teaching our children the gospel

Those of us who know Christ, are we teaching our children to know Him? Those of us who have had our sins laid to Christ's account and His life of obedience has been credited to us in return, do our children understand that great exchange? Unfortunately, it is all too possible to go to church on Sundays, open the Bible to read favorite passages, and to still not be clear on what the gospel announcement is. And it is equally possible for our children to hear the Bible read, go to the same church building we do, without being clearly taught, what must I do to be saved?



It is true that no parent can make a child believe the propositions of saving faith. But it would be easy for us to let that become an excuse for our lack of effort at times to teach those propositions. While we can't make our children believers, we can make sure that our children comprehend the message of the gospel. We can make sure they comprehend these truths at a young age. No one can assent to ideas which they don't understand. We pray, we hope, we fret, but how often do we neglect the one thing which God promises will not return void, His Word (Isaiah 55:11)? Souls are made new by the Word and the Spirit. Our children will not know Christ if they don't hear from the Scriptures, and specifically about imputation.



One Problem: Our Lack of Clarity

Ask Christians what one must do to be saved, and some will say, “Ask Jesus into your heart.” Yet when Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3 what one must do to enter the kingdom of God, He spoke differently: He said that we must be born again. And He went on to explain what that means. The problem with telling a child that they must invite Jesus into their heart, is that without addition explanation, it has about as much meaning as saying, “You must put God on your head.” It is metaphorical language, and it requires a non-metaphorical explanation. Does inviting Jesus into your heart mean to ask for God's guidance? Does it mean to have a warm feeling towards the person of Christ? Does it mean to desire to live like He did? Or does it mean to believe that He lived a perfect life in your place and died to pay the penalty you deserved? Simply telling a child to invite Jesus into their heart, without explanation, leaves out the reality of sin, its penalty, and the true way out.



“...all things that pertain to life and godliness [are given] through the knowledge of Him...”

This is what 2 Peter 1:3 tells us. So the question is, what must a young person know and believe in order to receive eternal life? The answer is the same as what an adult must believe.

Because of our sin, we are enemies of God. And it's not just adults who are sinners. All those who have Adam as their representative are like Adam. Small children sin too. Even the cutest ones.



Sin deserves punishment. Personally, I was raised knowing that I sinned and that everyone sinned. But I was also taught that my sins were no big deal, they weren't as bad as those people over there, that I really didn't have anything to worry about. Ask your child, what will become of whose who die without Christ as their representative? And teach them the Biblical answer.

Salvation does not come through our adherence to God's law. And we are so prone to think that it does. It is enlightening to ask your little ones, will someone go to heaven because they go to church every Sunday? Do people go to heaven because they read their Bible every day? Ask them if someone who lies can go to heaven. What about someone who killed Christians, like the apostle Paul? How they answer shows whether or not they understand imputation. It obviously isn't needed that they know the word imputation. But like us, our children can be confused about the relationship of works to the gospel.

So what is the gospel? What does Paul mean by the message of the cross, which is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18)? The Sunday school answer is, “Jesus died on the cross for my sins.” But even in this expression, there is room for misunderstanding. Many who can recite that Jesus died on the cross have missed the significance of why. Death on the cross is not the same thing as the atonement. Two other people were crucified at Calvary with Christ. But only one provided atonement. Jesus died in the place of others. His death actually paid the punishment earned by sinners. Jesus' death on the cross was not just as a display of love to a watching world. He was paying a debt for His people, a debt that must be paid for redemption to be accomplished. His people are legally declared not guilty on this basis.

He was a substitute. There is a reason why God's people in the old testament were repeatedly given the picture of a substitute in the sacrificial system, an innocent slain for the guilty. Teaching our children about those old testament types helps make the language of a substitute make sense. Ask your child, why did Christ need to die?

Some people think that these kinds of questions are too difficult for a preschooler to understand. And most likely, a young child will not grasp all of this the first time it is presented. But I personally have known very young children who do comprehend these concepts. Some children answer consistently with the answer, no, someone who lies cannot go to heaven. Some young children consistently say, yes, if you go to church every Sunday you will go to heaven. And some little ones have consistently said, in Christ alone I stand.



I love using a catechism to teach my little ones. Question 37 in the Children's Prove It catechism asks, How does Christ redeem His people? The answer given is, “He kept the whole law for His people and suffered the punishment their sins deserved.” The simplified version I'm teaching my two and a half year old is, “He obeyed the law and died on the cross.” I will add more information when she has that down. At this point, she just says, “obeyed,” (pause) “law.” Memorizing our catechism answers does not cause belief, but it does give us a common language, and in that way, it paves the way for more explanation and discussion. There are so many opportunities to teach, as we sit in our house, as we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up (Deuteronomy 6:7). The outcome is determined by the Lord. And yet He has also determined the means. And God graciously at times allows us to be those means.