, "What About the Next Generation?"

Why do we fear for the younger generation?

Maybe it’s because we know the mess we’re leaving them to deal with.

We feel guilty.

At some point in time we are all considered the younger generation, so somebody else has feared the same thing for us.

Why do you think that is?

Vacuuming the mat at Azar’s

The truth is that a lot of us have been content with just letting the younger generation skim over the surface instead of teaching them the right way.

Into the Promised Landing

As the people are about to enter the Promised Land, Moses fears they will be tempted to worship false idols and forget about God.

Most of the people had not witnessed the scenes at Sinai; they had been born in the wilderness.

Moses knows better than anyone what can happen when we turn our back on God.

Like every great leader, Moses loved his people and really wanted to see them succeed.

So he lays out the game plan...

Deuteronomy 6:1–3 NIV

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 NIV

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Life-Oriented

The Hebrews were extremely successful at making religion an integral part of life.

The reason for their success was that religious education was life-oriented, not information-oriented.

They used the context of daily life to teach about God. The key to teaching your children to love God is stated simply and clearly in these verses.

If you want your children to follow God, you must make God a part of your everyday experiences.

You must teach your children diligently to see God in all aspects of life, not just those that are church related.

While it’s good for families to have formal teaching times, the powerful witness of a godly lifestyle that incorporates God’s Word in each day’s routine cannot be overstated.

Notice how regularly Israel was to speak of the things of God: when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

James 1:22–25 NIV

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Another way to understand it is this. We can read a manual for how to drive a car, or how to ride a bike. We can even have someone else read the manual out loud to us. But until we actually get behind the wheel and start driving…we won’t know how to drive.

In this way, James encourages the readers to walk out their faith.

He encourages to walk out, heed and obey the Scriptures – to shema – to listen to them and obey.

Of course, we can’t do this in our own strength, and this is why we need the Holy Spirit to help us.

Hebrews 4:15–16 NIV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

In Spirit and Truth

The Word of God is intended to change us, but it can’t change us unless it gets in our hearts. [STORY]

When we get God’s Word in our heart, it begins working on us and then through us.

It’s so important to be in the Word—not just to learn practical principles, but, far more importantly, to gain an understanding of, an appreciation for the nature and character of God—for when you learn about the ways and the heart of God, you can’t help but lift your hands, bow your knee, and sing His praise.

Deuteronomy 6:6–9 NIV

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Moses was declaring the necessity to have the law of God upon your heart rather than on tablets of stone. (cf. 11:18; Jer. 31:33).

The test of a man’s love for the Lord Jesus Christ is that he keeps his commandments; ‘he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me’ (John 14:21; cf. 1 John 5:2).

These passages show that obedience to the commandments is an outgrowth of love.

Feel like you’ve missed your chance?

Consider the Chinese proverb which says, “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is today.”