A Slip of the Heart

Text: Deut. 4:1-10 Title: A Slip of the Heart
8/16/09 Clarksville (Baby Day)

The only people prouder than the parents of the kids who have just been paraded in front of us are the grand-parents! You can tell who they are. Their buttons are popping, they are grinning ear to ear, they have pictures in their pockets and have cameras in their hands. They’re convinced it’s a good thing this wasn’t a contest because if it was, their grandson/daughter would have won hands down! If you have pic of kids, grankids, get them out now.

As we celebrate the next generation we step into a story.
Where the people of God were gathered on the Plains of Moab. Surrounded by mountains on three sides they found themselves in the location of the most memorable speech they would ever hear. It came from Moses, who speaks as a God-anointed leader, and as a grandpa.

As he scanned the crowd I imagine Moses seeing his own sons and daughters holding their children, his grandchildren, in their arms. He has been greatly blessed. But at the same time he is overwhelmed. What could happen to them? What might happen to them? What will happen to them? He wasn’t the first grandparent to say “I’m concerned about the future of my grandkids.” While I’m not yet a grandparent (and better not be for a long time!), I imagine there is a kind of camaraderie among those whose attention, affection, and greatest concerns are no longer for their own generation, or even the one right after them, but for future generations represented by their own grandchildren.

That’s how I see Moses. He has hopes and dreams for the next generation, but first and foremost he has a desire that they would come to know… and love… and serve the God he knew so well. Deep down, in the deepest part of his soul, Moses knew that his children and their children after them could enjoy the greatest blessing and prosperity ever imagined in the Promised Land, they may grow up to have great job and become respectable citizens, but if they ever lost sight of loving God, they would have nothing. And that just couldn’t happen. In fact, he would do everything he possibly could to make sure it didn’t.

That’s one of the reasons we have the book of Deut. It’s an extended farewell speech as Moses leaves words of wisdom that will guide the people of God for generations to come. We’re going to look at a few verses. Read text

VS. 9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Do not let them slip from your heart. I love that phrase. The first time I started studying this scripture it jumped off the page, grabbed me by my collar and said “You better pay attention to this.” Moses didn’t say, “don’t let it slip your mind.” He said “Don’t let them slip your heart,” or as some translations say, “Don’t allow it to depart from your heart.”

“The exhortation to constant remembrance “all the days of your life” implies that neglect on this point will/would move from gradual and occasional to regular and complete, and the evidence and testimony of the former days of God’s deliverance and provision will/would “slip away.” Joseph Coleson, NTS OT Professor in e-mail response to my question about this verse.

Moses was afraid they would forget. Forget God’s laws. Forget their story of redemption. Forget to teach the way of God to their children. If present generations didn’t show the next generation what a life of love for God looked like, then no one would show them. The very life of future generations was at stake. In effect Moses was saying, don’t let that happen. Don’t you dare let that happen. They need to know our God and the only way they will is if you to teach them, remind them, tell them the stories and show them what a life consumed with love for God looks like - and do it on purpose.

As he speaks it’s obvious where His passion is - God has given him a heart for the next generation. As he looks at his kids and grandkids and imagines the fate of future generations. Moses’ heart, like God’s heart is filled with a passion to see that the fate of future generations isn’t compromised by a slip of the heart in the current generation. His fear wasn’t that future generations wouldn’t like the same songs he did, we the same fashionable robe or have the same stylish beard - His concerns was that they wouldn’t love the same God.

“Moses is fighting for something that is more important than lifestyle or practice. He is fighting for the heart… Moses is writing about the danger of a generation losing their faith…” (Reggie Joiner, Think Orange, pg. 57-58)

Do not let them slip from your heart. Terrible things happen when we experience a slip of the heart. A couple falls in love, gets married, has kids. But over time the time, energy, and affection that was once so strong begins to wane. They stop doing special things with and for each other. They forget the feelings, forget the promises, forget the covenant. What slips is not something in their mind. They have a slip of the heart. When couples have a slip of the heart, they aren’t the only ones who suffer the painful consequences. Their children suffer, and so do their children after them. It happens with every holiday for the rest of their lives. The grandkids suffer because years before grandma and grandpa had a slip of the heart. Future generations always pay a price when there is a slip of the heart.

Do not let them slip from your heart. In the first full century of the Christian church there was a congregation in Ephesus. The founding pastor was the guy who wrote most of the NT. His name was Paul. When things got started in Ephesus, it was an exciting time. There was growth, resistance, even a riot that was caused by people falling in love with Jesus and starting to follow him. But over time there was a slow fade, a drift, a departing, a slip of the heart. We know that because when John saw the Revelation and wrote a specific letter to the church in Ephesus he said, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” Rev. 2:4. There was a lot more at stake than the current congregation in Ephesus. When congregations have a slip of the heart, they aren’t the only ones who suffer the hurtful consequences. Their children suffer, and their children after them. A slip of the heart never effects just those who drift. Future generations always pay a price when there is a slip of the heart.
The laws, commands and stories of God won’t slip our mind if love for God doesn’t slip our hearts.

This Scripture is definitely addressed to grandparents and parents. It’s a powerful and emotional appeal for us to be careful, to not drift or depart or allow our hearts to slip - not just because of how that would effect us, but because the very life of future generations is at stake. I can’t help but wonder how different things would be in our world -in our church - if there were more grandparents and parents who had the heart of Moses for future generations and had a passion to do everything in their power to see that the next generation had a heart for God.
I wonder how many of our conversations would take on a different tone, if the things that cause concern would be any different if we had the heart for the next generation that Moses had.
I wonder. I wonder what would have happened to me if my grandparents and the people in their generation hadn’t had a heart for me that surpassed any desires to take care of themselves.
And I wonder what future generations will say about us. Will they say “I wish they would have thought of me.” Or will they say “I’m so glad that generation cared more about me learning how to love God than they did a bunch of other things that could have occupied them. Because of the self-less and sacrificial love they had for God and for me, I have it in my heart now too.”

While the primary place for spiritual instruction is the home, this isn’t just a word for parents and grandparents who are to be intentional about showing their children and grandchildren what a life of loving God is supposed to look like. ”Moses is speaking to the entire nation and calling everyone to be responsible for how the next generation is raised.” (Reggie Joiner, Think Orange, pg. 53) The message “do not let it slip from your heart” is a word for the entire community, calling them ,calling us, to be intentional, purposeful, and diligent in not allowing our hearts to slip so that we will have something worth passing on to future generations.

So how’s your heart today? Are you, are we giving the next generation a reason to be captured by the God we serve, or has the call from Moses, “don’t let it slip from your heart” come at just the time you needed to hear it?
HAVE ALL KIDS STAND
The babies who were paraded across the platform just a few minutes ago, and the children that they will have should Jesus tarry are depending on you, on me, on us. For Christ’s sake, and for theirs, “do not let them slip from your heart.”
PRAYER
Benediction: Deut. 4:9