What's the Younger Generation Coming To?

I preached my first sermon in June 1969. I was 15 years old. The sermon lasted eight minutes. (Over the years I don't know if my sermons have gotten better, but they've definitely gotten longer.)

I preached that day because of a unique custom in the church my family attended. Each year on Fathers Day, the youth group led the entire worship service. Teens led the music, presided at the Lord's Table, offered the public prayers, and collected the offering. And a nervous young man was pressed into duty as the preacher for the day.

I thank the Lord for those encouraging saints of God who sat patiently and listened while a 15-year-old tested his wings in the pulpit. They looked past my immaturity and saw my potential.

What do you see when you look at young people today? It's tempting for adults to shake our heads in dismay and ask pessimistically, "What's this younger generation coming to?" But do we recognize their potential for serving God?

Some young people will become great leaders. Josiah was only eight years old when he became king. "In the eighth year of his reign that is, when he was 15 or 16 years old, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David" (2 Chronicles 34:3). Josiah's leadership brought spiritual renewal and social reform to his nation.

Some young people show great potential to comprehend and communicate God's Word. At age 12, Jesus sat among the rabbis in the temple courts and "everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers" (Luke 2:47). Admittedly Jesus was no ordinary adolescent. But his example makes me wonder about the young men and women I know. Do we sell our young people short? It's wrong to assume they aren't interested in solid biblical teaching. Even at a young age, they are capable of discovering and discussing deep insights into God's Word.

Young Christians also have gifts to contribute to the body of Christ. First Peter 4:10 applies to all ages, not only to adults, when it says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." A boy's lunch of bread and fish became food for the multitudes in the hands of Jesus. If we give them a chance, we will see the Lord multiply the skills of today's youth in music, missions, athletics, drama, writing, teaching, and other forms of ministry.

Young people are capable of courageous action. Paul's nephew was a young man when he bravely spoke to an army commander and spared his uncle from death at the hands of more than 40 men who had conspired to kill Paul (Acts 23:12-22).

Young people are capable of making wise moral choices. "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to God's Word" (Psalm 119:9). Joseph said "no" to sexual sin with Potiphar's wife. Daniel and his friends said "no" to a pagan culture's idolatry. Timothy said "yes" to the apostle Paul's invitation to leave home and serve as a missionary. We all make mistakes, and young men and women will make theirs; but if we give them a chance, many of them will rise to the challenge and adventure of following Christ.

What's the younger generation coming to? Good things, I hope. In the meantime, let's "treat younger men as brothers . . . and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity" (1 Timothy 5:1, 2). Let's love them, encourage them, and help them come to full maturity in Christ.