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Committed to Generational Christianity
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Sermon 12
June 21, 2009
When his own children were younger, nationally known Christian psychologist, Dr. James Dobson said, “According to the Christian values which govern my life, my most important reason for living is to get the baton – the Gospel – safely in the hands of my children.” This morning we’re concluding our series, Lost…we all start on the same island. For the past 11 weeks we’ve studied what the Gospel is and what it means to believe the Gospel. Today, though, we want to talk about passing on the Gospel generationally to our children and grandchildren.
Lord willing, in a matter of months I’ll be fifty years old. During the course of my lifetime there have been tremendous changes in our world. Have you ever thought though about what the world will be like for our children and our grandchildren in another 25 or 50 years? How will we make sure that they get the “baton”? What are we doing…what can we do today to seek to insure that our children and grandchildren will also embrace the Gospel, that they spend eternity in heaven with us? Recently, I came across a video clip that is very shocking. Let me share it with you this morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU&NR=1
Will that happen? I don’t know. If things continue the way that they are, it’s highly possible. So will your children and grandchildren be prepared? What will you leave behind for them when you’re gone? We come into this world with a clutched fist and we leave this life with open hands. When we leave, we leave it all behind. What will you leave behind for your children? Young people even though you’re not parents, what would you desire to leave behind for others to remember you?
Today we want to talk about how to raise godly grandchildren. Yes, I said grandchildren, rather than just children. The real test of child rearing is the 3rd generation, not just the 2nd. Obviously, God wants us to raise godly children, but the true test of the process is whether or not our children raise godly children. If the parents are spiritually lukewarm, the children often will be stone cold, and the grandchildren will be completely pagan.
Maybe you’re thinking, “Scott, you’re over exaggerating. It’s not that big of a deal if we have good Christian parents and good Christian homes.” Most of us are familiar with the name of Jonathan Edwards. A contemporary of Edwards was Max Jukes. Jonathan Edwards loved the Lord and was an outstanding Christian. A researcher followed up on his descendants and learned that out of some 1,394 descendants came 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 60 prominent lawyers, 32 noted authors, 90 physicians, 200 ministers of the Gospel and 300 good farmers.
But let’s consider the case of Max Jukes, a contemporary of Edwards. Jukes was a drunk and couldn’t hold down a job. He’d disappear sometimes for days and return drunk. He made little time for loving and instructing his children. Someone also charted Jukes' descendents. They were able to trace 540 of Max Jukes' ancestors. They are a stunning contrast to the Edwards' legacy. Of Jukes' known descendents, 310 died as paupers, at least 150 were criminals (including 7 murderers), more than 100 were drunkards and half of his female descendents ended up as prostitutes. It’s estimated that the crimes and care of the Jukes’ family cost the government over a million dollars -- while Jonathan Edwards never cost the government a single penny. Instead his descendants made contributions of incalculable worth to society. The fact is that you and I are either passing on generational godliness or godlessness.
Of course this doesn't mean that people are simply a product of their parenting and that who they are is determined entirely by their ancestry. Many have descended from men like Jukes and overcame great obstacles to succeed. Others have come from loving homes like Edwards' only to descend into a troubled adulthood. But these tend to be the exceptions, not the rule. The contrast in these two families should raise in our own minds some interesting questions: How will my children turn out? What’s the primary force which molds the life of an individual and determines what he/she will accomplish in life? We all know that the answer to those questions is more often than not, a child’s parents.
So how can we, as Christian parents, raise up a godly generation? Are we Committed to Generational Christianity? Several passages in Scripture address this concern. One of the clearest is found in Deuteronomy 6. Moses shared these things with the nation of Israel as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. They’d face many temptations in the land. They’d be surrounded by pagans. They, like our children and grandchildren, were entering into a spiritually hostile world. Faith in Christ is something money can’t buy and death can’t take away! But before we talk about what it takes to leave a legacy of Generational Christianity, let’s work through some very powerful and tempting cheap substitutes for spiritual success. If you’re taking notes…
1. Too often we are focusing on cheap substitutes instead of Biblical values. Americans are very adept at finding substitutes for almost everything. Walk the aisles at Wal-mart, and you'll see all kinds of food substitutes: sugar and salt substitutes, cheese substitutes.....even egg substitutes. Watch TV and you’ll hear someone say, "I Can't Believe It's NOT Butter!" – and that's good because its not! It's a substitute! Periodically, when I’m driving through Chicago, I’ll instinctively hit the brakes when I spot a state trooper sitting in his car on the shoulder. It’s not until after I pass him and look in my mirror that I realize, it’s not real....just a very realistic, life-sized mock-up of a patrol car with a dummy at the wheel, a substitute for the genuine article.
Substitutes are big business. Frequently, we’re more satisfied with the substitute than we are the real thing. And when it comes to our children, there’s tremendous pressure to “conform to this world” (Rom. 12:2) and to embrace and chase this world’s standard of success. We value, model and encourage our children to succeed and excel in that which is secular and temporary, rather that that which is spiritual and eternal. But we’re naïve about the high cost of these cheap substitutes.
This morning if you’re not a parent, please don’t check out because we all need to hear this. We’re involved in a war today. The battleground is not in Iraq or Afghanistan, the battleground is in our homes. What’s at stake is not our land, our property or our freedoms. It’s more important than that. What is at stake are our children and grandchildren. And believe me, it’s a war and too often we’re losing. Adult children are turning from the faith in record numbers. Too many, as soon as they leave home for college, leave the church. Young adults in record numbers are turning from God. We live in a culture that ridicules Christianity because it’s not “relevant.” It worked for Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa, but it’s not for me. Dad and Moms, you’re on the front lines. This is a war and we’re foot soldiers.
Sadly, though, too often we’re part of the problem, not the solution. And what has happened is that rather than embracing godliness and Christlikeness, rather than making spirituality our standard of success, we’ve accepted some cheap, yet deadly substitutes from a dying world.
James Dobson powerfully unpacks this in his book, Hide or Seek. Every parent and anyone working with young people ought to read this book. You see, because the world’s standards of success are so commonly accepted, most of us never question whether they are right or wrong. What are some of these cheap substitutes of success? Let me challenge you, as we work through them, to ask quietly within your own heart whether this is your value system, if this is your standard of success?
a) The cheap substitute of appearance. 1 Samuel 16:7 “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’.” But we do look at the outer appearance. We are a beauty obsessed culture. From infancy our culture values those who are deemed attractive and disdains those who are deemed unattractive. What’s the first thing we say about a baby? “What a cute baby!” But the truth is that most babies are wrinkled and smelly. They are anything but cute.
Just think of our fairy tales. Many children feel plain and undervalued, hoping that someday they…as the ugly duckling, will turn into the beautiful swan. I wonder how popular Sleeping Ugly would have been. Do you think that the handsome Prince still would have kissed her and awakened her? Many of you here this morning carry scars because of some perceived unattractiveness from childhood.
Spiritual lasting success has nothing to do with physical attractiveness. Wise are Solomon’s words in Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”
Dad, when you talk about women being attractive, your children are getting the message. Mom, when you talk about how handsome some guy is or that he’s a “hottie,” your children get the message on what’s valuable and what’s successful. Angelina Jolie, according to Vanity Fair, is the most beautiful woman in the world. But at just 34, she’s been married twice and is now living with a man who is not her husband. That’s not success!
b) The cheap substitute of academics. We’ve been fed a lie in America that education is the ultimate standard, “If you just get good grades, just graduate from college…you’ll be successful.” But is that what you know from your own personal experience? More importantly, does that line up with what God’s Word teaches? Mark Twain was on to something when he said, “Don't let school get in the way of your education.”
You will find more highly educated people in our nation’s capital and on college and university campuses, than any other place in our society. But they powerfully demonstrate that education is not synonymous with true wisdom. One can be an educated fool. Our universities are full of them.
I believe in education, but God’s Word is very clear that you can have a string of letters after your name from all of your earned degrees and be a fool in Heaven’s eyes. Some of the leading influencers on today’s world were geniuses: Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Clarence Darrow to name a few. But from Heaven’s perspective, they were fools.
Too many Christian parents are concerned that their kids get a good education, yet never consider what their kids are learning about life’s purpose and values. They’re more concerned their children are able to make a living, than they are that they know how to live. Solomon was the most educated man in Scripture, but ended his life as a fool chasing idols.
Personally, I’d rather my child be a “D” student who loves the Lord, than an “A” student who has no heart for God or is a casual Christian. Parents who’d never let their child skip school, think nothing of letting their child skip church or church activities. Friend, when you do that, you are sending a powerful message as to what you truly value and what’s important.
c) The cheap substitute of athletics & abilities. Jim Elliff has written a powerful article, “When Ball becomes Baal.” Let me share a portion of it with you: “Perhaps nothing outside of a change in your job has so much potential to turn the family schedule upside down…[we] have made sports the household god…the deification of sports is happening to many. How does ball become Baal? Answer: When it controls you, and you give it devoted worship. It is around your god that you order your life—and you can almost never say "no" to it. Like "athlete's foot" on the hygienically-challenged teenager, sports have taken over more and more of the life of believers. Almost overnight we have awakened to the sad fact that, in many communities, sports has even usurped the hours believers meet on the Lord's Day. All too often members are saying to church leaders, "We'll be gone next Sunday because of the soccer tournament." In turn, leaders are supposed to acquiesce humbly. After all, we can't afford to appear "legalistic;" everyone knows that the greatest crime a church can commit is to demand something of someone. You'll hear, "But the team needs all the players. We can't let the team down." It never occurs to them that the church Body is being deprived of a necessary body part, or that God is marginalized and disobeyed. We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, states God in Hebrews 10:25. Devotion is the operative word. When the team says, "We need you," we sacrifice to do it. But when it crosses the time allotted to spiritual edification and worship, the Ruler of the universe is often sent to the bench. In the process, we teach our children that devotion to sports is more important than both devotion to God and loyalty to our spiritual family. Have you considered that you may be teaching your kids to worship sports?” Powerful stuff isn’t it!
If you have kids, you’ll face the pressure of having them be top athletes. You’ll have to determine that there will be no contest between the church's essential activities designed for your family's spiritual growth and what the team plans for your lives. If you’ll talk this over ahead of time with your child and then the coach, there will be no confusion. Most coaches will respect that decision. But, it must be a prior decision, not one made on a case by case basis. When sports conflicts with Sunday worship or youth camp or weekly spiritual activities, the decision has already been made.
There’s also sanctity to the home life that must be protected. You need quiet evenings at home as a family. You need time and meals together. Let your children know that you’re excited about sports, but there are limits.
God’s Word uses sports language. He's not against it, unless it steals the devotion rightfully belonging to Him. God will not be #2! And what’s true of sports, is also true of music, drama and other abilities. One may be very talented, even gifted but without a heart for God, it’s worthless.
Every parent faces the pressure of conforming to the cheap and empty substitutes of this dying world – of beauty, brains and ballfields. Good things in and of themselves, but they have no lasting, eternal value. And focusing on those and neglecting a passionate love for God, study of His Word, holiness and a Biblical worldview can very easily cost you both your children and your grandchildren…for all eternity!
2. True success is passing on the Gospel and a Biblical worldview to the next generation. Listen very carefully to what I’m going to say: To succeed generationally, you’re going to first have to choose to fail. What do I mean by that? You’re going to have to choose to fail at golf or hunting or fishing or your job at some level, if you’re going to be successful with your children and generationally. One of the deadliest lies for your family is that you can somehow have it all. You can’t! You must choose. That means that you probably won’t get as many promotions or be able to enjoy your hobby as much as you’d like. You’ll never be able to devote the time that it takes to raise a godly future generation, if you try to have it all.
What do you value? Do you want to really know what’s important in your life? Look at your schedule and see what your time is devoted to. That’s what’s really important to you. Unfortunately, many parents say that by their time commitments, they love their jobs, hobbies, entertainment and their comfort. If you asked them if they loved their children, they’d swear to you that they do. But their time, their investment doesn’t match up.
What does it take to have godly grandchildren? Deuteronomy 6 unpacks this for us. Here we have a divine model for passing on our faith to our children, a model that involves some vital steps. The first of these is…
a) To raise godly grandchildren, you must love God fervently, vss. 4-6. The most important requirement for raising godly children and grandchildren is for you to have a personal reality with God. You communicate what you are. You can’t pass on to your children what you don’t possess. And you’ll note that at the heart of personal reality with God is solid theology. Verse 4 is called the "Shema" (from the Hebrew, "Hear"). The call to hear implies that the following words have extreme significance and that we must grapple with applying them personally. What we are to hear is, "Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one." It can also be rendered, "Yahweh is our God; Yahweh alone." It means that Yahweh and only Yahweh is the one true and living God, and He alone is to be the object of our worship. As the Lord proclaims through Isaiah, "I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God" (Isa. 45:5).
The only way we come to know this only true God is by His revelation to us of Himself through His Word. In other words God is not some composite of the speculations of the great religious thinkers down through the ages or even what I may feel or think. He is what He has revealed about Himself. This very chapter is filled with theology and reveals a number of things about Who God is: His unity and exclusivity, His personality, His grace, His goodness, etc.
To rear godly offspring, we must love God fervently. But to love God is more than having warm, fuzzy feelings about some vague being who is partly the projection of our imagination. To love God, we must know Him as He has revealed Himself in His Word. Thus, at the root of raising godly generations is being people who are theologically grounded because we love God's Word and are steeped in it.
We must counter the frothy, strong anti-doctrinal bias that permeates contemporary Christianity. We cannot raise godly children unless we know God ourselves. We’re deceived if we think that we know God if we just sit around singing songs that make us feel good about God as we conceive Him to be, but are not grounded in Scripture. Our kids need to see in our daily lives a love for God's Word which reveals God to us.
Coupled with and built upon solid theology is a fervent, heart love for the Lord. The idea of "heart, soul, and strength” is a total-person love for God. Every area of our being must be consumed with and subservient to this great quest of loving God. The love of God is not just having nice feelings about God. If you love God, you keep His commandments (John 14:21, 23). The great goal of knowing God through His Word is a life of obedience motivated by the Gospel, by God's great love for us as seen in His plan of redemption at the Cross.
As soon as you mention obedience, some think "legalism." Obedience can become legalistic when believers do it outwardly to impress others, but their hearts are far from devotion to God. Some of the Jews, for example, obeyed vss. 8 and 9 quite literally. They wore these verses in little boxes strapped to their hands and foreheads. They put them in a little box by their doors and on their gateposts, but they missed the sense of the passage, which is that the Word of God is to permeate every area of life.
There are legalists in the church today. They make rules that are not in the Bible in an attempt to get their kids to look like good little Christians. Frequently, they themselves are judgmental of those who don't meet their manmade standards, they gossip, they criticize, they're proud. That's not biblical obedience. Biblical obedience goes down to the heart level, where God's Word judges our sinful thoughts, motives, and attitudes. The obedience of faith means that out of love for the God who showed me mercy at the cross, I seek to be conformed to Christ in the inner man.
If you want to teach your children to follow God, you must love God fervently. His Word must be on your heart. One reason many Christian parents see their kids grow up and not follow God is that the parents are lukewarm. They've lost their first love for God. Kids can smell phoniness and it will not attract them to the Savior. But if they see you walking with God daily, loving His Word, applying it to your life, and growing in holiness as you learn to obey Him, your love for God will be infectious. That's the foundation for Christian parents.
b) To raise godly grandchildren you must teach your children diligently, vss. 7-9, 20-25. The phrase "impress them” in Hebrew means literally to sharpen or whet. It carries the idea of repetition. Your teaching should penetrate your child deeply so that it has an effect on him. You come at it from every angle, at all times, and in every situation. The idea is that God's commandments are so central in your life that you're thinking about them virtually every time you turn around. As we've seen, this is an overflow of your own walk with God. If God's Word is on your heart continually, then you'll be talking about it constantly with your kids.
Verse 7 assumes that you take the time to sit down in your house to talk with your family. If you're so busy as a family that you don't all sit down to at least one meal a day on a fairly regular basis, you need to rearrange your schedules. Now the phone will invariably ring. That’s what answering machines are for. You need that interaction with your children. You've got to make it a priority and persevere in it.
"When you walk along the road” implies teaching your kids when you go places together. Maybe it's just to the grocery store or a family outing. Those are choice opportunities to talk about a Biblical worldview. I vividly remember explaining to Charity when she was just 7, after visiting a couple who were living together, why it was wrong.
"When you lie down" points to bed time as a great opportunity to talk with your children and pray with them. "When you rise up" implies that mornings are another opportunity to teach your children. Teach them how to start the day off right with the Lord. Again, your example teaches a lot. If your kids are cranky in the morning, show them and tell them how to start the day with a cheerful heart.
Binding God's commands on your hand means that you should teach your children God's ways by your actions. Putting them on your forehead means that your thoughts and attitudes should communicate God's truth. Putting them on the doorposts points to the home life as a setting for teaching God's truths. The gate points to civic or social life as another chance to talk about God. Discuss national and world events with your kids from God's perspective. Everything you think and do, from the bedroom to the business world, should be permeated with the Word of God. You should teach your children how God's Word applies to every area of their lives as you live in a godly manner before them. You need to be there and answer your children's questions about God and the Christian life (vss. 20-25).
The Bible is not some pious book to display on the coffee table. It's a Book that applies to every aspect of life. It tells us what to think and how to act, from the most private to the most public details of our lives. We need to teach that to our kids and have the kind of open communication where we can talk about all these areas. If you want to raise up godly grandchildren, you must love God fervently and you must teach your children diligently. Finally…
c) If you want to raise godly grandchildren, you must live in the world carefully, vss. 10-19. Moses warns Israel of the spiritual dangers that they will face when they settle into Canaan. It's easy to drift into the ways of the world. Please note two safeguards from these verses:
1) Continually examine yourself, “Be careful!” (v.12). There's a deadly progression that sets in when times are good: Satisfaction (v. 11); forget the Lord (v. 12); follow other gods (v. 14). There is a sense in which it's easier to trust the Lord when times are hard. If it was illegal to gather as a church, every one with the courage to come here would be actively trusting in the Lord. But since we have it pretty easy and live comfortably, you don't have to trust God to be here. It’s just so easy to coast spiritually. We get lulled into the lifestyle of this world and even worship some of its gods.
You say, "What? We're Christians! We don't worship false gods!" Really? What about the god of affluence? Are you giving generously to further God's work? What about the god of pleasure? Often this god comes in a big box that many of God’s people sit before for several hours each day while it spews filth into their homes. Their commitment to worship this god prevents them from studying their Bibles or praying or teaching their kids God's ways or serving the Lord. It's easy to forget the Lord and the great salvation He provided (v. 13). How you handle trials teaches your kids a lot about God! You need to examine yourself continually.
2) Constantly focus on pleasing God. “Do what is right and good in the LORD'S sight” (v. 18). Every aspect of life—my thoughts, attitudes, words, deeds, schedule, possessions—must be lived with a view toward pleasing the Lord. Your goal is to teach your kids to please God in every aspect of their lives. They have to answer to God. If you only teach them to obey you, they’ll be in trouble spiritually when you're not around. If you continually examine yourself and constantly focus on pleasing God in light of His Word, you won't live like pagans. You won't be seeking the things they spend their lives going after. You’ll be growing in godliness. When you sin against your family, you confess it and seek their forgiveness. Your kids will see the reality of your love for God. And they’ll want to follow Him, too.
Conclusion: Dr. Carl Zimmerman wrote a very important book called, "Family and Civilization" His book was a result of research he’d done on 3000 years of family life. This Harvard Professor made a powerful case for traditional family structure. The conclusion of his book could be summed up like this: As go the children so goes the culture; as goes the family so goes society! Dr. Zimmerman gives 7 indicators that a culture is in decline. According to history, a culture that has gone into decline is characterized by: · An increase in the rate of divorce. · Lack of commitment to the permanence of marriage. · Redefining the meaning of family as a solution to social problems. · Lack of respect for parental authority. · Promotion of co-habitation over marriage. · Lack of inhibition concerning adultery. · Acceptance of all forms of sexuality.
Dr. Zimmerman then wrote, "As we watch the destruction of the family, so we simultaneously watch the collapse of society." Dr. Zimmerman was a secular historian who never professed to be a Christian. Are you ready for the biggest shocker? Dr. Zimmerman published his research in 1947!
As Christians, we must be devoted to building strong marriages and strong families. Godly families are the only hope for our culture and the next generation. We must be leading our culture toward righteousness!
No one ever gets to be 65 and says, "I wish I'd spent more time at work.” But many lament that they neglected their families. True success is raising godly children and grandchildren. To do it, you must love God fervently, teach your children diligently, and live in the world carefully.
Dad…Mom, how is your walk with the Lord today? Is it vital and growing, or lukewarm? Are you diligently involved in teaching your children the things of God? Are you being careful to maintain a distinctive lifestyle and not get sucked into the world’s system? If you've been negligent, the Lord is rich in mercy if you will turn back to Him today.
It was a typical scenario of young boys debating whose father was the best. This discussion highlighted who their fathers knew. The first boy started the debate by claiming his father knew the Mayor but he was soon topped by the second boy who said, "That’s nothing. My dad knows the Governor." The stakes were getting pretty high, and the eavesdropping father wondered what his young son would say about him. The little boy shot back, "So what! My dad knows God!"
Dad, Mom…Would your children say the same thing? May our children always be able to say, "My Dad…my Mom knows God!" Let determine to be Committed to Generational Christianity!
