A MULTI-GENERATIONAL CHURCH FOR A NEW GENERATION

We want to affirm that every person matters in the church of Jesus Christ.  Every generation is of importance at Markham Baptist.  None are to be excluded and none are to be left behind.  Every person matters.

But at the same time we recognize that for a whole new generation the spiritual situation can be best described as a code blue.   Does anyone here know what a code blue is?  Code blue is a hospital emergency code which means that a patient needs immediate resuscitation.  When they yell “code blue” in an emergency room, everyone drops everything and comes running because it’s a life or death situation. 

Well, if we were to do a check up on the spiritual health of the youth culture today we’d have to proclaim a code blue. 

Now of course, we can praise God for thousands upon thousands upon thousands of youth who profess Jesus Christ as Lord.  We celebrated with two of them last week as they professed their faith in Christ through baptism.  We can celebrate the many youth who genuinely live for Christ in so many different settings, worship God in so many different forms, and serve Him in so many different ways.

But we need to understand that the spiritual health of the next generation can be best described as a code blue.  It is a life or death emergency. 

It has been suggested – and I think there’s some merit in it – that the devil’s goal is to get one generation of young men and women that he can neutralize spiritually and call his own.  If he gets one generation, all the others will follow.  We may well be on our way there. 

All sorts of people acknowledge Jesus – atheletes give thanks to “the big guy upstairs” for an amazing touch down or a miraculous basket at the buzzer.  Musicians from rapper Kayne West to punk rockers Green Day to the world’s top band U2 all sing about Jesus. 

Jesus has his own monster truck (WWJD – stands for “What would Jesus Drive.”) He has a 110-foot, 750-pound hot air balloon, and hundreds of movies have been made about Him, including a Canadian production called, “Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.” The internet movie data base bills this movie as kungfu/horror/musical/comedy in which Jesus is paired with Mexican wrestling hero El Santos to battle an army of vampires that can walk in the daylight and are threatening the capital city of Ottawa! 

Do you get the idea? We have a generation that know about Jesus, but they don’t know Jesus. 

A generation that knows nothing about the truth of Jesus Christ.  There was a day when a preacher could announce the scripture reading on Sunday morning and everyone could turn to it because they had learned from their parents and they had been brought in the church and learned the truth about God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the truth as it is revealed in the Word of God.  But now when I give out the Scripture, I also have to give out the page number.  That’s not a bad thing in itself – I’m just saying that the culture is no longer permeated with the truth of Jesus Christ. 

I sat beside someone yesterday who told me that he was watching Jeopardy and it was College Week - you know, when they only have college kids participating?  The final jeopardy clue was – “this profession was ascribed to God in the 23^rd Psalm”.  The girl didn’t know the answer. 

This is part of what makes the situation for the next generation a code blue.  But more … O that it was so simple as that, but it is that, plus the fact that we live in a culture that is increasingly anti-Christian.  It is that, plus the fact that we live in a pluralistic culture.  It is that, plus the rise of materialism, plus the rise of cynicism toward anyone who claims to have the truth, plus the rise of narcissism – it’s all about me and my needs.

It’s a new generation.  Today is not like yesterday.  The darkness that used to be on the edge of youth culture – the dark behaviours and the dark thinking – that used to be on the edge is now in the mainstream.  Behaviours and ideas that you and I would never have entertained have now become part of youth entertainment. 

And it is code blue for this generation – a life or death situation because they don’t know the truth of Jesus Christ. 

But more – on Friday night Dexter put on a great night. If you missed it, you missed an exciting, informative evening where we were brought up to date as to what our kids are facing.  Did you know that accidents is the leading cause of death among teens? Maybe you did.  But did you know the number two and number three cause of death among teens?  According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention the number two and number three cause of death among teens is homicide and suicide. 

That means that there is a whole generation out there who think that life is not better than garbage, something to be disposed of.  We live in throw-away culture, we have disposable diapers, flashlights, razors, handiwipes, mops, and now a whole generation who thinks that they are disposable. 

When you cleaned up from Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner, have you ever thrown out the good silverware with in the garbage by mistake?  Ever done that?  What did you do when you did that?  Did you just shrug your shoulders and say, “O well?”  No.  You said, that was my great Aunt Bertha’s good silverware, it’s been in the family for generations and went rooting through the garbage until you found it, right? 

My friends, we have a whole generation who do not know the truth of Jesus Christ and who think they are disposable.  It’s a code blue.  And we believe that God is calling us to respond. 

So a multigenerational church that reaches out to a new generation.  

But more, we believe that God has perfectly situated us to respond to this code blue.  First, He has given us children in our own church – great kids for whom we are each responsible to pass on the truth of Jesus Christ.  And then on top of that, He has allowed us to be planted across from one of the largest high schools in our region, and has given us the opportunity to reach out to them as hundreds of them stream into our building every week for our Wednesday lunch drop-in.  And we have the opportunity to go into their building every week.  Did you know that we were invited to be part of the grade nine day this past week and set up a booth telling the kids about our church and our lunch drop-in?  Thanks to Dexter, John Bean and Margo Clare for being a part of that! 

Did you know that the school is giving us basketballs and footballs to be used in our gym?  Did you know that we have actually been asked to have representation on their high school advisory Board?  It is unheard of in our age.  But God has opened the door.   He has situated us perfectly for this opportunity.   

A multigenerational church for a new generation.     

What does it look like?  2 Timothy chapter 1 puts before us a multigenerational church – a multi-gifted, multi-talented church – that is, handing on the faith to the next generation – represented by a young pastor by the name of Timothy. 

We meet all sorts of people in this chapter – people of the church.  We meet, of course, Paul.  Paul is a seasoned follower of Christ who has invested heavily in the life of young Timothy.  In Acts chapter 16 we are told that Paul is on his second missionary journey and was visiting Timothy’s home town of Lystra when the two first meet.  Timothy is the son of Gentile father and Jewish mother.  Acts 16 tells us that the Christians in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy so Paul decides to take him on his missionary journey. Scholars guesstimate that Timothy was about 16 years of age at the time. 

Paul has a great fondness for Timothy and calls him “my true son in the faith” (I Timothy 1:2); “beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:17); “fellow worker” (Romans 16:21); “Brother and God’s servant in the gospel of Christ” (I Thessalonians 3:2) and in our text, “my dear son”. 

And so here you have this multigenerational idea – a seasoned Christian drawing alongside a young man, mentoring and helping him understand and grow in the faith.

Notice in our text what this includes – it includes prayer. Verse 3:  “I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.”  Paul prays for Timothy constantly.

You know some of you have asked, “What does this new strategy look like? Give us more information.”  And we are endeavouring to put flesh on the bones during the coming months.  But we know for sure that it will include prayer. 

That’s something that we all can do, isn’t it?  I hope you are praying for our young people.  Perhaps one of the greatest moments in the life of the church is when we stand with young parents and assure them that we will join in prayer with them for their newborn child.  I hope you are keeping that promise, and even making that promise for the children of our church who have not been dedicated here.  O what a great encouragement it is to them, what a strength to them – to know that their church family is praying for them.

And I hope that you are praying for our outreach to teens.  We will need God’s guidance and we believe it will only be given to us as we depend on him in prayer. 

A multigenerational church that reaches out to the next generation is a church that prays.

A multigenerational church that reaches out to the next generation is also a church that is sure of who Jesus Christ is.

Look how Paul raises up Jesus Christ in this passage.  In verse 9 and 10 Jesus Christ is the one through whom grace is given to us.  It is because of his sacrifice that we have God’s unmerited favour.  Verse 10 it is Jesus Christ who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light. 

May we always be a church that places Jesus Christ at the centre of our proclamation and lives.  May we be a people where the next generation will be able to come and know for sure who it is that has died for them – who rose again and who lives for them.  May we be a people where the gospel of Jesus Christ is not diluted by any other message or substituted by any other message. 

And may we be a people were who are able to communicate the glorious truth of Jesus Christ in ways that the next generation understands.   That is one of our goals.  And I know that’s difficult.  Talk about cross-cultural ministry. 

At one of our recent leadership meetings we were asked to voice our fears about the new strategy.  And I said, “You know, I’m scared. What do I know about youth culture?  I don’t know how to communicate with them.  I sometimes find it hard to communicate with my own son – my own flesh and blood.  How am I going to communicate to a group of young people who don’t even have that father-son attachment?”

And someone at the meeting very wisely said, “You know, let’s not forget that the youth of today are like everyone else in some ways.  They are looking to be loved, accepted and encouraged.” 

And I thought – I can do that.  I can speak the language of love and acceptance and encouragement.  And that’s how a multigenerational church will be able to communicate the truth of Jesus Christ.  

 Now in verse 5 Paul celebrates Timothy’s sincere faith.  That word sincere means, “unhypocritical”.  It means that Timothy’s faith is not tainted, it is genuine. 

Last week I said that we’re all hypocrites.  And in a sense that’s true.  We aren’t what we should be – is the point I was making.  But in another sense that’s not true.  The word hypocrite is a word from the stage and refers to actors  - those who play a part.  And as we recognize that we are not what we should be and are genuine about our failings – not trying to put on airs – pretending to be who we’re not – in that sense we’re not hypocrites at all.

We know that it is by power of God who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.  

Timothy has a sincere faith.  And what an encouragement this was to Paul – here is the next generation picking up the torch.  Here was the next generation turning their back on the world and living for Jesus.

But it didn’t just happen, did it?   There were the prayers of Paul, there was the clear communication of the gospel. But look at verse five – there was also the example of a sincere faith in Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. 

That’s the multigenerational church that reaches the next generation, isn’t it?  It’s a mentoring church. 

Verse 5 is not only a great picture of the Christian family – I would suggest that that is a great picture of the church – where one generation hands the faith down to another. 

You know I grew up in a multigenerational church were the young people grew so close to some of the senior members of the church that they called them “Aunt” and “Uncle”.  And the senior members would consider the young people as near and dear to them as their own – they modeled the faith, they lived the faith and drew alongside the young people as mentors.

Surely this is a picture of a multigenerational church that seeks to share the faith with a new generation.  It is one generation purposefully mentoring the young people around them.   

All of us can be a listening ear, all of us can be compassionate, with the compassion we have received from Christ.  Many of you have life experience that can be shared with young people.  You have stories of faith to tell.  You have experiences of Christ to share.  You have life lessons that have been learned.  If you will just make yourself available.  Give a teenager a call and invite them out for a double latte!

Do you know that Scripture clearly teaches that the older women are to train the younger women about the Christian life.  You can read about in the New Testament book of Titus, chapter 2. 

What does this strategy look like?  I’ve outlined a few ideas – and there is one more person I want to focus on in this passage – but before I get to him let just say this – what does this strategy look like?  Well, to tell you the truth, we don’t know!  As someone rightfully pointed out to me the other day we are a body with all sorts of different talents.  We are not all preachers, not all teachers, not all evangelists.  Some have the gift of helps, some have the gift of faith and some the gift of giving and so on. To which I say, Amen. 

And so it is as each of us brings our gifts and talents to bear on this strategy that it will take shape.   Perhaps you gifts similar to Paul’s or similar to Lois and Eunice, then the strategy takes shape. 

But someone will yet say, “Why can’t we focus on all sorts of different things as the gifts of the body allow?” 

Because my friends, we have found as a leadership team that we as a body are being pulled in twenty different directions.  And just as a body cannot go in 20 different directions at once – especially a body as small as ours. We are looking to go in one direction, so that our energy is greater, our resources are greater – to be a multigenerational church for a new generation. 

There is one more person of note in this text that needs to be mentioned.  And that is the man named Onesiphorus.  Verse 16 through 18: “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.  On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.  May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day!  You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.”

What a blessing Onesiphrous was to the church.  Just think of him for a moment.  First, he was one who understood the importance of encouraging the leadership of the church.  He didn’t abandon Paul like so many had. He ministered to him, encouraged him, upheld him, refreshed him, says the text.  To be sure, he must have refreshed him spiritually, reminding him of the great and precious promises that were his in Christ.  He must have reminded Paul  of God’s presence as he ministered to his wounds – Paul was in prison as he wrote these words.  He was a great encouragement. 

Understand that the leadership of the church will need your encouragement in the weeks and months to come.  They will need to know that you are with them, they will need your refreshment and your support as they seek to move forward with this.  Certainly all the staff will need your support but I hope that you will be here next week as we induct Dexter and pray God’s blessing upon him as we send him into the front lines of youth ministry. 

We need to encourage our leadership. 

And then notice that there is no hint that Onesiphorus asked the question, “What about me?”  “What about my needs?”  No, Onesiphorus gave of himself. 

A multigenerational church that seeks to reach out to the next generation is one that spends themselves for the needs of others.

You get the sense from this text that Onesiphorus spent himself out for the needs of another. Verse 16 – he was not ashamed of my chains and verse 17 - on the contrary when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.

It sounds like Onesiphorus poured himself out for the needs of another. 

I wonder if St. Francis thought of Onesiphorus when he wrote the second part of his famous prayer:

“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; not so much to be understood, as to understand; not so much to be loved, as to love.  For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.”

Any pastor will tell you that the question everyone of us hates is – What can your church give me and my family?  What will you do for me?  That’s not the question those of us who have received every spiritual blessing in Christ should be asking. It is rather, what can I give, how can I help?     

Do you want to know how this church is going to grow your faith as we seek to reach a new generation? It is in giving of yourself to the next generation that your faith will grow.

Do you want to  know how you will be fed spiritually?  We would suggest that it is giving of yourself to the next generation, praying for them, teaching them the truth about Christ, mentoring them, drawing alongside them that you will be fed.  

That’s the way the Christian faith works – “If a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  The one who loves his life will lose it, while the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

What a great adventure is ahead of us – a multigenerational church for a new generation. 

Do not be mistaken there is a battle going on – and it is a battle for the next generation.  The situation is code blue.   And we know that the devil is weak, and ineffectual before the cross of Christ – the only way he can win this battle will be if the people of Christ, the body of Christ don’t show up.  If we don’t show up for the battle and he does, he’ll win.  Not because he has anything of value to offer them – but because he’s the only one on the battle field.