The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Don Hart with the following message entitled, Arrows in the Hands of a Warrior, the Gospel is Your Family. Good afternoon. I am delighted to be with you and to attempt to speak to you about the Gospel in this context, In the context of arrows in the hands of a warrior, the gospel and the family. Let's begin with Psalm 127 3 & 4. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
Our children, our heritage from the Lord, our reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior. They are described. I have never been personally involved in literal, physical warfare involving the use of a bow and arrow. That's probably not unique.
I doubt anyone here has. I have, however, some experience as an archer. I've been a bow hunter for the better part of 30 years. I can tell you based on that experience that sound arrows are the key to hitting the mark. Slight damage to an arrow, and it will not fly straight, and it will not fly true.
A little wobble, a little bend in the shaft. One fletching, a little off. A change from a point of one weight to another or a field point to a broad head. We may have to totally retune and find where those arrows fly. Arrows, brothers and sisters, are a lot more than a fairly straight, sharp stick.
They are precise instruments with a balance that is critical, crafted very carefully and very carefully handled and in need of very thoughtful care once they have been formed. In my hunting experience, I've found the best one or two or three arrows that I may have in my particular little quiver, and I've set them aside. Been careful with them. Used them only for the most important situations, only for the time when the hunt was really at its most critical. And if I ever messed one up or was blessed to actually take game with one, often you have to inspect it incredibly carefully.
And if it was damaged, it might be reduced to practice or to something that wasn't even usable. But as parents, we don't have the luxury of selecting one or two of the best arrows from the quiver. Again, the description is our children, our heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior. As we seek to fulfill the great commission, to be obedient to everything that Christ has commanded, we are like warriors with hands Full of arrows and the difference between one who hunts with an arrow and one who is involved in warfare and that is the term Used here in Psalm 127 is that that warriors life may depend on that arrow It's interesting a brother in our assembly sent me some information about the seal of the United States. I don't know if you've ever paid much attention to it, looked on the back of a dollar bill, But there you see, clenched in the talons of an eagle, a bundle of 13 arrows.
Do you know that the rationale for choosing that for the seal of this once godly nation was that there was great strength in arrows that were held together in the hand. That as a bundle held in the hand of a warrior, arrows were incredibly strong. They were hard to bend. They were hard to break. They were hard to damage.
Not so much true of arrows held alone, held singly. You want to break or damage an arrow, 13 of them would be pretty difficult to break. One, Pretty simple, to snap, bend, break over one's knee. Why am I talking to you about arrows in the hands of a warrior in the context of the Great Commission as Christian parents? Well, when it comes to the great commission and how it is applied in professing christian households today in America today, there is significant tension among professing christians about these arrows that we're talking about.
Let me share a quote with you from Franklin Graham. You're probably familiar with it. Southern Baptist Convention, he said, and I quote, I know you all had a debate and I don't think it went that far, but a discussion concerning whether Children should stay in public schools. I want to see a child, at least one child, in every class in every public school in America who is trained as a witness for Jesus Christ. Let's don't surrender public schools, let's take them back." And people cheered.
At least some did. And while I don't stand before you questioning the sincerity of the statement that Mr Graham made, nor his genuine belief in its veracity. I do stand before you expressing my profound disagreement with what he has said. In fact, I believe that we will see that this approach, which regrettably is embraced by a great majority of professing Christians today, not only is grossly inconsistent with the Great Commission itself, but also flies in the face of what scripture teaches us in terms of not only the Great Commission command specifically, but the commands which we have about discipling those with whom we would share the gospel beginning first and especially in our own families with our closest neighbors, that most clear jurisdiction about which our duty of discipleship is so plainly described in the commands of scripture. What has been the fruit of this majority approach of the one which Mr.
Graham embraces? Perhaps the fruit of it is the easiest thing to consider first, but then we will consider the great commission itself. And we will consider the commands of scripture and we'll consider how these things apply to us in terms of our duty with regard to the gospel and our families and these arrows Which are so precious which are our heritage which Psalm 127 speaks to in terms of a future hope. These ones that the happy man looks forward to having speak to his enemies in the gate. Brothers and sisters, I'd suggest to you that the majority approach espoused by Mr.
Graham is causing little ones to stumble. It's frustrating children through hypocrisy. It's provoking children to error. I'd like to suggest to you that America must wake up with regard to the Great Commission because frankly we are losing the next generation. Because fathers have failed to do their duty in discipling their children.
We're losing the next generation to the world. Curtis Bowers makes the astute observation in his film agenda when he poses the question, how did we come from a nation which would elect Ronald Reagan in a landslide to a nation that would choose our current president how did we get here how did things change so much so quickly His perspective is that those who hate God are taking our children from us. It's not that they're discipling their own. In many cases, they're aborting their own. So where their converts come from, in so many cases they're taking the children of professing belief.
There's observations from a number of studies that illustrate this troubling trend in Christendom. Researcher George Barna maintains that the current trends in the belief systems and practices of the younger generation continue, in 10 years church attendance will be half the size it is today. Not a successful Great Commission. Dawson McAllister, who's made his name in national youth ministry specializing in that remark that 90% of youth active in high school church programs drop out of church by the time they are sophomores in college. Data from the Southern Baptist Convention indicates that we're currently losing 70 to 88% of our youth after their freshman year in college.
70 to 88% of young people raised in Christian homes leaving the faith by the time they've been in college for two years. And report to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, T.C. Pinkney observed that 70% of teenagers involved in church youth groups stop attending church within two years of their high school graduation. And the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life reported an even more staggering statistic, again, that 88% of the children in evangelical homes are actually leaving the church by the time they reach age 18. Not only is the Great Commission not being fulfilled in terms of the loss being reached and brought to Christ, but those reared in Christian homes are leaving the faith at an incredible, incredible alarming rate.
Why? In large part because the architects of the public schools have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. And because that's where the majority of Christian children are being sent today. Now I don't bring this message believing that you believe that you ought to send your children to the public schools in order to fulfill the Great Commission. I trust and I pray and I hope and I am encouraged to see that the great majority of the 2, 000 plus people who are gathered here for this conference don't believe that.
We're committed to discipling our children. And yet, how many times are we faced with the argument from those who would send their children to the public schools that they do so to fulfill the Great Commission just as Mr. Franklin Graham suggested they ought to. How prepared are we to answer that, to give an answer for the hope that is within us? Let's look at what the architects of the public school system have succeeded in doing before we examine the Great Commission a little more closely with regard to how it functions in our families and with our children.
One of the architects of the public school system Bertrand Russell made this remark by using psychological techniques to teach the children we will be able to produce an unshakable conviction that snow is black. An unshakable conviction of something that plainly couldn't be more false. Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, said, give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted. Four years is all he asked, not 12, not 16. Four.
Those who embrace communism and who have written about implementing it in America use the term useful idiots. You may have heard it before, you may have heard it on Mr. Bowers' film, Agenda. They refer to people who promote communism who are not communists when they use that derogatory term, useful idiots. The 1958 book, Naked Communist, set out a number of goals to change and destroy and tear down America and turn it into a communist country, among them eliminating prayer from the public schools, getting control of the public schools, using them specifically as transmission belts for socialism, taking control of the curriculum, taking control of the teachers association.
They also embraced discrediting the family, discrediting the Bible. You see the public schools where the debate with regard to the presence of our children may sometimes center is and has been a mechanism for social evolution. By definition it involves divorcing children from the beliefs of their parents. You see, there can be no social evolution if children's beliefs mirror those of their parents. So those beliefs have to be challenged.
They have to be set aside. They can't be held to or else no one will evolve. They'll simply stay the same. Well, isn't that what evolution is supposed to mean? The acceptance of more progressive ideas, of more evolved ideas and replacing old ideas with that.
And so the one room school house became a casualty pretty quickly in the public school system, didn't it? Because brothers and sisters reinforced too much the belief systems with which they arrived and with which they had been endued by their parents. And so they needed to be separated. Those arrows needed to be pulled apart. They couldn't stay together.
They were harder to break when they were together. And so they were separated. So grade-based education was adopted. Those of the same age couldn't stay together, especially if they were related. You know the architects of this public education system, the approach of Dewey and those who agreed with him of training children to accept socialism, of perpetuating those approaches, training more and more a socialist vision.
You know how the NEA has been co-opted by those who believe such things, the socialistic, communistic agenda that has been brought to the table passing most recently a resolution that said they want Children not just from the age of five or six, but from birth. Aren't we grateful that we have not only the command of the Great Commission, but we enjoy the comfort that comes with the command of the Great Commission. Let me read to you from Matthew 28 beginning in verse 16 as we've already heard in this conference. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.
And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." What comfort we see along with this command. And as we have described as sort of a grim, even to some of us perhaps depressing state of affairs with regard to the current understanding of the Great Commission and how it's being applied in families. Let's don't miss the fact that we have incredible, incredible comfort in the command that we are given with the Great Commission.
That Christ, the One who has been given all authority, is with us always. Let's talk just briefly about the context of this commission. It happened after the resurrection and before the ascension. Christ had made a number of appearances to His own. He'd appeared to Mary Magdalene, to other women, to Peter, to the ten disciples, to the eleven, including Thomas, and then would later appear at His ascension.
And this is the time frame in which Jesus appears to the eleven here in Galilee as we have just read. Speaking to His disciples on the mountain where He had clearly told them to go, He gives them this exhortation. All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. All authority right now. As of right that moment, all authority had been given to Him.
Why? Not because he had lacked authority before, but because he had completed the mission for which his Father had sent him. And so now, the governing authority of the Lord Jesus Christ was clearly, clearly affirmed in the most comprehensive of terms. All authority. Not sometime down the road.
Right now. All authority. Brothers and sisters, this is not a great commission which suggests sort of a mealy-mouthed, apologetic, tickled-with-the-scraps kind of an approach to the Gospel. Where we would be satisfied that we had fulfilled it if we could just squeeze the Word of Christ into a sentence somewhere. All authority.
That's the reason that the disciples were sent. Because of that authority. The go is followed by therefore. That therefore points back to the fact that all authority had been given to Christ. The Gospel is about advancing the crown rights of Christ by proclaiming His Gospel.
By speaking the truth that He came and our sin was imputed to Him so that His righteousness could be imputed to us. And because He was obedient to His Father's command and did perfectly what His Father sent Him to do, and was the sacrifice that satisfied a holy God. All authority was given to Him. As Brother Doug said last night, a completely dominion mandate, consistent Gospel proclamation. And not just here and not just there was this authority given to Him in heaven and on earth.
That leaves no place where authority lacks. That's as comprehensive as it gets. Every molecule of everything that is, including the public schools. Go therefore, because of this authority, we are to do what is commanded. But let's ask the question.
Who is in authority in the public schools? Who is in authority where most of Christendom would say we are to send our arrows if we are to fulfill the Great Commission? Well, we know in reality, the Lord Jesus Christ has been given all authority. And as the Gospel is to be proclaimed, that is precisely how it is to be proclaimed there or anywhere else. But what do we acknowledge about authority when children are sent to the public schools?
Whose authority do we explicitly acknowledge when children are sent there? Those who are there. Those who teach. Those who are part of the state. Those who are part of an agenda we'll talk about a little bit more later.
The courts have even said that parents advocate that authority when they leave their children there? Do you know that social workers can come in and interview your children in the public schools if they are there without even telling the parents that the interview's going on? Without even informing them about it beforehand? That they can go so far in most states as to strip search children without parents' knowledge in the public schools so that they can ascertain just how things are going in the home. That's the level of authority granted whenever our children find their way to such a place?
What does it say when we acknowledge that kind of authority? What does it say when children are sent in the name of fulfilling the Great Commission to a place that denies the very authority of Christ upon which we as Christians are commanded to go? What does it say when parents say go there, be educated, learn, submit, pass the tests, be a part of that system? Well, some argue, look to the example of Christian young people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. Well, there's some key differences here.
We're not going to spend a lot of time talking about them, but just briefly, there's a big difference in voluntarily acknowledging and receiving and accepting authority and being captured and enslaved and being placed under that kind of authority, isn't there? Quite a difference. Those young men were described as, I quote, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. Again, seems like there's quite a difference there between the five and six year olds who were first sent into the public schools to fulfill this great commission. Or at least, supposedly so.
But what a far cry it is for well-trained men of considerable ability, young men nonetheless, to be captured and placed under wicked authority involuntarily. How different is that from being placed there voluntarily? What happens to young people placed under authority who react the way that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego reacted? Well, what happened to them under the authority in which they found themselves? Fiery furnaces.
Lions' dens. The public schools children who would seek to fulfill the Great Commission aren't going to make straight A's, I would submit to you. If God allows us to be placed under wicked authority, it's one thing, but voluntarily placing our children there is quite another. Our little children. How on earth can we claim to fulfill the Great Commission by somehow acknowledging and giving our children to those who deny the very authority of Christ who gives that Great Commission.
What else do we find in this Great Commission which we are given so beautifully? All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. As Calvin said, as Brother Doug noted last night, reducing the nations of the world to the obedience of Christ. That's the authoritative command of the Great Commission that we see given here.
Not hit and run evangelism, deep and long and strong relational discipleship. Which, brothers and sisters, I question the possibility of in the context of the public schools today. Teachers who even dare to name the name of Christ are fired. Students who give public addresses and mention the name of Christ are censored. How on earth can the kind of depth and beauty and relationship involved in fulfilling a great commission and making disciples happen in such a place.
How are children in need of discipleship themselves to make disciples of others in a place where the name of Christ cannot even be named, much less proclaimed? This commission that we're given is nothing less than our being slaves to the obedience of Christ. That's the level of commitment. That's the discipleship. That's what is meant when we see the command teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.
Slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Difficult in a place where his authority is denied and where that's taught to little children. Fairly challenging in the public school environment to say the least. What about this aspect of baptism that we see described here in the Great Commission. I won't spend a lot of time on that, but what a challenging thing that would be in the public school environment to say the least.
And Where does that naturally occur? What does that baptism naturally indicate? Doesn't it indicate being a part of the body of Christ? And indicate being baptized into Christ? What most have come to understand to indicate that baptism is a function of the church.
Something to be done in the church. Something to indicate a oneness with Christ. What a beautiful and explicit description of the Trinity we see here in this command, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. John Gill makes the point that nowhere else in Scripture do we see a more beautiful and clear description of the Trinity than we see it here with regard to this great commission that we're given. Clearly, this baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
Something we saw practiced in the early church. Saul lived out in Acts 2. This charge given expressly to the apostles along with the preaching of the Word. Calvin was even of the opinion that baptism should be administered only by ministers of the Gospel and no one else. And whether or not we believe specifically along those lines, certainly there is such a strong connection between baptism and being a part of the body of Christ and being a part of the church that it is very difficult to envision that baptism apart from the church, apart from the oversight and supervision, the involvement of the church would be consistent with that.
Beautiful thing we see in this Great Commission. We see the Great Commission described also in Mark Chapter 16 and Acts Chapter one. And again, we continue to see assurance and promise and power in the context of a very, very challenging command that was given. A command which was apparently challenging enough to the disciples in the context in which they received it. That the command was just full of assurance and hope with regard to the power of the Holy Spirit by which it would be employed.
Both in Acts 1 and Mark 16, we see just beautiful indications and promises of what will occur as this Holy Scripture Great Commission mandate was enacted. And some have wrestled with confusion with regard to what should be expected when the Great Commission is fulfilled even as we seek to fulfill it today. Again, we won't spend a whole lot of time here on either of these passages, but just make a note for your future study and we'll look briefly here together. And you see the imperative and then you see so much assurance, so much hope, so much promise of how this imperative will be played out. In Mark 16, later he appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and he rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had arisen.
And he said to them, go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe. In My name, they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues.
They will take up serpents. And if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover." You notice there's an imperative right there in the beginning. And then that verse is just full of promise. Of promise of the power of the Holy Spirit, and of how these things will occur as obedience to Christ's command is embraced by those sent forth.
Go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. And then, promise after promise after promise, He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe we don't need to be confused with regard to whether or not these signs are occurring today. And as Christians, frankly, have been in the past, confused about ability to cast out demons, speak in tongues, take up and handle snakes, drink poison without being harmed, heal the sick.
These are things that history records, that the book of Acts records, happening according to the power of the Holy Spirit as the Great Commission is fulfilled. These are not imperatives. These are not things that folks have to endeavor to do to fulfill the Great Commission. These are promises of what will happen with regard to the power of the Holy Spirit as the Great Commission is fulfilled. And in Acts 1, we see the same sort of thing.
And here, the indicatives are even more clear. Acts 1 verse 8, "...but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Promises. Facts. About what will happen as the Great Commission is followed. A promise that His own would-be witnesses to Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to all the world.
This was promised to the apostles. Assurance is given to those who would be faithful in fulfilling this Great Commission. But is examining the great commission the end of our analysis? As we consider how we fulfill it with these arrows that are described as being in the hands of a warrior in Christian family. Let's remember a couple of things about how we approach interpreting Scripture.
Very simply, you know these things. Scripture interprets Scripture. It doesn't contradict Scripture. Scripture is sufficient for all of life and godliness. All that we need, we find in the Holy Scriptures.
Without contradiction, without reason, for us to be worried about errors because Scripture is inerrant. It does not contradict itself, nor is it ever inconsistent with God's revealed character. That's how we properly interpret Scripture. So we ask the question, does a proper understanding of Scripture suggest that we send our children, these arrows, into the kind of environment which most of Christendom is suggesting they ought to be in if the Great Commission is to be fulfilled. Remember with me, brothers and sisters, when Christ began His public ministry.
We hear about what Christ did as a child. We see Him ministering at the age of 30. Consider again the authority which gives legs to this command to go and make disciples in all nations. Remember that authority. Comprehensive.
Remember last night what we heard about that authority. From Genesis to Revelation, All of God's revealed will, all that we have been commanded, cannot be divorced disconnected from the authority with which the Great Commission is given. It is done under the authority of Christ and consistent with that kind of authority. Well, what does Christ say to us about these arrows, about these children with which we've been blessed? Well, we're going to go very quickly through a handful of verses that I think are probably familiar to you and then talk about some application in the time that we have left.
Consider what the Bible says about these arrows, about these children, about this heritage with which we are blessed. Now this is the commandment and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land." We read in Deuteronomy 6. Verse 6, "...that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you. You and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, that your days may be prolonged. Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, only in flowing with milk and honey.
Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. How on earth can those who are still in need of discipleship receive this kind of treatment whenever they are sent away from a godly environment 8, 10 hours a day?
Whenever they are set before and set under the authority of those who deny the authority of Christ. The very authority upon which the great commission is given. Do we believe that Christ has somehow contradicted what we're plainly taught in Scripture? Not only do we talk of them when we sit in our house, when we walk, by the way, when we lie down and rise up, we are to bind them as a sign on your hand. They shall be as frontless between your eyes.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Proverbs 1, 7-19. Just read there quickly with you. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. Can we reconcile that with a social evolutionary approach to teaching children that says if you are going to evolve beyond your parents, you must forsake their beliefs?
Is there any way consistent with the command we've just been given, with the wisdom we just see shared here in the proverb? My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. What wisdom we find here and what foolishness I would suggest we find in taking an approach that flies in the face of this with our children. My son of sinners, entice you. Do not consent.
If they say, come with us. Let us lie and wait to shed blood. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them alive like Sheol and whole like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all kinds of precious possessions.
We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in Your lot among us. Let us all have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, but they lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners. Fear the Lord we find in v.
7. Listen to the counsel of parents we see in v. 8-9. Stay away from the wicked we see in v. 10-19.
How do we reconcile this with children sent into the public schools? Proverbs 3, verses one through 12. Very quickly, my son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands, for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck.
Write them on the tablet of your heart. And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." Brothers and sisters, there is no way to reconcile that wisdom we find there in the Proverbs with sending our children precisely into the paths that they are warned to avoid.
Proverbs 4, down in verse 14, do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on. How can we send our children into the places that are precisely described as those to be avoided?
Verse 23, Proverbs 4, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 5 and 7, moral and sexual purity. Do we have to talk about how that is sacrificed in the public schools? Proverbs 15, about the fools despising a father's correction? And yet, to suggest that we send children someplace to fulfill the Great Commission so that they can be taught to despise a father's correction so that they can evolve socially.
Irreconcilable. Proverbs 22.6, train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he's old, he will not depart from it. Not what's happening in public schools. Proverbs 23, 13-26, You can read that for yourself.
Constant loving communication and correction. That is what is needed in the life of a child who is to be discipled in the ways of the Lord. Ephesians 6-4, Father, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. And how about Titus 2? We just think about the Great Commission and the authority upon which it was given and the consistency that Scripture has.
And Scripture interpreting Scripture. Consider with me Titus 2. But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience. The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be blasphemed. Did you hear everything that was just recited there?
Let's just look at young women. Admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands. How do you think that goes over in the public schools. And yet, we're exhorted to teach precisely that. That the Word of God may not be blasphemed.
And yet Some try to craft an argument that we actually send our children into an environment where they are taught the polar opposite of that, where they are taught to embrace the things which cause the Word of God to be blasphemed. And somehow, some try to craft an argument that that is the fulfillment of the Great Commission. How utterly incoherent. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded. In all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works.
In doctrine, showing integrity. Reverence, incorruptibility. Sound speech that cannot be condemned. That one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. 2 Timothy 3.15.
A beautiful description we see here. Timothy, and how from childhood, You have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 6, 1, as familiar as it is, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. And yet the Great Commission is argued to be furthered by sending children to a place where they are told specifically not to do that? To forsake the teaching of godly mothers and fathers?
Colossians 3, Children, obey your parents in all things, for This is well pleasing to the Lord. How can we possibly tell children, go here, do well, make good grades? Have the folks here pleased with you as they tell you to forsake the Lord Jesus Christ and His authority and everything that we have taught you as Christian parents. These little children are indeed precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we make no mistake about that.
He has given us strong instruction to care for and instruct them and to be careful about these little ones. Oh, His tender heart for these little ones. Matthew 19. Then, little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them.
But Jesus said, let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of heaven. And He laid His hands on them and departed from there." And in Mark 9, He came to Capernaum. When He was in the house, He asked them, What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road? But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And he sat down, called the 12 and said to them.
If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. Then he took a little child and set Him in the midst of them. And when He had taken Him in His arms, He said to them, whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me. And whoever receives Me receives not Me, but Him who sent Me. Now John answered Him saying, Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name.
We forbade Him because He does not follow us. But Jesus said, Do not forbid Him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterwards speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our side. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly I say to you, He will by no means lose His reward. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." What a hopeless, confusing message sent to children, told to function well under the authority of those who deny the authority of Christ.
Oh, how many little ones have been caused to stumble. We see the same exhortation in Matthew 25. When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another. As a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep on his right hand with the goats on the left.
Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer Him saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You or thirsty and give You drink?
When did we see You a stranger and take You in? Or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see you sick or in prison? And come to you. And the king will answer and say to them, assuredly I say to you, and as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.
The Bible is so full of warnings with regard especially to our children about the harm, the danger of bad, foolish companions. You know these verses. Proverbs 13.20, "...who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed." 1 Corinthians 15.33, "...do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits." Proverbs 22, 24, and 25, "...make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man to not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul. Psalm 1, 19, 63, I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your precepts.
That's the description of the one who is godly. A companion of those who fear the Lord and of those who keep His precepts. Proverbs 14.7, Go from the presence of a foolish man. When you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge..." Proverbs 1.10, again, "...My son of sinners and tai-shu, do not consent." Do we honestly believe that Christ has given a great commission, command regarding our children that is in rank contradiction to all of what Scripture says regarding how we are to train them. We don't.
We can't believe that. We can't believe that the Great Commission is inconsistent and turns on itself in how we are to apply it. We can't believe that the Great Commission is inconsistent with all of what Scripture has told and instructed us with regard to training of godly children. These are arrows in the hands of a warrior. These are precious.
These are the hope of the future of Christendom. Not because of the power that is vested in us, but because God has been pleased to do it this way. Because God in His sovereignty uses even the foolish stumbling of preaching to proclaim His Word. He takes a man who should be an impediment to the Gospel, and He somehow uses him to be an instrument of it. We do not fulfill the Great Commission by doing things that fly in the very face of it.
That fly in the face of Scripture. The contradictions are irreconcilable. So how should evangelism work in the context of family? Well, perhaps of all the studies recently published, the most telling may relate to the role of fathers in discipleship and in the home. According to another report published by the Baptist Press, if a child is the first person in a household to become a Christian, There's a 3.5% probability that everyone in the household will follow.
3.5% of the time, when a child comes to Christ first in a family, the rest of the family comes to Christ. A little better odds when there's a mom. Seventeen percent of the time when a mother is the first in a family to come to Christ, the rest of the household follows. But listen to what happens when a father professes Christ in his household. If a father professes Christ first in a household, 93% of the time, everyone else in that house will heed the Gospel call.
We don't talk simply about the fruit and about our experience and about what does and doesn't seem to work, but we certainly should look to whether or not efforts are being blessed to what the Lord is being pleased to use. We certainly shouldn't turn a blind eye to what clearly is and is not working according to the good pleasure of the Lord in bringing Christians to Himself. What we see reflected in this study and in these probabilities that we've just talked about, these percentages that have been reflected in the Gospel going forth, it's consistent with what we find in Scripture, isn't it? It's consistent with what we find in Acts 16, v. 31-34, where we see the Philippian jailer come to Christ in what?
In his whole household? Baptized with him. It's consistent with what we see in Acts 16 back in verse 15 where we see again, Lydia, her whole household coming to Christ. It is not unusual for households to come to Christ whenever the gospel goes forth. We see it throughout Acts.
We could talk about example after example of households coming to Christ, of households being described as being the beneficiaries of the Gospel. This is not something inconsistent with what we saw in the New Testament church. It's something altogether consistent with it. And brothers and sisters, there are so many great commission opportunities which are consistent with Scripture. Families ministering together.
Not sending single arrows off to be broken when they're alone and weakest in an environment where they are taught to deny the authority of the very author of the Great Commission itself, of the very Savior whose name they must proclaim, but they are forbidden from proclaiming? What an inconsistent message. How do we find the Great Commission being lived out in the lives of Christians in situations in which Scripture is being respected? Scripture is being obeyed? The example of being literally a slave to Christ is being observed even in the context and during the process of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Well, I suggest to you that I enjoyed some of that in recent weeks, in recent years. I have enjoyed hospitality from Christian friends whose names I don't have permission to share with all of you and the thousands who may hear this sermon later on, Which has been in my experience some of the most stirring examples of the Great Commission in action done consistently with all of Scripture which I've ever experienced. I spent time in a dear brother's home where he gathered all the families who he was hosting there along with his family and took the opportunity in a time of family worship to explain to all of us how the Gospel had been furthered and how his family had been blessed because God had sent them a special needs little baby. In recent days, I have heard folks who were there for that testimony, for that example of the Great commission being fulfilled in a manner that was altogether consistent with Scripture, talk about the fact that they remember it clearly, clearly to this day. That they've thought about it every week since it was given.
We don't have to find creative ways inconsistent with Scripture, brothers and sisters, to fulfill the Great Commission. What about this incredible power of hospitality? What about this incredible power of families ministering together. Indeed, going, having a heart for the lost, being concerned for a lost world, being overjoyed, unable to hold back the beauty and the joy of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done in saving us. Are you still incredulous that our sin was imputed to Christ?
That He, God Himself, took what He could not abide somehow on Himself. And that through that transaction, His righteousness was imputed to us. When we have a tender heart to understand what that is, the Gospel leaps from our lips. It's impossible to hide. It's impossible to keep under wraps.
When we open our homes and minister together as families, when we go out and minister together, perhaps targeting that Father and spending time with Him, with our son, with our wife, with our family at our side. When we open our homes, when we are faithful with regard to family worship, don't believe that the Gospel is not being promulgated during faithful family worship. Charles Spurgeon, we read to you what he says about family worship. If we want to bring up a godly family, who shall be a seed to serve God when our heads are under the clods of the valley? Let us seek to train them up in the fear of God by meeting together as a family for worship." Susanna, Mr.
Spurgeon's wife, describes the nightly scene at their house. This reminded me of what I enjoyed, what is stuck in the minds of my children and of other children who I spoke to just in the last day or two. In the example that we saw, she said, And I quote, after the meal was over, an adjournment was made to the study for family worship. And it was at these seasons that my beloved's prayers speaking of her husband, that my beloved's prayers were remarkable for their tender child likeness, their spiritual pathos, and their intense devotion. He seemed to come as near to God as a little child to a loving father.
And we were often moved to tears as He taught thus face to face with His Lord. Oh, how different is that than forsaking the discipleship of these precious little ones. Sending these arrows away. He seemed to come as near to God as a little child to a loving father. And we were often moved to tears as he talked thus face to face with His Lord.
Here's the account of a visitor to the Spurgeon home. One of the most helpful hours of my visits to Westwood was the hour of family prayer. At 6 o'clock, all the household gathered into the study for worship. Usually, Mr. Spurgeon would himself lead the devotions.
The portion read was invariably accompanied with exposition. How amazingly helpful those homely and gracious comments were. I remember especially his reading of the 24th of Luke, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. How sweetly He talked upon having Jesus with us wherever we go. Not only to have Him draw near at special seasons, but to go with us whatever labor we undertake.
Then how full of tender pleading, of serene confidence in God, of world-embracing sympathy were His prayers. His public prayers were an inspiration in benediction, but His prayers with the family were to me more wonderful still, Mr. Spurgeon, when bowed before God in family prayer, appeared a grander man even than when holding thousands spellbound by his oratory." Oh, the Great Commission. Beginning in that first jurisdiction. Expanding from that jurisdiction as we demonstrate the kind of hospitality that the Scriptures have instructed us to show to the lost that a heart for the lost will cause us to be risk takers in endeavoring and engaging in.
Oh, an example of this Christian man who didn't let a crushing schedule or physical ailments stop him in his duties with regard to his family. It's true, the fields are white unto harvest. Perhaps they're the most white under our own roofs. In our own homes. As we minister together as families in our communities, in foreign lands.
Oh, that we would look to that harvest in obedience to the One whose authority sends us out in the first place. And whose slaves in obedience we are. We cannot with these precious arrows, with the children that God has given us, believe that we are fulfilling a great commission by going against the very authority and against the very obedience of the One who gives it. Our great commission work, wherever it may be, wherever it may take us, whatever it may look like, will be as slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Not casually obedient.
Not satisfied with the crumbs. Not apologetic for naming the name of Christ. Not embracing and affirming authority that says Christ is not who He says He is and that God's a liar and that godly mothers and fathers need to be forsaken. The great commission in which we should be engaged will advance the crown rights of Christ. And we can never do so by denying His authority in our practice or by acknowledging the authority of those who might call Him a liar to our children.
May we make disciples indeed of those closest neighbors who have been entrusted to us as mothers and fathers. And then to those where God would give us opportunity, to those for whom we should care, to those for whom we have good news unlike any other, For those to whom the knowledge of what Christ did for us should be something that we can't keep in. Oh, but never by forsaking the Word of God or the commands or the authority of the One who gave that very commission. May God give us grace and wisdom, indeed to fulfill the Great Commission in a manner in which the obedience to the One giving it is manifest even as the Great Commission is being engaged. Praise the Lord may make it so.
Thank you. The National Center for Family Integrated Churches is dedicated to proclaiming the sufficiency of scripture for church and family life and to the establishment of biblically ordered churches. For more information, resources, and products, please visit our website at www.ncfic.org. Thank you.