Help children learn to love God 

September 8, 2024 

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Matthew 22:37-39 

It’s Grandparents’ Day! Today we’re giving some appreciation to parents and grandparents! They are a big influence on us. So, today’s message is about how to help children learn to love God, which is something we all need to hear. Maybe you’re a parent, a grandparent, or part of the church, we’ll hear about what environment children need to grow spiritually. We’ll find out we can all sow spiritual seeds of faith. 

Raising kids is always hard, but it’s very difficult today! It’s a humbling experience. There are a lot of negative influences out there. We all need God more than ever! How do we help children know and love God and learn to follow Him? 

We’re not the first people to live in rapidly changing times. The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt. Then God called Moses to lead the people out of slavery. God worked miracles through Moses, and finally, he parted the waters of the Sea, so the people of Israel walked through it on dry land and escaped to freedom! 

You would think they felt they were living their best life, finally free from slavery! But the people complained a lot. When God brought them to the promised land and told them to enter it, they wouldn’t go. They were afraid. God became angry! Because they didn’t trust him, He said their generation would not enter it. Back then people didn’t live longer than 40 years on average. They would have to wait 40 years to go into the promised land, when most of them had died. Their children and grandchildren would enter the promised land. 

When they were nearing the end of the 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites came to a Desert with no water. Moses and Aaron pleaded with God to give them water. God said, ok, gather the people. He told Moses to speak to the rock, and water would come from the rock. Moses gathered the people, but instead of speaking to the rock, he hit the rock twice! God was angry at him and told Moses he would never enter the promised land! 

When the 40 years in the wilderness was up, and God was about to let the Israelites enter the promised land, (but not Moses,) Moses knew it would be challenging in the future for the people to follow God! Because even Moses himself, the greatest prophet and leader of Israel, even he failed at times to be faithful. So, to help the people be faithful to God, Moses gave a long sermon, which we call the book of Deuteronomy. Included in his long sermon is the 10 commandments in chapter 5. In our reading today from Deuteronomy 6, Moses instructs the people, you need to follow God, or it won’t go well for you in the promised land! 

In Deuteronomy 6:4, Moses says, “Hear, O Israel!” Very few people back then could read. So, Moses didn’t say, “read your Bibles, O Israel.” No, he said, “Hear,” listen! Then Moses said, The Lord our God, the Lord is one, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. Last Sunday we heard how Jesus said that is the greatest commandment: to love God! Jesus said the second greatest commandment is love your neighbor as yourself. 

Next, Moses talks about how the people can raise their children to learn to love God. He says, “Take the commandments to heart. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road.” When you think about it, we’re always either at home, or we’re away. So basically, Moses says, talk about following God ALL THE TIME! Talk about God when you lie down and when you get up. Write the commandments on your doorframes and on your city gates! 

Notice, he doesn’t say, “Leave it to the professionals to talk to your kids about God.” He doesn’t say, “just let the rabbi teach them.” No! Moses says, in the promised land, you’ll have it good! You’ll have land, nice homes, and abundant food. You may think that’s good, but you’ll take God for granted. It will be tempting to forget God! We’ve all got a place to lay our head and enough food. There’s a danger we’ll take God for granted. We’ll become casual Christians. And your kids won’t follow God if you’re a casual Christian. You need to be Christ-centered, loving God will all your heart, mind, soul and strength. This is your highest calling! To raise our children to love God, they need to be in an environment where parents, grandparents, church and more are modelling a sincere pursuit of living their lives for the glory of Jesus! If we’re not serious about God, how can we ever expect our children to follow Him? Children don’t become what we say, they become what they see.  

So, what can we all do to better help children love God? Well, the more you’re around something, the more you become like it. When my son Ian was little, his parents, Kevin and I, wore glasses. His older brother wore glasses. One day Ian said, “When do I get glasses?”  He expected and welcomed wearing glasses! Because that’s what we do! And that day did come. 

We can’t force our children to love God, but we can expose them to the people and experiences that increase the likelihood of spiritual growth. We can raise them in the church, where following God is what the people there do! You create an environment in your home where kids want to have discussions about God. We want to make God and Jesus and faith and serving and being Christlike, the most normal and common subjects in our home. That’s what Moses was talking about, you get up, you talk about God. You’re getting ready for bed; you talk about God. 

You go out to eat or you get takeout, and you say to your kids or grandkids: “Can you believe how good God is? We are blessed to enjoy this pizza!” In sports, if they lose a game, they’re devastated. You say, “that’s really sad. But you were a great witness out there. You shook hands with the other team and you gave your best.” They win a game, and you say, “God is good. He gave you talent and good health!” You create an environment where it’s natural to talk about God. We all can sow spiritual seeds of faith. 

Psalm 92:13 says, “Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the Lord.” Planted in the house of the Lord! What if we planted ourselves in the church? We’d be here every Sunday. Planting yourself in God’s house helps your family to Love God. 

Serving in and through church is a gamechanger. The moment your kids start serving, the church becomes their own. This is a message for us all in church. Empower young people. If you think they’re too young to do something, let them serve anyway. They’ll surprise you. Look for new ways young people can serve. We all can sow spiritual seeds of faith. 

Church is really powerful when children have peer relationships and intergenerational relationships there. Church is a place that listens to young people. A place where everybody knows your name. 

My challenge for you this week, is think of who positively impacted your life when you were a kid? Then ask yourself, how can I be that person for someone else today? 

We all want kids to grow up on the right path and learn to love God. We are part of the solution. We can put Christ in the center of our lives. We can talk about God every day. We can help children hear and remember, that the Lord is our God. We can model that our highest calling is to love Him with all our heart. That is how we sow spiritual seeds of faith. Amen.