September 3, 2000
Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb
Moses tells us, "But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life, make them known to your children and your children's children." There are 3 parts of this verse that I am going to talk about today. The first is a reminder to life-long learning; we never graduate from the school of faith. The second is a message on parental responsibility, and the third speaks of grandparental responsibility.
It's an ideal text for rally day, because it reminds us we need to study the things of God. This kind of study can't be accomplished in a 15 minute sermon once a week. That's why we are encouraging everyone to participate in our Sunday School, Alpha, Midweek Family Education Night, or Bible study.
In addition we need to connect with God on a daily basis. Ways to do this are through the Daily Texts or some other devotional booklet, Scripture reading, and prayer. Family devotions are also good ways of showing how God is important beyond these 4 walls.
These are all necessary because we need to be equipped so that we can live as we ought, and so we can help equip others, particularly our children. Our text reminds us that this is our responsibility. It can't be abdicated by saying, "If Sunday School were more fun or church were more interesting, or the Bible was easier to understand my children would want to learn about God." It is a parents duty to see to it that they do these things whether or not they find them interesting or fun in the same way that you insist they brush their teeth, wash their faces, and go to school whether they want to or not.
Martin Luther took the idea of the family as the primary source of spiritual education so seriously that he wrote the Small Catechism as a means for fathers to teach their children in the home. That is also why we include in our baptismal service a place for the parents and sponsors to obligate themselves to , "...faithfully bring these children to the services of God's house, and teach them the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. As they grow in years, you should place in their hands the Holy Scriptures and provide for their instruction in the Christian faith, that, living in the covenant of their Baptism and in communion with the Church, they may lead godly lives until the day of Jesus Christ." You gave your word; you must teach and model the faith for your children.
It was something more mundane than a religious service that brought this idea home to retired Green Bay Packer, Ken Ruettgers. His 5-year-old son, Matt, was impressed by another player on the team and wanted to meet him. Ken told Matt where he was, but as the boy approached he was ignored. Ken wrote that he was stunned by the whole thing: "There I was, a respected NFL player, who regularly received tons of fan mail and signed countless autographs. Yet, my son was looking elsewhere for a hero. A thought suddenly struck me: There's one role model Matt could always rely on. Someone who had a home-field advantage. Me. I realized I was at fault. I had been doing what all fathers, at times, tend to do. I was waiting for someone else to pick up the ball & run with it as a role model in my child's life. Don't get me wrong. I think teachers, coaches, & many others who touch our children's lives are vital. But when it comes to my son's life, my goal shouldn't be to hand off the role modeling task to someone else. For many of us--football players included--our most important responsibility as a role model is at home."
This realization prompted him to write a book as Luther did; he called it Game Plan for Becoming Your Child's Role Model.(Excerpts have been taken from http://sports.crosswalk.com/football/articles/item/1,,7200,00.htm) In it he emphasized that "Fathering Is a Contact Sport." This can also apply to mothering as well. He wrote it is a learning process that takes time and he offered three ways to wear down the competition. The first is to "Dominate The Clock." "A recent study reveals that the average 5-year-old spends only 25 minutes a week in close interaction with his father. Yet, the same child spends 25 hours a week watching TV. The average preschooler watches more TV in three years than the average college student spends in the classroom in four years.
Another study, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, shows that between the 7th and 12th grades, the average teenager will listen to and watch 11,000 hours of rock music and rock videos. More than twice the time they'll spend in the classroom. Is it any wonder that people like Madonna and Snoop Doggy Dogg are having a bigger impact on our children than we are? " He cited Deuteronomy 6:6-9 "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates" That sounds like more than 25 minutes a week. It sounds like a continual effort, carried out amid the mundane tasks of life."
Second he suggested to "Make Gains with Patience." It takes a long time to build up muscles on a body; it also takes a long time to develop our spiritual sides. "In life it's tell, pick up. Tell, pick up. We cannot expect our children to immediately learn the great moral concepts of life that are so important. They take time and patience. "
3rd on the list is to "Guard Your Position" He wrote, "Our kids are watching us intently. Sometimes we notice, sometimes we don't. But they're always watching our actions, taking mental notes. & those notes go far beyond how we shave & comb our hair. They're watching how we live.
I remember one weekday afternoon after returning from an intense workout. I was exhausted, so I lay on the couch to shut my eyes and take a snooze. My son was about 3 years old at the time, and we had just returned from Green Bay to our home in California. It was a beautiful spring day. I awoke to the sound of the lawn mower. The man we hire to cut the grass was mowing the backyard. When I sat up from the couch, I looked into the backyard and there was my son, pushing his toy bubble-making lawn mower behind the gardener. Whoa, wait a minute! I thought. I got that lawn mower so I could mow the yard with my son and he could follow me around. But there went Matthew, mowing right behind the gardener, following the man's tracks in the lawn. I want my son to follow in my tracks. Not someone else's.
Are you ready to risk being so closely watched and imitated? The prospect can feel threatening. It's the role of a lifetime. You see dads, you're the best role models for your kids because you have the ability to be the best in their eyes. You have the ability to be their hero. If you don't follow through, someone else may try to, often unsuccessfully, and never as well as you could. But here's the good news: If you guard your position, your own loving example of the right way to live will make an indelible impact on your kids. And, with God's help, they will never turn away from it (Prov. 22:6). And they won't ever need to turn to another second-string -- and second-rate -- role model again."
As I said, this message applies to moms as well, and it's also for grandparents, especially in those rebellious teenage years. I once heard a speaker say that the reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy--the parents. It is at the times when children feel their parents know absolutely nothing that grandparents can come alongside and reinforce those things the parents would be teaching if only they weren't so incredibly stupid--only from the child's view of course.
We all need support once in awhile. Grandparents, you can remind your grandchildren that it is their job to respect and obey their parents whether or not they believe they are the dum-best people on earth. You also can help by subbing in when your kids drop the ball with their kids. You may or may not have failed to make the impression on your children you had hoped, but you can still make an impact on their children. I remember learning to do daily devotions by watching my grandmother read her Portals of Prayer everyday. I know others who teach their grandchildren about God though their own children have turned their backs on Christianity.
No matter who we are, if we're important in a child's life, they are watching us. They're watching how we live; they're looking to find core values on which to base their lives. Make every effort not to drop the ball.
The really Great News is that we're not alone in this. The God who sent his Son to die for us is with us, giving us wisdom and power to play our position, and forgives us rather than benching us when we fumble. May God grant us grace to lead our little teams to victory because a victory in this game means life eternal.
Copyright 2000 by Rev. Laurel Bobb