WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

Friday, March 02, 2001

The first chapter of Jeremiah came alive to me today. As I read the words I saw the older churches of America today with the elderly sitting in the pews with little or nothing to say about the way the world is going. Seniors, God gave you this long life for a purpose. That purpose is to tell others around you who God is and what he has done in your life that has made it possible for you to continue to seek him after all these years.  God has given us, the older generation of this world, so much information that we should be passing on to our children. There are so many things that we have experienced that we can say to our children, "been there - done that," so they might not have to go there and do that.

When I look at the great men of God in the bible I don't see any retired. I don't see anywhere a record of Moses or Elijah retiring from God's work. Today, we may have the privilege of retiring from our profession but we do not have that privilege of retiring from our service to God.  If anything, he has blessed us with the opportunity to have an income to support us so we are able to serve him more. God's work is an outpouring of the inner-fellowship we enjoy with him not a struggle.

Many churches today have gotten away from the original purpose of the church. The church is the body and fellowship of like believers. We somehow want to change the church to a "secret social society "or a marketing center for what we believe or even our own private little social group. This is not what God has in mind for the church. In the old days Christ invited his inner-circle to the upper room for fellowship. Later, the apostles went out to the highways and byways, and sought people to witness to. After they had been converted to Christ they were invited to the fellowship of the believers. There, they were to be spiritually fed by the pastor and others. The church was warned about bringing the unsaved into the fellowship. The church was exclusionary. Now, membership is somewhat exclusionary but not totally.  Let's remember, the church is not a missionary outreach.  The church is to do missionary outreach but that is not the purpose of the local church. The purpose is to train up disciples.  Then, those disciples go out and bring in new converts who become mature fruit-bearing Christians.

Our seniors are the backbone of this outreach. There is no one more qualified to be able to relate to the world than we are. True, there are some who have never matured as Christians and would not be able lead someone to convertion; but, I dare say if Caleb could overcome Mount Hebron at 90, you and I can learn to bring people to Christ. Remember Moses had every excuse in the book for not going to the children of Israel and leading them out of captivity. God says, "I will teach you what to say."

Too many times, we seniors are not willing to change. We want things to stay the way they have always been. Our message may not change but we had better get with the program when it comes to delivery. We need to remember when we come to church we are not the only ones who need to be nourished and built up. The program and service should reflect the needs of the entire congregation, not just a few. Change is easy for young people but it is hard for us seniors. This is the KEY – change is easy for young people.  Remember, we may not be here tomorrow but our children will and if we do not change to meet their needs we will drive the young ones away from God and the church. And then, we are not going to be here to bring them back. If we don't get them in now and help them mature then the church is going to die with us. God doesn't want that and neither do we.

Think about it. What can you do to keep the church alive for another generation? You can lead a discussion in the young married couples department on how to make it through the hard times. You can help other seniors who have just lost a mate if you have gone through the same. You can support the youth ministry with you gifts and as a chaperone. You can be a loving grandparent to those from broken families. More than anything, you can love them and encourage them to develop the skills and talents God has given them. Young people need to feel important and accepted. You can do that. Oh, there is some of the new music that is a little hard on the ears but if you listen to the words you will find them a joy to the heart.

The new style Christian youth music is wonderful in that much of it is the meditation of the heart put to music. Quite frankly, I have come to really love Marinatha, Graham Kendrick, Michael English and others. Family Worship is a youth choir and they are great. You haven't lived until you have been to a Christian youth concert. Take my advice and sit on the back row away from the speakers, it will get loud. Our young people would be so proud to tell their friends that you came "just to see them."

We cannot afford to lose a generation of youth. We are poised today to lose one unless we help them to discover our Lord. With the computer, our young people can do what you and I would not have believed possible just a few years ago. Have a young person take you on a tour of the Christian music site on the computer where they can listen and read the music. They can see music videos that are great. God is on the internet and so is the devil. They need to be encouraged to look at sites such as Crosswalk, Goshen, Worship and others that have great things for youth. I challenge you to be conscious of what face you are wearing around our youth. Is it a loving, tender, joyful face or one scarred with years of anguish, anger and disappointment? Put on a happy face when you go to meet our youth. It is contagious and multi-directional. So what are you wearing today?

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