February 13 2022, Psalm 78:1-16, "Psalm for All Seasons: Our Next Generation"

Prayer - “Lord, help me remember all your good deeds and all your faithfulness. Help me remember to share those stories with my own family, with my church family, and with anyone else that may cross my path. Help me remember, and never forget, that you have been so good to me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Introduction

We are walking through the book for all seasons: the book of Psalms. So far we’ve learned that this is an every-season book, because the lessons of the Psalms help us in every season of our lives. In week one, we learned that engaging the Bible can make you happy in every season of life, and in week two, we learned that the Lord is our shepherd in every situation of life.

And today, we’re going to be talking about what may be the most important season of life...when children are in the home.

I read a story recently about three ladies who were sitting around and bragging about their children. The first one said, "You know my son, he graduated first in his class from Stanford, he’s now a doctor making $250,000 a year in Chicago."

The second woman said, "You know my son, he graduated first in his class from Harvard, he’s now a lawyer making half a million dollars a year and he lives in Los Angeles."

The last woman said, "You know my son, he never did too well in school, he never went to any university but he now makes 1 million dollars a year in New York working as a sports repairman."

The other two women ask "What is a sports repairman?"

She replied, "He fixes hockey games, football games, baseball games..."

Obviously parents want their kids to succeed. We want our kids to grow up to be responsible self-sufficient adults who are capable of taking care of themselves. I jokingly tell my kids all the time that I don’t have a retirement plan because they are my retirement plan. We want our kids to be successful. And this desire we have as parents raises a question. What is success? How do I measure success as a parent? The answer you have for this question this morning is the evidence of how you are raising your kids.

Think about this way. If you want your kids to be comfortable in life, to make enough money that they don’t have to worry about paying bills, or worrying about their future, you will more than likely emphasize a quality education. You want your kids to get good grades, and the reason you tell your kids they need to get good grades is so that they’ll have a comfortable life. So they won’t suffer from a lack of income when they’re raising their family. So then when your kids get good grades you reward them, when they graduate from high school and go to a prestigious school you’re very proud, and you might even push them to consider law, medicine, business or some other career that will provide a comfortable income.

But what if we measured our success as parents not by how much money they might make, or how educated they will be, or even by how happy they are. What if we considered the ultimate success as our children living out lives as sold out followers of Jesus. What if everything we did as parents, the money we spent, the time we invested, the way we structured our family life was for this one purpose. To raise kids who are more in love with Jesus than they are with anything else.

Arguably, the most important segment of our society is the under-18 population. They’re some of the most vulnerable, the most teachable, and have the potential to live longer than the rest of us. So, our current investment in this group impacts future generations.

That’s one major reason that we are going to work so hard to not only value the existing children, youth, and young adults that are within our church, but to continually work hard to bring the younger generations from beyond our walls into our church as well. On an ongoing basis, we will discuss how we can strengthen our preschool, children, youth, and young adult ministries and how what we do now not only affects our church in the here and now, but how it will affect White Bluff for many years to come as they become the next generation of leaders to carry to torch, much like when those before us eventually passed the torch to us.

With that said, I’d like to talk about the power of influencing the next generation… I call it “our next generation obligation.”

All throughout history, God has issued a next generation obligation to people of faith. God has said to leaders of faith, “Teach your children in every season.”

Jesus told us the first and greatest command is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and all our souls and all our minds and all our strength. And that a second is to love our neighbors as ourselves.

I’m pretty sure, if there was a third great command, it would say, “Pass on your love of God to the generation that follows you.”

Teach them to know Him. Teach them about Him. Teach them to love Him and to live for Him and to let others know about Him too.

That’s the challenge and the call to White Bluff as well.

Will you please stand for the reading and the hearing of God’s Word this morning:

A maskil[a] of Asaph.

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.

9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; 10 they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law. 11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. 12 He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand up like a wall. 14 He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. 15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas; 16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.

So who was this Asaph?

One day, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, a worship leader by the name of Asaph decided his great contribution to God’s kingdom would be to pass on his faith to his generations.

1 Chronicles 16:4 says,

4 David appointed some of the Levites to be ministers before the ark of the Lord, to celebrate the Lord God of Israel, and to give thanks and praise to him. 5 Asaph was the chief and Zechariah was second to him. Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel played the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals 6 and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. 1 Chronicles 16:4-6

So, Asaph is the guy who played the cymbals for God as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the city of Jerusalem. And that happened about 1,000 B.C.

Now, let’s look at a second piece of history. The Babylonian Captivity takes place and eventually the Jews returned to Israel in waves. The description of those who returned in the second wave is found in Nehemiah 7. Nehemiah 7:44 says, “The singers included Asaph’s descendants… 148.”

So,

Asaph played the cymbals in 1,000 B.C.

148 of his descendants were singing to God in 500 B.C.

One day, a cymbal player by the name of Asaph thought about his children and their faith0. He wanted his sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters to love God as much as he did. So he wrote the words to a song. That song became Psalm 78.

The words in that song preserved faith in all his generations for over 500 years.

What kind of words can last for five hundred years and be preserved through to our present day? Let’s look at today’s text more closely together.

Psalm 78 starts with a title… A Maskil of Asaph

“Maskil” means, “a teaching psalm.” So Asaph wrote the teaching Psalm to teach others about faith. Specifically, he wanted teach his children and his children’s children.

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 ancestors have passed down to us.

Tell the story and tell it again! Don’t stop telling the story.

A wise person once said, “A story’s most important function is to remind us we are not alone in the world.”

v. 4 continues to emphasize the importance of continuing to tell the story.

vs. 1-3 of today’s text teaches us that our obligation is to pass onour faith as it says for us to continue to pass on The things our God has done… 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.

Our children need to know who God is, and the best way to show them who He is is to tell them what He’s done.

Asaph decided to teach his children – and our children - about God. To do that, he told stories about God. Stories about what God had done in the history of his people. That’s what Psalm 78 is all about.

Verse 5 and 6 reemphasize the importance of teaching future generations.

When did He do that? At Mt. Sinai. God gave the Law and the Ten Commandments.

Asaph continues, [“The people of that generation…] 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.

And when we do so, they will teach their children and continue the process. Further, v. 8 tells us,

8 Then they would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

In their day, they had a crisis of faith. Each passing generation became more secular until eventually he had to bring the remnant back to himself. God told them to conquer the promised land, but they refused. So God let them die in the desert. Then, in the book of Deuteronomy, He gave the Law again. And this second time, their children believed, and conquered. Does that sound familiar in the present day? They had a crisis of faith. I believe that our world is living in a crisis of faith as well. We put our faith into other things besides God. For a time, we hold onto these other things and they bring us some level of comfort…. Until we finally let go of our faith in God. Then we lose our hope.

Asaph recounts what the people of faith were able to do when they had faith in God in v. 13. He says, 13 [God] split the sea and brought them across; the water stood firm like a wall.

You know this part of the story! God parted the Red Sea. Why? Because God is a delivering God. When His children are trapped and have no place to turn, He provides a way out.

14 He led them with a cloud by day and with a fiery light throughout the night.

God is a guiding God. Once they got out of Egypt, they needed to know where to go, so God led them, day and night. He never leaves us to wander on our own.

15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths. 16 He brought streams out of the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

Psalm 78:15-16

Conclusion:

What is God telling White Bluff about the importance of teaching our children about Jesus? My prayer is that we will look at the pictorial directories and preachers on our wall of fame and choose to continue to pass the Christian faith on at White Bluff for many generations to come. We have a marvelous facility. We have a great membership.

What will it look like? Will White Bluff be a church just like it was in 1959 or 70 or 90 or even 10 years ago? I am guessing that it probably will not! I love our multicultural group that assembles for worship each week. Having met many in the surrounding community within five miles of our church, I know that there are many different cultures represented. I also know that even though the surrounding neighborhood is changing, the message of faith in Jesus Christ has not change. I hope that we will continue to do the hard work of being the body of Christ as we continually focus on inviting new people in… especially all of those within five miles of our church. Why five miles? Because those within five miles of a church are the ones most likely to attend.

Let’s pray this week for the boldness to share Jesus with the next generation… not just in the words and deeds that we speak today, but like Asaph, in the legacy that we seek to leave for generations to come.

SALVATION POEM