In Psalm 78, Asaph vows that the people will not conceal what their fathers have told them about the Lord but will tell the next generation that follows who the Lord is and what He has done (vv. 3-4). They are not to keep quiet about God’s character and works but inform that next generation of them. He goes on to say, “For He established a testimony in Jacob and set a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children. That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born. That they may arise and recount them to their children, that they should set their confidence in God and not forget the deeds of God, but observe His commandments, and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God” (vv. 5-8). Not only are the fathers instructed to teach their children God’s law but to continually “recount” or tell it to them over and over again. The goal in this is so that the children might come to know God, trust Him, remember His works, and obey Him. That should be the aim that we have for the next generation. To impart the truth of God’s Word into them so that, hopefully by grace, all that becomes a reality for them.
Judges 2:6-10 serves as a warning to us of what happens when the previous generation fails to teach the coming generation about the Lord and His ways. We are told that after Joshua and the generation that had entered the Promised Land died, that “there arose another generation after them who did not know Yahweh [or the LORD] or even the work which He had done for Israel.” We have an entire generation who was not aware of who the Lord is and the grace and mercy that He had so kindly shown to His people. How could such happen? Obviously, that earlier generation did not do what Asaph had promised that his people would do in his day. They did conceal and keep from their children the things of the Lord. And the result was as disastrous as it could be. I wonder if the reason we are seeing such a rise in the “nones” today as they have been called, those who when asked to provide their religious or church affiliation write “none,” could be on account of many of their parents making the same mistake as those in Joshua’s day. They just aren’t teaching their kids God’s Word so their kids grow up not knowing God or having anything to do with Him or His people. This horrifying account in Judges should cause us as parents and as a congregation to be sure that we are doing everything we can so that doesn’t become a reality for our kids. And this may not have been intentional for that group. They might have just slipped in their duty of teaching and training or just assumed the kids would know it like they did, forgetting that it had to first be taught to them. Or, they got too busy and preoccupied with other things, turning their own attention away from the Lord where they themselves forgot the importance of passing the knowledge of God on to the next generation. Ultimately, they failed to guard themselves from falling into idolatry and it wound up having devastating consequences for not just their children but the generations which followed after.
While we realize that the primary responsibility for this teaching and training of children are their parents (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Ephesians 6:4), we also know that God’s design for the Christian is for it to be done in the context of a church community of like-minded believers who love and care for both the souls of the parents as well as the souls of their kids. Such is indicated with child dedications. The parents pledge before the Lord and the congregation to seek to raise up their child in the fear and admonition of the Lord with the help and support of their church family. The congregation in turn pledges to give that support through their prayers, love, and teaching. With this in mind, I thought it might be helpful to look at a couple of practical ways that we, both together as a congregation and individually as parents, in the church and in our homes, can help the next generation among us come to know the Lord and put their confidence in Him. This month, we will focus on how we can do that when we gather for worship each Sunday morning, and then, next month, we’ll turn our attention to the home and what parents such as myself can do for our kids there to instill the knowledge of the Lord necessary for them to be saved and come to know Him. Know that I write this not just as your pastor who desires to see this for all the children in the congregation but also as a father in a season with two small children who could always use the reminder of the importance of this teaching and training myself. (Sometimes I wonder if I teach and preach more for my own benefit if no one else gets anything from it.) And I confess that I have not always done things the best way as I could with my boys in this area but am working at doing better at it in each service every week.
When it comes to Sunday morning worship, we should expect the kids in our midst to be kids. Young children are going to cry, fuss, and squirm. They will struggle to sit still and may act out at times. We shouldn’t be surprised when we find them doing just that. In fact, we might need to worry if a child never does any of it. It takes time to train them to sit through the service. (Some children longer than others.) But there are some things we can do to help them learn the rhythms and patterns of worship which they will grow into as they continue to make it through the service each week. One of those things you are already doing; participating in the worship service yourself. Kids learn much by imitation. They watch what the adults do and begin to mimic their actions. Any parent with young children is reminded of this when your 4 year old winds up saying the same things as you and picking up some of your habits. So much of what they learn is caught as much as it is taught. The children with us on Sunday mornings are going to notice us standing to sing while holding the hymnal, putting our money in the offering plate when it comes around, bowing our head to pray, and sitting attentively during the sermon. That will have more of an impact on them coming to know the Lord and what it means to worship Him than you may realize. Already, I have noticed a number of our kids who can’t even read yet standing during the hymns with a hymnal in their tiny little hands “la la la”ing along with the rest of the congregation. And just this past week as I gave John and Jeremiah a dollar to put in for their offering, it caught my eye the children in the pews in front of us dropping theirs in as well. Though they do not yet know the significance of all of this, they are already practicing for when they will later hopefully by God’s grace. So, one of the best ways to help our kids on Sunday mornings is to keep doing what you are already doing each week.
Now, it certainly is difficult for a young child to sit through the preacher’s sermon. (Sometimes it can be difficult for us adults as well!) And while of course our children won’t understand everything said in the sermon, I am convinced that they will understand some things. What they don’t understand, they will come to pick up on quicker the more they are exposed to these truths each week. And there are some ways we can work to help them both endure what may appear to them to be a long boring talk that’s never going to end and even start to learn how to listen and pay attention to it. Often, it is helpful to give them something quiet to do during the message. Have them look at a book, color, draw, or something like that which doesn’t generate a lot of noise. We are finding that little connector blocks seem to work for our boys as it occupies their time as they focus on putting them together. And don’t think that in doing these things that they won’t be able to pay attention to what they are hearing from the sermon. I am amazed at how kids can be involved in something where you don’t think they are listening at all only to find out later that they were. I still remember the little 3 or 4 year old who came with her mom a while ago to Bible study and was just coloring away while I talked. Maybe she looked up at me once during it. She didn’t seem to care at all about what I was saying. However, later her mom was surprised (and I was as well) when she asked a question about something said during the lesson! Turns out she was listening more than we thought all while coloring her picture. (Personally, our family doesn’t do screens such as Ipads, tablets, and things like that due to what we have read about how that can affect attention spans and how addictive they can be. But each family must come to their own conviction on this. That just happens to be ours.)
Having your child draw a picture of something said in the sermon is an excellent way to get them to start listening to what the preacher is saying. For instance, if he says something about David and Goliath, they can draw the little shepherd boy standing before the towering giant with his sling and stone. You can have your child listen for key words that you know are bound to be said in every sermon such as “grace”, “faith,” and “cross” and have him or her squeeze your hand when he or she hears it. For older kids, you can help them fill out the “Sermon Help Sheet” and ask them afterwards what in the sermon they didn’t understand or if they had any questions about it.
These are just a handful of suggestions of ways I have thought of which could help us follow Asaph’s resolution to teach the generation to come “the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous deeds that He has done (Psalm 78:4) and avoid the tragic outcome witnessed in the book of Judges of the generation that arose that did not know the Lord. If you can think of any other ones, please pass them on to me as they may be helpful for us in training our own children in the worship service. Next month, we will turn our attention to the home with the encouragement to continue in some ways of teaching and training your children to worship there the other six days of the week.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee