By Ryan Itzel
Throughout
the years, God has blessed me to participate in multiple areas of ministry. One aspect
of ministry in which God has used me, is youth ministry. It has been a blessing
to serve at Bible summer camps, after school programs in Christian schools, and
lead youth groups through internship programs, cumulatively adding up to nearly
10 years of youth ministry work. I have loved every moment of teaching the
Scriptures to young people, pushing them to dive deep into the Word of God, and
urging them to respond to the commands given by our Lord for faithfulness. But
through all the joy of discipling students from the Word, I have found there to
be a serious issue that has plagued much of modern youth ministry. It is a
problem that, if left unchecked, will be destructive to the church for
generations to come. The issue is the rejection of the sufficiency of Scripture.
Examples
My
experiences as a youth leader was truly a blessing. This was not because it was
easy, nor was it because I had the full support from those around me in how I steered
the ministry. Rather, my joy came from the Word of God, and seeing the Word
change the lives of those who heard it. The reality of my experience is that I
was regularly opposed by those in authority over me and by many over whom I was
given authority. Throughout the years I have been rebuked for defending
expository preaching in a youth group/Sunday school setting, ordered to skip
chapters of the Bible that were “problem chapters” in light of the theological beliefs
of a church, told that middle and high schoolers can’t handle 30 minute lessons
that expound on Christian doctrine, had secular psychology elevated as the real
solution, and the study of Scripture abandoned for group discussion. The list
goes on.
Why would the
ideals shared above be adopted by a ministry professing to be Christian in
nature? The answer is found in the numbers. The modern church has embraced a
methodology that seeks for numerical and financial progress above all, and
avoids any doctrinal distinctives that cause division. One of the most heart-breaking
conversations I had in youth ministry was when an elder told me to give up
teaching and let the kids come to their own conclusions. The reality is that
truth divides. Thus, post-modern thinking will continue to have a devastating
effect on any church mesmerized by numerical growth.
If a ministry
adopts pragmatic philosophy (whatever grows a ministry in numbers is good – the
ends justify the means) inevitably it will fail to answer one very simple
question. . . What does the Bible say?
Salvation and
Sanctification
Often
the Bible is treated as being archaic, lacking solutions to modern issues. Yet,
nothing could be further from the truth. The Scriptures divide all people into
two categories. These two groups are understood from 1 John 3:10, “ By this it
is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does
not love his brother.” Notice, John separates all people into one of two
categories: children of God or children of the devil. There is no middle
ground. You are either reconciled to God, or an enemy of God, yet the Bible
gives answers for both.
First,
the Scriptures tell us that at one point in our life, we all were enemies of
God, dead in sin, and children of the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3; 1 John 3:4-10). We
were all by nature children of wrath, and on account of our sin, the wrathful
vengeance of God was directed towards us (John 3:36; Colossians 3:6). What is
the solution to the greatest predicament that every person will face? The
source of salvation from the wrath of God comes by the perfect work of Jesus
Christ our Lord (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus, the perfect Son of God, gave
Himself through His substitutionary death on our behalf, that those who would repent of
their sin and trust in Him alone, would be saved. But by what avenue does one
receive this gift of grace? The Apostle Paul informs us of this divine work in
Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of
Christ.” Paul is telling us that the way an enemy of God becomes a child of God
is by receiving God’s grace through the hearing of the Word of God. That means
that we must preach who God is in His holiness, man in his utter sinfulness,
Christ in His person, character, and work on our behalf (life, death, burial,
resurrection), and our response of repentance and faith. A pragmatic ministry
model will avoid the majority of the gospel out of a desire to make the message
more pleasing to carnal men. In this ministry model, God is love, but holy
judgement for man’s sin is lost; man is sick, but not dead. Jesus is presented
as having died for us out of love, but atonement for sin will be softened or completely
absent, and the command to repent is avoided as being counterproductive to the
ministry philosophy. The reality is that many of the issues students are facing
in our churches are the result of a need of salvation. Too many youth groups
abandon the preaching of the Word for entertainment or self-help therapy, when
what is really needed is transformation through the preaching of the Word. We
need to stop underestimating the power of God in salvation (Romans 1:16-17),
stop over-estimating our own ability to effect change, and stand on the
sufficient authoritative Word of God to accomplish what He has ordained it to
accomplish (Isaiah 55:11) (Acts 13:48). As John Calvin once said, “Our Lord Jesus Christ
says that we are like dead men until we are renewed by the gospel and by the
faith that proceeds from it. There is not one drop of life in us that deserves
the name of life.”[1]
Second, while the
Scriptures do tell us that at one point all people everywhere were dead in sin,
headed toward eternal destruction and punishment, by the grace of God, salvation
came to the world through the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is the
point of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 6:11 where he says, “And such were some of you.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” We were all
once in the condition of spiritual death, but when we heard the word of Christ
proclaimed, God used the truth of the gospel to change us from old to new (2
Corinthians 5:17). Though we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb we
still struggle in this world. Depression, anxiety, anger, a lack of
self-control, lust, and much more are the daily struggles of many in our youth
groups. Many believe that the gospel message was the key for salvation, yet now our students and even our adult congregants need more. I have even
heard it said in a discussion on the teaching model for a youth group, “Let’s
face it. . . John 3:16 is just boring.” Is the gospel useful for salvation but
void of power to mold and shape the life of the believer after conversion? Surely
not! Jesus tells us a most important truth in His high priestly prayer of John
17. In verse 17 Jesus says, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” The
night before Jesus’ death on a cross, His prayer for the disciples and those to
come after them was that they would be sanctified by the very Word of God. How
often do we think we know what our world needs, more than our omniscient Lord?
Some might say that students are struggling with emotional
turmoil and need something more than what the Bible offers. The gospel is powerful
to save but not sufficient to deal with the needs of the inner man. But the
reality is that we have opted to relabel what God has already defined; sin is often called a “disorder.” Your student is diagnosed with an “anxiety disorder?” Teach
them to replace the lack of faith in Christ for trust, find peace in Him, and
live for the furtherment of His kingdom (Philippians 4:6-7; Matthew 6:25-34). The
person you disciple is controlled by outbursts of anger due to difficulty of
life compared to others? Teach them to put off your covetousness and find your
satisfaction in Christ, not the temporal desires of this world (Colossians
3:1-11). Your friends are “addicted” to sexual gratification of some kind? Call
them to repent of sin, run to Christ, and let brothers in Christ help bear your
burden (Galatians 5:16-6:2). This is not to say that there is never a time
where someone might need medical help, for there are many valid health issues that have a pathology and must
be treated medically, but the reality is that the majority of issues faced by
those in the pew must be solved by being sanctified, renewed, and transformed into
the likeness of Christ through the Word of God (Romans 12:1-2).
Conclusion
There are only two kinds of people:
those who need to be saved and those who need to be sanctified. Both kinds of
people can have their needs met by the sufficient Word of God. If you are in
youth ministry, or any kind of ministry for that matter, stand on the Word,
preach the Word, and trust that God will use His Word to accomplish all that He
ordains it to accomplish. As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:11-16,
Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth,
but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith,
in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the
public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do
not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the
council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice
these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your
progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on
the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself
and your hearers.
[1] John Calvin and Joel R. Beeke, 365 Days with Calvin (Leominster; Grand
Rapids, MI: Day One Publications; Reformation Heritage Books, 2008), 299.
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