God cares for children; do we? Part 1
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We will look this morning at several passages from the scriptures but highlight two scriptures, one in Jonah and one in Luke. I want to show that throughout the scripture God has a common burden or a concern that is on his heart. And while there are many burdens or clear priorities on the heart of God, I think every believer should know and share this priority with God our Creator, our Savior and Lord.
Josh McDowell has said, “If we lose one more generation, our nation cannot survive.” In 2017, Child Evangelism Fellowship® reached out to 22 million children around the globe. The goal is to grow to reach 100 million children every year. God is helping us reach children with the good news of Jesus Christ worldwide. We want to go to every child, every nation, every day.
Sadly, less than 10% of mission money goes to children’s ministry in churches and yet, as Charles Spurgeon recognized, “a child of five, if properly instructed, can as readily believe and be regenerated as anyone.”
What are the burdens on God’s heart today? I would say that in particular, one burden I want to put before you today is God’s heart for children.
I have two points using two questions.
First, does God care about children?
Second, do we care about children?
First, does God care about children? The Bible has so much to say about children. From Genesis 1:28 in the garden of Eden, God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and to subdue the creation for God’s glory and our good. Obviously, Adam and Eve could not do it all. God expected and directed them to have children who would help and expanded this process.
Then, as we know, Adam and Eve fell into sin. (Genesis 3) But even then, God said he would provide a seed, a son, who would deliver mankind from the penalty, the power, and even the presence of sin. We continue to desire to minster to our children, and to trust the Lord to bring about wonderful results.
Throughout the Bible God gave practical, spiritual, moral guidelines and promises concerning not only the adults, but the children. God took the time to instruct Israel to nurture, lead, guide, and discipline the children of the covenant.
I want to go through a brief survey, not by any means an exhaustive survey, but a sampling of the scriptures on child rearing.
Let’s read Deuteronomy 6:1-7:
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
In Deuteronomy 6 the Lord is seen as the one God overall. The fathers and heads of households are to teach their children about God and about how God called us to live. Fathers are to live out of their own personal worship of God, to lead their family in worship of God, and worship in the assembly of God’s people. Simply, we are called to teach our children about God and His will and way for us.
In light of this very passage the writers of the Westminster confession of faith wrote a little introduction to the first copies of the Confession and Catechisms. It was the words to the heads of household. They instructed the heads of households to teach the children. Source
I am skipping over so many other scriptures to look at Psalm 148:11-13.
Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and maidens together,
old men and children!Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty is above earth and heaven.
The Psalmist is calling all peoples to praise the Lord. Grandparents and great Grandparents, aunts and uncles, all of us are to include the children, to care for the children as a part of our worship and love to God through Christ.
Proverbs 1:2-7 teaches us that we are to teach children, including young men and women how to follow the Lord.
To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
There are so many proverbs to quote about rearing children, but there is so little time.
Another beautiful passage about children is found in Isaiah 40:10-11.
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
In short, we need wisdom to train children, wisdom from God and for ourselves. Christ is our wisdom. We need to live by the wisdom that we know not only for ourselves before God, but for our children. We need to study the wisdom of God’s word and prayerfully seek to apply it to our children.
We need to correct, direct, and teach discernment to our children.
In the next part of this series, we will cover the urgent need of children all over the world. In light of the fact the scripture shows that God cares for children, we will look deeply into whether the actions of the church show that we do too.
