THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE EFFECTING GEN Z
We are engaged in a spiritual battle. Jesus Christ declared that within this battle for the souls of every human is an evil force that seeks to blind people from the truth, hinder people from hearing the truth, and seeks to distract people from considering the truth. He said, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path” (Matt. 13:19). Jesus described the evil one as a murderer and liar (Jn 8:44) who comes to “steal, kill, and destroy” (Jn. 10:10). The evil one hates GOD’s image-bearers — but he especially hates young image-bearers (presumably because they have the most potential to cause him and his wicked schemes the greatest damage!).
It is not difficult to see that young people (Gen Z) are under spiritual attack. The graphic below from the Australian Institute of Family Counselling was produced in 2017 (before the covid pandemic lockdowns) and had already revealed the alarming trends among Gen Z’ers about their increasingly poor mental health, suicideation, confusion about gender and sexuality, and perhaps, even more alarmingly, the Church’s complete ill-preparedness to confront these issues. This week I had a meeting with one of Launceston’s leading mental health experts who told me that these indicators are now “far worse” than these figures. He also told me that governments have no solutions to this crisis - but, he said, Christians do! Brothers and sisters, Rachel has shared with us that we have a problem — and last Sunday she called it out for what it is: It is fundamentally a spiritual problem, not merely a mental health problem, or an identity problem, or even a moral problem (although it effects each of these areas).
SLAVERY IS RAMPANT
Jesus described everyone who sins as a “slave to sin” (Jn. 8:34). The New Testament goes further and states that everyone is a “slave” either to sin or to Christ :
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin
have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching
to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin,
have become slaves of righteousness.
Rom. 6:17-18
Slavery to sin is incredibly deceptive. It takes a miracle—a work of the Holy Spirit in a human’s soul—for someone to realise that they have been deceived by the evil one and made an unwitting slave of sin, and to then be set free by the power of GOD.
But now that you have been set free from sin
and have become slaves of God,
the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Rom. 6:22
ONLY THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST CAN SET
SOMEONE FREE FROM THEIR SLAVERY
What Rachel shared last Sunday was not criticism about her peers, but because of her compassion and deep burden for her generation, she shared the solution, the proven and only hope that is available to every other member of Gen Z. That is, she shared the gospel! But she also issued a challenge to her church family – to those who have experienced the freedom that only Christ can offer – to get out of our comfort zone and be prepared to invite people, we know or meet, to church. By doing this, Rachel pointed out, we would be demonstrating our love for a confused, deceived, broken, worried and anxious generation – and using our freedom in Christ for what it was intended to be used for.
¶ For you were called to freedom, brothers.
Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.
Gal. 5:13
When someone is set free from the bondage and deception of sin, their mind is renewed to see and accept the truth (Rom 12:1-3) – and to see it in the Word of GOD, the Scriptures:
¶ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him,
“If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
So if the Son sets you free,
you will be free indeed.
John 8:36
Christ has set us free from the power of sin’s slavery (which results in bondage to deception, inconsideration of others, idolatry, etc.). The freed believer’s response to gift of eternal life that has set us free is to then willingly commit his or her life to Christ as a doulos. Doulos is the Greek word translated into English as servant but more appropriately as slave. When the apostle Peter wrote his epistles to the believers in Bithynia (Acts 16:27; 1Peter 1:1), he reminded them that they had been freed from their slavery to sin but were now willing slaves of God:
Live as people who are free,
not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil,
but living as servants [Gr. doulos] of God.
First Peter 2:16
When I was growing up I used to hear the old-timers say, No-one is as free as he who is a slave of Christ! A slave is a person who is at the disposal of their master. A Christian is so grateful to his or her Saviour who has rescued them from their bondage and slavery to sin, that they have become what the Old Testament referred to as a love slave (Exo. 21:5-6). That is, someone, who out of sheer love and devotion to their Master that they were willing to pledge their service to Him for the rest of their life.
Our Master has charged each of us to carry His out His mission of proclaiming liberty and freedom to all those who are in bondage to the evil one through sin. He authorises us to enter into His rule over the universe by praying in a way that hinders the powers of darkness, so that what happened to the sin-enslaved persecutor of the Church, Saul of Tarsus, can happen to them as well (see Acts 26:16-18).
Therefore, I appeal to my fellow doulos-slaves of Christ to embrace our status as a doulos of Christ and to join with me in praying for our generation to experience the freedom that can only come from Christ each Sunday by Sunday. And, secondly, to pray for our youth and young adults to have the confidence to boldly declare the freedom that they have found is also available to their friends as well. Will you join me?
Your Pastor,
Andrew
Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.
Before every Sunday morning worship service, the worship and pulpit teams meet in my office for team-talk and prayer. For a couple of years I had a separate white-board sign that said-
Jesus, the perfect man, the happiest man, was the greatest example of work (Jn. 4:34), worship (Mtt. 26:30), wonder (Acts 14:3), and love (Jn. 13:1). His death on the Cross was the means by which He could establish the 'place' (which is really the people) where the best work, worship, wonder and love could be done. It is impossible to overstate how hard Christ has worked to establish and extend His Church, inspire worship, create wonder and foster love. Christ's churches come in different sizes, different kinds of people, different venues, with different meeting times, music styles, and leadership structures.
The New Covenant House-of-the-Lord, the Church, is one of the greatest sources of blessings that God offers to the world. While not technically correct, Bill Hybles often quoted statement - "The local church is the hope of the world" (the local church declares that Christ is the hope of the world) has a powerful sentiment behind it. I have seen, felt and heard of Christ's supreme passion for His church time and time again. The Word of God promises that those who are planted in the House of the Lord will "flourish" (be abundantly blessed). I was very recently reminded of this powerful truth when two of our church family who had been looking for work in the field of their professional training volunteered at our church. Within a week or so of volunteering they both had secured employment. They are both now flourishing just as Psalm 92 promised.
It is in the community of believers that Christ has established to foster work, worship, wonder and love, that Christ calls us to learn these fundamentally human aspects. From this growing broad community of the church, men lead their own families as 'micro-churches' and foster in their children what work, worship, wonder and love should look like. Fathers especially carry this ministry of the church to their sons by showing them what work looks like and that work necessarily involves doing things you don't want to do. (We need a generation of young men who understand and exhibit the qualities of self-discipline and self-motivation undergirded by a willingness to accept responsibility.) The family home becomes the seed-bed for fostering worship (adoration of God, attention to Scripture, audible praying). Parents promote, rather than hinder, a deep wonder of the natural world which God has created for us to enjoy which is why school work has far to do with worship than it does with textbooks and exams.
It is from the family home that children learn to love. They witness their Mum and Dad hugging. They hear their Dad talking respectfully to his wife and their Mother. They experience the stern rebuke of their father when they have been impolite to their Mother or sibling - because a loving father is a father who disciplines his children (
I'm concerned. I'm deeply concerned. We have a generation that does not work, wonder, worship or love, as it should. Instead, it works to avoid work, senselessly amuses itself 24/7 (rather than engaging in the holy art of scientific wonder), worships the created rather than the Creator, and gladly buys the delusion that love is something you make rather than something you give. These things are utterly destructive to the human soul - in fact, destructive to the core of what it means to be "human". Is it any wonder then, that the world's second largest global industry is now alcohol and illicit drugs. And in what must be an ironic metaphor of our day, the affect of heroine is best felt the first time it is used and creates a craving for more and with each subsequent hit of heroine or cocaine the 'high' is nowhere near the same. In fact, in a recent Ross Kemp documentary, where he interviewed crack addicts in Chicago, he was repeatedly told by them that they had never re-achieved the initial high they felt when first trying the drug that would soon master their lives. These addicts all said they were addicted to these drugs after just three days of use and that each hit to satisfy their craving was merely to help them feel "normal" (not to get 'high'). And this is the illusion of what the world offers when it cons people into thinking that right work, wonder, worship and love will not satisfy the human soul.
People, whose souls are being destroyed by these lies, need to see and hear an alternative. It is possible for God to set someone free from the destructive lifestyles of crime, drugs, idleness, and promiscuity. God does this regularly. The Giver-of-Life has sent His Son to pay the price of our guilt and shame and to set us all free and give our lves hope and meaning. This hope is now proclaimed through the local church. Are you in bondage to despair, idleness, drugs or sexual addictions? Jesus Christ can save and deliver you. You are one prayer away from beginning your journey to freedom. This is the kind of prayer that confesses failure and mistakes. It is the kind of prayer that confesses our need for forgiveness by and reconciliation with God. It is the kind of prayer that asks God for help to live the way we should. Will you pray this kind of heart-prayer?
During his first Presidential election campaign, President Barack Obama gave a speech about why he thought the Bible was outdated and therefore should not be used to guide any public policy decisions. He cited the Bible's condemnation of certain foods, fabric combinations and slavery as ample evidence to convince his audience that when the Bible similarly condemns certain sexual practices it should also be readily dismissed. His comments were very amusing and won him much popular approval. But then multitudes of Bible scholars began to point out the 