Praying for the young and the rebellious

Teenagers in the Netherlands. (Wikipedia)

My Aunt Blanche used to have a description for young people who were making ridiculous and dangerous decisions. She said they were climbing Fool's Hill.

Like never before in living memory, our young people are under attack, and many are climbing Fool's Hill. The adversary is using every possible means to bring death and destruction to their entire generation.

If they are not one of the two in every five who lose their lives to abortion, they encounter at a younger and younger age the character of the enemy of their souls who desires to steal, kill, and destroy them.

Parents, grandparents, prayer warriors, and youth pastors plead with the Lord, “What, Lord, is Your plan for this generation?” Oh, the Lord does have plans. He plans for them to inherit the promises set aside for the descendants of His servants (Deut. 7:9; Psalm 33:11; 100:5; 112:2; Isaiah 41:4; 44:3; 49:25; 54:13, 17; 59:21; Acts 2:39; Eph 3:21).

Susanna Wesley on rearing children

Susanna Wesley

Susanna Wesley (1669-1742) was the mother of John and Charles Wesley. Through much adversity, including a rocky marriage and constant financial struggles, Susanna persevered in her calling as a mother.

Her husband Samuel struggled to make ends meet as a young Anglican parish priest in England. By the time they found a parish which paid enough to live, they were mired in debt. Unfortunately, Samuel was also a poor money manager and was jailed twice for unpaid debts. Their home burned to the ground twice, and of her 19 children, Susanna lost nine in infancy, including two sets of twins.

Despite his love for her and his commitment to Christ, Samuel was blind to his faults. At times he was tyrannical and despotic at home. Once after a minor disagreement, he abandoned Susanna and their several children for an entire year.

To her absent husband, Susanna Wesley wrote: “I am a woman, but I am also the mistress of a large family. And though the superior charge of the souls contained in it lies upon you, yet in your long absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my charge as a talent committed to me under a trust. I am neither a man nor a minister, yet as a mother and a mistress I felt I ought to do more than I had yet done. I resolved to begin with my own children.”

After their second house burned to the ground, she was forced to place her children in different homes for two years. When Susanna managed to get her family back together, she was mortified at their behavior, their improper speech, and their preference for play rather than study.[1] Immediately she decided to do something about it. 

Luke 2:41-52 - The Boy Jesus

The Boy Jesus with the Jewish Rabbis

Contextual Notes:

We have come to the end of what is called the Birth Narrative in Luke. All along the focus has been on how this baby who is coming will fulfill the covenants of Abraham and David.

Luke calls his reader to reject unbelief and embrace belief in this Child who has been born. The birth narrative began with an unbelieving priest in the Temple and ends with the Great High Priest in the Temple.

The Passover Jerusalem visit of the twelve-year-old Jesus is the only account about Jesus’ childhood found in the four Gospels. (There are false “infancy Gospels” written several centuries later that tell fanciful stories and made up legends about the boy Jesus. Sorry to inform that Jesus did not travel to India, study yoga with Far Eastern “masters”, visit with extraterrestrial beings, or learn and perform works of magic.) Luke does not include this vignette of Jesus’ childhood for the curious, but to reveal Jesus’ real human growth, as a man, mentally and physically, to show his true nature as being fully human as well as fully God.

Key Truth: Luke wrote Luke 2:41-52 to teach believers that we are responsible before the Lord to prepare children for the work, the call, and the wisdom of the Lord in their lives.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about rearing children before the Lord.

Pray and Read:  Luke 2:41-52

Sermon Points: The boy Jesus teaches us that we are responsible to

1.   Prepare children for the work of the Lord in their lives (Luke 2:41-47)

2.   Prepare children for the call of the Lord on their lives (Luke 2:48-51)

3.   Prepare children for the wisdom of the Lord in their lives (Luke 2:52)