In Loco Parentis

Thank you, Mr. Hand. Good afternoon, everyone. Pardon me, I'm gonna...

Before I came up, Mr. Hopkins reminded me that those of you saw the Friday afternoon and...

Yeah, reminders and announcements. That's not... that doesn't spell far. You know, that email thing that we get.

Mr. Stiver is playing on doing a question-and-answer session after we conclude the service. So, for everyone interested in that, please stick around. That'll be the third part of the service today, I guess, or the message.

Anyways, I wanted to pick up on some of what Mr. Hopkins mentioned. He said it's near to camp time.

And if you know me at all, you know that means it's time that I start getting excited.

Because it's amazing to think in just two weeks I'm gonna be going off to Camp Heritage.

And that's what I had in mind when I started working on this message. And it wasn't until later I looked at the calendar. I said, well, Camp Heritage is in two weeks, but Camp Buckeye is tomorrow.

That's something... now that might apply to the song we just sang. There's gonna be a time when children will smile. I think sometimes that's a time when parents will smile.

The kids will be off for a week, and at least I see some parents smiling.

Some smile more than others, I think.

But, you know, for me, I always get excited. I think about past times. I've had a lot of fun there, and I start anticipating new adventures.

Now, I want to put a little bit of a disclaimer. If Camp is not your thing, because there are some of us that it's not something we just get excited about, or we've done or want to do, I'm not just gonna talk about Camp. Or I should say, I'm not just going to talk about Camp. I'm going to.

But, you know, I want to get at a lesson that Camp has been helping me to learn.

But it's a lesson that I think is important for all of us. So, I think you'll see where I'm going, or when you see where I'm going, you'll appreciate it. It's not just me telling old Camp stories.

Now, this summer, the main theme that we're emphasizing at all of our Camps is how Camp supports parents.

A very important theme, and we like to use that Latin phrase, and loco parentis.

And loco parentis. It means, it's Latin for, in place of parents. You know, loco being the root word of our word for location.

And that's what the Camp staff supposedly does at Camp. We take on a role, now we're not taking parents' place, but we're supporting parents.

I like to say, in a sense, we're temporarily standing in for the parents. We're attempting to do for the kids that come there what their parents would do. If they were crazy enough to want to go live in a tent in the woods for a week with a bunch of teenagers and do all these wild activities.

So this concept is very important to us. Camp should support parents. And the idea that we're standing in for the parents is very important. It matters a great deal to the Camp staff. It's certainly important to the parents. It's important to the Campers whether they like it or not. But I think there are lessons that can be very valuable to all Christians. And I want to explore some of that.

I thought before I do that, maybe I should delve into what does it really mean? We have that nice definition in place of parents, supporting parents. But how does that work?

I look back at my experience and one of the big things that comes through is the taking responsibility.

Several of my friends that worked at Camp and I a few years ago worked on writing somewhat of a manual to help counselors. And one of my friends wrote a little section about in local parentis. And one of the things he said, it comes down to trust. Parents entrust their children into our care.

Now, we of course are going to take responsibility for things like trying to keep them safe, keep them a good distance from skunks and bears, make sure that they eat. When you have a younger dorm of teenage boys, make sure they take a shower.

That's one of those tough things that you don't expect when you're training for camp.

And of course, the overriding thing, the real thing we want to accomplish there is helping, supporting the parents as they teach their kids about God's way of life.

We want to teach spiritual principles.

And as much as anything else, just to show them that God's way of life is one that it really works.

God's way works. We used to say that at SEP. And not only that, but God's way is fun. It's cool. It's a good thing you want to do.

So I was thinking back, I thought I can write myself in a little time to reminisce with this, because I was thinking, wow, 30 years ago, I was one of those teenagers going up to summer camp.

And I think, well, what was it like? I was trying to remember. And, you know, you have all the memories. I learned how to shoot a gun and how to water ski and such. But I've got some pretty strong memories of sitting around in a semicircle with my counselor as a focus and having talks.

And it was kind of surprising, because this guy, you know, he seemed older, but I realized he was only a few years older than me. He was a college student. And he was, you know, a big strong guy who was athletic. He was somebody that I wanted to be like.

It's interesting, I thought later, because this is before Jordan was on the scene, but his name was Michael. So I guess I was thinking, I want to be like Mike.

I thought I'd get some chuckles from that. Maybe that ad's just too old. But, you know, he showed me something that, you know, people that were cool lived God's way and openly talked about it.

Here was a young man who wore the right clothes and did the right things, but he was willing to admit that he prayed on a regular basis.

And he wasn't the only one. Lots of them there were doing this. We'd sit around in door meetings, and I remember we'd talk about things like canoeing. We'd talk about the best way to hit a softball. But we'd also talk about things like, what is the Holy Spirit?

What does it feel like when the Spirit starts working in you? We talked about things like, how do you talk to girls in a proper way? Or, how do we know when prophecies are being fulfilled? What's it going to be like for us? If I'm 16 years old and we're thinking the kingdom of God is going to be here soon... Now, I've learned since then that soon is a relative term. Back then, I thought soon was in a couple of years. That's why I don't have to study to graduate high school.

I learned since that soon could still be pretty soon, even if it's a few years later. But, you know, we started relating in a certain way. The young people that were standing in for my parents helped me learn things that my parents wanted me to learn in a different way. And I hope this is encouraging to those of you who are parents getting ready to send off your kids. I still have another distinct memory of being up there. The dorm buildings we used had prayer closets built into them. Now, I didn't even know what a prayer closet was before then. I knew the Bible said something about when you pray, go into your closet. But, you know, we had these there. So I was moved to eventually start using them. And I have this distinct memory. At 15 years old, it was the first time I said, I need to take time aside to go do this thing. And not only because the minister is telling me to do it and all those adults, but these cool young people are setting this example.

Now, let's flash forward. You know, about a decade later, I found myself going back to summer camp. Only now, I was going to be in the position of the counselor. Now, how do you do that? It was much more intimidating than being a camper. But I had those memories. I thought, well, if I can try to be like Mike, I'm going to be accomplishing something.

Boy, and of course, I heard, I was told about in local parenthesis. What a... I describe it as a crushing responsibility. I've got to stand in for the parents of these 22 teenage boys. Storms are a little bigger than we have now. I'm trying to see. I don't see that many teenagers here. Maybe they... Oh. Okay, they're hiding... Yeah, the light's not as bright back there. That's why. Sorry, guys.

Anyways, I'm distracting myself. Okay, but I have to stand in for their parents and try to do the right things. And looking back at that, boy, I made some mistakes like parents do. And I'm looking ahead to the next few years thinking, okay, if I made these mistakes as a counselor, who knows what I might do as a parent. But at times, I got overprotective. And there was a good reason for that in one way, because I remember the very first day I dropped from 22 young boys to 21, because one of them broke his leg in a wrestling match that I started. Now, it wasn't wrestling against me. I was refereeing and obviously not doing as good a job as I would have liked. But, you know, I had to be a little overprotective. There were times when my temper got stretched, you know, and I almost lost my temper. But then I think there were also the times where it was such a thrill. Whenever things would go well in the dorm, I felt this wonderful feeling like I'd never had before. Whenever one of my boys, I would call them, when they would accomplish something, I felt like I'd accomplished something. It was just, it was wonderful. I guess, you know, I was sharing, if I was standing in for the parents, I was getting to enjoy a little bit of their benefit. Now, you know, all those years at camp, it brings back some memories. And I thought, you know, some of these, you know, what is in loco parentis? Some of it is just the little, the other memories that come out. I remember one year at Camp Heritage getting woke up in the middle of the night with a young fella who's stomach really hurt, and something seemed bad. Well, you know, there we're out in the woods, so I, okay, get up, wake up, take him down to the nurse. But it wasn't just a matter of delivering him to the nurse. I thought, okay, he's a little bit scared. He's only, I'm 13 or 12 years old. I need to talk to him, encourage him, help him to get through this. And of course, he turned out to be fine. A little fizzy drink and, you know, a little comfort from someone that vaguely resembled his mother, and he was a lot better the next day. Sounds a little tougher. I remember another time when I was at camp, one of my fellas got in an accident playing sports, and we thought he might have broke his arm. So this is the time I'm in the van with him, once again, trying to comfort him, because this is kind of scary, going down to the hospital for x-rays. You know, there are those times when I've had to take a young man aside, you know, an old boy, give him some stern verbal correction. But also, the joy of when young boys start making friends, and they can get a little bit silly, tell some funny stories, tell jokes, and it's fun to be the adult who's just there and being a part of it.

I got a little bit of a reminder of that this last winter. I thought my counseling days were long past, but you've all heard the stories about winter camp this year was kind of a new adventure, and I got to be inserted into a dorm as a counselor for a few days. But it was a lot of fun. I kind of feel guilty, actually, with all this horrible stuff and people, you know, throwing up and feeling awful, and I was having the time of my life.

Anyways, before I move on, though, I want to share one more of my best experiences. And I think this one starts relating to something I think some of you can relate to and will in the future. But one of my best experiences was this one particular camper from Camp Heritage. It was my second year there, and he was a 15 or 16-year-old, and he was one of several. You try to get to know them all, but over the years, memories can fade.

One of the things I remember most was he came down kind of sick that year, and we'd be going from one activity to another, and he'd be sort of lagging behind. I'd say, come on, come on! He said, I'm going to make it! I'm going to make it! He wasn't going to be left behind. And his older sister was on the staff, so she was always checking with me.

How's he doing today? Well, anyways, I don't want to talk to you about his being sick, but if we go forward a few years later, he became a young man. He was a college student, and he applied to be on staff and was assigned to be my assistant counselor. And it was just this amazing thing. Here he had been the boy that was, you know, entrusted to my care and local parenthesis, but now he's working alongside me. And he was a great assistant counselor, and we had a really good summer.

The following year, I moved on, and I was working on the staff teaching and activity, and he became a head counselor with another younger fellow assisting him. And I thought, boy, that, perhaps, that's somewhat what the experience is like when teenagers become adults and begin relating with their parents in a different way. You start becoming, you know, still a father and son, mother and daughter, but also friends. And it's one of the things I admire most about Sue's relationship with her parents, that, you know, she's very good friends with, you know, especially her mom, because they're mother and daughter.

And I think it wasn't always that way, but it's something you grow into. And that provides a transition I want to talk about, that even though camp, you know, starting tomorrow at Camp Buckeye, about midday, I think, is a transfer, a lot of people start becoming in local parenthesis, but they're still, it's temporary. The real job falls on the parents, you know.

And it's funny, because I have it in my notes, that people keep telling me this. I even heard it just a few minutes before services. Everything is going to change. Having a child changes your whole life. We're still excited about that, but for Sue and I, it's still a little bit intimidating. We're going to have a whole separate person that we're responsible for. You know, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, what? 52 weeks a year, and for years and years, we've got to provide for this person. We've got to make sure that he's got clothes. Actually, we don't have to do that for a while. Thankfully, a lot of the women gave us a shower last week.

I think he's going to be clothed for the first year. So I'm very thankful for that. But we've got to provide him food. We've got to teach him how to tie his shoes eventually. But most of all, we're responsible spiritually. I'm looking forward to him going to camp eventually and having some counselors help us, but they're still helping us. It's our job. We've got to help them get to know God. Finally, I do want to go to the Bible.

If you will, let's turn to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 11, we're going to start in verse 18. This is a familiar Scripture, but I was thinking, we've got to teach children God's way. We've got to teach them about God and then how he wants us to live.

Here's that responsibility. What are the people that are supporting parents? What are they supporting them in? It starts right here. Deuteronomy 11, verse 18. This, of course, is Moses reiterating the law, but he's repeating what God told him. Therefore, you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. Bind them as a sign on your hand. They shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall teach them to your children.

Speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up, and you'll write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Why are you going to do all this? Because I said so. But not I said so, but I was thinking that's the standard answer parents like to use, but there's a little more.

That your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the eternal sword of your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. Internalize this. Live by it and teach it to your children. It's going to help you to have a long and happy life. It's going to help your children to have a long and happy life. That's a good reason.

And it's interesting, I couldn't help but think, talk to them when they lie down, when they're in the house and on the way. To be able to do it in all those times and places, it means we've got to be there with the kid all those times and places. When he lies down, be there. When he gets up, when you're walking on the way, when he gets to be 15, if he's anything like I was, it'll be like, okay, Mom, I can walk on the way on my own. But still, you have to be there and teach him. But I thought, we're doing this for the long life. Eventually, that teenager, he's going to grow into that adulthood.

I think, I keep saying here, I was the 15-year-old, now I'm up here telling you, somehow that transition came along. It shows that that role is somewhat temporary.

Parents are supposed to internalize the law and teach their children, but that's just the start. In a sense, there's a three-way relationship that goes on. The parents with the children and the parents with God, but you want to make it so it's God with the children also. I'm assuming that you didn't know that. Of course you know that, especially those of you who are parents. But I want to keep that in mind, as we at camp are temporarily in place of parents supporting them, in some way, parents are temporarily in place of God supporting him. Because they really belong to him. If you will, let's turn back to a few pages to Genesis 33.

Genesis 33, verse 5.

I wanted to read this scripture because I really like the way, basically Jacob said this. He was in a good position to know he had a lot of children to be a parent to.

But this was after he'd lived with Laban several years, decided it was time to get back home, gathered up his now clan and headed out. But he was still a little worried about Esau back home. The brother that he pulled a fast one on, which Mr. Hadley reminded us of earlier. Now Esau knows he's coming. When Esau comes out to greet him with 500 men, Jacob gets a little worried. They finally meet face to face. And what happens? Esau runs on him, embraces him and kisses him in verse 5. He lifts his eyes and sees the women and children. He says, well, who are these with you? And Jacob says, these are the children whom God has graciously given to your servant. I just gave you the whole story just to get to this point. But God graciously gives us children. So it's a special gift. I mean, the gifts that Esau got at the baby shower last week were really nice. But the gift that we're going to get in mid-October is going to be really nice. Until it's diaper-changing time. I didn't have that one in my notes. It just came to mind. But it's a gift from God. But He's giving us something that's only going to be temporary, right? They're going to grow up and they're going to develop. Because God has something more in mind for all of our children than just for them to be our children. Let's turn ahead now to Romans 8. Romans 8, we're going to begin in verse 14.

Once again, this is a very well-known principle to us all.

But I think in some ways, this is getting at the heart of the Gospel message. And it's very important for us. Romans 8.14.

Now, we get asked the question, who is the we He's talking about? Paul is writing to the church in Rome. Say, we are going to be children of God, or we are children. We're going to be joint heirs. Is it only those who are adults? Well, of course not. The we is meant to include those who are our children. Just as I was thinking at one point 30-some years ago, I might have been thinking, okay, your mom and grandma are a part of that. But I'm not necessarily. But God's intention all along was for me to move up to be a part of that. And of course, all of our children are intended to be that. God says, your children are my children.

Of course, I don't like to speak in the first person as though I'm God. So maybe you should say, my son is also going to be God's son. And I'm only temporarily taking care of him. Now, my role isn't going to end once he reaches adulthood. Actually, in many ways, it's going to increase.

But still, I thought, you know, it's interesting, actually, and I had a good example. I had notes written for the sermon before this. But last weekend, you might have noticed Sue and I had guests from Indianapolis. Our friend Dave and Mandy Cobb were visiting us. And they've got an 18-month-old daughter, Hannah Beth. And she's a delight. If Connor is half as well behaved as her, I'll be very happy. But I couldn't help thinking, the little child like that looks to her parents and cannot imagine anything or anyone greater than them. You know, that, you know, dad and mom are the ultimate powers in the universe from this perspective of one who's a newborn. So in a sense, they're standing in for God until that child matures enough to get to know God on their own. It's not, of course, usurping God's position. None of us would want to do that. But we all have to be willing to stand in for him temporarily to direct our children to get to know him as soon as they mature enough to do that. Parents, in a sense, have a responsibility to support the God family in the same way that camp counselors have a responsibility to support the parents. And similarly, I think, what a huge responsibility. But also, what a wonderful opportunity. Boy, it's one as great an opportunity as it is. I'm so happy I don't have to take it on alone. Not only just alone, I mean, as in me and Sue, but the greatest thing is God gives us this great responsibility, but then says, I'm going to put my spirit within you. I'll help you do it. I'm going to dwell in you. So you're not only standing in for me, but you're actually an extension of me, and that my spirit will work with you and guide you as you lead this person to me. But still, it's a big job. How do we do it?

How do you lead a helpless person to get to know God?

I almost thought, maybe I should just start taking a show of hands, because I'm going to be doing it real soon. I need to know the answer to this. Not just a rhetorical question. But, well, I've already read part of the answer. We read in Deuteronomy 11, and it also appears in Deuteronomy 6. You talk to your children. You make sure the Word of God is within you, and then you talk to them on the way. You talk to them when they lay down and when they rise up. You use words. God teaches us a great deal through words. Of course, we know that Jesus Christ was known as the Logos, the Word of God. We have God's Word in printed form in the Bible. And of course, at camp, we use words to teach campers. Probably more than they would like. There's the informal setting and then the formal setting. Whenever I was a counselor, I would have a dorm meeting every single night, and we would gather together, and we would talk about the day. We would talk about things we learned, what we wish were better. As a matter of fact, I was joking talking to Mr. McNeely, who was her director at the time. I said, I like being a counselor because I get to preach. But it's more than just that. And there's a lot more you have to do to teach. When we're getting ready for camp, we always have training sessions. We're reminded by the senior staff, the ministers, of what's going to happen and the responsibility we have. And one theme that comes up every year is, they are watching you. The children are watching children. They're teenagers. And keep in mind, never forget that actions speak louder than words. Your words will be out there, but they're noticing what you do. And that principle applies to us at camp, and it applies to parents. We teach with words, but we have to teach with beyond words, even before they're able to comprehend the words. I thought, our children will hear the words at one point and read that says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And they might even ask us, well, what does that mean? How do you keep a day holy? But I'd be willing to bet, long before they ask the question, they've already been getting their answer by watching us do it. What do we do on the Sabbath? And what kind of example are we setting? That's how they'll learn what keeping a day holy is. And to be honest, that's something where they'll not only look at the parents, they'll come here on Saturdays and look at what all the rest of us are doing. I'm going to go into that a little bit more later, but all of us are teaching by our example in that word, in that way. And they'll also, the word says, Jesus was asked, What is the greatest commandment?

Well, that sounds good, but it brings back the question, well, how exactly do you do that? All our kids, I'm sure, are watching their parents to see how they love God and put Him first. And we've had messages all the time teaching us that. It's just when we're thinking of it, I don't know if we always think of it, I know I haven't, but while I'm working on trying to do this better, I'm teaching younger people who are watching me to see how I do it.

You know, our role as parents is somewhat temporary while the children are young, but it's so important. Even if the phase passes, the results will last a very long time.

And moreover, after, I want to make the point, after we go through the phase of guiding our children into having a relationship directly with God, when we're not, you know, temporarily standing in for Him anymore, our relationship or our role there isn't going to end. It's just going to become deeper. It's going to grow. As young children become fellow heirs, heirs with Christ and joint heirs with us.

And I could share this. Some of you were here the very night. One of the strongest memories I have of my mother, you know, she'd been gone for several years, but I remember coming to Passover for the very first time and coming with her. And suddenly we were joint heirs with Christ. I'm sure, and she probably remembered it, might have made a much bigger impression on her than it did me at the time.

But as I think, you know, I already had a job for a while. I was working and earning money, and I was taking college classes. But I don't think I ever felt so grown up as taking that step. You know, and I owed a lot of it to her to helping me to get to that point. You know, I moved from learning about God from her to learning along with her. Actually, yeah, I've got a version of that here in my notes. That's what happens. It's good to look down now and then and say, but it reminds me, of course, that fellow who had been a camper in my dorm and then later became my assistant counselor and then later became a head counselor.

He, you know, moved, you know, as young adults progress from being, well, I should say as teenagers, progress into young adults and might be able to teach at summer camp. So children progress into becoming young adults and learning, you know, about God alongside their parents, not just from them. Glasses of water are a great way to have a pause.

So I want to shift gears and I want to add another layer to this analogy. Because so far, if you're past raising children or you just never will or he's not interested in camp, you might say, well, that's all well and good, but how's that apply to me? But I want to add this analogy that all of us, in a sense, at some time or another, could easily have an opportunity to do this, to stand in for God temporarily.

Now, to show you this, let's look at a couple of scriptures. If you will, turn to 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. I'm going to go to two scriptures quickly and then explain the point I'm making, although I think you'll see it pretty clearly. 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. Here, Peter is writing to a distant church and one of the things he says, and I'm feeling this might not have been a long-established church just from the terminology he uses, he says, As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

As newborn babes desire the pure milk... Now, I don't think he was writing to literal newborn babes. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 5, just a few pages towards the front. Hebrews 5 and verse 12. Hebrews 5, 12.

This is the Apostle Paul. Well, we believe the Apostle Paul writing. And he's in the middle of doing some correction. I don't want to focus on the correction, but in the analogy. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, but you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God.

And you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he's a babe. Just as Peter said, a newborn babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age. That is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. The analogy, of course, is that maturing as a Christian is somewhat like maturing as an adult.

We come in knowing very little and being very dependent, but we're supposed to mature and become able to do things on our own. But it occurred to me that if my newborn son is going to be looking to me for everything physically and spiritually, so in some senses, as Paul and Peter are saying, as someone who is first called into the church, they're growing towards a relationship with God, but they might temporarily have to look to more mature Christians for some guidance to help them to grow into that relationship with God.

Someone, you know, to help them just to learn the rudiments while they mature, and it's a much faster process than it is for physical children. And what I thought here, in a similar way as camp supports parents and supports families, so of course the church supports God, God the Father, the God family. And as I say when I say the church does that, who is the church? Well, it's you and me, all of us are. Let's look at some examples of this. If you'll turn to the book of Acts 8.

I've got a few examples that I think I want to bring this home to think about how important it is for us and how we relate to those who are babes in Christ and think about it as we think about parenting and of camp supporting parents.

Acts 8 will begin in verse 26. This is a familiar story partly because Mr. Stiver looked at it a couple weeks ago, but I want to bring out another part of it. Now, an angel of the eternal spoke to Philip. This is the Philip who was one of the original seven deacons, later referred to as an evangelist. And it says, A rise, go to the south along the road, that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. I'm not sure why we need to know it was desert. Maybe because there's not much water there.

But he rose and went, and behold, there's a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, a very important person, under Candice, the queen of the Ethiopians, had charge of all her treasury. He'd come to Jerusalem to worship. He was looking to get to know God. And he was sitting in his chariot and reading Isaiah the prophet. So he's sitting here reading the scroll, and then the spirit tells Philip, Go a little near, go talk to this guy. And Philip runs up and hears him reading from the prophet Isaiah. And Philip, now, Philip's being pretty bold here. This is a rich, important person. Philip says, Do you understand what you're reading? I wonder, I guess, maybe if an angel tells you to go up to someone, you might be emboldened, because I think I've seen people sitting and reading, and I've never gone up and said, Hey, do you know what you're reading? But I love the attitude of the eunuch, and this could be the attitude of anyone first coming to know the truth. He says, How can I, unless someone guides me? Perhaps God had put in his mind that he needed help and hear someone's offering it. So he asked Philip, Come up, sit with him. And it turns out he was reading a part of Isaiah that described Christ and his crucifixion. And if you skip down to verse 34, the eunuch asked Philip, Who is this talking about? Is there a prophet writing about himself or someone else? And Philip perceives the opportunity to preach about Christ to him and teach him the central basis of the Gospel. And so, as they go along, it says, Philip, open his mouth, Scripture, preach Jesus. Verse 36, Now they went down the road, and they came to some water. And the eunuch said, Well, here's some water. What hinders me from being baptized? And Philip says, Well, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he had the chariot stopped. They both went in, and he was baptized. Now, here is a case where Philip, in a sense, stood in for God. The eunuch was reading and saying, I can't understand this unless someone helps me. And in a brief time, he went from there to saying, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and getting baptized. And I presume that Philip laid hands on him and asked God to impart to him the Holy Spirit. And the eunuch went on to develop a direct relationship with God himself. You know, Philip's role was brief, but how important? Very important. Now, we know from John 644, Jesus said that no one could come to him except the Father draws him. So it's not that we should go up to everybody we see and say, do you understand? You know, I'm going to let me teach you about Christ. You know, God will draw people, but how does he draw them? Christ said, no man can come to me, meaning he himself, Jesus Christ, unless the Father draws him.

Well, the Father can't draw people directly to Jesus Christ in a physical form because he's in the Spirit at the throne of God. So he draws them to the body of Christ, the Church. And once again, that's made up of all of us. So the Father draws the newly called to the body of Christ because he wants to have a relationship with them, and we all need to be ready to help.

Now, there are a couple more... well, let's turn to Job 33, if you will.

Job 33... and we're going to begin in verse 1. Actually, I always thought I'm really getting somewhere if I bring more than one Bible up, but I really wanted to read this in the Old King James because of the phrasing it uses.

You can look in whichever Bible you have, but...

One time it's going to take me longer than you, perhaps. My doctor recently told me I'm going to need reading glasses, which is... well, I guess that whole sign of that getting older thing.

Now, this is the case in verse 1. Here's a...

Now it says, I want to speak.

And he says, you know... he sets it up saying, I know you're older, so I've just been listening, but I'm going to tell the truth to you. Now, let's drop down to verse 6.

And this is why one of the Old King James, he says, Surely you've spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of your words. So I'm going to answer.

And, like I said, the New King James doesn't use that terminology, but I like where Eliei said, I'm in God's stead.

I'm standing in for God because that's what you wanted. You wanted to be able to talk to God.

But what's interesting, if you drop down just to...

Now I'm going to... oh, 38.

Okay, 38 in verse 1, and...

In my little Bible, I jumped all the way into Psalms.

It says, And then Job, you know, God stepped back in and took over.

Excuse me, I'm losing my voice. I'm going to borrow Paul's water now.

Now, I've got a note here. I want to make it very clear, though...

Boy, I sound like President Obama. Let me make this clear.

I'm not in any way suggesting that the membership of the church should be usurping the role of the ministry.

God places everyone in the church, as we read that also, in different positions. He's placed some to be apostles, prophets, teachers.

He hasn't put most of us into the role of being pastors.

As far as I know, there's only one person here that's put in the role of being a pastor.

So when I say we might temporarily stand in, it's not in that role. It's in a support role.

Sometimes we'll be stepping in and doing that by words.

But I suspect a lot of the time, probably most of the time, that we might be stepping in with someone who's a little out of touch with God, or perhaps is a newborn in Christ and turning to that relationship with God.

They'll be watching us. And the same way a little child would learn, how do you keep the Sabbath holy by watching the adults?

Someone who's, perhaps someone just started watching the telecast on WGN and says, that sounds interesting, I want to know more. They might show up here on a Sabbath day. Visit our website. And they might have read, keep the Sabbath day holy. Now I know that the Sabbath is on Saturday.

What does it mean to keep it holy?

Do I got to wear a special robe or pour oil on my head or whatever?

Now, they'll get the words to teach them that fairly quickly, but their first impression might be to look and see what all of us are doing, what we look like.

Like little children look to their parents for teaching, newborns, babes in Christ, will look to those who are more mature.

And another important teaching. Christ gave the new commandment, love one another. As I've loved you, I want you to love one another. A newborn in Christ might read that and say, well, how are we supposed to love one another? And hopefully they'll get a good example from all of us, and not a bad example.

If you will, let's turn to the book of John 4. John 4. I want to look at this episode and admit to you that this is the story that partly played an important role in putting this whole thought into my head for the quote at the end. And I'll remind you of how temporary that standing in for God can be, but still very important. That standing in and directing people to learn from God's Word and from Him.

This is the story of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman. And I don't want to read the entire chapter, so I'll just set the stage of the story. Most of us know Jesus and the apostles are traveling, and they're passing through a Samaritan village. And I guess it's time for a break. He sends the disciples in to go get some food. He sits down by the well, and a woman comes along and starts to draw water. So he says, hey, could you give me a drink? I'm not sure if he says the hay part, but he asked her for a drink. She's a little surprised because he's obviously Jewish, and he's talking to her, a Samaritan woman. And they engage a conversation, and he starts teaching her things, and she's kind of amazed. So if we look in verse 28, after this conversation goes on a while, and Jesus explains that the Jews do know who they're worshiping, and the Samaritans are deceived and don't know the truth. Verse 28, the woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and she said to the men, come see a man who told me all things I ever did. Could this be the Christ? Could this be the Messiah? So they went out of the city, and they came to him. Now, Jesus goes on to teach them quite a bit, if you'll drop down to verse 39. Now, I don't want to make the point that just people came to Jesus and learned from him. That happened all the time. But now in verse 39, many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. She said, he told me all the things I ever did. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days. Now, I wonder about that. What the perspective of the disciples said, let's take a break here. You go in and get some food, and we'll get on our way. And they come back. He said, no, change of plans. We're going to stay here and teach these people. And we never get that perspective of what they were thinking, but they were the disciples. They did what they were told, and I've gotten sidetracked. So he stayed for two days in verse 41. Many more believed because of his own word, his own being Jesus Christ. And then they said to that woman, the original woman who started all this, now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard of him, or heard him. We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. I think that's interesting. She played a very temporary, brief role that was still rather important. She went to these people and said, I've heard that I've met this guy. He can talk about astounding things. Maybe he's the Christ. And they said, well, they believed at first because of her, but they very quickly transitioned to learning from Jesus himself and said, now we know the real thing. We're glad we heard it from you, but now we're listening to him.

I wonder how often might any of us play a role similar to that? Someone might, your next-door neighbor might ask you, what in the world are you doing leaving on Saturday in a suit? Well, you might briefly explain the Sabbath. They might start to get something because of what you say, but it's only going to really matter when they get it from God directly through his Spirit, and of course through his word being taught by the ministers who were ordained for that particular job.

And of course, that brief instruction, as I said before, can also often come from our behavior more than our words.

Are we acting different on the Sabbath? Not just in what we say, but how we act. Are we showing that love towards one another that Christ commanded? And I'm not picking those out as things that I think are particular problems, but just things that it's easy to say. Look at the example.

Our interactions with a person newly called into the Church has some of those similarities to what a camp counselor does, briefly standing in for the parents. And just like that, it's a great responsibility, but also what a wonderful opportunity.

And I think I've gone all the way from getting excited about Camp Buckeye and Camp Heritage to the Samaritan Woman at the Well.

But I think maybe I'm more prone to get excited about these things, as I said, not only because camp is coming soon, but also because pretty soon, instead of in loco parentis, I'm going to be a parentis.

But I do think about camp. It's a lot of cool things. Fun activities, special chances to make friendships.

And I think it's Mr. Stiver that I first heard say this, but I like the phrase camp is like a laboratory, a workshop where we get to work on certain spiritual principles, fundamentals of Christianity.

But I think it's not just camp. Our congregation is really a workshop and a laboratory for us to work on those principles and to help those who are children, literal children, or children in Christ to learn and develop those principles.

A lot of us either have had those opportunities, or sometime in the future we're all going to have that opportunity. An opportunity, well, often we have an opportunity to stand in for parents, we'll all probably at some point have an opportunity to stand in for God, the ultimate Father.

When that opportunity comes, we want to make sure we've been prepared, that we're ready to do it. So I urge myself and all of you, and one of the reasons I want to give this sermon was to help me to focus on that thought. But let's all prepare so that when we get a chance to stand in, we stand in well.