Children and Explicit Sermons

When you have your children worship with you, there's sometimes a concern about how a Pastor might approach those passages of Scripture that, as parents, we might edit and explain according to the child's maturity.

I remember when our church was interviewing potential pastors how varied the approaches were to having various ages listening to the sermon. One particular candidate obviously forgot there were children in the audience, or perhaps just didn't think that meant he should change what he said. It was the first time I'd hoped our children had been distracted during part of a sermon.

I'm the parent who actually previews certain popular ministers' messages because I know they'll get a bit too detailed. I was starting to think I was crazy since no one else I knew seemed bothered. It was as though those with older children had forgotten what it's like to have younger children listening in on a sermon.

Then I heard Carl Trueman's account of his having shared a bit too much from the pulpit one morning. His wife reminded him that such terminology was inappropriate when children were present. He said he never did that again.

It was just one more reason to like him.

Thankfully, the pastor God gave us shows much discretion in this area. He remembers our church family includes a wide range of ages and maturity, and this Mama's heart is especially thankful I don't have to wish our children had missed parts of his sermons. If you have a pastor like this, you should thank him for it. If you don't, you should consider the value of children hearing detailed accounts of  perversions or the intimacy that should only be part of marriage.

This is not about making sex a dirty word to our children. This is about explaining it, not in the crude terms of the world, but in the beautiful way God intended it, not in a church audience, but one on one in private. There are things my children simply don't need to know at age 8, and when they need to know should be something I decide. I know their hearts, their weaknesses, their maturity.

I grew up learning my facts at school or in my church youth group. There was no sheltering or filtering done, and I was the worse for it. Yet, with our children, we discuss things according to age and maturity, and I have found an invaluable openness to discuss these mature matters, for which I am profoundly thankful.

Why is it that we think sheltering and filtering only lead to distorted views of sex?

And I think Trueman is spot on with this observation about explicit sermons and books..

Finally, I wonder if the current passion for producing books and preaching sermons on sex also witnesses to the erosion of the boundary between public and private which is all too obvious in the world around us.   Facebook, Twitter, reality TV and the rise of celebrity have each served to turn us all into exhibitionists and to make those who yearn for privacy look like weirdoes and losers.   That this is impacting the church from the top down is obvious; and it is at least worth pausing to ask whether sex books and explicit sermons are part of this.  It is surely hard to imagine Christian public figures of yesteryear such as  Martyn Lloyd-Jones, J I Packer or Carl Henry setting up a website called the `sexperiment' or giving advice on sexual technique from the pulpit.  


Read the rest here.

Mamas, God gave us an instinct to protect our children from too much information too soon. We should listen to it.

With love,
Trisha