Ecclesiastes 12:1
Making A Mark on the Mind
What does the Bible say to children? That’s a good question. We know that the
Bible has a message for the lost. The message to the lost is to be saved. We
also know that the Bible is filled with messages to the saved, like worship God,
do right, and many others. But what does the Bible say to children?
The answer is right here. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.
I. The Message
A. The message is directed to the young.
1. God cares about children.
a. The disciples mistakenly thought Jesus was too busy to deal
with children.
(1) \\#Mark 10:13\\ They were rebuking the parents for
bringing them.
(2) But Jesus rebuked the disciples.
Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them,
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is
the kingdom of God.
b. Jesus wanted the children to come to Him.
c. In fact, He goes on to tell the disciples that the kingdom of
heaven will be made up of children and those with a child-
like faith.
2. If that were true then, it is no less true today.
B. The message is directed at young youth.
1. The word "youth" covers a large time span.
a. How young should children be reached?
b. The verse gives two indications.
2. They should be reached before the evil days come.
a. The evil days are the days when children have to start dealing
with the consequences of their sin.
b. Generally, young children are a happy, resilient lot.
c. They are that way because God designed them not to comprehend
sin at a young age.
(1) They just comprehend need, love, and playing.
(2) That is not a fault in children. That is a blessing.
(3) Wouldn’t childhood be miserable if you had to worry about
every action you did and every word you spoke?
(4) So God made children to cry one minute and laugh the next,
to love without regards for how they are treated, and
to trust those in their life.
3. They should be reached before they can become depressed or
discouraged about life.
a. The verses says to reach them before they "have no pleasure in
them," in the days of their life.
b. With the knowledge of sin comes the burden of sin.
c. In 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young
people ages 15-24.
(1) Suicide rate for children 10 to 14 was 1 in every 100,000.
(2) For children 15 to 19, it was 7.
(3) For young adults 20 to 24, it was almost 13.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-
prevention/index.shtml
d. It seems obvious to me that even 10 to 14 is later than what
God wants. Too many have already lost the pleasure of life!
C. The message is remember your Creator.
1. God wants them to know Him and to keep Him in their life.
a. That is the idea behind "remember."
b. To keep God in the forefront and thoughts of your mind, to be
aware of Him.
2. To remember does not necessary mean to be saved.
a. It could, but it does not have to.
b. It just means to have a constant awareness of God.
c. As a boy, we lived across from Alberta Methodist Church. From
time to time, I would go there. I remember going to VBS. The
teacher would take the flannel graph and teach the stories of
Jesus. I soaked it in. As I grew older, the awareness of
God stayed with me. That church had a prayer room that you
entered from the outside. I remember going in there on
several occasions (it was air conditioned), and sitting in
the chair, looking at the prayer altar, looking at the
picture of Jesus, and thinking thoughts of God and Jesus. I
wasn’t saved, but God left a mark on my mind.
3. Most children today have no remembrance, no awareness, of God.
a. My generation had gospel preaching and singing on television
every Sunday morning.
b. There were scores of church that meet three times a week to
preach about Christ (not just to dance or sing choruses to
Him).
c. It was not uncommon to hear the church bells calling the
unchurched to worship.
d. Store were closed in honor of God.
e. We started every school day with devotions and prayer.
f. Teachers mentioned God in connection with history and science.
g. Most all of that is gone today.
4. And we wonder why are young people are the way they are?
a. I read where Alabama Adventure had to go on "lock down" this
week because of kids fighting and attempting to kill one
another. I heard as many as five gangs had chosen that
day and place for their gain initiations.
b. Earlier this week, I met a beautiful young woman, maybe 16 or
17 years old. She needed a ride to the hospital to visit a
dying friend. Since it would not be have been appropriate
for me to take her, JoyAnna did; but I went with JoyAnna to
meet her. In meeting her, we learned that at that young age,
she had already been living with at least one young man.
c. Young adults who have no remembrance, no awareness, of God.
5. God says to the young, REMEMBER ME.
II. So what is required for this command to be carried out?
A. Parents have to care about God.
1. Children are just children.
a. They do not start out sitting in the driver’s seat of life.
b. Parents do, and they must make the right choices to help
children to know who God is.
2. We understand that parents are the decision makers for their
children.
a. Parents make the decisions about the children’s physical life.
Parents decide when their children go to bed, what they will
wear, what immunization shots they will and will not receive,
what they will eat, and every other decisions of a physical
nature—especially in the earlier years of a child’s life.
b. Parents make the decisions about their children’s intellectual
life. Parents decide what television programs their children
will watch, what books will be in the home, what school they
will attend, how much time and energy the child will invest
into learning.
c. Parents make the decisions about their children’s social life.
Parents decide where their children will live, who their
friends will be, how much time they spend with others, what
privileges they will have, who and when they will date.
d. The truth is that parents dictate every aspect of a child’s
life for years.
(1) They make tens of thousands of decisions for their
children on every topic of life.
(2) Why should any parent be surprised to learn that they
have the first, and perhaps, the most important role in
introducing their children to God?
3. Why does God want children to know Him at an early age?
a. The Scripture does not tell us, but I think there could be
several reasons.
(1) Because it is better for them.
(a) As I have already alluded to, children need Christ.
(b) They need Him because they are lost, and they need
Him to give their life meaning, purpose, and
direction.
(2) However, it could be that children are about the only ones
who can chose to Christ out of love.
(a) Most of chose to love Christ out of necessity.
(b) I chose to love and trust Jesus out of necessity.
(c) I was condemned by my sin, convicted by the Holy
Spirit.
(d) I saw myself as a doomed sinner going to hell.
(e) Certainly, we all are, but children, those who have
not seen the evil day come yet, can turn to Christ
simply because they hear of Christ’s love for them!
b. How refreshing it must be to God to have someone come to Him
just because they love Him!
4. Without doubt, the greatest influence on children—especially
children whose evil day has not yet come—are the parents.
a. These are not days which can be wasted in selfish, lazy
pleasure.
b. Once God gives a child, a parent has a limited number of days
and opportunities to get their child to Christ.
c. With the passing of each day, you lose more influence over your
child and the world and devil starts gaining more.
d. One day, you will realize that your most influential days are
behind you.
5. Oh, mom and dad, show your children who God is.
a. Show them that you love Him.
b. Show them the importance of trusting Jesus Christ as their
Savior before the evil days come.
B. Churches and Christians have to care about God.
1. While parents have the primary role in teaching children about God,
churches and Christians have a strong secondary role.
a. Parents, especially fathers, are charged by God to rear their
children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Eph 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
b. However, churches have a command from God to teach, win, and
baptize every lost soul.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
2. The church is commanded to be involved in evangelism of all ages.
3. Why would God have an overlap in the affairs of the home and the
affairs of the church?
a. Because evangelism is the purpose of the church.
(1) The reason the church exists is to serve Christ and
Christ’s heart centers on winning the lost.
(a) Jesus described His own purpose in coming.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
(b) When we are as concerned for others as Christ was
for us, we are the closest mortal man can become to
being like Christ.
(2) The church’s outreach ministry is not optional.
(a) For the older, we do one-on-one witnessing, door-to-
door visitation, revivals, camps. and special
events.
(b) For the children, we operate bus ministries,
children’s church, Sunday school, VBS, Christian
schools and daycares.
(3) The church has no option doing these kinds of works and
in sharing Christ through them.
(a) That is what VBS is all about.
(b) It is not an issue of costs, conveniences, or
accomplishments.
(c) It is about doing what God created the church to do.
b. Because parents are not always successful.
(1) We all know that parenting is a difficult job. Who among
us could not use a little help, especially in this most
important of all tasks?
(2) So God has created the church and overlapped our
responsibilities with that of the parents.
(3) Should the parents need help in winning their child to
Christ, or should they miss the mark altogether, the
church should be so involved in the lives of the
communities and individuals, that they may offer that
child a second chance.
c. Because every soul is eternal.
(1) Whether we speak of adults of children, the soul is
eternal.
(2) A child’s soul does not become eternal when it turns a
certain age.
(3) The born again must step to the front of the bus and do
its part in making sure everyone has the knowledge of
Jesus Christ.
C. Children have to care about God.
1. The responsibility to teach a child about God is not just the
parents and the saved.
a. I mentioned that children are born sitting in the driver’s seat.
(1) That’s true.
(2) However, most every day from the time they can walk, they
are moving closer and closer to being in the driver’s
seat.
b. Godly parents take their children to church.
c. Godly churches expose them to Christ.
d. As some point, the child must make the choice to get serious
about God.
2. It is my belief that God gives us children with minds that are
blank.
a. Like a computer, we load them with an operating system, the
basic truths necessary to function.
b. However, of late, I have been considering the fact that while a
child’s mind is blank, his/her spirit is not.
(1) All parents know that children are different.
(2) They can be born twins, exposed to the same parents and
conditions in life, but be as a different as daylight and
dark.
(3) Why? Because every child has a unique spirit.
(4) You can call it a child’s nature or temperament, but it is
their God-given spirit.
c. In studying our world and our people, I am wondering if the
spirit of our children is not changing, hardening.
(1) I do not know that this is the case.
(2) It just seems like people are so different today.
(3) Even a lot of church kids have so little regard for their
soul.
(4) It seems like everyone is just wants the world and its
toys.
3. Children, your parents and I can tell you the truth, but you have
to believe it and obey it.
a. You have to take the things of God seriously.
b. You need to take the matter of salvation seriously.
c. You need to take the matter of baptism seriously.
d. You need to take reading your Bible seriously.
e. You need to take being at church seriously.
f. You need to take prayer seriously.
g. You need to take the issue of obedience seriously.
h. You need to take the issue of serving your God seriously.
4. No one can make these decisions for you. You must make them for
yourself.
God wants to be in the minds of our young people, even if He is not in their
hearts. The world may have limited our opportunity, but that simply means that as
the church, we must intensify our efforts. This week is one of those
opportunities. Pray and give of yourself that this church might be successful
in accomplishing its mission.
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