Calvary Road Baptist Church
“CHILDREN ARE IMPORTANT”
This message from God’s Word is topical. That is, it is a message that is zeroed in on a single issue, the importance of children. Not children en masse, but each child as an individual. But I am persuaded as my message unfolds that most of you will agree with me that each child is important for entirely different reasons than most people will admit.
I would like to begin by establishing two realities that are very important to thinking right thoughts and doing right deeds: First, there is the truthfulness and utility of the Bible, God’s Word. By truthfulness, I refer to the factual accuracy and historical reliability of the Bible in every respect. The Bible is wrong about nothing. The Bible is right about everything. And though this sermon is not about the accuracy and reliability of the Bible, it is based upon the accuracy and reliability of the Bible. To you, or to anyone you know, who challenges the accuracy and reliability of the Bible, I make a single claim: You are wrong. God’s Word is forever settled in heaven, and its truthfulness reflects the character of its Author, the Creator, and Sustainer of all things.
Regarding the Bible’s utility, I will assert without attempting to prove that living one’s life according to the guidance of the Bible is the simplest and most practical approach to living. Life is so complicated, and the variables that add complexity to our lives are so many, that greater wisdom is needed to negotiate life in this world than any individual possesses. For that reason, as well as other reasons I will not presently go into, the Bible-guided lifestyle, be it the individual’s life, the married couple’s life, or the parent’s family life, is, without doubt, the most practical lifestyle that can be lived.
The second reality is related to the first without being the same. It has to do with the difference between subjectivity and objectivity. As I will use the word, subjective has to do with your opinion, with your feelings, and with your conclusions drawn about matters. To illustrate, subjective speaks to your opinion about the relative merits of Coca-Cola versus Dr. Pepper, the Dodgers versus the Angels, which might be quite different opinions from the opinions of another person. Objective, on the other hand, has to do with reality over opinion, position rather than disposition, fact instead of feeling. It is objectively true that 2 + 3 = 5 and 9 - 7 = 2, regardless of anyone’s subjective opinion about arithmetic.
What do these two realities have to do with the importance of children? They have very much to do with the importance of children. Follow along with my line of thought. Most people who think children are important think they are important because children are important to them. But this is entirely false reasoning because it is merely subjective. How so? An unborn baby girl is thought by many people in India, China, and the United States of America to be unimportant because of so many pregnancies of women with girls being terminated by abortions for no other reason than the sex of the unborn baby. Thus, millions of unborn baby girls are treated as though they are of no importance because they are of no importance to the mother carrying them, in that they are killed before they are born. Their reasoning is a subjective opinion, and deadly to unborn baby girls. But it is not just unborn baby girls who are thought by so many people in India, China, and the United States of America to be unimportant. So many abortions are performed each year to terminate the lives of unborn boys, as well. Thus, while unborn baby boys are somewhat more favored by their mothers than are unborn baby girls, the death toll by abortions for both unborn girls and unborn boys numbers in the millions. Thus, to a slightly different degree, subjective opinion is also deadly to many unborn baby boys.
Therefore, if the measure of a child’s worth is the sentiment toward that child by the mother, subjective opinion, then a child’s value is determined by what many people would identify as an accident or coincidence. Is a child’s worth only a reflection of a mother’s sentiment toward her child? Think about it with me. What if the mother dies? Does the child suddenly lose value because the one person in the world who valued the child passes off the scene? That doesn’t set well with us, does it?
Reflect, now, with me about the importance of a child to the father. Is a child important only if the child is subjectively important to the father? If that is the case, what about the children conceived as a consequence of a violent act of rape? The fathers of such children obviously have no concern for their offspring. Are their children, therefore, without value and importance? As well, what about the child whose father was married and whose mother gave birth to the child? But then the father leaves, never to be seen again. Is the child who is left behind an individual who was important but is now no longer important, because the father no longer treats the child as important?
Don’t you see the error of such thinking? Imagining that your child is important only if your child is important to you is not objective thinking. It is subjective thinking. It is life lived in such a way that only your opinion matters. It is also the basis for the abortion industry and their insistence that unborn children are not important, and are not to be treated as important if they are not important to their mothers. But how can that be?
If children are only important if they are important to their mothers, or if they are important to their fathers, then what happens when mom is gone, or if dad is gone? Do children lose their importance? Or what about the child who concludes in his mind that he is unimportant? If I think I am unimportant then it is likely I may, therefore, conclude that it does not matter what I think, what I feel, or what I do. It makes no difference if I commit crimes, live a life of cheating and stealing, or even commit suicide.
Consider the two little boys who have been beaten to death in the last two years here in Southern California. The news media has been all over it. Would their mother’s boyfriends have done what they did to little boys they considered to be important? Would their mothers have even allowed boyfriends into their homes if they considered their sons to be important enough to protect from predators? Do not think violence is required to prove my point. I know kids who are ignored because they are considered unimportant by their moms or their dads. No violence. Just no attention, no care, and no love.
I hope I have made the case to show how risky it is to children for their importance and value to be based solely on the opinions their mothers have about them, or the opinions their fathers have about them. I maintain children are important, moms and dads. I maintain each child is important. But their importance has nothing to do with how much you like them, how much you love them, or how important you think they are. Their importance is not a subjective opinion, but an objective reality, based upon the truthfulness and reliability of the Bible.
I set before you four things to consider regarding your child’s importance as a motivating and guiding factor for how you should raise your child:
First, EVERY CHILD IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE EVERY CHILD POSSESSES AN ETERNAL AND UNDYING SOUL
Regardless of the sex of your child, the presence or absence of a chromosome, the native intelligence of your child, or the athletic potential of your child, there is possessed by every child something identified as a soul. My own opinion is that sex, chromosomal patterns, intelligence, skin color, athletic ability, overall general health, and whatever else is visible and measurable in the life of any individual is a feature of each person’s physical existence and has no bearing on the importance of one’s soul throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.
Genesis 2.7 reveals that man became a living soul when God created him. And if you search the Bible throughout you will discover that it is one’s soul that is the true seat of identity, the portion of you and every other person that is truly immortal and that your appearance, abilities, intelligence, and other physical aspects of your existence are so very temporary.
Young person, you are important. Not because you have a soul, but because you are a soul. Moms and dads? Children are not important because they are your kids, but because they are living souls. And because they are living souls, your parenting and the choices you make as a mom and a dad should reflect what the Bible says about their spiritual, eternal needs.
Next, EVERY CHILD IS VALUABLE BECAUSE EVERY CHILD BEARS THE IMAGE OF GOD
Perhaps you are unmoved by someone who desecrates a nation’s flag by setting it on fire or traipsing all over it but take note of what happens to anyone who does that in Russia, in China, in India, in Brasil, or in Argentina. The fact is a nation’s flag represents the nation, the people. It is a symbol. By desecrating a nation’s flag, you instigate an assault, an insult, against the nation the flag represents. Do that in Mexico, Columbia, Egypt, Turkey, or Russia and see what happens to you.
Consider also the communion of the Lord’s Supper, especially the Apostle Paul’s declaration to the Corinthian congregation that some of their Church’s members were sick, and some even died, because of their misconduct while observing that ordinance, First Corinthians 11.29-30. Why so? The Communion of the Lord’s Supper represents the Lord’s body according to the apostle. It was a symbol and disrespecting the symbol resulted in a reaction from God.
In a somewhat similar fashion every human being, which would include every child, bears the image of God. It was God’s design to in some way imprint His image onto each human being, beginning with Adam, Genesis 1.26. He accomplished His goal, Genesis 1.27.
What is the image of God? Honest theologians and Bible scholars will admit that we don’t know for sure, but it is some kind of spiritual imprint of God on a person. And the result is that bearing the image of God, even bearing the marred image of God as a sinner, imparts to every human being astonishing value. So much so that the criminal taking of any human life, because each of us bears God’s image, is a capital crime punishable by death, Genesis 9.6:
“Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”
Consider a human being, especially a child. Important because he or she is an eternal soul. And additionally, valuable, because every child bears the mark of God, the image of God. That separates every child from pets, be they dogs, cats, birds, or goldfish. That also makes every child infinitely valuable, with that value being reflected in how parents should raise their children, and how every adult ought to treat anyone’s child. Is such reflected in your life choices?
Third, EVERY CHILD IS A RECIPIENT OF GOD’S GRACE
Though there is disagreement among theologians and Bible teachers about the extent to which God blesses every human being with grace, undeserved favor, and blessing, there is no doubt among theologians and Bible teachers that God does, indeed, bless every human being in some way, without exception. That makes every human being the object of God’s favor, a recipient of God’s grace.
To be sure, God’s grace in each person’s life varies. However, no person is utterly without some measure of God’s grace. How do we know? Consider John 1.16, where we are told by the apostle about the Lord Jesus Christ,
“And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
This verse does not in any way suggest that every sinner’s sins are forgiven because of Christ. We are clearly shown in Scripture that all who die without faith in Christ will suffer the eternal torment of the damned. However, this verse does show that in some way every human being has received some measure of God’s grace, blessing if you will, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next, look to Ephesians 4.29:
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
It can never be said that any individual is without some measure of God’s grace so long as a believer in Jesus Christ is nearby and willing to speak words of kindness, encouragement, and Gospel witness to that person. Thus, there is no one utterly without God’s grace if any believer in Jesus Christ has anything to say about it. That means such a person is favored in some way by God. Third, we look to our Lord’s own words in Matthew 5.45:
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
If you look at the verse that precedes this one you see that this verse provides part of the reason why each of us should “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” It is, in part, because even your enemy, as well as that person who curses you and hates you, is the object of some measure of God’s favor, God’s grace. How do we know? The sun shines on them as well as on you, does it not? As well, he benefits just as much from God’s rain as you do. That means he receives what some call common grace, and others call prevenient grace. Whatever the label, it is God’s grace and is an indication of some amount of God’s favor.
While even despicable people are the recipients of some measure of God’s grace, qualifying every child as thereby being important, recognize that some children will someday become believers in Jesus Christ, thereby becoming God’s children. How do you know how a child will turn out in life? Do you know God’s plan and purpose for each child, and how greatly favored a young child may be shown to be later in life? Could you have predicted that little boy born in China would grow up and emigrate to the United States to become the first Ph.D. granted by the Ohio State University to an Asian? More importantly, could you have predicted God’s hand on John Sung’s life, returning to his homeland to become the greatest of the evangelists in China before World War Two?[1] Then there is Mary Slessor, just an ordinary Scottish girl born in 1848 in Aberdeen. Who could have known the impact she would have as a Christian missionary in Nigeria by the time she died in 1915? So many came to know Christ through her ministry, and thousands of Nigerian children were saved from being murdered by her efforts.[2] The point that I seek to make here is that every child is important because every child is a recipient of God’s grace, showing God’s favor in some way, with some children later shown to be the objects of God’s great favor. How so? They come to know Jesus Christ in response to the Gospel presented to them. And some of them are then most wonderfully used by God.
Every child is important. Every child has an eternal soul. Every child bears the image of God. And every child receives some measure of God’s grace. So, how can you tell which child will become a recipient of great measures of God’s unmerited favor as those who trust Christ as their savior? You cannot. But God has known since before time began.
Ponder the schoolteacher in Nepal who slapped the low-caste seven-year-old little boy who dared to walk to the front of the classroom, thinking of him as only an undeserving wretch. I wonder at the teacher’s reaction upon learning that little boy grew up to command 10,000 guerilla fighters? Do you think he trembled at the thought of that Maoist commander coming back to exact retribution from him? However, more important is God’s reaction to the assault on His future anointed Church planter, evangelist, and pastor, known to us as Samuel Rai.[3] Romans 12.19:
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Treat every child well. Recognize that every child is important. Understand that some of those children will be numbered among God’s choicest servants. How does that affect your treatment of children, especially the treatment of your child?
Finally, REFLECT AN AWARENESS OF CHRIST’S CONCERN FOR CHILDREN
As evidenced by,
First, His comments about children. Having been born of the Virgin Mary and having grown up in the household of Joseph and Mary, there is nothing about childhood the Lord Jesus Christ was not familiar with, other than the experience of personal sin. Therefore, He knew not only the spiritual danger involved with childhood but the effect on children of neglectful adults, however well-intentioned they might be. Most famous of His comments regarding children is likely either of these two statements. First, the rebuke He uttered in Mark 10.14:
“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
I say rebuke because of the context of His comment, made not to parents but His disciples for being obstacles which impeded children’s access to Him. The Lord Jesus Christ knew how important it was for even the youngest among us to have access to Him, that they might learn of Him, and that they might be encouraged to come to Him for salvation full and free. Next, the warning He spoke in Matthew 18.6 after calling a child alongside:
“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
From our Lord’s statement, we see two things; that little ones can believe in Him, and that you’d better not offend children who believe in Him.
Then, there is His provision for children. It is right, because the Lord Jesus Christ is clearly shown to be the Creator and Sustainer of all things, to ask of His provision for children. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who designed the scheme of biological reproduction by which children are conceived and born into the world. And it was the Lord Jesus Christ who served as the architect for the family unit in which children were to be born and raised in preparation for not only adulthood but also for eternity. But beyond a family and parents in this life, the Lord Jesus Christ provided the ground for salvation, the new birth, the forgiveness of sins, justification by faith, and adoption into the family of God as preparation for the next life. For what purpose did the Savior create the ministry of fatherhood? To what end did the Savior create the ministry of motherhood? So that fathers and mothers could raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to the end that each child might in this lifetime be prepared for eternity in the next.
Two thousand years ago the eternal Son of the living God left heaven’s glory to enter the human race as the virgin-born Son of God, born of a maid named Mary in a village named Bethlehem. He lived a sinless life and died a sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary. But that’s not the end of it. Three days after He died He rose from the dead, as He had predicted, in glorious victory over sin, death, Hell, and the grave. Showing Himself alive to hundreds with many infallible proofs, He then returned to glory where He has since then been enthroned at God the Father’s right hand. Someday He will return in power and great glory.
But until He returns He commands that the Gospel be preached to every creature, and that to men, women, and children be proclaimed the unsearchable richest of Christ. His purpose, His plan, and His desire are for men, women, and children to come under the sound of the Gospel being preached, to come to the realization of personal guilt and sinfulness, and to trust Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
These things rehearsed, has it been established to your satisfaction that children are important? That every child is important? Important to God and therefore certainly important to you? Not because you love the child, but because the child is a soul, because the child bears God’s image, because the child receives God’s grace (which is God’s unmerited favor), and because of Christ’s concern for the child.
Should the child’s importance affect how you relate to the child, how you raise the child as a mom or a dad? It should. It better. Children are important not only because they are important to you, but because they are important to God, because they are eternal beings, and because they are properly to be prepared for eternity according to God’s plan.
Our reason for Vacation Bible School, for our children’s ministry, and for the ministry of the Word to parents, parents to be, and grandparents is to urge children to consider the claims of Christ so they might be prepared for eternity and to equip adults to raise children properly. Crucial to that is your relationship with Christ. If you are not a Christian, you need to be.
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[1] Leslie T. Lyall, A Biography Of John Sung, (Singapore: Armour Publishing Pte Ltd, 2004)
[2] Ruth Johnson Jay, Mary Slessor Missionary To Calabar, (Lewisville, Texas: Accelerated Christian Education, 2006)
[3] Dr. Samuel Rai is a Baptist leader and friend in Nepal whose ministry I have been involved with for some years.
Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.
Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church