TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 11:18-21,26-28 #2773 PENTECOST 2THEME: "PASSING THE BATON" I. THE CRITICAL NEED. II. THE CRITICALTRUTHS. ill. THE CRITICAL METHOD. Phoenix - 6/22/14My dear fellow redeemed,

A number of years ago Dr. James Dobson wrote a very thought-provoking book entitled"Straight Talk." In this book he is addressing primarily us men - especially us fathers -and he likens our responsibility of introducing our children to the Christian faith to a tbree-man relay race. "First," he says, ''your father runs his leg around the track carrying thebaton, which represents the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the appropriate moment, he handsthe baton to you and your journey around the track. Then finally, the moment will comewhen you must get the baton safely into the hands of your children. But, as any track coachwill testify," Dr. Dobson says, "relay races are won or lost in the transfer of the baton.There's a critical moment when all may be lost by a fumble or a miscalculation. The batonis rarely dropped on the back side of the track when the runner has it firmly in his grasp. Iffailure is to occur," Dobson says, "it will likely happen in the exchange betweengenerations. "

And I think he does make some valid points, doesn't he? God Himself has given us theresponsibility of ''passing the baton," so to speak, from one generation to another - theresponsibility of handing down the unchanging truths of His Word and the saving gospel ofour Lord Jesus Christ to those who will follow us here on earth .... to our children and theirchildren and their children's children until the end of the age. The proper and successfulway of "passing this baton" of God's Word and the Christian faith is critical. That's whatour Lord is impressing upon us here today, and so this morning we're going to focus onthis matter of "PASSING THE BATON." First, we are reminded of I. THE CRITICALNEED for this. II. THE CRITICAL TRUTHS that need to be passed along. And fmally, III.THE CRITICAL METHOD of actually doing this.

I.If you listen to the news or read the paper, one thing that becomes very apparent is that

many of the children in our nation are "at risk." Almost one-fourth of all preschoolchildren, for example, are living below the poverty level. Annually, 350,000 children areborn to women addicted to cocaine. Fifteen million children are raised by single mothers.Child protection agencies report that over the last ten years the number of child abuse caseshas more than tripled. On any given night between 50,000 and 200,000 children arewithout homes - 40% of shelter users last year were families. There are indeed manychildren in our land who are "at risk" - at risk in positions of peril. But all of these thingsI've just mentioned are entirely physical and temporal, aren't they? They don't addressTHE REALLY CRITICAL NEED that all of these children have - the critical need, in fact,that all children have, regardless of their physical circumstances - and that is, the criticalneed for us to pass the "baton" of God's Word oflife and salvation to them.

This is what our Lord Himselfhas directed us to do here when He said thru Moses, "Fixtbese words of mine in your bearts and minds ••••Teach them to your children,"v .18a& 19a. In reality, this truly is the most critical need that all of us have, not only ourchildren. You see, if we don't believe the saving truths of God's Word, we remain underthe "curse" Moses was talking about here when he said, "See, I am setting before youtoday a blessing and a curse - tbe blessing if you obey tbe commands oftbe Lord yourGod tbat I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of tbe Lordyour God and turn from tbe way tbat I command you today," v.26-28. And this"curse," my friends, is far worse than any kind of worldly poverty, any earthlyhomelessness, any domestic violence, any physical, mental, or verbal abuse. This is thecurse of sin! - the sin with which we were all conceived and born into this world. Andthat's as bad as you can ever possibly get!

It's our sin that causes us to be completely bankrupt when it comes to the righteousnessGod demands for acceptability in His sight. It's our sin that causes us to "fall short of theglory of God, " as the Apostle Paul said in our second lesson this morning. It is sin that cancause people to have no eternal home in the kingdom of heaven. It's sin that will force theLord to say to so many people when they stand before Him in judgment, "Away from me,you evildoers!" It's sin that can lead people to eternal death - to everlasting torment, bothphysical and mental, in the fires of hell. It is sin that reaUy puts all people "at risk,"including you and me. And it's only the truths of God's Word and the Holy Spirit workingin human hearts thru those truths that can change this gloomy and terrifying picture. Thistruly is the most critical need we all have. So, "fix these words of mine in your heartsand minds," God says to each of us. And .... "teach them to your children," He alsosays. Pass this baton on to the next generation! II.

Now secondly, in passing the baton of Christian faith to those who will be running therace of life after we have finished our leg, we also need to pass along to them THECRITICAL TRUTHS we ourselves have learned. In his novel entitled, "Chesapeake,"author James Mitchner tells about a participant in a Quaker wedding who gives someadvice to the young couple who were being joined in marriage. He says to them, "Whenthou art blessed with children, be sure they are taught to know their Lord and Savior, JesusChrist. It is a fearful thing to rear children who know not the Christian faith." And this istrue. In essence, this is what Moses was talking about here - the principles and truths of ourChristian faith. This is what he was impressing upon the Israelites - and all of us as well -when he said, "Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at homeand when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Writethem on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates," Moses said, "so that yourdays and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore togive your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth," v.19-21.In reality, of course, all the sacred truths God has revealed to us in His holy Word arecritical truths that need to be passed along to the next generation, but let me mention just afew. Without a doubt, one of the most critical truths we all need to know is the love of ourGod in His Son Jesus, and the forgiveness and salvation He freely offers and gives usforJesus' sake as an undeserved gift of His grace. One of the most important truths we canteach our children is to put God and His Word first in their lives. "Seek FIRST God'skingdom and His righteousness, " our Lord Jesus tells us. This will lead to the "blessing"Moses refers to here - the blessing of endless days in the Promised Land of heaven. "Thisis eternal life, " our Savior says of the Bible's teachings, "that people may know the onetrue God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. " This is the way we are to prioritize our ownlives and the priorities we are to teach our children to set in their lives. God has to be firstin our life because it's in Him alone that we find salvation from the curse of our sins,"being justified freely by His grace thru the redemption that came by Christ Jesus," as wealso heard Paul say this morning. It is thru the truths of God's Word that we are "madewise for salvation thru faith in Christ Jesus. " So, "teach them to your children," Godsays. Teach them these critical truths you yourselves have learned.

Ill.And this brings us to the final point we're going to consider when it comes to passing

the baton of our Christian faith, and that is, THE CRITICAL METHOD for doing this.Obviously, our personal instruction is involved and it is important, but that's not all. To putit very simply, it's extremely difficult to mold our children without proper modeling by usparents. Children learn far more than we sometimes realize from what they see us do thanfrom what they hear us say to them. It's hard to mold if you don't also model. That's whythis lesson from the Book of Deuteronomy begins not with our children, but with us adults.

"Fix these words of mine in you, hearts and minds," God says thru Moses, "tie them assymbols on you, hands and bind them on you, foreheads." And after that then "teachthem to you, children," v.18&19a. We can't very well give our children something thatwe ourelves don't have, can we? - whether it's material things or moral values or spiritualtruths. It's hard to mold them if you don't model for them what you want to mold them tobe. Our children learn not only from what we say but also from what they see us do.

I think this can be seen from a story that appeared in Time magazine a while back,which told about a 6-year old boy from Oklahoma named Brian Parish. According to thearticle, Brian did extra chores for five months to earn some money so that he could buytoys for poor children. He earned a total of $50 with his extra work, and then he picked outthe toys that were to be bought and given anonymously to the children of a needy family.Little Brian's example really impressed the Time editors. I mean, 6-year olds do notnaturally give and sacrifice for others. In fact, most people of any age don't naturally tendto do those things, and the editors wanted to know why Brian did it. When they exploredthe reason behind his attitude and generosity, they discovered that he was simply beingmolded into what was being modeled for him by his own mother. That's the way she is! -loving and giving .... always wanting to help somebody else. It was Brian's own idea to dothat for these poor children, but it was his Mom who encouraged him in his project, and itwas his aunt who helped him find the needy family. They were really doing a great job of''passing the baton," weren't they!

What about our own families, my friends? Or those who may be looking to us adults asrole models? Is this the baton-passing method we are also using with our children andyouth? What are they learning about God and His will from watching us? That He really isfirst in our life and that doing His will is our number-one priority? And what are theydeducing about the Christian faith from looking at our own personal example? That's it'skind and patient, gentle and loving, giving, forgiving, and tolerant? Is this what we aremodeling for them in our everyday experiences? When we "sit at home and when wewalk along the road, when we lie down and when we get up"? Do they truly see theabsolute necessity of the Lord and His Word and the Christian faith when it comes torunning the race of life by how committed we personally are to them?

As Dr. Dobson pointed out, relay races in a track meet are won or lost in the passing ofthe baton ..... and so also - Imight add - is life in eternity. So, "fix these words of mine inyour hearts and minds," God says of His Bible truths, and "teach them to yourchildren" thru personal instruction and by means of your own personal example. That'spassing the baton of Christian faith, life, and salvation successfully. May God grant us thegrace to always do so.

AMEN