Passing The Baton
I think deep within most father's (mothers too for that matter) lies a burning desire to give what they have accumulated to their children. An inheritance is of the greatest value yet I am talking of something more than possessions and money. Parents long to give away their values as well. What decent father doesn't want his children to grow up with the best of the qualities that exist in he & his wife. I don't want them to acquire the bad stuff but I do want them to have all of the highest values & wisdom I have attained along with the material wealth I leave them (whatever that is).
We were made in the image & likeness of God Alimighty. That's what the Holy Writ says. Our Father in heaven has always wanted to give His children all HE has (which is quite alot actually). HE has a burning desire to impart not just wealth but the whole body of truth, glory, & eternal life HE possesses. That desire has motivated HIm to acts of the greatest courage & sacrifice fulfilled when Jesus died for us at Calvary.
My point: God has given each of us a measure of this desire & we have to be virtually obliterated by sin before we lose all sense of it. We want to pass on what we have acquired both natural & spiritual, before we are no more. And we got this burning desire from our Father in heaven. But let's bring this down from the land of theory and see what this desire looks like in a true believer. For that endeavor, I would like us to consider Ps.78:1-8 (too long to quote here). But please take 90 seconds & read it. Then note what I am noticing.
At 1st glance, it looks as if the Lord is talking to His people. There are Psalms like that to be sure. But close examination reveals it is not the voice of the Lord we hear (yet God is speaking because it is His Word), but it is the inspired man of God, Asaph, one of the men who penned certain Psalms. Asaph's initial proclamation to the up & coming generation is LISTEN! "Incline you ear." That is, recognize the importance of this moment & pay very close attention. Note Asaph's powerful desire to pass on what God has shown him. He knew this duty of sharing the good news about the Lord was essential for the listeners' & well-being. Their future depended on learning what he knew!
Asaph intends on sharing a parable = a story with a single meaning often obscure from view except the Lord reveal the meaning. HE also would share "dark sayings of old" = those ancient truths often lost on the present generation. Out of his desire, Asaph cannot pass from this life without fulfilling his God given responsibility to declare with everything in him all he had learned about the Lord. So he seeks a place to utter the truth and his hope is that those coming after him are listening - have the wisdom & grace to realize that the truth he shares is worth more than anything they could ever value.
And these truths were the principles, commands, warnings, & testimonies his father had told him. Did you get that?!! He had received the news about the Lord from his father & other mature leaders while growing up & now Asaph realizes he too, has the same responisbility to pass on to the next generation. Asaph is a link in a chain, part of a great plan of God, to pass on to each generation from the pre-existing one the wonders of the Lord.
Verse 4 reveals the deep committment of Asaph. He will not conceal what he has heard & learned, but will tell all to those children coming after. What was it that Asaph saw as so important that he was driven to declare such truth. We have quite a catalog in this & the succeeding verse. Asaph is committed to declaring the praises of the Lord. That is teaching the coming generation of The Lord's worth, that HE alone is to be praised, that HE dwells in complete holiness & righteousness, and that we were designed & created to praise the Lord - "Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord." Asaph must also speak of the Lord's almighty strength, a stength so great that no one can match it or come close. Strength so great that trusting or applying for help from anyone else is sheer folly. A strength so great that our very lives are held in His hands. Then there is wondrous works to proclaim. God's works of faithfulness, judgment, love, & mercy must be told. Asaph knows that this will build faith + a desire to see those works in every forthcoming generation.
Verse 5 contains more truth which must be passed on. The testimony of Jacob must be communicated. Not only God's merciful & gracious dealings with the man, Jacob, but the nation that came from him. God had been dealing with the entire nation & those younger must hear about all of that. In that way, they would know that they are not accidents of nature, not people who can decide & shape their own destiny. Rather, they are part of God's great plan - the best plan - the only plan that will stand - that has ever existed on this planet. For a person to give little or no thought to what God is doing or wants to do with them, is so foolish that it is insane. Asaph must teach the Law of God. God's righteous standard which we are unable to keep. Yet, we must know of that standard so that (1) we can learn what God requires; (2) see how sinful we really are compared to the Holy God; (3) turn to Jesus, our redeemer, whom the law points to.
In the second half of verse 5, we see a great command. This proves my earlier contention that God has always been behind our desire to give away what HE has given us. Our longing to make sure that all who come after will hear & believe in the Lord has been planted in us by God. And HE has given that very command. Read it, "Which HE commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children." This is God's way & IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN SO!!!
Asaph perceives the purpose behind God wanting to give an inheritance. He perceives God's intention in commanded each of us to proclaim the Word of the Lord to the succeeding generation. God wanted the ones coming to have the opportunity to express their faith, to taste and see that God is good, to experience for themselves God's greart grace & mercy, to have revealed to them the reality of His Presence, promises, His planned future for His children, His warnings, etc. God always wanted this chain to go from one geneartion to the next. We tell our kids & they not only receive & believe the truth about the Lord but also receive the same burden to pass it on as we had, as our fathers before us had, as their fathers before them, and so on. RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING GOD PLANNED IT THIS WAY!
Asaph knew how crucial this all was. Verse 7 & 8 reveals what Asaph knew. God wanted all people down through the ages to be able to trust HIM. "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world." There is no victory over this life without believing in Jesus. Tragedy awaits all who refuse to place their confidence in Christ!
Each succeeding generation MUST NOT FORGET the works of God. How cynical is the person who has no God to hope in or rely on? How terrible is their state if they forget that Jesus their Savior is for them rather than against them? If all we have is our own wits to get us through this life safely, then we are pitiful indeed. But happily, this is not the state or the destiny of the believer. He/she has a Savior to depend on who works on their behalf as well as the behalf of the church & the Kingdom of God. How important then is it to make sure that those coming after receive the same hope & future we have received? How important? It is everything! It is THE GREAT MINISTRY of our time - of anyone's time in any generation.
Asaph knows that those coming after must keep the commands of Christ. To keep means to practice. God desires to teach us how to live. HE is God & HE gets to decide. But if those commands are not communicated, if the next bunch are left ignorant, the disaster is too great for words. Asaph has an ache that the up & comer's will not be stubborn as past generations. He has one generation in mind. That generation that God delivered from Egypt was stubborn indeed. After all god had done for them, they refused to trust or follow Him.
That's what will happen to our kids if we do not give away our faith to them. That generation coming, if left to their own way, will be stubborn (as the sin of idolatry), rebellious (as the sin of witch craft), refusing to prepare their hearts to seek the Lord (sin of presumption), and be unfaithful to the Lord (traitorous). Asaph knew this & he knew he would be at least partially responsible if he did not perform his define call & task to declare to those coming after him, the greatness & reality of God.
There you have it. God' plan from the beginning was to reveal Himself & start a 'chain reaction' that would stretch thru time. It has right up until our day. We cannot fail in this. And we won't thankfully. Why? Because God has placed it within us to reach to the succeeding generations to give away what God has revealed to us. Be of good cheer my friends. This great task has been appointed for each of us - those with kids & those who have none. Our influence on the next generation is GAURANTEED! God has called us - will HE not help us? Of course HE will.
But, "What am I to do?" , you may ask. Star by praying about it. Then look around you for those God has placed with your reach, your realm of influence. See how you can pitch in at FF. Our vision to 'pass the baton' has never been stronger & there are numerous places to serve. Opportunities abound! Jesus fill us up & make us strong for this battle. I long to see the next generation rise up in the power & anointing of God to take their place in the Kingdom - and to begin the process all over again - giving away what God has revealed to them & WHAT THEY HEARD FROM THE OLDER ONES AMONG THEM! Praise God for such a glorious purpose!
