Youth Ministry and Me

In my recent reading for an assignment on Luke 4:14-30 I came across this quote over at Desiring God. I couldn't use it, but man it was cool.

We recalled Urbana 1967. Warren Webster was asked in front of 15,000 students, What if your daughter decided to marry a Pakistani while you are ministering there? His answer still rings in our ears today, as I hope this message will in yours: Better a poor Christian Pakistani than a rich, white, unbelieving American banker. In other words, Christ, not color is the issue. Jesus is the end of ethnocentrism.

Check out this post from John Piper. He tries to interpret a natural disaster. I think he does this reasonably well. His point, natural disasters remind us that we are mortal and need to repent and turn to Jesus.

See the comments as I unpack more of what I think about Piper's statement

All of us have heroes, people we want to grow up and be like (or if we've already grown up, just become more like). Some of them are people we know, friends, family members, pastors, school teachers; Others are people we admire from afar, 'famous' people, authors, pastors of big churches, sports people, actors, Michael Jackson. Another fact of life is that some people will want to become like us! That little 13 year old boy who you always say hello to at church might want to become just like you, you might become one of his heroes.

It is quite possible that there are youth in my ministry who want to become like me, a humbling thought, but also a pretty darn scary one! Is this a good or a bad thing? Should I be honoured or troubled by this? After all, I want my youth to become more like Jesus not more like Chris Bowditch.

John Piper recently blogged about this in a blog post titled, Hero Worship and Holy Emulation. Piper is a man who many many people look up to. So it's a good idea to seek his wisdom on the matter. He distinguishes between these two types of admiration:

Hero worship means admiring someone for unholy reasons and seeing all he does as admirable (whether it’s sin or not). Holy emulation, on the other hand, sees evidences of God’s grace, and admires them for Christ’s sake, and wants to learn from them and grow in them.

So I found out randomly that John Piper came to Australia and preached at our church when he visited Australia in the mid to late 90s. Apparently he then talked to my boss over a meal.

I thought that was cool.

I know the last few posts have been about sex, so this will be the last on that topic for a while.

But it was bought to my attention that there was a big article in The Age on the weekend about teenage sex culture in Australia.

See it here

Some quotes:

[Referring to group sex] "Lara says that while some women students enjoy the physical act, others find the attention more appealing. "I honestly think that some of the girls do it because the guys will think they're amazing," she says.

But pride can turn to shame once their exploits become public knowledge. "You'll notice a complete turnaround within a week or two, based on what's circulating about them"

People give way to sexual sin because they don’t have the fullness of joy and gladness in Christ. Their spirits are not steadfast and firm and established. They waver. They are enticed, and they give way because God does not have the place in our feelings and thoughts that he should.

According to Mitchell [Associate Professor at La Trobe University's Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society], now many sexual rules have gone, young people can develop personal ethics. "We need to understand that kids will have sex when they are not married," she says. "Our concern would be to make them safe and enjoy it."

Harm minimisation is a very tricky and alluring argument. But my gut tells me it's not right. I need to do more work on arguing this better.

I really appreciate John Piper and his teaching. I'm pretty sure I could listen to him preach for a good 3 or 4hrs without tuning out!

Anyhow, Mark Driscoll tells us why he loves John Piper. Which is probably a better insight into the man than I will ever have because he has met him and I am unlikely to ever meet him. Although if you can meet people in heaven, I'll try and track him down and say thanks!

There are 4 reasons given in the above post and here, Driscoll gives a 5th reason.

This is a great video. John Piper opens up with Mark Driscoll and talks about his life with his wife, having children, being a preacher, being a husband, having marriage counseling, writing books, meeting people who cry when they meet him and his own childhood amongst other things.

It goes for about 50mins, but it is definitely worth the watch, especially if you are a Piper fan.

I get annoyed by people who say they love Jesus, who know lots about God, but who seem to be completely emotionally disengaged with their faith. They never feel like just dancing around praising God, or shouting that God's awesome, or be so struck by the beautiful grace of God that they can do nothing but weep.

But I'm afraid of people who leave their ability to think, to read and wrestle with the scriptures behind and do nothing but sing, dance, shout, yell, fall over... who question people who aren't quick to believe anything, who preach worldly self help, or a mixed up Gospel.

A couple of weeks ago I heard about the "Lakeland Revival" after watching a video by Justin Peters. The "Revival" is led by this rather scary looking bloke called Todd Bently (especially when he is punching someone!). It has been announced that he is leaving his wife. This is not good. Read John Piper's reflection here, or another reflection by a Charismatic pastor here

This all leads me to wonder, where is the middle ground? I have always gone to churches that are very stiff and proper. With sound teaching, but afraid to really engage with the emotions. Yet, when I go to things like Youth Alive, or other Pentecostal type events, I almost always find that emotion has taken over from any thinking whatsoever...

It's difficult... But my prayer is for Biblical Revival. Not a dry, passionless, intellectual revival. But a whole of life, intellectual, spiritual, emotional revival. Where the Gospel is preached clearly and the bible is taken seriously, and where people are so moved by God they can do nothing but jump, and shout, and praise! That would be powerful.

So my friend Georgie showed me this article today about financial investigations into 'ministers' in the USA who have made themselves and their organisations very rich through their preaching of something they call the gospel.

I found it pretty stunning and shocking.

It reminded me of this video that i've posted before where John Piper slams the prosperity gospel.
It's awesome, as is he!

Psalm 51: For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

An amazing insight into this Psalm from John Piper.... A must watch.

John piper gives 26 tips on how to fight sexual sin. Very good, very useful.

Click here to read them in full.


Here is a brief look at them...

1. Recognize that sexuality is a good gift from God.

2. Recognize that Biblical prohibitions are intended to protect something precious not deny something pleasant.

3. Believe God is for you.

4. Ponder the eternal danger of lust.

5. Think often that God has given you even now many good things.

6. Preach to yourself that there is more joy in God's presence than in sin. Transpose desire.

7. Realize that lust disables and weakens our capacity for higher spiritual joys with God.

8. Don't ask, What's wrong with it? Ask: Does it maximize my experience of the power of Christ, my enjoyment of his fellowship, my perception of his beauty, my reflection of his glory?

9. Cultivate a passionate devotion to the honor of God's name.

10. Develop a worldview that views absolutely everything in relation to God.

11. (For singles) Recognize that sexual relations are not essential to full personhood and happiness.

12. (For the married) Recognize that God designed marriage to be a living parable of his commitment to the church.

13. Be vigilant over your eyes. Avoid unnecessary stimulation.

14. Look on the opposite sex as eternal persons. Realize that lust inevitably depersonalizes and despiritualizes people.

15. Think often that Christ suffered agony for your purity. Fight image with image. Christ crying in agony.

16. Beware of assuming past successes guarantee future purity.

17. Beware of feeling above accountability.

18. Do not be excessively alone.

19. Get in a group where you exhort one another every day against the deceitfulness of sin.

20. Memorize many scriptures.

21. Stockpile your thoughts with good things.

22. Read the great literature of devotion, biography, etc.

23. Never assume that you are above suffering or that you deserve relief through sin. The pitfall of powerful self-pity.

24. Get busy with some task.

25. Pray at all times in the Spirit for God's deliverance.

26. Be encouraged; God is patient

Well, I've had this overwhelming sense of being busy lately and as a result haven't really written anything on my blog for a while. I'm not exactly sure why this was the case but it was...

Anyhow, yesterday I went to a professional development session titled "Prayer and Church Growth". It was given by Stuart Robinson. He is author of a few books on the subject and was the senior pastor of Crossway baptist church. This is a pretty big church kinda down the roadish here in Melbourne. I think around 4000 people go to services there on a Sunday...

So he talked all about prayer and the importance of prayer and how he prayed early every day, and how God had done some pretty amazing things in his life. It was really encouraging and interesting.

And I felt pretty convicted that I don't pray enough, and have a large tendency to think that I can do a lot of my job in my own strength! Which is rubbish!

Anyhow, this morning I stumbled across this website run by some young guys in the USA. It's called the rebelution. It's a cool idea. I'm looking forward to reading their book when it arrives in Australia in the next couple of weeks! Basically they talk about young people are expected to be lazy and not really into Jesus or anything. Which means doing hard things for Jesus as young people is a great way of rebelling against the expectations society places on young people! I think there is a definite resonance in that. I remember at BayWest last year, some of the old people started a food drop off bin at the back of the church so that we could provide food to people if they came and asked for some. It was obvious that no one really expected anyone from the evening service (youth and young adults) to be apart of this. But when I challenged them to buy a tin of food or pasta, people responded to that. (At least verbally in the service, I don't know how many actually contributed food... hopefully some).

Anyway, I heard about these rebelution guys through a John Piper sermon I listened to. You can listen to it here. It's good. In his sermon Piper talks about how we don't expect much of young people and how stupid that is. I agree! How often we see people thinking, hmm youth ministry is a place where we put teenagers while they are a bit crazy or rebellious and hopefully they'll grow out of it by the time they leave the youth group. And the usual result of such an attitude? Well I think that the youth grow out of a church that treats them with no respect. A church that is irrelevant to them, and youth walk away from the church and sadly, away from Jesus.

The church that cares more for it's traditional way of doing things at the expense of seeing youth and young adults commit to being apart of the church, having a role, being relevant to young people who don't come to church normally, has a lot of questions to answer! I'm completely biased, but I reckon a lot can be said for churches being completely focussed on ministry to young people. That is where the most conversions happen, that is where there is the most life and enthusiasm, where there is the most optimism for change, renewal and growth of the church! That is how a church will remain relevant, and a great way to stop old people getting stuck in their ways or bitter. Not too mention that people who have been Christians for 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 years should surely put aside their way of doing church, their wants and their desires in service of nurturing and supporting new Christians, who are making their first steps with Jesus. People will say, "oh we need to teach the youth to sacrifice." I am convinced that this is the 'holy' way of an older, mature, selfish Christian saying, "I want things done MY way, the way I like it!"

Youth ought to be taught that being a Christian involves sacrifice. But if you teach that sacrifice means going to a boring, irrelevant church service, you're selling sacrifice well short! The kind of sacrifice that I want young people to know is much more costly than that. It means sacrificing friendships, good marks at school, friends, families, sport, because the call to be a disciple of Jesus is their number one reality. If we have churches that focus on reaching young people, of making sacrifices to cater to youth today. Then hopefully when those youth stop being youth, they will remember what the church did for them, and do likewise when they are 30 or 40!

Like John Piper says, we cannot be like the Israelites are in Judges 2:10, "After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel". Why? Because no one told them. Many churches are in danger of this today!

And as for young people... well like the Rebelution guys say, and like John Piper says, we should take 1 Timothy 4:12 to heart.

"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."

Some of you may no i love John Piper's preaching. I quite like some of his books to, but they are nothing on his preaching!

I especially like his series on Worship. I haven't listened to them all yet, but its so refreshing to hear someone passionate about worshiping God, but about doing it the way God intended. Not the way we think it should be done.

Check it out. Its good quality stuff!!

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/BySeries/11/

The closest I have ever come in 26 years to being fired from my position as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church was in the mid-1980s, when I wrote an article for our church newsletter titled "Missions and Masturbation." I wrote the article after returning from a missions conference in Washington, D.C., with George Verwer, the head of Operation Mobilization.

Verwer's burden at that conference was the tragic number of young people who at one point in their lives dreamed of radical obedience to Jesus, but then faded away into useless American prosperity. A gnawing sense of guilt and unworthiness over sexual failure gradually gave way to spiritual powerlessness and the dead-end dream of middle-class security and comfort.

In other words, what seemed so tragic to George Verwer—as it does to me—is that so many young people are being lost to the cause of Christ's mission because they are not taught how to deal with the guilt of sexual failure. The problem is not just how not to fail. The problem is how to deal with failure so that it doesn't sweep away your whole life into wasted mediocrity with no impact for Christ.

The great tragedy is not masturbation or fornication or pornography. The tragedy is that Satan uses guilt from these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had or might have. In their place, he gives you a happy, safe, secure, American life of superficial pleasures, until you die in your lakeside rocking chair.

I have a passion that you do not waste your life. My aim is not mainly to cure you of sexual misconduct. I would like that to happen. But mostly I want to take out of the Devil's hand the weapon that exploits your sin and makes your life a wasted, worldly success. Satan wants that for you. But you don't!

What broke George Verwer's heart back in the 1980s, and breaks mine today, is not that you have sinned sexually. It's that this morning Satan took your 2 A.M. encounter—whether on TV or in bed—and told you: "See, you're a loser. You may as well not even worship. No way are you going to make any serious commitment of your life to Jesus Christ! You may as well get a good job so you can buy yourself a big widescreen and watch sex till you drop."

I want to take that weapon out of his hand. Yes, I want you to have the joyful courage not to do the channel surfing. But sooner or later, whether it's that sin or another, you are going to fall. I want to help you deal with the guilt of failure so that Satan does not use it to produce another wasted life.

The backdrop of Colossians 1-3 is Colossians 3:6: "On account of these the wrath of God is coming." Hanging over the whole world is the holy, just, unimpeachable anger of God at sin and rebellion. His wrath is coming, and the salvation spoken of in Colossians 1-3 is the only rescue from it. No one wants to meet the wrath of "the Lamb" when it comes (Rev. 6:16). So God in his mercy provides a way out.

Christ did something in history before we existed that obtained and guaranteed our rescue and the transformation of all who would come to trust in him. The distinctive and crucial thing about Christian salvation is that Christ accomplished it decisively, outside of us and without our help. When we put our faith in him, we do not add to the sufficiency of what he accomplished in covering our sins and achieving the righteousness that counts as ours.

The clearest verses on this point are Colossians 2:13-14: "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the Cross."

Those last words are the most crucial. God set aside this record of debt that stood against us, nailing it to the Cross. Make sure you understand this most glorious of all truths: God took the record of all your sins—all your sexual failures—that made you a debtor to wrath. Instead of holding them up in front of your face and using them as the warrant to send you to hell, he put them in the palm of his Son's hand and nailed them to the Cross.

Whose sins were punished on the Cross? The sins of all who despair of saving themselves and trust in Christ alone. Who was punished on the Cross? Jesus. That is the beautiful thing we call substitution.

Paul wrote in Romans 8:3, "By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh." Whose sin? Ours. Jesus had none (only the likeness of sinful flesh, not sinful flesh). Whose flesh? Jesus'.

Have you ever wondered what the next verse, Colossians 2:15, means? Right after saying that God nailed the record of our debt to the Cross, Paul says, "[God] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." This is a reference to the Devil and all his demonic hosts. How are they disarmed? How are they defeated?

They have many weapons. But they are disarmed of the one weapon that can damn us—the weapon of unforgiven sin. Be sure you see the connection between Colossians 2:14 and 15. In 2:14, it says God nailed the record of our debt to the Cross. It's punished. It's finished. And in the next breath, it says that God disarmed the rulers and authorities. He triumphed over them. Sure, they can beat us up, tempt us, scare us, and accuse us, but they cannot damn us. That weapon is out of their hands. Only unforgiven sin damns. And that was nailed to the Cross.

Many see so little of the beauty of Christ in this salvation that the gospel simply sounds to them like a license to go on sinning. If all my sins are nailed to the Cross, then let's all sin that grace may abound (Rom. 6:1). Paul confronted that blindness in his own day and said, "Their condemnation is just" (Rom. 3:8). The reason they will be condemned is that we are saved by grace through faith. This faith connects you with Jesus so that his death counts for your death and his righteousness counts for your righteousness (compare Rom. 5:1, "by faith," and Rom. 8:1, "in Christ"). This faith receives Christ. It's not an adding to what Christ has done. It is a receiving. Saving faith receives Jesus as Savior and Lord and the Treasure of your life.

This faith will fight anything that gets between it and Christ. The distinguishing mark of saving faith is not perfection. It is not that I never sin sexually. The mark of faith is that I fight. I fight not with fists or knives or guns or bombs, but with the truth of Christ. I fight anything that diminishes the fullness of the lordship of Jesus in my life. I fight anything that threatens to replace Jesus as the supreme treasure of my life.

So if all you can see in the Cross of Jesus is a license to go on sinning, then you don't have saving faith. You need to fall on your face and plead that God would open your eyes to see the compelling glory of Jesus Christ.

I haven't mentioned justification, but it is very closely related to the work of God in nailing our sins to the Cross. Justification is the act by which God declares us not only forgiven because of the work of Christ, but also righteous because of the work of Christ. God requires two things for our right standing before him: (1) Our sins must be punished, and (2) our lives must be righteous. But we cannot bear our own punishment, and we cannot provide our own righteousness (Rom. 3:10).

Therefore, God, out of his immeasurable love for us, provided his own Son to do both. Christ bears our punishment and performs our righteousness. When we receive Christ as the Savior and Lord and Treasure of our lives, all of his punishment and righteousness is counted as ours (Rom. 4:4-6; 5:1; 5:19; 8:1; 10:4; Phil. 3:8-9; 2 Cor. 5:21). Justification conquers fornication.

Being armed with biblical knowledge of God, Christ, the Cross, and salvation can give such ballast to the boat of your life that the wind of temptation will not be able to tip it over easily. The reason this is not a popular remedy for temptation today is because it is not a quick fix. It's the work of a lifetime.

You have a tremendous weapon against the Devil when you know your punishment for sin has already been paid in Christ and your righteousness before God has already been achieved in Christ, and you hold fast to these truths with heartfelt passion.

With this passionately embraced theology—the magnificent doctrines of substitutionary atonement and justification by faith (even if you don't remember the names)—you can conquer the Devil tomorrow morning when he lies to you about your hopelessness.

What will you say to him? Micah 7:8-9 is a picture of what you say to your enemy when he scoffs at your defeat. I call this practice "gutsy guilt." The believer admits that he has done wrong and that God is dealing roughly with him. But even in a condition of darkness and discipline, he will not surrender his hold on the truth that God is on his side. Pay close attention to these amazing words. Use them whenever Satan tempts you to throw away your life on trifles because that's all you're good for.

Micah 7:8-9 is what victory looks like the morning after failure. Learn to take your theology and speak like this to the Devil or anyone else who tells you that Christ is not capable of using you mightily for his global cause. Here is what you say.

"Rejoice not over me, O my enemy." You make merry over my failure? You think you will draw me into your deception? Think again.

When I fall, I shall rise. Yes, I have fallen. I hate what I have done. I grieve at the dishonor I have brought on my King. But hear this, O my enemy, I will rise. I will rise.

When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. Yes, I am sitting in darkness. I feel miserable. I feel guilty. I am guilty. But that is not all that is true about me and my God. The same God who makes my darkness is a sustaining light to me in this very darkness. He will not forsake me.

I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. Oh yes, my enemy, this much truth you say: I have sinned. I am bearing the indignation of the Lord. But that is where your truth stops and my theology begins. He—the very one who is indignant with me—will plead my cause. You say he is against me and that I have no future with him because of my failure. That's what Job's friends said. That is a lie. And you are a liar. My God, whose Son's life is my righteousness and whose Son's death is my punishment, will execute judgment for me. For me! And not against me.

He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. This misery that I now feel because of my failure, I will bear as long as my dear God ordains. And this I know for sure—as sure as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my punishment and my righteousness—God will bring me out to the light, and I will look upon his righteousness, my Lord and my God.

When you learn to deal with the guilt of sexual failure by this kind brokenhearted boldness, this kind of theology, this kind of justification by faith, this kind of substitutionary atonement, this kind of gutsy guilt, you will fall less often. Why is this so? Because Christ will become increasingly precious to you.

Best of all, Satan will not be able to destroy your dream of a life of radical obedience to Christ. By this Christ-exalting gutsy guilt, thousands of you will give your lives to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

I found this video from Renae's blog. Thanks Renae! I really like it!