An Unbroken Chain

Spurgeon wrote, grammar is poor food for the soul if it is not flavored with the grace of God. Around the fireside, fathers, you should repeat not only the Bible stories, but the deeds of the martyrs and the reformers.

Tell them your own walk, your own testimony. In other words, it's the responsibility of an educational system to teach your child grammar, but it is your responsibility to teach your child about the grace of God. God's Word sets out our goals for children. These goals don't change over time. They are timeless goals for all children in all generations. Psalm 78 summarized those goals in three simple statements, know God, think biblically and live wisely.

We're going to study that together today, here on Wisdom for the Heart. In Psalm 78, Asaph lays out Israel's long wandering history in a single chapter. He begins the same as Genesis 1 and ends the same as Revelation 22 ends with God as the hero. These are truths that Christians are to teach their children.

So let's join Stephen as he opens God's Word with this lesson called an unbroken chain. When Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, it wasn't any easier for a man to love his wife as his own body. It wasn't any easier for a woman to respect her husband's leadership. It wasn't any easier for children to obey their parents. All of that spelled out, of course, in Ephesians chapters 5 and 6. It wasn't any easier to follow God then than it is now. In fact, it's just as possible to please God and follow him now as it was then simply because some things never change. The truth of Scripture doesn't change. The pattern and design for the family hasn't changed. The goal of parenting hasn't changed. The need for biblical love and discipline hasn't changed. And by the way, the depravity of the human heart hasn't changed either, has it? And the need for the gospel and this amazing grace that we have sung about.

Because we have been born with a rather incredible capacity to sin. And something has to be done and we know that God's Spirit must do it in the hearts and lives of children and moms and dads. If we've ever needed a fresh look at the priority of parenting, it's perhaps today.

And if moms and dads ever needed encouragement and prayer and fellowship and wise counsel and a family of believers dedicated to helping them along the way, it's today. So what I want to do in a few minutes that we have here is just dust off an ancient inspired poem. It's numbered 78 in your Hebrew hymnal, Psalm 78. It was written to be sung in every generation so that every generation would be reminded of what the ultimate priorities are in life. You'll notice at Psalm 78, again, there's some notation underneath and it says, a maskil of asaph.

Now the word maskil can be understood to mean instruction for the purpose of meditation. In other words, asaph wants us to think long and hard about these lyrics. We're not going to cover the contents of this poem. It's a long poem.

It would take us three years to get through it. But what I will tell you is this, what asaph does is rehearse Israel's history. He starts from the exodus where they depart from Egypt and it goes all the way to David's reign in Jerusalem. And what asaph does is present in poetic form in order to be sung that block of history in Israel's experience. And it's as if to say, by the way, and this is important to understand, whenever you read historical narrative, you're not only to learn from history, not only can you learn from history, you should learn from history.

We need to learn from history. Now the song opens in verse one. Listen, O my people, to my instruction. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wondrous works that he has done.

I didn't know that trio of young men was going to sing that song. We will remember the works of the Lord but I'm thinking this is Psalm 78. This is the exhortation.

Listen, you could literally render that. Pay attention, pay attention to the history which includes the mighty works of God. Now look at verse five, for he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers. Here's the command, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children.

In other words, there's no such thing as a generation gap in the mind of God. Like an unbroken chain, the truth about God, the truth about God's works, the truth about God's Word, the truth about God's will is to be passed down from generation to generation like an unbroken chain. What I want to do is point out that in this unbroken chain there are at least three priorities that godly parents need to communicate. In fact, it is the mission of our church. Priority number one is to know God. This is the direction we're pointing.

This is who we want them to see. In fact, notice verse six again, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should notice this, that they should put their confidence in God. You cannot put your confidence in a God you know nothing of. So they need to be introduced to this living God. So Asaph is singing, take your children through the history of Israel, so that they might end up knowing why they can place their utter and absolute confidence in this living God. Teach it to your children. And if they get it, have them teach it to their children.

And if they get it, have them teach it to the next generation. So what God wants the home to be like is a spiritual chain reaction. By the way, the church picks up on that, doesn't it? You find that same strategic priority where Paul writes to Timothy and he says, Find some faithful men, teach them the word, and then have them teach others also. The generation following us get it from us that God is worthy of every confidence. This is convicting because it begs for us to ask ourselves the question, Do I live in such a way that my children or people watching my life might get the sense that I believe they could put their confidence in God like I do?

That he's worthy of it. Teach them to know God. Priority number two, teach them to think biblically. Again, verse seven, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God. Not only coming to know about God, but coming to know about what God has done. Tell them, look up at verse two, the parables. These are stories with spiritual meaning. Tell them the dark sayings, you could translate that, secrets.

Hiddath is the Hebrew word that is the mysterious working of God's purposes. Teach them those. Verse five, teach them the testimony and the law of God. Tell them the commandments of God to his people.

Up again at verse four, don't conceal them, tell them. In other words, bring before the eyes of your children these stories and parables and principles and ordinances and laws and commands and events of biblical history to show them what they can follow through life. Teach them. You're effectively teaching them the works of God through the word of God. Charles Spurgeon, pastoring in the 1880s, late 1800s, wrote in his commentary on this text, the best education is education in the best things.

That's good. The best education is education in the best things. Your children might very well be receiving an education in good things and necessary things.

But it may never touch on the best things. And frankly, a school isn't given the primary mandate to teach them the best things. Spurgeon wrote, the very first lesson a child should learn from his mother is concerning his mother's God. He goes on to write, grammar is poor food for the soul if it is not flavored with the grace of God. Around the fireside, fathers, you should repeat not only the Bible stories, but the deeds of the martyrs and the reformers. And moreover, the dealings of the Lord with themselves, both in his providence and his grace, tell them your own walk, your own testimony.

In other words, it's the responsibility of an educational system to teach your child grammar, but it is your responsibility to teach your child about the grace of God. And show them the grace of God through history. Show them the grace of God through scripture.

Show them the grace and providence of God through your own testimony and your own life. Spurgeon, in that same paragraph, writes, every satchel then, every book bag should contain a Bible. In other words, every child should grow up learning that the most important things to learn are about the Creator and his divinely inspired communication to us through his Word. Because everything else may be temporary, but he is eternal. And before him, we will one day stand. Without it, without this, he might grow up to become an extremely educated man, but we are surrounded by extremely educated individuals whom the Word of God would call fools. Because they have said in their heart, there is no who.

God. No matter how many degrees or after someone's name, we are surrounded by individuals who are intelligent, but empty. The fear of the Lord that is the placing of your confidence in the reality of God and in his Word, Solomon wrote, that is the beginning point of knowledge. Proverbs 1-7. So the priority of parenting is to provide the best education by giving your children the education of the best things, primary things.

Which means you're going to have to answer a lot of the hardest questions on the planet. Because when it comes to spiritual things, your kids have a lot of questions. Don't hand them off, don't say go ask your mother or your father. Dig for yourself, find the answer and in finding the answer you will model for them that you don't know everything about the Bible, but you really want to know what the Bible has to say about what they asked.

I emailed late this past week our middle school pastor and Mike, our children's pastor. I know they have a little box somewhere in middle school and there's a box somewhere in colonial corners and kids can put their questions in these boxes. And then they spend time answering them. And I ask them, hey, do you have any questions you could send me over just the last couple of months or so? And they sent me lists longer than I'm going to read to you, but I'm going to read you some of them. Here are some questions from sixth through eighth graders for Pastor Paul.

Sixth through eighth graders. How do I deal with a death in a family that I'm close to? How should I treat a friend who has changed their gender? If the person I marry one day abuses me, can I get a divorce? If God actually gives certain disabilities to people for certain reasons, why does he do that? If people live far away and can't hear about Jesus, do they go to heaven? How are God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit the same God?

How do you help bullies and flirts? Aren't you glad Pastor Paul's going to answer all those questions? Here are some questions from third through fifth graders. Third through fifth graders for Pastor Mike. Why does God let us sin? Why does God let us sin?

If God knew that Satan was going to sin, then why did he create them? Where is the Garden of Eden on today's map? I see this kid with his GPS. I'm going to look at it. Google Earth. I want to see it.

What is the Holy Spirit exactly? I love that. Exactly. Did Adam and Eve's kids marry each other? What's your favorite hairstyle?

I love his throat in there too. Not exactly in the Bible, but they want to know. I don't know what Mike said. Do angels have free will? Are there girl angels? That's easy. Yes, I married one of them.

And how many of you men married one as well? Let me see your hands. Didn't want to leave you out in the cold on that one. How wonderful is this though? These kids are saying, I want to know what the Bible says. I want to know how it relates to my life. I want to know how it relates to my friends' lives.

I want to know what it says about my world. They're effectively inviting us to help them think biblically. Don't hand that off. What a joy it is when your kids come to understand. And by God's grace, believe the gospel.

Isn't that what we're after? What a joy it is to hear them telling other kids about it. Because they get it. Right in the middle of studying this psalm and I got a phone call. I was out and got a phone call from a young mother in our church. And she called me up and she said, Stephen, my eight-year-old daughter Lauren came home from school today with some pretty exciting news. And after she told me, I asked her, well, who do you want to call and tell, thinking she'd say her grandparents. And she said, I want to call Pastor Davey. She's on the phone here. Would you like to talk with her?

I said, absolutely. Eight-year-old Lauren got on the phone and told me that out on the playground that day, she had told her best friend the gospel of how Jesus died for her and was buried and rose again. By accepting the gospel, her friend could go to heaven. And she said, and it was so exciting because my friend prayed right there on the playground with me to accept Jesus Christ into her own life and heart. I was so thrilled.

So thrilled. That's an unbroken chain here. How to know God. How to think biblically.

That's hard work. Priority number three, how to live wisely. Go back to verse seven one more time. That they should put their confidence in God, that's knowing God, and not forget the works of God. That's thinking biblically, as the word of God describes it.

Now notice. But keep his commandments and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation. I found me in here.

Did you find you? Not like their fathers. Rebellious and stubborn. The term here for fathers is a reference obviously to the disobedient forefathers of Israel.

They disobeyed God, rebelled against him, and ended up wandering in the wilderness. God disciplined Israel over and over again, which by the way is implicit in parenting. It's implicit in growing. I've often said that discipline and discipling come from the same root word. For those of you who are in the throes of raising children, you know the weariness and the daily chore of discipline. I remember many times coming home, my wife already had all four kids lined up ready for their daily spanking.

It's so good to see two of my sons up here with their wives and their babies. I mean, they're going to pay for everything they did to me. Every child is different though. I mean, some are compliant. More compliant than others. Some are more quiet.

You gotta watch them. Some are loud. They're one loud noise from the time they get up to the time they go to bed. Their lives have two speeds, full throttle and fast asleep. There's no in between there. Some are easy going.

Some are little attorneys, and they're going to take you through every potential loophole with every command you give them. Early on, I love to see it. I shouldn't enjoy it so much, especially in grocery stores where some child has abducted his poor mother, demanding their way. They do it in church too. I love reading about that one kid. You know, he's fussing in church, wouldn't sit, still complained, dropped his crayons, his coloring book, fussed and fussed. Finally, his dad had enough. Picked up that boy, put him over his shoulder, started walking out, and right before he got to the back door, the boy looked up and faced the congregation and said, pray for me. You know, there's a moment of growth and wisdom in that little boy right about then.

Right about then. Maybe you can identify with this one young mother. Chuck Swidall included this story. It's a friend of his, actually, in his book on family life. It's a wonderful book, by the way, called Family Life. He writes, some parents have the extremely difficult challenge with children at times who are especially obnoxious and take on their parents in public places. And maybe you have one like that.

And it's a chore to battle. He wrote this, the best example I ever heard was a ten-year-old boy named Robert who was a patient of my good friend, Dr. William Slonecker. Slonecker said his pediatric staff dreaded the days when Robert was scheduled for an office visit. He would attack the clinic, grab instruments, files, telephones, and his passive mother just did a little more than shake her head in bewilderment. During one physical examination, the doctor observed some severe cavities in Robert's teeth and knew the boy must be referred to a local dentist.

But who would be given the honor? A referral like Robert could mean the end of a professional friendship. Dr. Slonecker eventually decided to send him to an older dentist who was known to understand children. Robert arrived in the dental office prepared for battle. Get into the chair, young man, said the doctor. No chance, said the boy. Son, I told you to climb onto that chair and that's what I intend for you to do. Robert stared at his opponent for a moment and then replied, if you make me get into that chair, I will take off all my clothes. The doctor calmly said, well, son, go ahead and take them off. The boy paused and then removed his shirt, undershirt, shoes, socks, then looked up in defiance.

You're not finished, son, take them all off. All right, he said, now get up in the chair, to which the little boy responded. Now, the dentist said, as he worked and drilled and filled, he finally finished. And the boy stepped down from the chair, said to the dentist, give me my clothes.

I'm sorry, replied the dentist. Tell your mother that we're going to keep your clothes overnight. She can pick them up in the morning. Can you comprehend the shock Robert's mother received when the door to the waiting room opened? There stood her pink son, as naked as the day he was born. The room was filled with patients, but Robert and his mother walked past them and into the hall, into the elevator, out in the parking lot. The next day, Robert's mother returned and asked to have a word with the dentist.

She didn't come to protest. These were her sentiments. And she said, you don't know how much I appreciate what happened here yesterday. Robert has been blackmailing me about his clothing for years. Whenever we're in a public place, like a grocery store, he makes demands of me. And if I don't immediately buy him what he wants, he threatens to take off all his clothes. You are the first person to call his bluff. And she said, the impact on Robert has been incredible. I don't know if you can get away with that today.

Here, dentist, go ahead and try it. Who knows? The point is, discipline is a part of the chore and the challenge of parenting. But you need to understand that helping a child grow in wisdom means you're helping him learn to obey. By the way, according to the Bible, wisdom is not the opposite of ignorance. Wisdom is the opposite of disobedience. Wisdom is not intelligence. Wisdom is obedience. James writes it this way in his New Testament letter. Who among you is wise and understanding? I'll show you who.

The one who shows by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. Which is one of the reasons, by the way, that our culture is just totally upside down. Because every problem is fixed by education. We need to give kids more education. We need to educate them. We need to tell them more.

They need to learn more. Wisdom is the practical application where you take what you know about God and obey it. The exhortation is not so much to education as it is application of truth learned. That's wisdom.

Wisdom is truth applied to life. So here are the ultimate priorities to show and tell the next generation that God is worth knowing, his word is worth studying, and his will is worth obeying. But at the end of the day God must do his work in the hearts of every child just as he must do his work in your heart and mine.

That's a good reminder for today, isn't it? In the daily grind of being a parent, grandparent, or teacher, it's easy to get focused on the immediate issues and lose sight of the ultimate goals God has for the children in our lives. And he wants us as Christian adults to invest in children and be used by him to teach and train the next generation. You've been listening to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. If today's lesson was a blessing to you, you can listen to it again on our website. Stephen also provides the written manuscript of each lesson and both of those resources are available free of charge on our website which is wisdomonline.org. We'll be back at this same time tomorrow, so join us here on Wisdom for Your Heart. .