“My Story?”⤒🔗

Many of you know that I travel often to a certain country in the Far East in order to teach, counsel, and encourage the believers there. When I go there I am often asked about “my story.” You may ask “what is that?” What they want to know is how I came to faith. How did I become a Christian? In most cases what they are looking for is some spectacular story about how the Lord converted me in a very dramatic way. Now, whether for good or bad, I do not have a dramatic story to tell them. I inform them that if they want to hear a dramatic story, they should speak with Pastor D – now, he has a real story to tell! (Have you ever heard it? If not, you should invite him to tell it. It will amaze you, make you cry, and lead you to praise God.) But as for me, my story is almost dull by comparison. Why is my story on the dull side? Because I’m a church kid.

Now maybe I need to explain that expression “church kid.” Commonly we describe those who belong to the church as “members, communicant members, non-communicant members, baptized members, believers, Christians, Reformed believers” and we describe those who are younger and are being raised in the Christian church as “covenant children.”

So most of you I suspect are what would be called “covenant kids” or “church kids.” You were born into a Christian family, raised in a Christian home, attend the Christian church, are being taught by a Christian minister, and either go to Christian schools or are home-schooled by Christian parents.

Coming to the Lord←⤒🔗

What this means too is that for most of you it is hard, if not impossible, to say to someone else, “On this day, at that time, in that place, I was converted and came to know the Lord.” Ever since you were knee high to a grasshopper, you have been hearing about the Lord. Your parents taught you to pray – “Now I lay me down to sleep,” read you Bible stories, talked to you about the Lord. In other words, the Lord has always been there.

Now, of course I realize that the Lord may not always have been there is the same way for you. Perhaps when you were young you spoke often to Him and listened to Bible stories with glee. Perhaps as you got older the fascination began to wane. Maybe some of you even wandered away from the Lord for a time, or else you felt hardly connected to Him. Living with Him, after all, does have it ups and downs. Why it could even be that some of you here have still not really reconnected to Him. You fold your hands and close your eyes at mealtimes with the family because it’s expected of you. You go to worship not because you are spiritually hungry but because if you don’t, you may get booted out of the house. You attend a Christian school because your parents make you. In short, there are times when some of you really do not care and simply go through the motions.

Now, be that as it may, the thing that I want to say with this is that for most of you the Lord is no stranger, the Bible is no foreign book, a worship service is no alien experience. Unless you have really fallen off the church wagon and climbed back on again, you have no dramatic story to tell. You are a church kid.

Back to the...←⤒🔗

Now, getting back to the believers in that foreign country mentioned earlier. It should be said that they do not frown down on this or yawn when told this. No, also this keenly interests them. To be raised and nurtured in a Christian home, to be part of a family that may have been Christian for generations, all of that astounds them.

Even more than that, it makes them jealous. Yes, the believers in that other country by and large are really jealous of you. They wish that they could have what you have. Oh, to have Christian parents instead of unbelieving ones. Oh, to be nurtured in a home where Christian values reign. Oh, to be able to go to church every Sunday freely and openly, to hear sermons by trained ministers, to have buildings where there is heat and light. Oh, to be able to attend a Christian school where Christ stands in the centre. All of these things, and more, are seen by them as a huge, unimaginable dream. It’s what they would love to have, but do not have.

So, besides all of these things, what do you have as church kids? What are the positives of being a church kid? What are the specific advantages?

A Covenant Kid←⤒🔗

The first thing I would say is that as a church kid you are also a covenant kid. The covenant, this wonderful relationship of promise and demand, envelops your life. What this means is that the God of the covenant has called you into existence. He has given you your life. He has given you his great and blessed promises. He has numbered your days. He has a book in which all of your days are written down, so to speak. Believe it or not, He had this book for you already before you were born (see Psalm 139).

Yes, and then once you are born, this God steps forward at your baptism and puts his seal of ownership on you. He claims you as his own. He gives you his Name. He has you baptized into his Name – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – the one, great Triune God. Make no mistake about it, you are his.

So, contrary to what some say, you are not a Christian-in-waiting. You are not a child about whom your parents make promises to God, while God Himself is silent and waiting on the sidelines to see what you will do as you grow up. Our God is not standing casually by watching you mature. Nor is He waiting for you to take the first step, finally make up your mind and choose for Him. No, you are not a Christian-in-waiting and He is not a God-in-waiting.

Before birth, at birth, and after birth, He is intimately involved with your life. He is involved by means of instruments: believing parents, grandparents and family, fellow believers, elders and ministers, teachers, a church community. He is involved through his Word and what it reveals and teaches. Above all, He is involved through the Holy Spirit.

For when you do come to see and believe, even when this happens gradually, do you think that this is your work, your doing, your deed? No, it is the Holy Spirit who is working in you and through you. For does Scripture itself not tell us that no one can say that Jesus is Lord, “except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3)?

Hence the first great positive of being a church kid is that this means that you have been raised in the context of covenant.

Christian Parents←⤒🔗

The second big plus of being a church kid is that God has given you Christian parents. He did not entrust your young life to indifferent, careless, immoral, unprincipled people. No, He placed you in the arms of parents who confess to be believers.

In turn those parents received you with joy, loved you, and still love you. They do their best to teach you to pray, to listen to Bible stories, and also to sing psalms and hymns, to act in a manner fitting your status as a child of God.

In addition your parents have sent or are sending most of you to a Christian school. Do you realize what a blessing that is? When believers in China hear about your schooling their jaws drop and they sigh, “Oh, if only we had the freedom to do this and the means to make this happen.” What a privilege this is!

I hope that all of you see this as well. Being educated in a Christian school is a huge benefit. It is both a positive and a negative benefit. It is a positive benefit because in such a setting you can freely relate all things to the Lord and Saviour of all things. It is a positive benefit because there you share a common confession, common values, and common goals. In addition, there is also negative benefit in that you are being taught in a setting that opposes the world’s fascination and involvement with drugs, sex, gangs, and alcohol.

Now, in saying this I know that our Christian schools are not perfect. Some of you, as well as some of your peers, are still acting out or acting silly. As well, some of you can be snooty, selfish, and superior. You only let certain people into your group. You don’t go out of your way to embrace and befriend the new kid, unless he’s cool. Peer pressure, bullying, cliquishness, as well as other forms of worldly behaviour happen, but these things do not represent the norm, the aim, or the standard of any of our Christian schools. They strive for better things and they urge you to get with the program and do the same thing.

So our schools are not perfect and neither are your parents. I am sure all of you are parental critics in one form or another. There are things that your mother does that bug you. There are things that your father does or does not do that irk you. Patience, calmness, wisdom, understanding, time, and help are often in short supply.

You know when I was growing up I too was a parent critic. Indeed, to this day I can still give you a long list of their faults and failures. But do you know what? Today I’m both a parent and a grandparent and in spite of being critical of my parents at one time, I’m no better. And neither will any of you be. I guarantee you that each and every one of you will parent your children, if God pleases to give them to you, with the same imperfection as I did and as your parents do.

One of the advantages of being a pastor in one congregation for a long time is that you get to see people grow. I see babies become toddlers, toddlers become children, then teenagers, finally adults. I also see some grow up smoothly, while others struggle with growing up. In any case, whenever I see a young person make life miserable for his or her parents, I know one thing. Payback time is coming! And sure enough it comes, for when that former kid has kids, guess what? He often gets back a taste of his own medicine.

Yet be that as it may, getting back to your parents, the best thing that I can say to you is love them, warts and all. Listen to them. Heed their instruction. Be patient with their weaknesses and shortcomings (a la the Catechism – LD 39). Your time will come.

Church←⤒🔗

So the pluses thus far of being a church kid have to do with covenant and parents, but there is a third one and it has to do with church. Almost all of you are either members of a Canadian Reformed or a United Reformed church. In other words, you are members of a church that is rooted in the Bible as the inspired, infallible Word of God, that has adopted creeds and confessions that are ecumenical, faithful, and effective instruments, that upholds the office of all believers and the specials offices of deacon, elder, and minister, that insists on clear, faithful, applicable preaching of the Word, that strives for unity, holiness, and fellowship among its members, that takes seriously the call to bring the gospel to the nations. In short, also with respect to the church you are privileged and blessed.

Again, it sometimes takes a foreign perspective to appreciate this. Just last week I met with a delegation of pastors and elders who came here specifically from Korea to learn how the Canadian Reformed Churches function and regulate their church life.

When they first came to me with this request I was somewhat taken aback and even uneasy. After all, you all know what church life is like on the outside, so to speak. On the other hand, I know what it is like on both the outside and the inside. And sometimes especially the inside is not pretty. We may believe and confess in all humility and by God’s grace that we are a true church of Jesus Christ, but we are far from being a perfect church of our Lord. Every day we need his blood to cover our sins, as well as his forgiveness and his grace. On top of that we need daily infusions and fillings of the Holy Spirit. We are, as Prof. K. Schilder used to say, very much a church “under construction.”

Nevertheless, in spite of all that, there is a lot for you and me to be thankful for. This year I hope to celebrate thirty-seven years of active ministry in the Canadian Reformed Churches, and let me tell you that I would not have wanted to have celebrated those years anywhere else. In spite of our weaknesses as churches, in spite of our hang-ups and in spite of our idiosyncrasies, I would not want to serve anywhere else. I love our churches! I love her doctrines. I love her worship. I love her people. And I hope that in you too there is a real love for the church of which you are a member. Pray for her. Worship with her. Work in her. Thank God for her.             

So you and I are all church kids, kids who can rejoice in God’s covenant, in our parents and in our church. Count your blessings!           

If there are many blessings and positives in being a church kid, there are also some negatives and dangers here.

False Assurance←⤒🔗

The first danger that needs to be mentioned can be called false assurance. What is meant by that? Well, it has to do with assuming that just because you are baptized, go to church, know the Bible, are part of a Christian family, attend a Christian school or are home schooled, that therefore, and because of these things, you are saved and eternally secure. Quite simply, some church kids conclude that since they are church kids they are saved. All of the things just mentioned are viewed as tickets to heaven.

Now, if that is your view you are in deep trouble and in dangerous trouble too. If any of you are trusting in these things to save you then you have not understood the basic thrust of the gospel. For what does the gospel say? It says that salvation is through faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone. Salvation, in other words, is not a matter of doing or being, it is a matter of believing. I love the words of Paul in Ephesians 2:8 and 9. They are clear, direct, and emphatic. They state, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” You and I are saved through faith in Christ alone.

Now what is that? What is faith? It is a matter of your heart. Paul says in Romans 10:10 that “it is with your heart that you believe and are justified...” The Heidelberg Catechism says “this faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel” (A. 21).

So how is it with your heart? Do you love Jesus Christ from the heart? Do you love Him before and above all else? Is He truly and deeply your Saviour and your Lord? Do you live with Him, out of Him, and to Him every day? Is that your aim, your desire, your goal, your life?

Or are there other things that compete with this love or that push this love into the background? I know young people who love their girlfriends and boyfriends more. I know some who love their hockey and their soccer and their cars more. I know some who love their fun, their entertainment, their holidays more. Is this also the case with you? Are you caught up in a world of competing loves and loyalties? Are you like that rich young man who was so close to the kingdom of God but who in the end just could not let go of his riches and put Christ first and foremost?

If any of this is the case with you, then you need to do a serious rethink of your life. You will not see the kingdom of God in all of its glory unless your heart is committed to Jesus Christ. That counts for you, that counts for me, that counts for everyone. Christ has to be our first love. If He is not, we are building the house of our life on sand.

Pride←⤒🔗

The second danger that threatens you as church kids is close to false assurance and it is called pride. Here the concern is not so much on what we all do as people as it is on how and what we think of ourselves as people. Specifically, it has to do with our attitude towards ourselves or our perspective of ourselves.

To make this practical, let me ask you this, “How do you see yourself? Do you think of yourself as capable, moral, perceptive, and respectable? Do you think that you are a cut above the people that you meet whether in the church or in the world? Do you think that the silly, stupid, dumb things that happen to them will never happen to you? Do you judge them harshly and dismiss them coldly as ‘rejects’?”

If so, congratulations! Congratulations, for you have just joined the school of the Pharisees! They too saw themselves as morally superior people, as invincible people, as solid citizens. They were so full of themselves.

Yet at the same time they were empty of something else. What was lacking? In one word, it’s called “grace!” What is grace? It is the unmerited, unearned, undeserved favour of God. Remember that text that I love and quoted earlier – Ephesians 2:8, 9? How are we saved? It is “through faith” in Christ and it is “by grace.” And what is grace in addition to astonishing divine favour? It is “a gift of God.”

You know whenever I deal with someone who has made a real mess of their life, and I deal with such people all too often, I always utter a little refrain to myself to keep me anchored. The refrain is this – “there but for the grace of God go I.” For you see there is the distinct possibility that if I had been abused as a child I would be behaving in the same way. Perhaps if I had had parents who never loved me and always put me down, I would have acted out like this too. Perhaps if I had a husband who beat me or a wife who mocked me, I would have done similar things.

Learn, in other words, to see your life as grace and learn to live a life of grace. Naturally, I realize that there are some who call themselves Christians and who insist that their sins are behind them. They have risen so high that they are above sinning. Well, that may be them, but that is not me, and I suspect, it is not you either. We all need God’s grace to sustain us. We all need to celebrate the fact that our God is a God of grace (Psalm 84) and that we are a people who may live by grace. “There go I but for the grace of God” – remember that saying. It will keep you balanced. It will keep you humble. It will keep you thankful.

Compromise←⤒🔗

But then if as church kids you need to resist false assurance and pride, you also need to resist a third thing and it’s called compromise. And it has to do especially with respect to the world.

Last year I spent some time in Europe on church business and I must say that what I saw there deeply disappointed and saddened me. I saw churches that had once been valiant for the truth wavering and withering. I met people who once were active church members but who had cut the ties and no longer bothered to worship. I saw decline and decay on a widespread scale and proceeding at a very fast rate.

What accounts for this? No doubt many factors play a role but one that seems to run like a dirty thread through all of them is this business of compromising with the world. It begins slowly, almost imperceptibly. We begin our working career by seeing it as part of our Christian calling but then promotions come along, friendships are formed, power is exercised, wealth accumulates, and before you know it the world’s agenda has become your agenda. Or else, you watch all of the latest offerings from the world of fashion on your televisions and in your magazines and slowly your guard comes down and you begin to dress as the world dresses and to think that what the world calls “cute” really is cute. Or you hear about how your colleagues at work discuss their relationships filled with new girlfriends and boyfriends, with tangled romances, with falling in and out of love, and your views on marriage, faithfulness, commitment, and purity begin to change.

Now, that is the adult world, but is your world really any different? The temptations for you too are everywhere. Why not another drink? Why not go and see this movie – just close your eyes to the sexual immorality and close your ears to the swearing? Why not dump this boyfriend or girlfriend for a sexier model? Why not turn life into an endless series of parties?

You Are What You...←⤒🔗

There is a saying and it goes like this: “you are what you eat.” I suspect that there is a lot of truth in it, but not just in it. We can add to it. “You are or become who your friends are.” “You become what your entertainment portrays.” “You become as you dress.” “You become who you worship.”

So as church kids it’s important that you examine your influences, or the inputs into your life, and that you do this on a regular basis. Ask yourself some basic questions such as, “Is my lifestyle still the lifestyle of the kingdom of God or is it going the way of the world?”

And remember, this is important. Indeed, this is eternally important. The Apostle John does not write for nothing,

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man does the will of God lives forever;1 John 2:15-17

So your cravings, lusts, and boasts come from the world. And if they come from the world, they will rot, decay, disintegrate, pass away. All of those people who live for the here and now, for their fun and thrills, for their lusts and pleasures, for themselves and their desires will live a short life. They may last forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, even eighty or ninety years but what is that when compared to eternity?

So, church kids, if you want to live and last, you need to treat the world with care, with discernment, with caution. To help you do that memorize these wise words, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” and put them “into practice” (Philippians 4:8, 9).