, no. 39; www.PreachingToday.com)
God did NOT spare His own Son, Jesus, who died on a cross for our sins. But God DID spare Abraham’s son, because He was testing Abraham, and Abraham passed the test! Abraham nearly sacrificed his own son in obedience to God, but how could he do it! How could Abraham offer his son to God like that? It’s because…
Hebrews 11:19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (ESV)
Isaac was as good as dead in Abraham’s mind. So, in a sense, Abraham received Isaac back from the dead, and that’s what he expected.
You see, Abraham was able to offer his son to the Lord, because he believed God. Abraham believed in the power and promise of God, knowing that God would have to raise Isaac from the dead in order to keep His promise.
By faith, Abraham gave his son to the Lord. And if you want to create an atmosphere for faith in your children and grandchildren, you must do the same thing.
BY FAITH, GIVE YOUR CHILDREN TO THE LORD.
Offer your sons and daughters completely to God for His use. Present them to the Lord, relinquishing all control of them to Him.
I’m certainly not telling you to tie them down and slit their throats. God expressly forbids any kind of child-sacrifice, and God stopped Abraham from doing it to his own son. You don’t give your children to the Lord by killing them. You give them to the Lord by relinquishing control of them, letting God have His way with them. This is especially true if your children have strayed away from their upbringing.
At the age of 19, Abraham Piper, the son of well-known pastor and author John Piper, walked away from his Christian faith. For the next four years, in his words, he “just wanted to drink gallons of cheap sangria and sleep around.” Of course, his parents were “brokenhearted and baffled.” After four years of living as a prodigal son, Abraham returned to the Lord and reunited with his parents. Based on his experience, he offers the following advice to mothers and fathers of wayward children:
Don't expect them to be Christlike. If your son is not a Christian, he won't act like one, and it is hypocrisy if he does… His most dangerous problem is unbelief – not partying. No matter how your child's behavior proves his unbelief, always be sure to focus more on his heart's sickness than its symptoms.
Welcome them home. If he has any inkling to be with you, don't make it hard for him… Obviously there are instances when parents must give ultimatums: “Don't come to this house, if you are…” But these will be rare… [In most cases], if your daughter stinks like weed or an ashtray, spray her jacket with Febreze and change the sheets when she leaves, but let her come home. If you find out she's pregnant, then buy her folic acid, take her to her 20-week ultrasound, protect her from Planned Parenthood, and by all means let her come home. If your son is broke because he spent all the money you lent him on loose women and ritzy liquor, then forgive his debt as you've been forgiven, don't give him any more money – and let him come home. If he hasn't been around for a week and a half because he's been staying at his girlfriend's – or boyfriend's – apartment, urge him not to go back, and let him come home.
Point them to Christ. Your rebellious child's real problem is not drugs or sex or cigarettes or porn or laziness or crime or cussing or slovenliness or homosexuality or being in a punk band. The real problem is that your child doesn't see Jesus clearly… [Jesus] will replace the money, or the praise of man, or the high, or the sex that they are staking their eternities on right now. Only his grace can draw them from their perilous pursuits and bind them safely to him – captive but satisfied. (Abraham Piper, “12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child,” desiringGod.com, 5-9-07; www.PreachingToday.com)
In essence, Abraham Piper is saying: Stop trying to control and manipulate your children. Turn them completely over to the Lord and let Him pursue them. Have enough faith to give your children fully over to the Lord without trying to interfere with what He is doing in their lives.
By the way, that starts even before they’re born. Your children don’t belong to you. They belong to God. He has only lent them to you for a short time, so you can raise them to follow Christ.
When Sandy was pregnant with Peter, nothing seemed to go right. The doctor did not pick up a heartbeat until late, and that scared us. Sandy was sick throughout the pregnancy; and toward the end, her doctor ordered non-stress tests and sonograms. He had told us, “Something isn’t quite right.” Then Sandy went into early labor, which was arrested with medication. Sandy miscarried our previous baby, and we feared it was going to happen again.
Even so, with trembling faith, we told God, “This little one belongs to you. We don’t know if we can handle losing another one. We’re scared, but we give him (or her) to you. We trust that you know what’s best, so Your will be done in this little baby’s life.”
Like Abraham, we offered our little Isaac to God, trembling and afraid, yes, but trusting our Loving and Sovereign God to accomplish His good, acceptable and perfect will. We had to do the same thing with Timothy when he tried to come six months early.
And throughout their lives, we had to constantly turn them over to the Lord. When they start school, when they learn to drive, when they leave home, when they join the military, when they make poor choices, when we’re tempted to step in and interfere, we have to relinquish control of them to the Lord. Being a parent takes a lot of faith no matter how old your kids get to be.
But if you want to pass that faith on to your children and grandchildren, you must trust the Lord enough to give them to Him. By faith, Give your children to the Lord. Then…
BY FAITH, BLESS YOUR CHILDREN WITH GOD’S PROMISE FOR THEIR FUTURE.
Encourage your sons and daughters with a vision of what God wants to do for them and through them. Inspire your children with the assurance of God’s wonderful plan for their lives. That’s what the founders of the Hebrew nation did.
Hebrews 11:20-22 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. (ESV)
Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all believed in God’s promise for their descendants – a promise of land, many offspring, and God’s blessing. That’s why they could bless their children with a vision of a glorious future even in difficult times.
Isaac was still a stranger in the land that God had given his family. Jacob and Joseph lay dying in Egypt far away from the Promised Land. And yet, their faith in God’s promise assured them of God’s good plan for their descendants, a plan which they shared with their children. By faith, the founders of the Hebrew nation blessed their children with God’s promise for their future.
And by faith, you can do the same thing. After all, God’s promises are not just for the Hebrew nation. They are for everyone who puts their trust in Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “All the promises of God find their yes in Him.” The promise of God’s presence (Hebrews 13:5), the promise of God’s provision (Philippians 4:19), the promise of God’s power (Ephesians 1:19-20), are all available to every believer in Christ.
Romans 8:28-30 outlines God’s plan for every believer. It says, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
God knew and loved you even before you were born. That’s when He determined that He would make you like Jesus, His Son. So He called you into a relationship with Himself, declared you righteous when you trusted His Son with your life; and He will glorify you. I.e., He will make you shine with the radiance of Christ someday. It’s so certain in God’s mind that it is expressed in the past tense: “Those whom he justified he also GLORIFIED.”
This is God’s sure and certain promise for every believer; and if you want to create an atmosphere of faith for your children, you can assure them with this promise; you can bless them with this vision of God’s wonderful plan for their lives no matter how hard things are for them right now.
In 2001, Diane Granito founded the Heart Gallery, a unique program that uses photography to help find homes for older foster children, sibling groups, and other children who are traditionally difficult to place with families. A prominent art gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, donated space where more than a thousand people came opening night. The photos on exhibit [showed] the unique personalities in hundreds of children – a great contrast to the typical photos attached to a child's file.
“They look like mug shots,” said one of the photographers of the typical case photos. “This is an opportunity to just portray them as kids in their environments,” said another involved. “We're treating this as a living, breathing project.”
Since its inception, the Santa Fe project has inspired 120 more Heart Galleries across the United States. In some places, the adoption rate after an exhibit is more than double the nationwide rate of adoption from foster care. “Photography” in Greek means “to write in light,” [and that’s what these photographs do for foster children who are hard to place with adoptive families].
That’s because of the public perception that most foster children have serious emotional and behavioral problems, [which is] sometimes [true], though not always. [However], a picture offered in a different light, [even though it] does not change the child it portrays, [it] does offer the accurate light of hope. (Jill Carattini, "Faces in the Light," A Slice of Infinity/RZIM , 8-12-16; www.PreachingToday.com)
God the Father adopted us as his children when we stood in the worst of all possible lights. The Bible says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Now, our Father, God, views us in the light of Christ himself, the “accurate light of hope.” And you who know Christ can pass that “light of hope” to your own children and grandchildren. Urge them to trust Christ with their lives. Then assure them with God’s promise for their future.
Recently, Pastor Ray Ortland talked about a new Bible his dad and mom gave him [over] 50 years ago. It was his senior year in high school, the first week of two-a-day football practices, and he crawled home that day, bone tired. Mom made a special dinner for [him], since it was [his] birthday, and dad gave him a Bible with the following inscription:
“Bud, nothing could be greater than to have a son – a son who loves the Lord and walks with him. Your mother and I have found this Book our dearest treasure. We give it to you and doing so can give nothing greater. Be a student of the Bible and your life will be full of blessing.” He signed it, “We love you. Dad, 9/7/66”, with a reference to Philippians 1:6, which says, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Ray Ortland said, “As I read these wonderful words from fifty years ago, it never occurred to me to think, ‘Dad doesn't really believe that. It's just religious talk.’ I knew he meant it, because I watched him live it. He was a student of the Bible, and his life was full of blessing, and I wanted what he had. It took me a few more years to get clarity in some ways, not surprisingly. But on [that] day so long ago my dad said something to me that left a deep impression. It moved me then, and it moves me now.” (Ray Ortlund, “Fifty Years Ago Today,” Gospel Coalition blog, 9-7-16; www.PreachingToday.com)
Ray Ortland’s dad blessed his son with God’s promise for his future, and you can do the same for your children and grandchildren. No matter what you’re going through right now with them, look beyond today. Look into the future and bless them by faith. Based on the promises of God, assure them that they will grow to be all that God wants them to be; assure them that God loves them, and He will use them for His glory if they let Him.
If you want to create an atmosphere of faith for your children and grandchildren, trust God enough to give your children to the Lord and bless them with His promise for their future.
The small island of Igloolik, in northern Canada is a bewildering place in the winter. The average temperature hovers at about 20 degrees below zero, thick sheets of sea ice cover the surrounding waters, and the sun is rarely seen. Despite the brutal conditions, Inuit hunters have for some 4,000 years ventured out from their homes on the island and traveled across miles of ice and tundra to search for game. The hunters' ability to navigate vast stretches of the barren Arctic terrain, where landmarks are few, snow formations are in constant flux, and trails disappear overnight, has amazed explorers and scientists for centuries. The Inuit's extraordinary [sense of direction did not come from technology] – they never used maps and compasses. [Instead, it comes from] a profound understanding of winds, snowdrift patterns, animal behavior, stars, and tides.
[Recently, though,] the Igloolik hunters have begun to rely on computer-generated maps to get around, especially younger Inuit members. The ease and convenience of a GPS makes the traditional Inuit techniques seem archaic and cumbersome.
[Yet], as GPS devices have proliferated on Igloolik, reports of serious accidents during hunts have spread. A hunter who hasn't developed way-finding skills can easily become lost, particularly if his GPS receiver fails. The routes plotted on satellite maps can also give hunters tunnel vision, leading them onto thin ice or into other hazards a skilled navigator would avoid.
A local anthropologist, who has been studying Inuit hunters for more than 15 years, notes that while satellite navigation has some advantages, its use also leads to a deterioration in way-finding abilities and a weakened feel for the land. An Inuit on a GPS-equipped snowmobile… lose[s] sight of [his] surroundings. [He] travel[s]s “blindfolded.” A unique talent that has distinguished a people for centuries may evaporate in a generation. (Nicholas Carr, “All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines,” The Atlantic, November 2013; www.PreachingToday.com)
Somebody once said, “The Christian faith is only one generation away from extinction.” Please, don’t let it happen in your family. Do everything you can to create that atmosphere of faith, so your children have every opportunity to catch your faith from you.
