TEXT: II Kings 2:23-25

SUBJECT: Kids’ Sermon #38: A Bald Man and Bad Kids

Kids, this afternoon is the second Sunday on the month and time for another sermon just for you. I’ll say a little bit to your moms and dads today, but mostly, I want you to listen to God’s Word.

Every Word of God is true. And not only true, but interesting, important, and useful. This Word of God can do you good. So listen up.

I preached this sermon before, but I’m not sure any of you heard it. Most of you—I know—didn’t because you weren’t even born when I did it. So enough of that. Let’s get to it.

There once was a prophet in Israel whose name was Elijah. Just a short time before, he had gone to heaven in a very unusual way.

How do most people go to heaven? By dying. But not Elijah! He never died at all, but rode to heaven in a fiery chariot being pulled by flaming horse. The horses didn’t pull the way other horses did, but spun around like a whirlwind all the way up to God.

That would have been something to see. But only one man saw it. He was the prophet’s helper. His name was Elisha. The names sound very much alike, but remember, Elijah and Elisha are two different men.

As Elijah was riding up into heaven, he dropped something down to his friend. It was his mantle or his coat. That meant a lot to Elisha because the coat, you see, was more than a coat. It was a sign that God would be with Elisha as He had been with his master.

Elisha was now a prophet of the Lord. Whoever heard his sermons heard the very Word of God.

This was a great blessing to Israel. God’s Word doesn’t come to us to send us to hell. It comes to us to save us from our sins and to fit us for heaven. That’s what the Lord wanted to do with Elisha. He wanted him to be a great blessing to His people.

The first place he went was Beth-el. That was one of the most important cities in the country. The word means "The house of God" Long ago, God had come to that place on a Ladder to meet Jacob. Then, when Israel came into it’s Promised Land, Beth-el became a place for His tabernacle. The priests lived there for a long time and it was just a wonderful place to be.

So you’d think the people in that town would be very holy and eager to hear God’s Word.

But if you thought that, you’d be wrong. They were just the opposite: they were the kind of people who hated God’s Word and wanted no part of it--or anyone who preached it.

This was true of the grown-ups, of course (who had long worshiped the Golden Calf there), but also of the kids. They were as bad as their parents—or maybe worse.

When the saw Elisha they knew who he was. When they saw his coat, they knew that he had taken Elijah’s place and would now speak for the Lord God of Israel.

You’d expect them to give him a warm welcome! But they didn’t. Instead, they greeted him with a bitter laugh.

Most laughter is good. God laughs; Jesus Christ has a sense of humor; Abraham and Sarah laughed their heads off at the birth of Isaac. Lots of laughing in the Bible—and most of it’s good.

But not this time! This is not the laughter of happiness or surprise, but of mockery!

I wonder why they called him "Bald head"? Maybe it’s because he had no hair. Or maybe not. Maybe they were doing something worse than mocking a shiny head. In those days, baldness was often a sign of leprosy which made a man unclean and kept him from serving the Lord.

So maybe they were saying, "You’re not God’s servant"—and so we don’t have to listen to you.

What about "Go up"? That’s also an ugly joke. Elijah ahd gone up into heaven and they said, Why don’t you join him? In other words, Get out of here!

When Elisha heard this, he didn’t think it was funny at all. In fact, he became very mad. And it wasn’t only he who was mad. God was also angry!

Elisha cursed those kids in the name of the Lord and out of the woods came to she-bears who tore up and killed forty-two kids. All because they did not respect the Word of God.

What’s this mean to you children? It means you ought to respect the Word of God.

How do you do that? In many ways, of course. But the one I want to single out for today is this one: By listening to the Word of God read and preached at church.

How do you listen to the Word of God at church?

1. Stay awake. On Wednesday night, some of you have a hard time sitting through the whole sermon. That’s understandable because you’re up after your bed time. But nobody goes to sleep at 11:00 in the morning, I bet. And no one but a baby needs a nap at 2:00 in the afternoon. If you can stay up to play or watch TV or go to school, you can stay up to hear God’s Word.
2. Not talk. Once in a while you need to say a word in church. But most talking is unnecessary and disrespectful to God’s Word. If it’s rude to talk while other people are talking, how much worse is it to talk while God is talking! Not that I'm God, of course, but the Bible is God talking and when I preach that Word He speaks to you.
3. Pay attention. If the sermon is God’s Word, you’ve got to do more than hear it. You’ve got to listen to it. Listening to God is like listening to your parents. It means you’re paying attention and putting it into your memory.
4. Believe and Obey. We respect the Word of God, not only by listening carefully to it, but by believing it and obeying it.

Kids, a long time ago, young people just like you had the privilege of hearing God’s Word. But they didn’t; instead, they turned it into a joke. And God killed them for it.

The Lord may not send angry bears into this church, but He will punish you for disrepecting His Word. In this life, maybe. In the next life, for sure.

This means you need to respect God’s Word, believe it, love it, and obey it.

Parents, this story not only speaks to kids—but to their moms and dads too. We cannot make our children respect God’s Word, but we can help them do it.

1. By respecting it yourself. How do you listen to the Word preached? Do you sleep through it? Do you fiddle around? Do you look at your watch every two minutes? Well, if you treat the Word that lightly, how can you expect your children to take it seriously?
2. By talking about it positively. I don’t want you to be a Moonie—agreeing with everything I say. But, when the Word is preached—even poorly preached—you need to say as few bad things and as many good things about it as you can. Let your kids know it is a privilege to hear the Word of God—and not a cross you have to bear.
3. By general discipline. Kids who don’t listen to the pastor in church, for the most part, don’t listen to their parents at home either. Teach them how to sit still, to be quiet, and to listen and respond. Growing up, my next-door neighbor had a lot of problems with her kids. But in one way she excelled more than anyone I’ve ever known. She made her kids sit with their hands folded and perfectly quiet for thirty minutes a day. When they went to church on Sunday, they knew how to sit down and listen! Their church discipline was just part of their general discipline.

If you think this is a lot of work for you—you’re right. But look at the alternative. Little bodies strewn all over the city of Beth-el. Forty-two little coffins; forty-two funerals; forty-two families bereaved of their babies. All because they didn’t teach their children to respect the Word of God.

This is serious. Eternal souls are at stake. Now, pray hard for your kids and do everything you can to help them respect the Word of God. And trust the Lord to do for them what you can’t.

God bless every kid here. And every mom and dad too. For Chrsit’s sake. Amen.