What Do We Do With the Next Generation?

Church Family:
When you look at your children, grandchildren or the younger generation in our church and community do you ever think, "Oh LORD, they are up against so much in this culture, only by Your Hand, LORD, will they daily pursue You with holy, loving, delight-filled lives." Well, of course that is true, but we are the ones God uses do His work to encourage generational faithfulness to the LORD. We as Christian parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters in Christ, Grace City teachers, are the ones that God purposes to use to teach the younger generation how great the LORD is and how greatly He is to be praised. This is every Christian's responsibility. God wants us to praise His works to the younger generation and declare to them His mighty acts so that they walk in His ways (Psalm 145:3-4). This is no dusty, boring task, it is an epic duty and fight that we must accept as we hand the Gospel to the next generation.

Nehemiah, the man who loves lists of names, writes out six new lists of people in chapters 11-12. These lists are important to God and they speak volumes to us as God’s people. One thing the lists clearly declare is the responsibility of God’s people to teach the younger generation to know God and praise Him for His mighty works. Within these lists we see many of the sons following the fathers and their father’s father from generation to generation (not all but many) because of their passionate spiritual discipleship. God’s people did not just mechanically pump the children’s little brains full of biblical truths about God. Instead, they followed the Shema of Deuteronomy 6, aiming at the child's heart, declaring God’s truth and remembering His mighty works with great delight, excitement, love and passion.

How are we to lead the next generation to love and honor God with their lives? Much like Old Testament Israel was called to do, by living out the “Shema” of Deuteronomy 6:4-15. A Shema-oriented life teaches the next generation by engaging the heart of the child with the love of Jesus Christ. Our desire is to be the same as God's desire, that the child would love Him with their whole heart, with their entire being, all that they have. We do this by talking about the commandments of God and how they are for our own good and God’s glory. We live out God’s Word so that it is not just written on paper in a book but inside the child's whole being to enjoy holy living, holy behavior, holy words and holy desires. We talk about God's faithfulness and His promises in Christ while in the midst of every weakness, hardship, insult, persecution, sorrow and blessing so that trust and hope win. We write out God’s Word to be seen and read for a constant reminder of God’s calling to be holy and separate from the world living like Christ. We talk about God as a loving Heavenly Father, who perfectly cares for us and lovingly provides and protects us so that the younger generation loves to obey their loving heavenly Father.

Let us delightfully disciple the next generation so that two hundred years from now, unless the Lord returns first, we too may have lists of generational faithfulness to the LORD. Let us be quick to speak to the next generation how great the LORD is and how greatly He is to be praised.

See you Sunday, loving the next generation: Steve