Children Are God's Gifts
Psalm 127
Dr. William S. Epps, Senior Pastor
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1Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. 2It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. 3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. 4Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands. 5How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Psalm 127 (The New Living Translation)
Introduction
Today is observed as Children’s Day. We take a moment to reflect as we let our children know what we think of them. On Mother’s day we remember mothers and on Father’s day, fathers, and on Children’s Day, children. Traditionally, on Mother’s Day and Father’s day, children are encouraged to let mom and dad know how much they are appreciated.
In the United States, Children’s Day is typically celebrated on the second Sunday in June. The tradition dates back to 1856 when the Reverend Dr. Charles Leonard, pastor of the Universalist Church of the Redeemer in Chelsea, Massachusetts, held a special service focused on children. The day honors the children in our lives. Taking one day may not be enough, but using it as an opportunity to redirect our family’s lives may be an important step in a child’s life. Children look up to the adults in their lives for guidance. While their personalities are unique, they develop their character as they spend time with grown-ups.
Over the years, several denominations declared or recommended an annual observance be held for children, but no government action had been taken. Past presidents have periodically proclaimed a National Child’s Day or National Children’s Day, but no official yearly celebration of National Children’s Day has been established in the United States.
The International Day for Protection of Children is also observed on June 1 and has helped elevate June 1 as the internationally recognized day to celebrate children. The International Day for Protection of Children became universally established in 1954 to protect children’s rights, end child labor and guarantee access to education.
Universal Children’s Day was created to change the way children are viewed and treated by society and to improve children’s welfare. First established by a United Nations’ Resolution in 1954, Universal Children’s Day is a day to advocate for and champion the rights of children. Children’s rights are not special rights or different rights. They are fundamental human rights. A child is a human being, entitled to be treated as one and should be celebrated as such.
Consider what it means that there has to be an international day
for the protection of children.
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1Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. 2It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. 3Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. 4Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands. 5How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Psalm 127 (The New Living Translation)
The scripture from Psalm 127 is made up to two independent fragments of wisdom literature, with the same fundamental thought – God is working in human affairs, and it is only when our efforts are consistent with divine purposes that true fulfillment can be achieved. This passage frames our thinking as we come to celebrate the children who are in our lives. This Psalm is to be classed with the samples of wisdom writings, which found a place in the book of Psalms (i.e., Psalm 1; 49; 73; and 128, to cite a few). The wisdom writers are concerned with teaching some of the principles and practices that have yielded the largest dividends for them. Their point of view is more practical than priestly. The psalmist lists four common human interests. The first is building a house. The second is watching over what has been built. The third is preserving what has been built. The fourth is passing on to your posterity what has been built.
Consider what it means that we need help building what we
want to maintain and sustain our lives and posterity.
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1Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. 2It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. Psalm 127:1-2
The Psalmist begins with one of the major concerns of human life, the building of houses. One of the chief activities of humanity is having a safe shelter. The building of houses is still one of the major concerns of humanity. We all need a place to live, a domicile in which to abide, an abode in which to exist.
We know with the poet that “It take a heap of living in a house to make it home.” We also know that “unless the Lord builds” what we want to make home our labor is in vain. We know we need help. The psalmist suggests that you need help beyond yourself. Unless the Lord builds what you want to erect for your shelter, safety and security, you labor in vain. Your expenditure of energy will be useless to maintain and sustain the viability of what you are building without the Lord. You need help from beyond yourself to build, to watch over what you build, preserve what you build and pass on to your posterity what you have built.
That's why we say,
Bless this house, O Lord we pray / Make it safe by night and day
Bless these walls so firm and stout / Keeping want and trouble out
Bless this door that it may prove / Ever open, / To joy and love
Bless the hearth, ablazing there / With smoke ascending like a prayer!
Bless the people here within / Keep them pure and free from sin
Bless us all that we may be / Fit O Lord to dwell with thee
Bless us all that one day we may dwell / O Lord! With Thee!
Consider what it means that you need the help in building your life
with the accoutrements that add to the measure of your fulfillment.
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3Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3
The psalmist says “children are a gift of the Lord.” How do you treat the Lord’s gift?
I guess it is the way you treat any gift? I presume there are a variety of ways we treat gifts. Some gifts we adore; some gifts we appreciate; and some gifts we abhor. I guess you treat the Lord’s gift the way you treat all gifts you receive.
You cherish the gift from those you love and those who love you in a special way. You appreciate the gifts of acquaintances. You like some gifts less than others.
The psalmist says “children are a gift, a heritage and inheritance.” How do you treat them? As one that you adore? One you appreciate? One you abhor? We are accountable for the way we handle the gift of children that we are given individually and collectively.
Firstly, “Children are a heritage and inheritance of the Lord.” The new living translation version says, “children are God’s gift.” The Hebrew seems to imply that children are a heritage belonging to the Lord and not a heritage given by the Lord, as most English readers appear to take it.
Heritage is a legacy or inheritance. Children are God’s inheritance and legacy. What are we doing with the inheritance of the Lord that is God’s heritage? Through children, God’s intention for life is continued. Look at what we have done with God’s heritage. So horrendous is the way that we treat children that an International Day for Protection of Children has been established to protect children’s rights, end child labor and guarantee access to education.
Additionally, a universal Children’s Day was created to change the way children are viewed and treated by society and to improve children’s welfare. And in 1925, the World Conference for the Well-being of Children declared June 1, as the day to
draw the world’s attention to issues affecting children. The represented countries recognized that "mankind owes to the Child the best that it has to give."
As a result, the Conference adopted the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child:
- The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually;
- The child that is hungry must be fed; the child that is sick must be nursed; the child that is backward must be helped; the delinquent child must be reclaimed; and the orphan and the waif must be sheltered and succored;
- The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress;
- The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood, and must be protected against every form of exploitation;
- The child must be brought up in the consciousness that its talents must be devoted to the service of fellow men.
There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which
it treats its children. (8 May 1995) Our children are the rock on which our future
will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth who care for and protect our people.
~Nelson Mandela
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members.
~Thomas Jefferson
Consider what it means that the measure of the morality
of a society is how it treats its children.
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4Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands.
5How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Psalm 127:4-5 (The New Living Translation)
Children’s Defense Fund's Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor children, children of color and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown. (https://www.childrensdefense.org/about/who-we-are/our-mission/)
From its inception, the Children’s Defense Fund has challenged the United States to raise its standards by improving policies and programs for children. Over the years, CDF has become known for careful research on children’s survival, protection and development across all racial and income groups, and for independent analyses of how federal and state policies affect children, their families and their communities. CDF lets the public know how effectively their elected officials stand up for children. Through their work, they have influenced the child policy agenda and helped define the results for which we, as a nation, must strive.
Marion Wright Edelman put it succinctly in her book, Guide My Feet: Prayers and Meditations for Our Children. Following is an excerpt from that text:
Children – God’s Sacred Inheritance
Reduced by many from God’s gifts and inheritance / To men’s property
To women’s burden / To society’s problem /To workforce commodity
To a family value / To political photo-op and prop /To fodder for military
To corporate marketing target / Valueless unless marketable
Valueless unless problem-less
Valueless as vulnerable dependent humans entrusted to adult protection and care
Valueless as God’s special creations and messengers of hope
Valueless until consumers / Children are the seeds from heaven and
the stewards of tomorrow. / God’s precious inheritance
squandered throughout our earth.
How a society treats its most vulnerable is always the measure of its humanity. Even more so during instability and conflict.
Consider what it means that societies squander the inheritance
of the Lord in the way their children are treated.
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4Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands. 5How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.”
Psalm 127:4-5 (The New Living Translation)
Secondly, children are to be loved. Just as we share with mom and dad how much we appreciate them on their special days, today we come to appreciate our children on their special day. On Children’s Day let us acknowledge, affirm, appreciate, applaud and accept our children. We have a lot of life-less treasures that we treasure and adore, admire, protect and secure. What about children as our living treasure, the heritage and inheritance of God?
Oh God / Hear the cries of Your children everywhere
Ravaged by violence, poverty, racism, sexism, abuse and hatred
Scared, labeled, arrested and imprisoned unjustly
Ignored by those with power as they languish in crumbling schools
and dangerous neighborhoods, homeless shelters and detention centers
Labeled too often by those entrusted with their education and protection
as dumb, disruptive, bad and losers
Marginalized by those who are elected to protect them
because they don’t vote or make campaign contributions
Resented and neglected by some entrusted to care for and protect them in often inhumane and underfunded child welfare and juvenile justice systems
Hear our cries for our children all powerful God and help them
in every needed way / Fight their battles, turn the hearts and
transform the actions of those who imprison them in the darkness of violence, structural poverty and low expectations
Open the Red Sea of hope and opportunity to them
Send manna in the wilderness of greed and
Lead them into the promised land.
~Marion Wright Edelman
Consider what it means as a society to value and treasure
all children in ways that promote their well-being.
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4Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands.
5How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Psalm 127:4-5 (The New Living Translation)
Thirdly, children are to be taught
Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it. Christian Standard Bible Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it. Train up a child in the way that he should go. Proverbs 22:6
Teach by example. "Some things are better caught than taught" is a phrase which captures the reality that we can mimic what we see a lot better than we can interpret what is said. Modeling allegiance, behavior, commitment, compassion, kindness, loyalty and love go a lot further than anything you ever say.
Consider these familiar adages:
~I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
~I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
~The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear.
~Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
~The best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds, For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.
~I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done; / I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
~The lecture you deliver may be very wise and true, but I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do; For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
~When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind.
~When a weaker brother stumbles and a strong man stays behind just to see if he can help him, then the wish grows strong in me to become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be.
~All travelers can witness that the best of guides today, is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.
One good man teaches many, men believe what they behold;
One deed of kindness noticed is worth forty that are told.
Who stands with men of honor learns to hold his honor dear,
For right living speaks a language which to everyone is clear.
Though an able speaker charms me with his eloquence, I say,
I'd rather see a sermon than to hear one, any day.
~Edgar Albert Guest
Consider what it means to model what you want your children to mimic
as they are better at mimicking than they are at interpreting.
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What About the Children
~Yolanda Adams
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2412 Griffith Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90011
Phone: (213) 748-0318
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