In a private plane flying high over Albuquerque were a very brilliant scientist who worked for Sandia Labs, a priest, and a Boy Scout. The pilot came on the intercom and said, “I’m sorry, but the plane is about to go down. There are only three parachutes and since I’m the pilot and the father of three children, I’m going to take one of them,” and he proceeded to jump out.
The very brilliant scientist who worked for the Sandia Labs said, “Well, since I’m so smart and so important to national security, I’m going to take one of the other parachutes,” and he took one and jumped out.
The priest looked at the Boy Scout and said, “Well son, I’m not married and don’t have a family. I’ve lived a long full life, but your life is still ahead of you. You take the last parachute and jump out.”
The Boy Scout looked at him and said, “There’s no problem. The most brilliant man in the entire world just jumped out of the plane with my scout backpack.”
Sometimes raising kids feels like falling without a parachute. We may be respected and honored in our jobs and in our work, but who among us is smart enough to say that we don’t need help in raising our kids. We all need help with our children.
Tomorrow morning we begin a 5-day adventure with the wonderful children of our church and community. It is Vacation Bible School time and an opportunity to touch the lives of children for all eternity.
In 1 Samuel 12, Saul has just been confirmed as the first king of Israel. To that point Israel had been led by a series of judges under the guidance of God. But, against God’s wishes, the people wanted their own king, just like the other nations.
Samuel has reminded the people of God’s faithfulness during the Exodus and the time of the Judges. He also reminds them of their covenant relationship with God—obey and be blessed, disobey and they would not.
In verse 12 Samuel makes a personal promise to the people: 1 Samuel 12:23, As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.
As a church family this should also be our commitment. Pray for the children who attend VBS. Pray for their parents. Pray for the weather, for safety, and that God’s message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ would be clearly presented.
There is a great need to teach our children about Jesus. There is also great need for good role models who love Jesus and who will use godly wisdom in teaching our children.
I thank all of you who will be working and teaching in our VBS (recognize teachers). I would also like to say thank you to our Christian teachers and administrators in the public schools.
I am so thankful for Christian teachers, who understand the relationship that necessarily exists between faith in God and their daily lives.
Our country often muzzles Christians from voicing their faith, and especially Christian teachers. Yet, because they consistently live their faith, Christian teachers make an impact.
The Gospel that we believe and teach is the good news that in Jesus Christ, God has not only provided for the eternal salvation of our souls, but also for practical everyday living of life.
God has provided all that we need for life and godliness. Because of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, God enables us to be good examples as well as teachers.
This is good news because every one of us is a teacher and role model. God just doesn’t leave us to ourselves. He doesn’t leave us alone in anything, especially in raising our children.
Samuel told the Israelites he would be sinning before God if he failed to pray for them, and if he didn’t teach them (model to them) the good and right course of life. God has the same expectations for us.
You’ve heard of the three “R’s”—reading, riting, and rithmetic. Hopefully our children are learning these. But here are three different “R’s,” that are just as important, if not more so:
We can teach our children, by word and example, to have reverence for God. The dictionary tells us that reverence is profound awe and love.
In the Christian sense reverence is the desire to love and worship God. It is a heart that is turned toward God in a passionate seeking of His will for your life.
It’s not what we wear or even whether our music is traditional or contemporary. It’s the attitude we bring to worship. It’s what’s in our hearts.
In our world there are forces at work to keep us from “teaching” godly things—even though it always makes life better. Yet, our children learn a whole lot from our way of life, our words, and our actions.
In other words, children learn from your character, and your character doesn’t lie. We live what is important in our lives. Our lives reflect our values.
Our integrity is molded by our values, by our belief system, and by our upbringing. Our children need to see role models, not only in mom and dad, but in us, their teachers.
When our children go to school, mom and dad’s influences begin to lessen a little bit in the life of their child. Their child begins to fall more and more under the influences of their peers, and other adult authority figures—their teachers, their coaches, their counselors.
This is true even here in the church as our children learn from you. I pray their teachers will have such a reverence and love for God, that the kids they teach will see that passion, and learn that same reverence for themselves.
Respect is the second “R” our children can learn from us—a way of living and looking at life that is born out of reverence.
Where does respect come from? It comes from humbly submitting to God everything you are, so that your whole perspective in life is one of yieldedness to God.
Our children are influenced by music, television, movies, and their peers. There are very few models of humbleness and respect from those arenas. They desperately need to learn respect from parents and grandparents and teachers.
You show respect by respecting authority because it is ordained by God. We respect the law because the law is God’s intention for preserving order.
We respect ourselves because we are made in God’s image. So we take care of our bodies, we exercise and try to eat right. We respect others—no matter the color of their skin, whether rich or poor or educated or uneducated, even whether they are Christians or not—because they, too, are created in God’s image.
And it means that we treat with respect, those children who are placed in our paths. Their world us just as important to them as an adult’s is to themselves.
Thirdly, out of reverence and respect comes responsibility. For a Christian, no matter what your vocation in life – whether a teacher or policeman, whether a banker or a service station attendant – your primary responsibility is to follow God’s will.
A woman was standing helplessly by the side of the road looking at a flat tire. A good Samaritan stopped and changed the tire for her. As he was getting ready to lower the car and close the trunk, she said, “Please do it quietly. My husband is asleep in the back seat.”
We Christian are not like that. We are not to sleep while others do our work. We are not to shift our load onto someone else’s shoulders. We are not to depend on others to do our part.
Responsibility is to faithfully live out God’s will. For example, it means you are on time for work; you wholeheartedly do your job; you do what is right because you are a Christian.
It means you are faithful to your marriage vows; it means that when you become an adult you leave the nest and you support yourself and your family, and you always honor your parents.
It means that your word is your bond, and that when you accept a responsibility—whether at work, home or at the church—you make sure to fulfill that responsibility.
Reverence, respect and responsibility—three “R’s” our children desperately need in their lives that will not only make them good Christians, but also good people. But hear—these are more caught than taught as our children watch our lives.
Here are three guidelines that will help our children have reverence for God and things sacred, respect for life and authority, and then live responsibly in this world. I call these the three “P’s.”
Albert Schweitzer once said, “There are only three ways to teach a child: First is by example. Second is by example. And third is by example.”
The most important way we pass on to our children the important stuff is by personal example. You cannot teach your children what you yourself do not believe and do not practice.
At the parade last Saturday, when the U.S. flag passed, most people stood with hands over hearts and hats off. But some did not. They had never been taught to respect the greatest symbol of the United States, our flag. Our children learn best from our example, with simple explanations.
And the most important ingredient in helping children learn to have a heart and passion for God and godly things is for you yourself to have a reverent heart toward God.
When we corporately worship together in this room, it becomes a sacred place. In reverence men should remove their hats, and teach young boys to remove theirs. Coffee and cokes should be left outside. The best way to help children learn respect is to show them that you live respectfully.
The most effective method for teaching responsibility is for you to live the will of God every day, and then to live responsibly under God. Our kids, whether at home or at school, can see right through us.
I’m always amazed at the capacity we adults have for hypocrisy. We want the kids to act and behave in certain ways. It’s a “do as I say, not what I do,” attitude. We are unwilling to pay the price to set the right example for them.
We want our kids to know about Jesus, we want them to grow up to be good Christians, but we are stubborn and selfish ourselves and don’t allow God to change and mold us into what He really wants us to be.
Is it any wonder that as our children look at our lives and note what’s important to us, they face life very confused? The most important thing we do is to instill values in our children by personal example.
The Bible tells us to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This simply means to train and instruct them rightly.
Persistent training is telling and showing. But it involves much more than just telling and showing. It is faithful living it on your part. It is practical explanations, detailed illustrations, it’s hands-on showing how to do something, it is passionate appeals and stern warnings.
Training involves reinforcement and rewards, as well as penalties and punishments. Training can be tedious and time consuming. Training takes the most important thing you have—yourself.
It’s a lot of work to raise children and to teach them reverence, respect, and responsibility. It takes ingenuity, creativity, determination and persistence. It must be purposeful. You must be intentional. It must be personal. It’s one on one. And your lifestyle must be consistent.
The third “P” is prayer. All of us can pray. A grandpa was passing his granddaughter’s bedroom one night and saw her kneeling beside the bed with hands folded reciting the alphabet.
He asked her what she was doing. She explained that she couldn’t think of anything to pray about, so she was giving God the alphabet and God could put them together however He thinks best.
The words we say when we pray aren’t nearly as important as an attitude of openness and reverence toward God.
When you read the story of Job, we are told that everyday Job went out and offered sacrifices to the Lord and prayed for his children, in case they would unknowingly sin.
Parent’s have a great responsibility raising their children. But we all share in that responsibility. All of us are teachers by word and example. God expects this of each of us. He also expects us to pray.
When you have done everything you know how to do, and you’ve done the best you can by setting a good example and are persistent in your training, then you must go to God and allow Him to do what He alone can do.
The reason we go to God in prayer is that God knows more about us and our children than anybody, but also, because God knows what our children ought to be.
Satan is the enemy. He stalks our children and our homes today. God has given us the responsibility of teaching and training our children. Parents must accept this responsibility, and we, the church family, are also responsible to come alongside parents and support and help them to teach their children.
Vacation Bible School is just one of the ways we minister to parents and children. Commit yourself to being a good Christian role model for each of our children.