A sermon you won't want to miss
Wow! Maybe I'm the last person to hear this sermon by Voddie Baucham but if you haven't heard it, you must, you must go listen to it. Thanks to Becky Miller for mentioning it in our recent discussion on whether or not Sunday School as is normally practiced today is a Biblical concept. (Notice I said "normally" - I know of some churches which have what they call "Sunday School" which is not of the brand I'm referring to instead it is an age-integrated, family-oriented teaching time. I think that's wonderful so long as the fathers are being encouraged first and foremost to be the spiritual leaders of their homes. I'm also not saying that an evangelistic outreach a church has to the unchurched is wrong, but very few Sunday Schools/youth ministries exist for the purpose of evangelizing the unchurched in our day and age.)
Pastor Baucham really speaks to the heart of the matter on this subject. For those of you who strongly disagree with me on this or on the issue of the importance of home, family, and children, I encourage you to listen to this sermon by Voddie Baucham titled "Closing the Generation Gap" (scroll down for it). Maybe you'll still disagree, but it will definitely make you think about what the Word of God has to say on this issue.
It breaks my heart to hear the attitude expressed towards children by so many "Evangelical Christians." Oh sure, they might say that children are a blessing, but their words, attitude, and actions speak otherwise. Children are something only to be had if they can be afforded, when the time is right, when a couple is ready. And after you have your allotted 1.9 children, they are this huge burden around your neck for the next 18 years. Everyday, Mom and Dad live for the day when they will be empty-nesters. And this attitude of the parents is passed down to their children.
If I dare question anyone's beliefs in light of Scripture, though, I'm pronounced "legalistic." I often think that "legalism" is proclaimed in order to ward off personal conviction. Since when did it become legalism to say that children truly are a blessing from the Lord, something to be desired. Since when has it become legalistic to say that having a lot of children is a wonderful thing? There is something terribly wrong when what the church believes and practices is exactly what the world believes and practices.
The family is far more than the place where a group of people, related by blood and marriage, co-exist and try to survive together until the children reach the age of emancipation. The family is God's secret spiritual military training center where He raises warrioirs ready to "kick in the gates of Hell" that ravage society.
-Fathers and Daughters: Raising Polished Cornerstones
Graphic from Postmark Press
posted by Crystal Paine at 3:25 PM
5 Comments:
I entirely agree that the Church has not recently done justice to its children and young people, in that it has failed to honor them, train them, and expect from them all that they can offer as significant Kingdom citizens... I have been composing a blog post of my own on this.
However, I do not think that there is a direct link between the Sunday school phenomenon and a disparaging of (large) family life. The Church has historically held separate catechism classes for those persons who were being trained to enter fully into the life of the Church; and typically, those classes occured during the Church's regular liturgy, since the unchatechized were not deemed ready to participate fully in that liturgy, and so they were separated and trained separately during that time (generally, during communion). Furthermore, the unchatechized were typically children. Thus...the tradition has carried over into the modern Sunday School practice for little ones.
Crystal, thank you so much for posting that sermon. I really needed to hear that. There were things he said that made me rethink my attitude towards children, and that also encouraged me to live in the way that I think God wants me to.
I have recently started telling people that when we get married we won't be using birth control. I've only told about a handful so far, but the look on their faces is enough to make me want to back down -- not to mention the conversations that followed. Thank God for times like this that help me to hold firm to what is right.
Right there with you!
I saw the strangest thing at our church's bookstore the other day. It was a book called "What the Bible Says about Children" and I thought "Oh neat, someone was brave enough to put that here!" Well, I turned to the page on which the book interpreted Psalm 127 and it said "The Bible says that children are a blessing and large families are a good thing BUT no couple should ever feel obligated to have any children at all, if they don't want to". Strange. I get the first part but I've never seen any Biblical basis for the second one. That probably explains a great deal why people were less than enthusiastic in congratulating me on the birth of our second child, and I'm expecting even less joy when I announce our third.
Crystal,
Wonderful post and a wonderful sermon!! We heard that sermon a few months ago and my husband has copied it on to CD and handed it out to several people. It was like a refreshing drink of water!
We have come upon opposition over the years to having our children with us in church and not participating in Sunday School, to having a large family and planning for more, etc. So, we always enjoy an encouraging message from a like minded preacher! There aren't many like Voddie!!
Thanks for sharing it with your readers!!
My husband and I aren't usually ones to listen to a lot of sermon recordings, but we have listened to this one three or four times. We have also started burning it onto CDs for friends! I've never heard a sermon like this before, and I wish more preachers had the guts to proclaim truth boldly like Voddie Baucham! Especially in such a mainline denomination like the SBC.
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