Raising the Future
Psalm 78:1-8
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Introduction: I want you to look around the room today. What do you see? Did you notice how unusual this group is. I didn’t say odd! While that might be true (particularly of certain pews toward the back), that’s not what we’re talking about today. Look at all the different people. Folk in this room come from many walks of life, different backgrounds, and a countless variety of religious upbringings.
You can also see a cross section of ages. On any given Sunday, this room contains three or four different generations. Sometimes five! All in the same place! All focused on the same thing. That’s what is unusual about church. At least this church! There are not a lot of places in society where you can find that kind of mixture. Not any more!
Once upon a time, generations of families grew up in the same neighborhood. A young married couple might set up house-keeping down the road or next door. Grandparents, uncles and aunts, and in-laws and outlaws might all be involved in raising the next generation. That still sometimes happens in small towns like this. But not in most places. Today jobs, changing social structures and mobile lifestyles keep generations apart.
That’s what makes a church like this special and important. We are an inter-generational fellowship. Individuals from across generations meet, worship, and learn together. We obviously have programs especially designed for kids and other activities for adults only. But we try to keep a balance. We think it is important that families and different ages also be together at least part of the time. That mix of generations is an important ingredient in a healthy church and healthy families. That’s also a value we should all work hard to cherish.
That’s also what our text is about. We are in the last half of our 2005 Season of the Family. Between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day each year we celebrate the Christian family and explore what God’s Word teaches us about making our families even better. Most of the time, we focus on topics that tend to isolate one particular role. We look at mothers or fathers, older or younger folks, or married couples. Today’s text spotlights the interconnectedness of the family. Psalm 78 is a wisdom or teaching psalm. It is not so much a praise song as it is a history lesson. Most of Psalm 78 reviews the events of the Old Testament and the lessons to be learned, good and bad. As the opening verses that I read insist, these lessons make up the curriculum in the school of faith that older generations teach the younger.
I invite you to explore two questions. Why is this interconnectedness of generations so important? How can we make the most of it in this place? Let’s try to answer those questions as we learn the lessons of the psalm.
First, why is it important that the church be a meeting place of different generations? It is obviously important to the young. How else will they learn the things of faith? Psalm 78 contains an interesting little tidbit of information that we might easily miss. Note verses 5 and 6. “ He (God) decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.” The Lord reveals. We teach. God doesn’t constantly reveal himself and his Word to each new generation. That’s not how he works. Faith is not about our discovering new truths every day. God has spoken. The next generation learns from the previous. That’s God’s plan.
So much for the silly notion that parents should have a hands-off policy toward the faith of their young! That’s a tragedy of our times. We have all heard parents say that they will not force religion on their children. They will just remain neutral and let their child decide for himself when he gets old enough. Of course, a child must decide for himself. But it is the previous generation that must to teach and guide. Our kids need it.
Today’s kids grow up in a high pressure world. Anyone who thinks this world is religiously neutral is kidding themselves. All of kinds of forces are vying for the hearts and souls of the young. Just scan the TV channels that target teenagers and you’ll find all the proof you need. We are setting our young up for spiritual and moral disaster if the older generation fails to teach them the lessons of faith. That’s first of all a parent’s job. If parents aren’t doing it, then caring, responsible adults in the church must do what they can to step in.
But the young aren’t the only ones who need this connection with other generations. Parents struggling with the challenges of raising kids in a world of conflicted values need help from those who have been there and done that. Most parents are eager for some positive, gracious guidance from the veterans around them. Condescending, heavy-handed advice is another matter.
We gray beards need the young as well. We don’t always like to admit it. I know two things about churches and children. Every church wants to have lots of kids. But when they get them they immediately want them to stop acting like kids—without having to be taught. Most adults also have a long-term memory problem. We are absolutely convinced that we never acted like today’s kids, especially at church. Those of us with grown children are equally sure that we never let our kids behave the way today’s kids do. We are probably wrong on both counts.
The oldest generation here needs kids. They remind us what this is all about. If we are not careful, we can easily conclude that church is about us, our wants and wishes, our comfort, our contentment. It’s not! It’s about God—his will, his worship, and learning more about him. The kids among us remind us how much we all have to learn.
The truth of the matter is that this and every other church need kids. We are always only one generation from extinction. That’s true for the smallest country church or the largest mega church. Faith is not about us. It is about keeping the torch lit and passing it on to the next generation. Socrates the ancient Greek philosopher once wrote, “Could I climb to the highest places in Athens, I would lift up my voice and proclaim; Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of the children to whom you must someday relinquish it all?” That’s why it is important that this be a place where generations meet learn from one another.
But how do we do it? How do we pass on our faith? That’s our second big question. Did you catch that curious expression in Psalm 78:4? “We will not hide them [God’s words and his works] from their children.” Who would hide the things of God from the next generation? How can that be done? In a number of ways.
We hide the things of God by not teaching them. To fail to positively, purposefully, and systematically teach the Word of God to our young hides something they desperately. That’s why Sunday school, youth activities, children’s church, and all of the other kid’s ministries around here are so important. These supplement what kids from Christian families get at home and provide what a lot of kids get no where else. We have a tremendous crew of teachers and workers who pour God’s word into kids’ lives week in and week out. They deserve our appreciation and encouragement.
We can also hide the works of God as well as the Word of God. Our young need hear how the Lord has rescued in the face of temptation. We must not hide his answer to prayer. We must tell them about his guidance and faithfulness to us in the defining moments of our lives. The hide the works of God from the next generation is to deprive them of something vital.
We hide things of God by our inconsistencies. Our kids need to hear God’s Word from older adults. They also need to see their parents and other older adults learning God’s Word. Most of all they need to see them doing their best to live God’s Word. We have a lot of great adults in this church whose example inspires and encourages our young. That’s important. Not all kids have any place else.
Did you hear bout the Little League coach who suddenly stopped the game. He walked over to one of his players who had just made an out. He looked down at the young player and asked, “Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?” The little boy nodded his head. “Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?” The little boy nodded yes. “So,” the coach continued, “when a strike is called or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?” Again, the little boy nodded. “Good,” said the coach. “Now go over there and explain it to your mother.” (The Executive Speaker, quoted in Bits & Pieces, November 10, 1994, pp. 20-21).
Our teaching matters. Our example is critical. But so is our honesty. Here’s the point where we can easily hide the things of God from our young. Our young need to know that we struggle, that life is not always easy, and that sometimes we fail. They need to hear our testimony that even in those hard times, God is good, faithful, and gracious. They need to learn about the compassion of God and not just his commandments. They need to know that our God is a God of second chances, even third and forth chances. We would never want them to presume upon the forgiveness of God, but neither do we want them to forget it. We must never hide that truth of God from them.
Conclusion: Look around at those gathered in this room again. Look at the generations all here in one place for one purpose. That’s a good thing! That’s a blessing and a responsibility. Thank God with me that we have a lot of kids in this church—those from our own families and quite a few who come without their families. A lot of churches would give anything to have what we have.
But that means we have an important responsibility. Older generations must teach and live the faith they want the next generation to carry on after them. That’s our job. We need each other to accomplish it. We are not just raising our kids. We are raising the future.
I close with a poem that contains an important reminder—“THE BRIDGE”
An old man traveling a lone highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
The traveler paused at the chasm’s side
Then quickly crossed in the twilight dim
The sullen stream caused no fear for him.
But he paused when safe on the other side
to build a bridge to stem the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting your strength
by building here,
Your journey will end with the closing day, You never again will pass this way.
You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide, Why build you this bridge at ev’ntide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head,
"Good friend, in the path I’ve come,"
he said,
There follows after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that’s been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He too, must cross in the twilight dim.
Good friend, I’m building this bridge
for him."
(Author unknown)
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
