Tell The Next Generation
Text: Psalm 78:1-8
Core Idea: We must humbly hear the Word and faithfully herald the Word so that we can help the next generation wholeheartedly live out the Word. This is how we protect the legacy of grace. Then, let’s do just that – let’s immerse ourselves in the Word and tell others about this life-giving, life-transforming gospel story.
INTRODUCTION
Well, in light of Child Dedication, I thought that it would be a great opportunity for us to think through the importance of passing down the gospel to the next generation. Now, some of you may be wondering, “Are we ever going back to our Genesis sermon series?” Well, a short answer is that we will. But I wanted to address a few things before we go back to Genesis again – things that will set the foundation of our church. For example, next week, my plan, Lord willing, is to preach on baptism and address the reason why we decided to move away from infant baptism. After that, we’ll take a few weeks to talk about a biblical understanding of elders and deacons as we’re planning to appoint leaders in the church – which means that we’ll most likely return to Genesis around early July. Hopefully, it’ll all be beneficial.
Now, before I continue, let me address three groups of people in our community. First, singles or couples without children. As soon as I said that this message will be about passing down the faith to the next generation, I wonder if some of you were tempted to tune me out because you assumed that this would be irrelevant to you – but let me give you just two reasons why you shouldn’t. First, this call to raise our children in the Lord isn’t given only to the parents but to the whole community of God. Yes, it’s true that the psalm we’re about to read challenges the Israelites to share what God has done for them to the next generation, but what you don’t see is Asaph, the author of this psalm, saying something like this: “Because I’m going to talk about the families, those without children can tune out, grab some coffee, and rejoin us again when I finish.” No, he speaks to all of them because raising the next generation in the Lord requires the effort of the entire congregation. Second, it will help you disciple better. As we go through this passage, you’ll quickly realize that the truths we learn here are applicable to discipleship in general – which means that if you want to grow as a disciple-maker, this passage is for you.
Second, youths. This passage is also for you because the truth here cannot be lived out without your involvement. Even if your parents tried their best to apply these lessons in your homes, if you’re not willing to follow their lead, this can never be done – it will always be incomplete. So, as you listen, think about how you can make your home more God-centred. But more importantly, take this opportunity to reflect on your own relationship with God. Ask yourself, “Do I truly believe that God is real? If so, do I love God? If not, how can I get to know Him better? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ?” Now, if you need someone to help you process all these things, your parents will be more than happy to help you navigate this – but also know that there are others in this community who will be more than happy to make themselves available to journey with you.
Lastly, parents. Let this passage remind you that your children have been entrusted to you by God so that you can lead them to know and love the Lord. This means that what you do at home matters greatly for their spiritual development. Don’t get me wrong – as your pastor, I’ll do everything I can to equip them to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. But no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to replace you. Your children need you to guide them with patience, grace, and love. Then, with this in mind, let’s open our Bibles to Psalm 78:1-8 – and I will read it for us.
1 My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old – 3 things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, His power, and the wonders He has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which He commanded our ancestors to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deeds but would keep His commands. 8 They would not be like their ancestors – a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to Him.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me point out three things from this passage:
· COMMITMENT: HEAR THE WORD
· MISSION: HERALD THE WORD
· PURPOSE: HELP THE NEXT GENERATION LIVE IN THE WORD
1) COMMITMENT: HEAR THE WORD
Verse 1, “My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.” The word “hear” in Hebrew literally means “give ear” – and the word “listen” literally means “stretch your ears.” It’s a picture of leaning in to listen more attentively. In other words, this wasn’t just a call to hear with their ears but to change the posture of their hearts. Asaph was basically saying, “People of God, wake up and pay attention to the Word. Be eager to understand, remember, and obey the Word – meditate on it day and night so that you won’t just know it in your head, but also in your heart. Don’t forget the story of God’s faithfulness to us (how He saved us, blessed us, and provided for us in every way), for this will keep us faithful to the Lord.” In fact, this is exactly the pattern we see in the rest of this psalm. When the Israelites remembered the Word, they remained faithful. When they forgot, they turned away from God. For example, Psalm 78:9-11 says, “The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. [Why? Because] they forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.” Another example – Psalm 78:40-42, “How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the wasteland! Again and again, they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. [Why? Because] they did not remember His power – the day He redeemed them from the oppressor.” If only they remembered and believed that God was the stronghold of their life, the mighty warrior who fights for them, they would’ve run to Him in their troubles – but because they didn’t, they resorted to others for help. All that to say, there’s a close relationship between hearing the Word of God and our faithfulness to the Lord. No wonder Asaph earnestly reminded them to hear the Word over and over again. One of the books that Julian loves is called Kitchen Disco. It’s a simple book that talks about how the fruits come out at night and have a disco party when we’re asleep – but for whatever reason, Julian just can’t get enough of it. So, we read it every single night – so much so that I could recite the whole book. In fact, Julian, who can’t even read, memorized every single line as well. How? Because we read it over and over again. That’s what this psalm is calling us to do – listen to the Word of God again and again so that you won’t forget, so that you’ll be able to recite them, so that it’ll begin to shape the way you live and respond to different circumstances in life.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise because there are many passages that talk about the relationship between hearing the Word of God and our faith in the Lord – one of them is Romans 10:17, which says, “Faith comes from hearing the message.” It’s the Word that awakens our souls to life, opens our eyes to see, gives our minds to understand, transforms our hearts to desire Christ, and instructs our lives to live in such a way that is pleasing to the Lord. In other words, it’s impossible for any believer to maintain a healthy and growing faith in Christ apart from the Word. Then let me ask you, “Do you feel stagnant in your walk with God today? Do you feel like you’re not growing? Do you find yourself compromising – being unfaithful in many ways? If so, could it be that it’s because you’re not hearing the Word – immersing yourselves in the Word of God?” Now, you might say, “But I am reading the Bible – yet I still feel dry.” But notice that I didn’t say “reading” but “immersing” yourselves in the Word of God – there’s a difference. Let me explain what I mean by sharing something from Tim Keller’s biography written by Collin Hansen – it says, “Leading a Bible study, Barbara Boyd challenged students, including Keller, to observe 50 things from Mark 1:17 in 30 minutes. After 10 minutes, most of the students figured they’d found everything they could from the passage: ‘Come, follow Me, and I will send you out to fish for people.’ But Boyd wasn’t satisfied. She demanded they dig deeper. After another 20 minutes, the students realized how such intense focus on one short verse could concentrate their powers of observation. When the time concluded, Boyd asked if anyone had discovered their most powerful takeaway during the opening 5 minutes of the exercise. Keller never forgot the answer. No one raised a hand. After all, no one finds the deepest veins of gold at the mouth of the cave. You find the greatest treasures after thorough exploration.” Brothers and sisters, are you investing your time in the Word today? Are you going deeper, or are you just hanging out at the mouth of the cave? In fact, let me speak to the parents. I have no doubt that you desire to give the best to your children. I have no doubt that you want to help them experience the saving love of Jesus Christ. I have no doubt that you want to lead them to love the Lord. But remember, we cannot give what we don’t have. If you’re not in the Word, your children most likely won’t be in the Word. If you don’t treasure Christ, your children most likely won’t either. If your relationship with God is on the periphery of your life, your children will most likely be as well. In contrast, if you model for them what it means to live a life that is God-centered, what it means to do all things for the glory of God, what it means to hunger for His righteousness, what it means to love the Word and pray, what it means to faithfully persevere through the storms of life with your eyes fixed on Christ, and what it means to joyfully serve the church, your children will notice them and will desire those things for themselves as well. How do I know? Because whether we like it or not, our children see us as an example to follow. Parents, your faithfulness to the Lord matters to the faith of your children. I’m not saying they will be as passionate and devoted as you are, but your example will leave a lasting impact on their relationship with God. By the way, everything I just said can be applied in the context of discipleship – we cannot give what we don’t possess. Then, let’s incline our ears to the covenant story of God’s love for us. Let’s receive it humbly and respond to it joyfully so that we can tell it faithfully to the next generation, which is our next point.
2) MISSION: HERALD THE WORD
Verse 3, “Things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, His power, and the wonders He has done.” Verse 6, “So the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.” Look at the number of generations represented here – their ancestors who told the story to them, the current generation that heard and believed the story, the next generation that received the story so that their children could hear it as well. That’s at least four generations. The lesson is clear: we’re called to be not just hearers but also heralds of the Word. Again, it doesn’t mean that this task is given only to those with children. No, if you’re part of the body of Christ, it’s your duty and responsibility to pass down the torch of faith to the next generation – older men must invest their lives in the younger men, older women must share their wisdom to the younger women, mature believers must guide the new believers, and young people must spend their time with our youths and children. All that to say, a multigenerational faithfulness is a communal effort. Every single one of us is needed to help the next generation set their hope in Christ and live for God’s glory. I know this because that was the case for me. I grew up watching my mom pray with earnestness every morning. I saw my dad reading, writing, and studying the Word in his downtime. I was inspired by my youth pastor who worshiped with passion. I was challenged by another pastor who loved reading Christian books. I was humbled by Christians who generously gave their finances to support missions. I learned many things about God-centered marriage and parenting through families in the church. I could go on and on with a list of people who molded my thoughts, attitudes, and ambitions – but the point is that God used all these people to shape me to be the person I am today. In fact, I’m sure many of you can come up with your own list of people who made a huge impact on your life. This is not surprising because no one is an island – we’re the sum of those around us. Then, if we want the next generation to love the Lord as we have done, we must tell them the gospel, show them what the cross and the empty tomb mean for us, and lead them to love the Lord with their hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.
Now, how should we do this? Deuteronomy 6:5-9, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Let me point out two things from this. First, ordinariness. Notice how this important task of teaching the children to know and love the Lord was given to ordinary people like you and me. It wasn’t reserved for Moses alone. It wasn’t given only to the leaders. No, the call was given to ordinary fathers and mothers. In fact, notice how the way they were called to saturate their children with the Word was also incredibly ordinary. They weren’t called to build a school so their children could learn the Word. They weren’t called to create special Bible studies for them. No, they were simply called to talk about the Word with their children in everyday moments of their lives – as they sit at home, go for a walk, wake up, and lie down at night. In other words, they were called to take the mundane, the dull, and the unglamorous moments of life and use them as an opportunity to bring out the truths of God. And that’s what we should do as well. As we make dinner together, as we eat together, as we do the dishes together, as we read together, as we get ready for bed – all these ordinary moments of life can take on a sacred quality and be used as a way to care for the spiritual health of our children. Parents, you don’t have to do something fancy or big. You just need to be in their lives – talking about what you learned in the Bible and listening to them share what they learned. Time to time, I ask Eli, “What did you learn at Sunday School?” And he literally has the same response every time: “I don’t know.” I’m like, “What do you mean? You were just there!” And he says, “I forgot.” Sometimes that’s going to happen – and it’s okay. Keep asking. Let them know that you care about their spiritual journey.
But, of course, our ordinary moments of life don’t just become sacred on their own – which is why they must be complemented by intentionality. We have to actively look for ways to build up our children in the faith. That’s what it means to tie the Word on our hands, bind it on our foreheads, and write it on the doorframes of our houses – it’s about applying the Word to every context of our lives. Then, parents, I invite you to look for opportunities to turn these ordinary moments into something sacred. Read the Word with them. Explain it to them. Ask questions about it so that they can reflect on it on their own. Memorize it with them. Pray the Word with them. Show them how to obey the Word – because this is how we lead our families to remain God-centered. In fact, here’s a practical thing you can do – family worship.
Now, right away, some of you are feeling uncomfortable because this seems impossible to do in our busy lives – it feels burdensome because you think that it’s going to be too much work. In fact, your family may not even want it. If this is you, you’re not alone – I’m in the same boat as you. But one thing that this book taught me is that family worship doesn’t have to be complicated. Listen to what Donald Whitney wrote, “There are three elements to family worship: read the Bible, pray, and sing. Chapter by chapter, read through the books of the Bible together. Whether prayer is offered by the father only or by each member of the family in turn, be sure to pray together. And sing together. But be brief. A good average time to read the Bible, pray, and sing is roughly ten minutes, perhaps less if you have very small children. This will make it possible for you to do this every day. Now, we need to accept the fact that in this sinful world, challenges to family worship arise regularly in every home. The blessings of family worship are too dangerous for Satan to let pass unopposed. Nevertheless, we must stand on this bedrock truth: God deserves to be worshiped daily in our homes by our families. And for that reason, start today.” Now, I understand if we can’t do it every day – so try doing it once or twice a week. But most importantly, teach your family to see it as a priority. Allow family worship to become part of the rhythm of your life. Of course, it’s not going to be easy. You’re going to stumble and fail. But that’s okay. Don’t let those things discourage you. Pray for strength and persevere through it. We may not see it right away – but God will bear much fruit when the right time comes, for He doesn’t withhold good things from His children. Then, trusting in His goodness, let’s faithfully herald the Word.
3) PURPOSE: HELP THE NEXT GENERATION LIVE IN THE WORD
Verse 7, “Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deeds but would keep His commands. They would not be like their ancestors – a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to Him.” The goal is clear – they must herald the truth so that the next generation won’t forget how God rescued and redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. Now, you may be thinking, “Why would anyone forget something so wonderful as the Exodus story? How could anyone not live for the glory of God, knowing all that He has done for the people of Israel?” But that’s exactly what happened. We just saw God instructing the Israelites to impress these truths on their children in Deuteronomy 6. Soon after, they entered the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua – and listen to this sobering passage from Judges 2:7-12, “The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel… After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what He had done for Israel. Then, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them.” It just took one generation – and the legacy of grace was lost. They had stopped telling the story. They must have thought it wasn’t important. They must have thought it was okay to put it to the periphery. They must have thought that it wouldn’t be too late to get to it after taking care of other more “important” things like career, savings, marriage, and so on. They set their eyes on something other than God – and because they did, the next generation forgot who God was and all that He had done for them. Now, if it happened to the Israelites, it could happen to us.
Then, here’s what I want to emphasize: Let’s not just aim to finish our own race faithfully – let’s equip, prepare, and help the next generation finish their race faithfully as well. That’s what verse 7 is saying. When it says, “We must hear the Word and herald the Word so that they won’t forget,” the aim is not that the next generation would just be able to regurgitate these Bible stories but that they would ultimately put their trust in God and keep His commands. That’s our goal. Why? Because if we set our hope in anything other than God, the Bible says that we’re setting ourselves up for massive disappointment. Psalm 146:3-5 says, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day, their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God.” When the primary object of our hope is anything other than God, we will be crushed and left devastated, for it cannot bear the weight of our hope – only God can satisfy and answer the hopes in our hearts. Then, let me quickly speak to those who are not Christians here. Friends, I pray that your eyes will be opened to see that there’s no hope apart from Christ. There’s nothing in this world that can give you hope that we all desire, for they will all pass away. Everything you have worked for, everything you have accumulated, will one day mean absolutely nothing, for all those things will be swallowed up by death. But the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ conquered the grave – and His victory can be ours if we would place our trust in Him. Only Jesus can change your story. So, I plead with you – set your hope in Him. Run to Him. Embrace Him. Call out to Him. Talk about this with the one who brought you out to church today. Find peace in Christ today.
Now, let me close this time by reading Psalm 44:1-8 because it’s written from the perspective of the next generation. Here, the children are confessing, “Yes, we have heard the story, and we’re going to place our hope in the Lord.” Listen to what it says, “We have heard it with our ears, O God; our ancestors have told us what You did in their days, in days long ago. With Your hand, You drove out the nations and planted our ancestors; You crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish. It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You loved them. You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through You we push back our enemies; through Your name we trample our foes. I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but You give us victory over our enemies, You put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.” Isn’t this what we want for our children? Don’t you want your children to confess these things? I’m praying that this would happen – and I invite you to pray with me. Let’s pray that the next generation will confidently say, “God, we heard the stories that our parents taught us, that our pastors preached on, that our small group leaders talked about – how You moved powerfully in their lives and how You made a way when there was no way. It wasn’t their wisdom or power that gave them ground to stand on. No, You cleared the path. You opened the doors. You gave them what they could never earn on their own. So, we, too, will serve You as our King. We won’t put our hopes in talent, technology, or influence. No, we’ll only look to You, for it’s You who saves. We’ll give You all the glory – every single day. We’ll keep praising You – no matter what comes.” Pray this for your children, our Tugboat and Anchor friends, our Beacon friends, the one you’re discipling, and many others who will come after us.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, we must humbly hear the Word and faithfully herald the Word so that we can help the next generation wholeheartedly live out the Word. This is how we protect the legacy of grace. Then, let’s do just that – let’s immerse ourselves in the Word and tell others about this life-giving, life-transforming gospel story.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Why is remembering God’s faithfulness essential to remaining faithful to Him? Can you recall a time when forgetting God’s Word led to compromise or disobedience in your life? What helped you realign?
2) What are some “ordinary moments” in your daily routine that can become sacred moments to share or reflect on God’s truth? What are some practical ways you can make the Word more central in your home or life in general (ex., roommates, coworkers, children)?
3) Have you ever tried family worship? What holds you back, and what’s one small step you could take toward making it a reality?
4) What legacy are you passing on – intentionally or unintentionally – to the next generation?