"Weigh The Children"

Weigh the Children

There’s a story about a missionary who, with his wife and children, were under house arrest in China. Then soldiers came one day and said, “You can return to America, and you can bring 200 pounds.”

They got out a scale and started weighing items to bring: books, a vase, a new typewriter. What about this? And that? They weighed and calculated, and finally they had exactly 200 pounds of luggage.

One of the soldiers asked, “Are you ready? Did you weigh everything?”

“Yes.”

“You weighed the kids?”

“No, we didn’t.”

“Weigh the kids.”

And quickly all of the stuff they had thought was important became trash.

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Proverbs Chapter 22.

Today, you and I are going to look at some important truths that we need to communicate to our children, our teenagers, and even our young adult children. These are important principles that we as parents, grandparents, or anyone who is in a position of influence need to give to our children as they attempt to navigate through the pressures and problems that many of them are right now facing in their young lives.

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Before I give out some of the principles, I need for you to understand a couple of things.

#1- Our children are under assault by an unseen enemy.

I need you to understand something this morning…It’s not easy for our young people today.

The truth is, it’s different than how many of us grew up. I think the battle that is confronting today’s teenagers are taken far too lightly by the adult world.

A typical adult’s attitude seems to be, “Well I made it through my teens and I turned out okay.” Or we say, “Today’s kids just need to suck it up, get to work and deal with it. The sooner they figure out there are no free lunches, the better off they’ll be.”

With that many parents leave their children to deal with the pressures and problems by themselves hoping they will somehow navigate their way through life without any major hiccups or roadblocks in the way.

But I want to tell you that’s not true…our children are under assault by an unseen enemy.

They are under attack. We need to understand that. There is an enemy out there that wants to destroy them,

That wants to hurt them, that want to kill them.

That unseen enemy is Satan and just like the recruiting poster by Uncle Sam that says I Want You, Satan is right there targeting our kids saying, “I want you.”

Satan wants to destroy our families our marriages and our children’s lives.

Look what the Bible says about Satan.

1 Peter 5:8 (NLT)

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

John 10:10 (NIV)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Let me give you an example…

In Job, Chapter 1 we find God talking with Satan about Job. Look at verse 8. Here’s what God said.

Job 1:8 (NLT)

Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”

Look at Satan’s response to God in verses 9 and 10.

Job 1:9-10 (NLT)

Satan replied to the LORD, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God.  10  You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is!

Now this is what Satan would like to do to our families if he was given the chance.

Look what he did to Job’s family…

Job 1:18-19 (NLT)

  While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home.  19  Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

Here we see Satan attacking Job’s family…his children… Satan’s objective is to attack our families.

He has a deliberate, willful and intentional plan to bring harm to our children, our marriages and our lives. He can attack us physically, mentally, economically, spiritually, and relation-ally.

Unless we guard ourselves against the devil and resist him, we could end up being severely wounded.

There is a war for the hearts and minds of our children, and in this war we’re not exactly winning.

Consider this. ..

Every day our children are facing an assault.

Every day in the US…

1000 unwed teenage girls becomes mothers.

Every day 1,106 teenage girls have abortions

Every day 500 teens begin using illegal drugs.

Every day 1000 young people begin drinking alcohol.

Every day 135,000 kids bring guns or other weapons to school.

Every day 3,610 teens are assaulted.

Every day 80 teens are raped.

Every day 630 teens are robbed.

Every day 16 teens are murdered.

Every day 15 teens commit suicide.

Everyday 3,000 kids watch their parents get divorced.

Every day 8,000 teenagers become infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

Look around, you're seeing casualties from this war everywhere you look.

You won’t see bloodied bodies lying on the ground but make no mistake, the war is real. The battlefield is littered with our children. And millions of teenagers are burying their pain by self-medicating with chemical substances or painkillers.

Like a cage fighter stalking his opponent, Satan looks for the right opening then leaps on our children and starts pounding their head in the ground with blow after blow bringing every kind of temptation imaginable to tempt them with.

So what can we do?

Do we stand idly by…doing nothing?

No.

According to the Bible…

#2 – We have been given a mandate from God to teach and train our children to protect them from the enemy.

I came across this story a while back that really made me conscience of the tremendous responsibility that we as parents have in protecting our families, our wives and our children.

A young father, while loading his two children in the car, had set the infant carrier containing his three-month old son on the roof of the car. Then the unthinkable happened. He got in the car and drove out of the parking deck with his youngest son still sitting in his carrier on the roof of the car. He made it all the way onto the expressway before he heard the sound of something scraping on the roof of the car. Just as he realized what he had done, he saw the infant carrier slide down the back window, across the trunk, and disappear out of sight onto the expressway, into the path of oncoming traffic! Miraculously the infant carrier hit the pavement and skidded upright until it stopped in the expressway. The person following the car slammed on its brakes, turned his car sideways in the lane to protect the child, and held it until the father was able to back up and retrieve his son. His son was completely unharmed. I read that story and I thought we’re just like that car turned sideways in the lane to protect our children and families from the path of the oncoming traffic. That car did whatever it could do until his father was able to get his son back.

Look at our verse this morning.

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

As parents we are instructed to start off our children and to teach them.

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses stands before the people of Israel. He gives to them a mandate from God that as fathers we are to teach our children and lead them toward spiritual maturity.

Let’s read it…. This gives us insight in how we are to teach our children.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NLT)

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.  7  Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  8  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  9  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

When you sit in the house… 

When you walk by the way

When you lie down

When you rise up. Teach them

What is this saying?

Anytime there is a teachable moment seize it and use it to your advantage he is saying.

This is our responsibility.

We must make it a priority.

We only have a window of opportunity.

You have to make it a priority…

Make no mistake your child is going to learn about life from somebody.

Ask yourself is your son or daughter being tutored by the world or by you?

#3 – If we instill Godly principles in their lives we have a much better shot at raising godly kids who follow after Him. Look at our verse.

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. What is the blessing that is attached to Proverbs 22:6? 

When they are old they will not turn from it.

You know that is our goal in rearing children. That they will love God and follow after Him.

Now again every child makes their choice in how they are going to live their lives. You have a much better shot at rearing godly kids if you instill God’s principles in their hearts at an early age than not doing anything.

Several weeks ago I came across a statistic that really caused me to be concerned.

Research show that Christians are theologically losing the next generation. More than 90% of born again kids today are rejecting the absolute truth their parents embrace.

That’s 9 out of 10 children that will walk away from the faith.

That means we are failing in our responsibilities as a parent to teach our children to love God with all of their hearts and all of their souls and all of their minds.

For too long we have depended upon the church to instill the godly principles our children need.

Though the church does help with instilling godly principles, it is the home’s responsibility to teach our children.

We can’t depend on somebody else to do it for us.

Now the task of teaching our own children, our grandchildren is not easy.

It will take work and a whole lot of wisdom.

I can’t tell you how to implement the principles, but there is one thing I know you can begin doing right away.

#4 – Pray for your child and ask God to give you teachable moments with them.

I want to remind you of something, that prayer is a powerful weapon to use against Satan in this war for our children’s lives. Satan’s objective is to attack our families.

He has a deliberate, willful and intentional plan to bring harm to our children, our marriages and our lives. He can attack us physically, mentally, economically, spiritually and relation-ally.

Unless we guard ourselves against the devil and resist him, we could end up being severely wounded.

I believe there is great power in prayer. I believe we can help shape our children’s future when we pray for them. I believe we can pray God’s hedge of protection around our children.

Our children’s lives don’t ever have to be left to chance. We don’t have to pace the floor anxiously biting our nails, gnawing our knuckles, dreading the terrible twos or torturous teens. We don’t have to fear of what dangers might be lurking behind every corner, nor do we have to be perfect or enabling parents. We can, this very minute, make a positive difference in our child’s future. It doesn’t matter if the child is three days old and perfect or 30 years old and going through some things because of bad choices and decisions. At every stage of our children’s lives our children need and will greatly benefit from our prayers. The key is not trying to do it all by ourselves all at once, but rather turning to the expert parent of all time, our Father in heaven for help.

I also want to remind you of something.

#5 – The teachings you leave behind will affect generations.

I came across a powerful quote….Children are the living messages we send to a time that we will not see.

How you are living your life right now affects generations to come.

I will pray for my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.