1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Sermon By Matt M, thank you so much, what a blessing!
A question looms over the unfolding narrative of the Old Testament:
How could Israel be so well loved and yet so wayward?
Is faithfulness to God even possible?
How can we and the generation after us pursue faithfulness to God in 2013?
We faithfully hear the story:
"Our fathers have told us".
Ps.78:1-3
There is a vital relationship between what we hear and our present/future faithfulness to God.
Faithfulness to God displays itself in an attitude of eagerness to hear, to retain, to remember, to respond to what is heard.
The call to "give ear" comes first because biblical faith doesn't begin with an open mouth. It begins with an open ear.
We faithfully tell the story:
"We will not hide them from their children".
Ps.78:3-8
Faithfulness to God is demonstrated not only by our being hearers but also heralds of the covenant story-the story of the rescuing power of God in Christ.
Multi-generational faithfulness is a community effort.
1 Cor.4:15
15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
1 Cor.15:3-4
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
The heart of Paul's message was the story of the covenant with it's central character, Jesus Christ, and His central work: living a righteous life, dying a substitutionary death and rising from the dead so that any who turn from sin and trust Him alone become eternal objects of the mercy and blessing of God.
Judges 2:10
10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.
They faithfully tell the story:
"They arise and tell them to their children".
Ps.78:5-7
No hope without faith in Christ, have you told your children?
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