Rev. David Holwick ZL Thanksgiving
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 21, 2004
Exodus 13:11-16
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I. Pilgrim time.
A. The Holwicks are heading to in-laws in Massachusetts.
1) It is not Thanksgiving without real Pilgrims running around.
2) Grandma makes seven different pies, too.
B. Why did the Pilgrims come to this wilderness?
1) Religious freedom was a big reason.
The Church of England was the official state church.
Puritans disagreed with the state church and faced
a lot of pressure because of it - sometimes prison.
The Pilgrims were a splinter group of the Puritans.
They hated the state church even more, and were
punished accordingly.
Their first step was to leave England for Holland.
One of those who went was 17-year-old William Bradford,
who kept a famous journal of their time there.
(He later became the governor of Massachusetts and is
Celeste's 9th great grandfather.)
The Pilgrims in Holland had a hard time making ends meet,
and some preferred to go to jail in England rather
than starve in Holland.
There was one more problem in Holland, and it was the
clincher.
2) Their teenagers were being corrupted.
Charles Colson makes this interesting observation
based on Bradford's journal.
Many of the Pilgrim children were losing their faith
during the stay in Holland.
Bradford wrote that they were influenced by the "great
licentiousness of youth in that countrie."
Some of the kids were even leaving their families and
living degenerate lives,
Bradford said it caused "great greefe of their parents
and dishonor of God."
It seemed clear to the Pilgrims that they needed to
seek religious freedom in a different land.
They needed not only an easier way to make a living,
but also a place that would not corrupt their kids.
After much prayer, they began to plan their historic
journey to America.
II. Kids are worth the sacrifice.
A. We shell out big bucks for them.
The Department of Agriculture estimates it cost $25,230 over
17 years to raise a child who was born in 1960.
A child born in 2003? $178,590 (for middle class families)
Four years at a private college? $80,000.
State colleges will only set you back $20,000.
Of course, that is today's dollars - Emily Osborne will cost
lots more.
A study in England concluded that couples who didn't have
kids, but invested that money, would become millionaires.
[1]
Are kids worth it?
B. We do more than spend money on them.
1) Carpooling, sports, school functions, scouting, etc. etc...
Several years ago, a Newsweek writer went to the funeral
of a big media mogul in New York City.
The man had controlled several corporations and was worth
hundreds of millions of dollars.
During the eulogy, the man's kids said "he never went to
our soccer games, but he was always there for us."
It became apparent that what they meant by this was he
made sure they got into the best rehab institutions.
The Newsweek writer reflected that he wasn't worth hundreds
of millions, but he had been to enough soccer games to
make a permanent dent in the sidelines.
[2]
2) We do this because we want them to have full lives.
a) But there are some other things we need to do.
III. Give them your values.
A. Like the Pilgrims, we have to fight temptations in our culture.
1) We want our kids to believe in God, and lead moral lives.
2) In the 1600s, the temptations were saloons and loose
women.
3) Kids today face temptations of recreational sex, drug use,
and rejection of God's laws.
B. Do we have to go to another country?
1) It worked for the Puritans but it is not the only option.
2) Other countries have temptations, too - maybe more.
3) After all, America is considered very conservative by the
rest of the world.
C. We can try to influence the country we've got.
1) We must protect our kids from the corrosive forces in our
culture.
a) Note emphasis in recent election on values.
b) Also, increasing pressure on television networks to
clean up the sleaze they are promoting.
2) We can limit their exposure to immoral films, music,
and television programs and video games.
Case in point - newest "Grand Theft Auto" video game.
Like many video games, it started off by letting you do
car chases.
Let's say it has evolved since then.
The newest version portrays gang warfare in inner Los
Angeles.
Fans say this version blows the rest away in the violence
factor.
A college sophomore in Iowa said, "I think the first thing
everyone I know did was to take a baseball bat and beat
up a hooker."
One player said, "You name it, you can do it. You can do
anything short of flying a plane into a building."
The new game also raises questions about ethnic stereotypes.
It often depicts blacks involved in gang violence,
prostitution, and carjackings.
Another player said, "It gives people an image that this
is what [blacks] do."
It's just a video game, right?
This game did $225 million in sales the first week and is
expected to reach $750 million (or more) in one year.
That's 15 million copies.
Your own kids may be spending hours playing it.
[3]
IV. Redeem your kids.
A. The ancient Jews took childrearing seriously. Exod 13:11-15
1) To emphasize God's claim on them, they redeemed their
firstborn, both children and animals.
2) This involved paying a price to remind them of their
obligation to acknowledge God.
3) It was an educational experience.
a) Moses anticipated that the children would ask about it.
b) The answer - God delivered our ancestors, so we owe him.
c) It is not unlike the story we celebrate every
Thanksgiving.
B. Tell your kids what you believe.
1) Younger kids need spiritual instruction.
a) They need to know the basic stories of the Bible.
b) Morality on the level of the Ten Commandments.
2) Older kids require worldview enlightenment.
a) More complex morality based on Biblical principles.
1> Our church survey shows subtle drift in Biblical
morality among our young people.
2> "Will and Grace" has more of an influence on them
than the Apostle Paul.
b) Christianity is not just a nice version of the world's
morality.
1> It is different - radically different.
2> See that your kids get the full gospel, not just
the cartoon version.
C. Challenge your kids to believe.
1) Spiritual training is worthless without spiritual decision.
2) Have your kids accepted Christ as their Savior?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
This sermon is based on Charles Colson's BreakPoint Commentary "Pilgrim Fathers
... And Kids: The Real Reason They Came To America," November 24, 1999, #5003 in
the Kerux database.
1. College costs come from http://www.govspot.com/news/reports/family.htm and
http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/Crc/crc2003.pdf
2. This is from my recollection. The Newsweek archive staff was not able to pin
it down for me. The article was written around ten years ago.
3. Article on "Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas" is from
http://www.dailyiowan.com/news/2004/11/05/Metro/Grand.Theft.Auto.Sales.On.Fire
-794862.shtml
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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