The first place to share your faith is where you live. Remember we must back up our words with our life. Our goal in life is to live a life that reflects Jesus Christ. Fathers are to lead the way as the spiritual leader in the family. The question for fathers this morning is; What are you passing on to your children?
In his popular novel 1984, George Orwell wrote, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Once they got in control of the present, both Hitler and Stalin rewrote past history so they could control future events; and for a time it worked. How important it is for each new generation to recognize and appreciate the great men and women who helped to build and protect their nation! It’s disturbing when “revisionist” historians debunk the heroes and heroines of the past and almost make them criminals. [1]
How does this happen? How does a nation or people forget where they came from? How is our heritage lost?
Judges 2:7–10 (NKJV)
At that point in Israel’s history, Joshua stood next to Moses as a great hero, and yet the new generation didn’t recognize who he was or what he had done.
The blame is on families failing to pass to their children teachings of where they were and how they got here.
In more recent history (the last hundred years) families relied on the school system to teach children about our heritage and parents relied on the Sunday School to teach their children about God. These are subjects to be taught in the home and only reinforced in the schools and the Sunday Schools. And if the Schools and churches are not reinforcing what is being taught at home, then the schools and churches are not being held accountable. If they fail to teach those things (assuming for a moment they are being taught at home) and reinforce those Godly values, then it’s time to change schools and/or churches.
We as a people, have done neither; the fact is, we, as a people, do not care. And that is the problem, for years parents are not teaching those values, and if they are, they don’t care what contradicting lessons are being taught in the schools and church.
Now here is the crunch, the head of the housewhole, the fathers, the husbands, will be held accountable by Almighty God for what they have taught at home or failed to teach. As Christ is head of the Church, the Husband is head of the wife (family). Ephesians 5:23-24.
One startling bit of research conducted by the Christian Business Men’s Committee found the following: When the father is an active believer, there is about a 75% chance that the children will also become active believers. But if only the mother is a believer, this likelihood is dramatically reduced to 15%. If a young person gets saved then they will reach 19% of their family. If a woman gets saved she will reach 32% of her family. If a man gets saved He will reach 82% of his family. Fathers, no one, and I mean no one can do your job but YOU! [2]
But what happened to the nation of Israel? Moses lead them for 40 years in the desert, 40 years instead of going right into the promise land because the people had sinned. Then Joshua takes over and leads the people across the Jordan and on to the conquest of the Promise Land. At the end of His life, he gathers the people the together for one last pep talk:
Joshua 24:15 (NKJV) And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
The people were pumped up. There have seen the great things God had done. On this past Memorial Day weekend, I preached about the stones, taken from the Jordan River so they will remember what God has done. The people were clear in their determination.
Joshua 24:16–18 (NKJV) So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”
The people saw what God has done and with great intentions to serve the Lord, they all went their own ways.
Judges 2:7 (NKJV) So the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.
But if you looked carefully, you will see that they did not do all the Lord had asked them to do. They did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land. They served the Lord, but not completely.
Judges 2:2b–3 (NKJV) But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ”
So what happened? For starters, the great leader, Joshua, died and there was not a successor appointed. This was the beginning of the time of the Judges.
Judges 2:8–9 (NKJV) Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.
The people buried Joshua, and those in Joshua’s generation served the Lord. But what follows, is one perhaps one of the saddest verses in the Bible.
Judges 2:10 (NKJV) When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.
What happened to all the good intentions the people had and the commitment they had made before the Lord and to Joshua? What happens when the past is forgotten? What happens to this new generation?
Judges 2:11–12 (NKJV) Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; 12 and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger.
I would like to look at three interconnected reasons why this may have happened to the Israelites. And as we examine this text and the circumstances that led to them being in this state, we need to make sure we make some applications in our own lives so this does not happen to the next generation of the Lord's people here. This can happen amongst congregations of the Lord's people also.
Six in 10 young people (these who are in the church as children) will leave the church permanently or for an extended period starting at age 15, according to new research by the Barna Group. You may know people in which something like this happened. A parent was by all looks of things faithful in serving Christ, but unfortunately their children go in the wrong direction; not knowing the Lord. We need to learn from scripture how these kind of things happen so we don't fall into this trap, with either us or the generation that follows not knowing the Lord. The reasons the faith was not passed on is not explicitly explained in Scripture, but can easily inferred.
First, the people drifted away from the Word of God. They didn’t deliberately ignored the word, but they obviously drifted from it. It was no longer a priority in their lives.
They did not know the word of God as they should. What did God tell Joshua?
Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Meditate on the word day and night. How much time do we spend in the word of God? Do we meditate on it continually? Some of this was the fault of the Levi’s who had the word, but they fail to teach it. Families failed to pass it on. They fail to talk to their children about the Word. What did God say to Hosea a few centuries later concerning the His people?
Hosea 4:6a (NKJV) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because the people failed to stay in the Word, they (2) Failed to fully obey the Word of God. One of the biggest ways we teach and lead our children is by example. What do kids think when they see their parents cheating on their income taxes, going 45 in the 35 MPH zone, not having compassion on a neighbor? Our children see what the rules apply and which ones do not.
I can preach on the realities and the horrors of hell, but kids see that these are just words to their parents when no attempt is taken to reach them and others with Jesus. It all just becomes just another story.
And here is the real clincher. (3) They wanted to be just like everyone else. It is human nature for people to want to blend in with the crowd, to be like everyone else. Even kids, in their desire to be “who they are,” in that they are wanting to be different, just like all their friends. A few generations later the people demanded to Samuel for God give them a King so they can be like everyone else.
1 Samuel 8:19–20 (NKJV) Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
We were not called to be just like everyone else. We are called to be what God wants us to be.
1 Peter 2:9–10 (NKJV) 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
This is our calling; We are called to be God’s holy people, to be sanctified and holy. Are we being sanctified? Are we being holy? Are we living a life that is different from the world, or are we just giving it lip service? We fail to pass on the faith because in many cases, we fail to live the faith ourselves.
The outcome of godly & ungodly lives, and the effect they have on our children has been studied and documented. At the turn of the 20th century, American educator and pastor A.E. Winship decided to trace out the descendants of Jonathan Edwards almost 150 years after his death. His findings are astounding, especially when compared to a man known as Max Jukes who lived at the same time as Edwards.
The first, Max Jukes, did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church even when they asked to go. Many fathers today are like Max, they do not follow Christ and they see no value in Christian training. Some even invent ways or make excuses for keeping their family from the true things of God.
Max's decision was very destructive to his family and costly to the state of New York. At the turn of the 20th century (the 1900’s) Max had 903 known descendants. 100 were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years, 90 were public prostitutes, 145 were admitted alcoholics, 285 had social diseases, and 300 were delinquents. The report estimated that the crimes and care of the Max Jukes' family line cost the state of New York over one million dollars by the late 1800’s (about $28 million today).
The second man studied was the great Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards. He was an uncompromising theologian and pastor who lived to please God and was a man of prayer. The researcher found 1,394 descendants of Jonathan Edwards. His descendants included 13 college presidents, 65 prominent lawyers, 32 noted authors, 90 physicians, 86 state senators, 30 judges, 3 congressmen, 1 vice-president of the United States and 200 ministers of the gospel. It has been said that the family of this man of God never cost the state of New York a single penny for rehabilitation or for incarceration.
To keep proper balance and a true perspective one must realize that there may well have been people who held respectable jobs and did wonderful things for their communities from Max Jukes' family tree. And quite possibly there were some black sheep in Jonathan Edwards' family line that were not exposed during the investigation. But as a whole, the family line of Max Jukes suffered the consequences of neglecting God. The family line of Jonathan Edwards experienced the promised blessings of God.
Fathers, here is a hard fact-Yes, It DOES matter whether you serve the Lord or not! [3] It does matter how you pass on your faith. We are less than a generation from being a completely atheistic nation. We are already a functionally atheistic nation as our national laws have formally excluded any mention of God in public and governmental areas.
The family, the basic building block of civilization itself, is crumbling before our eyes. Kids are growing up in mostly single parent (read that single mother) homes. Fathers have abandoned their responsibilities and the nation is paying the cost. Fathers, what you passing on to your children? Mother’s teachings are important, but statistics plainly tell us, children will abandoned what they are taught if Dad is not present or does not live it.
[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Available, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1994), 18.
[2] http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-biblical-father-william-noel-sermon-on-parenting-69496.asp?page=0
[3] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/one-generation-from-extinction-john-gaston-sermon-on-father-s-day-202592?ref=SermonSerps and https://books.google.com/books?id=gKMXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA77#v=thumbnail&q&f=false
