Who Are We? Generations

Introduction

1 Timothy 5:1–2 ESV

Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

Paul acknowledges and addresses the inter-generational church in Ephesus

Calling Timothy to pastor each generation well

Because as a local multi-generational church we are God’s people together

And together with the generations before we have a story

We have a story of this church, within God’s grand story

Some of us might know some of the story, some of us have only been here a short while but it is important for us to hear, remember and learn from the generations before.

And so....Joyce

And so moving forward we need to move forward together, as generations because we are called into a generational faith

Deut 6-8

I. Generational Faith (Deut 6:3-9)

Deut is the Lord preparing the new generation to enter the promised land

In this group, there may have been those who were infants and children the first time and now the “seniors”

And in Chapter 6 as the Lord prepares them he gives them this reminder

The Shema (vs 4,5) (prayed twice a day - morning and evening)

It is a prayer, a corporate prayer, a generational prayer

vs 6-9 - now remember

It is a prayer that reminded them of who their God is

A reminder of His story

A reminder of his promises

A reminder of his words

And a promise of life in all of this

Listen to

Psalm 119:57–64 ESV

The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law. At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules. I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts. The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!

What if we believed so deeply that God’s words to us are life?

Psalm 119:103 ESV

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

They are because...

they remind us of....

who he is

His story

his promises

his good news

& life to be found and had in him

It is not or should not be, some boring, ancient writing

But rather God’s story and words through generations

read & meditate, obey them and then pass it on

because

it is to be a generational faith

He is a generationally faithful God

II. Faithful God (Deut 7:6-9)

Which Moses reminds Israel of in the next chapter

7:6-9

vs 6 - NKJV - a people for himself, a special treasure”

Why Israel?

Not because of numbers - sign of greatness and culture and power, success

But because he is faithful

And here is another generation, 40 years after the disobedience of the first, being promised God’s faithfulness again.

God genuinely loved his people and so promised his faithfulness again

God was faithful long before this generation and is forever faithful

“to a thousand generations”

And so Paul says to Timothy in the midst of the difficulty of battle

2 Timothy 2:1–13 ESV

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

These last few verses were perhaps a hymn or confession of the early church

Song: I Believe

This was to stir up faith in Timothy and the early church

This faith allowed them to walk in God’s faithfulness

Thus the Shema for Israel

This was to lead them into the difficult journey ahead with many enemies

Would they choose faith of faithlessness/unfaithfulness?

III. Faith or Faithless? (Deut 8:11-14)

This is the question that rings through the generations.

So again Moses says, “Don’t forget the Lord…”

When you finally land fully in the promised land and you can rest from your enemies and you have all that you could want.

Do not forget!

Sound familiar?

We might say all this is fine but this is for Israel

And this is true in many cases but

Paul says in Romans 4

Romans 4:11–12 ESV

He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Abraham had faith before he was marked as an Israelite

And so we are of that same faith, if we believe

We have been adopted, grafted in

We are his people

And so the same question stands for us today

Faith of faithlessness?

Read the seven churches in Rev 2 and 3

And so Paul prays for the church in Ephesus

Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The journey for us, as His people today, is still difficult

In a sense, the battles the Israelites were to face, point to the fact of the battle we are in today

Paul says we don’t battle against flesh and blood but against a more insidious, deceptive, hidden power

Satan, who through his lies has enslaved our world

And so to step into the world and a community for God is difficult

And so Paul says put on your armor and pray

That we might stand firm (remain faithful)

And this is not just for us but for the generations to come

That together we might leave a legacy of faithfulness to Christ who is faithful to those who believe

And we are to do this together.

Perhaps praying the Shema for us

Conclusion