Children?s sermon ? ?Choices?

I?m reading a book right now called ?Making Children Mind without Losing Yours.? The book has been teaching me valuable skills about giving choices with clear consequences.

(to my daughter, Eva) Eva, let?s show them what this might look like ? or what this does look like — many nights before bed!

(to the congregation) Here?s the scene ? I?m cleaning up the dishes from dinner. Eva?s watching a cartoon on TV. It?s almost her bedtime. I like to lie in bed with her and read 4 books before she goes to sleep.

?Eva, you need to get ready for bed, or there won?t be enough time to read 4 books tonight.?
I want to finish this show.
?Eva, get in the shower or you?re going to lose a book.?
(Silence.)

?Ok Eva, you?ve just chosen to lose one book.?
But Mommy, I wanted 4 books!
?Eva, that was your choice. Now go get in the shower or you?ll lose another book.?
(Stomps off, gets distracted.)

?Eva, it?s almost bedtime. You?re going to run out of time for 3 books. You need to go take your shower or you?re choosing to lose another book.?

Stomping feet, UGH, slamming doors, still no shower.
?You?ve just lost another book.? I wait to see what she?s going to do now.

She gets in the shower. ?You?re so mean. I wish you weren?t my mommy.? Crying, ?Mommy, can we please read 4 books??
?Eva, this was the choice you made. I like to read 4 books, too. I love that time we get to spend together, but you?ve chosen to take too long and now we only have time for 2 books. I?m sad, too.?

You don?t want me to read books!
?Yes, I really do want you to read books, and I?m sad you made the choices you did.?

(to all the kids) Part of our job as the people raising you is to teach you that you have choices, and that there are good consequences for good choices and bad consequences for bad choices. What was Eva?s choice in this play? (To get in the shower or not).

What was the good consequence if she got right in the shower when I asked her to? (She?d get to read 4 books.)
What was the bad consequence if she kept not getting in the shower? (She?d lose books.)

Was it because I didn?t want her to read books? (No.)

Did it make me sad that we didn?t get as much time to sit in bed and read together? (Yes.)

We each make choices and we each get the consequences from our choices.

What choice are you making right now? (To sit and listen.)
And what?s the good consequence that comes from that? I?m happy, you don?t get in trouble, and you?re making God happy.
In the Bible, we learn that what God wants us to do is to do what is right (which means making good choices), to love mercy (which means to be kind to other people), and to walk humbly with him (which means to recognize that He knows better than we do and go to Him about things). So when we do those things, we make God really happy and we have the best relationship with God!

Let?s pray!

?Choices?

I have one daughter, just one. (Eva ? she?s sitting right over there and was the star of our play from children?s time!) Child rearing should not be that hard with just one child, right? And yet, it is! And sometimes I feel like I?m losing my mind as a result! I love my daughter more than anything in the entire world. I don?t know how I got so lucky as to be her mother. With just one child, I get to focus my attention on her and spend quality time that doesn?t have to be shared with anyone else. Being her mother brings me so much joy, daily, ? and being her mother brings me so much frustration, daily, all in a 5 minute span.

In the scenario we acted out in the children?s message, you got to see a glimpse of what happens many nights at my house. Here?s what often happens next?

Eva gets out of the shower and I remind her that she needs to get pajamas on quickly and brush her teeth so we still have time for the two remaining books. I also remind her that if she cannot do these quickly, we will keep running out of time, and she will have to lose more books. I generally pause around this time and question myself. ?Are these threats? Are they ultimatums?? And then I realize that no, these are my opportunities to teach my daughter about making choices and taking responsibility.

I help her rush to get her jammies on and teeth brushed, we jump in bed, and we read two books. On some nights, she goes so quickly after the shower scenario, that I see there is time for an extra book. I assess her attitude ? has it changed? Has she recognized these were her choices? Has she apologized for the things she said in anger? Is her attitude one of love and respect again? And if there?s time, and if her attitude has gone back to loving, I often decide to add in a short book. Giving to my daughter is one of my favorite things. Taking things away and having to enforce consequences is one of my least favorite.

As I read through Chapter 17 of The Story, I see a very similar scenario playing out of a parent with his children. God has His chosen people ? the Israelites. He loves them, He wants to give them His full attention, to shower them with blessings, protection, and relationship. This nation of His is like His only child. They bring Him joy, and they bring Him frustration, one choice at a time. The problem is, they are in a rut of making bad choices, many of them led by king, after king, after king.

And when I say bad choices, I mean really bad choices. In 2 Kings 21:7-8, we read that the Lord had told David and Solomon: ?My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem?the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel. If the Israelites will be careful to obey my commands?all the laws my servant Moses gave them?I will not send them into exile from this land that I gave their ancestors.?

In this verse, we see very clear choices and consequences. The choice is to be careful to obey the Lord?s commands ? which includes all the laws Moses gave them. And if they do that, God will not send them into exile from their land, and His name would be honored forever in the temple and in Jerusalem. If they do not obey the Lord?s commands, God will send them into exile from their land and His name will not be honored in the temple and in Jerusalem. Clear choice! Clear consequence.

So surely, since he knows the dire consequences, we see King Manasseh make a good wise choice, right? No. Not at all. Instead we read in 1 Kings that this king, who became king at just 12 years old, rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole. He bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.

He built pagan altars in the Temple of the Lord. He sacrificed his own sons in a fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. 1 Kings 6:6 says that Manasseh did much that was evil in the Lord?s sight, arousing the Lord?s anger. And then he did it ? the final straw ? he made a carved image of Asherah and set it up in the Lord?s Temple.

2 Chronicles 33:10 says that the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people and they ignored all his warnings. So here we see God giving a choice ? follow or don?t follow. We see King Manasseh making the wrong choice. But God gives him more chances, giving him warning after warning. And still, King Manasseh chose to not follow the laws that Moses had given. Now it was time for the consequences. So the armies came for the land and Manasseh was taken away as a prisoner. It was then that Manasseh realized the choices he had made, and in his distress he humbled himself before God and prayed to Him.

I find what happened next to be further proof that God has the characteristics of a parent to his people. If this was just anyone ? a stranger, a criminal, someone who had wronged you over and over and over again, I think that our response would be, ?Sorry, you asked for it, this is what you get.?

But our Father, who art in heaven, did what many parents would do for their children, and what I do when I end up adding a book on for Eva. He listened and had compassion. He listened to Manasseh?s plea and brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. The Bible says it was then that Manasseh realized the Lord alone is God. Manasseh wasn?t just being given a second chance at life and ruling his kingdom, he was being given a second chance at making the right ? and the righteous — choice. And this time he made the choice with the positive consequence.

He rebuilt the wall around the City of David, removed the foreign gods and idols from the temple, tore down all the alters he had built, restored the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace and thanksgiving offerings, and encouraged the people of Judah to worship the Lord.

Manasseh was King for 55 years in total, and things were looking up!

But not for long? all it took was his son, Amon, to come in and make bad choices again. People didn?t like this, so they plotted against him and assassinated him after just two years in power.

His son, Josiah, then came in, and he was one of the good guys. Josiah doesn?t get a lot of credit in the Bible stories that are shared in church, so let?s change that together and try to remember the king that Josiah was — a king who made great choices.

You see, I?m a strong believer that there aren?t good or bad kings or good or bad people ? there are good or bad choices. And King Josiah made all the good ones!

He was in power for 31 years ? and it was 31 years of spiritual renewal and reform. As the Story Bible tells us, it was during King Josiah?s reign that the temple was repaired, the Book of the Law of Moses was discovered during these repairs, and the laws were zealously followed. He made it his life?s goal to rediscover God?s way of living for his people. Josiah died in battle in 609 BC ? 609 years before the birth of the King of Kings! Josiah was the last king we?re going to see who made good choices for God?s people.

The kings to come made their own choices, despite warning after warning. God sent a prophet named Jeremiah to speak the warnings to the people. Jeremiah, author of the book of Jeremiah, was known as the Weeping Prophet because his heart ached so deeply for the sins of the people and the impending judgment their choices would cause. In one of his messages to the people, he shared something that again reminds me of being a parent.

He said, speaking for the Lord, ?They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ?Come and save us!?

God, our father, deals with the same thing we see time and time again with children ? probably of any age. I remember times that Eva has been yelling at me to leave her alone and 2 minutes later wants me to come help her with something. What a beautiful lesson she has taught me about what we do to God. We go our own way, we turn our backs to try to do something on our own, only to then get in trouble and pray to Him for help. Let us learn from the Israelites, from children, and from our own past, and make a choice to not turn our backs on our Father when we are tempted to in the future.

But maybe it feels like you?re the only one making the right — or the righteous ? choice. It might seem like unless everyone makes the right choice, it doesn?t matter, and you shouldn?t sacrifice to make the right choice either. Be encouraged by the words the Lord gave to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 5:1:

?Run up and down every street in Jerusalem,? says the Lord.
?Look high and low; search throughout the city!
If you can find even one just and honest person,
I will not destroy the city.?

Sometimes it just takes one person to make the good choice ? I challenge you to be the one person. Your actions, faith, and following the Lord?s leading, could make all the difference for your whole family, your whole congregation, your whole community, and even the whole world. Your choices matter.

Have you noticed by now that God did not want His people to bear the consequences of their actions? He just wanted them to repent and follow Him, for them to stay in their land, and for his name to be honored.

But it was time. God took away any excuse of not knowing exactly what the Law of Moses said when the Law was found in the Temple by Josiah. They had the law, they had the history, they had the choice, and it was time for the consequence that God had shared with King David almost 300 years prior. ?If the Israelites will be careful to obey my commands?all the laws my servant Moses gave them?I will not send them into exile from this land that I gave their ancestors.?

But alas, they chose not to obey the Lord?s commands, and King Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, seized Jerusalem. In preparation for this happening, God sent Jeremiah to the people to give them choices to make while dealing with the consequences of their bad choices. In Jeremiah 21:8-9, he says,

?Tell all the people, ?This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death! Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life! For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.??

And that is what happened. The temple was destroyed and more than ten thousand Israelites were taken into exile. The poorest of the poor were left to tend the land. Of those taken was a young priest named Ezekiel, who would later become a prophet for those in exile.

In one of Ezekiel?s messages to the people many years after being in exile, we see another glimpse at God being a wonderful Father to His people. He said ?They will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.?

As I read this, I am reminded of times with Eva where I have to follow through on the consequences I gave her. I don?t want to, it makes me sad to see her have to bear the consequences of her decisions. But what kind of mother would I be if I never followed through on the consequences I told her she would have? What kind of empty love would that be if I decided that it was more important for Eva to be happy in that moment than to have a future as a woman who is disciplined and takes responsibilities for her choices. Consequences are the tough love none of us want to enforce or bear, but that enable us to learn and grow. Just as I do with Eva, our Father God gives us choices and eventually has to enforce the consequences for our greater good. Jeremiah shared a word with the people about God, again showing the Lord?s parental love for us and how sad it makes Him when we make bad choices. He said in Jeremiah 13:17: ?And if you still refuse to listen, I will weep alone because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be led away into exile.?

We see throughout the Bible that it is by God?s love that we bear the consequences of our choices, and it is by God?s love that we find hope in those consequences.

The book of Lamentations, which many believe was written by the prophet Jeremiah, gives a beautiful summary that recognizes the consequences of the choices that were made by the Israelites, resulting in their exile to slavery in Babylon.

Verse 1:3 says, ?Judah has been led away into captivity, oppressed with cruel slavery. She lives among foreign nations and has no place of rest. Her enemies have chased her down, and she has nowhere to turn.?

He continues on in Lamentations 2 to say, ?The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.?

And how important this is. Our word ? as a parent, and as a fellow human being — is everything, and so is God?s. In the same way that God kept his word by bringing the consequences that had been laid before the Israelites if they made bad choices, He also kept and continues to keep His words of hope and promise. We will end today by reading parts of Lamentations 3.

I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, ?The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!?
The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.
For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.

Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.
If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,
if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High,
if they twist justice in the courts? doesn?t the Lord see all these things?
Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?
Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord.

So here is our choice: to depend on him and to search for him. And the positive consequences of that choice are goodness, inheritance, and salvation from the Lord.