Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were a folk/rock supergroup that dominated large parts of the music world for decades. They had a style of harmony and a breadth of creative ability that allowed them to straddle most of the popular music genres. The band played their second event together at Woodstock in August of 1989 and the rest, as they say, is history.
They recorded one of their classics – “Teach Your Children” – a couple of months later, and it has become one of their signature pieces. Over the years it has found a place in several American sitcoms, been used by US presidential candidates in political ads, adopted to promote getting Apple computers into schools and even to benefit AIDS awareness. And now to illustrate the Bible.
Our verse today could have been the inspiration for the song, but it wasn’t.
THESE COMMANDMENTS THAT I GIVE YOU TODAY ARE TO BE ON YOUR HEARTS.
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.
As Graham Nash wrote, “You who are on the road must have a code that you can live by.” He was speaking about the road of life. If you’re reading this, you’re on it. So let me ask you – What’s the code YOU live by? What are the rules you’ve adopted to define who you want to be?
Probably more to the point, as you are “becoming yourself” and “seeking the truth before you can die,” where are you looking for your answers?
I had a distressing morning on Tuesday. As I had gathered with a group of close friends for breakfast, one of them began to recount the death of a person. This woman was part of a family where faith in Christ was a key part of the code the parents lived by; but she had rejected Him deliberately, and lived a life that put her rejection on display in all the usual ways. As she lay dying in a hospice, a 16 year old relative was sitting with her in her room on what would be her last night on earth. He recounted the torment of her final hours. She laid there, semi-conscious, swatting away unseen hands that were grabbing at her and moaning, “No, don’t let them take me! They’re vile. They’re wicked! No! Please, NO!!!”
The young man said that, if he had EVER had questions about whether or not he wanted to follow Christ, they were eliminated as he watched her try to fight off the demons who had come to claim her soul. While her hell will slowly go by, it will not ever be over.
Conversely, when my father was told that he had only days left to live, his reaction was, “THANK YOU, Jesus!! Thank you. Thank you. I’m coming home.” Two days later I sat with my sisters at his bedside at the hospice as he passed peacefully into the loving arms of his Savior. No screams of fear or swatting at demons, just total peace.
Christ has a much better plan for you! He offers a “code you can live by” that leads to everlasting life in the end, and love, joy, peace and purpose along the way. His lessons are ones worth placing on our hearts and impressing on our children. Yes, Mr. Nash, we must teach our children well.
To do so, we have to live out the code we find in God’s holy word. He is the only one who can speak to us from the perspective of eternity. Our God is the only one who has purchased us with His own blood, purified us with His own righteousness and adopted us into His own family. His path and His promises are clear.
Mohammed doesn’t promise a close personal relationship with Allah in the Koran. Buddha tried to empty himself of everything, when Jesus intends that we be filled with His Holy Spirit. Confucianism has loyalty to the state as one of its main principles, not an eternal Kingdom greater than any political rule this earth has to offer. Hinduism teaches that there are multiple paths to God; yet Jesus says that He and He alone is the way, and that no one can come to the Father except through Him.
Christ alone. Not our efforts, but His grace. Jesus is the one we need to speak about when we sit at home and when we walk along the road. His commandments are to be on our hearts and impressed upon our children. He gives life. He gives hope.
THESE COMMANDMENTS THAT I GIVE YOU TODAY ARE TO BE ON YOUR HEARTS.
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.
What do I hope my children have seen in me as I have learned about, grown in and lived out my faith? What are the lessons I pray have been impressed upon them?
First, that I am most certainly not perfect. (This, I assure you, is a lesson they know well.) I have failed regularly, often embarrassingly, and sometimes deliberately. But in this I am not alone. They, too, have all had their lives marred by sin. I have sought forgiveness and made specific apologies. I have been deliberate about making changes in my life that reflect Christ.
So I hope that the impact of grace has also been impressed in their hearts. If they can look at my life and see the difference that Christ has had, the progress towards His character; then this will serve them well as they struggle to progress in their own lives.
I hope they have been encouraged to see that failure is not final. That the righteous may fall seven times, but they rise up eight. That persistence in following Christ pays off in changed lives; your own and those you touch. I hope they have learned to keep pressing on, and to take hold of all that for which Christ Jesus took hold of them. I hope that they have been impressed by the importance of forgiveness, the blessing of generosity, the necessity of tithing faithfully, and the determination to love well.
These lessons and many others are the ones I have talked about when we sit at home and when we walk along life’s road. These are the lessons that matter, the one we must teach our children very, very well.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ places a very clear choice in front of us. We must first make our own choice, and then we must impress the truth on our children.
Thanks for the song, Mr. Nash. It’s a bit wacky at some points, but the main lesson is a good one. We must teach our children well.
THESE COMMANDMENTS THAT I GIVE YOU TODAY ARE TO BE ON YOUR HEARTS.
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.
