Hot Topics Week 2 / Sacrifical Children (Or How To Be A Bad Dad)

King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women 2 from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women Solomon was deeply attached in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines, and they turned his heart away. 4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord. 7 At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.

[The Lord Raises Adversaries]

(1 Kings 11:9-13)

1 Kings 11:9–13 CSB

9 The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded. 11 Then the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand. 13 Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.”

So The Kingdom is eventually split in two.

Israel, the Northern Kingdom and Judah, the Southern Kingdom.

After God splits Israel into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms all the Kings of the Northern Kingdom were bad, evil, wicked, idolatrous kings. That's the reason he kicked them out.

The Southern Kingdom had a mixed bag of good and bad kings. Most were bad, they brought in the idolatry and their pagan neighbors. A couple were really bad.

A Few were good and one was unlike any king before him or since.

What we see in the following chapters of 2 Kings are evil kings in Israel and mostly evil kings in Judah.

Even the better kings in Judah still didn't follow all the ways of the LORD.

They would serve God, but would allow others to worship false god and idols.

Or they would worship both the True God and Baal, or Ashtoreh, or Molech.

One of the kings even had an exact replica of an idol alter built in the temple.

For most of the time Judah was a land a spiritual pluralism, idolatry, or syncretism.

There was not much in the way of "not turning to the left or the right, bur following the way of the LORD".

Let's look at some of these Southern Kings.

The Kings of Judah.

Hezekiah

2 Kings 18 -

Hezekiah did what was right in the sight of the LORD in that he removed the idolatrous places from Judah.

He restores Judean worship and is more like David than the previous kings.

But there is a problem with Hezekiah.

He doesn't care about his children.

2 Kings 20:16-19

2 Kings 20:16–19 CSB

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 18 ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,” for he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?”

“As long as there is peace and security in my lifetime.”

Hezekiah, while he honored God, did it out of selfish motives and didn't care about future generations.

As long as I'm good with God it doesn't matter to me about my children.

They will have to answer for God on their own.

And What happens to his kids?

His son Manasseh becomes king.

Manasseh

(2 Kings 21:1-9 [Manasseh Reigns in Judah]

2 Kings 21:1–9 CSB

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them. 4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.” 5 He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple. 6 He sacrificed his son in the fire, practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him. 7 Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 8 I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

Manasseh's like well if your God's not important enough for you to care about my spiritual, physical and emotional well-being, than your God's not good enough for me to worship.

An Inheritance And A Legacy

An inheritance is what is left or imparted to someone, a legacy is what that person does with what they have.

What is the inheritance you are leaving?

Why is the legacy you are creating?

Parent's, don't just play lip service to your kids about God.

Don't just go through the motions of belief.

Don't just use God as fire insurance.

Don't just be church attenders.

Don't just be Churchians.

Don't pass a weak faith on to you kids because a weak faith in you far too often becomes no faith to your kids.

Our children need to see us living the life we say we believe.

It needs to be real.

It needs to go beyond our peace and security and into what is best and holy for our children.

Far too many father's are like Hezekiah, they are only concerned about their own peace and security.

Too many dad's are absent, or drunk, or flirting with other women, or playing video games, or are intentionally lazy and won't keep a job.

Too many father's don't make time for their kids.

Dad, dance with your daughters. Dad, go exploring with your sons.

Dad, put down the remote and the phone long enough to connect with your kids. Dad, pray with your children before you leave for work or before the go to school. Dad, invest into your kids.

You're a dad. Life is not about you anymore.

Your work bonus? You may not get to keep it.

Your xbox? You may have to let it get dusty.

Your truck may have to last a few years longer.

It's not about you anymore.

You are a father.

You're a husband.

You are responsible for the physical, emotional and spiritual life our your kids.

Man up.

Too many father's a physically absent.

Too many father's are emotionally absent.

Too many father's are spiritually absent.

And too many young men aren't willing to be responsible.

Let God bring out the man in you.

Men, lead your families.

Love your wives.

Do your best.

Train your kids in the LORD.

Love Jesus.

Serve the church.

Be humble.

Be tough.

Be loving.

Be godly.

It's not all about your peace and security.

It's about leading your family as a man after God's heart.

Hezekiah was good at leading a country.

But terrible at leading a family.

Just because you are respected at work, or you are increasing the bottom line for your business, or you are being recognized by your boss doesn't mean you are leading your family.

You can be good at your job and terrible as a godly father.

Your kids aren't looking at how much you make.

They are looking at how you live.

God's not looking at your ability in the workforce, he's looking at your faithfulness to the most important thing he has entrusted to you, your family.

How To Be A Bad Dad

Ephesians 6:4 CSB

Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Hezekiah stir his son to anger, to disobedience by the legacy he created.

None of us are kings, but we can still leave a bad legacy.

Real quick, before we get to Hezekaih’s grandson, I want to share with you a few surefire ways to be a bad dad.

Are you ready?

1. MAKE MORE WITHDRAWALS THAN DEPOSITS

Encouragement is a deposit; criticism is a withdrawal.

We provoke our children to anger when we make far more withdrawals than deposits.

When it comes to encouragement, don’t be stingy with your kids. Say things like:

“You did your best, and I appreciate that.”

“You’re a blessing.”

“I love you and I’m here to help you.”

“Thanks for hanging in there. I know this is tough. Let me pray for you.”

In addition to verbal affirmation, write them notes, send them texts, pull them in for a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

Inevitably, as fathers we’re going to make withdrawals because our kids will sin and we’ll need to address that.

But we provoke our children to anger when all we do is point out the flaws and fail to provide any solutions or hope.

We need to be their coach, not their critic.

2. RESORT TO PHYSICAL OR VERBAL ABUSE

Fathers provoke their children to anger through physically using their size advantage.

This could be physical—hitting, shoving, kicking, intimidation—or verbal abuse.

Some fathers goad their children.

They’ll shame their kids in front of other children by saying things like, “You’re so stupid,” “You failed again,” “You’re fat,” “You’re an idiot,” and “You’re a loser.”

Such violence is sinful, reprehensible abuse that shapes an identity that is death for the child.

Some either grow up to rage against their parents, particularly their father, or they just leave.

3. BE EMOTIONALLY ABSENT

Whether it’s intentional or not, some dads do everything they can to avoid engaging their children.

You’re always doing something and can’t be interrupted, whether that’s woodworking, fixing the car, doing yard work, using your phone, or watching TV.

You’rephysically present but emotionally absent.

Dad never gives hugs or says, “I love you.”

A lack of emotional attention provokes a child to anger.

Imagine a child who craves emotional attention and appropriate physical touch from dad.

He never offers his affection, and so eventually the child starts looking elsewhere, out of frustration and desperation.

For a daughter especially, this can leave her in a very dangerous position.

4. PUBLICLY HUMILIATE AND CRITICIZE

Rather than pulling a child out of the fray for a loving, heart-to-heart talk to address some issue, fathers provoke their children to anger by cutting them down in front of their family and friends.

When it comes to correction, we can belittle our children in an attempt to shame them into submission, or we can provide them a vision of the man or woman God is calling them to be, saying, “I see in you these gifts, abilities, godliness, and maturity.

What you’ve done grieves Jesus and it grieves me.

But I’m here for you, and I want to help you grow.”

In this way, our communication becomes a loving invitation rather than harsh castigation.

5. BE NO FUN

Some dads are just no fun.

They don’t know what to do with a Popsicle, a whiffle ball, a swimming pool, or a bike.

Kids should have predominant memories of enjoyable times with their dad.

Which means when your kids are little, you have to be silly.

You’re going to wear some outlandish outfits.

You’re going to sit in on some tea parties.

You’re going to wrinkle your clothes during living room wrestling matches.

If a dad is making memories, if he loves his kids and they know it, when it comes time to discipline them, it will be in the context of a dad who loves them.

God our Father is like that. Proverbs says it and Hebrews repeats it: “For the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights” (emphasis added).

6. DON’T BE GENEROUS

Hot Wheels and Matchbox Cars.

Watching Football and Playing Basketball.

Papa always brought me a toy car.

He was happy because he liked to be generous.

That’s the heart of a father.

That’s the heart of God the Father.

7. NEVER SAY “I’M SORRY.”

Did you have a hypocritical dad who pointed out your sin but never admitted to any of his own?

How frustrating was that?

As fathers, we’re going to sin against our kids.

You’re going to bust them for something that they didn’t do.

You’ll fail to listen.

You’ll blow it.

What do you do?

Repent.

Go to your kids and say, “Dad sinned against you. I was wrong. I’m really sorry about what I’ve done and the way it’s affected you. Would you please forgive me?”

Fathers, we don’t need to be right, we need to be good; we need to prove to our children that God is always right, and sometimes that means we’re wrong.

We are not only an earthly father, we are an earthly father who needs their heavenly Father.

See, when father's lead their families like Hezekiah led Manassah- without a personal, powerful, encounter with God- their children will suffer in sin.

Look at how Hezekiah's selfish fathering impacted Manasseh.

The What And The Why

There’s a WHAT and a WHY to our faith.

The What is what we do or don’t do.

The Why is why we do it.

Even though Hezekiah had torn down the pagan places, because Hezekiah wasn't concerned about his son's peace and security it didn't impact Manasseh.

He didn’t teach Manasseh the WHY behind the rejection of the pagan idolatry and sin.

Since Manasseh didn’t know THE Why of obedience he didn’t do THE What of obedience.

Manasseh rebuilds the pagan alters.

Practices astrology in the temple.

He embraces sexual sin, by allowing the male prostitutes of Baal and the sexual worship of Ashtoreh.

He engages in fortune telling and divination.

He puts an idol of Ashtoreh in the temple (sexual worship right inside the temple).

And in an extreme act of selfishness and pagan pleasure, he offers his own son to the false god Molech as a fire sacrifice.

He actually passes his son through the fire of the demon Molech.

His ashes would have been kept there as an offering to this pagan god, this demon, Molech.

In Corinthians, Paul tells us that these pagan gods are demons. Manasseh actually gives his son over to the demon Molech to be burned alive.

Imagine this scene - dancing, drums beating, horns sounding, people cutting themselves, public sexual sin, a large bull-man idol filled with fire.

The children were laid on the hands of the idol and burned alive.

Horrid.

Unimaginable.

Yet, far too often in our day and in our culture, we are sacrificing our childen to the god of this age.

We are not discerning and deliberate in the spiritual formation of our children.

We allow anything and everything that our culture hands us without ever thinking about to whom we are offering our children.

We let them watch anything.

We let them listen to anything.

We let them read anything.

We let them play anything.

We don't discern and we don't teach them to be discerning.

There's no getting around the fact that we are in an ungodly culture.

There is no way to keep our kids from developing relationships with those that don't fear God.

We can't fear the culture.

We can't hide from it.

When we hide from it, we don't reach the culture for Christ.

As parents we must train our children to have discernment - the what and the why.

We must train our children to recognize what is Godly and what is demonic.

We must train our children to make good, godly decisions about who they date, what they entertain, how they spend their time.

We must teach them to think godly.

To be able to understand what pleases the LORD, and we must do it while they are living in the culture of syncretism.

Don't be afraid to set limits.

Don't be afraid to draw boundaries.

Don't be afraid to say you are watching that, you aren't listening to that, you aren't playing that, you aren't wearing that.

Don't be afraid of the culture. Be willing to save you kids.

But don't think that being overprotective will prepare them for the real world.

Shelter them, don't chain them.

If you don't equip your child to think and reason through what is Godly and what is not while they are in your care, if all you do is keep a blindfold on them, don't expect them to to be ready when the blindfold comes off.

On the other hand, if you don't do any sheltering, if you don't do any protecting, don't expect them to make Godly decisions when they are on their own.

If you let them do whatever they want, and don't set any boundaries, they will never learn to set boundaries for themselves.

A Shelter or a Snare

Shelter Them Don’t Ensnare Them

A shelter protects, a snare entraps.

I've seen too many that don't shelter, and their children are beat up by this world before they even leave their parents care.

And I've seen too many that go too far and chained them to righteousness and when they were old enough to be unchanged, they ran as far from righteousness as they could because to them righteousness was not freedom but was bondage.

LISTEN, If we are going to be the father's, the parents that we must be we need a rediscovery of the Word of the LORD.

Trust me, I know that the balance is hard, and sometimes we get it wrong.

But we must remember we aren’t just protecting them from the world, we are training them how to live godly lives in the present evil age.

Josiah

Look at what happens to Mannaseh's grandson, Josiah, in 2 Kings 22.

[Josiah Repairs the Temple]

2 Kings 22:1-13

2 Kings 22:1–13 CSB

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. 2 He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or the left. 3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent the court secretary Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple, saying, 4 “Go up to the high priest Hilkiah so that he may total up the silver brought into the Lord’s temple—the silver the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 It is to be given to those doing the work—those who oversee the Lord’s temple. They in turn are to give it to the workmen in the Lord’s temple to repair the damage. 6 They are to give it to the carpenters, builders, and masons to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the temple. 7 But no accounting is to be required from them for the silver given to them since they work with integrity.” 8 The high priest Hilkiah told the court secretary Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the Lord’s temple,” and he gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then the court secretary Shaphan went to the king and reported, “Your servants have emptied out the silver that was found in the temple and have given it to those doing the work—those who oversee the Lord’s temple.” 10 Then the court secretary Shaphan told the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book,” and Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. 12 Then he commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, the court secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah, 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah about the words in this book that has been found. For great is the Lord’s wrath that is kindled against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this book in order to do everything written about us.”

Josiah had to go all the way back to the faith of his great great great grandfather David.

He decides to rebuild and restore the temple that had become a place of idolotry.

When Josiah rediscovers the WORD of GOD

1 - He is Convicted.

He tore his clothes. He is crying out to God. He is saying I have been wrong.

18 years as king and I'm just now hearing this word and it is changing my life.

It's changing how I lead. It's changing how I live. It's changing everything about me. The word of the LORD is powerful.

2 - He is Penitent (sorrowful for his sin)

(2 Kings 22:18-19

2 Kings 22:18–19 CSB

18 Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord: ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard, 19 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I myself have heard’—this is the Lord’s declaration.

True conviction is godly sorrow.

It's makes us want to be made new.

It's makes us want to be whole.

It causes us to recognize our depravity and seek forgiveness and restoration.

3 - He Commits Himself To God

(2 Kings 23:3

2 Kings 23:3 CSB

3 Next, the king stood by the pillarD, and made a covenant in the Lord’s presence to follow the Lord and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul in order to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to the covenant.

He vows to be obedient to the word of God.

We must be a people who are obedient to what God requires of us as his people.

We must be worshippers of Him alone.

4 - He Rejects Evil

Everything that his grandfather had welcomed into Judah, Josiah tears rejects. He tears down all the pagan alters and high places.

Stops the sexual worship practices.

Removes all the Baals and Ashtorehs.

Removes all the household gods.

Removes all the mediums and those that communicated with the dead.

He rids the land of every evil.

And Check This, he makes it impossible to worship and sacrifice to Molech.

A rediscovery of the Word makes us care for our children and the children of our nation.

A rediscovery of the Word causes us to reject evil.

5 - He Restores Passover.

(2 Kings 23:21-23

2 Kings 23:21–23 CSB

21 The king commanded all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God as written in the book of the covenant.” 22 No such Passover had ever been observed from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Lord’s Passover was observed in Jerusalem.

What is passover?

Its a picture of the sacrifice of the lamb for the removal of sins. Listen the WORD brings us to JESUS.

Clean Out Our Temple

We must not sacrifice our children on the alter of convenience, or popularity, or laziness, or hipness, or culture.

We must be a people willing to teach our kids about the things of God.

The authority of scripture.

The power of the Holy Spirit.

And the Salvation that is found only in Jesus.

We will each stand before God and give an account for what we did with what we were given.

Lets not sacrifice our children to the Molech of the age.

But lets clean out the temple of our hearts and lead our children in the way everlasting.

Eventually, Judah goes the same way as Israel, is led into captivity and awaits a king.

A King who is a son of David, who does what is right.

A King who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

This king is Jesus.

And he came.

Was rejected.

But he will come again.

And he will rule, and he will destroy every false god and anti-Christ that has been set up.

And the kingdom will be made right.

Until then, lets allow the Word to rule our hearts and our homes.

Allow Jesus to cleanse our temples.

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