ROCK-BOTTOM (Lessons from the 8th Plague)

Blogging Exodus 10:1-20

 ³ So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

⁴ Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.

⁵ And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field.

⁶ They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

“Rock-bottom” is the lowest moment of a downward journey.   But when you hit rock bottom, you stop falling for a while.  Things are at their worst so they’re not getting any worse. Hitting rock-bottom can cause a moment of peace and clarity during which you change perspectives.  Rock-bottom is the moment when you’re supposed to decide that the only way you can go is UP.  Some people hit rock-bottom and start climbing up.

And some people hit rock-bottom and start digging.

Exodus 10:1 says that God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  But the Hebrew word for hardened in that verse is kabad or kabed which can mean hard or heavy.  After 7 national cataclysms in rapid succession,  all of Egypt’s fish were dead.  It’s food stores were ruined by frogs, flies, and gnats.  It’s herds had been wiped out --- twice, in turn by disease and flaming hailstones.  The people were weakened from an infestation of lice and a pandemic of staph infections.  Egypt was on the brink of ruin and Pharaoh’s heart was hard AND heavy.  He was stubbornly angry at Moses, but at that moment he was also heavy-hearted.  Pharaoh was worried and, therefore, potentially open to a way out of Egypt’s descent toward rock-bottom. 

Some Egyptian insiders had begun to heed God’s warnings, saving a few herds of livestock, and the Lord had timed the 7^th plague to strike between growing seasons,  so that the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops (Exodus 9:32).  Egypt had some food, but if Pharaoh provoked God just one more time, they would have nothing left.

if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field (Exodus 10: 4-5).

The nation was hurtling toward rock-bottom.  God tried (again) to save them from the impact.

Some skydiving rigs are outfitted with altitude warning systems that blare a shrill, deliberately irrigating signal, warning, begging the skydiver to pull the cord before they hit the ground.  You can ignore those.  It isn’t a good idea, but you can.  Even when we have a proven record of disobedience, the Lord sends warnings for us to pray, to repent before our dive terminates.  Pharaoh’s signal came from within his own circle. 

Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us?

Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” (Exodus 10:7)

But when someone believes they can fly, it’s hard to convince them to use a parachute.

  

Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron back and nitpicked in negotiations over which Hebrew slaves could go on their requested religious furlough.  (Again, remember that Moses’ and Aaron’s official request wasn’t for emancipation.  They’d just asked Pharaoh’s leaves to go 3 days distance into the wilderness to worship.)

Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord” (Exodus 10:9).

Pharaoh angrily countered that he would only allow the adult males to take the time off.  He went so far as to threaten the Hebrews if they tried to all do as their God had commanded. 

Then he said to them, “The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you (Exodus 10:10).

God is serious about the way He wants to be served, and when you try to force someone to modify the way God wants them to serve so that it accommodates your interests, you aren’t opposing the person. You’re opposing God.

When God calls a woman to preach and you tell her she isn’t allowed to speak with authority in your sanctuary.  When God doesn’t call someone to preach but you convince them to pursue ordained ministry because it’s a good job or because it’s what you expect of them.  When God calls someone to be an evangelist, or a missionary, or some other non-pastoral anointing, but the church coerces and bullies them into becoming a pastor because pastoring fits most easily into your institutional structure.

When you try to force people to modify their service to God in ways God has not asked their service to be modified, you are stepping on God’s authority.  And there are consequences to crossing that line.  Heavy as a rock, bottom consequences. 

The consequence for Egypt was a plague of locusts (verses 12-15).  They ate all of the surviving vegetation, the crops, the seedlings, the trees.  There are historical records of locust swarms in 19^th century America with reports of locusts consuming even fence posts, clothing, and saddles.  Everything in Egypt that had survived the previous plagues was gone. 

Rock. Bottom.

At rock-bottom, some people change their perspective.  They repent and begin to climb upward.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.  Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.”

So Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord.  And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt (Exodus 10:16-19).

It seemed like things were looking up, like Pharaoh was looking to grant the Hebrews’ request and lead his people off the rock-bottom.   But then, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go (Exodus 10:20)

In Exodus 10:20, the Hebrew word for hardened is chazaq, not kabad.  Chazaq in this tense means to be made more rigid, to go through a process that reinforces your stubbornness. Pharaoh got rock-bottom bad, and then he got worse.    

Some people hit rock-bottom and start digging.

After the locust, Egypt’s agricultural wealth was all gone.  Maybe Pharaoh figured it couldn’t get any worse.  He was wrong.  It got worse.

It can always get worse.

Whether you’re at rock-bottom, on the way to rock-bottom, or standing at the tippy-top of everything: pay attention to what God is telling you.  Heed the warning God is sending you.  Be strong, but don’t be stubborn.  Be focused, but don’t be hard-hearted.    You are never so high nor so low that you can’t go lower if you refuse the Word of God.

--Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com

Email: BaileyTabernacleChurch@comcast.net

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

Click here to support this ministry with a donation.  Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar. 

Visit the ministry’s website at baileytabernaclecme.org

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Bailey Tabernacle CME Church

1117 23rd Avenue
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401

INSIDERS' CHOICE: The 7th Plague

Blogging Exodus 9:13-35

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me, ¹⁴ for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. ¹⁵ Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.

. . .  ¹⁷ As yet you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go. ¹⁸ Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. ¹⁹ Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.” ’ ” . . .

Exodus 9: 14-15 refers to 3 categories of Egyptians:  Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s servants, and Pharaoh’s people.  The people are the mass of regular Egyptian citizens.  The servants of Pharaoh included the royal family, courtesans, nobles, priests, chief magicians, military leaders, and elite households who supported and ran the details of government.  Pharaoh and his servants are equivalent to the president, Congress, the Supreme Court, their collective cabinets and staffers, and the whole body of Washington insiders who operate and manipulate our federal system. 

Insiders are marked by the favor they receive and/or by the loyalty that they give.

During the fifth plague all the livestock of Egypt died (Exodus 9:6), but enough time had passed for Egyptian insiders (Pharaoh’s servants) to have replenished their herds.  Now, the wealthiest and most powerful Egyptians faced a choice They could be loyal to their leader or they could listen to the Word of God.

He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. ²¹ But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field. 

America and every political sub-category in America has its own body of “insiders.”  Every agency, municipality, denomination, and office-of-the-such-and-such  is managed and manipulated by “servants of the people” who are so well connected that when no matter the economic crisis, the official solution official always involves bailing them out.   

Insiders are favored servants, but they are also LOYAL servants. 

How loyal are you to the leaders of your little empire?  Do you defend the leaders of your party when they do exactly the thing you attacked leaders of the other party for doing?  Have you re-written your theology to accommodate the platform of your preferred cultural leaders?  Do you stand for truth and integrity until your favorite public figure is caught lying, at which point your stance shifts to “Who are we to judge?”  Does your definition of “victim” and “predator” keep shift with the affiliations of the accused and the accusers?

You and I are offered the same ancient choice.  We can obey the Word of God, or we can remain loyal servants inside of our factions.

Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard (Acts 4: 19-20).

If you’ve never had to choose to follow God and rebuke your faction, it doesn’t mean that your faction has always been right. It means that you have always chose to follow your faction and disobey God. 

 

Our worldly loyalties do not insulate us from God's divine judgment.  Just as promised, volcanic hail fell on the land of Egypt. 

And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation . . . Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail (Exodus 9: 23-26).

The insiders who heeded the prophetic word saw that the God of their slaves was true and willing to be merciful even to those who were insiders in the evil empire.  This might have been the beginning of a faith-based revival in Egypt. 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans.  Hurricane Harvey hits Dallas.  Hurricane Florence hits New Jersey. Shooting at Black church in North Carolina.  Shooting at conservative white church in Texas.  Shooting at elementary schools, military bases, and workplaces all over. HIV ravages East Coast and West Coast communities.  HIV rates increase higher in conservative deep south states than anywhere in the nation.  Every time a plague, storm, and or violent tragedy strikes the strongholds of our respective factions, we turn to prayer.  But just at the point when we would be convicted of OUR sins and turn in faith and repentance away from the gods we’ve made in our images and to the God of scripture, just at that point we shift from faith --- to damage control.

And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”. . .

So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.

And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses. (Exodus 9: 27-34)

Pharaoh and his loyal servants didn’t know that there were would be 3 more plagues and a Red Sea of destruction.  They didn’t know that they’re decision to minimize the damage to their empire rather than maximize the opportunity for divine grace would lead to more damage than they could control for.  They didn’t know.

You do.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

 

 --Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com

Email: BaileyTabernacleChurch@comcast.net

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

Click here to support this ministry with a donation.  Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar. 

Visit the ministry’s website at baileytabernaclecme.org

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Bailey Tabernacle CME Church

1117 23rd Avenue
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401

The Apostle Paul’s Letter to a General Conference Delegate

Today, in the General Conference of the CME Church, my denomination will elect 3 bishops and a bunch of national leaders, we call “general officers.”  It is the most important thing I and the other delegates who traveled here from as far as Alaska to South Africa will do.

The problem is there seem to be a million people running for every slot. And as with secular political campaigns, most of the candidates mostly say the same things.    So how do I decide where to put the vote that the people back home have delegated to me to cast?

Scripture tells me to watch and pray.  I’m praying---- boy, am I praying.  But what am I to watch for?   The whole process had given me a headache.

Then the Lord showed me something in His Word that made me laugh. 

They Holy Spirit showed me a letter to a general conference delegate.  It’s called the book of Titus.

Paul, the Apostle, was basically the bishop and general secretary of evangelism and missions of the New Testament church, and, if not the editor, Paul was the most prolific contributor to the first century Christian periodicals.

In Titus, Paul wrote to a Cretan pastor who had to choose new leaders for his church.  It was an important moment of decision.

You should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you  (Titus 1: 5)

Translate elder  as “senior officer” and appoint as “elect” and you realize that Paul is talking about bishops and connectional officer.

The good bishop/ general secretary/ author, Rev. Dr. Paul of Tarsus, responded to Pastor Titus’s question, the same question asked in a caucus meeting last night.

What makes a good bishop?

The Bible gives a detailed answer.   Look at Titus 1: 6, 9.  I’ll paraphrase.

A bishop or general officer must be, Verse 6:

·         Faithful to his/ her spouse

·         Good parent, not somebody covering up for how terrible their kids are

Verse 7:

·         Blameless, meaning no charges pending

·         Handles church business and money well, as a steward of God

·         Humble and submitted to God’s will even when it wasn’t their idea  

(And by the way, if they brag about how humble they are, they probably ain’t.)

·         NOT quick-tempered

·         Not an alcoholic, a drunk (which is an alcoholic who self identifies as “I just like to have a little drink every now and then but I don’t have a problem,” or an addict of any kind. 

By the way, I know that addicts are people, and many are wonderful people; but that doesn’t make them good candidates for bishop.

·         Not violent. 

·         NOT GREEDY FOR MONEY.

The Bible says that a bishop must be NOT GREEDY FOR MONEY

Let’s pause a moment and let that marinate. 

How much did you say they demanded at their last appreciation?            

According to the Bible, the right candidate will be, Verse 8:

·         Hospitable, and not just to voting delegates

·         A lover of what is good, as opposed to one of those people who seems to get mad at people for being “too nice,”  “always running like they gotta save everybody.”

·         Just, fair, treats people right---regardless of who the people are

·         Holy. 

HOLY!

The Bible does, actually, in fact, use that exact word.  A bishop or senior officer in the church is supposed to be HOLY, which is hard to do when your basic theological position is that there’s no such thing as holiness.

·         Self-controlled.  If they lost it for a moment on the campaign trail, they  have shown you just the tip of the iceberg of meanness they’re hiding underneath.

A good candidate will,  Verse 9:

·         Hold fast to the faithful Word, the unchanging Word

·         Use sound doctrine to exhort with encouraging truth

·         And use sound doctrine to defend the Word against contradictors

Paul warned delegate Titus to be careful whom he supported for bishop and connectional office, because there are many who  profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. (Titus 1: 16).

They profess to know God, but they don’t act like they know God.  In fact they act like there’s not a God to know.

You can recognize the wrong candidates because they are:

·         abominable,

·         disobedient, and

·         disqualified for every good work. (Titus 1: 16)

Paul warns the delegate to choose senior leadership carefully because there are a lot of people who do and will spend all their time undermining others.   The Bible calls such people insubordinate (Titus 1: 10).  My wife calls them “cutthroat.”

The book of Titus warns us about candidates who talk the right talk but are both idle talkers and deceivers. (Titus 1: 11)

Titus wanted to believe that anyone who’d worked in the church long enough and successfully enough to be a serious candidate for national office would be someone the church could trust.  Not necessarily.  Not now, and not 2000 years ago.

2,000 years ago, old bishop Paul warned the young clergy delegate to check especially those of the circumcision, especially those of the well-established, highly revered religious class.

The bad candidates must be stopped before they do more harm.

The Bible says that their “mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain” (Titus 1: 11)

Let me say that again:  TEACHING THINGS THEY OUGHT NOT, FOR THE SAKE OF DISHONEST GAIN.

My brothers and sisters in the CME Church have tremendous responsibility, not just to our particular denomination, but to the entire Kingdom of God.   The people we choose today become leaders of a global Christian church.  Their words and actions will represent Christianity to the world.  Critics of the faith will use their failures as ammunition against Jesus and the Bible.  Innocent believers will revere them and look to them as examples, just because of the titles they’ll hold. 

This is not a light thing, and I don’t take it lightly.  But  with Titus 1 in my head and the counsel of other scriptures like 1 Timothy 3, at least my headache is gone.

I’m still praying, and I hope you’ll be praying to; but now I can review what I’ve learned about the candidates and cast my lot according to God’s will.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

WE STILL LOVE YOU, THOUGH

In Luke 19, Jesus was there when the corrupt tax collector Zacchaeus repented and became a charitable, honest, born-again believer.    Jesus rejoiced saying, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9)

In Luke 10, Jesus ordained 70 disciples to evangelize and minister to the communities where He preached.  They worked so hard.  When they reported back they weren’t perfect, but they had done well and Jesus was proud of them. 

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said,  “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. (Luke 10:21)

Jesus was also there when a young man declined His personal invitation to join the apostles because he didn’t want to leave his wealth behind.  Yes, Jesus told him to liquidate his holdings and give it all to charity, but the Lord also promised to be personally responsible for his daily bread.  Where Jesus had told others to go their way, He invited this man to “Come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 10: 21)

Jesus watched the man just walk away.  But, Jesus didn’t go after him, even though He saw the young man’s potential and , looking at him, loved him, (Mark 10: 21)

As a pastor I often get to be present at the very moment when a person or a family turns their life around. 

I’ve been present when the light of love and commitment comes back on in a marriage.

I’ve been present when a young parent learns a better way to discipline her/ his child and bring out the baby’s unique gifts.

I’ve watched children independently choose to give their lives to Jesus.

I’ve presided over the moment when a gathering of church elders, without my intervention, debate and decide to make space for a younger generation to have power and prominence in their church.

And I have rejoiced in those moments! 

But I have also been present when a husband tells his wife that he’s done and that’s it, the marriage is over.

I’ve also been there when a man or woman decides to leave the rehab program and go back to the streets.
I’ve been present when the mother decides that she’s just gone let DHR take the baby because she prefers to live ratchet and she ain’t got time for no kid.

I’ve been there when the young person ignores every warning and offer of help and drops out of school because they can get food stamps, or an SSI check, or section 8, or a spot on the corner hustling, and they don’t need no school.

I’ve held the last session of couples’ consultation for 2 people who insisted on going to “the next level” with a relationship that scripture, common sense, and psychological examination had proven should never have begun.

I’ve been there at the precise moment when somebody makes the decision that begins the downward spiral for them and their family.

And I have sorrowed because I loved them.

But I can’t make the decision for them.  I can’t make them answer the Lord’s call to redemption and wisdom.   I can’t force them to take up their cross and follow Him.   And even when I followed behind them and begged them to do the right thing it didn’t work.  They just went back to the other things they valued more.

All I could do was look on them and still love them.
When Peter declared his faith in Jesus as the Son of God, the Lord rejoiced and praised Peter (Matthew 16: 17); and when Peter turned right around and said something stupid and totally the opposite of God’s will, Jesus turned right around.  He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mt 16:23)

But Jesus never stopped loving Peter.

I’m not always happy with what the people I serve in the church and community do with their lives.    Your foolish choices weigh on me and on my brother/sister pastors in ways that few people outside of the calling can understand. 

But even when you break our hearts, we still love you.

We may/ will rebuke you, but we still love you.

We may/ will look at you like you’ve lost your ever-lovin’ mind, but we still love you.

We may let your next couple of calls go to voicemail, but we still love you.

We can find resources for you.  We can distill hours of research and Bible study to answer a question for you.  We can fight the inertia of age-old church traditions just to help you.  But,  your pastor cannot do more to improve your life than you do to improve your life.

So when you insist on a making the worst possible decision available, don’t expect us to applaud, endorse, or otherwise validate your choice. 

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t still love you.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 39: 11-14. "Young People Today"

Proverbs 30:11     There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother.
12     There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness.
13     There is a generation—oh, how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
14     There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

Proverbs 30: 11-14. O, how we lament the problem of  “young people today.”

Young people today have no respect for their parents.

Young folks today think they know everything.
Young people today.  They commit any and every  sin they can think of and act like it’s O.K.
These young people today will kill you as soon as look at you.
Young folks these days don’t care about anyone but themselves.

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates even said, “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”

When we complain about TODAY’s kids or THIS GENERATION, we’re implying that the problem is the day/ the times, that the problem is our particular cultural context.

But, the same issues we have today existed in ancient times.

The same complaints about young people were voiced in the conservative, overtly godly culture of Old Testament Israel, a time and place where parents could legally stone their children for disrespectful language (Exodus 21: 17; Leviticus 20: 9).

The criticisms we make of our younger generation are the same which were made in the religiously pluralistic, sexually liberal squares of ancient Greece.

The problem is not the times.  The problem is not the culture.  The problem with “young people today” is not TODAY.

And, the problem isn’t that they’re young. 

Solomon called children an inheritance from God, a reward, a source of the parents’ strength like arrows in the hand of a warrior. (Psalm 127: 3-5)

In Matthew 19: 13, 14, Jesus called children the model for the people of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The problem with “young people today” isn’t that they live in today’s culture.  It isn’t that they are young.  The problem is that they’re PEOPLE.  Each young person is a complete PERSON.

If my son cusses me out, it’s not the nation’s fault for taking prayer out of schools.  It’s not the media’s fault for playing Lil’ Wayne records and airing episodes of “American Dad” and “Family Guy.”  It didn’t happen because we are living in the end times and such behavior is inevitable (not that we aren’t living in the end times).   And it isn’t because my boy got in with “the wrong crowd.”

Listen.  If my son cusses me out the problem is MY SON.  It’s not the culture.  It’s not the times.  It’s the person.

Young people today sin for the same reason that old people today sin and for the same reason that people have sinned in every time and culture since Eden--------because they individually choose to.

Stop making excuses.   Stop looking for labels and diagnoses to excuse what they did.

Your child’s sins are your child’s fault.

Deal with it.

Seriously.   Do something to deal with it.

Don’t acquiesce dominance in your house to the screaming, hitting 2 year old.  Check them and teach them not to scream and hit.

Don’t believe the hype that every teen yells at his/her parents and slams their bedroom door.  It’s not inevitable.  It’s not a necessary part of the maturing process.  It’s mean.  It’s disrespectful.  It’s sin.  Deal with it while the kid’s still short and cute and you won’t have to suffer with it when he’s awkward and tall.

When your child throws a pencil in class, stop blaming it on ADHD.  ADHD makes your child’s brain change the subject.  Choosing the subject of pencil throwing and then acting upon that subject isn’t ADHD.   

It’s free freakin’ will.

Young people may not be fully developed, but young people are fully human.  And every human being has full access to his/her free will. 

Free will exercised contrary to God’s will = SIN.

Whatever the age, whatever the times, sin is the real problem.

Deal with it.

How can you deal with it?   How can a young man cleanse his way? (Psalm 119:9a)

By taking heed according to Your word. (Psalm 119:9b)

The Word says that Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— …much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  (Romans 5: 12, 15)

The problem with kids today is sin.  The solution to sin is Jesus. 

O.K.? 

Good.  Now deal with it.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

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