Adolph Hitler once said to the parents of Germany, “You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.” Hitler understood the significance of influencing the next generation. Psalm 78 is about God’s desire that his people influence the next generation.
Passing on the Word of Life
Psalm 78:1-3 The psalmist wants God’s people to listen as he reminds them of God’s mighty works and faithfulness throughout history. He highlights the fact that truth is passed on from parent to child, from one generation to the next.
But what if Christian parents refuse to pass on the Word of God to their children and, instead, encourage them to find their own “truth”? What if Christian parents fail to teach about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who creates, redeems, and empowers each human life because it seems “intolerant of other beliefs”? What if Christian parents teach their children about Jesus, but “wrap” him around worldly opinions? What if Christian parents fail to equip children with the “Sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) for the spiritual battles of everyday life? One generation will have missed powerful opportunities to help another generation build a culture of life.
Early in the 21st century, surveys revealed that a growing number of Christian young people called themselves “pro-life.” Too many of these Christian youth, however, admitted that they were “not in the Word.” A pro-life generation unfamiliar with God’s Word is ill-equipped to love and protect human life.
The generations born after 1973 in America grew up with legalized abortion – the killing of brothers and sisters, friends and classmates. What does a generation learn when the institution of government called by God to defend and protect life refuses to do so? These generations know that some physicians routinely kill babies in the womb or partially born. What does a generation learn when the medical profession called by God to save life instead ends life? Generations of Christians growing up in various congregations have too often heard abortion defended by word or silence. What does a generation learn when the institutions of family and church called by God to welcome all the children welcomes one but not another?
Opportunities for Positive Influence
Psalm 78:4 Christian parents and grandparents have at least four great opportunities to help new generations know the “miraculous things He has done” and, based on these, to help them love and protect the life that God has created and redeemed.
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Young people will be positively influenced and challenged by a culture that is different from the world. They will not be impressed with a Christian culture that mimics the mainstream. Parents and grandparents, therefore, can have a positive influence by standing on the unchanging Word of God and refusing to wrap Jesus around worldly ideas and models.
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Young people who have witnessed “power politics” are often more impressed with humble servanthood. Parents and grandparents can model this servant attitude as they reach out to the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40). They can expose the myth that pro-life Christians are only concerned about the babies. The “least of these” include babies and their mothers, fathers, and grandparents. God’s love does not discriminate. It does not choose big over small, rich over poor, white over black.
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Young people who want to follow Jesus are most usually respectful of their elders and authority. They will wait for an invitation to join the movement and mission for life, but they won’t wait forever! People of passion and energy do not sit still for long. Extend the invitation!
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The youngest generations almost always feel invincible. But, something happened on September 11, 2001, to make thousands of young men and women feel vulnerable. In their vulnerability, however, countless young people recognized truth: Life is precious—never more so than when we think it might be stolen from us. Good and evil do exist—some things are so evil it is “right” to call them “wrong.” Heroes of faith do exist—there are men who love wives, children, and neighbors as Jesus loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Parents and grandparents can reinforce these Biblical truths.
The Needs of Future Generations
Psalm 78: 5-7 To look to generations “yet to be born” is a response to what God has given his people. It is evidence of faith and hope. Such faith and hope enables one generation to help the next “trust God,” ”remember what he has done,” and “obey his commands.”
The children of Todd Beamer need to be told again and again why their father did what he could on board United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. The children of New York City firefighters need to be told again and again why their fathers risked or even sacrificed their lives for others. When someone asked firefighter Dan Newman’s wife how the firefighters could do what they did, she answered, “Because they love life. And they are called to protect it!” Future generations need to be told!
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Generations need to be told about Jesus. He built a culture of life on the rubble heap of death. Jesus turns despair into hope. He is the Living Word present in our world today just as he was present when the world began. ”In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . The Word became human and lived among us.” (John 1:1-2, 14) Jesus was involved in creation. He mourned the fall of creation. He brings hope of new life through re-creation!
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Generations need to be told the Story of Life. This means going back to the Garden of Eden, a perfect world without despair, abuse, or death. Starting at the beginning helps us understand the beauty of created order and harmonious relationships.
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Generations need to know what went wrong. This means describing the first battle for life which took place beneath the Tree of Good and Evil. Satan hates God and the humans that God creates. The Evil One knows that God’s created order protects life, so evil went straight to the rib, to the most vulnerable. Satan tempted Eve with the hissing sound we still hear today, “Did God really say …?” And then he lied, “You will not die” (Genesis 3:14). Eve sinned when she doubted God’s Word. Adam sinned when he forgot God’s Word, failed to cover his “rib,” and was unwilling to bring order out of chaos. His sin brought suffering and death into the world.
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Generations need to know what went right! With amazing grace, God loved Adam and Eve. The Father of amazing grace promised reconciliation and new life to generations that would believe. God’s amazing grace was poured out in Jesus Christ who came to live on earth where he suffered temptation and loneliness, where he suffered Hell as he hung on the cross and died the death we deserved. But he did not stay dead! He fought for life-and won! Because of Jesus, people have hope. People of hope change. And changed people change the culture in which they live.
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Generations need help to choose life. This means standing strong against Satan who would have us all choose death. The Evil One wants women to choose death. But, Adam named his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living! God calls women to be bearers of life. Satan wants men to be passive and disengaged. God calls men to engage the world with the “Sword of the Spirit” and fight – for generations of life!
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Generations need a compelling picture of what a culture of life looks like. In a culture of life, men put the needs of women and children before their own; wives are pillars for their husbands (Psalm 144:12b) and mothers to their children; the strong serve the weak; and all know their need of a Savior. It is a place where people fall everyday but, with amazing grace, are helped back up by a forgiving God.
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Generations need the Blueprint to build the culture of life. This means that we must take ourselves and others-not into a loosely translated Word or gender neutral Word-but into God’s-once-and-for-all-divinely-inspired Word. The Bible is more than history or commandments. It is God’s Word for life! It leads through the wilderness of sin to a royal kingdom where death has no sting!
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Generations need help in building the culture of life. The older and wiser generation is called, not to retirement, but to mentoring. Mentoring is not about perfect lives or having all the answers. Mentoring can be a way of admitting wrong choices and steering toward right choices. Titus 2:1-8 is a well-used and functional model for mentoring. Mentoring is the bridge from one generation to the next. It is the relational passing on of God’s work in our lives.
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Generations need order in the midst of chaos. God reforms the culture with his Word, but with mysterious grace and Almighty patience, he uses sinful people. In the hands of God, sinful people become mighty leaders out of chaos.
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Generations need to ask for forgiveness. They also need to be shown how to forgive. And now we’ve come full circle back to Jesus! Jesus is all there is! He is the Love and Forgiveness and Hope that every generation needs!
From Evil to Goodness
Psalm 78:8 God wants to lead people away from evil and toward goodness. He wants us to remember what he has done-both miracles and curses-so that we do not repeat evil but live holy and righteous lives that bring him glory.
Those who acknowledge the existence of original sin know that we are conceived in a sinful human condition. The guilt of Adam’s first sin has been passed on to every human and lives in us as embryos, toddlers, adolescents, and mature adults. We may complain, saying that God was unjust in making the law of heredity and compelling innocent children to bear the sins of the guilty parents. But, God is a God of justice and also of mercy. His laws are for our welfare and his mercy is for our salvation. There is a bright and hopeful side of heredity. In the first written Biblical record of the law, where we are told that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation, we also have the pronouncement of “Good News.” The Lord shows mercy to thousands of them that love him and keep his commandments (Exodus 20:5-6). That doesn’t mean thousands of individuals, but thousands of generations! Justice is shown to the third and fourth generations, but mercy is shown to thousands of generations!
We don’t need to be burdened by the sins of rebellious parents and grandparents or our own sins! We don’t need to be shackled to chains our ancestors forged for us. In Jesus Christ, we can break the chains that bind us to old habits and sinful choices. In Jesus Christ, we can raise up generations who will not only make godly choices but pass on a better inheritance to posterity. Generations “for life” can make a difference in a decaying and crumbling society.
When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem after being in captivity, they found the city wall crumbling and in ruins (Nehemiah 1:3). Each family of the city began to repair the wall in front of their own house (chapter 3). Sometimes, the people felt overwhelmed. There was so much rubble! Enemies outside the city gates threatened to stop the work. A voice encouraged them, saying, “Don’t be afraid! Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome! Fight for your brothers, your sons and daughters, your wives and your homes (4:14)!” They persevered and prevailed! Then, on a special day, all the people gathered in the city square to hear Nehemiah and the leaders read from God’s Word of Life. God’s written Word had been lost and nearly forgotten. The people responded with praise and worship, but also mourned their sinful ways. But Nehemiah comforted them, saying, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:10b).
Such strength equips generations to come to live distinctively different from the world. It equips them to make a difference! It equips them to be “Generations For Life”!