God cares for children; Do we? Part 2

This series is adapted from a sermon preached by Jim Simoneau. In the previous segment, we looked at a brief survey of scripture that show God’s concern for children. Read part 1 here. Continue to part 3 here.

Someone said, “Although children only make up 24% of the population, they’re 100% of the future...”

Children are the most productive yet the most forgotten mission field in the world. Child Evangelism Fellowship® says there have never been so many youngsters – over 2.6 billion of them. They have never been so ready, and the need has never been so urgent…

I personally became a Christian through Child Evangelism Fellowship®. I found out just recently that one of my daughters in law became a Christian through Child Evangelism Fellowship® and so did the chairman of our church’s pulpit committee.

But children are in trouble around the world. During the last 50 years, our world has been in a moral and spiritual death spiral, with children as helpless victims. In the western culture, school children are exposed to things never imagined by earlier generations. A pipeline of secular sewage is pouring filth into their tender minds: pornography, violence, secularism, agnosticism, atheism, godless entertainment, non-stop advertising… and more.

They are threatened with guns, knives, clubs. Bullying is rampant. Inside many homes – an onslaught of child abuse. One in seven Americans will face some maltreatment as children.

In the USA, more than 3 million cases of child abuse and neglect are reported annually. A known case of child abuse occurs every 10 seconds, and more than five children die every day from abuse.

In many international locations, the news is far worse. According to sources in the media, over 80% of the Palestinian children in Gaza have witnessed violence.

Worldwide, the trafficking of human beings has surpassed the drug trade to become the second largest source of money for organized crime (behind illegal arms trading). 50% of these victims are children. Sexual exploitation, orphan hood, AIDs, poverty, and malnutrition are some of the hard things they face.

Many agencies have mobilized to help children at every level. We should praise God for everyone providing humanitarian, philanthropic, legal, nutritional, medical, and educational assistance to children anywhere in the world. These are today’s heroes – those who feed, clothe, educate, rescue, and care for the least among us.

But behind all these dire needs is a spiritual hunger that can only be filled with the hope of Jesus Christ. There’s a need for the good news. Our most basic need is for a spiritual foundation based on the love of God. All our problems are, at their roots, spiritual. The one thing the children on earth need more than anything else is Jesus and his mercy. Jesus and his love.

Informal studies conducted by CEF® missionaries through the years show that 1% of Christians say they trusted Christ as their Savior by the age of four. 10% between the ages of fifteen and thirty. And 4% after the age of thirty. But a whopping 85% trusted Christ while they were between the ages of four and fourteen.

Louis Bush calls it the 4/14 window. He says it is crucial that missions effort be re-prioritized and redirected toward the 4/14 window worldwide. We must work while we can. So, knowing God’s word from the Law of the Old testament, the wisdom literature, the prophets, and the words of Jesus himself for children, are we doing all we should?

My first point was this:

Does God care about children?

My second point was related:

Do we care about children?

Now that we have covered what scripture says about God’s concern for children, as well as the many urgent and unique dangers that they face, the final part of this series will cover two key passages that drive us to strongly assess our own concern for children.