Psalm 145:4-7
Intro – I have started a post-Easter sermon series called “Developing A Culture of Outreach”.
-last Sunday we looked at the first part of Jesus’ four part strategy in developing a culture of outreach among His people…and that was: Jesus transforms lives…
I’m going to wait until next week to continue with part two of the strategy because I won’t have any time to preach in the second service today because of the baptism and testimonies and communion…so I want to keep us all moving at the same pace…
But what I want to do today in this service is expand on the assignment I gave you last week…which was to find someone you don’t know very well in the other service…and introduce yourself and have a conversation…
-what we’re doing is developing a culture of outreach right here at home, in the safety of our own church family…where we cannot fail…and by taking a few steps in this direction, hopefully we gain some confidence in reaching out further to people with the love of Christ…
-so I’ve challenged both services to consider taking a missions trip to the other service…ask the Lord to point out someone and then approach them…get to know them…you can also use the time in-between services to do this…many other creative ways to do this…all you have to do is be intentional…
Why?
Now the question of why is important. Because I can see it from your point of view. What’s the point in doing that? Why make the effort to connect with someone that I don’t know and probably never will…something that may or may not go well? It’s easier just to stay put with the people I already know and feel safe with.
Let me give you a few verses from Psalm 145 that might help you understand the importance of developing a culture of outreach, especially in a multi-generational church like ours…
Psalm 145: 4-7
One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty--
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They tell of the power of your awesome works--
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
What I see this passage teaching is that it is important, according to God’s word, for us as an older generation to point a younger generation to God by intergenerational praise…
v. 4 “one generation commends your works to another”
It is important to God that we who are part of an older generation be intentional about blessing a younger generation, encouraging them, supporting them, empowering them…pointing them to God…for the growth of God’s kingdom and the spread of His gospel…
God even gives us the script to use: “tell of His mighty acts…speak of the glorious splendor of His majesty…tell of the power of His awesome works…celebrate His abundant goodness…joyfully sing of His righteousness…”
In other words, talk about God…how great and wonderful and mighty He is…how good He has been to you…the miracles you have seen Him do…the answers to prayer…His faithfulness throughout your life…
…tell your story, your testimony…and then listen to a younger person’s story…get to know them and what God is doing in their life…it’s all about intergenerational praise, finding ways to worship together with another generation…
Do They Want This?
Yes, despite what some of you may think…younger people want this from older people. Actually what they want is to get to know you and be encouraged by you…you have no idea how important your interest in them is…
Believe me…I hear this often from younger people…how much they long to connect with you as older believers in Christ…they really do value your experience, wisdom, perseverance…they really do value your example of faith and courage in living a long-term life of following Jesus…how you’ve managed to endure all the storms and difficulties and somehow still survive…how you’ve stayed true to Jesus even when things got so hard…
v. 4 “one generation commends your work to another…”
It’s unfortunate that our two services are generally divided along generational lines…not entirely…but mainly they are…older folks in the first, younger in the second…two different styles of worship that cater to each group…
Maybe we need to do something about that!
Fortunately we meet all together for about 10 weeks in the summer for a combined service.
It’s hard to experience intergenerational praise when we’re separated from each other…it’s certainly hard to develop a culture of outreach among generations when we don’t have an accessible time and place to do that…
But it is a challenge God wants us to address…it can certainly be overcome…
…and while it goes two ways (the younger generation can take the initiative in reaching out to the older one)…the burden of responsibility for this in scripture is placed on the older generation…that is certainly the tone here in Ps. 145…but it is also mentioned in other places in scripture…
Titus 2:2-5
2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
eg the church we attend in Phoenix…prayed for at end of service…older guy named Don…prayed for us before…remembered us!
…this time joined by a younger man who also prayed for us…afterwards he proudly whispered to me, “He’s my apprentice.”
Now I don’t know to what degree God wants you to connect with a younger person, but I will tell you this:
Moses had Joshua…Elijah had Elisha…Naomi had Ruth…Barnabas had Paul…Paul had Timothy…Jesus had the Twelve…Jesus has us…
…who do you have? who in a younger generation looks to you as an example, mentor, someone whom they aspire to become? Who is going to be around long after you’re gone to take your place and carry on your ministry and take it to a new and higher level?
That’s how us older ones need to be thinking and praying and acting…
“one generation commends your work to another…”
Think About the Finish Line
It is interesting to read Paul’s last NT letter. It is widely believed that 2 Timothy was the last book he wrote before his death…around 68 ad.
And the book was written, interestingly, to his beloved disciple Timothy…whom he calls “my dear son…”
-and in some of his final words to Timothy…to the next generation and to many generations to come, he said in
2 Tim. 4:6-8:
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
That’s a great example for young Timothy…to emulate the kind of persevering, faithful life Paul lived. We want our lives to inspire a younger generation. We want to finish well…
But then Paul shifts the focus in the next verse:
8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Paul points to Jesus. He points past himself to Christ. And if we’re really going to bless a younger generation, they need to see more than just us; they need to see Jesus in us and beyond us…their focus needs to be on Jesus…the One and Only example completely worth following…the Perfect Lord and Savior who is the One we follow and ultimately will answer to…
…need to see His perfect salvation…sufficiency for all of life…need to see Jesus…
Conclusion
So perhaps now, this assignment of connecting with someone from a younger generation doesn’t seem so pointless or unnecessary or even difficult…perhaps God has stirred something in you that gives you a compelling reason to get out of your comfort zone and go and make a connection, right here in our own church…
…that’s how we develop a culture of outreach…
Amen.