January 7, 2024 • Dr. James Merritt • Psalm 78:1–8
As we read today’s key passage, we see Joshua is the commander- in-chief and leader of the nation of Israel. He has led the people into the Promised Land that God has promised them, but he wants to make sure they keep that land and prosper in that land. He wants them to live happily ever after. But on this day, he is not talking as the commander-in-chief or as a political leader; he is talking as a dad who has a family. He makes this momentous statement: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (v.15). In effect, he drew a line in the sand. He said, “Even if no one else comes to stand on this side of the line, my family and I will.” He chose to lead his family to do three things that I am going to ask you to do as well.
In today’s key passage, God tells Moses to do something very important. In a nutshell, He says, “Make sure that your children and your grandchildren love God with all their heart.” The fact was that at that time in history, people didn’t associate love and God. All of their experiences with gods had been about making sacrifices and focusing on works. But the God of Israel changed all of that. And the truth is, seeing God as loving and also choosing to love God are truths we want each and every generation to embrace. We need to teach the next generation to know the truth of God's Word so that they will know the God of that truth. So in this message, we’re going to look at the four ways we are to do just that in our homes.
There's a letter in the New Testament called First Timothy. It was written by the Apostle Paul to his young protégé who was going to take over pastoring the church in Ephesus. Timothy was young, barely 30 years old, and quite inexperienced. But Paul lets him know that though you may be lacking in education or experience, the one thing you can always be is a role model. The main lesson I want us to take away from this message is our role for the next generation is to be a role model. We can do that in four ways, and we’re going to discuss each of those in detail.
