Multigenerational Manhood
Notes
Transcript
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Welcome guests, introduce yourself. Thank the band and choir. Invite guests to parlor after service.
Our student ministry, COMPLETED grades 6-12, will be attending BCNM Student Camp at Inlow next week, June 24-28. Spots are limited, and we only have 9 spots left. Last day to register is TODAY. Forms on the Get Connected table in the foyer, or online at our Student Ministry page at ehbc.org.
Silver Seekers (senior adult fellowship and study) will be held on Tuesday morning at 10 am in Miller Hall.
Our student ministry, COMPLETED grades 6-12, will be attending BCNM Student Camp at Inlow June 24-28. Spots are limited, and we only have 10 spots left. Last day to register is NEXT SUNDAY, June 16. Forms on the Get Connected table in the foyer, or online at our Student Ministry page at ehbc.org.
I wanted to let you know, or remind you, about a resource that we have available called Right Now Media (screenshot). On Right Now, you can find all sorts of Bible studies, sermons, Christian kids’ programming, and other great resources. They even have an app for that: Roku, IOS, and Android. If you’d like to get connected to RightNow Media, just send an email to either Shanna or Rebecca and let them know.
Give quick prayer update for Georgia Crabtree and Barbara Shiplet.
And now, we wanted to show you a little bit of what took place this week at VBS...PHOTO MONTAGE
Opening
Opening
Happy Father’s Day. Like Mother’s Day, this day can actually be rather painful for many. Some of you men have been unable to have children, though you would like to have children. Some of you have children who are no longer with us. Some of you have children that are living in rebellion and sin. The pain of these situations is a real burden that you carry. My heart goes out to each of you I have just mentioned.
Many of you have the missing of a father who has passed away, or the pain of an absent father in your life. We pray for your peace as well.
For some of you men, you aren’t at a place where you want children, and so you feel like this message will be useless for you. I pray that isn’t the case this morning.
Our focal passage today will be in .
1 My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth. 2 I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past— 3 things we have heard and known and that our fathers have passed down to us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might, and the wondrous works he has performed. 5 He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children 6 so that a future generation— children yet to be born—might know. They were to rise and tell their children 7 so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep his commands. 8 Then they would not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Pray…including all of those that you mentioned above.
Our focal passage today easily applies to moms, dads, grandparents, and in fact, any adult in the community of faith. In , Asaph is using Israel’s history as a parable, a way of comparison so that God’s people will not make the same mistakes, which they had already made over and over again.
We aren’t going to study the whole psalm, but just by way of structure, understand that our focal passage is the introduction to the psalm. The rest of the psalm, with the exception of its conclusion in verses 65-72, is made up of stanzas that have a basic formula of: The forgetfulness of the people; the sin of the people; the response of God; and the result. This pattern is repeated five times in the psalm.
So the psalmist’s goal here is to help the people grow in wisdom: to share what God has done and what that means for the next generation, and then for that teaching to carry on for the generations that will come later. The approach is truly multigenerational.
For the people of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt the adults were given the greatest commandment: to love the Lord with all that they were:
4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
deut
4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
There are a couple of follow-up commands given in the next couple of verses, which had both personal and multigenerational aspects: to store up or treasure the word of the Lord, and to diligently teach them to their children.
6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
The people of Israel were to keep God’s word in their hearts, meaning that they were to be a part of their thinking, their reflection, and their focus. They were to meditate on and memorize what God had said, and the records of what God had done.
However, the person with the most spiritual authority and thus the most spiritual responsibility in the home was the father. Dad was to repeat these things to his children, and to find time to discuss them during the regular rhythms of life: when at rest or activity (sitting or walking), at home and away from home, and at any time (lying down to sleep and getting up to start the day). Mom and other adults could as well, but the responsibility rested primarily with the father.
So important was this intentional transmission of the word of God from adults to children that it was repeated in Deuteronomy 11:
18 “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Parents, grandparents, and other adults: we have a responsibility to pass on the truth of the word of God to the next generation. If we are going to expect that the children in our midst here today, yes, these very children… if we are going to expect that these children will have a vibrant, active faith, then we will need to be obedient to the Lord and both tell them and show them.
Who likes swimming? Kids? Students? I do. I’m not bad at it. I’m not Michael Phelps or anything, but I can swim decently well. Would you like to know how I learned to swim? My grandfather taught me. His condominium had a pool, and he got in the pool with me and taught me to swim… how to float, then how to tread water, then how to put my face in the water, and blow bubbles and stroke with my arms and turn my head and breathe.
Swimming.
And now, I’ve taught my daughters to swim in basically the same way… step by step, in the pool with them, showing and guiding.
If we want these children and students to swim in the deep end of faith, then we have to teach them. Hear me out: I’m not saying that the work of God by His Holy Spirit has nothing to do with this. But what I am saying is that it is God who set up the system whereby we adults are supposed to teach the children about what He has said and done.
Let’s look at our focal passage while we make application. Now, while all of this has application for all of us adults, as this is Father’s Day, we are going to look more into the role of men, but understand that all of us have some responsibility for these things as well.
1: The multigenerational man INTENDS to tell others what God has done.
1: The multigenerational man INTENDS to tell others what God has done.
The first question is one of intentionality. Is it a normal part of our life to tell people about what God has said and done? It should be. For the psalmist in our passage this morning, he is going to go out of his way to make sure that the people know what God has done:
1 My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth. 2 I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past— 3 things we have heard and known and that our fathers have passed down to us.
He opens up by speaking in the singular: “My” and “I,” because he is the one who is about to speak. But what is he going to share? Verse 3: “things WE have heard and known and that OUR fathers have passed down to US.”
He’s going to be speaking on behalf of his entire generation to the people, which would include both his generation and his generation’s children, and then in a bit, he will refer to the next and future generations. Remembering and declaring the truth of the law and the covenant of God to the next generation was something that they had been commanded to do by the Lord, but as the rest of shows us, they had forgotten over and over again.
At the end of Deuteronomy, after he had reiterated the law and the covenant between God and Israel, Moses told the people why they were to take the law and the covenant to heart and to tell them to their children:
deut
45 After Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today, so that you may command your children to follow all the words of this law carefully. 47 For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
The word of the Lord was their life. Israel’s constant forgetfulness of the work of God and the word of God was a part of their history and provided a lesson to be learned. You’ve heard the saying, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it?”
Asaph is preparing to teach his (and others’) children the lessons that he learned from his father about what not to do with the command of the Lord, and about how the Lord has blessed them in spite of their rebellion
There’s an intentionality here. It’s like he’s saying, “I’m going to tell you something really important about our history, so you don’t make the same mistakes. I’m also going to tell you what God amazing things God has done… So pay close attention.”
Husbands, fathers, grandfathers, men… if we are going to have multigenerational impact with our faith, then we need to be intentioned. We must share about how God has worked in the world, and about how God has worked in our lives, on purpose.
James Dobson said, “Children want to know what is most important to us. If we hope to instill within them a faith that will last a lifetime, they must see and feel our passion for God.”
Do those looking on see and feel our passion for God? Do we even have this kind of passion… one that CAN be seen and felt? In short, do we love God?
We readily talk about things we love and are passionate about. It’s easy. We talk about all kinds of things: our families, jobs, politics, sports teams, movies, current events, video games, hobbies, etc. Are we that passionate about Jesus??? Are we so passionate about Jesus that we will intentionally talk about Jesus, telling others what He has said and done?
Joining Jesus in his mission:
This is us joining with Him in His mission, as we’ve been talking about for the past several weeks while we’ve looked at the question, “Who’s Your One?” Jesus told us what His mission is in Luke 19:10:
10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
Men, are we willing to join Jesus in His mission to seek those who are lost so that they might be saved? There are those in your circle of influence who are lost. Who is one person that you will share the message of hope found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? A co-worker? A family member? A spouse? Or maybe even one of your children?
Asaph had a plan: to tell the next generation, so that the future generations would know. He intended to do it, and then we come to our next point:
2: The multigenerational man DECIDES to tell the next generation what God has done.
2: The multigenerational man DECIDES to tell the next generation what God has done.
In the book “Why They Stay” by Drs. Steve Parr and Tom Crites, they write the following:
“Parents have a greater opportunity to influence their child’s spiritual development, positively or negatively, more than anyone else in their foundational years. Parents cannot take this responsibility lightly.” (55)
The first point was what we intend to do. This is about what we then decide to do. Gentlemen: we might have great intentions, but without a decision followed by actions, those intentions aren’t going to amount to any lasting spiritual influence in the lives of the next generation of our personal and church families. We have to decide that we are going to be obedient.
Asaph continues in the plural as he speaks on behalf of his generation and what he is going to say to the next generation:
4 We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might, and the wondrous works he has performed. 5 He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children
He says that his generation will not hide the “wise sayings” and “mysteries from the past” (v. 2) from “their children,” meaning his generation’s grandchildren. Instead, Asaph and his generation are determined to share the truth of God’s “praiseworthy acts,” His “might,” and “the wondrous works,” that God has done, including how He had related to His people, Israel, and how He had commanded the fathers to teach their children about those same things. And they are determined to share those things with their children in obedience to the Lord’s command, and to their children’s children.
psalm 78:4
7 so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep his commands.
The Lord reminded warned Israel to not be forgetful of the things they had seen and experienced. Part of that warning included this instruction to teach their children and grandchildren:
9 “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.
1 I exalt you, my God the King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 I will bless you every day; I will praise your name forever and ever. 3 The Lord is great and is highly praised; his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts. 5 I will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty and your wondrous works.
Ephesians
4 Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Reciting your history to future generations assures two things: 1) the perpetuation of the account… others will know the story, and 2) the perpetuation of your memory. How hard would it be for the people of Israel to forget what they had experienced if they talked about it all the time? How likely would it be that such a story of God’s incredible deliverance would “slip from [their] mind?” Not likely.
It starts in our homes, gentlemen. It starts with our decision-making. What are we going to decide to truly invest in, meaning to give our best quality of attention and effort toward? If you have children at home still, then they need your engagement and investment on a spiritual level. Yes, they need it on an emotional and physical level as well, but to neglect to decide to invest in our children spiritually is to fail to keep the Lord’s command.
Grandparents, uncles… how can you decide to invest in the lives of those children that God has placed in your family sphere? Make the time. Plug in and get engaged! Declare the works of the Lord to the next generation and proclaim His mighty acts.
And the mightiest act of the Lord was when He took the initiative to step in and remedy the brokenness of our relationship with Him. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live perfectly in our place, to die sacrificially in our place, and to defeat death in our place, so that we can be made right with Him, to live in Him, and to never be separated from Him for all eternity.
If you have never surrendered your life to God through faith in Jesus Christ, then you have nothing to pass on here. The first decision is the most important one: decide that you are no longer going to go your own way, and that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. Then you can pass the truth of that same mighty act on to your children and grandchildren.
If you are already a disciple of the Lord Jesus, then your work has just begun. Guys…men, we need to share with the children and grandchildren around us what God has done in our lives. We need to tell the stories of our faith, we need to speak about what we’re learning in the Scriptures, we need to show those coming behind us how real God is, and how He has saved us, changed us, and made us new in Christ.
And the hope is that what we share with our children, with our grandchildren, or those surrogate children and grandchildren in our midst, would carry on into the future as a lasting legacy of faith.
3: The multigenerational man DESIRES that future generations would know what God has done.
3: The multigenerational man DESIRES that future generations would know what God has done.
The multigenerational man of God looks out into the future with a hope for what is to come. Certainly that hope is in the return of our Lord Jesus, when He will come to set all things right, and to judge the living and the dead, according to .
We should desire that because of our faith, our testimony, that because of our very lives… NOT THAT OUR name would be remembered, but that the name and work of the Lord would be proclaimed in our families for generations to come.
This is what the psalmist was getting at when he wrote verses 6-7:
This is what the psalmist was
6 so that a future generation— children yet to be born—might know. They were to rise and tell their children 7 so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep his commands.
Asaph is looking WAY forward now. He is proclaiming to the people: his generation and his children’s generation. He is not going to hide the truth of God’s mighty acts from his children’s children. And he’s doing this so that his great-grandchildren… his children’s children’s children… might know about what God has done.
And as I mentioned before, this was supposed to be an ongoing pattern for the people of Israel: that one generation pass their collective memory and faith on to the next, as David wrote in :
9 “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.
1 I exalt you, my God the King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 I will bless you every day; I will praise your name forever and ever. 3 The Lord is great and is highly praised; his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts. 5 I will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty and your wondrous works.
One generation tells the next, who tells the next, who tells the next, each with the goal that the next generation would “put their confidence in God and not forget His works, but keep His commands.” (Ps. 78:7) This is what it looks like to have a multigenerational legacy.
Spiritually, we should be seeking to have a multigenerational legacy not just in our families, but in our discipleship connections as well. When Paul wrote his last letter to Timothy, he gave him multigenerational instructions:
In 1900, A. E. Winship studied what happened to 1,400 descendants of Jonathan and Sarah by the year 1900. He found they included 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers and a dean of a law school, 30 judges, 66 physicians and a dean of a medical school, and 80 holders of public office, including three US Senators, mayors of three large cities, governors of three states, a Vice-President of the United States, and a controller of the United States Treasury. They had written over 135 books and edited eighteen journals and periodicals. Many had entered the ministry. Over 100 were missionaries and others were on mission boards.
THE
IS THIS NEXT VERSE FITTING? MAYBE ABOUT US POURING INTO
2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
How many generations is he directly referring to here? I count 4. Himself, Timothy (his “true son in the faith” - ), faithful men (spiritual grandchildren), who will be able to teach others (spiritual great-grandchildren).
I think Voddie Baucham said (and says) it very well: “Kids, you must seek to be the kind of people who plant shade trees for others to sit under.” Spiritually speaking, we must have a multigenerational vision that lives and acts now so that children not yet born will benefit from it.
One last point and we will close.
4: The multigenerational man sets a godly example for those who follow after him.
4: The multigenerational man sets a godly example for those who follow after him.
Asaph closes the introduction of this psalm with an indictment against his forefathers, which is who he spends the rest of the psalm talking about as he tells of the recurring pattern of forgetfulness, sin, response, and result. They are the lesson for the people, their children, and the future generations:
8 Then they would not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
We are to look forward, yes. But we are also to look behind us and actually see who is there. See who is following us, seeing us, watching us, imitating us. And we must live, men, lives that are worthy of the imitation of those coming behind. This was Paul’s perspective… that as he imitated Jesus, so his life would be worthy of imitation:
1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
Jonathan Edwards is one of the most influential American pastors of all time. He was born in 1703, and was used greatly by God in the first Great Awakening in the 1730’s and 1740’s. However, one additional thing that is impressive about Edwards was his family life. He was devoted to his wife, Sarah, for thirty-one years until his death in 1758. He led in regular family worship and oversaw the education of his eleven children. Moreover, his was a multigenerational legacy seldom seen before or since:
Jonathan Edwards is one of the most influential American pastors of all time. He was born in 1703, and was used greatly by God in the first Great Awakening in the 1730’s and 1740’s. However, one additional thing that is impressive about Edwards was his family life. He was devoted to his wife, Sarah, for thirty-one years until his death in 1758. He led in regular family worship and oversaw the education of his eleven children. Moreover, his was a multigenerational legacy seldom seen before or since:
In 1900, A. E. Winship studied what happened to 1,400 descendants of Jonathan and Sarah by the year 1900. He found they included 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers and a dean of a law school, 30 judges, 66 physicians and a dean of a medical school, and 80 holders of public office, including three US Senators, mayors of three large cities, governors of three states, a Vice-President of the United States, and a controller of the United States Treasury. They had written over 135 books and edited eighteen journals and periodicals. Many had entered the ministry. Over 100 were missionaries and others were on mission boards.
Jonathan Edwards left a multigenerational legacy not of wealth or status, but of godly character and service. We sometimes speak and act as if serving in vocational ministry such as the pastorate or the mission field is the peak of spiritual service, but Jonathan Edwards’ legacy reached into education, politics, law, medicine, and literature. Strive to raise your kids to be the kind of adults that you would respect and follow. One of the most effective ways to do that is to be the kind of man that others would respect and follow. We must imitate Jesus, so that others would be wise to imitate us.
Closing
Closing
Men, whether you are a father or not, we each have a role to play in the lives of those coming after us. We must be multigenerational in our approach and perspective: looking to live so that future generations will be blessed as a result of our lives. This can be in our own families, but also in our church family, or even for those outside of the church walls who need positive, godly role models.
And truly, this goes for all of us, men and women alike. There are generations following us who will need to walk in our footsteps: I pray those footsteps are on the firm footing of the rock of Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist called people to repentance, and part of his ministry was familial:
John the Baptist called people to repentance, and part of his ministry was familial:
16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”
luke 1:16-17
“To turn the hearts of fathers to their children...” Fathers, are you hearts turned toward your children? Men, are there children here in our congregation, or in your neighborhood, that you can sort of father in a surrogate manner through your presence and care? Maybe there is some repentance here that needs to take place in families.
“To turn the hearts of fathers to their children...” Fathers, are you hearts turned toward your children? Men, are there children here in our congregation, or in your neighborhood, that you can sort of father in a surrogate manner through your presence and care?
Is your “one” one of your children? Are we living with the intent to share the message of the work of God through Jesus with them? Have we determined in our hearts, decided that we will make sure that the next generation knows about what God has done? Do we have the desire to leave a multigenerational spiritual legacy after us, planting spiritual shade trees for others to sit under? Are we an example worthy of being followed because we are following the One who is most worthy of our imitation and emulation?
Who’s your one?
In a moment, the band is going to come down and we will have our time of invitation. This morning, I have explained the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and if God is calling you to surrender your life to Him through faith in Jesus, then surrender where you are, and come and share that with one of us. I’ll be here, Camille will be here, and Trevor will be here to pray with you and celebrate with you.
Christian, if God is leading you to become a member of this congregation this morning, we would like to pray with you and celebrate that with you as well. Come and share that.
But I really feel that this morning, this invitation is more about repentance. John the Baptist’s ministry was a ministry of repentance, but the result of that repentance was at least partially familial:
16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”
“To turn the hearts of fathers to their children...” Fathers, are you hearts turned toward your children? Men, are there children here in our congregation, or in your neighborhood, that you can sort of father in a surrogate manner through your presence and care? Maybe there is some repentance and confession that needs to take place in families. What is God saying to you about that this morning? Is there some forgiveness that needs to be requested and offered? During this invitation, I’m going to ask the band to keep it low key for a bit, so that if families or couples need to pray together, they can. If you need to come and pray at the steps, individually or as a family, they are open for you. We would be happy to pray with you as well.
Let’s pray together.
PRAY
Thank everyone for being here. Happy Father’s Day. Invite guests to the parlor. Turn over to Wayne.