Much has been written and posted about being a young man in the landscape of fundamentalism.  I don’t remember anyone defining what “young” means in that context, but I would consider myself to be in that category, even though I am 38 years old.  Perhaps it is those who are in their 20’s-30’s that make up this group.  I have been in full-time ministry now for 11 years, but already I have noticed a sense of brazenness and pride amongst those who are near to me in age or younger.  This attitude is especially seen in how they relate to those men who have ministered before them, the “old guard” so to speak.  Perhaps this has been a problem as each generation succeeds the previous one, but if it has, I haven’t heard/read about it.

My concern is that my generation is cutting down the men upon whose shoulders they are standing.  Generations have gone before us, fighting battles that we may never have to fight again to the same degree, writing books that we don’t have to write, and taking stands on issues that we might not have to.  And yet, we cut those men down and seek to run from their influence, and out from their shadow, thinking that we must make a name for ourselves, and blaze our own trails (as if they are better).

Young men today are running to issues of trendy Christianity in various ways, seeking thrilling ministries, a pursuit of the “new,” and a forsaking of the Christian heritage which they once espoused and loved because “traditions” are Pharisaical.  In so doing they proclaim by their actions, if not in their words, that the men who served before them were in fact Pharisaical in their stands and pastoral ministries.  How dare they!

Standards once held as being trans-generationally biblical and right are being smashed today in the name of liberty, grace, and love.  Yet, the understanding of those terms is not fully in line with biblical teaching, nor is the implementation of those truths.  We are allowing the culture of our day to dictate truth, rather than the timeless truths of Scripture.

When the Bible is explicitly silent on a particular issue, we declare freedom and liberty, yet fail to understand that the Bible is applicable to every generation on every continent.  Biblical discernment is necessary, based on biblical truth and principles through the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God to apply God’s Word to every area of life, even using extra-biblical material to help understand modern issues more fully.

I call out to the “young, restless, and reformed” to put to death the pride, brazenness, and restlessness, and be sober-minded as Paul instructs the young men to be in Titus.  Take a huge dose of humility, realizing that the church age survived for 2000 years without us, and will survive for however long the Lord tarries after we are dead.  Be clothed with humility; be better listeners; learn from the men before you; and grow in the likeness of Christ, who is meek and lowly in heart.

Imagine yourself in a nice restaurant with your sweetheart, seeking to impress him/her.  The ambiance is nice and romantic, there is soft classical music playing to soothe all customers, and you are looking forward to a wonderful meal together.  You order your food and continue your nice conversation.  After some time your food arrives and you look with excitement at what the waiter is bringing.  Then you notice that though the food is what you ordered, the plate upon which your food rests is covered with what looks like a previous customer’s leftovers.   After you inquire about this to the waiter, he says that the food is good, but they ran out of plates and had to pull one from the stack of dirty dishes in the kitchen.  I think I can safely say that no one would willingly take the plate of food.

Though the food may have been freshly cooked and plated, the way in which it was presented causes the dish to be contaminated, though the food itself was cooked fine.  The form upon which the food was resting mattered.

In the Bible, there is a similar situation in the ministry of the apostle Paul.  In Acts 16 a woman possessed with a demon loudly and repeatedly proclaims that Paul and his companions came as “servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17).  After hearing this for many days, Paul finally commanded the evil spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ.  Her words, though correct, were not what Paul wanted.  The form of the truth was corrupt.  That was not the proper mouthpiece for that message.  The form did not help the message.

Does the form in which truth is presented matter?  Yes it does.  Truth can be told, but it must be told in a way that pleases the Lord and is untainted by the corruption of the world.  Some would say “all of us are sinful, like the dirty plate.”  This is true, but we are washed by the blood of Christ.  We are usable as we are clean and unspotted from the world.  True religion teaches this.

We can be thankful when the gospel is presented, but we must present the right gospel in the right way for the glory of the right person, God himself.  Form does matter.

This past weekend, I had the honor of officiating the funeral of one of our senior saints.  She battled the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease, and entered the glories of heaven last week.  As a minister of the gospel, funerals are a great time to preach the gospel.  Solomon wrote that it is better to go to the house of mourning than a house of feasting (Ecclesiastes 7:2).  Funerals are a time for people to reflect not only on the life of the deceased, but also on their own lives in light of death.   This is especially true, I think, when the funeral is for a person who was a believer in this life, as was the case this weekend.  What a joy to preach the gospel and point people to the life changing truth of salvation, using the deceased as an illustration.  What freedom there is when many family members themselves are believers and encourage you to preach the gospel. God’s Word went forth, and we pray for God’s Spirit to work in hearts.

Every time I go to a funeral, though, I am struck once again with the shortness of life, no matter how old the person was when he/she died.  Life is short and eternity is long.  Too often, though, we think that we have control over how long we live and what we can do with the life that we have.  My life is short and therefore I need to kill the deeds of my flesh in order to live more to the glory of God, under the influence of His Spirit, proclaiming His gospel, by His grace.

The apostle Paul wrote, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  Our lives are too short to live for ourselves.  When we fight for control over our own lives, we are practicing idolators, worshipping ourselves rather than God.  Live for Christ; die to self.  Life is short.

This is a good article from Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.  We can rejoice that Jesus humbled himself and became flesh to die as our substitute for sin.

I enjoyed preaching several messages regarding the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus is the exact copy of God.  When people saw Jesus, they saw God.  Part of the mission of Jesus Christ was to declare who God is, what God is like, and what God thinks.  My messages highlighted the ideas that Jesus showed us that God is gracious, God is truth, God is holy, and God is loving (among other things).  Those ideas are meant to produce responses from us.  I encourage you to download the messages and listen to see what those ideas mean for you.

As we reach the time of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, it is important to understand the significance of the events surrounding His birth.  For instance, how important is it that we believe in the virgin birth?  Mary was not conceived miraculously, but Jesus was.  Mary was not yet married nor did she have sexual relations with any man.  Take time to read this blog post and then this one  by Dr. Mark Snoeberger from Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary to get a solid theological foundation for why this is important, and rejoice in the power of God to make His perfect plan come to pass.

I have recently had the privilege of attending two local symphony concerts, specially focusing on the Christmas season.  Each concert included some familiar traditional orchestral Christmas pieces, as well as a few other fun pieces and sing-a-longs.  I appreciated the opportunity to attend each concert, but was also struck at how each conductor sought to dance around the idea, and perhaps even the very word, “Christmas.”  While each of them included the Halleluiah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah, and the well-known Silent Night, both of which speak of clearly about Jesus Christ, each conductor was hesitant about explaining the meaning of Christmas to be about Christ.  Unity, peace, family gatherings, and other concepts were featured in their comments, but not Jesus.

I guess I should not be surprised about this; our nation is increasingly becoming more inclusive in its religion.  For many people, it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere in that belief.  That sentiment is not only ignorant, but dangerous.  A sincere person who believes the wrong thing about Jesus Christ is sincerely wrong and in danger of eternal separation from God in hell.  I know that is not politically correct, but the Bible’s teaching is to that same degree.  In our world of PC, let’s be BC Christians, Biblically Correct.  Exalt Jesus Christ this Christmas.

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I love the winters of New England.  I enjoy the beautiful snow that weighs down the limbs of our trees and that coats our deck.  I love to hear the steady hum of our snowblower.  I love the satisfaction of a freshly cleared driveway.  I love to help bake our Christmas goodies.  I love the Christmas decorations that permeate our home.  I love the ornaments of our Christmas tree that remind me of Christmas past (I still have ornaments from when I was a child).  I love the focus that we have on Christ both in the good Christmas hymns as well as in the messages preached.

I will spend many nights in front of the tree sitting in the glow of the Christmas lights.  We will spend many nights as a family reading our Christmas devotional and singing Christmas songs.  We will also enjoy snuggling together to read some of the classic Christmas stories and poems as a family. It will be fun also to watch the kids snoop around at their presents.  The gifts are fun to give, and get, but the older I get the more I value the gift that never gets old, rusts, or diminishes in value.  This, of course, is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Yes, I enjoy Christmas.  It brings great joy, just like the angels first declared, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).