Parental Sins
Parents should be very concerned as to
how sinful attitudes and actions
will affect children and grandchildren.
Here's Gene:
Sadly, the sins of the children of Israel, which are described here in this prophecy by Micah,
impacted their children.
It impacted their children for the next generations.
And of course, Micah speaks to this very directly in verse 16.
This is what he says.
"Shave yourselves bald and
cut off your hair in sorrow
for your precious children. ..."
And as I read that, I had to underscore in my mind "precious children."
Particularly children who are victims of parental sin.
"...make yourselves as bald as an eagle
for they have been taken from you into exile."
In other words, he is really getting very graphic in terms of a demonstration of repentance.
Frequently, repentance in the Old Testament is demonstrated by sackcloth and ashes.
And here's another demonstration of true repentance.
Repent for your children and for what you have caused in their life.
You see, God warned that this would happen at Mount Sinai when he gave the Ten Commandments.
The first commandment was that they should have no other God's before them.
The Lord is one.
Have no other God's before Me.
And then he went on to say in verse 5,
and notice these words.
I've called it "Parental Sins."
"You must not bow down to them
or worship them; for I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God,
punishing the children for the
father's sin[s], to the third and
[the] fourth generations of those who hate Me...."
He goes on to say:
"but showing..." And this is the good news.
This is really good news.
"...but showing faithful love to a
thousand generations of those
who love Me and keep My commands."
God does not want to bring judgement.
He wants to bring blessing.
Notice the contrast.
Third or fourth generation. Thousand generations.
This is what God wants.
This is the heart of God our Father.
But He's a Holy God.
And so he warns these people--the children of Israel.
And these words of course were spoken to Israel.
There at Mount Sinai.
It's a very unique story.
And I think we have to understand the uniqueness of this.
You see, God brought them out of Egypt.
Out of paganism for four hundred plus years.
They were pagans---most of them.
And gave them the Ten Commandments.
Revealed His will to them.
And then led them on into Canaan.
And He said: If you obey Me, I'll bless you.
If you do not, I'll curse you.
And so you have those curses outlined there in Deuteronomy.
But yet there's a universal principle here.
Though I think is very specific to Israel.
The third and the fourth generation. We see that in the biblical story as it unfolds because
again and again they violated the will of God.
They violated what God said.
And curses came on them.
And it did affect the children up to the third and fourth generation.
But the universal principle is this.
And I've stated it:
Parents should be very concerned
how sinful attitudes and actions
will affect children and grandchildren.
And we know that happens.
We know that happens in our lives today.
Let's take divorce. Parents sins do impact children.
Divorce impacts children.
What happens through divorce?
Well, we know children are hurt.
There's insecurity. There's anger.
And here's, I think, one of the most tragic things:
that children blame themselves for their parents' divorce. It's just automatic.
What did we do wrong to cause mommy and daddy to separate?
That's the first thing that happens.
So there is a--there is a result. A negative result.
A consequence to divorce to use one illustration.
But you see, Micah's plea, I think,
is just as relevant today as it was back then.
Notice what Jesus said.
And I think here He's referring to parents
and children when He stated these powerful words
in Matthew 18:6:
"But whoever causes the downfall
of one of these little ones..."
Now that has a two-fold application,
perhaps, a two-fold meaning.
"Little ones" there can refer to children
because it's in the context of Jesus.
Reaching out to little children,
forbid them not to come to Me [Mt 19:14].
It also could refer to new believers in Christ.
Little ones. Who are caused to stumble.
But it applies in both situations.
"But whoever causes the downfall of
one of these little ones who believe in Me--
it would be better for him if a
heavy millstone were hung around
his neck and he were drowned
in the depths of the sea!"
Those are strong words.
Now, that leads to a practical application question, which is very important.
And that is:
Though parental failures certainly
impact children negatively...
We know that. It's a reality.
...what should the church do to
encourage mothers and fathers
who have acknowledged their sins
and are now living godly lives?
Well, let me say first of all,
there's a variety of situations.
There are situations where one partner does not want a divorce.
And one partner just walks out.
Says: I don't want to be in this relationship anymore.
I don't want to be a part of this anymore.
They walk away from the wife or the husband.
They walk away from the children.
They turn their back on the children.
I know situations where children have never seen one of their parents again.
I don't understand that.
But the fact is, it happens.
So you have what we call "innocent parties," though obviously, we're all born in sin.
So "innocency" is a relative term.
But, is not the desire for that mate.
As a church, we need to reach out to them.
But the other advice is to the
one who didn't want that divorce.
Don't ever--as much as it within you--
never come between your children
and the one who's left you.
Never put them in the middle.
Now sometimes you can't even control that.
I know one situation I heard recently where
a father who left the family, divorced,
gets on the phone with his previous wife.
Says: Let me talk to the children.
He gets the children on the phone and
he tells them how bad their mother is.
I don't understand that either.
And that's devastating.
So consequently, we need to support-- support those who are caught in those situations.
But the bottom line is, we also need to
communicate with all people
because we're all sinners.
And but for the grace of God,
there could go anyone of us [1Co 18:8-10].
And thank God for 1 John 1:9:
"If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
And one of the things we need to communicate with people who've gone through a break-up
in a family situation:
Number one: confess your sins,
accept the forgiveness, and don't go on blaming yourself the rest of your life.
Don't punish yourself.
Christ was punished for that sin.
Yes, there are consequences.
But now, with the grace of God,
do everything you can to bring peace,
to bring healing--particularly to your children.
And so I think as the church,
we really need to understand forgiveness.
Where as members of the body of Jesus Christ,
we may need to become substitute parents
in helping children to really develop a
healthy view of both the male
and the female relationships.
And we can do that.
Where men become a substitute father
to children temporarily, to help them,
to encourage them.
And then there's always financial assistance,
which has to be discerned very carefully
so you're not enabling.
But God wants us to be very, very protective
and helpful and encouraging to those
who become victims of this kind of failure.
But there's a more general thought here.
And that is, I think that one of things
that this principle tells us is
that we need to teach on the
importance of the family. Particularly today.
Because the family is under attack.
Marriages are under attack.
And we need to teach people how to weather these storms.
How to become good parents in a culture that is trying to destroy us.
As a church, we need to help people to understand that we need to support them.
Families need support.
We all need support so that we can walk in the will of God.