Reaching the Next Generation | Are you reminding them of God’s faithfulness? (Deut. 3 – 9)

Some businesses never make it past third generation ownership; it’s estimated a whopping 90% of businesses fail at that point of leadership change. It’s also estimated that family wealth usually drops off at roughly the same percentage at the third generation. Are we properly reaching the next generation with Biblical values or is your Christian legacy not going to make it past your own grandkids?

It is easy to group young kids acting similarly and define their generation. Similarly, while not condoning it, we naturally combine and define people groups: conservatives, leftists, islanders, college students, blue collar workers, etc. What about Christian families?

Churches are posing surveys and research to find out why young adults are leaving the church. Tailspins are swirling around leadership in Christian communities as they struggle to understand the reasoning behind this exodus.

Foundation for belief…

It comes down to individual families. As a parent, you are given a job. God chose you, loaned you your child(ren) through birth, adoption, foster care, or other means for you to raise them in the Lord and give them a foundation.

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When reading Deuteronomy, it helps to remember who the audience is; it is the next generation from those who fled Pharaoh. Remember, all the fighting men age twenty or older at the time of the Exodus would have died at this point. The audience listening to Moses were at a max age of 19 when they witnessed the miracles of the plagues, their exodus, and the 40 years in the desert. Since the word Deuteronomy means “repetition of the law”, it is fitting to see that Moses’ last hoorah is laying out for this generation their foundation to move forward.

Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.

Numbers 14:28-31

Continuously, we can see how the synopsis of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers are beautifully woven through with a rightful focus on God as sovereign. It was His:

• saving hand that led them,
• power that brought about the miracles,
• care that delivered food,
• love that sustained their clothing and bodies for the journey,
• promise of a better future to come,
• etc.

Remind them continuously…

We know Moses is about to die. It is his last accomplishment to recite the intricacies and details of God as he lets them go into the world without him. Much like parents, right? When kids are reaching college age, I’m assuming (as it was with my parents also) very natural to want to litter their minds with as much knowledge as possible in hopes they retain it as they experience life on their own.

The Bible says there is more to parenting than that, just as our walk holds more to it than a single confession. It is to be continual, constant.

Imagine you are a teacher who taught one student from Kindergarten through high school. Year after year, for all those years, you expected him to learn everything solely based off your actions. He would listen to some people read and talk about values, he would see some of yours, and learn from experience. In the last months as your student, you wanted to make sure that he knew exactly what you intended to convey so you peppered him with lessons and knowledge.

Now, imagine you are that same teacher with a different student for the same amount of years. You read the Bible with her, you encourage her to read her Bible, you discuss her questions, you analyze together and dig into what the Word says about a problem they are having, you shine a light on problems through a Biblical lens, your conversations are inundated with God, you pray together, love others well together, you encourage her to ask questions, you share your trials, you share how God answers “Yes” to some prayers, you share how God loves you, AND you expect her to learn based off your actions. In the last months as your student, you wanted to make sure she knew exactly what you intended to convey so you peppered her with the reminders of the lessons and knowledge already instilled with you.

Which child is entering adulthood with a solid foundation?

Reaching the next generation is more than a coffee gift card, more than a performance on a stage, more than having a fun youth group. It’s their heart. That is what God constantly tried to tell the Israelites to do; reaching the next generation meant getting to their hearts.

Third generations…

Businesses fail in the third generation for many reasons. Typically, it is related to a sense of entitlement. Speaking as a generality, a business owner who creates a business sacrifices time and money to get his endeavor off the ground. Children witness that and if a business is handed over, they want to run it and not lose what was strived so hard for. Those children were on the receiving end of the sacrifices and don’t want to repeat it. Their children, then, have a Dad in charge of a successful company and are raised without seeing him fight through the grit and strife, living a comfortable life. At the point this child takes over, expectations of how to run a business and sacrifices are usually lost because of their differing childhood experiences.

This easily likens to Christianity. The generation who sacrificed as slaves at the hand of the Egyptians and left, were those who had to work the hardest. Their determination was witnessed by the next generation who, in turn, fought hard to establish and maintain the promises given to their parents (the Promised Land). We see the analogy can break apart here, but the gist is the same: the following generations were not continuously told and reminded of God, they were not careful to obey everything He commanded, and they fell away.

Which teacher would you like to be to your kids? Which foundation do you want to leave them? Are you reaching the next generation to impact their futures or are you sending them into the world blinded by an illusion of Christianity? God calls us to teach them the truth….

Last Week

Numbers 32 – Deuteronomy 2

God Told the Israelites to Remember | Train your mind to constantly think of God in every situation so you seek Him fully

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