Dealing with Our Awakened Children, Part 1

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the subject of counseling spiritually awakened children, defining 'awakened' as children who, after years of Christian nurture, begin to show genuine…

Martin lists various triggers for spiritual awakening in children, such as the death of a relative or a thunderstorm, to show that God uses diverse means to bring awareness.

It is as though they are utterly unresponsive and insensitive to these realities. But then, sometimes gradually, sometimes triggered by the death of a relative, by an understorm, by a thousand and one things, they begin to be awakened to all of these realities with which they've been surrounded. There begins to be an understanding and evidence of an awareness of these realities that goes beyond the mere words that we've been impressing upon their souls by way of the ear gate. And they may begin to ask such questions as these,

5:34 - 6:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the subject of counseling spiritually awakened children, defining 'awakened' as children who, after years of Christian nurture, begin to show genuine…

Martin provides examples of questions awakened children might ask, such as 'How do I know if I have a new heart?' or expressing fear of death and hell, to illustrate the nature of their spiritual concern.

Mommy, Daddy, how do I know if I have a new heart? I ask God for a new heart, but I still sin. What's wrong? Doesn't God hear me?

6:15 - 6:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Expect, pray for, and rejoice when spiritual awakening comes in your children.

Martin uses the metaphor of parents becoming 'spiritual neurosurgeons' when dealing with awakened children, highlighting the extreme delicacy and potential fatality of mishandling their souls with the 'scalpel of truth'.

There is an awakening in them with respect to spiritual realities. Now, when I use the term how to deal with our spiritually awakened children, I am talking about children who fit the description I have just now taken about five minutes to set before you. Now, such awakening in our children ought to be expected, we ought to pray for it, we ought to rejoice when it comes. But when it comes, we become spiritual, if I may say it,

7:05 - 7:50 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We'd rather have our kids doubting but safe rather than assured but lost. If they have doubts that they're in grace, but they really are in grace, they'll still go to heaven.

Pastor Barker's recent experience with individuals in rebellion who still claimed salvation based on a childhood 'decision' illustrates the danger of presumption and false hope.

they have healed slightly the hurt of the daughter of my people, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. And many of us come out of a background in which we have seen presumption and false hopes generated by a decisionism among children that has utterly appalled us. Pastor Barker was in a situation just last week when I went over with the men in the elders' meeting last night, basically what I was proposing to do. He said, oh, how relevant it is.

11:33 - 12:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We'd rather have our kids doubting but safe rather than assured but lost. If they have doubts that they're in grace, but they really are in grace, they'll still go to heaven.

Martin gives an example of a child who prayed for years without perceived answer, leading to cynicism and a belief that 'there's nothing real,' illustrating the danger of despair.

It can lead to personality alteration. It can lead to cynicism. I prayed. I asked God to save me.

13:58 - 14:08 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We'd rather have our kids doubting but safe rather than assured but lost. If they have doubts that they're in grace, but they really are in grace, they'll still go to heaven.

Martin describes the passivity of hyper-Calvinism, where individuals wait for a 'divine zapping,' to illustrate another negative outcome of despair or discouragement in spiritual matters.

I did it for three, four years. He never heard me, never did anything. There's nothing real. Or it can lead, as some of you know from your background, to a passivity of hyper-Calvinism, waiting for the divine zapping.

14:08 - 14:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that your children are sinners against God, not primarily against you as parents.

Martin uses stick figures on a board to visually represent parents counseling children, helping the audience conceptualize the relationship and roles in the discussion.

A little guy, and we got a little girl. I still put skirts and dresses on girls. I try to get through my anti-unisex theology in my stick figures. All right?

15:25 - 15:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Have a peculiar understanding of your own children's unique personalities, temperaments, and emotional makeup.

Martin shares a personal anecdote with his wife wishing they could 'put certain two of our kids back in the womb and shake them up' to illustrate the vast differences in children's temperaments and the need for individualized understanding.

You say, have they come out of the same womb? And more than once, you wish you could put them back in and scramble and hope that something of his would spill off here and something there. My wife and I have said that more than once. Put certain two of our kids back in the womb and shake them up and hope that something would rub off on one and on the other.

19:16 - 19:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Have an accurate understanding of the ongoing dimensions of salvation, including reckoning with remaining sin.

Martin describes his personal process of preparing the sermon, including jotting down notes and diagrams, to show the audience the depth of thought and wrestling involved in organizing complex theological ideas for practical application.

Well, I'm sure if we fish for the rest of the hour, and we've only got, believe it or not, 20 minutes left, we'd get many things. But I want to get well started on our way of setting before you, and this is not something I've come to hastily. It's really the fruit of many, many years of parental wrestling, of wrestling as a pastor, to give you a little idea of what I go through when I'm doing my initial preparation. I'll let you peek over my shoulder at my desk.

20:52 - 21:19 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third category is understanding the ordinary method of grace for children under Christian nurture, where the framework of nurture becomes the conduit of saving grace. Martin…

Martin uses the construction joke of 'hanging it on a sky hook' to explain that practical counsels cannot be given without a solid theological foundation, emphasizing that theology provides the necessary structure.

When we did construction work, it used to be a standing joke. You didn't know where to put something. You'd say, boss, where shall I put it? You'd say, hang it on a sky hook.

41:11 - 41:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain your duty to impose the duties of the law and the gospel upon your child, regardless of whether their spiritual interest is high or low.

Martin uses the analogy of starting an old reciprocal engine versus a modern jet engine to illustrate that while the precise moment of conversion (when external nurture becomes internal saving grace) may be unknown, the evidence of internal power (true faith) becomes undeniable over time.

And because our time is gone, and I have one more point to make, and we'll just have to let it go until next week. Let me use the illustration. I was fishing for an illustration. I said, I think I've got one.

45:55 - 46:06 Read in full sermon