The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample
The Next Generation
I am so grateful to Jonathan Fletcher. When I first encountered Jesus in 1974, he met with me for three hours every week for a year, and regularly thereafter until I left university. He became a great friend. He taught me the Christian faith. He taught me how to read the Bible and how to pray. He recommended Christian books and answered my questions.
I am also so grateful to Sandy Millar. After I left university, Sandy did the same as Jonathan had done, in a different way. He showed me a model of how to live the Christian life, to which I still aspire.
Juan Carlos Ortiz tells the story of meeting an old lady in his native Argentina who introduced him to a young girl who was one of her great grandchildren. She went on to tell that she had six children and thirty-six grandchildren. Her family was impressive in number and among her grandchildren were many well-educated and professional people. Carlos asked her, ‘How did you manage to produce such a large, well fed, well dressed, well educated, extended family?’ She replied, ‘I didn’t. I just took care of the six. And each of them took care of their six.’
We have a responsibility for the next generation. How we live now will affect others in the future. In each of the passages for today, we see how the next generation is affected by the previous one. We see two good examples and one bad one.
Psalm 78:1-8
1. Tell the next generation
We all have a story to tell. Every family has stories. Every church has its own stories of what God has done. Every Christian has a story – a testimony. All of us have access to the great story of what God has done in Christ. We have to ‘tell the stories’ (v.6, MSG).
This psalm gives us a sketch of Hebrew history leading up to King David, and the importance of handing it on to the next generation. We see a contrast between the goodness of God and the sins of Israel. Jesus himself quoted verse 2 of this psalm (Matthew 13:35).
The psalmist says, ‘We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done … to teach their children, so that the next generation would know them … and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God’ (Psalm 78:4–7).
Each generation has a responsibility to tell the next one about the goodness of God and to warn them of the mess that we make of our lives when we turn away from God’s goodness.
Lord, thank you for those who told us about ‘the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done’ (v.4). Help us to ‘tell the next generation’ (v.4) and help us to teach our children ‘so that the next generation will know them … and they in turn would tell their children’ (v.6). Lord, we pray that our children and grandchildren would ‘put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands’ (v.7).
Acts 16:1-15
2. Train the next generation
Paul recognised he had a responsibility to train up the next generation. He found Timothy – ‘a fine young man’ (vv.1–2, MSG). Timothy was discipled, trained and taught by Paul. Today we would describe Paul as being a mentor to Timothy.
Bill Hybels has said that every major strategic step or decision he has made was inspired and encouraged by someone three feet away from him and not in a crowd of a thousand people. While preaching can make a big impact, preachers often overestimate the amount of truth that is assimilated between the pulpit and the pew. In his life, ‘Truth applied across a table’ has been a key to his own personal growth. This seems to have been the key for Timothy.
Timothy’s mother, Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5), was ‘a Jewess and a believer’ (Acts 16:1). His father was Greek (v.1). He had been brought up as a Greek and was therefore uncircumcised. Paul circumcised him ‘so he wouldn’t offend the Jews who lived in those parts’ (v.3, MSG).
It was through Paul that Timothy had become a Christian and they became very close friends. Paul was older than Timothy and he described their friendship as being like that of a father and son (Philippians 2:22). Paul described Timothy as ‘my son whom I love’ (1 Corinthians 4:17).
They went through a great deal together. ‘They travelled from town to town’ (Acts 16:4). They even spent time in prison together. During all this Timothy would have been watching Paul to be trained up as a successor.
Paul involved Timothy in the work right from the start. They took decisions together (v.4). Through their ministry together ‘Day after day the congregations became stronger in faith and larger in size’ (v.5, MSG).
Timothy learnt about the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When they tried to enter Bithynia, the Holy Spirit ‘blocked that route. So they went to Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them go there either’ (vv.6–7, MSG). This is an important lesson in life. I can think of at least five occasions in my life where I have felt that I should go in a particular direction ‘but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow’ (v.7) the plan to succeed. As I look back now, I am so thankful the Spirit stopped plans which, in hindsight, were clearly not the right ones.
God then led Timothy and Paul in a new direction. This time God spoke to them in a dream: ‘During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” ’ (v.9). Not surprisingly Paul took this as clear guidance that they were to go to Macedonia: ‘All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans’ (v.10, MSG).
In Philippi, Timothy would have watched Paul on the first Saturday that he was there, going down to the river where there were a group of women praying (v.13).
As Paul spoke about Jesus, Lydia, a rich merchant woman, was converted. She invited Paul and those with him to come and stay in her home. It must have been an extraordinary and wonderful experience for them both to see how the ‘Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message’ (v.14).
Lord, thank you so much for those who told us the good news about Jesus. Help every ‘Paul’ to find ‘Timothys’ who they can train up. Help every ‘Timothy’ to find a mentor like Paul who will pass on all their experience to them.
1 Kings 12:25-14:20
3. Teach the next generation
Unless we learn the lessons of history we will repeat the mistakes of the past. The book of Kings records the history of the people of God so that the following generations may learn from them.
As the psalmist put it in today’s psalm, ‘He commanded our ancestors to teach their children so that the next generation would know [God’s commands]’ (Psalm 78:5–6).
Sadly the lessons we can learn from this passage are mainly negative – the account of Jeroboam is a terrifying one. He passed on a terrible legacy to the next generation.
‘After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves’ (1 Kings 12:28). It is not enough to ‘seek advice’ if we consult the wrong people! These chapters contain the account of the sin of the house of Jeroboam that ‘led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth’ (13:34).
Jeroboam’s key sin was that he made up a form of religion and worship to suit himself. He encouraged idol worship rather than the worship of God (12:28). Jeroboam’s religion is a made-up religion, created to suit his own desires and needs.
We may not worship golden calves, but the same danger is just as evident today. As Pope Francis has said ‘The most dangerous idol is our own selves when we want to occupy the place of God’.
This was Jeroboam’s sin, and it affected the next generation. His son Abijah became ill and died (chapter 14). He ignored the good example of the earlier generation of David who had lived with an undivided heart, pleasing God. Instead he had ‘set a new record in works of evil’ (14:9, MSG).
Jeroboam may have had many military, commercial and political achievements (see v.19), and yet it seems these successes are fairly irrelevant. What matters most is a living relationship with the living God. As Jesus said, ‘What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?’ (Mark 8:36).
Lord, help us to heed the warning of this passage. We pray for our political leaders, that they will not act like Jeroboam but will honour you in all that they do. We pray that from among your people you will raise up leaders in industry, politics, creative arts, media and every sector of society, who will honour you and pass on your message and your standards to the next generation.
Pippa Adds
Psalm 78:4–6
‘We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done … so that the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born.’
It is a challenge to pass on our faith to the next generation. I am so grateful to the children and youth workers at HTB. They have poured out their love on our children and the children of hundreds of others. Every year at Focus (our church holiday away), we have seen our children’s lives and many others transformed during the week. I am excited by what God is doing in the next generation. And the potential for ‘the children yet to be born’ is vast – I feel inspired to pray for them.
Notes:
Juan Carlos Ortiz, Disciple, (Charisma House, 2001) pp.101–102.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
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Start your day with the Bible in One Year, a Bible reading plan with commentary by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel. Nicky Gumbel is the Vicar of HTB in London and pioneer of Alpha. ‘My favourite way to start the day.’ – Bear Grylls ‘My heart leaps every morning when I see Bible in One Year by @nickygumbel sitting in my inbox.’ – Darlene Zschech, Worship Leader
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