To The Rising Generation
Numbers 26:63-65,
These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 64 But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
Okay, let’s start this morning with something we tried a few weeks ago: if you are under 20 years old raise your hand, hold it high. Everybody get a good look at these hands.
I’m gonna do something today I’ve never done before. This is a different kind of sermon — because I’m going to speak directly to those of you who raised your hand. This is a sermon to everyone under 20 years old — which means either Gen Z or Gen Alpha. I’m looking at you. I’m talking to you.
And if that’s not you, don’t check out. Stay with me. Because I hope that what I say to the kids among us will be a model for our entire church. What I say won’t do any good if all the rest of us don’t get behind it. So we need the whole family here. This sermon is directed to the kids, but it’s for everybody.
And first, let me explain how I’m getting here from the text.
The Second, New Census
Chapter 26 is a census. It’s just all numbers of the tribes of Israel, but it’s an important point in the storyline of the Book of Numbers because this is the moment when the attention officially turns from the old generation to the new generation that has taken their place.
And I want you to see this in the text. We just heard these verses read, but look again at verse 63. Everybody find Chapter 26, verse 63. This is referring to the second census, verse 63 says:
These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 64 But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
So there are two different censuses mentioned here.
The first census, mentioned in verse 64, was in Numbers Chapter 1 and it took place in the wilderness of Sinai.
The second census is the one here in chapter 26 and it took place in the plains of Moab, right on the edge of entering the Promised Land.
The full count of the first census was 603,550.
The full count of the second census was 601,730.
So it’s around the same number, but the thing we’re supposed to see is that except for Joshua and Caleb, not a single person counted in that first census is still around for this second census. Because they all died under the judgment of God.
There has been a full-out replacement here. And the text makes this clear. Verse 64 says that “not one of those” listed in the first census is listed in the second. Verse 65 repeats this: “Not one of them was left, except Caleb and Joshua.”
So this is an all-new generation. And with the newness comes both hope and suspense: Could it be that this new generation, about to inherit the land, will trust God more than their parents did? Or, will they only repeat the failures of their fathers? Will the new generation be more faithful or less?
Applied to Our Day
And see, this is the kind of question, at this point in the story, that sparks our own reflection about our future generations. Historically, that’s how many Christians have read this part of Numbers. This section of the story gets applied to our own day and we realize that …
Unless Jesus comes back first, every generation will eventually become the older generation. (One day, for those of us who didn’t raise our hands, our time here will be done and what is presently the younger generation will be leading the way.) So then — How are we preparing the younger generations to do that?
Charles Spurgeon, our favorite 19th-century Baptist pastor, understood this two-way dynamic. He once wrote of Numbers 26,
If we are now serving God [current generation], let us do so with intense earnestness, since only for a little while shall we have the opportunity to do so among men…. Live while you live.
[And] at the same time, lay plans for influencing the rising generation. Lay yourself out to work while it is called today.
And part of our work, non-hand-raisers, is to invest in the hand-raisers.
And so that’s what I want to do this morning. This is not a normal exegetical sermon. We don’t find these points that I’m going to say directly from the text, but instead, with the text as a kind of foundation, I want to offer three encouragements to the rising generation. I have three commendations for you kids, and the first is this:
1. Get married and build a family.
The most obvious thing about the census in chapter 26 that we’re most likely to overlook is that these are all families. The word used is “clan” — a clan is a smaller unit under each tribe, and it’s made up of a husband and wife who becomes a father and mother to sons and daughters. These are families that are listed here, and they exist because the people of Israel are doing what God commissioned mankind to do back in Genesis. In Genesis 1:28, God told Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over [it]…”
And that’s been happening. Remember that’s what made Israel so unpopular in Egypt. This people kept increasing! They kept multiplying, as God promised Abraham they would. God blessed the people of Israel as they were extending the first and most integral institution for human civilization, the family.
It’s not a political statement to say that the family is the foundation of human society. That’s just a fact and it’s been this way since the very beginning, and the Bible just assumes that we understand this, and most cultures always have. The family is special, and it starts with marriage.
What is marriage? Well marriage is a covenant ordained by God where both a man and a woman promise to be a shelter for one another. And it’s so significant that, like with other covenants in the Bible, there’s a name-change. As one writer explains, the wife traditionally takes her husband’s name, to show that she is bound to him, and the man takes a whole new title — the title of “husband” which means house-bound (see Wiley). The husband is bound to his wife and to what makes a house, and this is where we get to children. “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes so-and-so with a baby carriage.”
That’s how it works, but I want to clarify something: when husbands and wives start to have children, they’re not simply having children, but they’re building a house. They’re building a family.
And again, families are special. Everyone everywhere gets that families are special — even in our highly individualistic culture and even where there’s so much family brokenness. We all know the family is still special and so I want to encourage you, kids, to lean into the specialness of family. And I don’t mean just the family you’re part of now as a kid, but dream of building your own family one day.
Now, I understand that marriage will come at different times for each of you, and that some of you may remain unmarried for life or experience a season of not-yet-married longer than you would hope, but exceptions aside, hear this: do not sideline marriage and family in pursuit of something you think is more important or that will make you happier.
Melissa and I were watching a show the other night, and randomly one of the characters took a dig at marriage and said: “Show me a couple that has been married for 50 years and I’ll show you someone who didn’t accomplish anything in life.” And I threw a flag right away and said Wrong! That kind of thinking exists in the world and it is maliciously wrong!
If you want to “accomplish” something that lasts, if you really want to make an impact, I tell you what I tell my sons: If you wanna change the world, do whatever Jesus says and love one woman with everything you’ve got for the rest of your life.
What I’m saying is this: kids, one day, get married and build a family.
Second encouragement:
2. Double down and fill the gaps.
Years ago, at a coffee shop close by where I lived, I met a man named Jack. He would come in the same day every week for a coffee and donut, and in a casual conversation I found out that Jack was a WWII veteran. So I asked him if I could meet and talk with him when he came in, which he let me do. And I really enjoyed getting to know Jack — he was this man from the Greatest Generation. He had seen so much life and yet he was present and engaged and he had great stories. But Jack was old, and months later he passed away. And after he died, his son sent me the eulogy he had written for him, and it was even more fascinating to get to learn more about this man who had become my friend for just a short period of time.
And one of the things that stood out to me in the eulogy was a joke that his son made about Jack hating the music his children listened to when they were teenagers. Apparently his kids would crank up the radio and Jack couldn’t stand to hear this new band his kids liked, and you know who the new band was? The Beatles.
I read that and it occurred to me that Jack was so old. He was so old that there was a time in his life when The Beatles were too modern for him! And Jack did what is so classic for the older generations to do: he looked down on the younger generation.
And this got my attention because the younger generation to him was the older generation to me. I didn’t really have a dog in the fight, but it confirmed this two-way generational dynamic that’s almost as old as the sun: Older generations tend to think the rising generation is in decline, and the rising generation tends to rebel against the older generation. One looks down their nose and the other rolls their eyes.
That’s the way it’s always been in the world, but we should make it different in our church.
And that really does start with those of us who did not raise our hands earlier. It is on us — the non-kids — to grow a church that is a haven of encouragement to the rising generation. Now that doesn’t mean that we break our necks to entertain our kids and make this place like Disney World, but it does mean that we believe God is at work in our kids and we want them to know that God’s joy is deeper than the universe. We are here because of God’s joy and we are headed back to God’s joy, and so we want to be God’s smile to our children. That’s for us, non-hand raisers, and it’s a heart thing.
The Example of Phinehas
Now for you kids these days, let me tell you about Phinehas. The story of Phinehas comes in Chapter 25. We saw it last week. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar, the new high priest, which means he was the grandson of Aaron. The Bible doesn’t tell us his age, but he was most likely a young adult, a teenager. And as the story goes in Chapter 25, there was rampant, high-handed sin and idolatry in Israel’s camp, and Phinehas stepped up to stop it.
He had great zeal for God! And God commended him for being jealous for God’s glory and turning back God’s wrath, but I think the lesson for you kids is that Phinehas doubled down on faithfulness and filled the gap where it was lacking.
Pastor Mike Schumann showed us last week that Phinehas was just doing what God has said. He knew the first commandment, “You shall have not other gods before me.” And he knew his family was supposed to guard the sanctuary. So Phinehas knew what faithfulness meant, and he doubled down on it.
Apparently his dad, Eleazar, wasn’t doing what was needed (neither was anyone else of the 625,000 or so people who were there) so Phinehas said “I’ll do it!” Except he didn’t say anything because nobody was asking. He just grabbed a spear. He saw an opportunity where faithfulness was required and took the initiative to be faithful.
So, rising generation, hand-raisers, look, you don’t have to drift. That’s what a lot of people say you’re gonna do. But don’t. There’s no drifting here. There’s no decline here. Phinehas is doubling down on what is good and right and true, and he’s filling a gap where it is required. Kids, be a Phinehas!
We want you to be more solid than we are.
Which means we’re admitting: we don’t have it all figured out. We don’t have a current well-calibrated sense of our future regret (also known as blind spots). We’re trying our best, I promise that! I feel good about where we stand! We want to serve Jesus with our utmost for his highest! And as you seek to do the same, there will be things that you’re going to be able to do better, so do them.
Kids, look, one day it’s going to be your turn to double down on faithfulness and fill the gaps where it’s required. And I say this to you with confidence, because we believe God is at work in you.
That brings me to the third encouragement…
3. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
At the end of Chapter 27, we read about when God told Moses to appoint Joshua as his successor. God reminds Moses again that he’s not going to enter the Promised Land, because of his unbelief in Chapter 20, and so Moses asks God to appoint a man to take his place. Israel needed a new leader for their new generation, and God chose Joshua.
And it’s fascinating how God describes Joshua. Chapter 27, verse 18:
“So the LORD said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit…’”
Was Joshua courageous? Yes.
Was he a leader in faith? Of course.
Did he have good training and experience? He did.
But God doesn’t mention any of those things here. He simply calls Joshua a man in whom is the Spirit.
And so rising generation, let that be true of you.
Listen, you’re going to be good at so many things, but, you can do nothing of any lasting value apart from the Holy Spirit. You need the Holy Spirit. So be filled with him. Which will mean at least three things:
1. Devotion to the Bible
God’s work through his church is always a work by his Spirit and Word. That’s been true of every movement of God in history. And the converse is also true: Show me a so-called church or place that belittles and sidelines the Bible, I’ll show you a graveyard. And that’s what some people have come to expect of churches.
I’ve got a funny story for you. We recently heard what some of our Summit Avenue neighbors think of us. It was few months ago, one of our members was at a Summit Avenue neighborhood meeting, and he was standing with an older generation of men who didn’t know he was part of our church, and one of the men said, “Yeah, it’s something what’s happened over there at that old church. That new congregation is one of those, you know … (and he wasn’t sure exactly what to say but he goes) … they’re all, you know, you know, they’re all happy clappy.”
You can call us “happy clappy” if you want to, or you could just say alive. Because that’s what we are. We’re alive, and it’s because of the Word of God. We take this Book seriously. We care about this Book.
And rising generation, hand-raisers, care about this Book even more. Read it and memorize it and sing it! Let it be a lamp for your feet and a light for your path. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit you will be devoted to the Bible.
And also, you’ll have…
2. Wisdom in this world
We know it’s a myth to say that wisdom comes with age, because that’s not always the case. Now we hope that as we get older we get wiser, but it’s not automatic … because wisdom comes from the fear of the Lord, and that means you don’t have to wait for it until you get old.
We learn this in the Book of Job. After Job’s first three friends have their moments to speak, and each one is kinda missing the mark, there is a fourth friend, Elihu, who speaks up. He says that he’s been holding his tongue and he waited last to speak because he was younger. He deferred to the older, which was polite, but then he says, it’s not many years that teach wisdom, but it’s the “breath of the Almighty that makes one understand” (Job 32:8).
And the Book of James tells us, if you want wisdom, ask God (see James 1:5). Ask God for wisdom, rising generation!
If you’re filled with the Spirit and long to be wise,
Ask it of God—he freely supplies.
And this wisdom is not just general information about things, but it’s the Spirit-empowered ability to apply biblical truth to everyday life. It’s learning to see all of reality through the lens of Scripture, and then to act accordingly. This kind of wisdom is constant awareness that God is active in the world and we get to be part of what he’s doing.
If you’re filled with the Spirit, you will be wise in this world. And being filled with the Spirit means, third…
3. Loyalty to Jesus
And this is really the source of the previous two. When it comes to what you think about the Bible, the real question is what you think about Jesus. If you believe Jesus is who he claimed to be then he is right about everything he said, including what he said about Scripture, which was pretty amazing. Jesus taught that the Bible is true, infallible, and permanent and that it’s ultimately about him. So if you take issue with any of those things, you’re taking issue with Jesus — don’t do that.
When it comes to wisdom, we need wisdom because we’re serious about following Jesus in this world, which can get complex at times and there’s gonna be opposition. We need wisdom because we want his guidance in those details.
So, rising generation, hand-raisers: it all comes back, honestly, to our love and loyalty to Jesus, and that is the central work of the Holy Spirit. “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
It’s the Holy Spirit’s work in your life that makes you born again as a believer; it’s the Spirit who binds you to Jesus by faith and makes his cross wonderful to you. And I really mean wonderful. Loyalty to Jesus is not a wooden adherence, but Jesus becomes your treasure. He is your good king, and his yoke is easy and his burden is light! It is your joy to say “Whatever you want Jesus! I’m yours.”
See, this loyalty to Jesus, then, really means a deeper fellowship with Jesus by his Spirit, and that’s what I want most for you.
I pray that Jesus would become your all-consuming passion and your all-satisfying treasure … and that the Spirit would lead you every day to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and fulfillment of all God’s promises to you; that the Spirit would empower you to renounce Satan in all his temptations and schemes; and that the Spirit would help you to obey Jesus and follow him as your Lord, Savior, and Supreme Joy. The Spirit does that. And kids, may he do that in you!
Could you do me a favor one more time? If you’re under 20, raise your hand. Okay I’m looking at you. Receive this, I encourage you:
Get married and build a family.
Double down and fill the gaps.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And that’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
We come each week to this Table to remember Jesus. We remember that he came to save us — he died in our place on the cross by his free and absolute grace. Hey, we don’t deserve his goodness. He loves us because he loves us. And when we receive this bread and cup, we’re resting in him. We are resting in his love for us. And so this table is for those who have trusted in Jesus.
If you have not yet put your faith in Jesus, let the bread and cup pass, but don’t let the invitation pass. This morning you can trust in Jesus. You too can rest in him. Just come to him in faith.
