Teach Them Well

Thursday, November 9, 2023

O my people, listen to my instructions.  Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable.  I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.  We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.  For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel.  He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children.  So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.  Psalm 78:1-7

If children are not taught well the lessons of how God’s Word is to be obeyed, we have no hope of having a sane, kind, and sustainable world.

In an age when everything must have an immediate solution, there is little hope of a “viral” response to this text.  Still, this text contains the ultimate solution to the madness that envelopes the 21^st century culture…to wit:  If children are not taught well the lessons of how God’s Word is to be obeyed, we have no hope of having a sane, kind, and sustainable world.

The Psalmist said it clearly, that if we forget God’s sovereign power (shown in His miracles and creation) complete generations of humans will cease to know God, and will therefore, set their hope on possessions and selfish ambitions.  I cannot think of a better characterization of what is happening in our world.  In my lifetime I have watched the disappearing act in churches, and the accompanying disregarding of fearing God (in the sense of honoring He who created and sustains us):

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.  He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.  Everything was created through him and for him.  He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.  Colossians 1:15-17

Putting this all together:  

     1.    God, through Jesus, the Christ, created everything, including all humanity, and keeps it going every second of every millennium, and is therefore the owner of all of it…and us.

     2.    He has given it all as a gift, sealed by the promise of His Spirit, the result of the blood of His Son, Jesus shed on Calvary’s tree.

3.    That requires a response of respect and reverence for He who owns us, loves us, empowers us, and sets us free to live creative, constructive, kind, and loving lives.

     4.    That shows up in many ways; the first (and foremost) of which is worship!

     5.    We are increasingly doing a pitiful job of that response

     6.    The way to reverse it is for families to return to a priority of worship, Bible study, and prayer, so that the children in those families will learn how to really live.

For You Today 

What I have shared is not new, nor is it flashy.  It’s not likely to make any headlines, and it’s not a single app you can get on Google, where you can hit the button and solve all your problems.  Rather, it’s a mindset, a worldview, a plain distillation of what Scripture covers from Genesis to Revelation – humankind’s responsibility to worship God all the days we live, and do whatever’s necessary to pass-along the faith to that next generation. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Worship Smiles

 

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.  They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation.  They exult in your righteousness.  You are their glorious strength.  It pleases you to make us strong.  Yes, our protection comes from the Lord, and he, the Holy One of Israel, has given us our king.  Psalm 89:15-18

Well, there it is…the Psalmist said it out loud:  Worship makes you happy!  From reports of “church experts” across the spectrum it would not seem so.  Weekly attendance is abysmal compared to previous generations, along with offerings, and volunteerism.  The word on the street is that the church is done.  The reasons given for such an appraisal are legion, clergy misconduct causing distrust of denominational leadership, as well as culture clash, where the church diverges from the demands of societal-change.  The overwhelming shift of accepted sexual expression in the last 50-60 years has constructed a portrait of the church as out-of-touch, antiquated, old-fogey.  As an institution, the church is perceived as the dead-end of rules, with sour dispositions.  To listen to all of that, we (church folks) are not fun at all!

My experience is somewhat different.  Even with health challenges that make it difficult to get up in the morning and get moving, I find myself anxious to be at our church’s worship times.  We have the same complexity as most other groups do in navigating the problems of aging, financial shortfall, COVID-issues, and more.  However, week after week, I’m in the presence of smiling, grateful, and…well…downright happy people.

So, which is truth, the report on the street of the church’s death, or the opposing experience of joyful worship?  I think it’s both.  On the street report, you would have to give credence to the death certificates of many churches.  Year after year as I gather with other church leaders in our annual meetings, there are closings finalized for local congregations that have dwindled to unsustainable levels. 

In the North Carolina Conference nearly one-third (representing 22% of membership) of their churches have recently disaffiliated with the UMC over the Homosexuality Issue.[1] 

On the positive side of the ledger, this represents a healthy desire for defined Biblical faith, as opposed to caving-in to the demands of cultural opinion.  This is consistent with the swimming upstream historical track record of Christ’s cosmic church, seeking to be His body, rather than an off-shoot orgainizational arm of culture’s selfish whims and fancies.  It’s what drove the apostle Paul to preach to Gentiles, defying the overwhelming disapproval of the early (mostly-Jewish) church elders.  It’s what drove Martin Luther to separate from the Roman church.  Through all the church disputes, clergy failure, cultural revolution, wars, famines, plagues, and oppression, the gates of Hell still do not prevail.  Christ’s church is a forever-promise of the Holy Lord, God of Heaven’s hosts.

For You Today  

If you should encounter a negative attitude in your journey today (and what’re the odds of that these days), as the old hymn has it:  be not dismayed what-e’er betide, God will take care of you. 

You don’t have to so-much keep-the-faith, as trust that the faith will keep you!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

I Find Your Lack of Faith Distrubing  and  Is This Church?

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] The Christian Post article Nov 2022, 249 North Carolina churches leave UMC amid homosexuality schism

 

Many Different Worlds

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!  His faithful love endures forever.  Has the Lord redeemed you?  Then speak out!  Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.  For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south.  Some wandered in the wilderness, lost and homeless.  Hungry and thirsty, they nearly died.  “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.  He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live.  Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.  For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.  Psalm 107:1-9

I’m a Baby Boomer, a generation of those born within 18 years following the end of World War II.  Subsequent generations were Gen X (born 1965-1980), followed by Gen Y, or Millennials (born 1981-2000), and Z (1997-2012).  Those born after 2012 are called Gen A.  The “move” spiritually and religiously has been towards the church is irrelevant syndrome.  As never before (at least in my lifetime and experience) younger people are progressively moving towards the exit door of church, in favor of “community” a loosely-defined search for refreshing change from the deadness of their parent’s “wasted-time” in the four walls with three hymns, recited liturgies, creeds, and a sermon of three points and a poem.  About the only agreeable worth for this on a Sunday was coffee and donuts (if provided).

Those for whom this description fits (loosely or like a glove) asked themselves the question:  What are you doing here?  The answer was mainly unsatisfactory. 

In some ways I couldn’t agree more.  At times the preachers, or other leaders made the discipleship process of following Jesus so uninteresting you wonder how any young people’s faith survived the entry process.  Like the Psalmist said:  Hungry and thirsty they nearly died.

MANY DIFFERENT WORLDS is an aptly described gap between Boomers, Millennials and the other letters.  This is not to say there isn’t ample precedent for young people ditching the established institutions.  Along with half (or more) of my Boomer friends, I was a lapsed believer in my teens and early 20’s. 

In the 17^th century a teen boy told his father the church and its’ music was so boring he couldn’t stand it.  His Dad said:  If that’s so, go write some better stuff.  The young man did just that, and we still sing Isaac Watts’ hymns these days.

To say we have “lost” the next generation is a two-fold mistake:

1.    That generation is yet to mature, age-out, and die.  We should be careful to not prematurely judge the changing appearance of spirituality.

2.    No generation is beyond God’s hand.  Martin Luther rebelled against a vile, dark church of his day; that didn’t turn out too badly the last 500 years.

So, coach, what do we do now?  How shall we live to reclaim and revitalize the faith once delivered (and now, seemingly deserted)?  I believe the game plan is unchanged from the playbook of Jesus’ first-century team – scatter and share!

In the daily living we do, we must continually be sharing the Gospel as the first Christians did, spreading-out from Jerusalem as they lived their daily lives, telling the Good news one-on-one, with a positive message of hope, love, and joy.

For You Today

Whichever of the DIFFERENT WORLDS you live, God calls us to connect with others.  The game plan is always scatter and share!  As the coach said to his team:  That’s the game plan, now go, and play your heart out!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts in the Rocky Road Devotions library. 

To dig deeper on today’s topic read:    Good News   and   Patiently Patiently...O Lord How Long?

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©