Sunday Pulpit

Excerpt of Shannon's June 3rd sermon. It is from a series about our journey toward God from the Psalms of Ascent.

Psalm 127:1-2
Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.

I was a youth minister for two years, in that time I gave over 100 lessons to high school kids. I don’t remember most of them. I do remember one quite well, because of the response it got.

Most of the time when I give a teaching, I challenged the kids to obey. And I might ask them how to obey it. And the kids would say, "Read your Bible more and pray more." "Sunday School Answers". But even in those responses, which were not very well thought out, there was a level of recognition and submission. Even if they weren't sure how to obey, they knew that they should.

But on this Wednesday night, a group of church-grown kids, really good, God-loving kids, dug their heels in. They just refused to accept what I was teaching. They might have known I was right, but they could not submit to it.

What was it that I was teaching that drew such a rebellious reaction from good Christian kids? I asked them what their career goals were. “What do you wanna be when you grow up?” They gave their answers. One said a school teacher. Another said a lawyer. Then I asked them how they came to those decisions. Not one of them mentioned prayer or obedience to God’s call, or consulting him in any way.

So I taught them that when they got baptized, their baptism was a symbol of their surrendering the reign of their lives. They were accepting Jesus, not just as a Savior, but as Lord, boss, owner. How then could they go about arranging their (His) lives without consulting Him? “Don’t you think he should have a say in what you do with the life that is now his?” I asked.

But they did not want to open themselves up to his direction on such an important decision. It was almost as if they were saying, “This is my life. I’ll go to church and be good, but God does not need to stick his nose into my business.”

Well, you know I didn’t let that go. I suddenly had an idea for eight week lesson plan on how to make good decisions.

That might sound harsh, but I saw it as an act of mercy. Because unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain.

If a kid does not make a good decision on that stuff, it can be very costly. That’s a life-alternating decision, for good or for ill. Should we not involve Him who knows best, and is the primary stock holder?

This is not just a lesson for kids deciding what they will do with the rest of their lives, it’s for all of us. What are you doing and what will you do with this life that you’ve given to God? Are you letting him have a say? Do you realize that that without his support, you labor in vain… or worse?