Community Covenant Church - Sermons - Children's Sunday: Stories and Lessons

June 10, 2007

Stories & Lessons

Psalm 78:1-7

Psalm 78:1-7

1 O my people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old-

3 what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their children;
       we will tell the next generation
       the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
       his power, and the wonders he has done.

5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
       and established the law in Israel,
       which he commanded our forefathers
       to teach their children,

6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.

Message – “Stories and Lessons”

In the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, the American women's 4 x 100 relay race was favored to win the gold medal. The team featured Marion Jones, a sprinter who had won four gold medals at the previous games in Sydney.

The American team was already off to a strong start when Jones took the baton for the second leg of the race. She gained ground as she ran her 100 meters and approached Lauryn Williams, a young speedster who would run the third leg.

Williams began running as Jones drew near, but when she reached back to receive the baton, they couldn't complete the handoff. Once, twice, three times Jones thrust the baton forward, but each time it missed William's hand—she couldn't seem to wrap her fingers around it. Finally, on the fourth try, they made the connection. ..... But by that time, they had crossed out of the 20-yard exchange zone and were disqualified.

Everyone knew they were the fastest team on the track. And even though the night before they'd had the fastest qualifying time, when they couldn't complete the handoff, their race was over.

Bryan Wilkerson, "From Generation to Generation," PreachingToday.com (modified)

“Handing off the baton” is a crucial element of any race which involves two or more people. It isn’t an automatic thing.... it takes thought, planning and lots of practice. While it is a crucial element in track & field races, it is a life-and-death issue for a humanity in need of God’s salvation.

The writer of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews likens our faith journey to a race:

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

The Apostle Paul also used the analogy of racing to describe our spiritual journey:

- To the Galatians who were being challenged by a renewed calling to legalism, Paul wrote:

Galatians 5:7

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?

- But my favorite use of this “racing” analogy comes in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians where he describes our calling to run the race for the sake of others:

1 Corinthians 9:19-24

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Today, as we highlight the blessing of our children, and applaud the dedication of Sunday School teachers, I simply want to remind us of some basic truth; that as we run life’s race for the sake of others, our role with children centers on us being storytellers and teachers of truth.

1. As storytellers, we have two basic stories to tell.

a. The sacred stories of scripture, and

b. Our own stories of salvation.

But before I explore those two types of stories, I want to make sure that you heard the pronoun “we”; for story telling and truth-telling is a group endeavor. Though we arrange for Sunday School classes to have assigned teachers, story-telling and truth-telling is a community calling.

When we heard the beginning of Psalm 78, did you realize that you were hearing a prayer... a corporate instructive prayer? This is not a private prayer, but one said/sung by the people of God describing their mutual calling to proclaim faith stories and truths about God.

Even a fleeting overview of God Word reveals that storytelling was an art form among God’s people. In fact, it was a primary pastime. In Bible days families worked together in the field or at home, they sat around fires in the evening, and elders would tell stories to their children and to their children’s children about Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob; stories of creation and flood, of battles and of great worship celebrations.

While our world has changed in the amount of time families spend together, in many ways human beings have not changed very much... we all still love a good story when we set aside time to receive one.

- Where would the movie industry be if that were not so?

- Imagine how sparse our library and bookstore shelves would be if people never yearned for a good biography or a creative novel!

- Can you still hear the disappointment in a child’s voice when you found yourself saying that you didn’t have enough time to tell them, or to read them” “just one more story”?

And while we can grieve that human beings yearn for stories as meaningless as the life of Paris Hilton, we can also celebrate the richness of story God has given us to share from generation to generation.

Psalm 78 is a prayer for the present generation to lead the next generation to faith by storytelling and truth telling. And like those Olympic athletes, we have been given a limited time to pass on this baton of faith.

We are in a race together, a race to faithfully telling stories and proclaim truth so that our children will come to faith.

a. Now as storytellers, we have been given the sacred stories

to share.

If we were to keep reading the 72 verses of Psalm 78, we would hear a portion of the sacred story; from Egyptian captivity to the blessed reign of King David. We would hear again the stories of God’s faithfulness amid human unfaithfulness. We would hear that....

- 9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned back on the day of battle;

10 they did not keep God's covenant
and refused to live by his law.

But we would also hear that:

12 (God) did miracles in the sight of their fathers
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

13 He divided the sea and led them through;
he made the water stand firm like a wall.

14 He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night.

15 He split the rocks in the desert
and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag
and made water flow down like rivers.

We would be reminded that

17 ..... (God’s children) continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

18 They willfully put God to the test
by demanding the food they craved.

19 They spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the desert?

But then reminded that...

20 When (God) struck the rock, water gushed out,
and streams flowed abundantly......

23 ..... he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;

24 he rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.

25 Men ate the bread of angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.

26 He let loose the east wind from the heavens
and led forth the south wind by his power.

27 He rained meat down on them like dust,
flying birds like sand on the seashore.

28 He made them come down inside their camp,
all around their tents.

29 They ate till they had more than enough,
for he had given them what they craved.

Back and forth, back and forth; the sacred story of human unfaithfulness, but also God’s faithfulness... not only to keep his promise, but at times to allow His children to suffer so that we might see our need to change, and to trust in Christ Jesus and His Spirit to make those changes possible.

What a rich story we have been given to pass on, stories of God’s faithfulness in the past. And yet, there are more stories to tell..... stories proclaiming God’s ongoing faithfulness in the present; for we are called to pass on to our children and our children’s children:

b. Our own stories of salvation

You know... it is a lost easier to pass on the stories of the Bible than to talk about our own stories; we can easily gather to talk about Abraham’s steps of faith along with his missteps; or to talk about the glories of King David alongside his sexual sins. But how difficult it is to share our own stories.

Now it might be easy for some to share their stories of God’s blessing for faithful living, but how difficult it is for an older generation to share God’s faithfulness amid their unfaithful living with a younger generation. And yet, it is amid hearing such stories that the reality of God is best experienced. When we share personal stories of God’s salvation in our lives, the next generations will see that the faithful God of the Bible is just as faithful, alive and active in their generation. Then, as Psalm 78:7 proclaims:

Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.

How well have we communicated God’s salvation in our lives with the next generation? How “real” have you been in revealing your weaknesses.. you liabilities, as well as your asset? While many will aim to reveal God through their giftedness, the Apostle Paul offers a different perspective in his second letter to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

As we think about our obligation to younger generations, remember our calling to be storytellers; tellers of sacred stories of scripture, but also our stories as well.... real people, whose weaknesses reveal God’s grace, and His power still available to each new generation.

            Ron Collman, who will be here at church after our picnic at the Proctors, is such a person. For those of you who are of my generation or older, you will discover that Ron’s story is similar to that of NY gang leader Nicky Cruz, as told in the 1962 book The Cross and the Switch Blade.

            Ron is real... he is extremely transparent about how Christ saved him from a life of destruction. Ron’s honesty reveals a living God who transforms lives today, and leads people into a new life filled with meaning and purpose.

Now while the details of Ron’s life are probably more colorful than yours, God’s salvation is just as real in you as it is in Ron. So remember, as we share Bible stories with younger generation; let us also affirm how important it is to share our stories as well.

As we take responsible with children as storytellers, we also recognize our calling to be their teachers of truth. For

2. As teachers of truth we help our children to not only experience God and this world, but we help them to better understand God and this world.

We read in Psalm 78:

5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
       and established the law in Israel,
       which he commanded our forefathers
       to teach their children,

6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

While the “laws” and “statutes” referred to here were never designed by God to save us.... but rather to convict us of our sin and our need for salvation in Jesus’ blood alone, there is very good reason for us to pass on the laws and statutes of God. Simply put.... they push us to answer the question “So what?”.

You see, generation after generation people can pass down sacred stories, and even share personal stories, and yet never experience spiritual transformation. For when we fail to make the stories practical; when we fail to ask the “So what does that mean for me?” questions, then nothing changes.

A huge part of passing the faith on to the next generation is, after telling a faith story, to welcome questions.. even to spur on questions about what that story means for it’s listener. What is the truth being communicated through this story?

How then Shall We Live? is the operative question, as well as the title of Chuck Colson’s book about forming an active worldview based on the truths in scripture. From the smallest of children who can learn the truth that God is pleased when we share what we have, to the young adult wrestling with Jesus’ calling for His disciples to take up their cross and follow him.... the stories we tell will only affect those lives which seek truth by asking the question “So what does that mean for me?”

You know.... we are good at helping people to experience life in relationship with our Lord, but we need to work on the “so what” of that relationship. Sadly, the world is filled with Christians who do not live by the truths they have heard from scripture. And because of that, how they live their lives is no different than their neighbors who have never claimed Jesus as their Lord or Savior.

When we act upon our responsibilities to pass on the sacred stories, to tell our own stories of transformation, and to teach biblical truth to our next generations, then we are running the race.

May we be successful in passing the baton to the next runner, so that together we will win that race.

Would you take time to pray with me now, for our younger generations? Please join me as we pray in unison the words printed on your white insert:

A Prayer for Younger Generations

Gracious Father, God of Truth,

As we bow this morning in reverence of You, recognizing our constant need of your mercy and grace, we come praying on behalf of younger generations.

- We thank you for their lives so full of hopes and dreams.

- We thank you for the simple faith of children, and for the maturing and questioning faith of teens.

Bless us as a family of faith with the wisdom and resources to share your sacred stories, the courage to share our stories, and the power of your Spirit to share those truths of scripture which will help new generations to clearly and accurately understand You and the world in which they live.

Thank you Heavenly Father for providing us with expanded facility to better teach new generations about You. We pray that you will not only prepare us to fully use this new space, but that you will fill these classrooms, as you entrust us with children and youth from our neighborhoods.

We ask this in the name of the One who warmly welcomed children into His Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us when praying to say:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever. Amen

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).