A Failed Generation

For a long time growing up, really my whole life, I thought that my generation was going to change the world for the cause of Christ. The older I got, and the more I grew in my faith, the more certainty I had that this would prove true. Whether the world ended when I was thirty or thirty thousand years after I was gone, everyone would remember my generation as the one that changed the world. Every pastor and youth pastor and camp speaker told us over and over again that we had so much potential. The world had changed so much since the generation preceding ours. We were born into the age of the internet, and social networks, and cell phones, and on and on. We have every translation of the Bible, concordances, commentary, you name it, all at the click of a single botton. We have so many more tools then our parents ever had. These speakers would tell me these things, and the more I heard this message the more I believed it. My generation was going to impact the world like no time in history before, and I was going to be a part of it. 

 Tonight, my dream collapsed. Tonight, despite my aching for it to be true, I cannot force myself to believe we are that generation any longer. I look around at those my age, those older, and the children I see growing up now, and I do not see potential, as those speakers saw. I do not see hope. I do not see change, and if I see change, I see it for the worse. When I look at my generation I see pride. I see lust. I see hate and arrogance. I see children and teenagers who disrespect their parents. I see a generation that holds grudges and doesn’t forgive. I see a generation on their knees with hands lifted and eyes focussed toward Christ on Sunday night, sitting down with hands on the computer mouse eyes looking at pornography on Monday. I see a generation who sings of God’s kindness, who leave only to talk behind other people’s backs. I see a generation who watches “The Passion of the Christ” with tears streaming from their eyes only to go and with laughter watch “Family Guy” make fun of that same Christ. I see a generation who uses Scripture to justify the freedom they have to do sinful things, when that same Scripture was written to tell them they were free from the bondage of those things. I see a generation too busy on facebook and texting and twittering and playing World of Warcraft to stop for five minutes to talk with their Savior. I see a generation who tells me over and over how badly they want to live for Christ, and I wonder...oh i wonder why they never do. I look at my generation, and all too often I see myself. 

 How did it come to this? How did so much potential go to so much waste? Satan? No. I don’t think so. Sure, he has something to do with it, but I think Satan has the world so twisted around his little finger that he doesn’t even have to try anymore. He’s just sitting back watching us tear ourselves apart. So who is to blame? I suppose a little bit of everyone. Our parents? Perhaps. However, I love my own parents too much, as perhaps you do, to even try to write an explanation for how that might be. So I won’t. So while there may be many reasons why we have ended up this way, I will only write of one. The reason for our failure comes from the same stem that our potential did. The world is changing. We have more technology in the past fifty years than the entire history of the world ever saw. However, instead of using it as a tool, it has become our god. Our obsession. We have become obsessed with early things. We have made things of this world our true God, and our Savior Jesus Christ is merely a god, a little idol we sometimes remember to worship. Don’t get me wrong. I go to a Christian University, and a great one at that. I hear people talking about Christ. I see people weeping at chapel. But more than I hear people talk about Christ, I hear dirty jokes. I hear how much they struggle with pornography and lust and pride and the list doesn’t really end. I hear people talk about how hard it is to spend five minutes in their Bibles. Brothers and sisters...FIVE MINUTES!!! Perhaps even more sadly, I do not really hear about prayer (outside of chapel or meals) at all. We have no idea what the power of prayer is or the power of the Word of God. The desire to change the world for Christ is there. Believe me. It’s strong. I think to the passage in the Gospels when the rich young man came to Jesus and said, “What must I do to be saved?” He was passionate. Like us. He got right to the point. Like us. For us believers we might rephrase this, “Jesus! What can I do to change the world?” 

 “Sell everything you have and give to the poor... Then come, follow me.” 

(Luke 18:22)*

 That’s what Jesus said. He didn’t tell him to say a little prayer. He didn’t tell him to get all emotional over his sins. He said give everything you hold dear and throw it away, because unless I am all that you care about, it’s not worth even trying. That’s not what the young man wanted to hear. That’s not what we want to hear. Ted Dekker, a famous Christian author, loves to use the word “obsessed” when talking about our relationship with Christ. Obsessed. We are not obsessed with Christ, and the generation that is going to change the world is going to be. 

 Now, I’ve given you a lot of bad news, and maybe by this time I’ve already lost many of my readers. So, what do we do with this information? How do we undo what’s been done? Many of you may even be asking, can we still turn our lives around so that our generation can still be the one to change the world? I will not put anything past Christ, for with Him all things are possible. However, that being said, I do not find it probable that we have the time left to be that generation. We’re growing up. My oldest brother is married and the pastor of his own church. My other brother is in charge of our youth group. My sister is a graduating High School senior. I am going to be a Junior this year. Some of my friends are already engaged, and some are married with their own children. Before you and I know it, we are going to be diving into the real world of marriage of jobs and raising kids. Now, can adults change the world? Absolutely. But I’m talking about a generation that rises up together and refuses to back down. A generation willing to give everything up for the cross. Our time to be that kind of generation is running out. And to be quite honest, we aren’t making much progress. 

 So what can we do?! What can a failed generation do? There are many steps, but I believe there is an ultimate goal which is this. We must not let the next generation follow in our footsteps. We must raise up a generation with such a passion for Christ that the world just can’t figure them out. We must raise up a generation that doesn’t care about earthly possessions. That doesn’t care about the stupid popularity contests. But brothers and sisters in Christ, before we can ever hope to raise children to be obsessed with Christ, we must be first obsessed ourselves. If your children do not find you obsessed with the Word, with prayer, and with love, I promise you they won’t be either. 

 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)” 

 A dear man of God whom I greatly respect clings to that verse as a promise, and I believe with all my heart that he is right. If you raise your child in the love of Christ, you can expect results. But don’t expect to wait to change until your firstborn. If you wait, it will never happen. We must become obsessed NOW. Today! We must read our Bibles. We must pray. I know it sounds cliche, but it truth. We will never fully understand the power of the Word and of prayer. Now, there is no magical amount of time that you need to read. But I can guarantee that if you feel rushed, you should keep reading. Keep praying. We spend hours on facebook, in front of the mirror, and playing video games. No, there is no magical amount of time, but two minutes....TWO MINUTES of prayer is not enough. Two minutes in your Bibles is NOT enough. Two minutes isn’t even a hobby let alone an obsession. And I’m seeing my own reflection in the computer screen as I write this. It’s me. It’s me that’s not obsessed. 

 Now if you are part of my generation there is a good chance you are either not married or are newly married. I want to first address those not married, and before I do I will warn you that you probably won’t agree with me, and even if you do, you probably won’t care. But for those of you currently dating, considering dating soon, or just those who look forward to that day... Do not date someone until you are obsessed with Christ. I will say it again. Do not date someone until you are obsessed with Christ. And secondly, do not date someone who is not obsessed with Christ themselves. Now, I have very good friends who are not obsessed with Christ who are dating. I have friends who are dating unbelievers, and in no way am I belittling you, or loving you less than I ever have. But unless you are dating them with no expectation of possible marriage, how can you ever hope to love them like Christ loves you, if you have no idea what the love of Christ is like? How can you become truly obsessed with them, if you and/or they don’t know what true, obsessed love looks like? 

 Also, and this is speaking mostly toward men. Do not date, or even consider marrying someone if you struggle with pornography. And I’m not just talking about sitting in front of your computer type of pornography. You don’t have to be. You can be staring at the same images in your mind as you are sitting in Church singing “Give Me Jesus.” I believe Satan has no greater stronghold on men today than lust. He has made us obsessed with lust, because when we are obsessed with lust we have no idea what love is. With lust, not just pornography, but every form of lust, Satan has us by the back of the head, shoving us into an ocean of mud. And the first thing drenched in the muck is the light from the candle we hold. “But James! I’m addicted!” Addiction. Satan’s favorite word. A man who is addicted is a man who does not understand the cross. The entire point of Christ coming to earth was to set us free from the bondage of sin. So why are so many of us still slaves? Why is my generation a generation of slaves to sin? It’s because a generation with so much “potential” has missed the most central part of the Gospel. Christ defeated the power of sin. 

 Romans 6:5-14 says, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

 There is no room for addiction in the life of a believer. The power of the cross is too great. 

 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 

 The cold, hard reality is that if you are a believer and you are “addicted,” it isn’t Jesus’ fault and it isn’t Satan’s fault. So why are we still addicted? If we can look at these verses and still be addicted, we can only remain addicted if we choose to be. We can somehow try to justify it and say that we have freedom in Christ, when He was never talking about that kind of freedom. Believe me, if you are a follower of Christ you are ANYTHING but free. You have merely been set free from the bondage of sin, only to give yourself right back into the bondage of righteousness. 

 1 John 3:5-6 says, “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.”

 We are so afraid of this passage, and until this semester I have never heard anyone take it literally. Why are we so afraid of these two verses? We are petrified because they hold the implication that we have the potential to never sin again. Let me say that again. A follower of Christ has the potential to never sin again. “That’s ridiculous James! That would mean we would be perfect!” That’s exactly right. 

 Colossians 1:19-23 says, For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

 Reconciled. Holy. Blameless. Synonyms of perfect. I want you to know right now that contrary to the conviction I feel in what I have written, I am not a sober Christian. I can’t stand when people spend their Christian lives wallowing in their failures and shortcomings. When I think of my relationship with Christ (especially more recently) I think of it as a joyous thing. I may feel unworthy sometimes, but I am never unworthy. Christ has made me worthy. When Christ looks and me and when He looks at you He sees perfection. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying; there is great joy in the Christian life. There should be great joy in all of our lives. I write what I am writing now because I believe we are missing out on so much MORE joy. The kind of joy we can’t comprehend. 

 1 Peter 1:8 says, “whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

 We were meant to have so much joy. Where has it gone? Paul wanted to know the same thing of the church in Galatia.

 Galatians 4:8-11,15 says, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you... What has happened to all your joy?”*

 What has happened to all your joy?! What a heartbreaking question. And look at the cause of the loss of joy. The people were re-enslaving themselves to sin...just like us today. And perhaps our parents and our pastors and our speakers are thinking the same thing as Paul. “I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” In order for the next generation to change the world, they must have Christ-obsessed parents. To be Christ obsessed parents we must have inexpressible joy. To have inexpressible joy we must be slaves to Christ. And to be slaves of Christ we can no longer be slaves to sin. 

 So can our generation still change the world? Yes. But like a father lives his high school basketball days through his son who now plays, so we must change the world through our children. For some of us, that is a long ways away. For some of us very soon. For others, it is already here. For those of you who are parents...“train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Train your children by being the example he or she needs to follow. Your children can’t see Jesus. They see Jesus through you. 

 For those of you married, without children, make sure your marriage is strong. My heart breaks for children who grow up in broken homes. Make a strong foundation before you ever bring children into this world. Husbands, love your wives with every ounce of love you possess, and be the leader she deserves. Wives, love your husbands with every ounce of love you possess, and support your husband (he needs it) as he leads you. 

 For those of you dating or who will one day, make sure you are obsessed with Christ first. Make sure that the one you date is obsessed with Christ first. If you are not both obsessed, it will not survive. 

 And for all of us. For all of my generation whether married with children, married without children, dating, or not dating. PRAY! Pray for the children you will one day have. Pray for strength to lead them to the cross. Pray for wisdom as you teach them. Pray that they do not suffer the same addictions as you. Pray that they will understand the love of Christ. Pray that they will be obsessed with Christ. 

 Maybe I am wrong. Maybe my generation will change the world. But in the event that we do not, let us not be the reason our children’s generation doesn’t change the world. Let us cling to the promise that if we train them in the ways of Christ, they will not depart from that way. 

 I believe there is a generation that is going to radically change the world. I believe there is a generation that the world is not going to understand. I believe there is going to be a generation so obsessed with Christ that they won’t even be able to understand how our generation could possibly have been distracted by earthly things. I believe there is a generation who will sell all their possessions, give them to the poor, and follow Christ. I once thought that this was my generation. I no longer believe that. But with all my heart, I believe that we can be the ones to raise up that generation. Oh, I pray we are the ones who no longer tolerate the way Christianity has been falling. I pray we are the ones who raise our children in such a way that they have never been raised. No, I do not believe we are the generation that is going to change the world, but I do believe we are the generation who is going to watch our children change it.