Setting: Traditional Worship
Length: 16:47
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Occasion: The sermon was preached at a dedication worship for the Covenant Christian School.
But the principles apply to all intergenerational endeavors.
A maskil of Asaph
1 O my people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old-
3 what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
PPT:
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their forefathers—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
Sermon Title: Serving God’s Purpose for Future Generations: A Church Perspective
The 2 sermons today….are held together by one title: serving God’s purpose for future generations
-this title is actually the slogan of the school
-you might have seen a banner with this message alongside the south
side as you come in from the parking lot
-as we worship and dedicate the school, we are confirming once again how God has established these two institutions together onto one campus under one vision and purpose
-it will be worthwhile for us to revisit our joint venture. The general direction we are going and the ways we can serve God’s purpose together for the next generation
-and to gain perspective, we should step back
-not just 20+ years to when the school was founded
-nor 30+ years when the church was planted
-actually, let’s step way back….thousands of years to when God delivered Israel from a land of slavery and chose that nation to be his own
-from an identity as slaves to a new identity as beloved children, Israel was to be one faithful nation under God…indivisible…
…their history…from one generation to the next…was to be a recounting of God’s steadfastness and their reciprocating loyalty to Him
-and so, Asaph…
-like the teachers before his generation…continues that tradition of passing down the faith
-he offers….a maskil…a word of instruction based on the history of Israel
-and this story of Israel’s past in this very lengthy psalm is not a good one
-in fact, if you track the maskils in the Psalms…there are number of them…you will find that they are quite depressing
-a reminder that instruction is not always uplifting but sometimes it is
downright sobering
-in fact, we find here in this lengthy Psalm, a negative perspective
-from vs.9 onward, it is a sad commentary on the history of Israel
-a depressing look into how the generations stumbled one after another though they made the commitment to pass along the faith
-time does not allow us to even scratch the surface of this instruction
-but we can be reminded this morning of its basic intention which is to challenge us to learn from the past generations
-theirs was to be a story of God’s gracious deliverance and choosing and their faithfulness to Him
-theirs was to be a responsibility to hand down a rich spiritual heritage to the successive generations
-but they did not
-they understood their responsibility but chose not to carry it out
-like parents who understand their calling but choose, for whatever reason, to neglect it
-sure, the forefathers provided material things for the next generation
-provided food, shelter, clothing
-passed along skills and trades so that that the next generation could prosper materially
-whatever material things their children needed, they provided
-but the spiritual lessons of life, they were not always consistent
-I find it powerful that Asaph uses the word “parable” in v.2
-he is about to present the history of Israel but says he will open his mouth in parables
-the word parable comes from 2 Greek words:
-para – along aside
-bole – which means to thrown
-and so, the idea is to throw something along side something else
-in other words, you are talking about one thing
-but along side it, you are talking about something else
-Jesus was the master at it when He spoke about physical things such as a sower throwing seeds to the ground
-but along side it, he is talking about the preaching of the Word and how it is like a seed that falls of poor or rich soil
-and so, one presentation is made, but a deeper spiritual lesson is coming along side of it
-and so, Asaph is presenting the history of Israel, but coming along side of it is a spiritual lesson
….once again, we are reminded that history in the Bible is not just a neutral presentation of facts but a spiritual lesson for the next generation
-Asaph’s instruction is that Israel’s history has a spiritual lesson for us
-that though they heard about the praiseworthy deeds that were passed down from generation to generation, they were stubborn and rebellious (v.8)
-though they heard what was handed down, their hearts were not loyal
-and their spirits (v.8) were not faithful to Him
-looking back on this depressing history, Asap is determined to BREAK the cycle of rebellion
-to stop the domino effect of one rebellious generation after another
-in the first 8 verses, he is determined….NOT to let past dominos knock him down
-NOT to REPEAT the mistakes of the past
-to learn from history lest they be doomed to repeat their failures
-in short, Israel’s history becomes a parable of WHAT NOT TO DO
-lest the next generation is condemned to repeat it
-this instruction may remind you of a famous saying…It goes something like this:
Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to....repeat it
-a powerful statement on how we ought to learn from OUR past…for the sake of our future.
-like Asaph did, we can also look back on our country’s history and see the rich spiritual roots that we have but the increasing secularization of our nation
-like Israel, what we have is an accumulative effect of successive generations failing to pass on the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord (v.4)
-this is the result of one generation failing to connect to the next generation
-what we have today is multiple generations even living at the same time but failing to be connected
-multiple generations living under one roof, but families being disconnected
-multiple generations living in one society, but being completely estranged from one another
-the generation gap is really a generation chasm as one generation separates itself from the next
-every generation, it seems, is more concerned about their own situation and not the next one to come
-we must learn from our past and do better
-and so, history lessons actually offer instruction for our present and future
-be it negative, it is still a lesson
-The Apostle Paul writes about the negative past in 1 Cor. 10:11, saying
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us
-and in Romans 15:4, he writes:
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us...
-and so, Asaph’s maskil must be our maskil…our lesson learned
-and his commitment to turn the tide must be our commitment, so that
….the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands. vs.6-7
-I have said on a number of times that our purpose in life is greater than our own needs
-that we have a higher purpose than to just take care of ourselves
-but that we have a responsibility to others
-and in this case…to the next generation
-we can’t let that happen
-so let’s confirm once again that we are an inter-generational ministry
-multiple generations worshipping together and doing God’s work in the community together
-that means that our goal must never be to become a mono-generational church
-as many churches move towards serving one demographic, we cannot follow that trend
-the day we become mono-generational is the day we lose our ability to touch the next generation
And to ensure we don’t suffer that loss, we invest in our children
-and to be clear…that means, that we have a responsibility to children who are not biologically our own but are still part of our larger spiritual family
-though it is true that parents are called to pass down the faith, we DON’T leave it at that but see the larger responsibility of helping the parents
-every time we have a child baptism, we confirm this larger responsibility
-for example, in our baptism ritual, there are questions that are asked of the parents as they commit their child to the Lord
-BUT there is ALSO commitment made by the congregation as WE commit to help raise the child
-we call it a “Congregational Response”…which we say in unison to express our collective resolve: I quote
We the people of this congregation, in receiving these children, promise with God’s help to be their sponsor to the end that they may confess Christ as their Lord and Savior, and come at last to His eternal kingdom.
As a congregation, we are to sponsor the next generation
This is how we, as a church, serve God’s purpose for the next generation
And in God’s eternal plan, He saw it fit to establish a school under church sponsorship for the sake of the next generation
-and every year, there are good examples of how the church has been supportive
-noble examples of how the church has been there for the school during the challenging times
-ongoing examples of time given to help develop the school
-Long before our church and school existed, Asaph made a commitment to invest in the next generation
And long after Asaph, we can continue that tradition….
This Psalm provides the inspiration for this website. Click:
For another sermon on intergenerational ministry, click:
This sermon you just heard on Psalm 78 sheds some light on child baptisms.
For further insights into child baptisms, click the following writing:
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