There’s a new division in town, and we’re talking about my g-g-generation. With the rise of sociology, demographics, and marketing we find the world is finding new ways to divide us, sift us, and put us where we belong. Which means in turn that the church is doing much the same. Add to the mix the potent brew of victimology and we are off to the races.
I was born in 1965. On more than one occasion I have seen statistics that suggest the baby boom ended in 1964, and others suggesting that Gen-X begins in 1966. That makes me, and others born in 1965 the Generation-less Generation. We don’t know who we are, or where we belong. We can set the clock on a VCR, but don’t know how to do a hard-drive refresh.
Which may explain why none of this makes any sense to me. What does being young have to do with being Reformed? What does my birthday have to do with my understanding of the biblical role of the state? What is the difference between being missional, and being obedient? And ultimately, isn’t the Bible, the church, the means of grace, aren’t these all for all of us?
I am not suggesting that there might not be similarities in outlook among some who were born in the same decade. I am not arguing against the notion that this group might have this weakness, and that group might tend toward that strength. What I am suggesting is it doesn’t matter a lick. Not. A. Lick. My calling before God transcends my generation, or lack thereof. My need from God is the same as those who were born before me, and as those who were born after me. My parents need every day to repent and believe the gospel. My children need every day to repent and believe the gospel. Skinny jeans and wool caps have nothing to do with it.
Pride and selfishness are driven by living for self, by a me perspective. By demanding attention in bulk, we haven’t moved to a you perspective, but a we perspective. That is, we are being selfish together. Which is still altogether selfish. “What about us and our needs” is no great improvement over “What about me and my needs?” Wrestling for my generation’s megaphone, to speak for my people is still wrestling for a megaphone, and worse, it misses who my people are. My people are old people, not the greatest generation. They are aging people, not boomers. They are young people, not millenials. And as many as are afar off.
What I need is to learn to recognize my family. What I need to learn is that what defines me is the same thing that defines every other Christian, whatever their age- the blood of Christ that washes us, the Spirit of Christ who indwells us, the Kingdom of Christ that welcomes us. We have been given a transcendent gospel that not only crosses barriers, but breaks them down. The gospel makes of the many one. We are no longer defined by what we buy, but by the One who bought us. May He give us the grace to toss overboard our generational markers, and may we recognize each other the same way those outside are to recognize us, by our love for each other.
I was blessed, over the years, to teach a number of the Great Works courses at Reformation Bible College. It is my contention that we ought to cover the great books of western civilization not so we can prepare students to join in what some call the “great conversation” that back and forth over the centuries that seeks to answer the most foundational questions of our nature, purpose and end. Instead I sought to prepare them for the “great confrontation.” I teach in light of the antithesis, the battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent that began in Eden and ends with the end of history. I want my students to understand the culture they are living in, the ideological water they are swimming in, so that they might both guard their hearts and press the crown rights of King Jesus.
One of the best shortcuts to understanding a given culture is to ask this question- in this culture, what does a man have to be or to do to be considered a hero? Such tells us a great deal. In ancient Greece you became a hero by courage and victory in battle. During the Renaissance you became a hero by dint of deep and wide study. In our day you become a hero by becoming the best in your field. Fame doesn’t hurt either.
The high virtues of the Christian hero, by contrast, have precious little to do with accomplishment. Indeed I would argue that the first and highest standard of the Christian hero is a passion for repentance. The hero is the one who knows from top to bottom that he is not a hero. The hero moves through his days not only aware of his moral failures, but of his dependence on the grace of God in all its manifestations. He must know, increasingly, how weak and needy He is.
Second, the Christian, or the true hero is about the business not of making a name for himself, but of lifting others up and magnifying the name of Christ. Which is why real heroes are so hard to find.
Third, the Christian hero forgives. It is likely much less difficult to do a good deed for another than it is to forgive an evil deed done to us. The former flows easily from a high view of the self- I can do this giving thing for you, because I have so much to give.” The latter flows more from a low view of the self- “ I can forgive this wrong done to me because I know my need for forgiveness for the wrongs I’ve done to others.”
The temptation that began in the garden has not yet left us. We are always eager to become more than we are. The solution then and now is the same, to recognize our need for the work of the one true hero, Jesus. May we learn to imitate those who imitate Him.
Thesis 32- We must teach our children the things of God.
It is true enough that all truth is God’s truth. When we affirm this we are affirming that we have not left God when we explore any truth, wherever it may be found. To study history or engineering is not somehow less spiritual than studying the Bible or theology. But there is a corollary we tend to miss. No truth is separate from God. That is, while we are not leaving God when studying “secular” truths, we are leaving truth when we study these truths separately from God. That all truth is God’s truth means that nothing, in the end, can be rightly understood outside of God. There is no body of knowledge out there that God loosely holds title too, but that we can understand apart from Him.
Moses understood this well. As he prepares to say goodbye to the people he ministered to for decades, as he delivers his farewell sermon, he impresses upon the people this simple truth, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). Not only is all truth only in context when understood in relationship to the glory of God, but so is all teaching of this truth done in the context of life. We are to talk of these things with our children all day every day. We do not add “religious” instruction to the “secular” education they receive during the week. Instead it must be a part of the warp and woof of our lives.
For too long we have taught our children that they could understand the world without Jesus. We have taught them the decidedly diabolical “truth” that some truths were “neutral.” We have taught them, by our actions, that God is something we take into account on Sundays, and perhaps on Wednesday nights. We have taught them how to be idolaters.
One of the great blessings of speaking of these things with our children when they lie down and when they rise us, is that it helps us remember these things when we lie down and when we rise up. We need to teach our children to seek to see the world as God sees the world so that we will better see the world as God sees the world. When we teach our children that all truth is God’s truth, we are better able to see all truth as God’s truth.
An education that leaves God out of the picture cannot be fixed by drawing Him back in later. An education that leaves God out of the picture is not only an abomination to God, but is a lie to our children.
It was just four years ago today as I write that I first put in a call to my beloved wife. Up until that point every bit of communication I made with her was online, typed out, safe and at a distance. You see I was in chains. I longed for death, for the rest of the grave. I had watched Lisa walk through hardship by her living faith. Standing on the sidelines I felt I was black and white, while she carried the very vibrancy of life. It did not take me long to discern that she was a good woman. And, over time, as I felt drawn toward her I realized that she was far too good for me. That she needed a far better man than me. That I would simply drag her down. So I pushed her away.
She, however, held the keys to my chains. She refused to leave me behind. She began to help me break free, to hope, to breathe, to live. Until, on Independence Day we scheduled our first live conversation. I called, and…. there was no answer. To her credit, she did call back. And from there she called me out, set me free. She became my safe place, my best friend, my joy, my treasure. Her loyalty is fierce, her gentleness tender.
She could have retired. She had done well. She had much to be proud of. But she isn’t through with me yet. She prays for me, encourages me, inspires me. And she makes me laugh. She has, from the day she set me free, from the moment the chains fell away, put on me the bonds of love. She has entwined me with her in a cord of three strands that is not easily broken. She has bound up my wounds and wrapped me in her embrace. The one He used to set me free is now the one He has bound me to and my independence has given way to my glorious dependence on her, the dependence I joyfully declare.
Four years later and we have walked together through countless battles. Like the Spirit of ’76 we stride side by side, walking in step with the Holy Spirit, wounded and limping. But we are together and there is music in our ears. We march on toward the prize, to the Celestial City whose builder and maker is God. Step by step.
Freedom is a wonderful thing to celebrate, to thank the living God for. But I give thanks, this day and every day for being bound. The one I am bound to and the One I am bound by, my savor and my Savior, my sister and my Brother, my Lady and my Lord, my bride and our Husband these are the ones I give thanks for, celebrate and depend on. She never lets me forget that He is good. He never lets me forget that she is His good gift to me. I am a blessed man.
