Scripture: Psalm 127:3 Title: Children are a heritage from the Lord

Scripture: Psalm 127:3                                                                          May 1, 2011
Title: Children are a heritage from the Lord                                                Sunday Noon Service
Psalms 127:3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

What do you think of the video clip? I recently read news that the number of runaway boys or girls are increasing. It says that the number amounted to 20,000 and the number would reach 200,000 if added with those who are excluded from the statistical survey carried away by a related organization. This is an astonishing fact about our children.The first reason why they run away from home is the divorce of their parents. The proportion is 48%. We should approach the problem of runaway boys or girls, considering the correlation between their households and them. And we should learn from this that the households are very important.
 
 I would like to talk about the education for children and youngsters with the biblical view, and highlight what God thinks about that through the sciptures. This morning, Sisters and Brothers who came before the Lord from all nations to KD church, I pray that you may be blessed in Jesus’ name.

1. Train children in the way they should go.

 There is a Korean saying: the habit you had when you were three years old would affect you until you are 80 years old. Recent news says that the education of Japan has been impacted. That news was about how the “open education” that the Japanese government has been pushing can be measured. The Japanese officials concluded that the traditional education such as teaching by rote would not have future, and they commenced the open education in an effort to give a free environment to students.
 
 “Open education” is one that gives students autonomy in their self-building. But the problem was raised because the new policy “open education” can give danger to the students who did not establish their autonomy. In other words, turmoil happened because the frivolous policy could not help the students who did not have the clear standard of how they behavior. The officials were forced to change the policy because the new policy brought confusion to the children who were exposed to it and hindered the development of their character, intelligence and behavior.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has the best educational system in the world. The top 30% professors in the U.S. are Jewish. And the Jewish, as an ethnic group, have a proportion of 30% receiving Nobel prizes and 65% making the best achievements in the finance sector.
And the Jewish are the top people in the field such as politics, economy, society, culture, law, and education. All those astonishing facts about the Jewish people’s achievements lead us to the question “what is the fundamental education for thm.” The core of the education is the Bible. In the Jewish schools all over the world, the children learn the Bible in the morning, and their own majors in the afternoon.

I would like to talk about why the Jewish people teach their children with the Bible in the morning when some people might not understand why they do so in the modern science days. Proverb 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Amen.

The Bible says that we are created in God’s image. It presents that we in God’s image should fear Him and learn to love each other.
But people who do not have the personal relationship with God are just living not oriented to God, rather to human. The human-oriented thought just means self-centered thought. In other words, when you think in a way that is oriented to human, you just decide everything based on your own reasons.

Of course, we live based on our own decisions but this can lead us to the problem that the Japanese children had. Because when we are not experienced or learned we just live on the limited self-centered thoughts and, we might be narrow-minded and selfish.
For example, Cannibals don’t think of eating human flesh as sinful. They take it for granted and might think it as a good culture to be succeeded to the next generation.

 But this kind of custom cannot continue when they accept the gospels of the Bible, and realize that they are created in God’s image and that their life is in God’s control and that destroying human life is a severe crime.You can live in a right way when you live according to the biblical purpose that you were created in God’s image. When the baseball leagues in the U.S. start, the speculators enjoy every game comparing the players’ records.

The coaching staff and director also analyze the players’ records and allow them to run in the baseball ground. Even after they came out to play, the analysis and management still go on.  Before the director allows the players to run in the major league, he has them to be in the minor league first. Minor league is kind of preliminary step for the major league and there is a big difference between the two when it comes to the salary and treatment.

That is why the players make their full efforts in the training in the hope that they will go to the major league. And, the players in the minor league apply what they analyze about the players of the major league to themselves. In modern days, we should teach children with the best medication “Bible” to build up their good character. And we should send them to the real world when they are trained and ready.

Even though some people have good skill in a field, they would fail to succeed if their education is not based on the training of faith and character.”  Train a child in the way he should go, So the today’s scripture says, “Train a child in the way he should go.” The way should be like a straight rail road.
 
 The reputation of the law makers and politicians recently plummeted to the ground. This comes from their behavior. They gave up their duty to be the role model and acted as if they were a criminal organization. Especially, when they try to pass the bills about the national budget, we had to frown about their acts. Nevertheless, there is a good lawmaker, Hong JungWook. He has been in the spot light. As you know, he is the son of the actor Nam GoongWon. He now works as a member of the foreign affair and trade committee for the Grand National Party. He graduated from Stanford University and started his career as politician in the National Assembly.

I would like to focus on how he has grown when he was young among others factors such as his talent, fortune, and connections. He also graduated from Harvard university with top honors. The driving force must have been the bible study when he was young.
His father is well known as an actor. Actually, he is said to be a faithful elder in a church. Hong JungWook has been bred in the Christian background. Even though he has never been tutored for his study, his father employed a Bible teacher for him to train him in the right way.

 He could have been an outstanding lawmaker in the messy and violent political stage because he had been fundamentally educated based on the Bible. His Bible study started when he was a kid. The ground work of studying Bible could lead him to the concrete principle and the consistency in life.

Hallelujah!

The story of Hong JungWook presents what we have to do for our children. It is a mission that the parents have to do.
I have seen many cases about the children education, as a missionary. There is a difference between the children educated with God’s words and the children not educated with anything. I pray that you may be blessed to train your children in the way they should go.

2. Children are a heritage from the Lord.

Let’s read the today’s scripture together.
 3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

The richest man in the world is Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu. His property amounts to 74 billion dollars or 82 trillion won. His property is one quarter of the 2011 national budget of the Korean government, 314 trillion won. But he is not regarded as a true rich man, because his donation for the society is small.Unlike Carlos Slim Helu, Bill Gates’ property is 54 billion dollars and he has been donating 30 to 40 billion dollars. So, people are likely to vote for Bill Gates as the richest in terms of his character and property.

You will be the rich man when you are good at using your money in an appropriate way and place. How much you have is not the standard for the richness.We are likely to think that the children with their rich parents can live rich with the inherited fortune. But statistically the fortune cannot work up to the third generation.Mostly, the money of 400 rich families with more than one billion dollars in the U.S. did not go to their grand children. The typical examples are John Hancock, Ellius Derby, and Ben Leslea. These families could get the reputation with more than one million dollars during the 18 to 19 century but their richness could not go to their third generation.

You cannot see one of their names in the list of donators. But the biggest donator Bill Gates from the family of lawyers and bankers accumulated a tremendous fortune. And he could be one of the rich men even though he inherited nothing from his parents. He was just influenced by his father William Gates Junior. Even though his father had a big money the father did not give it to the son who tried to establish the corporation Microsoft. The father just helped Bill Gates to stand with his own strength and trained him to donate for the poor.

 You can see the today’s scripture. In New International Version of Psalms 127:3, it says, “Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.” It is said that children are a heritage form the Lord and they are a reward from him. Many parents have a misunderstanding about their children. The concept that their children are just their own possession prevails. But the scripture says that the children are a heritage and a reward from the Lord.

Hallelujah!
Children are a heritage and reward from the Lord. This means that we inherited the children from God. Children are not your own possession but inheritance. In this sense, we can know how important the education of children is. Secular people are just focused on the inheritance of the material and property. But what is the most important aspect of the inheritance?

There is a book called “the best inheritance.” This book is a story about a man who owns the oil company and a big ranch. His children gathered together to inherit property from him. His every child works hard in their field. He succeeded the appropriate portion of his property to each child.

 The eldest son inherited the oil company, and the daughter the house in Texas and the ranch. Evenly the rest children could inherit from the father. But Stevenson, his nephew, could not get anything.Stevenson was very disappointed about that. Upset, he yelled. He pounded the table with his face turned red. Everybody went home but the lawyer and Stevenson.

The lawyer said to Stevenson, “Don’t be upset. Your uncle gave you something.” “Really?” “But you have to come to do a project every month and then you are going to inherit something because he had a special affection for you and he did not leave anything visible like property or cash.
 
And Stevenson got upset again at what the lawyer said. He complained that other children could inherit property or company. But there was enough reason. The decision was made after enough discussion with the lawyer. Stevenson did not know what suffering was and he might live a dissipated life spending much money without care, and he might spoil his life. In the first month, Stevenson was supposed to do hard labor in the ranch according to the instruction that was video-taped before the uncle died. Since Stevenson had never done this kind of hard work, it was almost killing him.

But he realized that his uncle indented to give him the best and decided to be trained so. He got the first salary 1,500 dollars. And he met the lawyer and told him to use the salary to the right and meaningful place. Even though he earned the money with pain, he decided to use this way.When Stevenson was getting out of his office, he saw a woman who is subject to attachment of her car. She could not meet the monthly installment plan of the car and she needed 600 dollars. Unconditionally, Stevenson gave the money to her and saved her.

 He had never sacrificed in his entire life. Now he heard for the first time the word of appreciation. He started to feel something new that had never been felt so far. It was totally a new experience. He could know why people try to help others. He was finished with the twelve instructed projects that were designed to get harder every month. And at last, he could realize that money was not the best inheritance.  Moreover, he could know that the most important thing is to love others. Stevenson explained how he had felt so far to the lawyer. And he said to the lawyer he would not need to have money from the uncle.
 
The lawyer gave a sudden hug to Stevenson and said, “all rights to charities which were owned by his uncle now are inherited to Stevenson.” And he kneeled thanking the uncle and cried.
Dear Sisters and Brothers!

Our God wants to succeed the best and the most valuable to you. What is the most valuable? That is the only son Jesus Christ. You cannot buy Jesus with the worldly value since he is the life. God gave us the eternal life. Now we have to succeed the eternal life to our children.Jesus Christ is the heritage that you cannot get with whatever comes from this world. Only by serving for Him like He came to the world to serve, we can get the heritage. I pray that we may live believing that the rest days of the our lives are the heritage from God, in Jesus’ name.