Will Your Kids Believe in God EP 31

None

Episode Transcript

Ethan (00:00):
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture.
This week in the Wall StreetJournal, a writer named Jonah
Winter, who is a children'sliterature writer, and a self
proclaimed lifelong liberal, hesays, he wrote a lengthy

(00:21):
commentary on the children'spublishing industry.
He claims that it's beingcontrolled by mobs of social
media and cancel culture.
He expressed his dismay thatpublishers now demand writers be
of a certain identity to havetheir books published.
I try to avoid getting suckedinto the vortex of all these

(00:41):
culture war fights, but I thinkwe need to note that the battle
for the heart, the soul and theidentity of our kids starts
early.
This is raising joyful childrenin an angry world.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
I mentioned winter because at myage, as you get to the 55 plus
camp, you meet.

(01:03):
Lots of parents who discuss andsay, I can't understand how my
kids got to be adults.
And then suddenly they rejectedall my values.
Now, I don't know people'schildren.
I don't get into this with them,but I suggest that if the
children's publishing industry,the entertainment business,

(01:25):
education systems are invited tofreely roam in the hearts and
minds of our kids.
Without the wisdom of God andthe apostolic teaching, it seems
kind of obvious as to thedirection they will go.
Last time we started in theapostles creed, I believe in

(01:46):
God.
That's a, that's a veryfundamental very profound
question.
Will your children believe inGod?
And today we want to talk aboutgrasping.
I believe in God, the father,almighty creator of heaven and
earth.
It is a belief that drives ourChristian identity.

(02:07):
What does it mean?
We'll talk about the attacks onthis belief, and then how do we
pass it down to our kids?
If you listen to the podcast wehad, many, many episodes ago
regarding kids finding their Godgiven talents, we looked at the
parable of the talents.

(02:27):
To conclude that our view of Godhas a lot to do with how we
discover and use our gifts.
I believe In God, the father,God being a spirit and the
person of the trinity being thefather reveals to us what he
wants to give us, Psalm 65expresses this in saying that

(02:51):
God is a father to thefatherless.
In other words, God fathers usregardless of our earthly
father's status, whether theywere great, whether they were
not so great, whether they wereabsent.
Our father in heaven fathers usa James 1 16 verses through 18.

(03:11):
Do not be deceived.
My beloved brothers, all goodgiving and every perfect gift is
from above coming down from thefather of lights.
And then of course, in firstJohn three, Verse 1, See what
love the Father has given to usthat we should be called the

(03:31):
children of God, and that iswhat we are.
See the belief and the identity?
Ah, the reason the world doesnot know us, says John.
Is that it did not know him.
So first of all, in this, inthis part of the creed, we don't
want our kids to see God as aboss, as a task master, but

(03:54):
instead as a father who hasadopted us, who loves us, who
takes pleasure in rescuing,redeeming us and giving us good
gifts.
He is a father, however, afather who is almighty.
In fact, he is.
The almighty, his fathershipcomes with this term, the father

(04:16):
almighty, the Hebrew word ElShaddai, God almighty.
And in that he defends meagainst all danger and guards me
and protects me from all evil.
We live in an anxious society.
It is riddled with anxiety,fear.
And so understanding this Wordof God being almighty and what

(04:38):
it is meant to comfort us and togive us confidence in life That
is not based on our own strengthon our own wisdom on our own
power But on the power of Godone of the first resistance to
this Belief of the father beingalmighty is his almightiness.

(04:59):
And what we're going to see isthat our kids want to be
almighty, right?
They want to be in charge.
We're going to, that's somethingthat comes out very early.
And so the first resistance tothis, and I think the first way
that we have to understandteaching this is the giving
children too many liberties.
Too early has a way ofinstilling the idea of planting

(05:19):
the seed that you have analmightiness.
You choose what you want to eatall the time.
You choose what you want to wearwhen you go to bed.
I mean, there are reasonableoptions that we can give to our
children.
And then there is the other sideof it in which we are creating
independent souls who will.

(05:39):
actually resist and act, andpotentially resent the
almightiness of God.
And so there's a parental roleof authority that is involved
with giving good gifts, but itcomes with instruction and
correction, which is part of theway we try to align life in our
home to grasp the FatherAlmighty.

(06:00):
Now this, the father almightymust also be the creator of all.
So the creed says, I believe inGod, the father almighty creator
of heaven and earth.
God created the world and Godcreated me.
Luther in his shorter catechismbrings this together in a way

(06:21):
that is really the because afterhe ties these texts and he ties
this, this first, Part of thecreed.
He then goes to the question.
What does this all mean?
This is The old way of teachingyou would ask a question before
you give the answers and hegives this beautiful answer.

(06:43):
I'll try to summarize it, but hesays God made me.
He starts right off in themiddle of this by talking about
the fact that I see my identityin the fact that God made me.
And then I see that God made allcreation.
He says, God made me, my body,my soul, all my members, all my
senses.

(07:03):
He gives me all my earthlyneeds.
He talks about your home, yourclothes, your shelter, your
food.
Luther says he defends me fromall evil, and he does it, and
this is where it's the catchypart.
This is where the gospel comesin, and he does it out of his
goodness and love, without anymerit from me.

(07:25):
And because of this, because ofGod's goodness and love, then my
duty is to thank, praise, serve,and obey.
Luther personalizes this and,and by telling us that because
of what God has done for us.
Then we can respond in gratitudeand service and obedience.

(07:48):
You will notice it is not onpersonal performance, but rather
despite my personal performanceor my lack of it.
The gospel is in this creed andit is another place that is
counter to the world.
So much of the world teachesthat we are accepted.

(08:08):
We are measured because of ourmerit, our ability to behave in
school.
Almost all schools have thesebehavior charts now.
Oh, you, are behaving at a, at agreen level versus a yellow or
red level.
Our sports teams have tryouts,even friends groups seem to have
this performance stuff going on.

(08:30):
And it's one measure of humanperformance.
It basically says, you do thisfirst, you do it well, and then
you are accepted and praised andyou belong.
And yet our God says, I firstloved you when your behavior
missed the mark.
God says, I did this because ofwho I am.

(08:54):
I adopted you.
I ransomed you.
Now go and do, because you cantrust me.
You are in my family.
I father you.
Go be free and do so withoutfear.
That's an amazing understandingthat we are trying to counter
culturally give to our kids.

(09:15):
Now this issue of God being thecreator of heaven and earth,
Really, the entire universe is asecond piece of pushback that is
going to come from society thathas enthroned science.
The old science pushback comesand It's coming to weaken our
trust in the gospel and toooften Christians do not know the

(09:37):
creation story and they getpulled into debating science and
all these things that nobody canprove And we miss the forest
over the origins of the treeargument Stuart Briscoe who has
written the book on the ApostlesCreed, I think brings some
insight.
He tells us that the creationstory is primarily about the

(10:00):
Creator.
That story is reflecting who isGod and then secondarily, the
creation.
It's silly to get into this asthough it was a science.
paper or a building material ofsome engineering document.
And Briscoe makes a great pointabout the folly of creation by

(10:24):
science or evolution.
He says, we can be certain aboutwhat science teaches in the
present.
We can be reasonably sure aboutthe immediate past, but the
distant past is largelyspeculation.
And so we can't let sciencespeculations take our attention

(10:44):
from the creation story on whatis unscientifically demanding
that we do.
It's a very interesting way ofseeing it.
And then he also points out thatreally the foundation, and he
points to several evolutionists,the foundation of evolution is

(11:05):
the belief That we andeverything on earth is the
subject of chance.
The evolutionary theory requiresthat chance alone is the source
of our existence.
This is in direct contradictionto our faith.
In fact, it conflicts with muchof our human existence, and it

(11:29):
further strips your authority asparents because you're random
and the more we buy into thisrandom chance.
Ideology, the less purpose andmeaning that life has.
I mean, it just even goesagainst common sayings.
Oh, that guy, he was built forthis.
What does that mean?

(11:49):
Well, it suggests design.
The creation story of who God isand how God commissions us,
gives us purpose, how he designsour family, explains our
relationships, even goes on todefine what freedom is.
And the love of his holyconstraint, it's all about our

(12:10):
life and our enemy comes usingthe same old temptations that he
tried on our Lord, but unlikeJesus, those who see life as
chance and themselves asalmighty or partially almighty
are vulnerable to thetemptations of it.
He tempted him on provision andthe provision, when he came off

(12:33):
of the fast, Luther points outin, in God being the father, he
provides for us.
He tempted him on doubt.
Remember, jump off this cliffand see if the angels, can catch
you.
It's, it's sort of a sowingseeds of doubt.
Luther points out as to thescriptures that God, the father
almighty protects us.

(12:53):
We don't need to doubt.
And then.
Satan tries to steal hisidentity.
Oh, if you'll worship me, I'llgive you control and power over
all the world.
He already had power over allthe world.
And so this same thing, thefather who created you and made
you, has given you youridentity.

(13:14):
He has adopted you into hisfamily.
This part of the creed issomething that we should
memorize and we should teach.
We see it in our foundations ofour prayer life.
Just a simple grace beforedinner helps us to understand
that our father is our provider.
We can request God's protectionwhen we travel and for our soul.

(13:37):
And we could be asking God tohelp our kids find their
talents, as we've said inprevious episode.
I see many parents are concernedabout the cultural rot of
society, but history tells uswhat we face is not new, nor is
the cause of the rot or theeffects on children growing up
new.

(13:58):
What is somewhat new is how manyare surrendering the belief in
God the Father Almighty for somecode of personal goodness that
develops by chance and humanaccomplishment.
How on one hand people see therot caused by humans and yet
hold on to the idea that theycan fix it, rather than

(14:22):
surrendering to the idea thatall have fallen short and only
God can redeem what he hascreated.
It's a question few people,consumed by the concerns of
cultural rot, ever ask.
The creed is meant to bememorized and to be taught.
It is also meant to be livedout.

(14:43):
I fear sometimes we get caughtup in our kids meeting the
standards of society, and wemiss God's invitation of
acceptance.
Before we get worked up aboutthe behavior chart at school,
and there's nothing wrong with,wanting our kids to behave at
school, but we need to ask, whatwill redeem the heart that

(15:04):
causes the chart to be needed inthe first place?
It's not an empty Ted Lasso,just believe.
No.
It's I believe in God, theFather Almighty, Creator of
Heaven and Earth.
The ultimate battle for theheart and soul is a fight for

(15:25):
identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Until next time, let's rememberthe words for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven