Dr. Ralph Levy
Sermon Transcript
May 12, 2001
The Next Generation
I wanted to take off on one of the sessions that was presented in the evening
by a young lady by the name of Julie Zutz. Some of you may have heard of her.
The elders of the conference heard of her and got to know her. I remembered
her from Ambassador College. She now lives, I believe, up in the Boston area.
She's a graduate of Ambassador College, and she gave us a very helpful presentation
titled, "Dealing With the Net Generation." Very interesting. Now you
can classify yourselves, if you'd like to. She very kindly faxed me her handout
material, and I printed it out this morning as I was preparing for this message.
Page 20 of her handout, she's got the generation's summary.
We all fall into different generations in the United States of America.
The "matures" are the ones who were born between 1909 and 1945. It's
a nice name for the "matures." Right Mr. Taylor? Characteristics:
teamwork, commitment, sacrifice, discipline, financial and social conservatism.
Markers: World War II, the Great Depression, the New Deal.
The "baby boomers," the
next younger generation. 1946-1964, the dates of birth. We've heard a lot about
"baby boomers." Characteristics: idealism, individualism, self-improvement,
high expectations. Markers: Viet Nam War, television, Woodstock, Watergate,
sex, drugs, and rock and roll. So if you fall in that category, that's what
shaped you.
Doesn't sound too terribly good, does it?
"Generation X," born 1965-1978.
Characteristics: pragmatism, diversity, savvy, entrepreneurial, quality of life.
Markers: AIDS, MTV, internet, divorce. So that's "generation X," people
roughly in their 30s.
Then the youngest generation is
the "net generation" born in 1979 up to the present, and I hope nobody's
going to get offended by any of these. These are, of course, broad generalizations.
Characteristics: neo-traditionals, busy lives, ritual, optimism, technology,
volunteerism. Markers: OJ Simpson, Monica Lewinsky, Columbine, multi-culturalism.
Anyway, we had a very fine presentation
presented by Julie Zutz, and she was talking specifically about the "generation
X-ers" and also about the young people, the "net generation."
What I'd like to do in the split sermon this afternoon is to talk not so much
about the "net generation," but about the next generation, and the
next generation of leadership in God's church.
We are going to need, unless Christ
returns, and he may well do so, but we're going to need a new generation, a
next generation, and some of that next generation is going to come from the
"net generation," and the "net generation" with their way
of life and they're way of doing things, and their approach to life has just
begun to come into that potential leadership age, and we see some of them at
Ambassador Bible Center. One of the things that stood out for me over the last
year and a half in teaching at ABC, you're aware of the fact that we've had
mixed groups, different age groups, and one of the things that's become very
clear is that people of different ages learn differently. People of different
ages learn differently. You may not be aware of that. Take myself as an example,
I'm auditory. I can remember some of the things that I heard in classes back
at Ambassador College. I remember who said it. I remember when he said it. I
remember specific scriptures, and I can remember the intention with which he
said it.
Many of the younger people, this
is a generalization, but many of the young people are visual. They learn differently.
They like to do things in groups. They like to get together and research things.
They like to find the answer to a particular problem, and the ones who are up
in years very often would like to simply sit and receive the information. Now
there's nothing wrong with either of those learning styles, but they're certainly
very different learning styles. Some of the characteristics, let me give you
a few of the characteristics of the "net generation."
What is the "net generation"?
Again, reading from Julie Zutz handout, ages 2-20, 88 million people. The largest
demographic group in the United States. The first generation to grow-up surrounded
by digital media, authorities on the internet. Well, how many of us are authorities
on the internet? You know, we've probably struggled and gotten mad at our computers,
and maybe, you know, tried to suppress the urge to curse at the computer from
time-to-time. Profoundly different notions of work, reward, responsibility,
and collaboration--82% have used a computer. I think probably the more advanced
age groups do not; we don't have an 82% user rate.
"Generation X"--15% fewer
than the "boomers." The highest rates of unemployment. They earn less
in real terms than the "boomers." They grew up under legislated equality.
They've seen the highest levels of leadership brought down by scandal, weak
economic, and bleak social events. Their characteristics--they're good at collaboration,
consensus building, and multi-tasking. They focus on the big picture, priorities,
aggressive communicators, media centered, the mind-set spanning between the
"boomers" and the "net generation."
Now, of course, this doesn't describe
everybody. We're all individuals, we understand that, but as we go through the
generations, things change, and we're heavily influenced by the cultural factors
around us, and by the way in which we receive information. When you look at
what's happened in the church of God over the last ten years or so, I think
we can see that we've suffered a very high rate of attrition among the "generation
X-ers." The ministry of the United Church of God has very few ministers
in their 30s. In fact, we tend to joke about it. We have a different definition
for the word "young" in the United Church of God. We define it differently,
and sometimes we say, well, so-and-so is UCG young, but really it's a bit of
a problem for the church because we don't have a lot of leaders in their 30s,
and at some point, we're going to need them.
Now our hope is, I think we can
all say that we would like and we would pray that the next generation, the "net
generation" will have a lower level of attrition. We hope, we pray. We
would like to see more of them stay. At some point, we have to plan for leadership
from the "generation Xers" and the "net generation" who
are just growing up and coming out of the teenage years. So where are we going
now? What qualities of leadership do we need from "generation X" and
the next generation?
I want to outline for you briefly
brethren three qualities of leadership that I believe are essential for leadership
of God's people, and I hope we'll apply these things to ourselves, whatever
our age may be, but these are, I believe, three of the most important characteristics
that future leaders of the church of God are going to be needing.
Three qualities of leadership…
Quality No. 1. Wisdom. We've
heard a lot about wisdom. Wisdom would be a big enough subject for a sermon
in itself. We've heard bible studies on it. What's the definition of wisdom?
I looked in the dictionary. Here are some of the definitions that I found there:
Understanding what is true, right or lasting. Insight. One cannot have wisdom
without living life. Common sense, good judgment. It is a characteristic of
wisdom, not to do desperate things, Henry David Thoreau. It's interesting. Characteristic
of wisdom, not to do desperate things. The sum of scholarly learning through
the ages, knowledge. "In those homely sayings was couch the collective
wisdom of generations." A quote from Maya Angelou. Wise teachings of the
ancient sages.
You can see those definitions all
seem to revolve around one theme, and we've defined wisdom in the church as
knowledge rightly applied. See we've got a lot of knowledge in the church of
God. Sometimes applying it gets to be a little tricky, doesn't it? We all know
that from our own experiences, and we all face from time to time this question:
How do I bring this body of knowledge together with my real life situation?
What do I do with it? It's not always quite as easy as Solomon with the two
prostitutes, saying cut the baby in half. I tried that when I was working in
a high school and two kids were fighting over a ball point pen. I said, let's
cut it in half. It didn't work. Not to say that Solomon wasn't wise. He shows
tremendous wisdom, and it did work. Of course, he understood, he had wisdom,
he had insight into the fact that the one who was really the mother of the baby
would be the one who would immediately squawk, so he understood it.
Wisdom assists us in making right
decisions. Do we have wisdom? I think we'd all like a little bit more wisdom.
We'd like to know how to apply some of the principles, some of the knowledge
that we've received. Turn with me if you would please to the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 4. There's a lot of information in the book of Proverbs on this subject
of wisdom. Sometimes a little hard to define. What is wisdom? Seems a little
abstract conceptually. Proverbs 4. Proverbs says a lot about wisdom. I want
to read the first few verses of Proverbs 4 and see how Proverbs, the wisdom
of Solomon and various other wise men emphasize. This is something very, very
important to go through life and to make wise decisions, to avoid problems,
you've got to have this rather intangible thing.
Proverbs 4:1-4. "Hear,
ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my
father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught
me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments,
and live."
Now this is all
very basic. We are talking about law and commandments and a body of knowledge,
things that we hear about, and we emphasize in the church of God, but then it
goes on to say in verse 5…
Verse 5.
"Get wisdom, get understanding…"
The Proverbs express
this subject of wisdom with urgency. You've got to get hold of it. If you're
going to be successful in life, you've got to get hold of it. You've got to
make the intangible something tangible.
Verse 5.
"…forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake
her not, and she shall preserve you…"
Notice that feminine
pro-noun, very interesting.
Verse 5.
"…love her, and she shall keep you."
Boy, this wisdom,
this intangible thing does all kinds of good things for you, doesn't it?
Verse 7-9.
"Wisdom is the principal thing;
therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt
her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost
embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown
of glory shall she deliver to thee."
So it talks a great
deal, I won't read until the end of verse 13, I had all those verses in my notes,
but there's an awful lot of information about wisdom and Proverbs is telling
us, you've got to get this, you've got to have this if you're going to live
a successful life, and wisdom, then, is presented as a woman, somebody who will
do you good, somebody who will help you and guide you and be your friend. Of
course, the contrast in the book of Proverbs is with another woman a few chapters
later. Chapter 7 of Proverbs. Proverbs 7.
Here's another woman. Now the first woman you want to be with, the second woman,
you've got to avoid, and I don't want to spend all the time on chapter 7, but
you can see the subtitle in your Bible. Here's the harlot. Here's the seductress.
Here's the woman who will lead you in the wrong direction by comparison with
the woman who's going to lead you in the right direction. This first woman in
chapter 4 will give you proper guidance, will help you to make right decisions,
will show you how to deal with the tricky situations when you stop and you think,
yes, I know the principles, but what do I do to apply it in this situation?
And the woman of chapter 7, the harlot, the prostitute, the seductress, comes
along and seduces you and tries to get you to go in the wrong direction, and
we live in a society where there are an awful lot of seductions of every kind.
Sexual seductions, influences, thoughts seducing us, pulling us off in the wrong
direction, and so I believe there is a deliberate contrast here between the
woman of chapter 4 and chapter 8, who is a woman that we want to be with and
the harlot of chapter 7.
The Greek word for
wisdom is "sophia." It's a woman's name. Wisdom is presented in this
book of The Bible as a woman, "sophia." In fact, it's the capital
of one of the countries of eastern Europe. They named their capital after wisdom.
Their capital is named for that. Proverbs 8. What will wisdom do for you? What
will this woman do for you?
Proverbs
8:1-4. "Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding
put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way
in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the
city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call…"
Now in chapter 7,
there was a seductress who was also calling out, but this woman is also crying
out to men.
Verse 4-5.
"…and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand
wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart."
Hey, I don't understand
how you do this. Well, wisdom will help you through.
Verse
6-8. "Hear; for I will speak of excellent
things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall
speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my
mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them."
So wisdom cries out and helps us, all of us, whatever generation that we're
in, to make wise decisions. Wisdom helps us with regard to friendships. We know
and understand, I think this is fairly basic, that friendships can lead us in
the wrong direction, friendships can lead us in the right direction. Wisdom
shows us who's the one to trust as a close friend and who should not be trusted.
Proverbs 8:32-36. Associations, friendships.
Proverbs 8:32-36. "Now
therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my
ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed
is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts
of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour
of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all
they that hate me love death."
So, wisdom helps
us with associations. Wisdom helps us in career decisions. I've talked with
some of the ABC students over the last year, year-and-a-half, about career decisions,
you know, when you're at the college age, career decisions can be very, very
difficult. Very perplexing, sometimes difficult to make up your mind which way
you want to head, which way you want to go, what you want your career to be,
and you know, weighing it all out, well, I want something I enjoy, and I want
something that there's going to be a market for, and I want something that's
going to put bread on the table, so you kind of try to balance out the idealism
of something you can enjoy and be committed to, and the pragmatic side of something
that's going to put bread on the table and provide for you and your family,
and the funny thing is, you know, many of us "boomers," "baby
boomers," being a very idealistic generation, tended not to think quite
so pragmatically. It's interesting that I find in talking to young people in
the church now that the pragmatic considerations tend to come more to the fore.
They want to make sure there's going to be money there, so wisdom guides us
in career decisions and wisdom will help us to try to find a place where these
things inter-connect.
Wisdom helps us in selection of
a mate, making sure that we do discern, that we know that we can tell what it's
going to be like to live with this person, not just this evening's date, not
just the next six months, not just a year or two, but all the way through life.
Wisdom applies, helps us in all of these things. Wisdom is a synthesis. Wisdom
takes biblical knowledge, the experience of other people, and our own experience
and synthesizes the whole body and then guides us into coming out with the correct
conclusion, and sometimes we have problems because we can get the biblical principal.
We can listen to the experience of others, whether our family and friends, whether
the examples in the scriptures, and sometimes our own experience seems insufficient
still, and we don't know what to trust. We don't know which way to go exactly.
We've all faced new situations and
stood there and said, I don't know. I don't have the experience. I've never
done this before. Which way do I go? Now the comforting thing about all of this
is that God makes a very specific promise. James 1:5-6. I think this is such
a remarkable promise in the scriptures. Remember this is one of the building
blocks of leadership; this is something that the church will need, not just
our families and our careers. Here's a promise. God says he will give wisdom
to us when we need it.
James 1:5-6. " If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
I remember years
ago there was a young lady who was a friend of mine at Ambassador College, and
she'd had a boyfriend and things went wrong, badly wrong, and then she told
me, she said that she got on her knees and she had claimed this promise, and
she told me, you know, this promise works. It does. This promise works, but
there's a condition.
Verse 6.
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is
like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
So you've got to
be sure. You've got to take God at his word and ask him for wisdom. Wisdom builds
leadership.
Characteristic No. 2. I am going to move through
these fairly quickly. These are all big subjects, but I wanted to cover a subject
like this for a while, partly for the benefit of the ABC students. Luke 18:8.
Here's something else that is absolutely essential for the church, for the current
leadership of the church, those of us who lead God's people, and it's very,
very important for the next generation of the church. It's something rather
disquieting. Luke 18:8. Here's this parable of the persistent widow. The widow
who kept on coming back to God and kept coming back to him. Jesus makes an interesting
comment, talking about God as his judge, although much more righteous judge
than the one referred to here. Verse 7 of Luke 18…
Luke 18:7-8.
"And shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you
that he will avenge them speedily."
And then this little
question that is very, very disquieting…
Verse 8. "Nevertheless when the Son of
man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
That troubles me.
I hope the answer is yes. I think the answer is yes. I want to believe the answer
is yes. Faith. Jesus Christ is telling us that if we're not careful, when he
returns faith will be lacking. Faith is essential for leadership of God's
people. You've got to have faith or your not going anywhere. We live in
a very cynical generation. We've all been impacted, every generation for that
matter has been impacted by cynicism. We sit around, and we talk about politicians.
We talk about the entertainment industry, and we're cynical, and I think rightly
cynical of some of the people in those spheres of life who make jokes about
lawyers and one thing and another. Now jokes have a cynical tinge to them, don't
they? And we derive a little enjoyment, but we've got to be very careful not
to be so impacted by cynicism, that that cynicism begins to rub off on some
of the areas where cynicism is not appropriate.
The context here,
in Luke 18, is that God brings equity. Look at it. It's talking about the persistent
widow. The widow who kept on coming back to an unjust judge and eventually she
got her vindication. One of the big lessons of The Bible. Maybe the biggest
lesson of The Bible. God brings justice. God brings equity. Do you believe that?
Can you believe that? In spite of whatever you have seen, can you believe that.
In spite of whatever you know, see, some of the young people who have sat in
the church for a long time have seen a lot, and know a lot, and have been exposed
to the very human side of the church. Do you still believe that? Do we all believe
that? What are we to believe in?
One of the scriptures
that we customarily go to in baptismal counseling is this one: Acts 20:21. That's
what faith is about. That's essential for the leadership of God's church now
and down through the ages.
Point No.
3. Let's go forward to the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation. Another quality that I think is absolutely essential,
and again, a sermon or a bible study could be given on this one quality alone.
Revelation 3. Most of us feel, brethren, that these seven messages, seven epistles
to seven congregations that existed in Asia Minor back in the first century
are not just letters to specific congregations back then, but they have prophetic
quality to them as well. Now I know that there are people in the church who
don't feel that way, but I think most of us in the ministry, most of the membership
of the church believes that these seven churches probably depict the condition
of God's church from the establishment of the church on the day of Pentecost
up through the very last days in the time of the return of Jesus Christ, and
again, there's something disquieting. In Revelation 3, the last era of the church,
and I think we know this rather well. I take comfort in the fact, because I
do believe that these messages are prophetic, but I take comfort in the fact
that what we seem to be reading is the predominant condition of God's people
not the universal condition of God's people because if, in fact, you look at
these messages it looks as if more than one of these churches goes right up
to the time of Christ, but there's, again, something very disquieting in this
last message. In fact, the entire message is disquieting, isn't it? Revelation
3:19, Laodicea.
Revelation
3:19. "I am the one who corrects and
disciplines everyone I love. Be diligent and turn from your indifference."
Quality for
leadership of God's people. Zeal. Is it possible
that a lack of zeal will be a characteristic of many of God's people in the
time prior to the return of Christ? Is that possible? I hope not, but if our
reading of these scriptures is correct, then there does seem to be a very real
danger of that. What is "zeal"? What are we talking about when we
use the term "zeal." Definition of the word zeal. Enthusiastic devotion
to a cause. An ideal. A goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance. See
synonyms at passion.
That's interesting,
isn't it? I didn't print out the synonyms of passion, but I got the definition
of zeal. Tireless diligence in its furtherance. Commitment. Making a commitment
to something, a full commitment. It's impossible, brethren, I submit, to be
zealous for something if a part of you says, yes, but. If a part of you holds
back and says, well, I would but, I don't like this. That's not how zeal works.
Romans 10:2. I see I've got to watch the time here. We will get through in time.
Romans 10:2. One of the ABC students was commenting that when she went with
one of the church groups to Israel, and she saw some of the orthodox Jews, you
know, the very orthodox Jews standing there at the wailing wall, you know, in
their long, black robes, and I don't know how they wear black robes in that
very hot climate there, but standing at the wailing wall and swaying and praying,
and you know, with their scriptures open in front of them, at how impressed
she was with the level of zeal that they had. Now they're not part of the church
of God, are they? They've got at best an incomplete picture. They've got the
law of God, but some of those people are very, very zealous.
Romans 10:2.
"I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal."
And then Paul talks
about the reasons that they're ignorant of God's righteousness. Zeal. Zeal is
a product of a commitment to something bigger than you. What's required of the
next generation? What's required of this generation of leadership in God's church?
A commitment to something big. We have to absorb the big picture and sometimes
that's tough because sometimes the big picture is expressed in words that we
hear over and over and over again and words that we hear over and over and over
again sometimes wear thin. They lose their punch. They lose their meaning. Jesus
Christ is going to return. We're the family of God. We're building character.
We're going to govern with Christ. We hear him a lot. Sometimes the very fact
that we hear those things a lot causes those words to lose meaning. Let's not
relegate the statements of faith to mere clichés. It takes a little bit
of effort to take those statements of faith and make something of them. Zeal,
the product of committing yourself to something bigger than you. You can't be
zealous for your next paycheck. You can't be zealous for your next vacation.
You can't be zealous, you can be enthusiastic, I suppose, but you can't be zealous
about decorating your home or about your stamp collection. No, zeal requires
something bigger than you.
John 2. I want to
finish off with this example. I think it's very interesting. Jesus Christ, of
course, was zealous. How did he become zealous? We just read he's the head of
the church. It's his church. John 2:13-17. Christ was zealous because he kept
pointing to something bigger than him. Does that sound paradoxical? Many, many
times in the gospels, in John's gospel repeatedly, it's interesting, John's
gospel is supposed to be the gospel which sort of separates the Christians from
the Jews, you see, but in John's gospel over and over again Jesus keeps on talking
about the Father. The Father is greater than me. This is something bigger than
me. You've got to be zealous. How was he zealous? He was zealous for something
that was bigger than him.
John 2:13-17.
"And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers
of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them
all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers'
money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these
things hence…"
He was probably
shouting. I won't shout. I think he probably was. I'm sure he was very, very
angry.
Verse 16-17.
"Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house
hath eaten me up."
It was his Father's
house, you see. And it bothered him because it was big. In one sense, it was
something very big. It belonged to his Father. We can only be zealous when we're
involved in something bigger than us, and so it requires that we all have the
big picture. Brethren, whether you're a "mature," a "boomer,"
a "generation X-er," or a "net generation-er," or whether
you'd like to place yourself in a category different from the one where your
chronology places you, God requires characteristics of leadership from you,
and God will require leadership for the future of his church. Wisdom, faith,
and zeal--qualities of leadership essential in this generation and in the next
generation.