My Parents Are Lucky To Have Me

Introduction

One of the blessings of being a preacher is that in the course of my preaching and teaching, I get to share certain personal glimpses with you. And I give you some insight into what it was like growing up in North Alabama in the country. And I get several comments about some of those stories, and I’ll remind you, like I said last Sunday, all my stories are true. I don’t embellish or make them up. And some of the comments, most frequent comments I get are expressions of sympathy for my parents and teachers. And this morning’s lesson is in reply to that, that my parents were lucky to have me.

I was my parents were lucky to have me for one reason is because I introduced laughter and levity into their lives. One evening after supper, we were in the living room watching television, and my mom gave me the instructions to go clean up in the dining room table. We’d had supper and things were still sitting there. And so I obediently got up and went and put things away. And there was a bottle of ketchup sitting on the table. And as I got it to put it in the refrigerator, a brilliant idea came to mind. Before I tell you what I did, I need to tell you a little bit about my dad. My dad was a nervous type. He was always thinking about ways that we could get hurt.

He was afraid for us to go in the water because we might drown. He didn’t like us eating fish because we might choke on one of the bones. And if something bad did happen, my dad was a nervous wreck about those kinds of things. And so I had the brilliant idea to take that bottle of ketchup and squirt a little bit on my face to resemble blood, and then loudly knock over some chairs in the dining room table and stumble back into the living room with what looked like blood streaming down my face. And my parents didn’t think that day that they were lucky to have me. I almost replaced the ketchup with real blood after Dad got through with me. But I want to talk to you about families.

And of course, we’re emphasizing the spiritual family that we are, the privileges and the responsibilities that go along with that. But that theme spurred in my mind the idea of our physical families. And so I want to talk a little bit about family this morning. And that’s the title of our lesson is My Parents Are Lucky to Have Me. And this is a lesson intended and geared just for our young people. And I know that’s a relative term. We’ve talked about that in our Bible class. Young people is a relative term. But by this definition, the young, I’m talking to those who are still at home and still under the authority of your parents, whatever that age range might be. And so this is a lesson for you, young people.

1. You Are Important, but Not the Center of the Universe

And but don’t tune out if you’re older than that. There’s some principles and some lessons that you can learn from this as well. It’s not surprising, is it, that scripture addresses young people. Old and New Testament tells you that you have certain responsibilities, young people, as a product of creation, of being a part of God’s creation, thrust upon you certain responsibilities. And so let’s talk about some of those. And hopefully, young people, you use this as a measuring stick for you to see how you’re measuring up. How are you doing? What are some ways that you can improve? The first thing I want you to know as a young person, as a child still living at home with your parents, is that you are important. But you’re not the center of the universe.

And so let’s look at both of those components. You are important. You are the product of intelligent design. That by its very nature makes you something important.

Sean led that wonderful song, Our God, He is Alive.

That song was written in reply to a cover story in the 1960s that God is dead. You may remember the God is dead movement from the 60s. And our brother in Christ, the gospel preacher A.W. Dykus, wrote this song in reply to the title, God is Dead. And he said, Our God, he is alive. I’m going to tell you a little bit about Brother Dykus. Brother Dykus died in 1978, but Brother Dykus was what I think anybody would call a genius. He was a college professor. In fact, he was the head of the physics department of the university. You used an invention of Brother Dykas this morning, or at least you should have.

He has other inventions, but that’s probably the one that we’re most familiar with. Brother Dykus ended up his career teaching at Florida College. In fact, one of the buildings is named after him. And so this man who knew science, who knew about physics and the beginnings and the essence and the essentialities of what it takes to make life, believed in a God. Believed in an intelligent designer who designed and created you. And you’re not just a part of that intelligent design. God didn’t just design you and create you. Look with me in the book of Acts, what it goes on to say in Acts chapter 17 about you, of being a part of that intelligent design. Acts chapter 17, Paul was introducing people to this God, who he tongue in cheek identified as the unknown God.

They didn’t know him. And he wanted to introduce them to this audience. And he said this among many things about this God. He says, For in him, Acts 17, verse 28, for in him we live and move and have our being. As some, as also as some of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. So God didn’t just design us as some kind of third-party mechanism. We are actually his offspring. We, as the book of Genesis would tell us, we are made in his image. You’re made in the image of God, young people. That’s what makes you special.

Look, hold your finger there at Acts 17 and go back, we’re going to come right back to it, and go back in the Old Testament to the book of Ecclesiastes. Look in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Notice what the wise man said about God and creation and our purpose to this. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in verse 11, it says, speaking of God, he has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he put eternity into their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God has done from the beginning to end. He put eternity into our hearts. What does that mean? Does that mean that he made us beings that would continue to live on after we die? Absolutely, that’s the case. That soul that he put within our body is going to live on.

And so, in that sense, there’s eternity in our hearts. But here it’s not just speaking of living on. It’s talking about that idea of that desire to know. God put that curiosity in us, that desire, that drive to find something, some meaning. Look in Acts chapter 17 again, back to that sermon that Paul delivered to these people. Let’s back up one verse from what we read earlier. We look at Acts 17, verse 28. Look at verse 27. Or actually back up to verse 26. He says, And he, that’s that God, that creator again, he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and he’s determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that God created, God formed and made you for this purpose, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

He so ordered us in that creation that we might seek for him. I believe what Scripture is teaching us there is that God put within us some innate need, some desire to search and to know. And so, see, you’re special. Because you were made by God. God made you in his image. There is within you that intelligent desire. There is that in you that spiritual, even divine nature, the New Testament would say. And that gives purpose to your existence. You’re not just life. You are life with a purpose and an existence, young people. But that doesn’t mean that the world revolves around you. That doesn’t mean that your family even revolves around you. This, pardon the joke, this isn’t Burger King, and you don’t get it your way.

Things don’t always get to work out the way that you want them to. And this is the premise of our lesson. Go back in the Old Testament with me to Isaiah chapter 45. One thing we need to learn as we are young, and hopefully we’ll carry on into our adulthood is this principle. Isaiah chapter 45 and in verse 18 is a guiding principle to our young and to all. It says, Thus says the Lord, Isaiah 45, 18, thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other. You are special because God created you and created you in a special and unique way for a special and unique purpose.

2. Obeying Your Parents Is Serious Business

But the world, the universe doesn’t resolve, revolve around you because created you. God is the center of the universe. God is to be the center of your life and hopefully of your family’s life. And so everything points and centers around God. The next lesson I want us to understand as young people, and I apologize, this is the uncomfortable part of the lesson. And that is that obeying your parents is serious business.

Old and New Testament put the emphasis on this. Turn with me, if you will, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. We’ll just look at a couple passages that emphasize this. Ephesians chapter 6. Look what it says beginning at verse 2. On look at Ephesians 6, verses 2 and 3. It says, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. That was the commandment. That’s a quote from the Old Testament from the Ten Commandments. Honor your father and mother, and the inspired apostle says it’s the first commandment with a promise. There was a promise attached to that. If you do this, then this promise will follow. And he discusses that promise in verse 3, that it may be well with you. And my new King James translation says, and that you may live long on the earth.

If we went back to Exodus, where that commandment was given, what’s really said is that you may live long in the land. Children of Israel were given the Ten Commandments, you remember, young people, on their way to the promised land. And God is saying, if you’ll do this, then you can stay in that land that I’m promised and I’m giving to you. That land in some way typified God’s blessings. You’ll be in my blessings. So you obey your parents, and if you’ll do that, I’ll continue to bless you. And one of the ways I’m going to bless you is letting you live in this land. And so there’s the first commandment with promise. That if you obey your parents, you’ll receive God’s blessings. And so the New Testament co-opts or borrows that statement and says, children, today, if you will obey your parents, you’ll receive God’s blessings.

And according to the verse just prior to this in Ephesians 6, part of honoring your parents is by obeying them. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Another word for that is your respect and your obedience, simply because God said so. That’s the only thing they need. The only qualifications they need to meet to deserve your honor and your obedience. Now, hopefully, your parents are godly parents, and they’re commanding and obeying you in a way that’s molding you into that image that God wants you to be. But understand that the only qualifications your parents need to meet in order for God to expect you to honor and obey them is to be your parents. This is right in the Lord, he says. Look over in Romans chapter 1. If that commandment is not strong enough, look at this, young people. Romans chapter 1 and in verse 28, in describing the first century Gentile idolatrous world, he lists some of the sins that these people, he says in verse 28, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.

God gave them over to a debased mind to do things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-minded. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, and disobedient to parents. What? They hate God, they’re violent, they’re murderers, and oh, they don’t obey their parents. It’s a little shocking that that made the list, didn’t it? The list of these heathen sins that typify somebody who doesn’t believe in God. What’s the result of that? They’re going to be violent, murderous, hate God, and they’re going to be disobedient to parents. Do you see that God kind of takes that seriously? In fact, we won’t turn back there. And I’m not necessarily advocating that we return to the old law, but the old law said that if you disobeyed your parents, that that was a sin worthy of death.

3. You Need Parental Guidance

Do you see that in God’s eyes, obeying your parents, honoring your parents, is serious business. And you may not understand it. But turn with me to Proverbs chapter 6.

You may not understand it, but you need parental guidance. God didn’t do that to kind of crush your independent spirit. He didn’t do that to make your life miserable and to give your parents some kind of power trip to rule over you. God did that because He knew you needed that. And it’s important that you recognize that. Proverbs chapter 6, let’s begin in verse 20. He says, My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart, tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you. When you sleep, they will keep you. And when you awake, they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the law a light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress.

4. Now Is the Time to Obey the Lord

Do not lust after her beauty in your heart. Do not let her allure you with the eyelids. And so he’s saying, son, young man, you listen to your parents. That instruction, that guidance is there to keep you away from evil, to keep you away from harm, and to guide you in the proper godly channels that you need to live. And so you need that parental guidance. And God loved you enough to give it to you. And then lastly, to young people who may be saying, My parents are lucky to have me. Understand that now is the time to obey the Lord. Now let me clarify that statement. I’m not necessarily talking about obeying the gospel, becoming a Christian. There’s a certain age which you that you need to reach.

We sometimes refer to that as the age of accountability to be able. And that’s a discussion that you can have with your parents or with the shepherds here, or I’d be glad to have that discussion with you and your parents. But we’re just talking about generally the idea of doing what God wants you to do. That will include obeying the gospel, but includes just obeying the Lord. Now is the time for you to do that. In our, I know young people, you haven’t been in our auditorium class, but in our auditorium class, we’ve been studying 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, and these were relatively younger men to the old man, the Apostle Paul. And one thing Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy is let no one despise your youth.

Let no one despise your youth. Well, now what does that mean? That wasn’t an instruction to the audience that Timothy was preaching to, for them not to despise, don’t look down on Timothy just because he’s young. Now, that’s good advice, but Paul wasn’t talking to the people.

In other words, what he’s saying when he says, Don’t let anyone despise your youth, don’t give them any admonition. You live in such a way. In fact, he says, don’t let anyone despise your youth, but you be an example in your godly living. And so it’s up to you to model the life that you ought to live, that people won’t just dismiss you as being young and reckless and careless about certain things. But now is the time. When you’re young, if we have given instruction that sounds like Christianity is for adults, that obeying God is for older people, and it doesn’t apply to you, then I apologize because that’s not the message that we should be sending, and I don’t believe the message we intended to send.

You know, and let me first say I’m not criticizing this statement. I agree with the sentiment of this statement. But if you heard the expression, maybe even said it, the young people are the future of the church. I get that, and I agree with it. But it’s also true to say the young people aren’t just the future of the church, they’re the present of the church. Turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. The wise man would say this to the young people, Ecclesiastes chapter 11. And I want you to notice, young people, what he says.

Rejoice. Rejoice, remove and remember. Makes it easy to remember. Three Rs. Rejoice, remove and remember. Notice, first of all, rejoice. Verse 9, rejoice, O young man in your youth. And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. So the first thing he says to young people is rejoice. He’s saying, enjoy being young. In some senses, it’s the best time of your life. You’ll go on adventures, you’ll be able to do things that some of us who are older just can’t do anymore. And so he’s saying, enjoy it. Young youth is to be enjoyed. There’s so many things that you can do and possibilities that lay before you. Live it up and enjoy your youth, he says.

But there’s a qualifier to that. Keep reading. But know, finish verse 9, but know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. And so enjoy your youth. Go do those things that you can only do when you’re young. But remember that God will judge you. So, verse 10, remove sorrow from your heart, put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and view and youth are fleeting. Enjoy being young. Remove stress and anxiety and those things. Just enjoy being young. But then keep reading into verse 12. But remember, remember now your creator in the days of your youth. Now is the time. Now’s the perfect time for you to serve God. We talked about where he says, first of all, rejoice in your youth, because there’s things you can do when you’re young, physically and even mentally, that older people can’t do.

And so enjoy that. Remembering that God’s going to judge you. So don’t go overboard with that. But he also says, remember now your creator in the days of your youth. John made the announcement that this morning Elijah and Jonah are in Palatka preaching and leading, singing. They’re doing something in their youth that maybe some of us can’t do. They’re remembering God in the days of their youth. Because, and notice, and I’m apologize, older people, it’s going to get depressing here in a minute. Verse 1 continues, before the difficult days come. Do I get an amen from the older people who have to groan when they sit down and stand up? And the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun and the light and the moons are, and the stars are not darkened.

And the clouds do not return after the rain. He’s describing older age. The clouds return after the rain. The clouds come in and it rains, and the sun comes out, and there’s another cloud coming. What he seems to be illustrating is illness, is that way, isn’t it? You get sick, you go to the doctor, he gives you a prescription, you get better, and then you better enjoy that one day. Because there’s clouds on the horizon, you’re gonna there’s gonna be some other ailment. You got the hip feeling better, now my back is out. In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, that’s probably the hands, as they begin to tremble when you’re older, and the strong men bow down, and the grinders, that’s the teeth, the grinders cease, and those who look through the windows, that’s the eyes, grow dim.

And when the doors are shut, that’s probably the lips in the streets, and the sound of grinding is low. Your voice gets weak. And oh, can you relate to this? When one rises up at the sound of a bird, it doesn’t take anything. Your inability to sleep, and the daughters of music, your voice are brought low. When you’re they’re afraid of height, you’re unstable to walk, can’t get up on the ladder anymore like they should, or maybe at least they shouldn’t. When the almond tree blossoms, when an almond tree blossoms, it turns white like the hare. And when they’re afraid of height, the tree of terror is in the way. The almond tree blossoms. The grasshopper is a burden. That’s either talking about the legs hurting, or even just carrying a grasshopper is hard to do, and desire fails.

Conclusion

For a man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in your street. Again, plug your ears, old people. I’m just talking to the young people right now. That’s what old age is like. And it’s going to be harder to do things when you’re older, even things in service to God. And so now that you’re young and you’ve got that energy that can’t be stifled or bottled up, use some of that in service to God. Now is the time to remember your creator. Before you get old and you go, I’m too tired to do that. And so, young people, yes, your parents are lucky to have you. You’re made in the image of God. God made you for a purpose, but that doesn’t mean you’re the center of the universe.

You have to humble yourself and be obedient to your parents. It should be serious business to you because it is to God. And now is the time that you can do something. Whatever age you are, you can obey God and glorify God and serve Him with the vitality and the energy of youth. And I pray that you will. And I know that you are. There’s someone here that wants to become a part of the family of God. We’re all children of God, regardless of our age. If you want to be a part of that family of God and obey your Father who is in heaven, then why not render obedience to that gospel this morning? Can we help you as you act upon your faith, repent of your sins, confess your faith, and we can help you to be baptized this morning for the remission of your sins, and you can pledge allegiance to your Father who is in heaven.

Can we help you with that right now as together we stand and sing?