Called To Teach (Deut. 6:1-9)

What kind of society are we launching our youth into?

A study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute showed that 23% of young people, that’s one in four, 15 to 24 years old, have had premarital sex.[1]

Another study reveals that at least one-third of the 475,000 abortions in the country are attributed to young women aged 15-24 years old.[2]

Anti-crime watch groups estimated that there are more than 6 million Filipinos who are occasional or regular drug users. [3] Among them are more than 350,000 high school students.

Our youth are facing a dangerous world out there. What can we do to prepare them?

In the book of Deuteronomy we find that the Israelites had just crossed the Jordan River after 40 years of wandering in the desert. They would soon be immersed in a culture which encouraged pagan practices and lifestyle.

Thus, in Deuteronomy 5 we read that the 10 commandments had been given to Moses.

The Law was a reminder that the Lord is the one true God who had an exclusive claim

on their worship and allegiance. And Moses was commissioned to faithfully teach the Law to the Israelites, who shall teach it in turn to their children. And their children are in turn to teach God's law to their children.

Truth is meant not only to be received but also to be shared and passed on by the adults and parents to the succeeding generations and to other people.

Please note that in the Scripturesthe responsibility of passing on the faith is primarily that of the parents, not the church. That does not mean, however, that those of you who do not have children do not have any influence or responsibility over the younger ones around you. Any believer can be a spiritual father or mother to another.

How does God expect us to communicate His truth to our family members and the next generations?

When God gave the 10 commandments He communicated to Moses both visually and verbally. There was fire and lightning, cloud and deep darkness. But there was also an audible voice. He even wrote the law on two tablets of stone.

In the same way, as Deut. 6:3-9 suggests, God and His words must be shared by us

to our children, the next generation and to others both visually and verbally, both by example and through instruction.

One of the ways to teach the faith to our children and other people is through…

I. VERBAL INSTRUCTION

Deut. 6:7-9 reads,

Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The best place to start is…

A. In the Home

Christian parents are to gather their family together for a brief Bible reading, exposition and prayer. That is the ideal.

The pressures of contemporary life, however, are making it more and more difficult for families to gather together at one time. What we can do is to grab every available opportunity to instill Biblical or Christian truths and principles to our children and youth.

In other words, there is no one best time to talk to our children about God and His words. Everytime is the best time. And there is no one best place to teach our youth and children about God and His word but the home.

Let me quote from Jack Deer:

Moral and biblical education of children is accomplished best not in formal teaching period each day but when parents make God and His word the natural topic of conversation anywhere and anytime during the day.

Educators call this the situational approach to learning, in contrast to formal, regimented, scheduled learning.

God's instructions must permeate every aspect of our being and life. We must use every occasion to inject our faith and the truths of God in our conversation with our children.

When our daughters were still very young, our youngest was not yet born that time,

they taught me that very important lesson on parenting. We were then eating adobong pusit for lunch. One of our daughters asked me, “Dad, why do squids have black ink?”

"Why?” “Oh my", I said to myself. Who ever invented that word "why?" – it is among the hardest questions to answer!

After a few seconds of scanning my memory bank, I finally came up with an answer.

With matching gestures I said, "When squids are attacked by their enemies they squirt their black ink in the water to protect themselves and disorient their enemies. With zero visibility they can then flee to safety away from their attacker.”

When I was through with my short lecture I saw that their black round eyes were still fixed on me in awe. I was expecting them to say, "Daddy, you're intelligent!"

But one of them instead said, "Ang galling ni God, no!". “Ang galling ni God, no!” -

That should have been my punchline to teach them about God being a creative genius that he is.

Teachable moments often come unannounced. We must seize the “Teachable moments“ when they come to point our children & youth to God. And the best instructors in this area are not the Sunday School teachers, nor Pastors, but parents.

Why? According to one study

1% of a child’s time is spent under the influence of the church (Sunday School)

7% under the influence of the school

92 % under the influence of the home.

While we appreciate and admire the ministry of the Sunday School teachers, (God bless our Sunday School teachers) their time with our children is very limited and consequently, so is their influence. You will not believe it but the following cute statements are said to have been written by Sunday Schoolers (thank God they are not EMC Sunday schoolers) and are genuine, authentic and not retouched or corrected:

Listen to the Bible according to Sunday School children:

· Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree.

· Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.

· The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals.

· Samson killed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles.

· Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten amendments.

· The fifth commandment is to humor thy father and mother.

· The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.

· David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar.

· Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

· When the three wise guys from the east side arrived, they found Jesus in the manager.

· The epistles were the wives of the apostles.

· A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

The instructors or teachers best situated to mold the spiritual life of the youth are you, parents, because you are with your kids longer than others. God and His word should be made the natural topic of conversation in the home anytime and under any situation during the day.

This is an important means of leading our children to a relationship with God.

B. In the Neighborhood.

The loving devotion to God and His Son, is not to be a purely private relationship. Our love for God must be shared in the community.

Jews had small boxes (phylacteries) containing verses from the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. They tie the small boxes on their foreheads and hands and fixed them on their doorposts and gates. The practice makes it unmistakably clear to the neighbors their commitment to God’s unchanging yet relevant word. However, using the phylacteries as a religious form of self-display was condemned by Jesus.

We need to give our neighbors the opportunity to come to know the Lord we love and obey. We can use our home for family occasions or host an outreach Bible Study in our home to give our neighbors an opportunity to hear the gospel.

But this is not enough. In fact, it is never enough. Verbal instruction will be effective only

if it is preceded by a consistent life example.

This leads us to another important means of teaching God’s truth.

II. VISUAL EXAMPLE

Our scripture text for today talks about the need for a visual communication of God's word.

Moses, speaking to the adult Israelites said...

v.1 – This is the commandment and statutes and the ordinances that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy.

v. 3 – Hear, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you…

v. 5 – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

All of these suggest that the adults and parents’ first duty is to teach their children by example. Whether you know it or not you are being watched.

It is easy to instruct our children to do what is right and pleasing to God. But if they do not see our faith in God being reflected through our lives if we ourselves are hooked to bad habits or unchristian behavior or do not take our relationship with God seriously,

I am afraid our verbal instructions will fall only on deaf ears.

Christian values are more caught than taught. Our children need to see that we adults / parents are obedient to God and His word.

A. Obey God Completely

The command "to do" what God says appears at least 50 times in the book of Deuteronomy.

Our children need to see that we are obedient to God and His word.

But we must obey God's commands not out of sense of obligation but because of love.

It is interesting to note that the command to obey is immediately followed by the command to love God with all our heart, soul and strength.

B. Love God Wholeheartedly

The command to love God, appears at least 10 times in the book of Deuteronomy.

We let the youth and children know that we love the Lord not because we say so, but because they see it in our life.

A piece I came across expresses it well. It is entitled…

Your Child Deserves

Your child deserves to hear you pray earnestly and often.

Your child deserves to go to worship and Bible classes with you regularly.

Your child deserves to see you sacrifice for the Lord

Your child deserves to go with you to visit the sick and bereaved

Your child deserves to be taught the Bible by you.

Your child deserves to hear you praise the church and her leaders.

Your child deserves to be encouraged by you to seek and obey the truth always.

Your child deserves to see you putting the Lord first in your giving.

Your child deserves to know the Christ living in you.

Do our children and the young people in our midst see in our life the values, precepts and commandments of God?

If they see inconsistencies between our life and what we teach it will be hard for them to believe.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.”

Now there may be something, a bad habit maybe, that you have to give up to be a better role model to your children and your children’s children.

Give it up! Surrender it to the Lord. We best teach our faith to our children through a godly example - when we both love and consistently obey God.

CONCLUSION:

It is time for us to say who our Lord of our life is – That means we must not only say the truth we believe in. we must act as people of the truth. We must behave as children of light.

Our children and young people need to see and hear through our instruction and example; the verbal and the visual communication of God's words; both through words and life.

What if our children are already grown-up and we have already missed the opportunity

to share God and His word to them?

What does the word of God say? Deut. 4:9 reads,

Take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children…

Thank God it is not yet too late! We can still and should pass on our faith to our children's children – our apos. That is what we call “Apostolic mission.”

It is not yet too late.

Prayer

Cleanse, sanctify our homes with your presence, and fill it with your love. Bless our resolve to pass on a spiritual heritage of loving loyalty to You to our children, the youth and other people. Amen.

Read more of Rev. Deslate's Sermons at the Ellinwood Malate Church's site.

[1] http://www.unicef.org/philippines/archives/news/041105.html

[2] http://www.upiasiaonline.com/Society_Culture/2007/ 11/20/commentary_sex_and_filipino_youth/7325/

[3] Philippines drug buster in Quixotic struggle against shabu, Asia-Pacific Features By John Grafilo Aug 29, 2007,