The Children’s Boot Camp: Shepherding the Next Generation Into a Blessed Future
Judges 2:7-11 (NIV):
7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
What happened?
Judges chapter two is describing a very pivotal time in the life of Israel. They have arrived at the promised land and fought great battles, with God’s help under the leadership of Joshua, and occupied the Promised Land. Now is the time for them to settle down and live in peace, prosperity, holiness and happi ness, with God’s presence blessing them.
But the author records remarkable and disappointing events.
In verses 7-8 everything seems ok. The people had a great leader and great elders and life was pretty good. Everybody was following the Lord.
Then in verse 10 things change. After Joshua and his contemporaries died, the next generation did not know the Lord.
How is it that they did not know the Lord?
What are these few verses saying?
Clearly there seems to have been a breakdown somewhere between Joshua and his generation and the next generation. Somehow teaching about God did not get transferred. The earlier generation did not help the latter generation to be grounded in relationship with God. The next generation didn’t know the Lord. And besides that they did not know all the things that God had done for Israel.
What were all the things that God had done for and given to Israel?
1. A handbook for life (The Law)
2. Moses, Prophets and multiple layers of leaders (government structure)
3. A tabernacle to house His personal presence
4. A tabernacle for worship
5. His daily provision
6. Tangible manifestations of Himself
7. Miracles and signs
8. Protection and deliverance from enemies.
9. Judges and military leaders
10. Guidance to parents of the next generation.
Did God really provide guidance for parents?
Genesis 18:19 (NIV):
For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Deuteronomy 4:9 (NIV):
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
Deuteronomy 4:10 (NIV):
Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the peo ple before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
Deuteronomy 6:2 (NIV):
so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
Deuteronomy 6:7 (NIV):
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 11:2 (NIV):
Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;
Deuteronomy 11:5 (NIV):
It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place,
Deuteronomy 11:19 (NIV):
Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 29:22 (NIV):
Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it.
Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV):
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
Deuteronomy 31:12 (NIV):
Assemble the people--men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns--so they can lis ten and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 31:13 (NIV):
Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Deuteronomy 32:46 (NIV):
he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.
It is very clear that God gave guidance to parents about how to shepherd the next generation. Who are the next generation?
The term “children” in these verses is the English translation of the Hebrew word “ben”, pronounced like “bane”. Strong’s concordance says that the word “ben” is translated into English 4,906 times in the King James Version. 2,978 times as “son”, 1,568 times as “children”, 135 times as “old”, 51 times as “first”, 20 times
as “man, 18 times as “young”, 10 times as “child”, etc. It is apparent that the term refers to the next generation and to the heirs of the present generation. (In that period sons were typically the heirs.) It does not specify any age group. It does not only apply to small children or teenagers or people under 18 or 21 years of age. Considering all of the trans lations we can safely conclude that it refers to any one of any age in the next generation. So, we are not exempted from instructing our children once they reach a particular age. In fact, based on the sad story of Judges, it is critical that we continue to shepherd the next generation as long as we live. There is no time in our life on earth that we pass the baton and then wash our hands and say “My job is done”. As we look further into Judges chapter two we will see that this would be disastrous for our families and for our society.
If you have children it is very clear that God expects you to teach them about Him, His word, His wis dom and His wonderful works, including salvation through Jesus Christ. Note that all of the references are from instruction that was given to Israel before they arrived at their promised homeland. In the very early years of God’s work with His people He instructed them to raise up their children to know Him. We must conclude that this is a priority with God.
So, God gave them everything they needed. And He made it very clear that each generation should stay faithful to keeping the law, worshipping God, and transferring this knowledge and lifestyle to the next generation. Samson, Gideon, Jephtha and the other judges did not limit their influence if they did not have children, but they extended their influence to involve the whole nation, all of society and all of the next gen eration. As a church that is striving to be multi-generational, we of the older generations should seek to pro actively lead and shepherd the younger generations, the next generations.
God provided everything that is needed to make that possible. But it is up to us to do our part in His plan.
What does God want us to do?
1. Remember the things that God has done in past generations, from the Scriptures, and share them with our children.
2. Acknowledge and testify to the things that God has done and is doing in your life, to your children. 3. Speak of these things from the beginning of the day to the end of the day.
4. Read the Bible with your children.
5. Memorize scripture with your children.
6. Pray with your children.
7. Praise God and worship openly in front of your children.
8. Be strong leaders.
How will the next generation respond?
Verse 11 sadly described how Israel responded to all of these things:
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
Is it possible there might have been something else going on?
The remaining verses in Judges chapter 2 may provide some insight. 14-19 are very revealing.
Judges 2:14-19 (NIV):
14 In his anger against Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them.
They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the LORD’s commands.
18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
When there were strong leaders present then the people followed the Lord.
Clearly strong leaders are a blessing from God and they are an important part of God’s plan for maintaining faith, society, obedience and peace. And transferring godly principals to the next generation is very im portant.
But when strong leaders were absent the people were evil. Even after they were witnesses to the power of God.
This is one of the reasons why we must maintain a strong and faithful witness before the next gener ation.
But this also explains human nature and how stubborn we are. If you are a parent and struggling to raise up a rebellious teenager, then remember the book of Judges and how rebellious people are. Or per haps you look into your own heart and you see so many evil desires and lusts and behaviors that are hard to control. Then remember the book of Judges and see it as your own reflection in the mirror.
Examples of evil in Judges:
1. Occupation/subjugation by foreign nations.
2. Assassinations
3. Wars
4. Civil wars
5. Death by tent peg through the skull
6. Murder
7. Mass killings
8. Strange and occult religious practices
9. Beheadings
10. Torture
11. Prostitution
12. Disloyalty
13. Disunity
14. Burning to death many hundreds of people hidden in a building
15. Lying
16. Deception
17. Uncontrolled lust and sexual immorality
18. Gang rape
19. Dismemberment
20. Revenge
21. Anarchy
Aren’t these also evident today in our nations?
Aren’t we also restrained by laws, police and enforcement?
But enforcement is external. The law only works from the outside of us.
Think of all of the crime and police dramas that are on TV every week: The Law & Order series, the CSI series, the FBI series, Blue Bloods, and others. Week after week we can watch skilled professionals go
after terrible criminals, arrest them and bring them to justice. But the circumstances nev er change. Even with all of the law enforcement at work, crime and evil remains. People are not changed.
The book of Judges shows this to be true. By the end of the book Israel has fol
lowed a downward spiral and is in anarchy and the conclusion is that they need a king. But you can continue reading through 1st and 2nd Samuel, and 1st and 2nd Kings, and discover that even after hundreds of years of kings, Israel is no better.
It is not until we hear from the prophets who tell of future events that we begin to get some hope. What hope is there for the next generation?
We can’t live long enough to stay with our children or the next generation throughout their entire lives. Someday we will leave this life behind and we will have no ability to guide them, shepherd them or re strain them. What is the answer to this dilemma?
The rebellion of the next generation (and ours) can only be changed from within. External influences are not enough.
The good news begins to reveal itself in the later prophets.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NIV):
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
This was not fulfilled until Jesus left the earth and the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell all those who submitted their hearts to Him.
This is illustrated in the lives of the disciples. They walked with Jesus for three years, received His teaching, witnessed His death and witnessed His resurrection but even after all of that they still did not un derstand the full message that Jesus was giving them.
In the very last day that they were with Jesus before He left they asked:
Acts 1:6 (NIV):
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
They were still thinking of the military deliverance of Israel from Roman oppression, led by Jesus. They had not fully comprehended the message of The Kingdom of God.
But Jesus said:
Acts 1:4-5 (NIV):
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
And:
Acts 1:8 (NIV):
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Holy Spirit gives us power to live for God. He gives us power to show that God exists and is good, by means of living holy lives before all people. He gives us power to not only be obedient but to proactively share our faith, teach, preach and proclaim God’s presence, His kingdom and the hope we have for eternal life.
2 Corinthians 3:2-3 (NIV):
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
When the disciples received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost it changed them completely. They suddenly understood all of the things that Jesus had been teaching them. They must have been so ex cited as they talked together and finally understood so many of Jesus’ instructions and prophecies and les sons. Their hearts must have been exploding. No wonder they could not restrain themselves from preaching and prophesying and teaching and declaring the greatness of Jesus Christ.
It was a revolutionary day. For the first time ever, The Holy Spirit of God Himself came to earth to in dwell humans and to become an internal restrainer, an internal policeman, an internal governor. With the Holy Spirit’s miraculous internal work within us we and the next generation will be able to overcome our appetites for harmful, dark, selfish, destructive and evil things.
So not only should we be making it a priority to train up the next generation but we should ensure that they are filled with the internal Governor, the Holy Spirit, and that they are tapping into the full power and resources of the Holy Spirit.
Parents, some day we will all leave this earth and our children will be left without us. While we live we should always be encouraging, instructing, and guiding our children about following the Lord and His principles, no matter how old they are.
But we must also help the next generation to experience the salvation that comes through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and also to consciously yield themselves to the indwelling Holy Spirit, learning how to listen to Him while reading the Bible, in prayer, in circumstances and through the teaching and preaching of others. But not only listening but doing what He says.
Then when we leave we can be confident that there is a “strong leader” walking with our children and keeping them in the truth.
Three major lessons can be learned from Judges and the scripture in its totality.
1. As humans we are hopelessly rebellious and cannot know or follow God on our own. We can expect that the next generation, without the grace of God working in them, will be rebellious.
2. We must be born again through the work of Jesus Christ and by the conscious reception of the indwelling Holy Spirit into our lives. It is not enough for us to be merely followers, like the disciples were before the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost.
3. We must ensure that we help the next generation to understand not only the principals that God has giv en us but also the salvation of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit and how to surrender to Him. He is our only hope. He is the only hope for the next generation.
Acts 1:8 (NIV):
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”