I wiped the tears from my eyes watching the end of am Episode of  Extreme Makeover Home Edition with Ty and the gang.  I didn’t get the see the beginning  of the show with the reason the family was in such desparet position.  I sat to eat a bite and tuned in to the program.

Within 30 minutes I was fully engaged watching as the story revealed itself in front of me on TV, the family had lost their dad, he had been “a man of character and faith” and a leader for his family He evidently was a pastor of some sort.  Ty and the gang made great efforts to reach out to “faith and religion” but never really presented the Glory of God in what they are doing.

The cast of characters is fairly known, the TV show puts great emphasis on helping people in need and enlisting the community to do the same.  Great cost and great effort go into producing a “reality” tv show.  Even if that reality is not as common as it should be.

I sat with tears in my eyes as I watched the widow and her children explore the house, I was waiting for them to expose the chapel that they had built in the home. A specific place.  Full of specific memories for the family.  Full of friends.  Full of love.

Even the unregenerate know how to reach out in love.  How much more does our Father God know how to reach out to His children?

Time and time again, the faces come across the TV show of people desperate for help.  Ty knows how to reach out to them in earthly terms.  The writers, directors and producers carefully craft lines and situations to meet their standards.  They are sent thousands of letters, videos, emails and hear many stories of people in need across the US.  The heart break just as they can only help one.

It is great to think about how much more God blessed us (grace, faith, mercy) and how much more He will bless us beyond anything we can comprehend here.

(Part 2:  a different reaction)

We rush to help with a physical need… why don’t we react in the same way to the spiritual need?

Matthew 5:4
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted

Do we grieve for the spiritual condition of people we see all around us?  Should we grieve for sinners?  Should we grieve for our sins?  Do we mourn the lostness of  those around us?  Do we share a burden for sinners?

Matthew Henry’s Commentary has this to say:

Those that mourn are happy. That godly sorrow which worketh true repentance, watchfulness, a humble mind, and continual dependence for acceptance on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, with constant seeking the Holy Spirit, to cleanse away the remaining evil, seems here to be intended. Heaven is the joy of our Lord; a mountain of joy, to which our way is through a vale of tears. Such mourners shall be comforted by their God.

Oh that we would embrace the mourner’s position before our God, our family, our church and our nation.  That the sight of sin, of our sin would grip us in such a way that we cry out to God for mercy.

2 Corinthians 7:10-11
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!

Our sin is no casual thing that offends our Holy God.  Our sin, though forgiven, is still part of the life that we are to be dead to, and yet… and yet I find myself fighting the same battles day after day.  I find myself struggling just to keep the intentions that I made the day before.  We must ask, we must cry out, we must wait, for mercy.

Matthew 5:4
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted

Are you able to mourn?  Are you willing to mourn?  Where is our indignation, our fear, our longing, our zeal…

Note: Lifeway helped with this episode and there is a massive back story and future story to all this as well. http://www.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=22832

It was interesting this week to see the attempts of the older generation reaching out to the few 30 something crowd at the convention.  The 20 something was almost non-existent at the event.  The younger generations are slowly taking the place of the older generation in the SBC and the numbers and leadership ability is dismal.

Don’t get me wrong I am EXTREMELY happy that there ARE people about God’s work in the state, in our nation, and around the globe.  But the age difference between the generation that was leading, the generation leading now and the next generations to step up and take the reigns of  the Illinois SBC  is great.

I met the young and old pastors.  I spoke with them about doctrine and about the Gospel.  The older generation is making way for the younger in a disparate way reaching out to them with music and positions in the State convention and trying to build up the ranks… but where are they? The doctrine of the few I had conversations grieved my heart.  A Younger generation of pastors that have been forgotten.

Forgotten to disciple.
The lack of solid doctrine teaching in our homes and churches is the problem.  It is not the amount of programs we have. We continue to water down the doctrine of the Gospel and scripture and we wonder why our children do not grow up in the knowledge and understanding of the Lord. Our parents have dropped the responsibility of biblical instruction and biblical living on the Church.  The church has dropped the ball on discipleship of the parents to teach them how to reach their children, what makes us think that we would have better luck to disciple the next generation.

Forgotten to Protect.
I know parents try and protect their children from the hurt that comes with life.  but when did it become okay not to instill the reality of God’s comming judgment or the consequences of Sin on the hearts of our children?  When did the protection of our children begin to NOT involve their souls?  It is more than a shame that parents are not agressive in their teaching but also that the schools, the universities and the seminaries are not protecting our children.  Where is the fear of God in the forgotten generation?  It is gone.  It is forgotten for the moments of pleasure brought about for selfish reasons.

Forgotten to Grow.
We allow our children to make a few mistakes but we do not teach them to grow up.  We have generations of Christian walking the Christian life without any real growth.    They grow older and have grey (or thinning) hair but their knowledge of the Lord is superficial at best, Humanistic at worse.

The vast majority of Man Centered doctrine that permeated the few conversations I was able to have with “men of God” grieves me greatly.  I love the SBC, the cooperative program, the joint ministry, the great commission partners… but I fear that we have given the next generation over to their own lusts of the flesh.

Titus says, “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” (Titus 1:16)

I realize this is hard to hear but sometimes the truth is difficult. We have Generation Forgotten… we must pray for a revival. I needs to start in the pulpit and the preaching of the Word and be in every conversation. We must beg God to reach our children before the Global church moves on and leaves us for the history books.  God gives us the opportunity for revival at anytime… we simply must repent and go running and screaming to His arms open wide.

Something must be done. Action must be taken.

Repent. We need to repent on our face before God as a church, as parents, as children to our King, begging for mercy from our sins of neglect. We have caused the generations that follow to flounder because of OUR SIN!  How much more reason do we need to admit it and claim God’s forgiveness and victory in our lives.  Pride must be put down. We have tried it on our own and we have failed.  We must turn back to God. We must go.

Disciple. We must confess the truth of God’s love and not neglect the judgment on Sin.  We mock God with our so called teaching.  The watered down truth we give to our young and old alike, claiming that they can not handle the sound doctrine that the apostles passed down and told us to do the same.

Preach. We need to return to the ways that worked, no longer seeking to “tickle ears” with the entertainment that many preaching today emulates.  We must go back to the Bible with sound expository preaching.  Preaching the truth surrounded by prayer begging for God to open hearts and take action in our people.

Obey. With correct hearts and correct motivation, with sound doctrine and clear preaching results will come.  We MUST obey, our master commands it.  We must take the result of preaching the Gospel of Christ and train up the generations that come.

We stand at a cross roads as every generation realizes it is time to let go of our “good ideas” and rest soundly in the message of Hope that we are commanded to deliver and allow God to give the increase.