How Do You Preach to Today’s Youth?

Here are some helpful thoughts from an experienced student pastor about how to relate to today’s youth culture without watering down the message of the gospel. Recommended to anyone who works with youth either as paid staff or voluntarily. Find the article here.

What’s the Difference?

I’ve been a follower of Christ now for over 11 years. It’s crazy sometimes to reflect back on my life before Christ. Sometimes I tell my wife stories that don’t even seem real to me. “You did that?” she asks. It’s also been humorous to speak to people who only remember the Casey B.C. and have no idea about the Casey in Christ. Let’s just say that they didn’t expect that I’d turn out as a minister of the gospel.

I think it’s helpful to remember where I came from–who I used to be. It reminds me of the power of the gospel, and it’s a practice that Paul models in passages like Gal. 1:13-14 and Phil. 3:5-6. I don’t ever want to lose a sense of awe over what Christ has done in my life. There’s simply no way to explain the changes that have happened in my life apart from the gospel. Remembering my past keeps this in fresh perspective.

Over the years I’ve thought long and hard about how to explain the difference between the old me and the Christ-follower me to people. Is it that I no longer sin? Absolutely not! I sin daily. Is it that now I’m forgiven? Absolutely, but that doesn’t adequately explain the transformation. It’s certainly the cause of it. Here’s the description I’ve settled on: “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:15).

Formerly, the dominating question in my life was, “What do I want to do? What will give me the most pleasure now?” Now, the dominating question of my life is, “What is His will? What will bring Him the most glory and pleasure?” I find my joy in His joy. There are still way too many temporary lapses when I think and live according to the old pattern. But the overarching orientation of my life has changed as a result of the gospel and the Holy Spirit’s work in my life. That’s how I would explain it to anyone who’s wondering.

Is Church Supposed to be Cool?

Here’s a wonderful meditation by Randy Alcorn on the uncoolness of church. Here’s the money quote:

People who haven’t left the church but remain critical often fall into referring to church members as “they.” “Those church people are into doing this and not doing this. They preach at you and lay guilt on you and have music I don’t like. And they don’t do enough to help people.” But where is the “we”? Where is the “We don’t do enough to help people”? When the church you attend is “they”, your heart isn’t there and your body won’t be much longer.

Cool can only take us so far.  For example, it’s very cool these days for believers and unbelievers alike to stand up against sex trafficking and advocate for the victims of injustice. But it’s decidedly uncool to stand against killing those same children before they are born. So it’s not just that the church looks uncool or the music is uncool. It’s that they stick up for people that the world won’t stick up for.

I love it when young people and old people are part of the same churches, showing each other grace and tolerance and speaking the truth, but doing so in love. I love it when the old are not shaking their heads in disapproval of the way the young dress, their jewelry and tattoos, the way they speak, and the songs they sing. I love it when the young are not rolling their eyes at the way older people dress, the way they speak, and the music they sing.

I have a suggestion for older people (apparently I am one now, according to my birth certificate, even though of course I am still cool . How about we lead the way and show young people that the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ and believing God’s Word does not lead to condemnation and expecting others to dress and talk and act like us?  And young people, I call upon you to respect and learn from older people as Scripture commands us to do (Leviticus 19:32, Proverbs 20:29, 1 Timothy 5:1).

A church is a gathering of people diverse in race, occupation, age and gender. When those who are already the same in these areas are united, it is not as great a testimony to Christ’s grace as when those who are very different are united in the same Lord.

Eagles are Alone; Leaders Shouldn’t Be

My parents have a picture above their toilet that I’ve seen many times, but never really thought much about. It’s a picture of an eagle soaring through the air with a quote under it that says something like: “Leaders don’t flock. You find them one at a time.” I get the point. Leaders aren’t the type of people who unthinkingly go along with the crowd. That’s a truth that needs to be said and said again.

However, I can’t help but notice something is missing in the analogy. Just who is this lone eagle (leader) supposed to be leading? He’s all alone. An alone leader is a contradiction.

I realize that analogies are only meant to go so far, and that I’m probably over-thinking something that’s not supposed to be this complicated. However, I think the poster is actually pretty accurate in capturing the way the American imagination thinks about leadership. Leaders are people who don’t conform. Mavericks. They don’t follow anyone. Real leaders blaze their own trail. They make their own decisions. Imitation is mindless conformity.

But God has a different approach to leadership: “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).

My pastor and mentor, David Prince, once told me something that changed my life. He said, “You’ll never learn to lead until you learn to follow.” In other words, eagles may be designed to go it alone, but human beings certainly are not. We need other people to demonstrate for us how to live and how to lead according to God’s Word. We need to imitate a model who is showing us how to imitate the Model, Jesus Christ. And it’s only after imitating our model that we are best suited to lead others.

This is the way of discipleship that is taught and demonstrated in the New Testament. It’s not optional. You don’t gain spiritual maturity by holing up in your library, reading books and blogs about theology. You don’t lead others by getting people to “like” the witty head-nodders that you post on your Facebook wall. You learn how to be a man or a woman by following other Christlike men and women. If you can’t follow, you can’t lead. That’s how it works.

“Real leaders flock, so that they can one day lead their own flock.” That’s how I would put it.

Phish, the Gospel, and Fitting “In”

I wasn’t always a Christian. I was once a Phishhead. At least, that’s what I really wanted to be. I bought the t-shirts, copied the bootlegs of shows, and tried my best to mimic the life of a nihilistic, rootless, thrill-seeker. Most of my friends did the same. And for some strange reason, I really thought I was something. I was “in.” Anyone who wasn’t as much of a “phan” (translation: anyone who had less Phish bootlegs or less Phish stickers on the back of their ride) simply didn’t get it. They didn’t understand what life was all about. I had one sticker on my car that I was particularly proud of. It simply read, “Phishhead.” “That was me,” I thought, “a real Phishhead. Really making something of my life.” But I’ll never forget the moment my dreams were crushed. It was the second Phish concert I ever attended. New Year’s Eve 1999, and I, along with 80,000 others, made the long voyage down to the Florida Everglades for what was going to be, in my mind, the greatest experience of my life. And I’ll never forget meeting a guy on the very first day that had been to hundreds of Phish shows. Looking at my sticker, he asked me, “So how many shows have you been to?” When I told him it was only my second show, he laughed out loud and shouted, “You’re not a Phishhead!” Perhaps I wasn’t quite as “in” as I had originally hoped.

We love to be considered “in.” And in order to consider ourselves “in,” someone, by necessity, has to be “out.” It’s the way the world works. There’s an “in” crowd and an “out” crowd. Those that get it and those that don’t. The enlightened and those who live in the Dark Ages. The funny thing about this phenomenon is that we’re never the ones outside. We categorize the world in such a way that we’re always right where we need to be. It’s those idiots over there that are the problem.

Do I really even need examples of this? It’s the mindset that drives a good deal of the bipartisanship in American politics where each side labels the other as “moronic.” The Apple people think the rest of us live in the Stone Age. The organic food eaters think the rest of us are unhealthy (and completely uncool). Even within the greatest sport ever invented, baseball, you’ve got the traditionalists against the sabermetricians. What becomes clear in each instance (and there are many, many more) is that, far above the mere difference of opinion about these matters, there is a great deal of self-righteousness involved. If you’re into organic food, you probably have a less than flattering caricature in your mind of those preservative-intaking, small-farm-destroying, chemical-imbibing, Big-Mac-inhaling, morons who don’t agree with you. Likewise, you probably view yourself as something of a very healthy world-changer. Here’s the point: we like to exalt ourselves, and we’ll use anything we can get our hands on as a means to do it. When I’m one of the select few who are “in,” it sure helps me to feel better about things to scoff at everyone else. And that’s what drives the “in or out” mentality. We need significance. We need acceptance. So we invent superficial ways of obtaining it. Enter social media. Now I can display my world-changing moral superiority to the world!

The Bible had an “in” group too. They were called the Pharisees. They really liked themselves. It was an exclusive club. You had to be moral to get in, and they got to define the terms. Ironically, they defined them in such a way as to keep themselves in the club while making it impossible for anyone else to join. Ultimately, it was, for them and for us, all about power. Mark 2:15-17 describes the moral outrage of this select group upon encountering Jesus hanging out with the “out” crowd made up of tax collectors and sinners. How could he? Those people don’t get it! What’s he doing?

And in typical Jesus fashion, the King of the Universe uses the episode to remind us all of a very important reality: None of us are really “in.” Beyond the hipster facades and the power grabbing, there is one fact that everyone must eventually come to terms with: Jesus “came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17). We’re all “out.” We stand on even ground as sinners who have offended a holy God. Every one of us must come through the same door to enter the Kingdom, and that door has a name. It is “Jesus.”

And in this Kingdom economy, it doesn’t matter how many Phish shows you’ve been to.

Help for Porn Addicts

The most common topic that I encounter when counseling young Christian men is the use of pornography. And I agree wholeheartedly with Heath Lambert’s assertion that those people that I counsel are not the ones I’m concerned about. It’s the ones who are hiding in darkness that concern me the most. Pornography will destroy your life. And I believe there are a lot of men and women who use porn, but due to fear of humiliation, refuse to reach out for help.

Lambert has written an exceptional article about pornography here. It is short, thorough, practical, and gospel-saturated. If you or people you know are struggling with porn, read this article! But don’t just read the article. Get help from others in your church and start the fight by following Lambert’s counsel.

Looking for that Peaceful, Easy Feeling

Let me let you in on a little secret: Right before I preach a sermon, my stomach usually feels like it’s in knots. In those moments I don’t even try to eat anything. Sometimes I even feel nauseous. To put it simply, I rarely ever have what some may call “a peace” about it. Quite frankly, sometimes it feels more like a war. And yet, I love to preach!

The same feeling comes over me right before I have to confront a brother in Christ who is living in sin. It’s also the same feeling I get sometimes when I have to admit to someone that I was wrong. There’s a lot of things that God’s Word calls me to do that I don’t always feel peaceful about.

In fact, I’m pretty sure that Jesus didn’t always feel “a peace” when he was busy perfectly obeying the Father’s will during his earthly life. At one point we find him face down in a garden, sweating drops of blood, calling out in agony to God as the shadow of the Cross loomed before his eyes. Should he have abandoned the plan because he didn’t feel “at peace” with it? Absolutely not!

Here’s the point: Don’t equate faithful decision making with how you feel. Often our sin causes us to feel “a peace” about the wrong decision and agony about the right one. God has a way of calling us to do hard and difficult things, regardless of how we feel about them. The Scriptures are a better guide than your gut!