Category: PASSION Reflections

Teaching the Next Generation

On By BrianIn Family/Single Life

In the sermon this morning we were looking at the book of Judges.  One of the points came from Judges 2:10.  Joshua’s generation passed away, and “there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.”  What a tragedy!  Somehow Joshua’s generation failed to pass on their faith.  God’s commandments were lost.  Despite all of Moses’ instructions to teach the next generation (see for instance Deut 6), they failed to do it.  The results were the time of the Judges, a corrupt depraved time summarized by the last line of the book: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  That last line sounds incredibly similar to the approach to morality in our country today.  And the failure to pass on their faith parallels our day too as some statistics say up to 88% of evangelical youth will abandon their faith by the time they finish college.  For further statistics and an interesting analysis, see link

What to do?  Three suggestions: First, parents need to recognize that they have the primary responsibility to teach their children (see Deut 6:5-9 and Ephesians 6:4).  They cannot expect the church to do this for them – it is their responsibility. Many families have a daily family worship time with their children to teach the Bible and pray together.  (See the Center For Biblical Spirituality link in the Recommended Sites list for a great intro book on this idea.)

Second, the church must partner with the parents to help them to teach their children.  Children and youth ministries are important to reinforce what the children are learning at home.  The positive example of other Christians in the church fleshs out what the Christian life looks like.  The church must teach parents the Bible with some depth so the parents can then teach their children.  The church needs to offer parents practical suggestions, ideas, and resources to equip parents to fulfill their role.

Third, parents and churches need to pray, pray, and pray some more.  All of the above will not guarantee that children will follow the Lord.  Ultimately the decision is between the grown child and the Lord.  So we need to pray.

If we have a passion for God and compassion for children, we must teach the next generation for their joy and God’s glory!

Pursuing Joy

On By BrianIn Virtue of Joy3 Comments

One of my resolutions for the year is to grow in the Christian virtue of joy.  To that end, I recently read John Piper’s book When I Don’t Desire God: How To Fight For Joy.  It doesn’t take too long before you come to this statement:

Pursuing joy in God was a non-negotiable way of honoring God.

Seeking and finding joy in God honors him, it acknowledges God as the glorious being that he is.  The alternative is sobering: failing to seek and find joy in God dishonors God – it treats him as unglorious, ho-hum, run-of-the-mill.  Pursuing joy in other things before God dishonors him because it treats those things as more glorious than God.  As Piper writes later:

Preferring anything above Christ is the very essence of sin.

Preferring something before Christ is to give it a status above God; indeed to make it our god.  It then is a violation of the First Commandment – “You shall have no other gods before me.”  Which is to say that it is idolatry.  So joy is a serious affair – the failure to rejoice in the Lord dishonors him, is the essence of sin, and is nothing short of idolatry.  So here is the question: how do you pursue joy?  Piper seeks to answer that question in his book, but I’d love to get some other perspectives.

God’s faithfulness

On By BrianIn God & His Glory

Our church has been reading through the Old Testament this year, and we have come to Joshua this week.  Joshua is an incredible testimony of God’s faithfulness.  God had promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendents over 400 years earlier.  In Joshua, God keeps his promise.  With great power, God brings Israel into the land.  While God’s saving work on the cross is his greatest demonstration of his love for us, his faithfulness is a priceless testimony of his love too.  Many of the Psalms tie his love and faithfulness together.  For example, the shortest Psalm – Psalm 117 – praises God because “great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.”  How has God been faithful to you?  How does his faithfulness spur you on to love God more?

What this site is all about!

On By BrianIn All About Love

What does God expect of us? How are we supposed to live? What is our purpose? Where do we find meaning for life? Jesus answers all of these questions in Matthew 22:37-40. He says that if you want to sum up all of the Old Testament teachings about life, then this is it – love. Not amassing possessions, not having a great job or a perfect family, not power or fame or popularity. Our purpose in life is to love.

First of all, love God with all your heart, soul, and mind – with every part of your being. This is not a hobby, a mere extra. This is what life is about. Love God with everything you have. Live with a burning hunger for God. Like the Psalmist, pant and thirst for God (Psalm 42:1-2). Desire him – desire to know him and walk with him and serve him and please him – more than anything else. Live with a passion for God.

But that isn’t all. Jesus says to love our neighbor – the person next to us, the person near enough to show love to. Love other people. Love your family. Love your friends. Love the people you work with and for. Love the people in your school. Love the person in the checkout lane, the driver in the car in front of you. Love the family that lives next to you. Love your church family. Love that person who really irritates you. Love people whether you like them or not. Love people. Treat them well – like you want to be treated (Matthew 7:12). Live with compassion for people.

Love God and people. Live with a passion for God and compassion for people. What would motivate us to live with this kind of love? The answer found in Scripture is simple – God’s love for us. “We love because he first loved us” (I John 4:19). “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). The more we grasp his love for us, especially his love expressed through the cross, the more we will be motivated to love in response.

So, to put it all together – because of Christ’s passion for us, we will live with a passion for God and compassion for people. This is the purpose and meaning of life. This is what life is all about.  And this is what the Eph5v2 blog is all about – to explore together how to live with passion.