Gtcotr/ws051723
Since the first of this year we have been using our mid-week service times to take a slow walk through the Old Testament while reviewing the lives and times of the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs of our faith. It benefits the Christian to understand how the people and the stories of the Old Testament fit into our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior of the World.
We have studied the lives of men and women such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachael. We also followed the Children of God as they went down into Egypt with Joseph and after 430 years came back out under the leadership of Moses.
This coming Sunday is “Next Gen” Sunday at GTCOTR. We are involving our next generation youth in the Sunday Service in various ways in order to give them a “hands-on” experience with Church. You will see some youth singers, musicians, ushers, greeters, and we will even get to hear a sermon from one of the members of our youth group. I am looking forward to seeing the next generation participate in Church on such a personal level.
It is vitally important that each generation has the opportunity to embrace a personal and primary relationship with Jesus and the Church. Christianity, and indeed the Church of the living God, is always only one generation away from extinction. If the Church is not meaningful to us, it can easily become meaningless to our children and grandchildren. This is the concern of God and history has proven this to be true.
This evening’s text is going to come from the Old Testament book of Judges. Would you turn in your Bibles to Judges, chapter 2.
Judges 2 NKJV
6 ¶ And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.
7 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.
8 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.
10 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.
11 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.
13 They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
This account chronicles the first of many departures of the Children of God from the faith of their fathers. For the next 450 years the Israelites would repeat the same failure over and over.
This happened 13 times in the book of Judges in the very same way, generation after generation, same pattern: Forget God; act like the world around you; get into trouble; lose hope and joy and peace; remember and repent; God rescues and saves.
Guess what … it’s still happening today! But what causes it?
I call it, second generation faith. It can be a problem with any next generation … but it doesn’t have to be.
The account we read from Judges 2:7 says the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the leaders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD which He had done for Israel. Then verse 10 says:
Judges 2:10 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.
“Another generation” … the next generation. What was wrong with the next generation? They did not know the LORD for themselves … they only knew about the Lord from their parents’ experience. The next generation did not have a personal experience or a personal relationship with the Lord.
It is so important that we have a personal encounter with Jesus and that we lead our children to a personal faith in Christ. God has no grandchildren, only children. Many times, like the children of Israel, people who get into trouble cry out to the same God they have heard their parents talking about. However, we hope our children do not have to experience trouble before they experience God.
Children need to be encouraged to trust Jesus and to include Him in their daily lives. They need to be challenged to stretch their faith and to actively participate in Church and in ministry. Whether it is through mission work or personal evangelism at school or on social media, making an investment in others in the name of Jesus is the best way to grow a relationship with God.
Parents I want to encourage you to not just point your children to Church, take them. And when you go home, make sure they see you inviting Jesus into your home and into everything you do. Let them see your personal relationship and friendship with God as a positive asset. Talk with them about the Word of God and let them hear you praying for them out loud.
Everyone needs a “first generation” relationship with God.
I think about King David. As a little boy he trusted God to help him shepherd his father’s sheep. He credited God with helping him to kill a bear and a lion and that’s why he believed God would also help him kill the giant Goliath.
David grew up trusting the Lord and he definitely had a first generation, personal relationship with God. This continued in David’s life throughout every situation he faced. David wrote Psalms and gave all the praise and all the glory to God for every good thing.
However, King David’s sons seemed to have what we might view as a second-generation relationship with God. God was there, and they knew God, but that seemed to be daddy’s God. Even Solomon, when he became king after David’s death, decided to not take the Word of God seriously.
King Solomon was very wise, but he wasn’t very smart. He knew what he should not do but he did it anyway. While the book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom, Solomon’s life is filled with stupidity. Solomon’s harem was filled with 900 women, almost all of them worshippers of foreign pagan gods and goddesses.
While Solomon went to the temple of Jehovah in the mornings, his wives took his children to their pagan altars in the evenings. Solomon’s kids were confused. And sure enough, Rehoboam, when he became king, did not seem to even know or respect the Temple or Jehovah or the wisdom of his father.
David had a first-generation relationship with God. Solomon had a second-generation relationship with God. Rehoboam had a third-generation relationship with God. And the kingdom divided there, and the children of God have never been back together again.
We cannot survive, and much more we cannot be saved, based only upon our parents’ or our grandparents’ relationship with God. Every generation needs a first-generation encounter and a first-generation relationship with Jesus.
As parents we need to make sure our children know Jesus and have a personal respect for the Church themselves and not just as the place we go and as the person we serve.
The Bible says that God knew Abraham would teach his children to respect the Lord … that’s why God chose to make a covenant with him.
Are you actively teaching, challenging, leading, modeling, a personal relationship with Jesus in such a way that it compels your children to trust the Lord for themselves? Have you asked your child if they have personally asked Jesus to be their Savior? Will you leave this earth better than you found it?
This coming Sunday we are going to enjoy seeing some of our next generation get the chance to have a personal, hands-on, experience with Church. Come and be a part of it. It will encourage them and send the right message to those who are watching.
The last question I will pose for this evening is this:
Have you experienced a personal, first-generation, relationship with Jesus?
If so, praise the Lord! Tell someone else about it. If not, why not?
Why not invite Jesus into your heart and life right now!
