There is a powerful story from the Bible, in the Book of Judges, about a generation that failed to pass their faith on to their children. It is a story that is acutely relevant today, especially as we approach the Christmas season.
Judges 2:8-13 recounts the tragic narrative:
“After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. They did evil in the LORD’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods…”
Joshua, the successor to the famous leader Moses, was known for his total devotion to God. One of his best-known statements is, “… as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15). Here in Judges 2, not only has Joshua died along with his entire generation, but along with them the zeal to know God as well. The very next generation is described by scripture as those who “did not know the LORD, nor the work which He had done…”
What happened? Between one generation and the next, someone dropped the baton of faith. For all of the mighty and miraculous works that God had done for Israel in the recent past, and despite the great leaders He had raised up to lead their nation, they had failed to successfully pass on their spiritual heritage to their children. This tragedy is amplified by the fact that God had warned Israel continually about the responsibility of teaching their children about the great redeeming God they worshipped and the awesome works that He had done for them. Whether it was the epic narrative of their dramatic deliverance story or the powerful Covenant promises they had received from God, it was their responsibility to pass their spiritual heritage on to their descendants. On the brink of the Promised Land, in Deuteronomy 11:18-22, God commanded that parents pass on to their children the hope of His presence and the purposes He had for their lives and nation. This command was not simply about giving them a religious education, but creating a culture of walking with God in relationship day by day.
History Repeats Itself
Today, history repeats itself. This story in Judges illustrates the same danger we face when we fail to pass on to our children (for example:) the true reason behind our celebration of the Christmas season.
Here in Cyprus, which is historically a ‘Christian’ country, along with much of the world, the Christmas holiday is one of the biggest celebrations of the year. But ultimately we discover that, like Israel, our children “don’t know the LORD, nor the work that He did among them.” The real message of Christmas, “that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16), has been lost. We’ve turned to other ‘gods’.
So how do we avoid being the next generation to drop the baton of faith?
The best defense against a Christ-less Christmas is a good offense—a deliberate, persistent, focus on the biblical and historical birth of Jesus Christ. We must adopt the same strategy that God had laid out for Israel.
Our homes must be a refuge from the unwelcome and destructive messaging of an unbelieving world, whether it’s through unchecked social media consumption or the overwhelming, unexamined acceptance of secular holiday traditions.
Scripture repeatedly teaches the importance of guarding our children from the superficiality of a faithless world.
The true offensive strategy is found in passages like Deuteronomy 11:22—where we see the call to “love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him.” A child’s response to the temptations of consumerism and secularism will only come through their own personal experience with Jesus Christ. Simply focusing on Jesus a couple of days out of the year at Christmastime, or even leaving our kids with Sunday school teachers once a week, will never accomplish what the example of believing parents, living out their faith in front of their children day by day, can do.
There are “Three C’s” we can apply in our homes to intentionally pass on the baton of faith, not only at Christmas time, but all year long:
COMMUNICATION: “You shall teach them.” Teaching requires that we, the parents, have first learned and are living out the truth of the Gospel. We must engage in real, meaningful conversation about why Jesus was born. This means reading the Gospel accounts of the Nativity (Luke 2, Matthew 1) and connecting them to the rest of Scripture. It means making the celebration of Advent and the Nativity story the central focus, minimizing distractions to focus on the Word of God and its role in our lives.
COMMITMENT: As parents, it’s about taking ownership. “It is MY job to pass the baton of faith.” I cannot blame the Sunday school teacher or the church program for failing to instill the awe of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Parents must make a personal commitment to set a godly standard, treating Christmas not as a annual moment to pause and reflect on spiritual things, but as one opportunity of many to remember and celebrate God’s faithfulness. This commitment requires perseverance—constantly observing and adapting our methods to challenge and teach our children the true meaning of “Immanuel, God with us.”
CONSISTENCY: Our children must see consistency in word and deed. If we tell them that Jesus is the reason for the season, yet our time, energy, and resources are overwhelmingly dedicated to shopping, parties, and stress, our actions will be louder than our words. We must lead by example, ensuring that our children see us living out our faith, serving and sacrificing in the spirit of Christ, and striving for a sanctified life, even amid the holiday chaos. They must see the biblical principles of humility and love, exemplified in throughout the whole of Jesus’ life, lived out in our homes.
In the end, the Israelites suffered terribly because the knowledge of God’s love, life, and works in their history was not passed on. We risk the same if we allow our children to miss out on what God has done through the incarnation of His Son. We mustn’t let the tender images of the ‘child in the manger’ distract us from the rest of the story; that Jesus went on to live a sinless life, and laid it down voluntarily on a Roman cross as an offering to God for our sin. Having provided atonement for our sins, He rose from the dead on the third day, triumphing over death and offering eternal life to all who would put their faith and trust in Him. This is the Gospel and it has the same power today, to transform our lives radically, as it has throughout history.
Psalm 127:4 reminds us, our children are like “arrows in the hand of a warrior.” How then are we aiming our arrows, our children, Will they stumble over the same temptations God’s ancient people did.
“Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:30-33
Please visit us on our website at calvarycyrpus.com for our Christmas Celebration schedule.
By Pastor Tim Mattox,
Paphos Calvary Chapel,
www.calvarycyprus.com