Remember God In Your Youth
26 SEPTEMBER 2021 | PRAYER & PRAISE SERVICE
Rev Benjamin Lau
Scripture Passage: Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8 (NIV)
WATCH | SERMON (VIDEO)
READ | SERMON NOTES
Summary | Being multi-generational is the Church’s clarion call. Pass on the faith of our fathers!
As a church, we have the important role of nurturing the next generation. With information at their fingertips, and being text-savvy and highly knowledgeable, Gen Z-Post-millennials (born after 1996, currently below 24 years old) are living in an increasingly fast paced, uncertain world with social norms more diverse than what their predecessors have had to handle. Perspectives change across generations and along with it the moral fabric of society. Young ones are becoming more questioning and distrusting of authority. What support network are we providing our children and their children to thrive in God’s kingdom?
Insights For All Generations of Christ Followers to Consider
1. Enjoy Our Youth - 11:9 (NLT) “Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.” To partake of the joys of youth is to be happy, and not stress oneself unduly with exams, or the need to grow up very quickly, or to anxiously seek acceptance by others. Within the boundaries of God’s will, youth is that time of life to explore, make mistakes, learn and grow. It’s not an age to satisfy sinful desires, but a unique season to embrace with enthusiasm the challenge of being a change-maker for God.
Outreach, Bible Study, mission trips, youth conferences, church camps. There is much joy and fun growing up in the LORD! It’s never too young to serve and make a difference for Christ. With energy to give and capacity to learn, our youths do well to keep healthy in mind, soul and body, grow in the knowledge of God by forming good habits and spiritual disciplines for the long run. As Paul encouraged young pastor Timothy, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12
2. Remember Our Creator - 12:1 (NLT) “Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore””. While we still can, we ought to find pleasure thinking about God with the intention of obeying Him. The Israelites learnt to love the LORD God with all their heart, soul and strength when parents talked to their children using visual reminders even to remember God’s faithfulness. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Besides parents, every older church member ought to create opportunities for the young to experience God and grow in faith. Only God can transform hearts but we as Christ disciples, can facilitate godly change. To make a difference for God in the world, prayerfully consider how we can serve to disciple young ones in the Children’s and Youth ministries at Wesley. Since values are caught more than taught, children observe us to see if we walk our talk. Is what we teach consistent with our priorities so that attending church and YM services takes precedence over tuition, for example?
3. Make Each Day Count as We Age - 12:3-7 illustrates realistically the aging process and therefore our need to live like we were dying. Arms may tremble, feet bow, teeth grind, desires and appetites fail, yet shall we still remember our Creator God and serve Him “before the silver chord of life is cut.” Whatever our age and generation, life does not stop till we return back to God. So let us make each day count. Teach us, LORD, to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Ps 90:12
We live well looking forward, but we live wisely looking backwards to learn from past experiences. Sans strength or speed in old age, we can still live purposefully by passing on our stories and God experiences to the next generation. “Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.” Joel 1:3
Judges 2:10 warns us that “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.” To avoid losing an entire generation in the church, we must declare God’s power and faithfulness, “His mighty acts to all who are to come.” Psalm 71:18
Across the generations, let us listen to understand, love and encourage one another. Believe and invest also in the younger generation. This is how we lay the church’s foundation for lifelong discipleship that glorifies God, our Rock of ages.
(Sermon notes by Marjorie Tan)
PONDER | REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. Share your experiences in your journey of faith when you were a youth growing up? (If you were not a Christian yet, what was life like without God in the picture?)
2. How do you practically remember God in your life daily?
3. What can you do to facilitate the young either in your family or in church to have a personal experience of God in their life?
4. How can you make each day count for the Lord as we grow in age? Are there people that God is leading you to invest your life in?