12 Reasons Why We Need Godly Men More Than Ever
by on Oct 6th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
#2 - Every Generation Must Demonstrate Its Own Faithfulness
I love history to a fault, and so it pains me to make this admission, but we cannot expect the men of God who have preceded us to serve in our place as Christ’s ambassadors to our generation.
My respect for my spiritual ancestors is tremendous. As I write this entry from my office desk, I have two biographies lying beside me. Both books record the lives of Balthasar Hubmaier and Michael Sattler, men who, under conviction of God’s Word, gave their lives as martyrs to proclaim Jesus. The longer I live and study, the greater my sense of indebtedness to faithful Christians of the past is grown. The fruits of their studies are treasures to read. The pains of their mistakes can save me from repeating them. The example of their faithfulness shows me that Jesus is worthy to live and die for. However, they cannot and should not be the chief voices and examples of Christ to the world for this time.
One of the marvels of God’s plan for His kingdom is that He entrusts the work of proclaiming it and building it to imperfect people, imperfect being the polite term. He also entrusts the work to limited people. We need to take breaks, manage physical limitations, and all of us face an inevitable earthly termination. Therefore, each generation must replicate itself or else the work of the Great Commission is lost on future generations. This limitation is not new to humanity nor has it escaped the eye of God.
Before Joshua left this world, he soberly prepared the nation of Israel to understand the consequences, both good and bad, that would result from their response to God after his passing (Joshua 24:1-33). The men of his generation responded to his challenge by faithfully serving the Lord, but the next generation did not step up and take the lead when their fathers died. They forgot God, and the nation would enter a prolonged period of suffering as a result of their negligence (Judges 2:1-14). All it took for a holy people to become a rebellious people was one lazy and selfish generation to stop the flow of proclaiming the Word of God.
There are other directives in Scripture that remind us of the strategic importance that is found in actively serving as God’s people and passing His word to the next generation. Deuteronomy 6:1-25 and Psalm 78 are two famous Old Testament passages. In the New Testament, we see an explicit command to instruct children in Ephesians 6:4, and we have the implicit examples of Paul training Timothy as well as Timothy having been trained by his family. The book of Hebrews highlights the faith of preceding believers to compel the present generation to join their example in fixing their eyes on Jesus and running after Him (Hebrews 11:1-12:3).
All of these Scriptures shout the importance of generational faithfulness to God. As we grow into adulthood, our predecessors depart and new children enter this world. We become the new torchbearers and baton-passers of God’s Kingdom, and our time to do this is very short. The responsibility of glorifying the name of God on this earth, at this time, is ours to bear. Joshua, Abraham, Paul, Timothy, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, Michael Sattler, and Balthasar Hubmaier cannot do it for us.
We need men of God from this generation whose lives serve as compelling arguments for the worthiness that is found in faithfully living and dying for the one and only savior of the world, Jesus the Christ. Why not you and me?