Repeat the Lord’s Commandments to Your Children, Again and Again
“But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” – Acts 17:6-7
For those who follow global and national news and trends, many are predicting the year 2024 to be bleak and grim. Our post-Covid world has not fully recovered from the turmoil and commotion we have collectively endured these last four years, and many conflicts appear to be coming to a head.
Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, had this to say about the year 2024: “If feels to me as if America is sitting on a powder keg and the fuse has been lit. The protective shield that all democracies and social orders rely on – legitimacy of the governing body, some level of elite responsibility, the willingness of citizens to view their neighbors in a civic way – is in an advanced stage of decline or collapse. It’s quite possible that the powder keg that America’s sitting on will explode over the course of 2024.”
Many people of faith and many theologians have attested that we are living in the last days. While I personally believe the Word of God, which proclaims that only the Father knows the day and the hour when Jesus will return, (Matthew 24:36) it is important that believers be aware of and recognize what the world will look like as we near the beginning of the end.
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
This all tragically resonates with what many are experiencing in our nation and in our world today.
Several weeks ago, I joined my son as he served alongside fellow 3rd-5th graders at Journey Church. The GO35 Ministry offered soup and sandwiches as a free meal to the community, as one of their outreach events. This age group has a heart for serving others; they all worked without complaint, ensuring that everyone who came through the line for a meal was greeted and served in a warm and loving way. For many in our community, the outreach efforts offered by our church are one of the few opportunities they have to receive a meal.
Two thousand years ago, a small group of apostles turned the world upside down. They risked their lives to travel to the recesses of many nations to spread the Good News about Jesus to any and all who would listen.
They were not always welcomed warmly during their journeys.
For a world that calls evil good and good evil, for a world that encourages the self-seeking pleasures of the flesh, for a world that boasts of the accomplishments of men, and for a world that desires tolerance and acceptance of all thoughts and actions – a group of believers spreading a message of transformation and the renewal of one’s mind through a loving and perfect Savior feels like an upheaval.
On May 9, 1858, Revered Charles Spurgeon delivered Sermon No. 193, which spoke of the tendency of the world to lay the blame of its tragedies at the feet of Christians. “When disturbances arise in a state, and rebellions and mutinies cause blood to be shed, it is still the custom to cry, “The Christians have done this.” In the days of Jesus we know that it was laid to the charge of our blessed and divine Master, that he was an instigator of sedition, whereas he himself had refused to be a king, when his followers would have taken him by force to make him one, for he said, “My kingdom is not of this world;” yet he was crucified under the two false charges of sedition and blasphemy.”
The wicked and the evildoers do not want their world turned upside down.
But there were those who loved and feared the Lord, who clung to the message of hope when it was delivered by the apostles. “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:37-41)
A small group of apostles, rejected by many and even martyred for their faith and devotion to Christ, were the same apostles who delivered the message of Truth to those thirsty and desperate for a Savior.
A small group of children serving a meal may be mocked and teased by some, but to the least and the lost, to the hungry and the hopeless, they offered essential salt and light.
I don’t know about the year 2024. I don’t know about the time to come. I don’t even know about this current generation.
But I do know the Church, the collective Body of Christ, has an opportunity to influence the generation coming up. “Repeat (the Lord’s commandments) again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7)
If we continue to encourage this next generation to follow in the footsteps of the apostles, they might just be the glimmer of promise which could turn this despondent and dejected world upside down.
“Yes, when grace enters the heart, there is a turning upside down of all our opinions; and the great truth of Jesus sits reigning on our soul… “Although I am in the world, yet I am not of it; its pomps and vanities I disdain; its pride and its glory I trample under foot; these are nothing to me; I wish to follow my Master bearing his cross, through evil report and through good report!” If such is not the case, if you are not changed, remember, there are no exceptions; one truth is true for all – “Except you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven.” And that amounts in substance to my text: unless you are thoroughly renewed, turned upside down, you cannot be saved. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved;” for he who believes shall be sanctified and renewed, and shall be saved at last.” (Reverend Charles Spurgeon, Sermon No. 193)