Generational Regeneration
Our society acts bipolar in the area of children. On the one hand, our culture builds parks, establishes museums, promotes entertainment for children, and caters to kids in many ways. Politicians speak well of children and kiss babies while companies market products to kids. Our world prefers youth over old age, and medical advances make the elderly look like their progeny. On the other hand, the murder of babies continues to grow. Politicians seek to make laws to kill more babies. In contrast, other politicians refuse to make laws that stop the killing of babies. Many don’t want to have kids because vacation, work, or life goals have taken priority. Some say kids are too expensive, while others say their lifestyle does not allow for children. Children are seen as necessary inconveniences. If any one person acted like our society did in the area of children, that person would rightly receive the description as crazy.
Watch Pastor Chris teach on Psalm 78.
God’s Natural Law
What undergirds this is an absolute selfishness. Focusing on me and my life without considering the next generation contradicts God’s Word and natural law. The way God designed creation before sin entered into the world includes procreation. Children and new life are built into the DNA of God’s world. Along with this, sacrifice on the part of the previous generation is also built into the DNA. God created people to give of themselves for the next generation. Adam and Eve were commanded to be fruitful and multiply before sin entered. They were to expend their energy, work the land, and give of themselves for the next image group of image bearers. When sin entered the world, the DNA structure didn’t change, but mutagens were introduced that attacked this structure. Sin, Satan, and the world try to mutate nature’s DNA through confusing gender roles, the LGBTQ agenda, no-fault divorce, and throwing off kids. But God’s natural law remains steady and unmoved. After all, God’s natural law reflects the immovable God.
God’s Written Law
God’s special revelation, the Scriptures, reveals mankind's selfishness in shirking responsibility for the next generation. Psalm 78 addresses how we should view and act toward the next generation. However, not only are our kids in view in this Psalm but the next 3 generations after! We struggle to give ourselves to the next generation, but how much more does the Scripture point us to sacrificing ourselves for our great-great-grandkids! We will never meet them. We don’t know their names. We don’t even know their faces. But we know God has ordained them to come from our lineage. We bear some measure of responsibility for setting them up now and thankfully, the Word of God guides us to this.
Psalm 78 drives home the point to teach our kids the stories and commands of God. Stories are soul food, and as the events in Scripture come alive to the next generation, they behold God's power, wonder, beauty, and grace. They recognize these things in light of God’s wrath, justice, and righteousness. The stories of God’s work for Noah and the flood, of Abraham and the miracle of Isaac, the almost sacrifice of Isaac, the moment Jacob encounters God, the terrible turned terrific life of Joseph, the unprecedented works through Moses, the nation of Israel’s rejection of God but his faithfulness to them, the prophets who boldly stood on truth in the face of hatred from kings, queens, religious leaders, and everyday people. Then, God’s punishment of His people who rejected Him led to His rescue of them. This culminates into the climax of history when God Incarnate steps onto the scene and does the unthinkable. After the wonder of the cross and the glories of the resurrection, we inherit the founding of the early church. All of these stories and more ought to captivate our children. They should awe them into seeing the greatness of God. If they don’t, the problem isn’t the story but the storyteller. Are we in awe of God’s stories? Have we watered them down and neutered them to be more receptive to our liking? These stories contain violence, blood, sex, climatic points, hardships, despair, joy, hope, losses, and victories.
The written Word also contains commands and laws. We aren’t left to guess what to do or how to live, but God has graciously given us His Scriptures to guide us. We know the root of what’s wrong with us, the action God took to fix this, the response in light of God’s work with repentance and belief, and what righteousness looks like. We have received in an intelligible language who God is and how to approach Him. We know what a life of holiness is and what submission to God means. God has given us His Word to seek Him and to lead the generations after to pursue Him.
The Call to Fall
So, let us die to ourselves and expend our energy for the generations to come. We may not be able to leave them earthly possessions, but there’s something more valuable we can pass on. The Word of God far surpasses the beauty of generational jewelry. It endures longer than generational furniture. It is more reliable than generational occupations. The Scriptures are the only thing that can boast of giving life. We start small and apply them to our own hearts. Then, we use them for our children and the children in the church. Then, our scope expands to beyond them. This requires us to fall to our own desires and wants. This means time watching TV will need to be sacrificed. This means money for vacations will need to be repurposed. This means a life of ease and comfort will need to become a life of hardship, less sleep, and work. This means less eating out and more home-cooked meals. We are called to fall to ourselves and raise up the next generation. This fulfills the creation mandate. This achieves what God has given to us be about. His glory for the coming generations. May our lineages be blessed in decades because of our faithfulness in the small things now!