Today marks a holiday celebrated 50 days after Passover (For us 50 days after Easter). The name of the holiday is Pentecost - meaning 50th. From the time of Moses, this day was one of the high holy days of the Jewish faith. It later became a holiday uniting the Jewish world after the exile, for people would come to Jerusalem from east and west and north and south to worship and celebrate this feast. But when the people gathered to celebrate after Christ’s resurrection, no one could have guessed what it would become.
In preparation for this day, I googled the word “Pentecost” hoping to find what others in the faith had to say about this epic day. I discovered a sermon that had been preached by the head of an association committed to non-violence. Disturbed by the imagery of a mighty or violent wind, he spent most of the sermon down playing the violence and succeeded in taking the wind out of God’s spirit. At one point he assured his listeners that “the sudden rush of the Spirit strikes witnesses as violent, yet it does not violate consciences and lives.”
So begins our effort to domesticate Pentecost. It was only a matter of time I guess. Christmas has become a rather benign image of a sleeping baby, not a God who invades the world. Easter has more to do with bunnies than it does with an empty tomb. And the violent wind of Pentecost isn’t something we need concern ourselves with, it will not “violate consciences or lives”. It’s hardly an image that shakes us up or should give us cause for concern.
Until we look to the Bible. Since the time of Abraham, God’s involvement with His people has caused upheaval in their lives. Abraham is called to uproot a comfortable existence for a life that he cannot imagine. All that he had is swept away and God creates a new people.
Since that time, God’s people have expected upheaval and known that it might even be unpleasant. The prophet Jeremiah complains in chapter 20 that “you have overpowered me”. Another way this can be translated is “you have violated me”. So much for a Spirit that won’t “violate consciences or lives”. When God gets involved with His people He doesn’t just involve He invades.
This does not mean that our God is a mean and angry God. Just because something is invasive does not mean it isn’t good for you. If you have a tumor, an invasive surgery can save your life. This violent wind that moves as Christ’s spirit is the same breath of life that God breathed into us in the beginning. So, only a new act of creation can create us anew. Jesus, the new Adam, gives us his Holy Spirit; the mighty wind that created the world is, at Pentecost, creating Christ’s church. And creation isn’t a gentle process. Anyone who has witnessed the birth of a baby can testify to this. In creation there is strain and upheaval. So it is when Christ creates his church. We are reshaped and reborn and forever changed.
As the Holy Spirit moves through Acts we continue to see this dramatic change. And the change is dramatic and physical. Paul is blinded when he encounters Christ. The Philippian jailor finds God in the midst of an earthquake.
In fact, earthquakes abound when God shows up. The church in Acts prays for boldness and the building is shaken. Christ’s resurrection causes an earthquake. And the Hebrew writer speaks of a time when all will be shaken apart and only that which is of God will remain. When God is at work, things get shaken up. The Holy Spirit makes a clean sweep –we try to cling to certain things, but God sweeps it all away.
Wind can be awesome when it is out of control. Imagine the power of a hurricane. It can destroy everything in its path. We hide from the wind because it can destroy us. And yet, in a single day, a hurricane can release the amount of energy necessary to supply all of the United States' electrical needs for about six months.
Only God can harness the power of the wind, the power of His spirit. So, to try and gain access to this power apart from God is futile and dangerous. We cannot harness this wind or bend it to our purpose. We cannot use this wind to go where we want to go. We can only be blown away by it, caught up in it, and trust that it will take us where we most need to go.
That is not to say that God’s Spirit is out of control, it is simply out of our control. Only through relationship with Christ are we able to see some control of the wind. Remember, Christ is the one who calms the storm when the wind seems out of control. God, who controls the wind, can harness its power and use it to supply our need.
God takes everything from us so that we can receive back from Him what it is we truly need. But that doesn’t mean that we get to pick and choose what gets taken away. Think of how the Jews have to rethink their approach to the Gentiles. Their entire way of thinking about “chosen people” is shaken. In a more modern context, think of our own prejudices and preferences. Or the relationships we might try to cling to. Think of the son who goes off to college only to find Christ. What will his unbelieving girlfriend or parents think when he returns home for the holidays? Or, one that hits all of us close to home, our schedules. We are caught up in a whirlwind of activities and find no time for God. God comes in like a whirlwind and makes us make time. When God gets involved in our lives His spirit sweeps everything away, not just our sin, but our very lives.
Pentecost is meant to be the day that blows us away. Out of this chaos, the God of all creation begins a new creation, not by destroying but by transforming, by the changing wind of the Holy Spirit.
Because of its power, God's wind changes everything. It is up to us to choose our response. We can open our hearts and celebrate this amazing gift or in our fear we can work to control it.
If we do open our hearts to it and allow this mighty wind to sweep away all that we might give devotion to, it is amazing to see what remains. As we see in the end of Acts 2, at the end of Pentecost “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” By allowing God’s Spirit to be at work within His church, these people discover an entirely new way to be and they are made into a new creation. We can participate with them as members of Christ’s church. And when we do, we will see God work in amazing ways, adding to our numbers every day those who are being saved.
Monday, May 31, 2004
Thursday, May 27, 2004
A Brief Sports Analogy
Anyone who knows me well would be surprised to find the words "sports analogy" attached to anything I might write. There is a simple explanation for their surprise, I know next to nothing about sports. I can play sports (basketball and football for a bref stint in middle and high school) but I don't follow specific teams or players, I can't quote statistics, I don't watch ESPN. It isn't that I am anti-sports, it's that no one has ever taken the time to explain to me why they love the games (teams, players) they love and why I should. I'm a guy who loves to have stuff explained to me, I love to get sold on something, I like to know why others like what they like even if they don't sell me. But no one has ever attempted to explain their love of sports to me. Most folks want someone who is already a fan, someone who already speaks the language, not somebody they have to explain things to like a five year old.
I don't bring this up as an angst ridden rant (I am, in fact, content to remain clueless about sports until someone takes me on as a project) but as an analogy to how many of the "churched" approach discussions on faith. Too many of us are looking for someone who already knows the lingo, someone who is already sold on the game. We don't want to have to take someone through the process if it means getting down on their level.
I don't mean that we should condescend or approach people like projects, but we should be more ready to explain why it is we're so sold on this Christianity thing. Hopefully (and this is step one) our non-Christian friends can see that it is important to us, we need to be ready to explain to them why. That means having some understanding ourselves and a genuine and sincere love for what we're sharing. Then it means going back to the basics and patiently explaining what they mean. Like the sports fanatic who takes time to teach his son to throw a ball, this practice can often bring us back to why we fell in love in the first place.
I don't bring this up as an angst ridden rant (I am, in fact, content to remain clueless about sports until someone takes me on as a project) but as an analogy to how many of the "churched" approach discussions on faith. Too many of us are looking for someone who already knows the lingo, someone who is already sold on the game. We don't want to have to take someone through the process if it means getting down on their level.
I don't mean that we should condescend or approach people like projects, but we should be more ready to explain why it is we're so sold on this Christianity thing. Hopefully (and this is step one) our non-Christian friends can see that it is important to us, we need to be ready to explain to them why. That means having some understanding ourselves and a genuine and sincere love for what we're sharing. Then it means going back to the basics and patiently explaining what they mean. Like the sports fanatic who takes time to teach his son to throw a ball, this practice can often bring us back to why we fell in love in the first place.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
The Crutch of Christ
A few years back, when my wife and I were living in Abilene, Texas, we were a part of a young adults group made up of singles, marrieds, and those with young children. On Sunday mornings, members of the class took turns teaching. One of these Sunday mornings the focus was on the story in Luke 18 of Christ and the little children. Our teacher started the class by asking us to describe traits that we associate with children. The singles and marrieds volunteered words like “innocent” and “precious” and “honest”. Then one of the members of the class who actually had children raised his hand and said “stupid”. Our teacher was a bit taken aback, but he recovered and said “Well, maybe, but for the purposes of this class, let’s focus on the good qualities.”
That’s the temptation that faces all of us, isn’t it? To focus on our good qualities and try and pretend that the bad ones don’t exist. After all, if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all. Where’s the harm in putting on a good face and “faking it ‘til you’re making it”?
There was a group a few years back who were working to get the wording changed in one of the hymns we sang this morning, Amazing Grace. All they wanted to change was one word so that the first verse would be: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved someone like me.” Not so bad, right? Someone like me. I’m not some wretch; I’m just someone. Much better. I can work with that.
As a college student, I took a class entitled Counseling Adolescents. During one of the classes, the professor asked us to think back on what life was like during our middle school and high school years. Now, this may surprise you, but I was not the incredible physical specimen you see here before you when I was in junior high school. I was what was then called a nerd, which may be an outdated term. I was not surprised to discover that many of my college classmates had shared a similar fate.
What did surprise me was a guy in the class named Kyle. Kyle was the kind of guy who had picked on guys like me. But the story he shared was very similar to mine, he talked about being lonely and anxious and out of place and pressured. He ended his thoughts by asking something that I will never forget; “Why did we all feel the need to put on such a show in school? Why didn’t we all just come clean?”
The problem is that this is the last thing the world tells us to do. The world functions on keeping up appearances, the TV ads tell us to “never let them see you sweat” and we as a church have slowly bought into Satan’s lie. We’re going to pretend like everything is OK, and the last thing we’re going to do is come clean.
Why? Well, if I can play with phrase a bit, it probably has something to do with the fact that no one comes clean. We come broken, and dirty, and dead. Our lives don’t make sense, our mistakes are catching up with us, and even the best things in our lives, our families, our friends, cannot fulfill us. And coming into the presence of God doesn’t make us less aware of that fact, but more aware of it. Many of us have set ourselves apart from relationship with God and when we find ourselves in His presence we join Isaiah in shouting “woe is me.”
So, what can be done? We suck, now what? For a long time in our churches, the message ended there. But the Bible’s message does not. It only begins there. The Bible speaks to us like a doctor might, “there’s bad news and there’s good news.” We got the bad news first, and it is bad. We are dead in sin. But now comes good news and it is the only good news that can boldly claim to be THE good news, the gospel.
The good news is that while we do not come clean, through Christ, we can BEcome clean.
Comedian Dennis Miller states that his problem with Christians is their insistence on being “born again”. His comment is this; “excuse me for getting it right the first time.” We are here today to proclaim that no one gets it right the first time.
Going back to the story in Luke 18, Jesus says that we must come like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. The teacher from my young adult class wanted to focus on the good stuff, because he thought that is what Christ was focusing on. Except it wasn’t. The way in which we are meant to model children is not in their innocence, which we lost a long time ago, but in their incompetence. In their flat out, can’t tie their own shoes, can’t feed themselves, neediness. We must come to Christ that way, or not at all.
There are those, like Dennis Miller, who will look down on the idea of being “born again”. There are those who will refer to Christianity as a crutch. There was a time when that would have offended me, but I have come to a stunning realization in recent years. Christianity IS a crutch. What I had missed was that I was a man in need of a crutch. We are a world full of broken people and when Christ offers us a crutch we should take it.
In Matthew 9:1-7, we see Christ tie these two things together. In the same instant that the paralytic’s sins are forgiven he is also given the strength to walk. The one who has come to save us from sin has provided a crutch so we can walk again. Jesus reinforces this in verse 12 when he states that “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” We don’t have to come clean to Jesus, in fact we cannot. Jesus looks at our brokeness and our neediness and our incompetence and says, “I can work with that.”
Thomas Merton once said that “A saint is not someone who is good, but someone who has experienced the grace of God.” We aren’t any good folks, none of us are. We are wretches. But because of God’s grace we don’t have to be. Only with God’s grace can we avoid it.
My first job in youth ministry, I worked with a kid named Travis. He had lived a pretty hard life for a high school student and when he decided to give his life to Christ, he still had some habits he wanted to break. He came to me before being baptized and said that maybe he should wait until he had quit smoking to get baptized. What Travis had trouble understanding was that we don’t become Christians because we’re good enough to be, but because we’re too bad not to be. As his dad dunked him in the water, his mom looked at me and said “remember what creep that kid was?” I did indeed, and I also knew that he would still be a creep, but was being made perfect everyday from that day forward.
What is offered to us in Christ’s death and resurrection is justification by grace through faith. Justification is to be in right relationship with God again, not to suddenly be without flaw. During my growing up, the relationship between my brother and I was fairly hostile, bordering on volatile. So much so that for 8 years we lost all contact and didn’t speak to each other. 4 years ago, by the grace of God, we were able to set things right, and reestablish our relationship. Does that mean that there aren’t still times when I forget to return a phone call? Absolutely not. Can I do harm to the relationship if I go a month without speaking to my brother? Definitely. Do I need to worry that I could lose the relationship I have reestablished with my brother? Never. The same goes with our relationship with God. If you go a week without praying or cracking open a Bible, don’t be surprised if God seems distant; but please don’t think that your salvation is in jeopardy. Christ’s blood has justified you, and no amount of getting it right on earth is getting you into heaven.
But what about those who have received the call of salvation and obeyed it? What about those who continue to take up our cross daily, who continue to wrestle with God and, like Jacob, wind up with a limp for our trouble. The answer is that the cross is not what burdens you, but what props you up. The cross was Christ’s burden, but it is our salvation. The crutch that is offered to us in salvation is not taken away as we continue the journey. The crutch of Christ continues to hold us up as we walk through life and it will not be taken away until he has taken us home.
What this means is that the church has a responsibility to outsiders, to our children, to each other to lean on the cross when we find ourselves in trouble. Not on our connections, not on our education, not on our money, none of these can save us. It means that prayer must be our first inclination and not our last resort.
At the age of 82, near death, John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace” spoke these words; “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior.”
We are great sinners in need of a great savior, and we have been invited to leave behind our old life, to take up the crutch of Christ, and to be washed clean in the waters of baptism.
That’s the temptation that faces all of us, isn’t it? To focus on our good qualities and try and pretend that the bad ones don’t exist. After all, if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all. Where’s the harm in putting on a good face and “faking it ‘til you’re making it”?
There was a group a few years back who were working to get the wording changed in one of the hymns we sang this morning, Amazing Grace. All they wanted to change was one word so that the first verse would be: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved someone like me.” Not so bad, right? Someone like me. I’m not some wretch; I’m just someone. Much better. I can work with that.
As a college student, I took a class entitled Counseling Adolescents. During one of the classes, the professor asked us to think back on what life was like during our middle school and high school years. Now, this may surprise you, but I was not the incredible physical specimen you see here before you when I was in junior high school. I was what was then called a nerd, which may be an outdated term. I was not surprised to discover that many of my college classmates had shared a similar fate.
What did surprise me was a guy in the class named Kyle. Kyle was the kind of guy who had picked on guys like me. But the story he shared was very similar to mine, he talked about being lonely and anxious and out of place and pressured. He ended his thoughts by asking something that I will never forget; “Why did we all feel the need to put on such a show in school? Why didn’t we all just come clean?”
The problem is that this is the last thing the world tells us to do. The world functions on keeping up appearances, the TV ads tell us to “never let them see you sweat” and we as a church have slowly bought into Satan’s lie. We’re going to pretend like everything is OK, and the last thing we’re going to do is come clean.
Why? Well, if I can play with phrase a bit, it probably has something to do with the fact that no one comes clean. We come broken, and dirty, and dead. Our lives don’t make sense, our mistakes are catching up with us, and even the best things in our lives, our families, our friends, cannot fulfill us. And coming into the presence of God doesn’t make us less aware of that fact, but more aware of it. Many of us have set ourselves apart from relationship with God and when we find ourselves in His presence we join Isaiah in shouting “woe is me.”
So, what can be done? We suck, now what? For a long time in our churches, the message ended there. But the Bible’s message does not. It only begins there. The Bible speaks to us like a doctor might, “there’s bad news and there’s good news.” We got the bad news first, and it is bad. We are dead in sin. But now comes good news and it is the only good news that can boldly claim to be THE good news, the gospel.
The good news is that while we do not come clean, through Christ, we can BEcome clean.
Comedian Dennis Miller states that his problem with Christians is their insistence on being “born again”. His comment is this; “excuse me for getting it right the first time.” We are here today to proclaim that no one gets it right the first time.
Going back to the story in Luke 18, Jesus says that we must come like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. The teacher from my young adult class wanted to focus on the good stuff, because he thought that is what Christ was focusing on. Except it wasn’t. The way in which we are meant to model children is not in their innocence, which we lost a long time ago, but in their incompetence. In their flat out, can’t tie their own shoes, can’t feed themselves, neediness. We must come to Christ that way, or not at all.
There are those, like Dennis Miller, who will look down on the idea of being “born again”. There are those who will refer to Christianity as a crutch. There was a time when that would have offended me, but I have come to a stunning realization in recent years. Christianity IS a crutch. What I had missed was that I was a man in need of a crutch. We are a world full of broken people and when Christ offers us a crutch we should take it.
In Matthew 9:1-7, we see Christ tie these two things together. In the same instant that the paralytic’s sins are forgiven he is also given the strength to walk. The one who has come to save us from sin has provided a crutch so we can walk again. Jesus reinforces this in verse 12 when he states that “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” We don’t have to come clean to Jesus, in fact we cannot. Jesus looks at our brokeness and our neediness and our incompetence and says, “I can work with that.”
Thomas Merton once said that “A saint is not someone who is good, but someone who has experienced the grace of God.” We aren’t any good folks, none of us are. We are wretches. But because of God’s grace we don’t have to be. Only with God’s grace can we avoid it.
My first job in youth ministry, I worked with a kid named Travis. He had lived a pretty hard life for a high school student and when he decided to give his life to Christ, he still had some habits he wanted to break. He came to me before being baptized and said that maybe he should wait until he had quit smoking to get baptized. What Travis had trouble understanding was that we don’t become Christians because we’re good enough to be, but because we’re too bad not to be. As his dad dunked him in the water, his mom looked at me and said “remember what creep that kid was?” I did indeed, and I also knew that he would still be a creep, but was being made perfect everyday from that day forward.
What is offered to us in Christ’s death and resurrection is justification by grace through faith. Justification is to be in right relationship with God again, not to suddenly be without flaw. During my growing up, the relationship between my brother and I was fairly hostile, bordering on volatile. So much so that for 8 years we lost all contact and didn’t speak to each other. 4 years ago, by the grace of God, we were able to set things right, and reestablish our relationship. Does that mean that there aren’t still times when I forget to return a phone call? Absolutely not. Can I do harm to the relationship if I go a month without speaking to my brother? Definitely. Do I need to worry that I could lose the relationship I have reestablished with my brother? Never. The same goes with our relationship with God. If you go a week without praying or cracking open a Bible, don’t be surprised if God seems distant; but please don’t think that your salvation is in jeopardy. Christ’s blood has justified you, and no amount of getting it right on earth is getting you into heaven.
But what about those who have received the call of salvation and obeyed it? What about those who continue to take up our cross daily, who continue to wrestle with God and, like Jacob, wind up with a limp for our trouble. The answer is that the cross is not what burdens you, but what props you up. The cross was Christ’s burden, but it is our salvation. The crutch that is offered to us in salvation is not taken away as we continue the journey. The crutch of Christ continues to hold us up as we walk through life and it will not be taken away until he has taken us home.
What this means is that the church has a responsibility to outsiders, to our children, to each other to lean on the cross when we find ourselves in trouble. Not on our connections, not on our education, not on our money, none of these can save us. It means that prayer must be our first inclination and not our last resort.
At the age of 82, near death, John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace” spoke these words; “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior.”
We are great sinners in need of a great savior, and we have been invited to leave behind our old life, to take up the crutch of Christ, and to be washed clean in the waters of baptism.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Every Pooper Needs A Party
In my fourth grade year of elementary school there was this annoying kid in my class. You’ve probably met someone like him. Always does what he’s told, and loves to point out when others don’t. This is the kid who reminds the teacher about the homework assignment, the kid who complains that his class project partners never contribute enough and that he could get more done on his own. But there is one thing this kid does that he enjoys more than anything else. When the teacher has to leave the room, she will ask a student to take down the names of anyone who misbehaves. In my fourth grade year of school, there was only one kid my teacher ever called take on this responsibility. That kid was me.
I am an older brother. Technically, I have a brother who is 9 years my senior, but he would be the first to say that, for all intents and purposes, I was the older one. The responsible one. When it came to the mistakes of my siblings, my parents’ didn’t even need to ask, I was taking names. Without anyone having assigned me the job, I took it upon myself to lay down the law. And while a lot has changed since we were growing up at home, old habits still die hard.
This last weekend I went to Chicago to see my brother, Scott. It was the first time for me to see him in a few years and the first time he and Rachel had ever met. At one point during the weekend, he mentioned that he and a high school friend of his had been discussing my visit. His friend had said “You better be on your best behavior, you don’t want him calling mom and dad.” It was a painful reminder.
The Gospel of Luke 15:11-32 is best known as The Parable of the Lost Son or Prodigal Son. But I would suggest that it is a story of two lost sons. One who left home and one who never felt at home. I believe that all of us have felt like at least one of these brothers at some point in our lives.
The younger brother is the main focus of the story, and us older brothers sigh in frustration. Once again, the bad kids get all the attention. The younger brother asks his father for his share of the inheritance, in a sense saying to his father, “I wish you were already dead.” His relationship with his father is all about what he can get from him. The younger son takes his father’s money, moves far away, and goes on the bender to end all benders. What he wants most is that life be one big party. And, for awhile, it is.
Many of us have been this younger brother. Seeing relationships as a means to an end, we squander all that we are blessed with and keep asking mom and dad to send another check. Eventually, the well runs dry and the party ends.
This is what happens to the prodigal son. Not only does the party end, but the people who he partied with are nowhere to be found. The younger brother experiences firsthand what the old blues song meant when it said “nobody knows you when you’re down and out.” The prodigal takes the most miserable of jobs and it is while he is working that he has a sudden epiphany. He knows that his father would never let him come home, but perhaps he would give him a job. The son decides to head home and ask for just that.
In Galatians 3:24 we read “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified through faith.” The prodigal son is ready to submit himself to the law. But he finds that his father has other ideas.
The son explains to his father what he hopes is a fair deal, but the father isn’t hearing it. His son is home! This is a time to rejoice, to celebrate, to party! The law served its purpose in getting the son home, now the relationship can begin again.
This is as good a time as any to say that I have seen this story play out. As I have said, my brother was the trouble maker. He looked in a lot of places trying to keep the party going. But what I remember is one party in particular. The welcome home party that my parents threw after my brother returned from the Army.
What a bitter memory. Everyone seemed so happy for him to be coming home. Didn’t anyone remember how much trouble he had been? Didn’t they know that some things never change!? Well, I did and I wasn’t going to celebrate.
My mother used to have a saying for times that one of us (oftentimes me) would sulk at a party. “Every party needs a pooper, that’s why we’ve invited you.” It’s a theme song for older brothers. The older brother in this story is no exception.
Here comes the older brother after a hard day’s work. He is tired, he is achy, but its all good, because he understands that life is about hard work. He may be tired, but he is also responsible. He is good. He may be basking in just this thought when he hears the sounds of a party.
I have to wonder what he thought as he realized that a party was going on. Was he so much like me that he thought maybe his father had finally decided to recognize all the hard work he had done? Did dome part of him think “finally I am going to get the recognition I deserve”? Whatever he may have been thinking or hoping, those hopes were soon dashed. The party wasn’t for him. The prodigal son was home.
Now we know exactly what the older brother was thinking. He expresses it angrily. And one phrase in particular stands out. “All these years I have slaved for you”. I don’t know how you see this moment, but I always imagine Steve Martin’s character in Parenthood when he shouts at his wife “My whole life is have to!”
His father pleads with him not to be a party pooper. He begs his son to join in the celebration, but the son folds his arms and sulks. And misses the party.
Returning to the end of Galatians 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, we see a discussion on slaves and sons. Those who are slaves to the law only until they have clothed themselves with Christ in baptism. Then they take their place as sons and come into a full inheritance. This is a story of slaves and sons and inheritance. One son squanders his inheritance and is willing to become a slave, but finds himself reinstated as a son. Another chooses to slave for his father rather than be his son, and so ends up squandering his inheritance as well. Both sons come dangerously close to missing out on the party. The prodigal goes in search of a party only to discover one waiting for him at home. The other son longs for a party, only to discover he could have had one at anytime.
The gospel for the prodigal son is one that has been preached many times and one that I would echo. For those of you who have seen God only as a means to an end, but never as one to be in relationship with, for those who have experienced the emptiness that comes when the well runs dry, you are invited to take on Christ in baptism, to gain access to a well that never runs dry and to claim your proper place as children in Christ’s kingdom.
But there is grace for the older brother as well. For those of us who never had a “drunk in the gutter” story. For those of us who have always made faith about how well we behaved ourselves, for those of us who never left home but have never really felt at home, there is gospel for us as well. We have fooled ourselves into believing that we show maturity when we live by the law. But Galatians says just the opposite. The law is for those who are still children. We show maturity when we are willing to lay down the law. Christ has already taken our burden, why are we still trying to carry it? Christ says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. That doesn’t mean that there won’t still be work to do for all of us who put on Christ. It simply means that the work can be done as a part of a relationship, and work that is done as sons is far easier than work that is done as slaves. And that those God calls to work hard, He allows to play hard too. Its time to join the party. Every pooper needs a party, that's why He invited you.
One last thing. It has been said that the job of a good prophet is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I’m going to do just a little bit of that right now. We as the church will always have people among us who have made mistakes. I should say that we have all made mistakes, but some mistakes are less easily hidden. When I was working my first job in ministry, there was a girl in the youth group who got pregnant at the age of 15. And when she did, there was a woman at the church who had long stated that we should not have baby showers for babies born out of wedlock. She changed her mind when this baby was born, because the baby was her great-granddaughter. What changed was that it became about a relationship and not a rule. Too many of us are still taking down names for the teacher, thinking that when God gets back He’ll want us to give an accounting of everybody who misbehaved. But scripture teaches that love keeps no record of wrongs. We’re not trying to say sin isn’t important, if it wasn’t then Jesus wouldn’t have died. But he did die, and when he did so did the power of sin. If Christ has lifted that burden from us, he has lifted it from all of us. We older brothers need allow ourselves some grace, but we need to extend that grace to others as well.
I am an older brother. Technically, I have a brother who is 9 years my senior, but he would be the first to say that, for all intents and purposes, I was the older one. The responsible one. When it came to the mistakes of my siblings, my parents’ didn’t even need to ask, I was taking names. Without anyone having assigned me the job, I took it upon myself to lay down the law. And while a lot has changed since we were growing up at home, old habits still die hard.
This last weekend I went to Chicago to see my brother, Scott. It was the first time for me to see him in a few years and the first time he and Rachel had ever met. At one point during the weekend, he mentioned that he and a high school friend of his had been discussing my visit. His friend had said “You better be on your best behavior, you don’t want him calling mom and dad.” It was a painful reminder.
The Gospel of Luke 15:11-32 is best known as The Parable of the Lost Son or Prodigal Son. But I would suggest that it is a story of two lost sons. One who left home and one who never felt at home. I believe that all of us have felt like at least one of these brothers at some point in our lives.
The younger brother is the main focus of the story, and us older brothers sigh in frustration. Once again, the bad kids get all the attention. The younger brother asks his father for his share of the inheritance, in a sense saying to his father, “I wish you were already dead.” His relationship with his father is all about what he can get from him. The younger son takes his father’s money, moves far away, and goes on the bender to end all benders. What he wants most is that life be one big party. And, for awhile, it is.
Many of us have been this younger brother. Seeing relationships as a means to an end, we squander all that we are blessed with and keep asking mom and dad to send another check. Eventually, the well runs dry and the party ends.
This is what happens to the prodigal son. Not only does the party end, but the people who he partied with are nowhere to be found. The younger brother experiences firsthand what the old blues song meant when it said “nobody knows you when you’re down and out.” The prodigal takes the most miserable of jobs and it is while he is working that he has a sudden epiphany. He knows that his father would never let him come home, but perhaps he would give him a job. The son decides to head home and ask for just that.
In Galatians 3:24 we read “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified through faith.” The prodigal son is ready to submit himself to the law. But he finds that his father has other ideas.
The son explains to his father what he hopes is a fair deal, but the father isn’t hearing it. His son is home! This is a time to rejoice, to celebrate, to party! The law served its purpose in getting the son home, now the relationship can begin again.
This is as good a time as any to say that I have seen this story play out. As I have said, my brother was the trouble maker. He looked in a lot of places trying to keep the party going. But what I remember is one party in particular. The welcome home party that my parents threw after my brother returned from the Army.
What a bitter memory. Everyone seemed so happy for him to be coming home. Didn’t anyone remember how much trouble he had been? Didn’t they know that some things never change!? Well, I did and I wasn’t going to celebrate.
My mother used to have a saying for times that one of us (oftentimes me) would sulk at a party. “Every party needs a pooper, that’s why we’ve invited you.” It’s a theme song for older brothers. The older brother in this story is no exception.
Here comes the older brother after a hard day’s work. He is tired, he is achy, but its all good, because he understands that life is about hard work. He may be tired, but he is also responsible. He is good. He may be basking in just this thought when he hears the sounds of a party.
I have to wonder what he thought as he realized that a party was going on. Was he so much like me that he thought maybe his father had finally decided to recognize all the hard work he had done? Did dome part of him think “finally I am going to get the recognition I deserve”? Whatever he may have been thinking or hoping, those hopes were soon dashed. The party wasn’t for him. The prodigal son was home.
Now we know exactly what the older brother was thinking. He expresses it angrily. And one phrase in particular stands out. “All these years I have slaved for you”. I don’t know how you see this moment, but I always imagine Steve Martin’s character in Parenthood when he shouts at his wife “My whole life is have to!”
His father pleads with him not to be a party pooper. He begs his son to join in the celebration, but the son folds his arms and sulks. And misses the party.
Returning to the end of Galatians 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, we see a discussion on slaves and sons. Those who are slaves to the law only until they have clothed themselves with Christ in baptism. Then they take their place as sons and come into a full inheritance. This is a story of slaves and sons and inheritance. One son squanders his inheritance and is willing to become a slave, but finds himself reinstated as a son. Another chooses to slave for his father rather than be his son, and so ends up squandering his inheritance as well. Both sons come dangerously close to missing out on the party. The prodigal goes in search of a party only to discover one waiting for him at home. The other son longs for a party, only to discover he could have had one at anytime.
The gospel for the prodigal son is one that has been preached many times and one that I would echo. For those of you who have seen God only as a means to an end, but never as one to be in relationship with, for those who have experienced the emptiness that comes when the well runs dry, you are invited to take on Christ in baptism, to gain access to a well that never runs dry and to claim your proper place as children in Christ’s kingdom.
But there is grace for the older brother as well. For those of us who never had a “drunk in the gutter” story. For those of us who have always made faith about how well we behaved ourselves, for those of us who never left home but have never really felt at home, there is gospel for us as well. We have fooled ourselves into believing that we show maturity when we live by the law. But Galatians says just the opposite. The law is for those who are still children. We show maturity when we are willing to lay down the law. Christ has already taken our burden, why are we still trying to carry it? Christ says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. That doesn’t mean that there won’t still be work to do for all of us who put on Christ. It simply means that the work can be done as a part of a relationship, and work that is done as sons is far easier than work that is done as slaves. And that those God calls to work hard, He allows to play hard too. Its time to join the party. Every pooper needs a party, that's why He invited you.
One last thing. It has been said that the job of a good prophet is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I’m going to do just a little bit of that right now. We as the church will always have people among us who have made mistakes. I should say that we have all made mistakes, but some mistakes are less easily hidden. When I was working my first job in ministry, there was a girl in the youth group who got pregnant at the age of 15. And when she did, there was a woman at the church who had long stated that we should not have baby showers for babies born out of wedlock. She changed her mind when this baby was born, because the baby was her great-granddaughter. What changed was that it became about a relationship and not a rule. Too many of us are still taking down names for the teacher, thinking that when God gets back He’ll want us to give an accounting of everybody who misbehaved. But scripture teaches that love keeps no record of wrongs. We’re not trying to say sin isn’t important, if it wasn’t then Jesus wouldn’t have died. But he did die, and when he did so did the power of sin. If Christ has lifted that burden from us, he has lifted it from all of us. We older brothers need allow ourselves some grace, but we need to extend that grace to others as well.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Running On Empty
“We buy books because we believe we are buying the time to read them.”
–Warren Zevon paraphrasing Schopenhauer
I’m a music guy. Actually, I’m a music, movies, books, and entertainment guy. I’m the guy that read Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity 5 times and then saw the movie 10 times simply because I related so well to the musical minutiae that the characters consumed (and because the Boss had a cameo). I would have purchased the soundtrack if I hadn’t already had almost every song on some other album. I used to spend hours quoting movie lines with college buddies in a movie club (yes, we had a movie club and a very specific set of rules) and am still likely to list Dylan among my favorite poets (though most would mean Thomas and I would mean Bob). So, it isn’t surprising for me to be inspired by a songwriter and find wisdom in his words. Unless those words happen to come from the mouth of Marilyn Manson. Imagine my surprise then, when I heard Manson make the following statement about the state of our society; “(American entertainment and media) is a campaign of fear and consumption. And that’s what I think it’s all based on: it’s the idea that (you) keep everyone afraid and they’ll consume.” The truth of Manson’s words can’t be denied. The advertising classes I took in college support it. The billboards and commercials that we are inundated with bear it out. The idea is to “never let ‘em see you sweat.” Fear drives so much of what we do and almost all of what we consume.
As I work on a daily basis with teens, I’m reminded of a quote from well-known comedian, Dennis Miller; “many of our kids are having sex like there’s no tomorrow, maybe because we’ve convinced them that there isn’t one.” We have what St. Augustine referred to as a “God-shaped hole” and in the absence of a gospel message, many of us are attempting to fill it with whatever we can get our hands on or whatever a consumer culture is willing to put in our hands. Even more disturbing is the way in which those of us who have received the gospel message are responding. We have books that are bestsellers in Christian bookstores whose core message is that we no longer have to feel bad for building bigger barns. We should ask God for more stuff and expect that, like a cosmic Claus, he will grant our every wish and whim.
John DeGraaf’s book “Affluenza” addresses this problem from a purely secular perspective and comes up with one fundamental truth for Americans in the new millennium, we are both richer and unhappier than we have ever been. It is an unhappiness born of anger, an anger born of fear, and a fear born of emptiness; an emptiness than we are trying to fill with all the wrong things and in all the wrong places.
Manson isn’t the only musician who speaks to this problem. One of this year’s rock n’ roll hall of fame inductees (and one of my personal favorites) Jackson Browne, has been speaking to this problem for years. In his song, “Running on Empty”, he lays out his life as a parable for others who find themselves flying down life’s highway. Perhaps his most compelling (and disturbing) line is found toward the end of the song: “Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through, looking into their eyes I see them running too.” It is a predicament almost as old as the world itself and a road that started with the first step out of Eden. Humanity feels empty and wants to get full.
This desire isn’t a bad one. It’s the prodigal’s empty stomach and empty life that gets him on the road back home. Our problem comes in how we try to fill that emptiness. If we are imitators of Christ, then we are imitators of the one who emptied himself for the sake of other, refusing to grasp that which he had a right to. Instead, American Christians are as concerned with our rights as we have ever been; an idea that is very American, but not always Christian. Recently I read an article about a Christian lawyer who has begun suing on behalf of students who were being ridiculed at school because of their Christian beliefs. One of his clients was an elementary school student who was forced to endure taunts of “Jesus freak” at recess. Instead of taking a golden opportunity to teach their son about the persecution we might face as Christians, instead of pointing to the one who endured persecution for us, they hired a lawyer. Because that’s what Jesus would do.
How did we get from expecting persecution to suing over name calling? Do we really think this is going to fulfill us? The fact is that we want what we want whether it’s our rights, our stuff, or our right to our stuff. In a culture of lawyers, guns and money people will sue who they have to sue and kill who they have to kill to get what they want to get. But why are Christians embracing this culture? Why don’t we resist this culture instead of buying in? Haven’t we been given a better way? Why would we return to the law of the land instead of the law that God commanded to be written on our hearts?
The problem started innocently enough. It’s the problem Christianity faces any time it is embraced by the culture, the natural instinct is to embrace back. Instead of heeding the warning to “beware when others speak well of you” we ate up the fact that society seemed to be on board with everything we believed. After all, we are a people told to anticipate persecution, so doesn’t it feel nice when we don’t have to? Being in the world is so much easier when the world isn’t trying to lock you up or kill you. But being of the world gets a lot easier too.
The situation makes me think about how my mom used to encourage me to label my toy cars anytime I was going to play with a group of friends. At first, it’s easy to remember what belongs to whom, but after a few hours the labels come in pretty handy. The absence of a clear marker can make retrieval a lot more confusing when its time to go home. A similar problem faces us culturally. We mix in with the world around us, but forget to keep Christ’s mark clearly on us and on everything that is ours. What happens when Christ calls us home and we can’t remember what goes where? What happens when we have to face the fact that we’re a lot more “of the world” than we ever intended to be? The same thing that happens when the salt loses its saltiness, it becomes worthless. The conscience that the church is called to be is no longer there to keep the world honest. Instead of going back to Christ to get back what we lost, many of us simply give in. We’ve lived so long under a culture that validated our beliefs that we’re allowing our beliefs to reflect our culture. The world made us feel at home in a place that was never our home and, somewhere along the way, we started playing by the home court rules.
But what happens when this world isn’t making us feel as at home as it did in the 1950s? What happens when the culture doesn’t reflect our beliefs the way it used to? Some of us simply give in. The culture overcomes us and we can’t tell the difference between our political party and our religious affiliation. Instead of facing the fact that we’ve lost our anchor, we float along with the latest trend, tossed about by whatever the latest pop philosophy might be. We form political coalitions that will speak on our behalf. Others of us pull away in fear. We want things how they used to be –or how we remember them being- prayer in schools and the Ten Commandments in a courthouse. But the answer isn’t prayer in schools, it’s prayer in homes. It isn’t the Ten Commandments outside a courtroom, it’s the Ten Commandments inside our bedrooms and living rooms. We point to pop icons like Eminem and Britney Spears to pin our problems on. But the fault, dear reader, lies not in the stars but in ourselves.
G.K. Chesterton is famous for stating that “the Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.” No matter how difficult the rat race might be, the race the apostle Paul ran seems harder. Even though it might be hard earn cash, it’s even harder to learn contentment. Christ showed us that it may be difficult to follow the rules, but it’s even harder to follow him. So we look to those who would sell us the latest palliative or bookstore remedy and then are surprised when we are still as empty and fearful and angry as ever. In our attempts to accumulate more stuff we find ourselves possessed by those things which we would possess.
So, that’s the bad news, but is there any good news? Our response to the world around us should be a resounding “yes”. We have a gospel to offer to those who are running on empty, those good friends who are good people, but not God’s people. The Jones’ built a pretty house and were surprised when it didn’t make them happy. We know that the wise man was wise, not because of the house he built, but because of the rock he built his house upon. We have something to offer the Jones’, if we have the faith to put our weight down on the rock and to ask them to do the same. The only way to stop running scared is to repent in the most literal sense of the word, to change direction and begin running towards the only one who can truly fulfill us and calm our fears. The good news is where it has always been, in the gospel itself, the only message that has rightful claim to being “good news”; the gospel of the love of Christ, the perfect love that casts out fear. It brings with it a life of sacrifice that runs counter to everything the world is selling, but allows us to be possessed by Christ and, because of that, to cease being possessed by anything else. This good news forces us to face the truth that nothing we posses can fill that emptiness. Only God can provide the fulfillment we need. Only His “grace is sufficient.”
When we embrace the true gospel once again, we will find a great burden lifted off of our shoulders. It’s true that we are called to take up a cross, but we are called to put down everything else in the process. We cannot carry both. Comedian Steven Wright puts it this way, “You can’t have everything, where would you put it?” We can carry the world on our shoulders or we can carry the cross. We cannot do both. As we take up our crosses daily, we will find that they are light compared to the burdens we were carrying. Ultimately, we will discover that we are truly free and truly full for the first time.
–Warren Zevon paraphrasing Schopenhauer
I’m a music guy. Actually, I’m a music, movies, books, and entertainment guy. I’m the guy that read Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity 5 times and then saw the movie 10 times simply because I related so well to the musical minutiae that the characters consumed (and because the Boss had a cameo). I would have purchased the soundtrack if I hadn’t already had almost every song on some other album. I used to spend hours quoting movie lines with college buddies in a movie club (yes, we had a movie club and a very specific set of rules) and am still likely to list Dylan among my favorite poets (though most would mean Thomas and I would mean Bob). So, it isn’t surprising for me to be inspired by a songwriter and find wisdom in his words. Unless those words happen to come from the mouth of Marilyn Manson. Imagine my surprise then, when I heard Manson make the following statement about the state of our society; “(American entertainment and media) is a campaign of fear and consumption. And that’s what I think it’s all based on: it’s the idea that (you) keep everyone afraid and they’ll consume.” The truth of Manson’s words can’t be denied. The advertising classes I took in college support it. The billboards and commercials that we are inundated with bear it out. The idea is to “never let ‘em see you sweat.” Fear drives so much of what we do and almost all of what we consume.
As I work on a daily basis with teens, I’m reminded of a quote from well-known comedian, Dennis Miller; “many of our kids are having sex like there’s no tomorrow, maybe because we’ve convinced them that there isn’t one.” We have what St. Augustine referred to as a “God-shaped hole” and in the absence of a gospel message, many of us are attempting to fill it with whatever we can get our hands on or whatever a consumer culture is willing to put in our hands. Even more disturbing is the way in which those of us who have received the gospel message are responding. We have books that are bestsellers in Christian bookstores whose core message is that we no longer have to feel bad for building bigger barns. We should ask God for more stuff and expect that, like a cosmic Claus, he will grant our every wish and whim.
John DeGraaf’s book “Affluenza” addresses this problem from a purely secular perspective and comes up with one fundamental truth for Americans in the new millennium, we are both richer and unhappier than we have ever been. It is an unhappiness born of anger, an anger born of fear, and a fear born of emptiness; an emptiness than we are trying to fill with all the wrong things and in all the wrong places.
Manson isn’t the only musician who speaks to this problem. One of this year’s rock n’ roll hall of fame inductees (and one of my personal favorites) Jackson Browne, has been speaking to this problem for years. In his song, “Running on Empty”, he lays out his life as a parable for others who find themselves flying down life’s highway. Perhaps his most compelling (and disturbing) line is found toward the end of the song: “Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through, looking into their eyes I see them running too.” It is a predicament almost as old as the world itself and a road that started with the first step out of Eden. Humanity feels empty and wants to get full.
This desire isn’t a bad one. It’s the prodigal’s empty stomach and empty life that gets him on the road back home. Our problem comes in how we try to fill that emptiness. If we are imitators of Christ, then we are imitators of the one who emptied himself for the sake of other, refusing to grasp that which he had a right to. Instead, American Christians are as concerned with our rights as we have ever been; an idea that is very American, but not always Christian. Recently I read an article about a Christian lawyer who has begun suing on behalf of students who were being ridiculed at school because of their Christian beliefs. One of his clients was an elementary school student who was forced to endure taunts of “Jesus freak” at recess. Instead of taking a golden opportunity to teach their son about the persecution we might face as Christians, instead of pointing to the one who endured persecution for us, they hired a lawyer. Because that’s what Jesus would do.
How did we get from expecting persecution to suing over name calling? Do we really think this is going to fulfill us? The fact is that we want what we want whether it’s our rights, our stuff, or our right to our stuff. In a culture of lawyers, guns and money people will sue who they have to sue and kill who they have to kill to get what they want to get. But why are Christians embracing this culture? Why don’t we resist this culture instead of buying in? Haven’t we been given a better way? Why would we return to the law of the land instead of the law that God commanded to be written on our hearts?
The problem started innocently enough. It’s the problem Christianity faces any time it is embraced by the culture, the natural instinct is to embrace back. Instead of heeding the warning to “beware when others speak well of you” we ate up the fact that society seemed to be on board with everything we believed. After all, we are a people told to anticipate persecution, so doesn’t it feel nice when we don’t have to? Being in the world is so much easier when the world isn’t trying to lock you up or kill you. But being of the world gets a lot easier too.
The situation makes me think about how my mom used to encourage me to label my toy cars anytime I was going to play with a group of friends. At first, it’s easy to remember what belongs to whom, but after a few hours the labels come in pretty handy. The absence of a clear marker can make retrieval a lot more confusing when its time to go home. A similar problem faces us culturally. We mix in with the world around us, but forget to keep Christ’s mark clearly on us and on everything that is ours. What happens when Christ calls us home and we can’t remember what goes where? What happens when we have to face the fact that we’re a lot more “of the world” than we ever intended to be? The same thing that happens when the salt loses its saltiness, it becomes worthless. The conscience that the church is called to be is no longer there to keep the world honest. Instead of going back to Christ to get back what we lost, many of us simply give in. We’ve lived so long under a culture that validated our beliefs that we’re allowing our beliefs to reflect our culture. The world made us feel at home in a place that was never our home and, somewhere along the way, we started playing by the home court rules.
But what happens when this world isn’t making us feel as at home as it did in the 1950s? What happens when the culture doesn’t reflect our beliefs the way it used to? Some of us simply give in. The culture overcomes us and we can’t tell the difference between our political party and our religious affiliation. Instead of facing the fact that we’ve lost our anchor, we float along with the latest trend, tossed about by whatever the latest pop philosophy might be. We form political coalitions that will speak on our behalf. Others of us pull away in fear. We want things how they used to be –or how we remember them being- prayer in schools and the Ten Commandments in a courthouse. But the answer isn’t prayer in schools, it’s prayer in homes. It isn’t the Ten Commandments outside a courtroom, it’s the Ten Commandments inside our bedrooms and living rooms. We point to pop icons like Eminem and Britney Spears to pin our problems on. But the fault, dear reader, lies not in the stars but in ourselves.
G.K. Chesterton is famous for stating that “the Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.” No matter how difficult the rat race might be, the race the apostle Paul ran seems harder. Even though it might be hard earn cash, it’s even harder to learn contentment. Christ showed us that it may be difficult to follow the rules, but it’s even harder to follow him. So we look to those who would sell us the latest palliative or bookstore remedy and then are surprised when we are still as empty and fearful and angry as ever. In our attempts to accumulate more stuff we find ourselves possessed by those things which we would possess.
So, that’s the bad news, but is there any good news? Our response to the world around us should be a resounding “yes”. We have a gospel to offer to those who are running on empty, those good friends who are good people, but not God’s people. The Jones’ built a pretty house and were surprised when it didn’t make them happy. We know that the wise man was wise, not because of the house he built, but because of the rock he built his house upon. We have something to offer the Jones’, if we have the faith to put our weight down on the rock and to ask them to do the same. The only way to stop running scared is to repent in the most literal sense of the word, to change direction and begin running towards the only one who can truly fulfill us and calm our fears. The good news is where it has always been, in the gospel itself, the only message that has rightful claim to being “good news”; the gospel of the love of Christ, the perfect love that casts out fear. It brings with it a life of sacrifice that runs counter to everything the world is selling, but allows us to be possessed by Christ and, because of that, to cease being possessed by anything else. This good news forces us to face the truth that nothing we posses can fill that emptiness. Only God can provide the fulfillment we need. Only His “grace is sufficient.”
When we embrace the true gospel once again, we will find a great burden lifted off of our shoulders. It’s true that we are called to take up a cross, but we are called to put down everything else in the process. We cannot carry both. Comedian Steven Wright puts it this way, “You can’t have everything, where would you put it?” We can carry the world on our shoulders or we can carry the cross. We cannot do both. As we take up our crosses daily, we will find that they are light compared to the burdens we were carrying. Ultimately, we will discover that we are truly free and truly full for the first time.
Friday, May 14, 2004
For my graduates
Well, you’ve done it. In a matter of days you will be high school graduates. In a matter of months you will be college students. It must have felt, at times, like this day would never come and now it’s here. You should feel a sense of accomplishment about the past and a sense of excitement about the future. I know I felt those things when I was where you are (it wasn’t so long ago that I can’t remember). I was a mix of feelings, ready to leave home while knowing I’d miss my family, nervous about starting something different while energized by starting something new.
My advice to you tonight carries with it that same mix. Some of it is cautionary, some of it is challenging, some of it encouragement, and some of it reminders. Much of it is borrowed and a lot of it is Biblical, so I can’t claim credit for it and it’s less likely to be wrong. Most of it is about wisdom, which combines knowledge with love. All of it, I hope, will be a help to you as you begin a new phase of your life.
You are still young. “Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth…in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.” “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” At the same time, your youth means there is still much for you to learn. I would encourage you to always, regardless of age, “trust in the Lord with all your heart and not lean on your own understanding.” Use your time in college to gain knowledge and enthusiasm for life. “Enthusiasm without knowledge is like running in the dark." Be sincere. Be conscientious. But remember that sincerity and conscientiousness are not enough. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” “A fanatic is nothing more than someone who redoubles his efforts when he has forgotten his aim.”
In your pursuit for knowledge don’t forget that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” I can speak from experience. I knew a lot more as a freshman ministry major in college than I did after a year in ministry. Make sure that when you learn something, you are wiser for having learned it. Remember that “knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn't, it's just a disgusting waste of time”. Have integrity. “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’.” “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” Learn the difference between listening and waiting to talk. “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.” That isn’t to say that you should always remain silent, but that your silence and your speaking should have purpose. “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” Know that it is OK to question, but that there should be reason in your questioning. “The wise man questions the wisdom of others because he questions his own, the foolish man, because it is different from his own.”
Be adventurous. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Be kind. “Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.” “Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t allow other people to be reckless with yours.” “Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.” Get to know your parents. They can be some of your greatest friends and allies. “Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.” Respect your elders. Remember that the “self-made man” is a myth. We are all “fearfully and wonderfully” made, all of us by God’s hand. Batman was once quoted as saying, “I do nothing that a man of unlimited funds, superb physical endurance and maximum scientific knowledge could not do.”
Take time for lightheartedness. “Keep away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bend down for children.” Take time for pleasure. “There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.” My senior year of college, my roommates and I watched Tommy Boy once a week for the entire year. I never once thought of it as time wasted. While I’m in a more lighthearted part of my speech, I’ll share some more lighthearted, and even silly, advice “It is a truly wise man who does not play leap frog with a unicorn.” If you can’t stand the heat then, by all means, avoid setting yourself on fire. Remember that there is a fine line between the flirtatious smile of a stranger and the awkward grin of a homicidal maniac. “The pen is mightier than the sword, and infinitely easier to write with.” “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
“Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.”
You may have read in a book, seen on television, or heard on the radio that we live in a post-modern society. This has its advantages and its disadvantages. There is openness in post-modernism that allows for the hearing of different opinions and a melding of good ideas. I experienced this in college more than I ever had before. Remember to keep an open mind, but never so open that your brain falls out. There are absolute truths, and they are wrapped up in the God we follow. Don’t fear scrutiny, the great thing about absolute truth is that it stands up under scrutiny. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know.” Don’t be content to remain ignorant, but know that you always will be about something. Don’t be afraid of being afraid, there is no courage without fear. That’s why comic book writers invented kryptonite. Without kryptonite, Superman isn’t courageous, because you can’t be courageous if you can’t be hurt. But Superman is fiction. God is real. Find your courage in Him. Know that you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.
“Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.” Learn from these things. Grow from them. “Know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Go to church. Read your Bible. Pray. Have faith. “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.”
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.” For I am “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
My advice to you tonight carries with it that same mix. Some of it is cautionary, some of it is challenging, some of it encouragement, and some of it reminders. Much of it is borrowed and a lot of it is Biblical, so I can’t claim credit for it and it’s less likely to be wrong. Most of it is about wisdom, which combines knowledge with love. All of it, I hope, will be a help to you as you begin a new phase of your life.
You are still young. “Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth…in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.” “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” At the same time, your youth means there is still much for you to learn. I would encourage you to always, regardless of age, “trust in the Lord with all your heart and not lean on your own understanding.” Use your time in college to gain knowledge and enthusiasm for life. “Enthusiasm without knowledge is like running in the dark." Be sincere. Be conscientious. But remember that sincerity and conscientiousness are not enough. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” “A fanatic is nothing more than someone who redoubles his efforts when he has forgotten his aim.”
In your pursuit for knowledge don’t forget that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” I can speak from experience. I knew a lot more as a freshman ministry major in college than I did after a year in ministry. Make sure that when you learn something, you are wiser for having learned it. Remember that “knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn't, it's just a disgusting waste of time”. Have integrity. “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’.” “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” Learn the difference between listening and waiting to talk. “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.” That isn’t to say that you should always remain silent, but that your silence and your speaking should have purpose. “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” Know that it is OK to question, but that there should be reason in your questioning. “The wise man questions the wisdom of others because he questions his own, the foolish man, because it is different from his own.”
Be adventurous. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Be kind. “Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.” “Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t allow other people to be reckless with yours.” “Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.” Get to know your parents. They can be some of your greatest friends and allies. “Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.” Respect your elders. Remember that the “self-made man” is a myth. We are all “fearfully and wonderfully” made, all of us by God’s hand. Batman was once quoted as saying, “I do nothing that a man of unlimited funds, superb physical endurance and maximum scientific knowledge could not do.”
Take time for lightheartedness. “Keep away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bend down for children.” Take time for pleasure. “There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.” My senior year of college, my roommates and I watched Tommy Boy once a week for the entire year. I never once thought of it as time wasted. While I’m in a more lighthearted part of my speech, I’ll share some more lighthearted, and even silly, advice “It is a truly wise man who does not play leap frog with a unicorn.” If you can’t stand the heat then, by all means, avoid setting yourself on fire. Remember that there is a fine line between the flirtatious smile of a stranger and the awkward grin of a homicidal maniac. “The pen is mightier than the sword, and infinitely easier to write with.” “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
“Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.”
You may have read in a book, seen on television, or heard on the radio that we live in a post-modern society. This has its advantages and its disadvantages. There is openness in post-modernism that allows for the hearing of different opinions and a melding of good ideas. I experienced this in college more than I ever had before. Remember to keep an open mind, but never so open that your brain falls out. There are absolute truths, and they are wrapped up in the God we follow. Don’t fear scrutiny, the great thing about absolute truth is that it stands up under scrutiny. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know.” Don’t be content to remain ignorant, but know that you always will be about something. Don’t be afraid of being afraid, there is no courage without fear. That’s why comic book writers invented kryptonite. Without kryptonite, Superman isn’t courageous, because you can’t be courageous if you can’t be hurt. But Superman is fiction. God is real. Find your courage in Him. Know that you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.
“Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.” Learn from these things. Grow from them. “Know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Go to church. Read your Bible. Pray. Have faith. “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.”
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.” For I am “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Thursday, May 13, 2004
A Lasting Impression
I was at a youth conference a few years back during which the main speaker made a reference that the church has long been familiar with. He spoke of the youth as the “future of the church.” A parent that was with me asked if I thought this was good news or bad news. My answer was yes.
For I am a true prophet, a man who has glimpsed both futures in the hearts and minds of our children, and there is bad news, and there is good news. And the bad news is this –the youth are the future of the church.
It isn’t their fault, really. Not yet. They are simply at the age which most studies reveal as one of the most impressionable. If they are going to pick something up and have it stick, it is most likely going to happen before they reach adulthood. Those same studies show that the group that leaves the greatest impression will be their parents and their peers. One way or another, they will pick up values from us, and what they are picking up isn’t necessarily good. You and I don’t always make the best impression.
The reason for this is that we are society increasingly impressed by the wrong things. We say that Jesus comes first, but it’s too often just something we say, not something we believe or put into practice. The things we are impressed by are good grades, a good school, a good degree, a good job, a good house, a good salary, and so on. We look at someone who has achieved those things and we are, in a word, impressed, and we pass on that impression. We show our children what is good.
Many of us think the problem is that Christians too often allow society to influence religion, instead of religion influencing society. The Christian response is to fight to get prayer back in public schools; it’s why many Christians rallied when a judge posted the Ten Commandments outside his courthouse. We see the importance of religion in the creation of good citizens.
But that is still part of our problem, I saw it when I taught at a private Christian school, many of us are still more concerned with creating good citizens of this country than of God’s kingdom. Even if we can see past of some of the trappings of success, our loftiest goals are to create solid citizens with a strong moral compass. These are the kids we are impressed with, the kids with good grades and good behavior.
Now, most of this would read this and wonder “why is that a bad thing?” What is wrong with wanting kids to get good marks for academics and behavior? Why is that too much? And that’s the problem; it isn’t too much, it’s too little. Our loftiest goal should never be to raise “good” kids, at least not good defined in those terms.
Not that you should stop being proud of these things. Not that we shouldn’t be proud of good grades, but we should hope our kids pursue them because they work for the Lord and not for men. We can still be proud of Harvard, but we should hope our kids are going in order to make a difference and not to make more money. And if they do end up making good money, we should hope that they will use it to further God’s kingdom and not to build impressive looking barns.
Even in the terms of morality, we shouldn’t settle for “good” kids. Of course we want out kids to wait until marriage, to be kind to others, to respect authority, but don’t we also want them to care about why? Its not that I think we’re shooting too high but too low. If our standard is good kids instead of godly kids, our future is in jeopardy. The devil is always suggesting that we compromise our calling by substituting what is good for what is best.
Two authors [Merton and Irene Strommen] studied parents of teenagers all across the US. They asked them to share their main concerns about their teens, and their relationship with them. They discovered that these parents shared five common concerns:
1.They longed to understand their teenage children, and they longed to be understood by them.
2.They longed for a close family.
3.They strongly desired outside help.
4.They truly wanted to see their teenagers live a highly moral life.
5.They longed for their teens to have a solid faith.
None of these are bad things; they are just in the wrong order. Number 5 should come first and should inform all the others. Without a solid faith, a genuine relationship with Christ, the close families, the understanding, even the moral life, are a waste of time. We don’t become Christians to have good families and good kids with good behavior. That may be an added benefit, but it is not our ultimate goal. Christ should make a greater impression than that. He should be someone that turns our world upside down and redefines priorities. It isn’t enough that Christ comes first on our list of priorities, he should be the one writing the list.
Robert Coles, an expert in children’s faith development, expresses strong opinions as to why this disconnect exists. In an interview with the magazine, U.S. Catholic he commented:
I think that what children in the United States desperately need is purpose, and a lot of our children here aren't getting that. They're getting parents who are very concerned about getting them into the right colleges, buying the best clothing for them, giving them an opportunity to live in neighborhoods where they'll lead fine and affluent lives and where they can be given the best toys, go on interesting vacations, and all sorts of things....
Parents work very hard these days; and they're acquiring things that they feel are important for their children. And yet vastly more important things are not happening. They're not spending time with their children, at least not very much.
One example that springs immediately to mind is one that will undoubtedly step on some toes, and that is in the arena of extra-curricular activities. I watch parents push their kids to be involved in sports. They make sure they’re at every practice, every meet. They wouldn’t think about allowing them to skip out of practice for church. They sign them up for private lessons, start them out young. They’re going to wrestling, or swimming, or soccer, or drama six days a week, an hour to two hours every day. This is a major investment of time and energy. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m all for activities, but when activities replace the priority of spiritual development, and becomes a higher priority than a kid’s walk with Christ, something is wrong.
Do we display the same level of intensity when it comes to spiritual formation? Just consider the basic foundation of worship on Sunday morning and Sunday school. How often does the family just ditch church, giving in to tired kids and simply letting them sleep in? If it were a wrestling match, or a soccer game, they would kick them out of bed, regardless of the whining, and make sure they were there. And, we’re just talking one day a week, not to mention mid-week opportunities for study. This is a critical area that Christians need to evaluate. We impress our priorities onto our youth. For better or for worse, our kids are becoming impressed with that which impresses us.
Now, that isn’t to say that some of them aren’t rebelling. If the most we are shooting for is good behavior, stability or success, our kids will see the futility of these pursuits and seek others. Sure, some will embrace the things that impress us and will simply pursue what they’ve been trained to pursue. Others will rebel against that emptiness and seek more immediate sources of fulfillment (alcohol, sex, drugs, etc) Now, I hope and pray that our kids don’t pursue these things because they can be very destructive, but they are, ultimately and eternally, no less fulfilling.
Don’t believe me? Ask someone who has attended the right schools, someone who got the degree, made the money, but doesn’t know Jesus. Ask a man like Chris Felder. Chris is one of the members at our church in North Carolina, and 10 years ago Chris was not a Christian. Still, Chris had all that we would call impressive, a degree from Yale, a law degree from Duke, a successful business, and so on. Chris’ life changed when he encountered someone upon whom Christ had made a lasting impression. He saw Jesus in them and he was impressed with what he saw. And that is why, when I look at Chris, I don’t see Yale or money or a booming business. I see Christ and him crucified.
According to research 68% of parents who attend churches express strong interest in “how to help my child develop as a follower of Jesus Christ.” 85% of parents believe that they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about religion. Which brings us to the good news, and that is this: the youth are the future of the church.
No wonder Moses instructed the Israelites to talk about the Ten Commandments with their children when they got up in the morning, as they went about their daily routines, and as they went to bed at night. No wonder we were given this morning’s scripture as a command for our lives. It begins, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” We are to love God with every fiber of our being. God calls for our full devotion. He deserves our highest allegiance. A.W. Tozer puts it this way, “we are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.” We are to long for Him more than anything else in life—more than work; more than money; and, more than our kids and our families. This love for God is an exclusive love. We are to give God first place in our lives. In the New Testament, Jesus reaffirmed the primacy of this command. The Pharisees, thinking they could trick Him into giving a wrong answer, asked Jesus which was the most important commandment in the Law of Moses. Jesus simply quoted verse five, and said afterwards, “This is the first and greatest of all the commands.” [Matt. 22:38]
Not only are we to love God with all of our being, we are to pass down this love from one generation to the next. Someone has said that the Christian faith is only one generation from dying out. This is true. Unless we pass on the faith to the next generation, it will die out. And to whom does God entrust this generational transmission? Whose job is it to pass down the faith from generation to generation? Verses 7–9:
7Impress 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. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Sunday school class and Bible study in the home. What do these two things have in common? Not much. According to a recent study by the Barna Research Group, about two thirds of parents in the U.S. with children under the age of 13 attend church only once a month. The majority of those that attend don’t spend any time during a typical week discussing faith matters with their children.
Who teaches your children about God, Jesus, and the Bible? Ask yourself: when was the last conversation that you had with your child about who God is or what Jesus means for their life or read with them from the Bible? Relying on Sunday school classes, Bible camps, or even Christian school teachers to do the majority of Biblical training is a dangerous habit to fall into. My job is to back up what you have already taught. The Lord commands parents to teach their children to honor God. This is a person-to-person task that God entrusts to parents. The first and most impressions are made in the home.
That word “impress” is based on a Hebrew word for “sharpen” as in sharpening a knife. That is, you take a knife to the whetting stone to grind it, and sharpen it. Then you repeat that process, and repeat it, until the knife has a keen edge on it. Same is true with parents teaching children. It is a repeated process of continual teaching and training...morning, noon, and night. Parents shape the faith of their children, for good, or for bad. If your family is a Christ-centered family, your children will be strongly influenced to grow up as people of faith. It is to be done on a daily basis in the routines of everyday life: when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up.
One elder of a Christian church has devoted himself to a fifty-year study of Christian and non-Christian families. He says that in American culture today, most young adults following Jesus Christ either come from non-Christian homes where they were converted to Christ in their teenage years through a dynamic youth ministry. Or they come from homes where they grew up in love with Jesus because mom and dad were so in love with Jesus that love permeated their lives. Very few believers come from homes where there was nominal church involvement but an indifferent and apathetic commitment to Christ.
This gets us into the “so what?” the nuts and bolts and practicalities of this. What does this look like? First, let me say that the answer is not to get prayer back into schools; it’s to get prayer back into homes. It is not to have the Ten Commandments posted outside our courthouses; it is to have them posted in our own houses. Faith begins at home. So ask yourself this question, does your family’s schedule reflect your family’s commitment?
If it doesn’t, then insist that your kids spend time with God the way you would with athletics. Insist that they study God’s Word they way you would want them to study for math. That doesn’t mean that we teach our kids to approach scripture with the same sense of boredom they might approach homework, but we should give it at least the same (and really a greater) sense of importance.
Make a family commitment to attending church on Sunday mornings together—worship and Sunday school. Make it a priority as a family.
If you took the excuses people use for not going to church and applied them to other important areas of life, you'd realize how inconsistent we can be in our logic. For example:
10 Reasons Not to Wash
1. I was forced to as a child.
2. People who make soap are only after your money.
3. I wash on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.
4. People who wash are hypocrites—they think they are cleaner than everyone else.
5. There are so many different kinds of soap; I can't decide which one is best.
6. I used to wash. It got boring, though, so I stopped.
7. None of my friends wash.
8. The bathroom is never warm enough in the winter or cool enough in the summer.
9. I'll start washing when I get older and dirtier.
10. I can't spare the time.
The excuses don’t make sense, so let’s stop making the excuses. Go to church. Read your Bible. Let your kids see you reading it and read it with them. Discuss essential truths with them. Pray together, and take turns leading in prayer.
I heard a story recently of a minister who looked in on a children’s Bible school class and saw their serious faces and asked, "Why do you love God?" After a moment a small voice came from the back: "I guess it just runs in the family." Ask yourself if the love of God runs in your family. Ask your kids too. Ask them to look around your life and tell you what they think you value. Remember that the things you do and the faith you pass on will leave a lasting impression on your kids and on your family. Remember that all of us, parents or not, are a part of the family of God and take responsibility for the youth as if they are your own family.
I’ll close with a story about someone in my own family, my Uncle Norman and my cousin Ryan. My cousin Ryan is an impressive athlete. As a junior in high school, he has led his football team to numerous victories over the last few years. My Uncle Norm recently recounted an encounter he had with his son, Ryan’s coach after a game. The coach said “I want to brag on your son a bit.” Norm knew what was coming; his son was a great athlete, he had a killer instinct, the team would be nowhere without him. So Norm was surprised when the coach said “Ryan is one of the kindest, gentlest, most encouraging people I have ever met.” My Uncle Norm said that he has never been prouder of his son. The image of Christ had made an impression on Ryan, and the impression Christ made on Ryan had gone on to make an impression on Ryan’s coach. The future church will be a group of people who pass on a lasting impression, but that will only happen if we have allowed Christ to make a lasting impression on us.
For I am a true prophet, a man who has glimpsed both futures in the hearts and minds of our children, and there is bad news, and there is good news. And the bad news is this –the youth are the future of the church.
It isn’t their fault, really. Not yet. They are simply at the age which most studies reveal as one of the most impressionable. If they are going to pick something up and have it stick, it is most likely going to happen before they reach adulthood. Those same studies show that the group that leaves the greatest impression will be their parents and their peers. One way or another, they will pick up values from us, and what they are picking up isn’t necessarily good. You and I don’t always make the best impression.
The reason for this is that we are society increasingly impressed by the wrong things. We say that Jesus comes first, but it’s too often just something we say, not something we believe or put into practice. The things we are impressed by are good grades, a good school, a good degree, a good job, a good house, a good salary, and so on. We look at someone who has achieved those things and we are, in a word, impressed, and we pass on that impression. We show our children what is good.
Many of us think the problem is that Christians too often allow society to influence religion, instead of religion influencing society. The Christian response is to fight to get prayer back in public schools; it’s why many Christians rallied when a judge posted the Ten Commandments outside his courthouse. We see the importance of religion in the creation of good citizens.
But that is still part of our problem, I saw it when I taught at a private Christian school, many of us are still more concerned with creating good citizens of this country than of God’s kingdom. Even if we can see past of some of the trappings of success, our loftiest goals are to create solid citizens with a strong moral compass. These are the kids we are impressed with, the kids with good grades and good behavior.
Now, most of this would read this and wonder “why is that a bad thing?” What is wrong with wanting kids to get good marks for academics and behavior? Why is that too much? And that’s the problem; it isn’t too much, it’s too little. Our loftiest goal should never be to raise “good” kids, at least not good defined in those terms.
Not that you should stop being proud of these things. Not that we shouldn’t be proud of good grades, but we should hope our kids pursue them because they work for the Lord and not for men. We can still be proud of Harvard, but we should hope our kids are going in order to make a difference and not to make more money. And if they do end up making good money, we should hope that they will use it to further God’s kingdom and not to build impressive looking barns.
Even in the terms of morality, we shouldn’t settle for “good” kids. Of course we want out kids to wait until marriage, to be kind to others, to respect authority, but don’t we also want them to care about why? Its not that I think we’re shooting too high but too low. If our standard is good kids instead of godly kids, our future is in jeopardy. The devil is always suggesting that we compromise our calling by substituting what is good for what is best.
Two authors [Merton and Irene Strommen] studied parents of teenagers all across the US. They asked them to share their main concerns about their teens, and their relationship with them. They discovered that these parents shared five common concerns:
1.They longed to understand their teenage children, and they longed to be understood by them.
2.They longed for a close family.
3.They strongly desired outside help.
4.They truly wanted to see their teenagers live a highly moral life.
5.They longed for their teens to have a solid faith.
None of these are bad things; they are just in the wrong order. Number 5 should come first and should inform all the others. Without a solid faith, a genuine relationship with Christ, the close families, the understanding, even the moral life, are a waste of time. We don’t become Christians to have good families and good kids with good behavior. That may be an added benefit, but it is not our ultimate goal. Christ should make a greater impression than that. He should be someone that turns our world upside down and redefines priorities. It isn’t enough that Christ comes first on our list of priorities, he should be the one writing the list.
Robert Coles, an expert in children’s faith development, expresses strong opinions as to why this disconnect exists. In an interview with the magazine, U.S. Catholic he commented:
I think that what children in the United States desperately need is purpose, and a lot of our children here aren't getting that. They're getting parents who are very concerned about getting them into the right colleges, buying the best clothing for them, giving them an opportunity to live in neighborhoods where they'll lead fine and affluent lives and where they can be given the best toys, go on interesting vacations, and all sorts of things....
Parents work very hard these days; and they're acquiring things that they feel are important for their children. And yet vastly more important things are not happening. They're not spending time with their children, at least not very much.
One example that springs immediately to mind is one that will undoubtedly step on some toes, and that is in the arena of extra-curricular activities. I watch parents push their kids to be involved in sports. They make sure they’re at every practice, every meet. They wouldn’t think about allowing them to skip out of practice for church. They sign them up for private lessons, start them out young. They’re going to wrestling, or swimming, or soccer, or drama six days a week, an hour to two hours every day. This is a major investment of time and energy. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m all for activities, but when activities replace the priority of spiritual development, and becomes a higher priority than a kid’s walk with Christ, something is wrong.
Do we display the same level of intensity when it comes to spiritual formation? Just consider the basic foundation of worship on Sunday morning and Sunday school. How often does the family just ditch church, giving in to tired kids and simply letting them sleep in? If it were a wrestling match, or a soccer game, they would kick them out of bed, regardless of the whining, and make sure they were there. And, we’re just talking one day a week, not to mention mid-week opportunities for study. This is a critical area that Christians need to evaluate. We impress our priorities onto our youth. For better or for worse, our kids are becoming impressed with that which impresses us.
Now, that isn’t to say that some of them aren’t rebelling. If the most we are shooting for is good behavior, stability or success, our kids will see the futility of these pursuits and seek others. Sure, some will embrace the things that impress us and will simply pursue what they’ve been trained to pursue. Others will rebel against that emptiness and seek more immediate sources of fulfillment (alcohol, sex, drugs, etc) Now, I hope and pray that our kids don’t pursue these things because they can be very destructive, but they are, ultimately and eternally, no less fulfilling.
Don’t believe me? Ask someone who has attended the right schools, someone who got the degree, made the money, but doesn’t know Jesus. Ask a man like Chris Felder. Chris is one of the members at our church in North Carolina, and 10 years ago Chris was not a Christian. Still, Chris had all that we would call impressive, a degree from Yale, a law degree from Duke, a successful business, and so on. Chris’ life changed when he encountered someone upon whom Christ had made a lasting impression. He saw Jesus in them and he was impressed with what he saw. And that is why, when I look at Chris, I don’t see Yale or money or a booming business. I see Christ and him crucified.
According to research 68% of parents who attend churches express strong interest in “how to help my child develop as a follower of Jesus Christ.” 85% of parents believe that they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about religion. Which brings us to the good news, and that is this: the youth are the future of the church.
No wonder Moses instructed the Israelites to talk about the Ten Commandments with their children when they got up in the morning, as they went about their daily routines, and as they went to bed at night. No wonder we were given this morning’s scripture as a command for our lives. It begins, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” We are to love God with every fiber of our being. God calls for our full devotion. He deserves our highest allegiance. A.W. Tozer puts it this way, “we are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.” We are to long for Him more than anything else in life—more than work; more than money; and, more than our kids and our families. This love for God is an exclusive love. We are to give God first place in our lives. In the New Testament, Jesus reaffirmed the primacy of this command. The Pharisees, thinking they could trick Him into giving a wrong answer, asked Jesus which was the most important commandment in the Law of Moses. Jesus simply quoted verse five, and said afterwards, “This is the first and greatest of all the commands.” [Matt. 22:38]
Not only are we to love God with all of our being, we are to pass down this love from one generation to the next. Someone has said that the Christian faith is only one generation from dying out. This is true. Unless we pass on the faith to the next generation, it will die out. And to whom does God entrust this generational transmission? Whose job is it to pass down the faith from generation to generation? Verses 7–9:
7Impress 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. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Sunday school class and Bible study in the home. What do these two things have in common? Not much. According to a recent study by the Barna Research Group, about two thirds of parents in the U.S. with children under the age of 13 attend church only once a month. The majority of those that attend don’t spend any time during a typical week discussing faith matters with their children.
Who teaches your children about God, Jesus, and the Bible? Ask yourself: when was the last conversation that you had with your child about who God is or what Jesus means for their life or read with them from the Bible? Relying on Sunday school classes, Bible camps, or even Christian school teachers to do the majority of Biblical training is a dangerous habit to fall into. My job is to back up what you have already taught. The Lord commands parents to teach their children to honor God. This is a person-to-person task that God entrusts to parents. The first and most impressions are made in the home.
That word “impress” is based on a Hebrew word for “sharpen” as in sharpening a knife. That is, you take a knife to the whetting stone to grind it, and sharpen it. Then you repeat that process, and repeat it, until the knife has a keen edge on it. Same is true with parents teaching children. It is a repeated process of continual teaching and training...morning, noon, and night. Parents shape the faith of their children, for good, or for bad. If your family is a Christ-centered family, your children will be strongly influenced to grow up as people of faith. It is to be done on a daily basis in the routines of everyday life: when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up.
One elder of a Christian church has devoted himself to a fifty-year study of Christian and non-Christian families. He says that in American culture today, most young adults following Jesus Christ either come from non-Christian homes where they were converted to Christ in their teenage years through a dynamic youth ministry. Or they come from homes where they grew up in love with Jesus because mom and dad were so in love with Jesus that love permeated their lives. Very few believers come from homes where there was nominal church involvement but an indifferent and apathetic commitment to Christ.
This gets us into the “so what?” the nuts and bolts and practicalities of this. What does this look like? First, let me say that the answer is not to get prayer back into schools; it’s to get prayer back into homes. It is not to have the Ten Commandments posted outside our courthouses; it is to have them posted in our own houses. Faith begins at home. So ask yourself this question, does your family’s schedule reflect your family’s commitment?
If it doesn’t, then insist that your kids spend time with God the way you would with athletics. Insist that they study God’s Word they way you would want them to study for math. That doesn’t mean that we teach our kids to approach scripture with the same sense of boredom they might approach homework, but we should give it at least the same (and really a greater) sense of importance.
Make a family commitment to attending church on Sunday mornings together—worship and Sunday school. Make it a priority as a family.
If you took the excuses people use for not going to church and applied them to other important areas of life, you'd realize how inconsistent we can be in our logic. For example:
10 Reasons Not to Wash
1. I was forced to as a child.
2. People who make soap are only after your money.
3. I wash on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.
4. People who wash are hypocrites—they think they are cleaner than everyone else.
5. There are so many different kinds of soap; I can't decide which one is best.
6. I used to wash. It got boring, though, so I stopped.
7. None of my friends wash.
8. The bathroom is never warm enough in the winter or cool enough in the summer.
9. I'll start washing when I get older and dirtier.
10. I can't spare the time.
The excuses don’t make sense, so let’s stop making the excuses. Go to church. Read your Bible. Let your kids see you reading it and read it with them. Discuss essential truths with them. Pray together, and take turns leading in prayer.
I heard a story recently of a minister who looked in on a children’s Bible school class and saw their serious faces and asked, "Why do you love God?" After a moment a small voice came from the back: "I guess it just runs in the family." Ask yourself if the love of God runs in your family. Ask your kids too. Ask them to look around your life and tell you what they think you value. Remember that the things you do and the faith you pass on will leave a lasting impression on your kids and on your family. Remember that all of us, parents or not, are a part of the family of God and take responsibility for the youth as if they are your own family.
I’ll close with a story about someone in my own family, my Uncle Norman and my cousin Ryan. My cousin Ryan is an impressive athlete. As a junior in high school, he has led his football team to numerous victories over the last few years. My Uncle Norm recently recounted an encounter he had with his son, Ryan’s coach after a game. The coach said “I want to brag on your son a bit.” Norm knew what was coming; his son was a great athlete, he had a killer instinct, the team would be nowhere without him. So Norm was surprised when the coach said “Ryan is one of the kindest, gentlest, most encouraging people I have ever met.” My Uncle Norm said that he has never been prouder of his son. The image of Christ had made an impression on Ryan, and the impression Christ made on Ryan had gone on to make an impression on Ryan’s coach. The future church will be a group of people who pass on a lasting impression, but that will only happen if we have allowed Christ to make a lasting impression on us.
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