Blessing the Children
Happy Sabbath!
I would like to start with a short word of prayer this morning.
One evening mother was busy fixing supper. Her little boy came up to her and gave her a piece of paper. She dries her hands on her apron and reads.
For cutting the grass: $5.00 For cleaning up my room this week: $1.00 For going to the store for you: $.50 Baby-sitting my kid brother while you went shopping: $.25 Taking out the garbage: $1.00 The list went on. At the bottom it said, Total owed: $14.75
Well, his mother looked at him standing there, and the boy could see the memories flashing through her mind. She picked up the pen. She turned over the paper he’d written on, and this is what she wrote:
For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me: No Charge
For all the nights that I’ve sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you: No Charge For all the trying times, and all the tears that you’ve caused through the years: No Charge
For all the times I wiped your nose and your butt: No Charge For all the toys, food, and clothes: No Charge Son, when you add it up, the cost of my love is: No Charge.
When the boy finished reading what his mother had written, there were big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight at his mother and said, "Mom, I sure do love you." And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL".
I¡¯ve often heard that you cannot really know the love of a parent until you become a parent yourself.
Is there any limit to a parents love? As a parent, would you withhold any good thing from your children? If your child needed a kidney, and you were a perfect match, would you donate one of your kidneys? I know you would. What if your child needed a heart transplant and you were a perfect match? You would give him your heart. You would give up your life so that your child could live.
You would do whatever you could so that your child can enjoy good physical health. Right? Amen! Physical health is important. But there is something more important than physical health. It is spiritual health. How much would you be willing to give for your child¡¯s spiritual health so that your child can live eternally?
Would you do as much for your child¡¯s spiritual health as you would for your child¡¯s physical health?
Our young people have sin damaged minds and sin damaged hearts. They need help. In order for them to successfully run the Christian race so they can obtain the crown of life, they need help. They need all the help they can get. God says, ¡°I want to help.¡± God says, ¡°I want to help, but I need the parents cooperation. God didn¡¯t say, ¡°I need the youth pastors help.¡± God says, ¡°I need the parents help.¡± God says to parents, ¡°If you do three things, I will bless your child.
There are three things you can do to help them.
If you do these three things, your children will be blessed spiritually. Do you want to help them? Please say ¡°amen¡± if you want to help your children.
Let¡¯s open our Bibles to Psalm 112:1-3.
(1) Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments.
The blessed man is the person who says on Friday, ¡°I¡¯m so glad another Sabbath is here.¡± The commandments are not burdensome for this person. He delights greatly in His commandments.
(2) His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Do you want your children to be blessed?
If you are godly, God will bless your children. By the way, just because you come to church does not mean that you are godly. The devil also comes to church. Let¡¯s just make sure that we are not the ones bringing the devil to church with us. You are going to like the next verse.
(3) Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever.
I believe that God wants to do more than bless our children spiritually.
Let¡¯s turn one page over to Psalm 115:13-14
(13) He will bless those who fear the Lord, Both small and great.
I like the next verse.
(14) May the Lord give you increase more and more, You and your children.
Do you want God to bless you and your children?
Gospel Workers (by Ellen White) p. 206 The influence of the mother who has a close connection with Christ is of infinite worth.
Testimonies vol. 4, (by Ellen White) p. 500 The influence of a praying, God-fearing mother will last through eternity. She may die, but her work will endure.
Now you fathers are probably thinking, ¡°I am so glad it¡¯s the mother¡¯s job to influence the children spiritually.¡± I¡¯m not finished. I was just saving the best for last.
In Ministry of Healing (by Ellen White) p. 392 it says:
In a sense the father is the priest of the household, laying upon the family altar the morning and evening sacrifice. In the morning before he leaves home for his daily labor, let the father gather his children about him and, bowing before God, commit them to the care of the Father in heaven. When the cares of the day are past, let the family unite in offering grateful prayer and raising the song of praise, in acknowledgment of divine care during the day.
Are you starting to get a picture of what a godly home looks like? Have family worship. God will bless you!
Fathers, you are the priest of the home. It means you are the pastor of your home. People love to complain about their pastors. Fathers, next time, when you are tempted to complain about your pastor, ask yourself, ¡°how am I doing as the pastor of my home?¡±
As the pastor of the home, it is your responsibility to teach your children about the Bible. It¡¯s your job. Often parents come to me and say, ¡°Can you come to my house once a week to teach my child.¡± Such people think the pastor has all the time in the world. Are you a baptized member of the Seventh-day Adventist church? You teach your child. Amen! It¡¯s your responsibility. The pastor is busy enough spending time with young people who don¡¯t have Christian parents. Amen! I¡¯ve heard parents make excuses like, ¡°I don¡¯t speak English well enough to teach my child.¡± Well, ask God for the gift of tongues! Amen! The spiritual gift exists for a reason.
A study was done on pastors. They looked at successful pastors and unsuccessful pastors. The successful pastors had something in common. And the unsuccessful pastors had something in common. Do you want to know what the successful pastors had in common? Successful pastors spent on average 20 hours a week in sermon preparation. Do you want to know what unsuccessful pastors had in common? Unsuccessful pastors spent more than 20 hours a week doing visitations. Do you want your pastors to be successful or unsuccessful? Successful pastors also spent a lot of time training other members to do evangelism. At church we want to train our young people to do evangelism, so that when they go back home they can reach their friends, instead of sitting on their butts and waiting for the pastor to visit them every week. Amen! Do you want your child to be a healthy active Christian? Encourage your child to reach his or her friends for Jesus!
Okay, let¡¯s get back to the sermon.
Point number 1 - Be godly parents and God will bless your children! Amen! Let¡¯s move on to point number 2.
Turn with me to Proverbs 20:7.
The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.
The Korean translation is a little different from the English translation. The English translation uses the word integrity. In the Korean language there is no exact equivalent for this word.
The dictionary defines integrity as ¡°the state of being complete, unified.¡± When I have integrity, my words and my actions match up. I am who I am, no matter where I am or who I am with.
Integrity is very rare in our world today. In our hot pursuit of personal pleasure and shortcuts to success, integrity is a vanishing commodity.
Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are. Integrity is who you are when no one¡¯s looking.
All of us have known those who were not the same on the outside as they were inside.
R.C. Sproul, in his book Objections Answered, tells about a young Jewish boy who grew up in Germany many years ago. The lad had a profound sense of admiration for his father. The father saw to it that the life of the family revolved around the religious practices of their faith. The father led them to the synagogue faithfully.
In his teen years, however, the boy¡¯s family was forced to move to another town in Germany. This town had no synagogue, only a Lutheran church. The life of the community revolved around the Lutheran church; all the best people belonged to it. Suddenly, the father announced to the family that they were all going to abandon their Jewish traditions and join the Lutheran church. When the stunned family asked why, the father explained that it would be good for his business. The youngster was bewildered and confused. His deep disappointment soon gave way to anger and a kind of intense bitterness that plagued him throughout his life.
Later he left Germany and went to England to study. Each day found him at the British Museum formulating his ideas and composing a book. In that book he introduced a whole new worldview and conceived a movement that was designed to change the world. He described religion as the ¡°opiate for the masses.¡± He committed the people who followed him to life without God. His ideas became the norm for the governments for almost half the world¡¯s people. His name? Karl Marx founder of the Communist movement. The history of the twentieth century, and perhaps beyond, was significantly affected because one father let his values become distorted.
Mothers and fathers, you can significantly affect your child¡¯s future.
I have a book. The title of the book: Why Our Teenagers Leave the Church. 1500 Adventist teenagers were chosen from all across North America. And these teenagers were surveyed every year for ten years. The object of the study was to find out why young adults are leaving the church and how to prevent it. It took more than 15 years to complete the study and put the book together.
Did you know that 40 and 50 percent of Adventist youth leave the church in their 20s? That means one, two, your out. One, two, your out. Do you want your children to stay in the church?
Do you want to know what kind of young people stay committed to the church? I will quote from the book. ¡°Commitment (to Adventism) tends to be strongest when three factors are present: (1) parents themselves are committed; (2) parents intentionally transmit their values to their children; and (3) parent-child relationships are positive.
The first two factors are all about integrity. Let me read them again to you: (1) parents themselves are committed; (2) parents intentionally transmit their values to their children.
Parents are you committed to this church? Are you intentionally transmitting your values to your children? Or are you just trusting the youth pastor? Don¡¯t trust me. I don¡¯t even trust myself.
If the parent says to the child, ¡°Be honest in everything.¡± And the parent is honest in everything. The child will more likely be honest in everything. If the parent says to the child, ¡°Keep the Sabbath holy.¡± And the parent keeps the Sabbath holy. Then the child will more likely keep the Sabbath holy. Your actions speak much louder than your words. Your children are watching what you do. Be consistent. Do you want your children to stay in the church after they go to college? Live a life of integrity.
I¡¯ve heard someone say that the eleventh commandment goes like this: As long as you don¡¯t get caught, you are okay.
Isn¡¯t that what many of us believe? As long as we don¡¯t get caught, we can cheat on our taxes. As long as we don¡¯t get caught, we can cheat others in business. It¡¯s okay to lie to our spouses as long as we don¡¯t get caught. Is that what many of us believe?
Proverbs 20:7 says, ¡°The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.¡±
For point number three, turn with me to Psalm 37:25 & 26.
This is a Psalm written by David. He says:
(25) I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. (26) He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.
He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.
Do you want your children to be blessed? Be merciful and lend. What does it mean to be merciful? Because the time is fast slipping away, I will not expound on this. However, if you are serious about wanting God to bless you, go home and study the Bible and find out what it means to be merciful. Do you know what godly people do? They study their Bibles. So go home and study it out.
Let¡¯s read three more verse in Psalm 37.
Psalm 27-29
(27) Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell forevermore. (28) For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. (29) The righteous shall inherit the land, And dwell in it forever.
Isn¡¯t that a beautiful promise?
Let¡¯s do a quick review. If you want your children to be blessed: (1) live a godly life, (2) live a life of integrity, and (3) be merciful and lend.
Do these three things to bless you children and a great blessing will return to you.
Proverbs 23:24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
Let me paraphrase Matthew 16:24 for you. ¡°For what profit is it to you if your child does excellent on the SAT¡¯s, and loses his own soul?¡± ¡°For what profit is it to you if your child goes to medical school, and loses his own soul?¡± ¡°For what profit is it to you if your child becomes worldly, leaves the church, and loses his own soul?¡±
Do we want our children to be on the path to heaven?
In closing I want to say a few words to you parents. I see the young people for a few hours every weekend. It¡¯s not enough time to influence them spiritually. Mothers and fathers, I need your help. Spirituality must begin in the home. If it is your desire to see your children saved into God¡¯s kingdom, there is work for you. Amen!
