The Gospel for the Millennial Generation (by Dr. Bill Senyard on 06/30/13)

 

Volunteer Appreciation Sunday (Family Sunday)

June 30, 2013

 

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.  (NIV)

 

According to Time Magazine, we are in for a lot of challenges over the next couple of decades.  A vast societal shift.  We have always had generational change—but this will be a sea change.  Huge.

 

Millennials, those who were born between (roughly) 1980 and 2000—a whopping 80 million strong of you, you who are now 13-33, are significantly more self-focused than previous generations (and I thought we were pretty bad!), more fame obsessed, generally more convinced of your greatness as compared to others, so-much so that you demand promotions: 40% of you believe that you should be promoted every 2 years whether you performed or not.  You as a group have less civic engagement and lower political participation that any previous group—you are obsessed with yourselves.  Time calls it your “quantified self”.  You record your “daily steps on FitBit, [your] whereabouts every hour of every day on PlaceMe and [your] genetic data on 23 and Me.”  Time notes that in the 1950s, the typical family had around them a family picture, maybe a picture of the kids and maybe a military photo.  Today’s American family walks amid 85 pictures of themselves and pets.  If Boomers are the “Me Generation,” you Millennials are the Me, Me, Me Generation.

 

Per Time, “Millennials are interacting all day, but almost entirely through a screen.  You’ve seen them at bars, sitting next to one another and texting.  They might look calm, but they’re deeply anxious about missing out on something better.  Seventy percent of them check their phones every hour, and many experience phantom pocket-vibration syndrome” (PPVS).  Those with PPVS have a new anxiety: you think that you may be missing out on something better, a “FOMO” a fear of missing out, maybe someone liking your Facebook status update.

 

It turns out; we have already identified what caused the shift.  It was me; and parents like me, the so-called wise adults and the way that we chose to raise our children.

 

We wanted our kids to grow up with high self-esteem, a good evaluation of themselves, to be confident; and so we did whatever we could to head off anything that would lower their self-esteem.  Positive speak- “Little Bobby, You are a rock star!  Look at little Johnny, he’s walking in only 10 months.  He’s gonna be a rock star athlete—YouTube this, babe.  He’s going to run a marathon in the Olympics, be a linebacker for the Broncos for a stint and then become president—of the world—aren’t you little Johnny, little Mary.”

 

Pepsi Next Commercial—Dancing Baby

 

We have created a generation of rock-stars.  We guarded you against competition where you would or might fail.  There are no losers, only winners.  We disciplined you by starting off, “You are a good girl, but what you did was not so good.”  And the idea was that with a high self-esteem, you would have a leg up on education, you would get good jobs, and good relationships.  The data seemed to confirm that trajectory.  Children with high self-esteem did better in school.  Young adults with high self-esteem got better jobs, got dates, got married.  The strategy seemed to be working.

 

But, now says social experts, now that we have more data, it turns out that we messed up.  Our techniques to instill in our little Johnny and Mary’s self-esteem, ended up making little Johnny and Mary into little narcissists instead.  This generation of Millennials is measurably less empathetic toward others, less likely to get into deep heartfelt intimate long-lasting relationships, less likely to want to understand the likes and dislikes of others.  If the BabyBoomers were the “I’m OK, You’re OK Generation, the Gen Xers were You’re OK, I’m not OK—then the Millennials are the I’m OK generation.  The rest of us are only supporting cast to them.

 

Important Caveat: Look, these are gross overgeneralizations, and yet still very helpful.  Everything is a bell shaped curve.  We are defining the center of the curve, right?  We all know Mills who do not look like this description.  But having said that, the shift in the bell-shaped curve is noticeable and measurable.

 

Now, I should also say that there are some real encouraging things as well about this generation.  BabyBoomers. Like me, are stubborn, defensive, difficult to convince of anything new–set in our ways.  Gen X’ers don’t generally trust the Baby Boomers or any authority for that matter.  They question all accepted norms, including religion.  Both are tough to speak to about the gospel.  The Millennials, though, you are interested in anything that my make your lives better.  You are not wary of authority and seem to be willing to explore ‘truth’ and to think outside the norm.  In a word, you are very “reachable.”  You are positivistic enough to think that things can get better.  Very refreshing actually.  This generation, once you get the gospel, could bring revival.  So much more, read the article in Time, May 20^th, very helpful.

 

So the one thing that marks Millennials is a strong sense of high self-esteem.  “What you believe about yourself is critical.  If you think that you are great, and valuable, and worthy, a rock star, then likely you are or will be.”  Lots of positive self-talk.  But what do they do when things fall apart, jobs vanish, bad performance reviews, relationships demand more of them than their own self-talk, counselors ask them to address hurtful ways head on?  Tailspin.

 

Good news from Titus 2 for Mills and for the rest of us.  Due to time, I want to zero in on just a portion of the two verses, really one word: aseibia.

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness…  (NIV)

 

Aseibia is translated by the NIV as “ungodliness.” Before I unpack it, I just want to show it’s role in our lives.  Paul characterizes it as a power, not a good power—rather an oppressive negative force from within our flesh that enslaves us: men and women.  It is deceitful and exists to hold us back from being truly human.  How do we know that?  Because God’s grace (charis) is portrayed a powerful counteragent that is required to set us free from aseibia.

“For the saving power of God has been revealed to all people, it disciplines us to reject our inner aseibia.” (PBV)

In context what is “grace?”  It is a power given to us by God.  It is innately His, not ours–  and it is our only hope to defeat the Super-Villain aseibia within us.  Does everyone see that?

 

Super Hero God’s Grace

Our VBS this year was about superheroes.  In VBS Super-Hero terms, we were enslaved by the evil aseibia in our souls and a greater power is needed to rescue us.  Then when things look bad for us, God arrives with his Super Power Grace, gives it to us and we are able to at last turn away from the Super Villian Aseibia, which we couldn’t do before.  So much for our vaunted freedom that we think that we have.  In truth, we are oppressed, dehumanized, enslaved by powers—part of the lot of fallen humanity.

 

But good news is that God’s Super Power is greater than the Super Powers that enslave us and we can access God’s Grace by faith and be set free.

 

Spectrum of Aseibia

So what is aseibia?  It is a drive, a bent toward ungodliness, an irreverence for God and the things of God.  But if we just unpack it a bit, it would include a spectrum of behavior and motivations ranging from anger and hatred toward God and the things of God at one end, and at the other end, an indifference to God and God’s things, an independent reliance upon ourselves, our gifts, our strengths on the other.  So deep within all of us, in our flesh, is this ever-present power that deceives us, twists our thinking and desires to be either against God, or indifferent toward God.  It is the full spectrum of human rebellion at the core, but it may not directly look like rebellion.  It could also include just doing my own thing in the universe, finding my own way, living by my own choices and so-called “free” will (which once again is less free than I want to believe).

 

I have long defined sin as us looking for life, hope, identity, validation, glory, purpose, success anywhere else than from the hand of God.  Aseibia is at the core of that drive.  Don’t mistake this, we are internally driven by our flesh that direction 24/7!

 

The opposite of aseibia might be captured in the deep dependence upon God, love, approval and trust in the Father that Jesus had in his flesh when he said, “Not my will, but Thy will be done!”  But we need God’s Super-Power Grace today, right now, to powerfully overcome aseibia and to cause us to want the things of God over the things that my flesh wants.

 

So here’s the point today.  Mills, we have not served you well.  We did nothing more than just blow on the flame of your natural aseibia.  You are a rock star!  If you hear that enough, you will figure it out that you can do all things without God.

 

But you say, “Its working!”  I’m pretty successful, the future’s looking good.  I have relationships, I’m in demand.”

 

So here’s the gospel for you. What the psychologists have discovered is that your self-esteem, which on the surface feels so good, gives you confidence and hopefulness, and a leg up on others is morphing into subhuman narcissism.  The trajectory that you are on—though it feels really good now–will lead you to more and more of a lonely path, with less empathy for others, less concern for others.  Your relationships will never reach the depth that you desire.  There is something inside of you, a power that is working against them.  In the end, you will be on a wild roller coaster of desperately searching for identity, a sense of validation, glory, worth, substance and intimacy wherever you can find it—just like previous generations.

 

Narcissus

The term ‘narcissism’ comes from Greek mythology.  The ever-so-handsome Rock Star Narcissus was cursed to eternally fall in love with his own image in a mountain pool as a punishment for rejecting the offer of love by a mountain nymph, Echo.  Narcissus was doomed for all eternity to crave but never actually possess the image that he saw reflected in the pool.  The result was that he pined away, becoming more and more subhuman until he just became a beautiful flower. Mill, you not only crave, but we taught you to expect success, validation from all quarters, intimacy, etc.  Our bad! Quoting Time, “This generation has the highest likelihood of having unmet expectations.”  They go on to speak of this unmet expectations as being a “crisis.”

 

But, we have a remedy.  We can invite you to access along with us the very same Super Power that alone can surpass all of your expectations of Rock Stardom.  But this Rock Stardom will not only validate you, but move you toward others, toward real higher humanity again.  The good news is that there actually was a real Rock Star, Jesus.  He always knew who he was, he was always inwardly validated and knew his name, even when all of the events in his life would have crushed others.  He knew his purpose, his calling.  He knew.  Follow him, Mill, follow him, attach yourself to Him, access grace and become more yourself.  In Him, you will be treated as a Rock Star by God.  All of the favor and adoration, and love in the universe, yours, not based upon anything you have done, but strictly based upon what he has done.  Yours as a totally free gift.  But this validation, that comes as a gift, is much more powerful than the validation that you may earn or expect.  Validation through Christ is far better than your wildest dream.  It is perfect.  It is yours no matter what.  In Christ, 24/7, on good days and bad days, in success and in failure, God looks down at you and says, you are my beloved son/daughter, with whom I am well pleased.  You are my Rock Star.

 

That changes everything!  Come to Jesus and begin to experience humanity, who you really are.

 

Two final words.  First to parents of the next generation. Second to our volunteers on this volunteer appreciation Sunday.  Parents, tell your kids about the nature and source of real esteem.  Tell them your stories of failures and successes.  Ultimately model for them going to the foot of the cross, and having you cup filled by his esteem for you.  Teach your kids to do the same.  Teach them to find their sense of value, worth, validation from Jesus.  Model it for them daily.  Imagine the next gen dependent upon Jesus.  This is the cure for the ineffective self-esteem that we have been clinging to.

 

Lastly, volunteers, thanks for your participation in this ministry, to Denver and beyond.  Thank you for listening to God and your willingness to obey him.  Thanks for your willingness to love others, not to get your identity and validation by such at-a-boys and at-a-girls as this.  We honor you, but realize that there is nothing we can do greater than what Jesus has already given you, your adoption as fellow sons and daughters.  We cannot add to it. We can only celebrate what the Spirit is doing in you and through you here.  You have obeyed and drank the cup God gave you. We, the recipients of your obedient joyous participation are grateful.