School Supply Checklist

Introduction

If you ever want to know what season it is, or what season is upcoming, all you have to do is go to a big box store, and they’ll tell you. And if you’ve been in a big box store recently, then you know that a couple seasons are coming up. Dieter and I were in one just the other day, and Halloween candy has already made its appearance. Which means we’re about two days away from Christmas decorations in the big box stores. But one thing that is permeating the big box stores right now is back to school items. I think I just heard a groaning from the young people.

And lists are everywhere. You can either get the list online or you can go buy your school, or maybe even in the store, there’s provided list of items that you need to purchase or that your parents need to purchase for back to school. Those lists have changed. Have you noticed that over the years? And changed somewhat drastically. I remember when I was in school, the list seemed fairly short. Now, to be honest, I wasn’t buying those items, and so I may not remember it exactly right, but we had to buy basically just the supplies that we needed. You needed some kind of writing instrument, and they may have specified, whether it was a pen or a pencil, you needed a notebook. You had to have, if you were one of the cool kids, you had to have one of the trapper keepers.

You needed, and I think my mom, when we cleaned out her house, still had a box full of protractors and compasses. We never used those, but we had to buy them at the beginning of every school year. Some of you, and I won’t mention any names, the school list when you were in school consisted of papyrus and extra oil for the lambs. But have you seen a school list lately? It’s like two sheets front and back. Saw one and it said that you needed to buy eight chairs, seven desks, and forks for the lunchroom.

This morning I want to talk about a school supply checklist, but not the one that you’ll pick up in the store or even from your school. I want to talk to our young people who are about to start back to school, and to add some things to that list. Here are some things that we would encourage you, or the scriptures would encourage you, to take back to school with you. Put these on your list. Now, before you check out, because you say, Well, I’m not going back to school, don’t even have kids that are going back to school. All of these are obviously items that all of us need to include in our lives. And so if you’re not a school age child, or you’re not even the parent of a school-aged child, pay attention.

Because these items are for you as well. But before we get too deep into the lesson, I would encourage you that if you’re not a school-aged child, or even the parent of a school-aged child, that you can still be a help to these young people. Do at least two things. There’s more than those two, but at least do these two things. Pray for them. Because it’s not just the school lists that have changed, is it? Schools and school environments have changed. When I was in school, the biggest concern was fist fights. It seems like almost every day, or at least every other day, there was some kind of fist fight breaking out among the boys. Never thought of a gun entering a school, although about half of us had guns in our pickup trucks in the parking lot.

And so school environment has changed. And so pray. Pray for our young people, that they’ll include these items in their back to school checklist, and that they might let their light shine, that they might survive both physically and spiritually in that environment. Second thing that you can do is be an encouragement to them. Seek one of them out and tell them that you’re thinking about them, that you’re praying about them. And do it in an encouraging way. Sometimes the best approach is not to say, I don’t know how you young people do it today. I couldn’t do it. That might not be the best encouragement, although you might feel that way. Say to them, I know you can do it. I know that you can survive spiritually, that you can let your light shine, that you can be a child of God in that environment.

1. Take Honesty With You

But let’s look at some items that I think God would want us to add to our list if we did a school supply checklist. First of all, and this is an item we don’t talk about a whole lot. But it’s a subject that the scriptures talk about frequently. Honesty. Honesty and its negative counterpart lying. It’s a subject that pervades the scriptures, really. Back to the old covenant. One of the Ten Commandments was thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. The New Testament re echoes that sentiment that God expects as He is. God expects His children to be honest. Look with me, if you will, in your New Testaments to the book of Colossians, chapter 3. And so, young people and old people alike, take honesty with you.

Just make the decision that in every way and in every facet of your life, you’re just going to be honest. Number one, honesty is just easier, isn’t it? How complicated and difficult our lives be when we begin to try to deceive people. Someone has said, and I love this saying, that if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said. And that’s a good, uncomplicated life, isn’t it? To just tell the truth. Just to be absolutely honest. But it’s not just because of the simplicity and betterment of your life that you should be honest. The greatest reason is because that’s what God is and what he demands of his children. Look in Colossians 3 and in verse 9, where the commandment is, do not lie to one another, since you’ve put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

These letters to the churches, letters to Christians, that he would have to include the admonition, the instruction, do not lie to one another. To Christians, he said. Don’t lie. Because Christians are human beings as well, and Christians are fraught with the same temptations, and many times the baggage that we bring from the world into our Christianity. And in fact, that’s what he’s telling them. Put off the old man. You used to do that. But now you’re a child of God and you’ve been made, as he said in verse 10, you’ve been made again in his image, and so you reflect that image, an image of uprightness and honesty. Do not lie.

You know, when you take an oath in a court of law today, you say that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And that’s a good way to approach honesty. That you will tell the truth. You will speak that which is true, as opposed to speaking a lie. You will tell the whole truth. Sometimes you can be dishonest by not what you say, but what you do not say. Withholding pertinent information, withholding valuable information is dishonest. Saying, when asked the question, where did you and your friends go, saying we went to the library may not be the truth, although you went to the library because you left out, but after the library, we went somewhere else, and then somewhere else, and those two other somewhere else is something you wouldn’t approve of, mom and dad.

And so I’m just going to tell you part of the story. And the scriptures say, do not lie. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Half a truth with half a lie is simply a whole lie. Do not lie to one another. So be honest. Be honest with others. Be honest. Look over in Galatians chapter 6. Not only must you be honest with others, but be honest with God. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7, very familiar refrain says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. First and foremost, be honest with God. God will not be deceived. Be honest with him. And there’s several subpoints that could be made about that. About your integrity, about your honesty, about your life.

Be honest with God. But also in this refrain, be honest with God in your prayers. If you’re struggling with something, even something that you and others might consider an embarrassing temptation, an embarrassing sin, understand this. God already knows about it. And so you’re not going to cause God to blush by praying about it. Be honest with him. If you’re struggling with something, no matter how difficult, how embarrassing, how life and soul threatening, be honest with God. Cast your cares, your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you. So be honest with others. Be honest with God. And please be honest with yourself. You know, the scriptures say a lot about honesty. They also say a lot about the conscience of man. Look in 1 Timothy chapter 1.

Be honest with yourselves. You don’t talk about a simpler, less complicated life. That’s a life lived with a good conscience. God gave you that moral break. That if properly trained and properly used is that voice whispered into your ear saying, don’t do this. It’s that voice whispered into your ear saying, here’s the point where you want to stand up. 1 Timothy chapter 1 to a young man, Timothy, the Apostle Paul said, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck. They’ve suffered spiritual shipwreck because they did not have a good conscience. Be honest with yourself. You’ve been taught, you’ve been trained, you’ve been instructed in what you need to do, and so live up to that principle. Listen to that inner voice.

2. Respect for Authority

Listen to God and listen to others and always be honest. Something else to add to that list to take with you is respect. What you may not know, young people, is that this is the age in which respect is both respect for authority is both being challenged internally and maybe externally and yet being taught. Here’s where you learn. Respect for authority. Couple fundamental points I want to make about respect. Number one is it is learned early. Parents, that’s our responsibility, isn’t it? Parents, even of the youngest of children, need to realize that they’re not raising children. They’re raising future adults. And the respect for authority, the respect for God and His Word that is ingrained in them at the earliest of ages, will be born out in their older ages, and possibly in eternity.

Secondly, remove from your mind this modern day notion that respect must be earned before it is given. That’s not a biblical principle. The bold brass statement is, well, they’ve got to earn my respect, is not a godly statement. Now, don’t misunderstand me. Those in positions of authority should live in such a way, conduct themselves in such a way, that that respect comes easily and is in that sense earned. But the scriptures just simply say that respect is something that is a fiat, that it’s given.

It didn’t go on to say if they earn it, if they’re good, if they’re the type of people that they ought to be. The scriptures say, honor your father and mother.

Honor your father and mother. Respect those who have the child of God, no matter how young or how old, is rooted not so much in the person to whom you render that respect, but in your allegiance to God. Obey your parents in the Lord, it says.

Again. Colossians chapter 3, this time and in verse 20. It says again, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Why? Why must I respect my parents? Why must I respect others who are in positions of authority? Because of God. That’s why. It’s to be learned at home. And this is a lesson for the rest of your life. Any person of any age will tell you that they were where you are now.

I can’t wait till I move out of my parents’ home. Because then I’ll get to do what I want to do. And I won’t have anybody telling me what to do then. Anybody of any age will tell you.

That’s a myth. No, there’s a little bit of truth to that. I can remember when our kids were in school. Before they could drive, I would go up and pick them up, usually after some practice, some athletic practice after school. I remember one time I was picking our son Blake up after a practice, and practice always ended with them running laps. Nothing like wearing them out physically and then make them run laps afterwards. And so all of us, dad, and some of the moms were standing there waiting for them, the coach to get through torturing these kids by making them run lamps. And I was standing with those parents, and I said, you know one of the best things about being an adult is can’t nobody make me run laps.

But there’s somebody making me do something else. In fact, several somebody’s.

Look in 1 Peter chapter 2. At this principle. 1 Peter chapter 2. And beginning in verse 13. 1 Peter 2, verse 13, therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God. That by doing so you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As free, yet not as using your liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. These lessons of respect and respecting authority are lessons that you’ll take with you throughout your life.

3. Take With You Courage

And parents and older people, we must be the model. We must show that same type of respect in our own lives. And learning respect in one realm of authority will help you in any others. And so again, parents, teach your children to respect you. And they’ll respect others. Another item that we would encourage you to put on your back to school checklist is to take with you courage. Courage. Courage is doing what is right in the face of opposition. And in the face of fear. Make the decision that you’re going to do what’s right. No matter what. There’s numerous examples in the scriptures of people, men and women exhibiting courage, spiritual courage. And I find it interesting that many of those stories are about young people.

Joseph comes to mind. He was a young man, exhibited tremendous courage in the face of opposition. I think about Daniel and his three friends, who in the beginning of that book, at least, exhibited tremendous courage. Do you remember Daniel? Daniel who was ripped from his home and brought into not just a foreign land, but brought into a land that were the oppressors and the destroyers of his family, friends, his God’s temple, and his homeland. And he was enrolled in a three-year educational course in Daniel chapter one. What I find interesting, it says of Daniel that he and his friends were taught the literature and the language of the Babylonians. And he did that. Not only did he do that, the text says he excelled at that ten times better than any other.

Maybe even we could say compromise. In the literature and the language of the Babylonians, he said, okay, I can do that. Did he want to do that? Probably not. But he said, I can do that. And so there were areas in which he was willing to conform and maybe even compromise. But then there were other areas in which he was unwilling to conform, nor to compromise. When it came to eating the food that was offered by the king, that would have been a violation of Jewish law, either because it was sacrificed to idols, or because it violated the Jewish dietary restrictions. For whatever reason, Daniel says, no, I will not. And so he’s able to distinguish between the trivial and the significant. He was able to distinguish between areas in which it won’t jeopardize my spiritual life to be able to conform and compromise in those areas.

But here, no. Here I must draw a line. Even under the threat of death. Young people, middle aged, old. We have to make those same distinctions in our lives, don’t we? There’s things that we’ll be called upon to do that we can say, okay, I can do that. But other areas of life we say, no. That compromise is not a personal compromise. That’s a compromise of faith and of integrity. And I will not.

Just make this decision. Make this your resolve. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13 says, watch. Stand fast in the faith. Be brave. And be strong. That’s a decision, a rallying cry that you need to have echoing in your heart and in your ears right now. That I’m going to stand fast. I’m going to be brave. I’m going to be strong. Make that decision. And do it. It’s possible. Generations before you have done it. You have peers all over this country and all over the world who are making the same decisions and are being just as brave. And you need to be encouraged by them. You need to be encouraged by your brethren. One of the reasons your parents bring you to services over and over again is so that you might have instilled within you this courage.

We sing these songs of faith and these rallying songs that even speak of our Christian life as a life of war and of a battle, all with the intent of encouraging you and motivating you to be strong. Draw from that. Draw from the biblical examples. Draw from the examples that are all around you. Draw from the encouragement that you have that I’m going to do it as well. Be influenced in a positive way. You remember, I don’t know how many years ago it was, the movie that was called The Patriot. I think Mel Gibson was in it, and it was during the Revolutionary War of how the British had abused him and his family. And he decided to take a stand and fight against the imperialist British government and to fight for that revolution.

I remember going to theater and watching that movie. I have a tendency to I’ll get involved in a movie. I mean, it’ll suck me right in. I’ll cry at old Yeller every time. I get drawn into those kind of things. And I can remember watching that movie about them fighting the British. And I came out of that theater. I was ready to fight. If somebody had been in the theater lobby speaking with a British accent, I don’t know what I would have done. I just I get motivated by those things. And I want you to see that that’s the way God built the encouragement system that surrounds you. That you come to the assemblies, you read these Bible stories about people and young people, you see these lessons.

4. Lastly, and Above All, Take God

We sing these songs all with the intent that when you leave this building, you’re so fired up that you’re ready that the devil better not get in his way. And that you’re going to make that stand no matter what. Take courage. Lastly, and above all. Although this is at the bottom of our list, it should be at the top of yours. Take God.

Do not for one second. Be ashamed of your God. Don’t be ashamed to tell anybody that you believe in God. No matter what your fellow students, even your teachers or professors may say and react to that. Have the courage to say, I believe in God. Take God with you. We had in our Bible reading this morning that well known encouragement. In chapter 11 and verse 9 says, 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 eyes and in your heart and in the sight of your eyes. Young people, do you know what that’s saying? Your parents may not tell you what that’s saying. What that’s saying is, enjoy youth. Enjoy it.

Older people have a saying that’s absolutely wrong, and that is that youth, young age is wasted on the youth, or youth is wasted on the young. That’s not true. God put it with young people for a reason. Sometimes we older people will see young people running around with all that energy. And I’ll have some older person say, Man, I wish I had that energy. And I look at them and say, No, you don’t, you’d break something. You don’t need that energy. God gave it to those young people for a reason. And the Ecclesiastes writer is saying, enjoy it. Enjoy young age. You’ll have opportunities and freedoms and things to do that you won’t have when greater responsibility and aches and pains are placed on you. So enjoy that young age.

Conclusion

But keep reading. But know that for all these, God will bring you into judgment. Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart, put away evil from your flesh for childhood and youth, or one translation says, they’re fleeting. So he says, enjoy it. But with God in mind. Take God with you wherever you go. Make the decision from day one that I’m going to be a child of God in every way in every day of my life. May God help you. And he will. And may we all help you as you go back to school with those boxes of things that were on that school supply checklist. But please make sure that you have these four things with you. They’re the most important items. Not just as you go back to school, but in your life.

Will you go to God with me as we pray? Dear God and Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, its blessings, and your love. Be with our young people, Father, as they go back to school and face challenges and temptations, that they may take you with them. Help us to encourage them that in this phase of their life and in all others, that they serve you honorably, that they have the courage, the courage to be honest, the courage to take you with them, the courage to show respect for authority, and to be your child. Bless us all, Father, in whatever phase of life that we’re in, that we’ll include you and that we’ll help one another. All these things we pray in Christ’s name.

Amen.