Scripture: Psalm 145:1-13

SERMON SUMMARY

It is that very special Sunday when Fellowship Greenville puts a focus on what God is doing in the next generation and his invitation for his people to join him in that work. Although God has graciously blessed and brought much fruit in the ministries here at Fellowship Greenville, the overall state of the spiritual landscape of the next generation is looking increasingly bleak. God has a heart for the next generation and desires his people to share in that conviction, stand in the gap, and commit to future generations so that they may not be lost.

The Challenge:

Here it is - we are in one of the greatest spiritual declines in recently recorded history. Sociologists and groups like Barna Research, Pew Research, and Springtide Research are all keeping close watch on the trajectory of faith within the next generation and the numbers are alarming. 70 percent (and growing) of young people are walking away from their faith in their 20’s. These are not youth who have heard the Gospel once long ago. These are children raised in Christian homes, regular church attenders, mission trip go-ers, Jesus professing youth. 70 percent!

So how do we raise up the next generation? How do we do more than manage decline, but reverse the numbers entirely? I would like to suggest three principles of how to raise up a generation of resilient followers of Jesus.

1. We must tell a compelling story of Jesus.

Our hope has to be in more than what I’ll call ‘southern habits’ and church attendance. I’ve been in student ministry now for 19 years and one of the clearest observations I have made in that length of time is  many youth know that their family comes to church, but they cannot articulate why very well. They know that their family believes in Jesus, but cannot articulate how or when their parents came to the faith. They know that Jesus changes our hearts, yet cannot articulate how their parents' lives, marriage, finances, language, worldview is regularly being changed by Jesus. In other words, many students learn by their teenage years that church is more a ritual than anything. They simply cannot see how what happens on Sunday actually defines anything between Monday through Saturday.

Looking at our passage above, we can ask ourselves some simple questions based on that text. Does the next generation hear us bless and praise the name of God daily? Do we commend His works to the next generation and declare His mighty acts? Do we regularly meditate on the glorious splendor of His majesty and speak of His awesome deeds? You get the point. Jon Tyson, who pastors a church in NYC, says this, “We must tell the story properly. We need to tell our kids about the redemptive history of God (what He has done in the world throughout history), we need to tell them of the revival history of God (how He has brought life in the spiritual deserts), and we need to tell them of our personal history (what God has done in our own hearts and lives). The fact is many teenagers growing up today just don’t have those stories told to them. David Kinnaman in his book, “Faith for Exiles” says that one of the key things necessary for a teenager to maintain a resilient faith is to have a real encounter with Jesus that comes through experiential moments. Church attendance alone will not do it. We must pass along a compelling story of Jesus and invite the next generation into the experience of how Jesus has and is changing our own hearts.

2. We must see our legacy as the inheritance of our faith.

One of the greatest challenges of faith today (at least in America) is the individualization of faith. The problem there is that Jesus is not just Lord of your heart, He’s Lord of Heaven and earth. Faith itself was never meant to be so private that those around us are left unmet with our love and passion for Jesus. We must learn to hand off our faith to the next generation. Preparing things like wealth, possessions, and heirlooms as an inheritance for the next generation is a good thing - a very good thing. But the greatest inheritance we can pass along is not material, but spiritual. Our legacy is not the length of our years, but the inheritance of our faith. Look at what God says in Isaiah 59:21. God has put His word in our mouths, but not only ours - our children’s and our children’s children. Look at Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

Very often I will have conversations with parents who express to me, “Matt I just don’t know how to disciple my kids. It seems overwhelming and I don’t know where to start.” That’s a valid feeling. I will usually ask them if their family has an interest in sports and specifically college football (it’s the Southeast after all). They go on to tell me yes - either Clemson, or USC, or some other team. I then ask them if they ever bought their babies or their kids clothes, signs, posters, car decals, etc of their favorite team. “Yes” they reply. “Do you watch the games regularly?” I ask. “Yes” they reply. “Do you talk about the team and the players regularly?” I ask. “Yes” they reply. “Then you know how to disciple your kids” I will respond. Please understand I am not condemning these practices at all, simply observing and trying to find a helpful foothold for us all to understand the process of what discipleship is.

Discipleship is this: Invitation towards imitation for the purpose of transformation. That’s it. We do it all the time with the things we’re passionate about. We invite others into our practices and rituals so that they too become loyal to those things ( in this case college football teams). It’s not very different when it comes to Jesus. We have to learn how to practice building loyalty to Jesus through the process of inviting the next generation into imitation for the purpose of transformation.

3. We must partner with what God is doing in the next generation.

God is often at work in one generation to establish Himself in the next generation. Remember in the book of Joshua God brings his people across the Jordan river and then instructs Joshua to stack up 12 memorial stones so that when future generations see it they will ask about them and the story of God will be passed from one generation to another (Joshua 4:6-7). We are indeed in one of the greatest spiritual declines in recorded history, however that may be the perfect timing for how God desires to use you. Almost every great move of God throughout history has come from His people observing decline and resolving to now allow it on their watch.

There’s a famous revival called the Hebrides Revival. It took place in the early 1950’s Scotland. Two elderly sisters (Peggy Smith, 84 and completely blind and Christine Smith, 82, and bent over with arthritis were burdened at the spiritual state of their village and specifically the fact that no young people were attending their church. They committed to pray. Twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays they would get on their knees around 10pm and pray until 3 or 4am. Now the story is much longer and more amazing than this but in short, God broke through and poured himself out upon that village. I encourage you to dig into that story and the history of other revivals.

Similarly, we need men and women who see the spiritual state of our culture and are willing to stand in the gap and commit to not losing this generation. We need men and women desperately asking God to break through and committing themselves to prayer. We need men and women who grasp the idea that God desires to breathe life into future generations through us presently. We need men and women who are willing to make their inheritance their faith above all else.

I have some group processing questions below but I am going to provide less than usual. I would ask that instead, your group would spend a considerable amount of time interceding on behalf of the next generation and with desperate hearts asking God to pour His Spirit out upon them.

• What stood out to you from Matt’s sermon? Take a few moments to share some of your insights.
• Where did you sense God stirring your heart as you listened to the sermon?
• Does anyone in your group have a story of their own life being changed because they either poured into the next generation or they themselves were recipients of being poured into by someone else?
• What application is God leading you towards? Are there any changes in heart or practice that need to happen?
• Would you please use your remaining time to pray on behalf of the next generation?

Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.