VBS Sermon 2018

VBS Sermon 2018 Proverbs 22:6 There are always two things in VBS you work to avoid: one is incidents with the children ie…injures, arguments, and fights. The other is teacher frustration—that is why we do a teacher’s lounge. It was the second night of VBS and we had a couple of boys who did not come to church very often—their families were the unchurched next door. Which our community here in Southeast Lauderdale is full with these families. One was the son of a migrant farmer and the other was just an unchurched boy from the community. They were both known to be mischievous. One of the workers came and said Brother Wallace you need to come see this. So I followed them to the main hall where the boys bathroom was located. And when I stepped inside the bathroom it was completed covered in shaving cream—they had sprayed the mirror and the sink—filled the urinal to overflowing and generally just sprayed down everything. Now we had about 100 kids so it was extremely difficult to catch the culprits. I had an idea who it was, but had no proof. So the next night during assembly I got up and said that we had a good idea who had defaced God’s property. We might not have seen you, but God did. Well, later that week both of those boys accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and were baptized. That is the power and the possibility of VBS. It is the responsibility of God’s church to teach and train young people in the ways of the Lord. Now our focal verse here speaks on three levels: that of a father and his son, the church and what it affords children, and then there is the spiritual nuance of training A PERSON WHO IS A YOUNG Christian. He commands us to train up a child. The Hebrew word translated train here speaks of early instruction and indoctrination. In fact it has a strong sense of initiation and dedication. There are two interesting pictorial definitions used in antiquity with this word. One describes the act of catching a fish where the hook is set inside of the lip of the fish thereby controlling the fish leading it to capture. The other was a method used in ancient days refers to the practice of rubbing the palate of a newborn child with date juice or olive oil to motivate the child to nurse. This method was also used in order to move a child from nursing to consuming foods more consistent than that of milk. So the true sense of the word describes the actions of parents in actively dedicating their children to the Lord and motivating that child through a plethora of means to be Christian and morally sound. There is also the nuance which causes change and that is the purpose—the very insistence of this verse is that without proper training that child will go the wrong way. The Bible says much about the discipline of a child by the father. My favorite is, “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die,” (Proverbs 23:13). I like what it says, but my father enjoyed implementing this scripture. Another scripture is, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him,” (Proverbs 22:15). These two verses, with our text, set the parameters of discipline. Now I grant you that there are several different ways people interpret the phrase “rod of correction.” I have always used my father’s interpretation—it was about 40 inches long and a little over an inch wide. And had an amazing ability to sway a child’s direction—literally change it. Joey and Rory sing a song with these lyrics… They were both made of leather, both black and frayed and worn. I was brought up to respect them since the day that I was born. One came here from England; it's been handed down for years. The other one was ordered from a catalog at Sears. Cause one had my daddy's name on it, the other said King James. With love they taught us lessons but we feared them both the same. One led us to heaven and the other left a welt… Those were the days when kids were raised with a bible and a belt… It is a father’s responsibility to discipline the children. Now this word child used here can also be described as a new convert to the Jewish faith and therefore it becomes the responsibility of the church to train all new members. How do we effectively train new members? We call it Sunday School, that is why it is so important to be an active member of Sunday School. One of the best way parents can obey God and train their children to honor Him is to consistently have those children in Sunday School and set the example by being with them. No, having your children in church is no money back guarantee they will not stray into sin, but not having them in Sunday school where they can at least learn the way of the Lord is condemning them to a life of trouble. Which brings us to the phrase, “in the way he should go.” This tells us that God has a set path for each of us to follow. The Hebrew bears out using the word “train” that this “way” is a path that has already been preselected for the child to go. What he is saying is that God has a way He wants your child to go, and you as a parents are to find out that way. You are not to bring up your children in the way you think they should go, but in the way God wants them to go. I am reminded of a couple of verses: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” There is what we try to do in VBS, SS, and hopefully parents are doing in the home—training them to trust in the Lord. The word does convey the act of faith, but also to have a strong confidence and belief in with a deep sense of reliance upon. I think in this room this morning there are those who need to revisit this issue in their lives. It might be you—you lack a strong reliance upon the Lord—no matter what I know God is faithful. Is your trust/faith deep enough to be considered saving faith? If so you will teach that faith to your children. If I questioned your children this morning, would they say you have great faith? Another question might be to all of us here this morning, “Did I train my children in the ways of the Lord?” we are not responsible for the decisions they make once they leave our homes, but we are responsible to see they are trained in the ways of the Lord. That is what we seek to do this coming week—to water the seed of faith that God has put within each of these children’s hearts; “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith,” (Romans 12:3c). As a church, as a member of this church, each of us is responsible for training these children in the way God wants them to go. I firmly believe that each of us will give an account to God one day for what we did or did not do in the seasons of VBS when we had all of these children here. Many of these may never darken the doors of a church again, but at least if we can train them for just a few hours next week—they might make it to heaven one day. I know you are busy, but we are talking about eternity here. These children are being influenced by an evil society and the devil is trying to kill and steal. Just how precious is a soul to you?