Growing Young: Take Jesus Seriously


The book Growing Young identifies six core commitments of churches that have successfully grown young.  One of them is that they take Jesus seriously.

In Mark 8:27ff, Jesus and his disciples are traveling in the region of Caesarea Philippi.  Jesus drew large crowds, and the people in those crowds believed he was a great person of God.  But they were unsure of who he was.  Jesus quizzed his followers about who people thought he was.  They offered various great persons from Hebrew history.  

Then Jesus asked who they thought he was.  Peter replied with a great confession that he believed Jesus was the Christ, God's Son.

Peter was right, but his understanding of the kind of Christ Jesus would be was wrong.  Jesus accepted Peter's confession, but immediately began to redefine his concept of the Savior.  He told him and his other followers that he would suffer, die, and rise from the dead.

This was difficult for Peter.  He didn't take Jesus' words seriously!  So he took it on himself to rebuke Jesus!  Jesus immediately rebuked him, calling him "Satan."  

Then Jesus told his followers that those who wanted to follow him had to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him!  

The church today often has the same problem Peter did.  We don't take Jesus seriously.  We proclaim and live a watered down gospel that reduces following Christ to being good people who follow the Golden Rule.

Emerging adults see this disconnect between us and Jesus.  They see our hypocrisy and long for something more.

To reach these adults, we need to preach a robust gospel that takes Jesus seriously, that calls us to lives of commitment and self-sacrifice.  

We need to demonstrate in our lives what it is to deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Jesus, and gain life!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Dynamite: The Battle Within

Image
"It was on fire when I lay down on it."  Robert Fulghum wrote about reading this statement in a small town newspaper.   Smoke was billowing from a second story window.  The Fire Department arrived, broke down the front door, ran up a set of stairs, and pulled a man off a burning bed.  Later, when they asked him how he got in that predicament, he said, "It was on fire when I lay down on it." Why on earth did he do that?  We don't know, but his story reveals a human truth.  We often do self-destructive things.  We testify, "People told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."  "I knew it was wrong, but I did it." The apostle Paul wrote about our human propensity to sin and self-destructive behavior in Romans 7:14-25.  Verse 15 sums up his point, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do."   He describes an intense inner battle.  On one side is the "flesh," his
Read more

God's Dynamite:Being in Your Right Mind

Image
What's your frame of mind today?  In this time of pandemic and shutdown, you may be worried or bored or pessimistic or lonely or depressed. Or all the above! What determines your frame of mind?  Is it your circumstances? Your will? Is your frame of mind molded by what's going on at the moment, or can you reshape it? The apostle Paul talked about our minds in Romans 8:1ff.  He said that can determine what we set our minds to.  We can focus our minds on following our lower natures or the Holy Spirit who lives inside us.   A fact that should help our frame of mind is that we're God's children.  In a sense, everyone is God's child.  God made all of us.  But in a spiritual sense, we fully become God's children when we put our faith in Christ and follow him.   We're not his children because we're better than others.  We're his children because we've put our faith in Christ and followed him.   As his children, we have status.  H
Read more

God's Dynamite: Resurrection Transformation

Image
Easter is about more than you going to heaven.  That's part of it, but not near all!  It's about your death and resurrection. In Romans 6, Paul was answering opponents.  Those opponents said that if salvation is by God's grace through faith, then you have no motivation for righteous living and good works.  Why not sin more to get more grace? Paul answered by using the image of baptism.  He said when the pastor plunged you under water, he symbolized your death in Christ.  Through faith you died on the cross with Jesus.  Your old self was a slave to sin and rebellion against God.   Paul said when the pastor raised you up from the water, he symbolized your resurrection in Christ.  Not just in the future but in the present.  In faith, you identify with Jesus' death and his resurrection.  You're raised to a new life, free from slavery to sin. So Easter is about more than personal salvation.  It's about transformation: dying to an old life and ris
Read more