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June 15, 2008
Deuteronomy 11:18-28
Passing The Baton
Denis Rainey, wrote a book entitled The Tribute.
It has some interesting stories about family life.
One of the best is about two year old Robin Hawkins
At age 2, Robin Hawkins was already a home wrecker.
Her father Rowlf is waiting for her to be old enough to ask for an allowance.
When she is he intends to show her a bill for almost $2,300.00.
That is the value of family belongings she destroyed in a two-month rampage.
Her father recounts the series of events that led up to the bill.
It started when Alice the Cat went down the drain.
“I heard her saying, ‘Bye-bye, fluff-fluff, bye-bye,’”.
He reached the bathroom in time to see Alice the Cat go down the toilet.
Cost: $2.50 for the stuffed animal and $62.75 for the plumber.
One week later, Teddy Bear was placed in the dishwasher.
He ended on top of the heating element.
Cost: $8 for Teddy Bear.
Plus $25 for smoke damage in the kitchen and $375 for the dishwasher.
The Hawkinses returned from a weekend trip.
When they opened the refrigerator everything inside it was warm.
The repairman found little magnetic letters in the vents.
Cost: $3.50 for the magnetic letters.
Plus $120 for the ruined food and $310 for the refrigerator.
“That evening, we sat down to watch TV.
“When I turned it on, everything was green,” Hawkins said.
“Robin had twisted the fine tune knob so far that it broke inside.”
Cost: $115 to repair the television.
The next day, Robin’s mother, Bernie, went to pick up her husband at work.
Robin was sleeping in her safety seat.
So Mrs. Hawkins decided to leave her while she ran in to get him.
She put the keys in her purse and left the purse in the car.
Robin managed to drive the car about 400 feet before running into a tree.
Cost: $1,029.52 to repair the car.
Shortly after the car was repaired the Hawkinses went grocery shopping.
They parked the car halfway in the garage to unload the groceries.
They decided to leave Robin strapped in her safety seat.
As they put the groceries inside the front door they heard a noise.
It was a loud, grinding noise.
Robin had locked herself in the car.
And with delight was pushing the garage door opener.
She giggled each time the garage door bounced the hood of the car. [i]
Robin seemed to move from one crisis to another mostly of her own making.
Today many children live from one crisis to another.
But they are not a crisis that they made.
Many kids are facing crises created by their parents often by their fathers.
We need to hear God’s Word in Deuteronomy 11:18-28.
I. Verses 19-21 focuses on THE CONNECTION.
Do not neglect the children.
If we neglect our children it is to our own peril.
The Hawkinses discovered that when they turned their backs on Robin.
But that is not the neglect that is perilous.
Spiritual neglect brings peril to a generation.
It is imperative that we connect our children with God.
To do that God must be at the centre of our homes.
A god will always be at the centre of our homes.
Some god will always be given priority.
There will always be a god that will have our allegiance.
When parents allow that to happen, their children will be at risk.
The neglect of a child’s spiritual care jeopardizes their eternity.
It is abusive in God’s sight and intolerable.
No excuse can justify the spiritual neglect of a child.
Teach your children on the sidewalk, in the car, in your home.
Teach them on vacation, at bed time, when you have breakfast.
II Verse 18 focuses on THE CHALLENGE.
God’s words need to consume our focus.
“Lay up these words of Mine in your heart.”
God challenges us to make Him the centre.
Push everything else in your life to the side.
God challenges you to make sure nothing else in life takes His place.
Because God knows that we all reap what we sow.
If we live a spiritually casual life why would a child be different?
If God doesn’t matter to their dad why would He matter to them?
The spiritual neglect of a child has a devastating by-product.
God says, “Make Me first in your life.”
God refuses to share the centre with anything else.
We have a nation of children at risk.
And there is primarily one reason why they are at risk.
I am staggered by how casually families take their spiritual responsibility.
They’ll focus on the spiritual life of their children someday.
They have great intentions, someday.
But for now we can’t miss soccer practice, my child might be benched.
For now we can’t miss a school play rehearsal, God will have to wait.
No responsibility is felt toward having them in Sunday School or church.
Oh it won’t hurt to miss Sunday school once in a while.
They don’t learn that much anyway.
But they learn volumes by what you allow to be priority.
Those are the value lessons they learn.
The question isn’t the effectiveness of the teacher or preacher.
The question is: Is God important or not?
Where your treasure is there you heart will be also.
It doesn’t take kids long to figure out what your treasure is.
“Lay up these words of mine in your heart.”
Treasure God’s word in your heart.
That’s the best way to show your children that you treasure them!
Teach your children to put God first in their lives.
III Verses 26 to 28 focus on THE CHOICE.
You can choose to obey God and know His blessing.
Or, you can choose to disregard God and know His cursing.
You can choose the one true living God.
Or you can choose the gods this world offers.
So what is your choice today?
Perhaps you should ask your child what they see you choosing.
Do they have any awareness of what God is doing in you and through you?
Do they see you keeping God first in your life?
God will not settle for a casual relationship.
The most important thing we teach our children is to put God first in their lives.
There Is No Molding Without Modeling.
The most important task we have is to help mold our children’s character.
Children learn far more from what we do than what we say!
That is why our lesson from Deuteronomy begins with us in verse 18.
We can’t give to our children something we do not have ourselves.
We have the awesome privilege of making the connection.
I congratulate you dads for being here today.
It may not have been an easy decision.
But important decisions are rarely easy.
You may not even recognize the significance of being here today.
But without saying a word you have said something to others.
You have especially said something to your children.
I encourage you to never stop saying it.
We aren’t in this life just for ourselves.
We are in this life to pass something on.
It’s like a relay race.
In 1996 the world watched a relay race in Atlanta, Georgia.
Canadians were especially watching this race.
The Canadian Men’s Olympic team was anchored by the Donovan Bailey.
He was one of the fastest men in the world.
He had already won the men’s 11 meter race.
The men’s team came through with the gold medal.
Speed is certainly important in a relay race.
But more races are lost not because of a lack of speed.
More relay races are lost in the transfer of the baton.
Timing is important.
The baton must reach the next runner.
If the carrier waits too long the receiver is going too fast.
That makes the passing of the baton difficult.
Both runners must be running at their peak speed at the same time.
Father’s you can’t wait too long to touch a child spiritually.
Now is the time to pass on the baton.
But most relays are lost at the point of transfer.
There is a critical moment when all can be lost by a fumble.
A slight miscalculation can bring the race to a grinding hault.
The baton is rarely dropped after the transfer.
If failure occurs it is because there was no a firm connection.
One runner does not pass on cleanly or clearly.
What are you passing on spiritually?
Is what you are passing on clean and clear?
How are you passing on the baton of faith to your children?
It will only be important to them if it is to you.
Are you making certain that God is first in your life?