This is the original 2017 Toronto version. To view the 2022 Alberni Valley version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/04/deuteronomy-61-12-childrens-songs.html
The other week my teenagers and I went to the Bon Jovi concert. It was a great show. Jon Bon Jovi performed in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey the night right after they made the play-offs. It was a lot of fun. Probably the best parts of the concert were the songs that I knew - the old ones. I didn't always care so much for the newer songs; some of these 'newer songs' were over 30 years old, mind you. The encore was especially good because that is when they played most of these old songs I knew. You could tell the band was made up of experienced showmen too because of the way they ran the performance. You could also tell because the original band members all had grey hair. And it was funny: by the time he had finished the encore at about 11pm or so it looked like Jon Bon Jovi just wanted to go to bed.
It was a good show and the best part of the experience, like I said, was the memories attached to the songs and the opportunity to share those memories with my kids. It meant a lot. Later this year we have tickets to GNR, Deep Purple, and Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper by the way is an outspoken Christian and the son of a preacher. I actually saw Alice Cooper in concert when I was 17 years-old and now I am going with my 16 and 15 year-old daughters. This sort of thing is what our text today is about: sharing our memories with our kids so they can experience all the joy we did and so we can add even more to those memories together. This may even be exactly what is happening in our text today, Moses might be bringing the Deuteronomy generation to hear the same Ten Commandments play at Mt Sinai that the Exodus generation had heard before them.[1]
The part of the Scriptures we are reading from today takes place when Moses is probably reminding the children of the children of Israel who left Egypt about the 10 Commandments.[2] He is reminding them about the time he came down the mountain to their parents and originally shared these commandments. We remember that scene don't we? I think some of the women's group even watched the move, '10 Commandments' with Charleston Heston this past Tuesday. The only problem is... I think that movie is 20 hours long - okay maybe 4 hours, but still it is a very long show. That is as long as some people’s work shifts.
In our Scriptures today Moses is talking to the children of the people he received the 10 Commandments with. It is important that children are reminded of, remember and participate in their parents’ experiences. It is important to remember what the Lord has done. When we fail to remember our culture, we lose it; when we fail to remember our past, we lose our future; when we fail to remember what defines us as a people then we cease to be a nation;[3] and when we fail to remember our salvation with our children, then we will find that future generations are not experiencing that salvation anymore (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).[4] This is what is happening in Canada today. This is what Moses is driving home with this next generation of Israelites. This is important. Don't just hope that our children will learn something from a teacher, preacher, or priest. Don't just hope they'll learn life's lessons by accident. Sharing our faith history is our responsibility. Our very survival depends on what we remember from the past and how we carry that into the future.[5]
In our world today, songs are a great way to bring memories and knowledge and experiences forward to a new generation. I am going to list some songs and see if you can tell me who sang them for one generation or the next [Answers in footnote below]:[6] (1) Cats in the Cradle (2) Signs (3) You're so Vain (4) California Girls (5) Knocking on Heaven’s Door (6) Live and Let Die (7) Landslide (8) Johnny B Goode
I remember turning on the radio a few years ago now and... There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called 'Whiskey in the Jar'. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of these old folk songs. She really likes some of those old fashioned numbers and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on one of the local radio stations in the town where we were living at the time and – I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metallica, they are a contemporary heavy metal band – I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I was struck by it as I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me thinking. When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children. This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our own children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down from one generation to the next.
Similarly when Krys (Warehouse Mission Band) here writes new lyrics to old tunes, all of us can hear the gospel expressed in music that resonates in our hearts and souls and hopefully every time we hear that familiar, sometimes timeless tune we can remember what the Lord has done for us, with us, through us and in us.
This is what our Scripture today sees Moses doing with the Deuteronomy generation.[7] God, through Moses, says of the lyrics of the 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 6:7-9):
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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Moses wants the people to remember even more than just the words to these 10 Commands, of course. The Bible says God remembered Israel when they were in slavery. Now, will they remember Him when they are free? God remembers us when we are struggling. Do we remember Him when we are free? We may turn to God when things are bad; do we turn away from Him when we feel free to live our life for ourselves?[8] Do we remember what God has done for us as we are delivered from our problems? Do we remember how God saved those alongside us? Do we remember how God saved our family members before us? Do we remember how God saved the founders of our country? Do we remember how God saved the Israelites?
Do we remember the things that God did for the Israelites before he brought them out of Egypt? How did God reveal himself to Pharaoh? Remember the Passover? Remember the plagues (Exodus 7-12)? When Sarah-Grace was 12 or so we hit the road with an excellent sermon she preached about the plagues.[9] I still have it. Maybe one day she can share it with us here. Do we remember the plagues God used to save the children of Israel? What were they? Snakes, blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cows (dead livestock), boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the first born. God wants Israel to remember their salvation from, in and through these plagues. God wants them to remember how they were saved as death passed them over. And God wants us to remember also how generations and a testament later, Jesus won the ultimate victory over death so that we all might live. This is what Easter and Good Friday are all about.
We have just come out of the Lenten season. Lent is when we are invited to give up something for the Lord. When I was a kid, Catholics would give up meat - except for fish - every Friday, not just during Lent. Fish Friday: I worked in a fish and chip shop for a very short time as a teenager and I still remember Fish Fridays.
When we invite our children and grandchildren to participate in Lenten services in preparation for Easter and Advent services in advance of Christmas; when we bring friends and family to Christmas and Easter pageants, when we invite people to a church service here with us, we are carrying on that salvation tradition and experience.
When we bring our children and grandchildren to church we remember and experience corporate worship and salvation together as a family. When we read our Bibles with our children and grandchildren and friends, we pass along the stories of salvation from one generation to the next - we show them what is important by what we do with each other; and as we read the Bible together, as we each experience our glorious personal salvation we can see how that fits in with salvation history and how we are included in the salvation of the whole world.
When we say grace with future generations before dinner - whether at home or in public - we are teaching others the importance of prayer. When we say grace, when we pray in public, we may even be unknowingly encouraging even strangers to be faithful. They might see us and then remember that indeed they prayed with their parents as a kid and then head home and pass on that marker and catalyst for that same salvation relationship with their own children; and then they may experience that same access to all the power, mercy, grace and glory of God.
So, as Hebrews 10:25 extols us, let us not stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Let us not stop singing our songs of salvation to new tunes for new generations, let us not stop adding those timeless words of salvation to songs that resonate in our hearts and souls as we do here every week. Let us always read the stories of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus Christ with our children, our children's children, our friends, and our family. This week, let us resolve to take the Good News of Salvation and share it with everyone we meet so that they and we may experience the fullness of God's love today and forever more.
Let us pray.
www.sheepspeak.com
The other week my teenagers and I went to the Bon Jovi concert. It was a great show. Jon Bon Jovi performed in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey the night right after they made the play-offs. It was a lot of fun. Probably the best parts of the concert were the songs that I knew - the old ones. I didn't always care so much for the newer songs; some of these 'newer songs' were over 30 years old, mind you. The encore was especially good because that is when they played most of these old songs I knew. You could tell the band was made up of experienced showmen too because of the way they ran the performance. You could also tell because the original band members all had grey hair. And it was funny: by the time he had finished the encore at about 11pm or so it looked like Jon Bon Jovi just wanted to go to bed.
It was a good show and the best part of the experience, like I said, was the memories attached to the songs and the opportunity to share those memories with my kids. It meant a lot. Later this year we have tickets to GNR, Deep Purple, and Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper by the way is an outspoken Christian and the son of a preacher. I actually saw Alice Cooper in concert when I was 17 years-old and now I am going with my 16 and 15 year-old daughters. This sort of thing is what our text today is about: sharing our memories with our kids so they can experience all the joy we did and so we can add even more to those memories together. This may even be exactly what is happening in our text today, Moses might be bringing the Deuteronomy generation to hear the same Ten Commandments play at Mt Sinai that the Exodus generation had heard before them.[1]
The part of the Scriptures we are reading from today takes place when Moses is probably reminding the children of the children of Israel who left Egypt about the 10 Commandments.[2] He is reminding them about the time he came down the mountain to their parents and originally shared these commandments. We remember that scene don't we? I think some of the women's group even watched the move, '10 Commandments' with Charleston Heston this past Tuesday. The only problem is... I think that movie is 20 hours long - okay maybe 4 hours, but still it is a very long show. That is as long as some people’s work shifts.
In our Scriptures today Moses is talking to the children of the people he received the 10 Commandments with. It is important that children are reminded of, remember and participate in their parents’ experiences. It is important to remember what the Lord has done. When we fail to remember our culture, we lose it; when we fail to remember our past, we lose our future; when we fail to remember what defines us as a people then we cease to be a nation;[3] and when we fail to remember our salvation with our children, then we will find that future generations are not experiencing that salvation anymore (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).[4] This is what is happening in Canada today. This is what Moses is driving home with this next generation of Israelites. This is important. Don't just hope that our children will learn something from a teacher, preacher, or priest. Don't just hope they'll learn life's lessons by accident. Sharing our faith history is our responsibility. Our very survival depends on what we remember from the past and how we carry that into the future.[5]
In our world today, songs are a great way to bring memories and knowledge and experiences forward to a new generation. I am going to list some songs and see if you can tell me who sang them for one generation or the next [Answers in footnote below]:[6] (1) Cats in the Cradle (2) Signs (3) You're so Vain (4) California Girls (5) Knocking on Heaven’s Door (6) Live and Let Die (7) Landslide (8) Johnny B Goode
I remember turning on the radio a few years ago now and... There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called 'Whiskey in the Jar'. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of these old folk songs. She really likes some of those old fashioned numbers and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on one of the local radio stations in the town where we were living at the time and – I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metallica, they are a contemporary heavy metal band – I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I was struck by it as I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me thinking. When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children. This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our own children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down from one generation to the next.
Similarly when Krys (Warehouse Mission Band) here writes new lyrics to old tunes, all of us can hear the gospel expressed in music that resonates in our hearts and souls and hopefully every time we hear that familiar, sometimes timeless tune we can remember what the Lord has done for us, with us, through us and in us.
This is what our Scripture today sees Moses doing with the Deuteronomy generation.[7] God, through Moses, says of the lyrics of the 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 6:7-9):
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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Moses wants the people to remember even more than just the words to these 10 Commands, of course. The Bible says God remembered Israel when they were in slavery. Now, will they remember Him when they are free? God remembers us when we are struggling. Do we remember Him when we are free? We may turn to God when things are bad; do we turn away from Him when we feel free to live our life for ourselves?[8] Do we remember what God has done for us as we are delivered from our problems? Do we remember how God saved those alongside us? Do we remember how God saved our family members before us? Do we remember how God saved the founders of our country? Do we remember how God saved the Israelites?
Do we remember the things that God did for the Israelites before he brought them out of Egypt? How did God reveal himself to Pharaoh? Remember the Passover? Remember the plagues (Exodus 7-12)? When Sarah-Grace was 12 or so we hit the road with an excellent sermon she preached about the plagues.[9] I still have it. Maybe one day she can share it with us here. Do we remember the plagues God used to save the children of Israel? What were they? Snakes, blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cows (dead livestock), boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the first born. God wants Israel to remember their salvation from, in and through these plagues. God wants them to remember how they were saved as death passed them over. And God wants us to remember also how generations and a testament later, Jesus won the ultimate victory over death so that we all might live. This is what Easter and Good Friday are all about.
We have just come out of the Lenten season. Lent is when we are invited to give up something for the Lord. When I was a kid, Catholics would give up meat - except for fish - every Friday, not just during Lent. Fish Friday: I worked in a fish and chip shop for a very short time as a teenager and I still remember Fish Fridays.
When we invite our children and grandchildren to participate in Lenten services in preparation for Easter and Advent services in advance of Christmas; when we bring friends and family to Christmas and Easter pageants, when we invite people to a church service here with us, we are carrying on that salvation tradition and experience.
When we bring our children and grandchildren to church we remember and experience corporate worship and salvation together as a family. When we read our Bibles with our children and grandchildren and friends, we pass along the stories of salvation from one generation to the next - we show them what is important by what we do with each other; and as we read the Bible together, as we each experience our glorious personal salvation we can see how that fits in with salvation history and how we are included in the salvation of the whole world.
When we say grace with future generations before dinner - whether at home or in public - we are teaching others the importance of prayer. When we say grace, when we pray in public, we may even be unknowingly encouraging even strangers to be faithful. They might see us and then remember that indeed they prayed with their parents as a kid and then head home and pass on that marker and catalyst for that same salvation relationship with their own children; and then they may experience that same access to all the power, mercy, grace and glory of God.
So, as Hebrews 10:25 extols us, let us not stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Let us not stop singing our songs of salvation to new tunes for new generations, let us not stop adding those timeless words of salvation to songs that resonate in our hearts and souls as we do here every week. Let us always read the stories of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus Christ with our children, our children's children, our friends, and our family. This week, let us resolve to take the Good News of Salvation and share it with everyone we meet so that they and we may experience the fullness of God's love today and forever more.
Let us pray.
www.sheepspeak.com
---
[1]
Cf. Thompson, J. A., Deuteronomy: An
Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1974
(Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 5), S. 128
[2]Cf.
Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Deuteronomy 8: The Next Generation Thanks The Lord'
(Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, 09 October 2011). Available on-line:http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/10/deuteronomy-8-next-generation-thanks.html
[3]Cf.
Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's
Bible Commentary,
PradisCD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The
doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2; cf. also Willy Schottroff,
“To Perceive, To Know,” in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, Volume 3
eds. Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers,
1997),516.
[4]Deuteronomy
8:19-20: “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and
worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely
be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be
destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.”
[5]
Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of
Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary,
(Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.
[6] Cats
in the Cradle (Harry Chapin, Ugly Kid Joe), Signs (Five Man Electrical Band),
You're so Vain (Carlie Simon, Faster Pussy Cat), California Girls (Beach Boys,
David Lee Roth), Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan, GNR), Live and Let Die
(Paul McCarthy, GNR), Landslide (Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins), Johnny B
Goode (Chuck Berry, Elvis, Judas Priest, AC DC, Motorhead, etc).
[7]Cf.
Ronald E. Clements, The Book of
Deuteronomy, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 355.
[8]
Cf. Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of
Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary,
(Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.
[9]
Sarah-Grace Ramsay, Plague Pops –
Salvation only comes from God (Exodus 7-12). Presented to Maple Creek Corps
of The Salvation Army, 10 August, 2014 and Swift Current, 17 August 2014,
available online: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/08/plague-pops-salvation-only-comes-from.html
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