Ep. 031 The Generational Dilemma

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your

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to you and bring you closer to God.

Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast or the P.H.S.A. Church.

My name is David Bickford. I am the pastor here in Salmon Arm and today I have a message

entitled The Generational Dilemma. We are going to look at Abraham, Moses, David and

the Nation of Israel. The text we will be working off of is Jeremiah 35, 1-19. Before

we jump into that, it is pretty exciting. I just wanted to give a tentative announcement

that we are going to be changing locations. Once that is all settled, I will be able to

share the new location where we will be holding church but we are going to have our own dedicated

space so it is going to be a big improvement. If you are in the Salmon Arm area and you

want to come out, please do. You can reach out to me. All of the contact information

is in the show notes but I will announce it when it gets a little bit closer to the move-in

date on the new location. It is a pretty exciting answer to prayer so I just wanted to give

you guys that update. Let's go ahead and jump in. Why the third generation always destroys

a family business? This comes from an article from Scott McCollum, Director of Product Marketing

at Blue Mantis Company back in September 8, 2016. He starts off, he says, are you familiar

with the Chinese proverb, you can only keep wealth in the family for three generations?

I experienced the key reason why this proverb is true across cultures while attempting to

buy from a local farmer's market. His reason is apathy. On a vacation in Hawaii, I ran

into apathy buying malasadas, a must-have breakfast delicacy at a farmer's market my

first morning here. Malasadas are the best described as donuts without holes and were

popularized in Hawaii by Leonard's Bakery in Honolulu. The owner, Leonard Rego, started

the bakery in 1952 and control has now passed to the second generation, his son Leonard

Jr. Watch any local Hawaiian TV for more than 10 minutes and you will likely see commercials

for Leonard's Bakery starring Leonard Jr. with his kids politely selling you on their

malasadas. Leonard's malasadas, as you can tell, are a big deal in Hawaii so when I saw

malasadas from a competing baker at a local farmer's market selling for less than Leonard's,

I was curious. I asked the teenager selling the malasadas two basic questions. Tell me

what makes your malasadas unique? Why should I buy your malasadas rather than from the

brand name? Rather than giving me a sales pitch, the teenager gave me apathy. She didn't

really know what made the products she was selling any different than a competitor's

product and she didn't care enough because she didn't have to care. After my first question,

she deferred to the elderly woman standing nearby talking to another local. Grandma,

the teenager said at least five times with increasing annoyance. Finally, after realizing

grandma wasn't going to handle two customers at once, the teen shook her head and told

me they just like our better, you know? Here are my theories about this and most other

small business situations. The grandparents founded the business. Life was likely much

easier for the second generation and the third generation expects the business slash money

to always be there. As we kind of go into this, we can look at society's falling. In

our society today, there is a pervasive thought that assaults us from every side. It is like

a fire that encircles us. As we look in any direction, we see a society that's bound

and determined to convince us all of the follies of our past, even if the direction that those

voices are leading us from are to, you know, from the sea to the rocky shores of destruction.

The siren song of society is one based on apathy and a lack of understanding. When we

look at the word of God, we see a different picture. The Bible is a marvelous gift. The

historical tales show us that human nature is predictable and is regularly consumed by

pride. Every generation has to deal with its own pride. They either had to learn to humble

themselves or they will allow themselves to be carried away by the belief that they know

better than the society that came before them. In Jeremiah 35, we're going to start off in

verses one through two, but we're going to jump around a little bit. So in verse one,

it says the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, the son

of Josiah, king of Judah, go to the house of the recobites and speak with them and bring

them to the house of the Lord into one of the chambers and then offer them wine to drink.

And we jump to verse five, then I set before the recobites pictures full of wine and cups

and said to them, drink wine. But they answered, we will drink no wine for Tehanadab, the son

of Reqab, our father commanded us, you shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons

forever. You shall not build a house. You shall not sow seed. You shall not plant or

have a vineyard. You shall live in tents all your days that you may live many days in the

land where you sojourn. We have obeyed the voice of Jehonadab and the son of Reqab, our

father in all that he has commanded us to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our

wives, our sons, our daughters, and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard

or field or seed, but we live in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jehonadab, our

father commanded us. So then in verse 12, it says, then the word of the Lord came to

Jeremiah, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, go and say to the people of

Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will you not receive instruction and listen to

my words declares the Lord, the command that Jehonadab, the son of Reqab gave to his sons

to drink no wine has been kept and they drink none to this day for they have obeyed their

father's command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me. The recubites

were honored by Jeremiah because they continued to honor their forefathers and show humility

in the teachings of the past. They chose to honor the wishes of Jehonadab, the son of

Reqab. Then this meant that they gave up drinking alcohol and even building permanent housing.

They were rewarded for these acts of faith and used as an object lesson to the entire

nation of Judah. We could see other examples of this in scripture. And this brings me to

my first point, which is generations of growth. And so we'll look at Abraham, Moses and King

David, the phenomenon of the third generation. This is an excerpt from an article written

by Dennis Bracker. Historians and sociologists have observed an interesting trend that occurs

with groups of people or in communities or even families. It's called the phenomenon

of the third generation. Simply put, they have observed that there commonly occurs deterioration

within a community that tends to climax with the third generation. The process begins with

a period of dynamic activity, usually stimulated by a strong leader or by some significant

event in the life of the community. This is the first generation. It is characterized

by a great growth, materially, intellectually, socially, and even spiritually. There are

new ideas around. There is a dynamic to living and excitement because new things are happening.

There is expansion and growth on all levels of human endeavor. The first generation is

marked by growth. There are many important figures in the Bible, but besides Christ,

there are a few more influential than Abraham, Moses and King David. These men are the patriarchs,

are the foundation of our faith. These men are far from perfect, but they each share

an important similarity to one another. Each of these men was bound to a covenantal relationship

with God. Abraham is the first father of our faith. The Abrahamic covenant is the beginning

of the formal revelation of the covenant of grace and God's decision to reach into humanity

and specifically save people for himself. This covenant is revealed to us in Genesis

12 via God's promise to Abraham. In Genesis 12, one through three, it says,

Now the Lord said to Abraham, go from your country, your kindred and your father's house

to a land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you

and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those that bless

you and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in all of your families of the earth shall

be blessed. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In Hebrews, this

covenant is highlighted by the author because of the importance of Abraham's faith. In Hebrews

11, 8 through 9, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to the place that he was

going to receive an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith

he went to live in the land of promise and as a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac

and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

We see a similar storyline with Moses. We see the same call being placed on the life

of Moses being an example for his people in Exodus 3, 7 through 10. Then the Lord said,

I surely have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry

because of their task-masker. I know the sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of

the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land,

a land flowing with milk and honey to a place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites,

the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel

has come to me and I have also seen the oppression with the Egyptians, or which the Egyptians

oppressed them. Come and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the

children of Israel out of Egypt. So also acting in faith, Moses dedicated himself to the covenant

of the Lord. He placed nothing before his relationship with God the Father. In Hebrews

11, 23 through 28 it says, By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months

by his parents, because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of

the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called son of

the Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than

enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater

than the wealth than the treasures of Egypt. For he was looking to the reward by the faith

he left Egypt, not by being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing

him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the

destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

So we can see with both Abraham and Moses that they had to act with faith. They had

to move towards God in faith and in doing so there was a tremendous blessing in their

lives and the lives of those that they were responsible for. So now we look at King David

and we have another similar story. A man who was plucked out of obscurity. God's chosen

man to replace King Saul. He was a humble shepherd but a man after God's own heart.

In 1 Samuel 13, 14 it says, But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out

a man after his own heart. The Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because

you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

This is the end of the story for Saul. He's being put to the side because he had failed

to live by faith and we're being told of a new man with a heart that seeks out God.

In 1 Samuel 16, 11-13 it says, Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your sons here? And

he said, There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel

said, Jesse, send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent

and brought him in, and now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the

Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and appointed

him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from

that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

All these men had their failings, their weaknesses, their sins, but despite their shortcomings,

they all maintained a deep connection with God and oversaw tremendous growth for the

kingdom of God. Through their faith, they changed kingdoms, defeated kingdoms and created

kingdoms for God. But as time goes on, there's always a need to pass the torch to the next

generation. And there's always a hope that your progeny will continue in the same faith

that we hold so dear. Abraham, Moses and King David are no different. They had a burden

to see the next generation succeed and to go even deeper into covenant with the Lord.

So let's go back to our article and we'll go get on to my next point, which is generations

of entrenchment. Then time passes and the second generation

takes over. They have not directly experienced the dynamic events of the first generation.

They have inherited good times and prosperity. There's no longer the drive to accomplish,

to create new ideas, to grow. The second generation is usually content to preserve and consolidate

the gains of the first generation. They know the triumphs of the past and sometimes

wish or dream for them. Yet because they are content with what they have inherited, there's

little motivation to put forth a genuine effort to sustain the dynamic of the past. So the

second generation is content with listening to the stories of the old ways, wishing for

them, but it's too involved with preservation and success of the present to continue the

growth of the first generation. They work hard to preserve the status quo, fearing that

any movement will risk losing what they have received. The second generation is marked

by entrenchment. So now we move on to Isaac, Joshua, and Solomon.

Isaac the son of Abraham, the promised child, followed in his father's footsteps, but he

is most notably remembered for being the would-be sacrifice saved by an angel. He is important

because he was the culminations of God's promise, but honestly, there's little more to the

story of Isaac. He had great faith, got back up when he stumbled and trusted God's promises.

Every Christian can look at Isaac as an example of a simple man whose life was important because

of how God used him. That being said, he did not push the kingdom forward in any real significant

way, but rather enjoyed the blessings of his father and maybe was a bit too complacent

in raising his children. Then with Joshua, we could see that carrying on the next generation,

there's some issues. Joshua took over leadership of Israel after Moses. Joshua saw miracles

during the time of his leadership. He conquered 31 kings while taking over the land of Canaan.

He saw miracles in battle and continued to carry forward in the same faith as Moses.

Joshua was not truly of the generation that he ruled over though. Joshua and Caleb were

the only two that made it out of the desert. They lived righteously and faithfully to the

Lord, but the next generation quickly showed they were not of the same spirit. In Judges

1, 20, 17, 34, it says, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and its villages

or Tanak and its villages or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages or the inhabitants

of Iblim and its villages or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages or for the Canaanites

persisted in dwelling in that land. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to be

forced labor, but did not drive them out completely. Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who

lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them. Zebulim did not drive out

the inhabitants of Kittron and the inhabitants of Naholo, so the Canaanites lived among them

but became subject to forced labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko and

the inhabitants of Sidon or of Alab or Aqzib or of Helba or of Afik or of Rehab. So the

Asherites lived among the Canaanites and the inhabitants of the land, so they did not drive

them out. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh or the inhabitants of Bethanath

so that they lived among the Canaanites in the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless,

the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and Bethanath became subject to forced labor for them. The

Ammonites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, but they did not allow them

to come down to the plain. So what we see here is we see that when you consider the

man Joshua being the right hand of Moses being trained by him, but governing the next generation

of Israel, the ones that actually made it out of the desert, they were quickly willing

to just live and try to maintain what they'd already achieved. There wasn't this push for

success anymore. There wasn't this push for going forward into God's blessing or even

following God's word. There was just this protectionism mindset that they fell into.

We see something similar with Solomon. Solomon might have been the wisest man, but he was

not the most devout because of that he did not live up to the ideals of his father, King

David. In 1 Kings 11 through 4 it says, For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away

his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as

was the heart of David his father. This generation is known most for holding or benefiting from

the previous generation. They did not blaze a trail. They did not hold the same standards

that made the previous generation great. This poses a big problem for the next generation

because now their example is one of stagnation. I know that Solomon built the temple, but

who started the temple? Who planned for the temple? Who funded the temple? All these things

were set in place by King David. Solomon was just acting upon what was already established

by his father. In the next picture we see the tragedy of not striving to move forward

wholly with faith in the Lord and the direction that God has for us.

Let's get to the final point which is the generational choice, renewed covenant or decline.

Time passes again and the mantle falls on the third generation. They have only heard

about the dynamics and the vitality of the first generation secondhand. They have not

seen that kind of vitality. They have only seen the process of preservation and entrenchment.

They have heard stories of the past, but they are far away and unreal. They find no compelling

reason to be driven by the vision that drove their grandparents. They are freed from the

need to fight for recognition and security and are even freed from the worries of preserving

what was originally hard won. They are idle with no vision that drives them, no passion

that inflames them and no purpose that gives them meaning. As a result, members of the

third generation usually begin to question their identity and their belonging. Why even

be part of this group, of this community, of this family if I serve no purpose and see

no future? Here is the tragedy of the third generation.

The third generation is often a people lacking a strong sense of identity and belonging and

so are uncommitted to the group. A people without a driving passion because they are

fired and they are fired by no vision. A people not sure of who they are, what they believe

or what they should do. The third generation is marked by decline.

And so now we look at Jacob, the judges and Rehoboam. By the time Jacob came on the scene,

we already saw some cracks in the relationship between God and Isaac. Jacob himself was very

far from a faithful man that Abraham was. He was a trickster and at the same time he

was prone to running away when things got tough. This doesn't discount how immensely

used he was by God. I still can't shake the feeling that God was with Jacob and Israel

more out of his commitment to Abraham than to Jacob. The family dynamics of Jacob's

family were far more from honorable and within his life God had to rescue them by sending

them into captivity into Egypt. In Genesis 42-50 it tells the story of Jacob's family

and we see this experience of Jacob and yes he wrestled with God but even that is different

than just actively living by faith in God. And yes there is a generational choice in

this third generation where it's you are going to either continue the decline or you're

going to make a new stand and a new covenant. And we see a covenant being made with Jacob

but it's not the same kind of forceful covenant that Abraham made. And so that's why whenever

we look at the patriarchs of the faith it's always the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

but it's always Abraham first. There is a certain difference because we can see with

Jacob's children, his children were willing to sell one of their brothers into slavery

out of envy and jealousy. So there was obviously issues going on within the family of Jacob

that we could see a certain decline that wasn't apparent during the time of Abraham. In Judges

we similarly see Joshua and the nation of Israel going into this period of constant

upheaval. The next generation did not take God's command seriously and God graciously

had to raise Judges up to get them out of a pickle consistently. Just different problems

that would keep rising themselves up. They kept placing themselves into these problems

because of their disobedience. The book of Judges sets the stage for the time of the

Jewish kings but it's an illustration for us to see that our kingship was always meant

to be heavenly and not earthly because the Israelites during the time of the Judges,

after the time of Joshua were consistent in their disobedience and consistently falling

and then having to repent and come back and then falling and having to repent and come

back to their relationship with God. We see a total decline of the nation of Israel and

that's what sets up the stage for their clamor and their desire to have a king of their own

which we're told by Samuel is a refutation of God and his relationship with him because

we were never meant to have any other king other than our king in heaven. Then we come

to Rebohm. This is the saddest of the generational tales to me. It's the tale of Rebohm. Here's

a guide that had it all. King Solomon was the wisest and richest of kings. The nation

of Israel was secure but poor young Rebohm did not have any hand in building this mighty

kingdom of Israel and this Davidic dynasty. The grandson of the great King David should

have been able to build up upon that great legacy but unfortunately that didn't happen

and instead he ended up with the destruction of the unified Jewish kingdoms and 10 of the

12 tribes of Israel turned rapidly to idolatry in the kingship of Jeroboam. You can read

about that in 1 Kings 12. It's such a terrible, terrible story because here's a man who could

have taken the wise counsel of the counselors that were left over from his father Solomon's

time and they probably would have been able to mitigate some of the concerns of Jeroboam

and the other tribes but instead he took the advice of his friends, these new counselors

who did not understand how the world works, did not understand what was righteous and

what was wrong and gave bad advice and ended up causing the destruction of the unified

kingdom and ended up leading 10 of those 12 tribes directly into idolatry through their

King Jeroboam and his golden calves. It's such a terrible story because we know from

the rest of the Bible that there were no good kings in the northern kingdom. So how many

souls were lost because of this decline from Rehoboam? In closing, our covenant is in Christ.

The beautiful thing about Christianity is that every single person who comes to Christ

can be saved by grace. This is a miracle in and of itself. Each person is the first generation

to renew their covenant with God. Salvation is the greatest gift and that is why it is

still the best tool for sharing the gospel. How good or bad your father or grandfather

may have been doesn't matter. We all have an opportunity to start a new generation of

growth. We can live eternally in a growth period because of salvation. I'm not pretending

to proclaim that just because you get saved your kids will immediately fall on your foot

steps. Each individual has to make their own choice in life. What I am saying is that if

you do not succumb to the belief that your life is on a downward trend because of this

or because of that, Christ has grafted all of us in as direct sons and daughters to the

Father. This means we can all have faith like Abraham. We can all be used by God like Moses

and we can all have a heart like King David. We do not have to live in the shadow of those

who came before us and we do not have to fail like the third generation. In John 20, 31

it says, but these are written so that you may believe in Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. And in John 4, or 1

1 John 4:15

John 4 verse 15, whoever confesses that Jesus the Son of God abides in him and he in God.

So with that if I could have every head bowed, every eye closed just really quickly as we

change the order of this message to the invitation. We all have the same opportunity to come to

Christ to give our lives up and accept him as our Lord and Savior. And if God is convicting

you right now, if you feel like you are on the decline, if you feel like you are alone,

you feel like your parents did nothing for you, you feel like you come from, or you know

you come from a broken house, a broken family, you have a broken heart, God can help you.

God can mend these wounds. God can create in you a new heart and you can step into a

new family grafted in with the Lord Jesus. And you can be that first generation again

with the growth, growth in your relationship with Jesus Christ and he can put everything

back together into your life, into your soul. If that is something that is speaking to you,

resonating with you and you are feeling a spirit convict you, then you want to signify

that with an uplifted hand. I can't see it, but God sees it. And if you did that and you

meant it, I just want to lead you in a quick prayer. Dear Lord God, I know that I am a

sinner, but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ, that he died for my sins and

that he rose from the grave. I accept him as my Lord and Savior and I thank you for

salvation that comes by way of grace. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So with that simple prayer,

you have repented of your sin, which means you turn away. You're going to, you're going

to strive to sin no more and you're going to live a life honoring, praising and worshiping

Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That sets you apart and it sets you on a path of

great growth in your life, in your spirit. And I want to commend you on that choice.

So the next thing is you need to get, you need to get in the word. You read the Bible,

read the New Testament and start with the gospels because that'll help you to understand

the power of what you just tapped into and pray. Cry out to God with your problems, cry

out to him, glorify him with your praise. And then lastly, like lock, find a Bible believing

church and lock into it to serve others. Come into it humbly with a desire to serve because

God is working a miracle in you. Even as we speak, if you live in Sam and our common,

visit us for church. We'd be happy to have you. If you don't live in Sam and arm, reach

out. We have 3,500 churches globally. I can help put you in contact with the Bible believing

church and I just want to thank you for listening to me this long. And again, if, if you can,

if you've listened this long, I just pray that you like share and subscribe to this podcast

so that we can help grow the message and get it out to as many people as possible. It tremendously

helps and you spread it out to everybody. And if you want to, if you want to give to

help support this, this ministry, there's links in the, in the, in the podcast notes.

You can, you can find that and you can help us as well. And I just want to thank you again

and get, and I want to give God all the praise and glory and I look forward to you coming

back next time. God bless.