Your Children Need You
Alex Brickey
I was in high school when my teacher recommended considering seminary. I wasn’t super interested in it at the time, but now, over seven years later, I find myself actively pursuing pastoral ministry overseas as I finish up my final year of seminary. Over the years I can look back and definitively say that I have received the fruit of faithful men and women who have set the hope of Jesus Christ before me through their words and actions throughout my life. I am grateful to my parents, grandparents, and numerous men and women who have made up the cloud of witnesses who have encouraged, prodded, rebuked, and guided me as I have grown up in the faith. Without them, I would not be where I am today.
In Psalm 78:5-8, the psalmist writes:
“[God] established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 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.”
Asaph writes this Psalm as a means of instilling a desire for older generations to encourage the younger generations to faithfully follow God. If Asaph’s vision of intergenerational ministry is to be understood correctly, the people of God ought to see that the children within the community of God’s people are not left to begin their pilgrimage toward Christ on square one. The children born to God’s people ought to see and know that there have been a number of saints who have gone before them and have seen the blessings of God. They should be told the “family stories” of how God has provided for generations of His people before them. Growing up in the ARP, I know that there are plenty of these stories to go around. But sadly, there are folks who have not experienced this type of fellowship or discipleship.
Some young men and women have been allowed to ignore their heritage and faith family throughout the Church at large. Like wandering drifters, they have been allowed to wander off without ever being seen again. While this issue is terrible, and faces all of Christ’s churches, Asaph presents a means of stopping the problem before it starts. Psalm 78 not only instructs God’s people to declare the hope of Jesus Christ to their youngest members, but to also recognize that they ought to be seen as a part of a larger faith family. Do you, as a member of your church, see the newborn baby in the pew next to you as a part of your family? What about the middle schooler that has a reputation for being unruly and hard to manage? What about the highschooler that everyone suspects has taken a trip or two to that distant country beyond his Father’s house? Do you think that those people who come to mind know that they are within your faith family?
The reality is that Asaph sees the people of God as being responsible for nurturing those who have been born into the family. The truth of the matter is that in the same way that there is not an age limit for salvation, neither is there an age of accountability for being considered a part of a church family. Over the years I have experienced the blessings of having multiple wonderful church families who have come alongside me as I have grown up. There are many mothers and fathers in the faith who I can point to and declare that they have truly taught me to hope in Jesus and to never forget His works or commandments. As you consider the message of Psalm 78 and its invitation to walk alongside the members of your church family, I would encourage you to think about what it looks like to embrace the type of fellowship and care it calls for in your own life as a member of Jesus’s family.