“Breaking the Cycle”

Psalm 78:1-8 (ESV) 

   (a transcript of sermon, so not grammatically correct for writing purposes)TDB preached on Nov. 4, 2012

[4] We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation

1.      Passing on the Faith Requires us to remember the Gospel.

2.      Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation is Keeps us Future Minded.

3.      Passing on the Faith Breaks the Cycle of Bondage to the Past.

We are a church that stresses the use of the catechism for teaching the Faith.  In fact, it was the practice of years past, to use the catechism for evangelism – teaching the Gospel (content of the Faith) to children and new believers (seekers learning) so they could then fully participate in the worship and life of the Christian fellowship – Body of Christ.  

Today, many have turned around the this process, so that now we use worship to evangelize (entertain the seekers) and then we teach the saints.   This psalm is a reminder to us the way to go back to the biblical model of teaching as a means of evangelism.   One that begins first in the home, but is also the mandate of the Church to make sure the Gospel is passed on to the next Generation. 

The word “catechism” means to “sound down” – it is the sounding out, by questions and answers what one believes about God and our salvation.  

In the 17^th century, English Puritan pastors, concerned about the biblical illiteracy in the nation – and ignorance of Christian truth, began writing their own catechisms,  so that dozens of catechisms, being published and circulated.  

There is a new interest in catechisms today.  I hope it is not a fad, that will disappear soon. But, the beginning of a new revival of true faith in our churches.   This Psalm is a call for us today to see the value of the past,  our need to be mindful of the future and the great means of breaking the cycle of unfaithfulness that we see in homes.  

     [2] I will open my mouth in a parable;

        I will utter dark sayings from of old,  [3] things that we have heard and known,

        that our fathers have told us.  [4] We will not hide them from their children,

        but tell to the coming generation

Things we have both heard and known – things that our fathers have told us. 

We see this pattern given to the covenant with Abraham –

Genesis 18:17-19 (ESV) 

    The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, [18] seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? [19] For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."

The promises of God’s love – a covenant to generations – is where the blessings of Abraham are passed down to future generations and the nations will be blessed by it.    We see here that teaching the faith and world evangelism were tied together from the beginning.  

Jesus said, “make disciples of the nations , teaching them…  (Matthew 28:18)

The Psalmist speaks of telling the future generations the “dark sayings from of old” -  this is a word of mystery – that is not a mystery that is a deep dark secret – to keep under wraps. – but the mystery of the Gospel – revealed by God.

1 Tim. 3:16 (ESV)   Paul speaks about the Mystery of the Gospel  - as the confession of the church looking at the person and work of Jesus Christ -

    Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

    He was manifested in the flesh,

        vindicated by the Spirit,

             seen by angels,

     proclaimed among the nations,

        believed on in the world,

            taken up in glory.

 Only a Gospel of Free Grace – that we have been chosen and adopted as God’s children – can be believed and received as it is taught and passed down from our fathers.  

There must be a content to our faith in order to pass it on.   We tend to think that faith is something that will just appear.  The old liberal notion of faith is that it is a feeling.   But, the theology of that kind has seeped into our songs -  Remember the camp song – “It only takes a spark to get a fire going”  -  God’s love is like a fire, just warming us up , so we pass it on.    Well, it is a good song, but the idea is that faith is just a warm feeling.  

Wesley found Christ, after attending seminary, and work as a missionary – “my heart was strangely warmed.” -  but the warmth was based on his understanding that he was justified freely by grace in the work of Christ.”  Today people talk about the feelings of faith, but the content of faith is rather nebulous. 

If you don’t know the faith -  who is Christ, what he has done – the core of the Gospel, you will have nothing to pass on.  

When Moses was nearing his death his great concern was about the next coming generation.  Read in Deut. 6 – what he is telling Israel -  the generation of the Exodus was not obedient.  They were hard hearted and rebellious.   But, Moses was still hopeful about the promises of God.   Just because they had unfaithful fathers, did not mean that God was an unfaithful father.   The Grace of Adoption – the fact that Israel was chosen was not something that was going to change.  

Twice in Deut 6 – he repeats the charge to “teach them to your children” -   The teaching was both formal and informal.  That is, both sitting down and then walking.   Faith has to be taught and lived out in the home and this of course is reinforced in the Church.    We must not just be orthodox in our doctrine – I am glad we are.  We have to be orthodox (right thinking-rule) in our daily lives.  

This command to teach the next generation is also found in chapter 11 in Duet. 

Deut. 11:19 (ESV) 

    You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 

I think of this passage often as we baptize our covenant children and as we minister to young couples.  Many of them end up moving away. But, we have the responsibility to lay down a good foundation.  

This is not however a call for just parents.   Most churches are made up of about 50 percent single people.  There is a tendency in our family churches to think that ministry and teaching is just for families with children.   The Bible does not separate home life and church life.   We are God’s family.   Some people in God’s family are married, some are not.  Some have children, some not.  Some have different size families.    But, we are to see ourselves as God’s children by adoption and God is our Father.    There is a great need to see the responsibility of passing on the faith to the next generation as a collective responsibility.    This is what we reflect when we promise as a church to raise our baptized children in the Faith.  

I am very thankful that our SS material is faithful to God’s word and reinforces our WA catechism.    I have no worry that what I teach my children at home is reinforced in SS and in our church’s teaching.  

In fact, this is what must happen.   If our children are only taught at home – it can lead to an imbalance in their minds.   They will be cut off from the history of the Church’s teaching role.   They need spiritual fathers and mothers who are wise in the faith and can support and reinforce what they get at home.  

What we see today, is a weak emphasis on SS – even those who say it is past and over.   Teaching in the church is replaced with fellowship.   

We must recover the Church’s role in shaping the hearts and the minds of a new generation.   The millennial generation (20’s) are the most unchurched and secular minded generation ever in America. 

One writer puts it this way - “Young people aren’t walking away from the church, they’re sprinting…Barna Group estimates that 80 percent of those reared in the church will be “disengaged” by the time they are 29 years old.”

That is a shocking statistic.  But, it is tragic, because many in the Church today, are not doing anything to stop the decline into unbelief.  

[5] He established a testimony in Jacob

        and appointed a law in Israel,

    which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, [6] that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,

        [7] so that they should set their hope in God

    and not forget the works of God,

        but keep his commandments;

This is a far reaching vision into the future.  It is about generations yet unborn.   Verse 7 gives the purpose of this generational blessing -  so they will set their hope in God.   

We can never guarantee that our children will believe -  it is not a power we have to create faith.   But what we have are promises of God, so that we can create a place where faith can flourish.   

The final verse of this passage, this morning – puts us on track concerning our abilities.  The truth is Israel was a bad role model.  Their fathers were rebellious.   This was not a generation of faithful men and women who were passing the torch.  These were sinners who desired future generations not to endure the mistakes they made.   It is hopeful verse, because it reminds us that the hope of future generations rests not in us, but in the power of God’s grace.   

    [8] and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation,

    a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

It is only the Gospel that breaks the cycle of rebellion.  It is God’s free gift of mercy to generation that sees it’s sin and turns from it and embraces Christ.