Sermon for 6/15/03
Father’s Day
HELPING THE NEXT GENERATION
(Adapted from Jack Peters)
Introduction:
A. The Andy Griffith Show started out with the theme song being whistled and Andy and Opie going to the fishing hole. Much of the show was based around this relationship between Opie and his day, Andy. May we learn from this. They spend time together.
B. Charles Francis Adams, the 19th century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: "Went fishing with my son today--a day wasted." His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: "Went fishing with my father--the most wonderful day of my life!" The father thought he was wasting his time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time.
WBTU:
Each generation has a responsibility to help the next generation. It is the older generations that teach the younger generation at home and in school.
Thesis: This passage talks about giving Spiritual help to the next generation.
For instances:
REMEMBER THE TRUTH - Vss. 1-3
Those who know God through Christ must give ear to His Word and obey it.
A. What is the truth?
1. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
2. God cannot tolerate sin. It can not be in his presence so we are not going to heaven. We all deserve hell.
3. However, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the perfect Lamb, came and paid the penalty for our sins. He died on a cross and rose again so that we can go to heaven to be with Him. He paid the price so that we can go to heaven.
B. How do we receive this gift?
1. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
2. Believe
3. Repent
4. Confess
5. Be baptized
6. Receive the Holy Spirit
7. Live a Christian life. What does this mean?
a. We will want to fellowship with God and with his children, the church.
b. We will want to read the Bible and pray.
c. Keep his commandments. We want to please Him and do what he tells us to do.
d. Put away bad habits and sins through God’s power.
e. Confess and witness about Jesus Christ before others.
f. Want to help others; we will want to give
They cannot help the next generation to live for God unless they know his word and heed it themselves.
A. A father says, “You better get ready, the bus will be here in a minute to pick you up to take you to Sunday school.” The Boy asked, “Did you go to Sunday School when you were a boy?” The father replied, “Yes I did.” The boy said as he was getting dressed, “It probably won’t do me any good either.”
B. I love Norman Rockwell prints and one of my favorites depicts a mother dressed in her Sunday best followed by a couple of well-dressed and freshly groomed kids all with Bibles under their arms walking past a dad who is still dressed in his pajamas and slouched in his chair with the Sunday paper looking very guilty. Only Rockwell could capture all the details that were in play in such a scene.
C. Recent research is shining light on the importance of male spiritual leadership in the home. Among their findings is the reality that 68 million of our nation’s 94 million men don’t attend any church. This, in spite of the fact, that 86% of them grew up with some sort of church background.
D. Research has revealed that if a child is the first person in a household to become a Christian, there is a 3.5 percent probability that everyone else in the household will become Christians. Not very high at all. If the mother is the first to accept Christ, the percent goes up and 17 percent of the homes will see the remainder of its members trust Christ. But if the father is first, there is a 93 percent probability that everyone else in the household will follow.
E. When father goes first spiritually, good things happen at home. Let’s all pray together that God will call even more men to spiritual revival and renewal. Never has there been a generation in our nation, where is has been more important than now.
REVEAL THE TRUTH - Vss. 4-6a
Spiritually speaking, it is the responsibility of older generations of Christians to help the next generation.
A. We as a church need to be concerned about our youth and children.
1. If the older generation does not teach the younger ones, then they will not be taught. Oh, they can learn some things on their own and from their peers (mainly bad stuff). Mostly they learn from the older generation.
2. Vacation Bible School
3. WE must provide for future generations godly and Christian education.
4. We reap what we sow. We are reaping a generation that knows nothing about God, nothing about the Bible, nothing about Jesus Christ, nothing about the gospel, nothing about morality or ethics, nothing about God’s love and wrath, nothing about Christianity.
5. Our greatest resource is our children.
6. We must put first things first. We must teach our children how to make a lot of money, how to have a lot of prestige, how to get ahead in life. People in church who refuse to let their children go to Bible College but that is not where it is in life. It is a waste of time! We are reaping what we have sown.
7. The schools definitely are not teaching about God.
8. My two sons. If not Christians, I would be upset no matter how much money they make or how popular they are.
9. Teach it and live it is the best example. Be a walking talking testimony to the next generation of what God can do.
B. Parents have the responsibility of bring their children up in the Lord.
1. One time a youth minister had the parents of the youth together for a meeting. The youth minister asked the parents, “Who has the responsibility of teaching the youth about Jesus Christ?” Over 90% of those parents said that the youth minister had that responsibility.
2. (Eph 6:4 NIV) Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
3. Parents, especially fathers, are held accountable for the spiritual instruction of their children.
4. The more parental teaching the better; ministers and Sunday school teachers were never meant to be substitutes for a mother’s tears and a father’s prayers.
5. How do we do this? It takes time. Time and effort!
6. A little boy was asked what his father did by an older man. The boy answered, “He watches.” “You mean he is a night watchman?” “Oh no,” the little boy exclaimed, “He just watches.” “Well, what does he watch?” “I don’t know if I can tell you everything, but I can name a few things.” “Well, tell me,” the curious man replied. “He watches TV, he watches Mom do the housework, he watches for the mail man, he watches the weather, he watches the computer, and I think he watches girls too,” he said with an impish grin on his face. “He watches the stock market, football games. He watches Mom spank us, and he watches us do our homework. He watches us leave to go to Church and PTA and shopping. He watches Mom write letters and me play with my dog. He watches Mom pay the bills. But mainly, he just watches.”
7. I put my time in at work. A man needs to work and children need to learn that. Oh yes this is true. However…
8. In an Eastern city a prominent man became greatly concerned about his boy, and consequently went to the boy’s school principal and asked for suggestions. The principal gave this reply: “Resign from the presidency of the chamber of commerce. Leave that position to someone whose family has grown up and is not in such great need of fatherly attention as is your boy. Your first duty during the next 5 years, after providing the necessities of life for your family, is at home with your boy. You should help him with his lessons; you should interest him in your business; and you should become his comrade. By giving the same amount of time and attention to your boy that you now give to the chamber of commerce, you will save your boy and also probably be the means of doing just as much good for your city.”
9. Are we aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days? But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don’t you think?
10. (Prov 22:6 NIV) Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
11. (Deu 11:19 NIV) Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
RESULTS OF THE TRUTH - Vss. 6b-8
When the next generation is taught the things of God, some very positive things happen.
1. They will teach their children. Vs. 6b
A. 5 Generations are mentioned here: Fathers (vs. 3) teaching their children (Vs. 4), those children teaching the generation to come (vs. 4), that generation teaching their children (vs. 5), those children teaching there children who would be born (vs. 6)
B. Children are our heirs. Most parents do not bury their treasures before they die to keep them from their children. May we not do that with the most important treasure.
C. I will not subject my children to a forced faith. They can make their own decisions.
D. He who tries to learn when young- writing on a new sheet. He who tries to learn when old- writing on an old, marked up sheet.
E. Those taught when young to love the Lord will grow up into strong and stable Christians. I am thankful that I was taught when I was young. I do not regret it. I do not regret that I never really got involved with the world.
F. They might not come to faith anyway. They might not. However, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
2. They will set their hope in God. Vs. 7a
A. We don’t need to drill it into their heads as much as we need to write it on the children’s hearts.
B. They need to make the faith their own. However, it is easier to do that with a Christian upbringing.
3. They will not forget God’s works. Vs. 7b
The rest of this psalm talks about what the Lord did for the Israelites. We need to remember and tell our children what the Lord has done for us.
4. They will keep God’s commandments. Vs. 7c
5. They will be better than their fathers. Vs. 8
A. Oh that each generation would improve upon the faith of their fathers. However, most do not.
C. Decline is more natural that progress. Many times children of saints are more rebellious than fathers.
D. A son of an alcoholic dad excused his own alcoholism saying, “What would you expect? My dad was an alcoholic.” His twin brother, however, explained why he chose to be a total abstainer: “My dad was an alcoholic. I know better because of what happened to him.”
Conclusion:
A. My father was terrible. How can I do better?
B. By making God your heavenly Father. He will light your way and love you and help you to be a better parents, a better child and better families.
