Aiming for an Orange World

Posted on Feb 7, 2010 in Sermons | Comments Off

Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Luke 2:41-52
Date: 7 Feb 2010

Many of you will remember how just before Christmas I encouraged you to make some positive goals for this year.  Rather than drifting through 2010 without achieving much of any consequence, I urged you to set specific goals in your work, social, spiritual and physical areas.

One of the goals that I’ve set for myself this year is to get a whole lot fitter and to compete in something, and so for the last month I’ve been running on the treadmill a whole lot and thinking quite seriously about taking part in a half marathon around the middle of year.  Watch this space!

It’s been an interesting experience for me though, because I’ve had to update myself on all the latest thinking on running.  You see when I was at College I was part of a group that contained 50% of the runners in NZ aged under 16 who had completed a marathon, but since then sport’s physiology has moved on.  So every once in a while I head over to my favourite library, ‘Gloria Jeans’ in Borders at Sylvia Park, grab a coffee and read up on what the experts are currently saying.

One of my most recent discoveries has been that when you start running it takes 3-4 weeks for your heart and lungs to adjust, 3-4 months for your muscles to get used to it and 6-12 months for your skeleton to finally catch up!  Which makes taking up running sound like some form of protracted torture, but at least it tells you that things will get better!

One of my favourite discoveries, however, has been on the benefits of cross training.  Cross training is where you do a different kind of exercise (that uses a different set of muscles) on your rest days so that you continue to get fitter, but don’t overstress yourself with one particular activity.  So in my case it means that I can jog three days a week, swim twice a week, have a fast day and a rest day, and still keep improving.  And it’s all based on the idea of ‘synergy’ –that two separate things working together can create a better result than they ever could have on their own.  The two things complement each other and reinforce the goal that you are aiming for.  Maybe you can think of some areas in your own life where you benefit from synergy?  (Suggestions??)

Yes ‘synergy’ is an important concept and I believe that we need to grab hold of spiritually.  In fact I believe that it’s critically important for us to understand synergy if the Christian faith is going to thrive in New Zealand and if you want to see the next generation coming to faith in Christ.  In the end synergy may determine what kind of country you ultimately wind up living in.

What I mean is that over the last few decades we have witnessed a tragedy of sizeable proportions taking place in our nation.  It’s been a little bit like watching the tide going out, and wondering when it’s going to come back in again.  Some experts trace the problem right back to the mid-fifteenth century when the English upper class began to take the Bible less seriously, but since the 1960’s we have witnessed a significant decline in faith and church attendance amongst younger generations (with all the resulting social problems that you see today).  For example, New Zealand has always had a moderate, but significant proportion of its population who attend church.  The long-term average is about 30%, but in recent years the true number attending regularly, that is at least once a month, has dropped to round about 20%.  More importantly, however, while 20% of the population are over 60 years of age, 41% of church attendees are in this age group. And at the other end of the scale, while 20% of the population are between 20 and 29 years of age, little more than 8% of those in church on Sunday are from this particular age group.

What’s becoming clearer is that we are not passing on Christian faith and values to the next generation as effectively as we could, and this is causing a major rethink. Because as long as families do only what they are currently doing, then they will only get the results that we currently getting, and as long as churches do only what they are currently doing, we will only get the results we are currently seeing.

Something needs to change and part of the answer experts are saying is be to found in this principal of ‘synergy.’

So would you please turn in your Bible’s to Luke 2:41-52 (it’s different than the one advertised) and let’s read it together.

In this passage we see that Jesus parents Joseph and Mary take him up to the Passover Festival at the age of 12 in Jerusalem. It was their regular custom to attend, but this is Jesus first time.  After the festival is over they journey home, and assume that Jesus is with their relatives and friends who have been with them on the same journey.  Finally they realise that Jesus is not with any of them and after three days of worried looking, they find him right back at the Temple, deep in discussion with the priests.  Everyone there is really impressed with his depth of knowledge for such a young man, but his mother asks, ‘Why have you put us through this?’ He replies, “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my father’s house?” Then it records that Jesus went home obediently with them and that he grew in wisdom and statue, in favour with God and man.

Now putting aside the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, this account illustrates how a young Hebrew person grew up in faith in Jesus day.  It illustrates how two incredibly powerful influences on this planet can come together to have a combined impact upon the next generation and the community.

The first influence is the home.  (Red)

Jesus grew up in home that was devoted to God.  His parents were devout Jews, who headed off to the Passover festival each year.  (You can read that in verse 41).  Joseph and Mary obviously did a good job, because Jesus understood a lot of the Old Testament at an early age.  His family prepared him well.

But observe that there were other homes involved in his spiritual growth.  Uncles, Aunts and other family friends also played their part.  For according to verse 44 Jesus spent so much in the homes of relatives and friends that when Joseph and Mary couldn’t find him, they simply assumed that he was with them.  Jesus, as a Hebrew boy, grew up surrounded by households that had faith.

So why is this so important?

Well, when I was a teenager I used to quip that knowing other people in the church is really important, because in your teen years you come to believe that your parents are: a. Christians, and b. slightly or definitely mad.  It’s a natural stage in growing up.  But if you know a whole lot of other homes that follow Christ (single, married, different age groups) and they also go to church, then you can conclude that c. they can’t all be mad, so maybe being a Christian isn’t so bad after all!

But seriously the reason why homes are so important is this.  After deducting time off for holidays, sickness and wagging, how many hours do you think young people get at Kidzone, Pulse or Socket to grow in their spiritual walk?  [Response?]  Yes, about 40 hours.  How much time do they spend in your homes or other peoples homes each year where they can learn about God?  About 3,000 hours!

Now I don’t want to make church sound like a prison, but most of their growth happens on the ‘outside.’ Think about these quotes: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it,” Proverbs 22:6 “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man,” Francis Xavier.“ It takes a whole village and their homes to raise a child!” I hope you’re beginning to see that the primary place where the next generation learns about their faith is not here at PBC, but in and around your homes.

But the other major influence that we see upon Jesus is the institution of the church (or Temple) –it’s programs and it’s leaders (Yellow).  What we can see from verse 46 is that Jesus thought it was perfectly normal to sit with the priests and other spiritual leaders and to discuss with them spiritual matters. His parents had taught him to respect and value what the Temple had to offer.  They understood its importance and encouraged him to take part.

The thing is that today people can write the church off, even Christian sometimes do it, but the church provides an incredibly valuable function in society.  Amongst all its tasks the churches role is teach people to love God, to explain the Word of God, to equip Christ’s followers for service, to baptise people and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  It has unique role in helping people find and follow God.

Reggie Joyner tells the story of how, when he was a student at University, he studied under an English literature professor who was extremely anti-Christian.  He often talked about all the atrocities committed by the church, reminded people of the Crusades, and poked holes in the inconsistent behaviour of many Christians.  He seemed to treat all Christians as if they were in the same category -as the most ignorant, narrow-minded and prejudiced people in the world, and it encouraged the other students to gang up on Christians.

One day the conversation became particularly intense, and the handful of Christians in the room grew quiet.  One of the more vocal students blurted out, “Everyone would be a lot better off if we just got rid of all the churches!” As the entire class erupted in applause, his professor interrupted with a statement that shocked everyone. “That would be a tragedy, “ he said. “  If we got rid of the churches, it would be like turning the lights off in our society.  We need churches like we need our conscience.”

So a child without the church’s influence is someone who is being spiritually and culturally deprived.  Jesus shows us that they need the church as well as homes in order for young people grow towards God.
3. But what this account also shows is that homes and the church can do much better job of reaching the next generation if they do it together. You see Jewish children benefited from the synergy that came from the two parties working together.  As one church commentator recently said, “When the red influence of the heart of the family and the yellow influence of the light of the church combine they create a brand new colour, orange. It is stronger and more vibrant than both.”

You see Jesus might never have had such a depth of faith at that age if it has just been all up to his family, nor would Jesus have had it either by just relying upon the Temple to teach Him. The two working together enriched His and every other child’s life in his day.

And it’s the same thing now days. As the church partners with homes something amazing can happen in children and young people’s lives. For example, Reggie Joyner tells the story of how his son came home one day.  He had obviously been in trouble.  He said, “Do you want to talk to me about it?” because he was anxious to know what happened, but his son said “No.” He was about to give his son an earful and to demand to know what had happened, when the Holy Spirit gave him inspiration.  He sucked it in and simply asked, “Then if you don’t want to tell me, is there someone else you can discuss this with?” He said, “Yes.” It turned out that it was his youth pastor.  Joyner said it was an enormous relief to realise that because of the relationships they had worked very hard at, at least his son would be able to talk about his problems and find solutions with someone who shared his Christian values.

Isn’t that worth having?  That’s an example of what many people are finding –that when churches and homes partner together, they are all better able to train the next generation in the teachings of Scripture and in how to live as Jesus lived.

But the big question is, ‘are we willing to do it?  Are you willing to do this?’ E.g. If you have kids, will you take responsibility for their spiritual development as Joseph and Mary did for Jesus? If you don’t have children or young people at PBC, are you willing to let them into your home and your life like an aunt or an uncle did for Jesus?  Will we as a church organisation equip and resource people so that they can help the next generation grow as disciples of Jesus?

These are simply questions that we need to wrestle with if we want to see more people become like Jesus.  They’re part of an on-going conversation every person needs to have in their church.

So I’d like to ask this question to close -what could happen if the church and its homes came together with a common vision and strategy to lead the next generation into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ? What would happen then?

I believe that it could change the world and eternity forever! Folks, there is too much at stake to ignore this issue.  So next week, we are going to look at how we squeeze the Orange and for the sake of those who are yet to come get the most out of it for them!

Prayer:  Thanks that our homes and the church forever in a symbiotic link drawing strength from and giving support to each other.  Help us to be willing to re-examine how our home relates to the church and vice versa in order that your will be done and your kingdom come.  In Jesus name.  Amen.