Video Clip From the Day a Hero Died

When a VBIED (vehicle-based IED) struck near our post on December 27th, the alarms started going off, soldiers either ignored them or rushed to their positions or places of cover, and I picked up my Ipod and pressed "record" for a few moments (it's not like I can pick up a weapon).

A few days later, I began to counsel soldiers who were friends with the US airman killed in this attack. A few days after that, I realized that it was CPT David Lyon, a dear young believer who I spent the better part of a night talking with and encouraging when I had been in the north of the country. If I had known then what had happened, I probably would've never started recording.

Please continue to pray for our soldiers overseas. Most are not in gun battles every day, but wait for the random day when they might get ambushed like our departed hero, Dave Lyon.

And please remember Dave's widow, Dana, who was stationed at our post and accompanied the body of her husband back to the States. She bitterly grieves the loss of her husband, but grieves with hope, knowing that they both belong, body and soul, in life and death, to Jesus Christ.

What has happened to our youth: The Way Ahead

In a recent article on American ignorance of Christianity, Janice Shaw Crouse gave this troubling assessment:

"The Pew Forum on Religious Life reports that a third of American adults under the age of 30 have no religious affiliation whatsoever — less religious involvement than either their parents or their grandparents. That shouldn’t surprise anyone because Sunday Schools — one of the major means of Biblical instruction in the past — have been declining since the 1980s. With religious instruction also prohibited in public schools, where would people learn the Bible stories, Biblical history, and Biblical doctrine?"

You know what is most troubling about this assessment? Not the one-third of youth who have no religious affiliation, nor the decline of Sunday Schools (though that does concern me), nor the prohibition of religion in public schools. Rather, it is the assumption in that final question about who will provide religious instruction to our youth: Others. Not the children's own parents. Others.

The Church is charged with the nurture of our children as well as parents, but it starts in the home.

To this point, we have explored what most youth are coming to believe ("moralistic therapeutic deism") and several of the reasons why that may be the case. Recognizing that salvation belongs to the Lord, what are some ways in which we can inculcate our children with the truth, in God's grace?

1) Treat our children as sophisticated, responsible moral agents. Children, as fallen image-bearers of God, have both an inherent dignity and capacity to learn as well as an inborn sinful nature. They must give their own account to God, and their ability to learn that fact as well as many others can begin early. This principle gives rise to many of the practices below.

2) Restore the catechism to its rightful place. Children may stray from the truth, but they shouldn't be able to misrepresent the truth. The former is rebellion problem and reflects more on the children; the latter is an ignorance problem and reflects more on the parents. A child can decide that happiness is his or her purpose in life, but if he/she knows the first question and answer of the Shorter Catechism, he/she will not claim that such a belief is a Christian belief.

The sad truth, as noted by the writer above, is that Sunday School is on the decline in many churches. And this isn't even the worst of it--most Sunday School classes teach children little about Jesus and the core truths of Scripture anyway. Our responsibility as parents is to see that our children are catechized regardless. We can start them on the Children's Catechism, and move on to the Westminster Shorter when they're a bit older.

We can also prod our churches in the right direction. Your elders are not only charged with feeding the flock with preaching, but with teaching (Matt. 28:10-20). Our youth belong to Christ and the elders will be held to account for their shepherding of our youth as well as their parents. If your church lacks catechetical teaching for the youth, encourage them and actively support their efforts to implement such a program.

3) Maintain regular family devotions. I must again confess that I need to master this concept, by God's grace. At bare minimum, this should involve some Scripture reading and prayer with your children each day. And fathers must spearhead this effort. They have greater responsibility as head of the household. Most people I have read or have talked with recommend either mealtimes or bedtime (or both). We will also include the singing of hymns, and based on some recent reading I have done, I would like to incorporate daily Psalms. There is a great deal of freedom in this practice. Tailor it to your family's unique needs, centering it on Word and prayer.

4) Guard the Lord's Day. More than ever, I am convicted concerning how I arrange my priorities. Children not only notice what you say and what you do, but they notice how much you say and do some things, relative to other things. If my son sees me working on my laptop more than he sees me paying attention to him, he will learn that my laptop is more important than him and that he must get between me and the laptop in order to get my love.

In the same way, when we treat the Lord's Day as the Lord's hour, we are communicating to our children the practical point that we neither God nor our weary souls should have the entire day that God has appointed for His worship and our rest and growth. We should pray with our children before Church, ask them questions about the Sunday School class and sermon over lunch, and bring them back for evening worship. In the DC area especially, nothing says "the Lord is my priority" like giving Him our entire day of rest.

5) Work closely with your Church in nurturing your children. It's a tag team effort. Parents and elders both bear a responsibility before the Lord for Christ's little ones. Make sure to track what your children are being taught at Church and make sure to let the elders know how your children are doing. As a practical point, be willing to open your home to the pastors and elders for shepherding visits, and ask them to do so if they are not already.

6) Add the "adversity funnel" to your "freedom funnel" as paradigms for raising children. A wise man once explained to me the concept of a freedom funnel for raising children: You start out with a strict system of rules, and as your children mature, you gradually expand their freedom and responsibility. If the funnel is reversed, going from lax to strict, major clashes will ensue.

In the same way, our children must be exposed to funneled adversity. When they are very little, this might mean just letting play with other toddlers in the Sunday School class or at the playground. As they get a bit older, maybe they can start serving in the community with their parents and wrestle with harder realities (like death). Eventually (preferably before college), we want our children engaging with a wide swath of the local community, whether at school, work, recreational league programs, etc.

As mentioned in the first point, they are responsible moral agents who are accountable to God. We must strive to impress upon them this reality and teach them as best we can to exercise that responsibility on their own. The more they own their faith before others, the safer they will be from a future crisis of conscience that comes when a child has simply ridden upon his/her parents coattails.

7) Model love, repentance, and grace. It is very easy to become legalistic and formulaic in parenting. Part of what makes it so scary is that there is no formula, nor inevitable results. With this in mind, children need to see their parents model unconditional love, repentance, and grace. Rules must be made clear, violations swiftly punished, obedience swiftly praised, and the punished child swiftly reminded that he/she is unconditionally loved.

If your child watches you sin, be quick to repent. It may be humbling to repent to a two year old, but such humiliation points to the Savior who became obedient to death upon a cross for the sake of His people. And we should ground our love, repentance, and grace in the Gospel, working to turn everyday situations into opportunities to further instruct our children in the beauty of the Gospel.

What has happened to our youth: Ways we slip up.

In the last post, we discussed briefly the fact that many youth from Christian households end up forsaking even the most basic of Christian beliefs and instead embrace what was sociologically and popularly labeled "moralistic therapeutic deism."

A great episode on this very issue can be found at the White Horse Inn.

But how did they get to this point?

An important qualifier must be stated from the outset: All parents and churches fall short in every way when it comes to raising children in the love and nurture of the Lord. Our knowledge of man's depravity excludes every possibility of us doing this entirely right. Salvation comes from the Lord. It is our heavenly Father who truly shepherds the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our goal is not as much to check all the boxes, but point to the grace of One whose love is never inadequate.

That said, here are some of trends within the Church and Christian households that can hinder the growth of a little one toward Christ:

Ministry Priorities. As churches feared a decline in cultural influence and stressed the importance of individual evangelism, they lost sight of the most important group: "covenant" children. These children belong to God, who told Abraham concerning His promise of Christ: These promises are for you and your children. I urge you to compare the number of passages concerning outreach with those dealing with raising your children in the faith. The latter dominates the former. That doesn't mean we should neglect to tell others about the love of Jesus, but it starts in the home.

Lack of Substance. Much of the Church fails to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is its sole message. Evangelicals, this is not just the obvious apostasy of the mainline churches that we are talking about. Many of our Gospel-believing churches are not Gospel-proclaiming churches. While Christ said "all these (Scriptures) testify to me," we often say "all these testify to ME." Making moral lessons the focus is not only unfaithful to the Text, but as it tells us what to do rather than telling us what Jesus did, it is simply an expression of the Law. And the Law doesn't transform hearts, the Gospel does.

Fundamentalism. This is a loaded term. In its original sense, it simply meant an orthodox Christian who still believed in the basic tenets of Christianity. It was also often used to attack orthodox Christians, inferring that they are backward and on "the wrong side of history." BUT, in its modern sense, it often refers to those who add to Scripture, imposing an extra moral code to prevent the "appearance of evil," and an extra political code, to make sure someone lines up on the right side of the aisle.

While many parents who subscribe to this worldview believe in Jesus Christ, they practically diminish His work when go beyond Scripture with these codes. I'm not talking about normal rules of wisdom, like "Don't touch the stove." I am talking about those rules like "Don't smoke, drink, or chew or go with those who do" that are given religious sanction though they are complete unbiblical. By restricting Christian freedom, we mis-define sin for our children. At some point, our children will go to a dance of play cards. They will discover that there is nothing inherently evil about either enterprise. They begin to question what they've been taught about sin, then whether they are truly sinners, then whether they truly need a Savior. I've seen many a youth unravel.

Lack of Intentionality. I must confess that this is my primary area of struggle. Even though I have shepherded young adults who resent their parents' lack of spiritual guidance, I struggle to do the same. It feels weird to try to do a morning devotion when I'm still only half awake, knowing that my son sees an open Bible but doesn't understand anything I am saying. It is easy to try to get some work done while I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on him. And how am I supposed to reign in my love for sarcasm, which doesn't make sense and can hurt a guileless child?

My wife sets a great example for me in this regard. Each night before bed, she reads our son a Bible story and sings a hymn with him. She then lets me know they're ready for me, we all sing our evening lullaby ("Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus") together, pray for our son and grace for his nurture, and put him down to sleep.

I had a friend tell me recently how hard it is to watch his words around his kids. I can imagine! But the bottom line, whether it comes to our family devotions, attention and instruction, or our speech, is this: Our children learn what is most important to us, and what is most important for them, from what we go out of our way to intentionally teach them. If they don't see us struggle to keep the Gospel in the fore, feebly as we do, they will question its worth and whether it worth their time.

Being Patronizing. Since when did entertainment become the primary goal of Christian nurture? And since when did we assume that children can't handle basic instruction and teens can't handle wrestling with more sophisticated subjects? The "old" method of nurturing our youth included teaching them the catechism, which helped then learn and articulate the key concepts of the faith, know their Bibles, and have a mental record of what is true in a deceptive world.

Now, many Sunday School and youth programs focus on entertainment. Young people are shown that they are the center of the world because these programs are all about them. Teaching the faith is often an afterthought. I came to Christ through a wonderful youth group that was active in sharing the Gospel, and the number of unbelievers who came to various events often swelled our numbers to double or triple the normal size. But it was impossible to shepherd all these kids, encourage them to profess their faith and join the Church, and get to know their families. The numbers swelled for a few years, but most of these kids, including quite a few of the covenant children, gave it all up when they left for college.

Ownership. Of the dozens of benefits that come with growing up in the Church, a distinct hardship is found in the need for ownership of one's own faith. The Christian father is head and shepherd of the home; the Christian mother often the daily nurturer. Both of them are really stand-ins for God, stewarding children who really belong to Him. We are training our children to have their own relationship with Him, apart from us. And they will only learn to do this as they establish their own identity in Christ, by His grace.

A large part of this comes when a covenant child makes his or her own profession of faith, takes the Lord's Supper, and engages in the body life of the Church on his or her own accord. But this also comes from articulating their faith in the real world. The family and Church are the incubators of faith for Christ's little ones, but they only learn to walk on their own once they are outside the confines of each. They must articulate amidst adversity without falling back on family or Church as a crutch. This is what we're training them for--owning their Savior before the Church and the world.

What has happened to our youth? (Part 1)

(From the Garfield Christmas special. Garfield dreamt that he was given a special Santa chair that would give him whatever his heart desired.)

A number of studies have come out from reputable sociologists over the past couple of years that have shown the vast ignorance of young Christians in identifying even their basic beliefs. Based on statistics gathered by Christian Smith, the Barna Group, and others, it would seem that the majority of youth who grow up in Christian households deny the deity of Christ, the existence of the Holy Spirit, and the need to believe in Christ for salvation.

Christian Smith, a sociologist at Notre Dame, coined the now popular phrase "moralistic therapeutic deism" in describing the religion of most youth who grew up in Christian homes. Here's what that phrase means:

Deism: The belief in a God who is detached from the world He created. This view was quite popular among America's founders. The most popular illustration of this belief is that of the "divine watchmaker"--God as one who sets the world in motion (winds the clock), and then leaves it to its own devices.

Therapeutic: The belief that the goal of religion is to make you happy. It is a means to an end--your pleasure. This belief basically equates God with Santa or a genie--here to grant your wishes.

Moralistic: The belief that the most important thing is to be a good person. If, on balance, you're a good person (as you define good, which tends to favor you much more than others), you will earn your rightful place in Heaven.

You put all of this together, and this is what many of our youth (apparently) believe: There is a God who is relatively detached from our lives, but wants us to be happy and nice.

This new religion (which is really not new at all--it is what man believes at his very core absent a heart change) is most striking in that it is not a mere variant of the Christianity that many of these young people still claim to believe--it is the absolute antithesis of biblical Christianity.

The Bible, which is the only authority for what man is to believe concerning God and the duties God requires of man, shows us a God who not only created the world, but reigns over it at all times in His providence. He is not simply the divine watchmaker.

It shows us that the chief end of man is not happiness, but to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. In other words, He is not the genie, here to grant your wishes.

It shows us through direct teaching and example that "there are none who are righteous--no, not even one" (Ps. 14; Rom. 3). We have dignity and value by virtue of being created in God's image, but we are not fundamentally good people. God had to, and graciously did, send His Son in human flesh to live perfectly in our place and die for our guilt. That is our only hope of heaven.

So why do we have young adults who are totally out of sync with basic Christian teaching, especially at a time when Christianity is spreading like wildfire throughout much of the third world? Why is it that some 2-3 year olds can confess the basic truths of the Gospel, as well as millions of tribal people with no formal education, but not a large percentage of our youth in this country?

These questions will be dug into more in our next post.

The Commentary Series Everyone Should Own

Does it seem to you that most books you can read on Scripture are either way to "heady" or fluff? Does there seem to be little in the way of middle ground, where a devotional need not be a dissertation or a disappointment?

For years, my most prized commentaries may have been some of the cheapest ones, but also the richest. The Gospel According to the Old Testament series is written by top-notch biblical scholars with pastoral hearts. When you read these books, you discover some of the gems that are dug up my scholars and pastors, but always with a view to the centrality of Christ and the implications for our lives.

In these books, you walk the stony paths with Ruth and Naomi, cry out with Job, or rebel and repent with Jonah. You learn fascinating insights from the Hebrew, explore ties to other parts of Scripture, and have the Gospel brought to bear upon your heart. You will see and love the unity of Scripture and the overarching story of sacrificial love and grace for you in Jesus Christ--and all at the price of a fluffy book that gives you nothing but barely Christian experiential thoughts.

The new book in this series, dealing with the vain searches for meaning in Ecclesiastes, has come out this week, and I look forward to to buying a copy (at the link above). I may even use it as a book study with some of my youth who want to engage the culture more effectively with a mindset more transformed by God's Word. Check it out!

The Best Radio Program

Like Christian non-fiction works, I have often not been a big fan of Christian talk radio.

Often times, it is mindless and moralistic. The humor is horrible, the advice utterly cliche, and apart from the name "Jesus," there is often little about the program that is distinctively Christian. I remember our local Christian radio station pushing an effort to pay for the car behind you in the drive thru line at the fast food joints. Is that a nice thing to do? Absolutely. So is helping someone fix a flat. There is nothing distinctively Christian about it.

The biggest problem is often the moralistic messages, by which I mean messages that focus on being a good person or doing nice things. Some family-friendly programming is just that--good principles for raising a good family, regardless of whether one believes that Jesus has been raised from the dead along with those who believe in Him.

There are wonderful exceptions to this type of programming. On occasion, you may be able to find R.C. Sproul, Alistair Begg, or other Christian giants on the radio.

The most profound exception, however, is the White Horse Inn.

Even though it was founded by one of my seminary professors, I never bothered to listened to it because I'm not a big fan of Christian talk radio (see opening).

But as I noticed its rising popularity throughout the chaplaincy and the Church in general, I realized that I had to tune in. I haven't since been disappointed. The program, hosted by four pastors--two Dutch Reformed, one Reformed Baptist, and one Lutheran--is food for the heart, mind, and soul. They engage controversial topics, provide rich surveys of biblical books, and conduct interviews tha range from amusing to heart-wrenching. They introduce you to great defenders and expounders of the faith from a variety of Christian denominations, and demonstrate how to be charitable with guests who are clearly out of sorts (ahem, Robert Schuller).

If you click on the WHI link above, you'll find a list of their most recent episodes on the right on the page. You can enjoy reflections on the book of Job or the matter of suffering. My favorite recent episodes are interviews--one with Rosaria Butterfield, a former top lesbian activist and scholar who is not a Christian (and pastor's wife!), and the other with Nancy Guthrie, whose story of suffering and consequent reflections fill you with grief and wonder.

Enjoy that best Christian program on the radio today and see what so many are talking about!