Will Your Children Know and Serve Your God?

“And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord.” (Judges 2:10)

The children of this elderly man cried profusely as they watched their dad suffer in the hands of the church he served faithfully for years. They professed regrets, wishing that the hands of time could be pulled back to rethink their decision for Jesus, and especially for the local church their dad ported them into. But it was too late. Their lives had been messed up by the leader they so much cherished, almost irrecoverably except by a unique dimension of the mercies of God. They were shown a false version of the true God of the Bible. They were sold a fake Jesus—another Jesus, not the love personified son of God, the real Jesus of the Bible.
They may likely never serve the God of their father.

Such is the case of tens of thousands of young people in the church who are standing on the precipice of apostasy and crass atheism. Some are at the borderline of complete rejection of Jesus and the Christian faith, given the hypocritical practices of many in the church, while others who claim to be Christians lead lives that rarely mirror what true and authentic Christianity represents. Most of our children are fireless and passionless.

They are in church but are rarely in Christ. They can organize but can rarely agonize. They can pay for everything but can rarely pray about anything. They can feast but can rarely fast. They can sow for anything but can rarely grow for anything. If the fathers do not congregate a solemn assembly to repair the broken walls of the gospel, the next generation—the youths of today—are now standing on the precipice of brazen apostasy—a situation that could completely obliterate the influence of the church with reckless abandon.

“Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord.” (1 Samuel 2:12)

The fathers are aging. The children are aching. The world is getting hotter. God’s lovers are thinning out. Culture seems to be prevailing over scriptures. Post-modernism and relativism are now replacing absolute truth. Society is now finding it hard to tolerate true Christians, a situation that parallels John J. Murray’s concerns in the following statement,

“We have now gone back to the era of the early apostles. The Roman empire under which many Christians were martyred was pluralistic and supremely tolerant of religion. The only people they could not tolerate were the Christians.”

Persecutions of faithful Christians have now more than doubled around the world—and will yet multiply in numbers in years to come. The future of the church in Africa is now in the hands of the Christian youths of today. But will the youths of today who are drinking from the wells of the fathers bear and sharpen their own swords?

“So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.” (1 Samuel 13:22).

What a tragedy. On the day it mattered most, no sword was available in the hands of the Israelites. The fathers carried swords, but the children carried none. The Sword is the word of God. A sharpened sword is a sharp word—the blunt truth of God’s words. But how would your children and mine confront the rot and recklessness of their generation without a Sword?

“But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock” (1st Samuel 13:20).

The story is an allegory for the next generation of Christians—our youths. The fathers are aging! The children are aching. The Philistines were supposed to come to the Israelites to sharpen their swords—a replica of the light of the church—being an influence on the world. But it was the other way round. It was the Israelites that visited their enemies to sharpen their swords. Rather than culture being shaped by scripture——scripture is largely now being shaped by culture. The present-day generation of young and teenage believers are at great risks of not following the Lord in their own generation.

Many of them have not been prepared to carry swords. Many of them don’t even know what a sword is. The sword is the genuine WORD of the LORD which is the nucleus of the gospel. If the present generation of Christian leaders do not congregate a solemn assembly to train and retrain the youths of today in the undiluted truth of God’s word, the youths will go to the philistines to sharpen their swords. In fact, they are already mingling with the philistines in the land. Many of them are boldly and confidently singing the Lord’s song in a strange land. Our children must be rescued. Otherwise, they will be subdued by the society and the evils that are coming with it in this end time. They will not carry fire, nor will they distribute fire. They will be vulnerable, weak, and passionless. It is time for us to rise and contend for our faith to rescue our souls and those of the next generation.

What does the next generation know about intercession? What do they know about sanctification? What do they know about discipleship? What do they know about genuine repentance? What do they know about genuine love and compassion for the poor? What do they know about faithfulness and self-control? What do they know about the gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit? What do they know about eternity and eternal rewards? What do they know about purpose and vision? What do they know about evangelism? The walls of the gospel of Christ are being broken down and the next generation of believers are standing on the precipice of apostasy—if not called back to God with surgical urgency.

“And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord” (Judges 2:10)

They are in church but are not in Christ. They can organize but can rarely agonize. They can pay for anything but can rarely pray about anything. They can feast but can rarely fast. They can sow for anything but can rarely grow for anything. The present generation of matured believers and leaders must therefore begin to build bridges and collapse all walls between God and the next generation. We must go back to the truth of God’s words that’s devoid of greed, egocentrism, post-modernism and new age religions. We must come together to fulfil the prophecy given to David that, “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts (Psalms 145:4). For by doing these shall we be able to put sharp swords in the hands of the next generation and when we are gone, they will be strong and bold enough to confront the philistines of our lands. They will grow strong and tall in God and succeed in passing the swords to the next generation after them and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all nations for the end to come!

Susana Wesley had nineteen children for her husband, Samuel Wesley. John Wesley was the fifteenth of these children. For many years, Susanna would pray for each of her children. She birthed their vision on the wings of intercession. She lost many of them, but God rewarded her faithful intercession by sending the mantle of revival on her son, John Wesley, who later founded the great Methodist church in England. Godly mothers are priceless. Our generation has yet to appreciate the value and impact of godly mothers in the birth of great visions. To further bridge this gap, let me also tell you more about the exploits of godly mothers in shaping the history of the church. Morrow Graham, the mother of Billy Graham prayed for and inspired Evangelist Billy Graham into his calling. Katharina Luther inspired the great Martin Luther to prominence.

Sometimes, we need to know the sacrifices that Christians in other nations and in other generations have made in following Christ to deepen our commitment and faithfulness to fighting for the future of our children.

Charles Colson, in his book, “The God of Stones and Spiders”, told the story of Armando Valladares, a Cuban poet who was arrested by Fidel Castro in 1960. Fidel Castro locked up Armando for 22 years. In the words of Charles Colson, “During one three-month period, Armando Valladares and some condemned Christian prisoners were given showers of human urine and excreta by sadistic prison guards. In the middle of the night, Armando would hear from his prison room, the footsteps of these condemned Christian men matched outside. Then he would hear the shouts of “Viva Cristo Rey”, meaning, “Long live Christ the King”, just before exploding rifles of soldiers shattered their defiant voices.

At that time, Armando was not a serious believer in Christ. But after witnessing the experience of unshakeable faith and trust in Christ that was demonstrated by these fearless Christian men, even in the face of death, he came out of Castro’s prison after 22 years with a renewed fire and commitment to be a passionate follower of Christ. Friends, you don’t want to know the prices that generations of Christians have paid in defending their faith to stay faithful to the Lord. Christianity is not a cost-less experience. Jesus himself said, “if anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). You cannot be a follower of Christ and be reckless in the way you live your life.
This is why it’s extremely important that we all de-emphasize church membership and start promoting and living on the virtues and values of discipleship. This includes building spiritual stamina and capacity for the days that are ahead and emphasizing intimacy, deep relationship, and spirituality above carnality in teaching and training our children are the platforms on which the next generation can stand.

Above all, let those that are stealing, steal no more. Let hypocrisy stop. The younger generation is at a crossroad of critical decisions. The next generation is going to war without swords. Some are going to the Philistines to sharpen their swords. They will self-destruct. If we don’t live our truth, but only speak it, they won’t catch the flame, much less sparking the fire of deep love and passion for Jesus. Churches and pastors must repent and come back to God in true repentance. The church must wake up and start talking and acting on how to make our children know and serve the true God.