17But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, 18To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them. Psalm 103:17–18
Psalm 103 is a joyful Psalm rejoicing in God’s mercy to Israel. In the first five verses of the Psalm, David describes God’s grace toward His people. He saves, crowns, pardons, heals, and satisfies. In verses 6 through 14, David describes God is slow to anger but fast in love (103:8). Right here and right now, God is better to us than we deserve. But when he transitions to verse 15, David raises a concern. Man’s days are like grass—here today and gone tomorrow. What does God do after I’m gone? Will He be merciful to the next generation? And the answer comes from our sermon text this morning. God shows his lovingkindness to those who fear Him (17) and keep His covenant (18).
We take the Lord for granted. If we feared Him, we would be careful to obey all His commands. One of his commands is not concealing the Lord’s instruction for children.
1Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
3Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
4We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. Psalm 78:1–4
Fathers are supposed to train their children and not hide from them the instruction of God. Churches are supposed to teach this and help fathers and mothers teach this. Instead, churches have stopped allowing children to worship and started free babysitting services.
Because we do not fear God, we are defenseless against His enemy—the world and the devil. Remember the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). If a robber is stealing from the houses in your neighborhood every night, doing nothing will not deter him from your house.
43“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44“Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” Matthew 12:43–45
As a society, we inherited a clean and well-built house from our ancestors hundreds of years ago. But somewhere along the way, our grandparents and parents began leaving rooms unoccupied. Now, we are shocked to find demons living in our household.
Our faith will either be divided by 2 for our children or multiplied by 2 for our children. If we fear the Lord and diligently obey Him, it’s like a tithe. You lose 10%, but gain a blessed 90%. But if we coast and are not diligent, then we can’t be surprised that the thief visited us.
Many Christian parents want their child to go to heaven, so they eagerly push for Sally to pray the prayer. Mom worries over Johnny walking down the aisle. But for whatever reason, after Johnny and Sally get baptized, there’s little to no discipleship in the home on how to live as a Christian. There’s a bunch of youth activities and children’s church, but zero parent discipleship and real church.
32Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command. 1 Chronicles 12:32
Let me explain what this means. First, most of you over 50 are still operating like the world was in 1980. You believe that rebellious Sally or wayward Johnny will return to church because that’s what everyone did 30 years ago. But you’re forgetting that there’s no social pressure anymore for Sally or Johnny to return to church. Actually, there’s increasing social pressure to hate Jesus and His church.
Second, for Generation X and Millennials , we live like Christianity is an honest option like it was in the early 2000s. You believe that if the church is winsome enough then lost people will come to faith. You believe that if you play guitars loud, smile wide enough, and act kind enough then anyone and everyone will come to faith. You forget that everyone’s default religion is not neutral to God, but hater of God. For people who live like the world is still 90s and 2000s, you tend to be uncomfortable with cultural talk in the pulpit. But children are still hearing cultural preaching from the pulpit of cartoons, schools, and games. Kids are no longer taught that Christianity is one of many options. They are taught that Christianity is racist, bigoted, and homophobic. Christians live like faith in Jesus is up for debate while the secular world does not accept debate against anything they believe.
No doubt some of you are banking on Jesus returning again within the next few years. There’s no use in getting worked up over what’s going on. The rapture will happen. But what if it doesn’t? What if Jesus comes back way into the future? What then? Remember, the church is floundering in the west but growing in Africa and Asia. In your mind you’re going through end of days, but in North Africa, former Muslims are coming to faith in hoards.
Our present difficulties aren’t signs Jesus is going rapture the church; its signs Jesus is judging the church.
24The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24–26
In Nehemiah, the exiles return to Jerusalem 70 years after it was destroyed. They immediately begin rebuilding the temple and the walls. But many of the exiles weren’t alive when the city was destroyed. Why should they fix the city when their parents and grandparents started all that mess?
Imagine a guest comes to your home and breaks a glass all over the kitchen floor. He doesn’t clean it because he’s a jerk. You don’t clean it because you didn’t break it. But eventually your daughter comes prancing through the house and cuts her foot. Who is responsible?
1The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands. Proverbs 14:1
Foolish men and women in the past have torn down what earlier Christians have built for us. But sooner or later men and women must get to work, clean, and build. Will it be this generation or another?
At some point, parents will need to put their kids on their lap and read from the Bible every night. Right now, the Christian fathers are teaching their children how to watch the TV, but at some point, fathers will need to practice Deuteronomy 6
5“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. Deuteronomy 6:5–7
Right now, older women are teaching younger women how to complain about their husbands and children, but at some point, mothers will need to practice Titus 2.
3Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Titus 2:3–5
Will we be the generation of reform or reckoning?
So, I’ve convinced you that there’s a problem and we have all contributed to the problem. Now what? You realize that you should have done more some things or less of others with your kids and grandkids. You have kids of your own still under your influence but don’t know how to handle it. You are a young person and see what I’ve laid out but are unsure what you need to do.
We aren’t going to solve a generational problem in one Sunday morning. But you can solve personal problems each morning. Start with what you know you need to do. For some that may mean reading and applying the Bible every day. For some men, it may mean taking down your white flag or surrender and praying with your wife every night. For some women, it may mean confessing your sins to the people you sin against.
Remember, the more you give to God in faith, the more He will bless. The more you avoid, the more your enemies can steal.
When I get back, I will start a series on worship. My hope is for us to be like the exiles who inherited a deserted city and begin with rebuilding the temple. But before I start this project of rebuilding Christendom, I need to make sure we are all on board.
28“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29“Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Luke 14:28–30
My prayer for us is Psalm 71:18
18And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come. Psalm 71:18