The Belshazzar Generation
It’s time I said something meaningful and helpful I think, I haven’t done that for ages so here we go. This post has been formulating in my mind for a long time, well perhaps the post hasn’t but the concept certainly has, contrary to what you’re thinking this isn’t the post that the last post speaks of, that’s a whole other issue that hopefully might get written soon, but in the meantime I want to talk about The Belshazzar Generation. It might get quite long, I make no apology for that as I wrote it as an essay on the subject, it isn’t a deliberate attempt to try and topple Alasdair for the title of longest entry ever by an Agapé staff member I promise.
What is The Belshazzar Generation? Well it’s my name for many of the kids of Generation X (that’s the posh technical term for my generation allegedly) from Christian families. “But Andy, why do you call that The Belshazzar Generation?” I hear you cry. Daniel 5:18-24. Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon was, for want of a better description, an idiot. Yes, an idiot. An idiot of the highest order of idiots.
When you read the story of Nebuchadnezzar it’s quite enlightening, King of Babylon who’s a nasty piece of work and a worshipper of other God’s takes Israel captive. Now if I was God I’d probably be rather unpleasant to this bloke, rather unpleasant in the “oh look you seem to have died” kind of a mould of being unpleasant, but God has other ideas and humbles him in miraculous ways so much so that in Daniel 4:37 he praises God “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” God transformed this nasty piece of work into someone who saw the power of the true and living God. Yes Nebuchadnezzar then slipped back into a bit of arrogance and God, as had been prophesied, removed him but still the work of God had been clear in his life for all to see, DEFINITELY clear enough for little old Belshazzar to notice, did he notice and give glory to God? Err…no, he ignored everything God had done to his father, stuck two fingers up in the direction of the living God, and wandered off to be an all round idiot of a king.
And so we arrive at my thoughts on The Belshazzar Generation. I grew up in church, a church (or couple of churches) with at least 20 people who you’d class as “youth” of a similar age to me and another 15ish of my sisters age, so 35 altogether. Over the last few months I’ve begun to face a fact. I’m the last man standing (well last two standing with my sister). Yes for quite some time I’ve tried to con myself into believing that actually all these people are Ok spiritually wherever they are but as information has filtered through about one after another I’ve come to the point of seeing that each of them has gone off, away from the church, on their own way.
Now let’s get one thing straight, I’m not claiming not to have gone off my own way, I did and praise God for sorting me out, and I’m not claiming that any of these guys won’t come back (I heard a great story from Terry Virgo a few weeks back about one of his sons that did exactly that) but it does bother me. Why are the church kids of Generation X “doing a Belshazzar”? What is so unattractive to my generation who grew up in the church that virtually zero have made it through to 25 with any semblance of meaningful faith?
Let’s be honest again. I think a lot of these people would claim to be Christians, they were brought up by Christian parents, they went to Sunday school (the fact they sat there and ignored what was being said and made fun of the teachers is beside the point, I know this because that’s what I did) some even went to a church school. This, generally speaking from my experience both of my friends and of students on campus, qualifies them for a free ticket to heaven. The Godless lifestyle they lead can be left on the side here, it isn’t about them, it’s where they came from. For some reason we’ve created this “I’ll be alright because my dad is” mentality, Christianity by association. I liken this to turning up at a football ground turnstile with your dad and trying to get in on his ticket despite quite blatantly being an adult yourself and not in possession of the one thing that permits entry to the ground. “But I’m with him?” it doesn’t wash I’m afraid and it doesn’t wash with God either.
The Christian life requires one thing above all else and that’s choosing to give your life to Jesus Christ, lock, stock and barrel, not just on Sunday, not just when it makes sense, all day every day for the rest of your life. It’s not easy, no one ever said it was, but the Holy Spirit gives us all we need to live that life even when we fail. It’s not about trying harder, it’s about surrendering. In war your commander can surrender for you…in life you hold the key and unless you do the surrendering, unless you do the accepting of Jesus, no one will do it for you.
So who’s to blame for the situation of The Belshazzar Generation? Generally speaking I guess you have to point the finger at the kids themselves who walk away from what they know and what they learnt from their parents in the mould of Belshazzar, at the end of the day some of these people simply don’t want to know and grieving as that is it's something we are told in the Bible to expect.
I guess the parents are also due some blame in some cases, perhaps for not wanting to force anything on their children and in the process of making sure they don’t, not even giving them a chance by not imparting their own joy in Christ. If parents truly believe the gospel then I’d expect to find them on their knees begging their children to seek the truth, it’s their choice and giving them the information and encouraging them to meet Jesus isn’t forcing anything, I’d say it’s loving them as Christ loved us. I know how much my parents told me because they knew life without Christ was a waste of time.
At the end of the day though I think the main culprit for what we see is something far broader, the church.
Is the church too boring? No.
Is the Bible too boring? No.
Is the church and Christianity irrelevant? No.
Is the music not lively enough? No.
Is it because the church is just a place for old people and doesn’t speak ‘yoof’? No.
I believe the number one factor in what we see is the fact that the church has got away from teaching truth. That may sound harsh but please, hear me out.
Truth is attractive, Jesus is attractive, the gospel message is the most exciting message the world has ever known, an invitation to know, love and serve the creator of the universe and so often we find it polluted WITHIN THE CHURCH by the likes of…
“We can’t rule out other religions, everyone is seeking God, we’ll all find him.”
“The Bible isn’t reliable there are bits of it we know aren’t true.”
“Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, it was just a spiritual thing giving us new meaning.”
“The words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32-33 are just figurative, he didn’t really mean it.”
“God wouldn’t really allow something like the tsunami, we have no answers.”
“We must love our neighbours but let’s get rid of those youths hanging round outside smoking dope, we don’t like their sort.”
We dilute the truth to such an extent it vanishes into thin air…along with Generation X, Jesus Christ did not die for the sins of the world to be “just another option”, he is THE way, THE truth and THE life.
The one place I see Generation X and the generations that are following flourishing and not disappearing is not necessarily in the “lively charismatic churches” or the “youth dominant churches” but just the churches where we see the truth proclaimed, no watering down, no liberal mess questioning the deity of Jesus, just cold hard truth of the gospel. Those places are inspiring, seeing people living out who they are in Christ because they have been changed by truth, I’m seeing Generation X leading in those places, that’s exciting. To me this is significant. The gospel is a powerful thing, the truth is a powerful thing and yet in so many places it is being weakened to such an extent that it doesn’t attract it’s own, let alone outsiders.
We need to be those who cling to truth, who hold up the living Jesus who we see and meet in the pages of God’s word, meeting Jesus is unforgettable and undeniable, when we truly meet him we have no option but to sell out and surrender. We aren’t even giving The Belshazzar Generation a chance, it’s almost as if we’re herding them toward the door in efforts to “not press it on them”. The gospel is relevant and true, we long to see the unchurched ones receive it and see their lives transformed and yet the churched ones, the ones who have seen the heritage like Belshazzar, are getting away. We need to do something about it.
I pray for this unruly rabble of which I am a part and yet not a part. Will you join me?
What is The Belshazzar Generation? Well it’s my name for many of the kids of Generation X (that’s the posh technical term for my generation allegedly) from Christian families. “But Andy, why do you call that The Belshazzar Generation?” I hear you cry. Daniel 5:18-24. Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon was, for want of a better description, an idiot. Yes, an idiot. An idiot of the highest order of idiots.
When you read the story of Nebuchadnezzar it’s quite enlightening, King of Babylon who’s a nasty piece of work and a worshipper of other God’s takes Israel captive. Now if I was God I’d probably be rather unpleasant to this bloke, rather unpleasant in the “oh look you seem to have died” kind of a mould of being unpleasant, but God has other ideas and humbles him in miraculous ways so much so that in Daniel 4:37 he praises God “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” God transformed this nasty piece of work into someone who saw the power of the true and living God. Yes Nebuchadnezzar then slipped back into a bit of arrogance and God, as had been prophesied, removed him but still the work of God had been clear in his life for all to see, DEFINITELY clear enough for little old Belshazzar to notice, did he notice and give glory to God? Err…no, he ignored everything God had done to his father, stuck two fingers up in the direction of the living God, and wandered off to be an all round idiot of a king.
And so we arrive at my thoughts on The Belshazzar Generation. I grew up in church, a church (or couple of churches) with at least 20 people who you’d class as “youth” of a similar age to me and another 15ish of my sisters age, so 35 altogether. Over the last few months I’ve begun to face a fact. I’m the last man standing (well last two standing with my sister). Yes for quite some time I’ve tried to con myself into believing that actually all these people are Ok spiritually wherever they are but as information has filtered through about one after another I’ve come to the point of seeing that each of them has gone off, away from the church, on their own way.
Now let’s get one thing straight, I’m not claiming not to have gone off my own way, I did and praise God for sorting me out, and I’m not claiming that any of these guys won’t come back (I heard a great story from Terry Virgo a few weeks back about one of his sons that did exactly that) but it does bother me. Why are the church kids of Generation X “doing a Belshazzar”? What is so unattractive to my generation who grew up in the church that virtually zero have made it through to 25 with any semblance of meaningful faith?
Let’s be honest again. I think a lot of these people would claim to be Christians, they were brought up by Christian parents, they went to Sunday school (the fact they sat there and ignored what was being said and made fun of the teachers is beside the point, I know this because that’s what I did) some even went to a church school. This, generally speaking from my experience both of my friends and of students on campus, qualifies them for a free ticket to heaven. The Godless lifestyle they lead can be left on the side here, it isn’t about them, it’s where they came from. For some reason we’ve created this “I’ll be alright because my dad is” mentality, Christianity by association. I liken this to turning up at a football ground turnstile with your dad and trying to get in on his ticket despite quite blatantly being an adult yourself and not in possession of the one thing that permits entry to the ground. “But I’m with him?” it doesn’t wash I’m afraid and it doesn’t wash with God either.
The Christian life requires one thing above all else and that’s choosing to give your life to Jesus Christ, lock, stock and barrel, not just on Sunday, not just when it makes sense, all day every day for the rest of your life. It’s not easy, no one ever said it was, but the Holy Spirit gives us all we need to live that life even when we fail. It’s not about trying harder, it’s about surrendering. In war your commander can surrender for you…in life you hold the key and unless you do the surrendering, unless you do the accepting of Jesus, no one will do it for you.
So who’s to blame for the situation of The Belshazzar Generation? Generally speaking I guess you have to point the finger at the kids themselves who walk away from what they know and what they learnt from their parents in the mould of Belshazzar, at the end of the day some of these people simply don’t want to know and grieving as that is it's something we are told in the Bible to expect.
I guess the parents are also due some blame in some cases, perhaps for not wanting to force anything on their children and in the process of making sure they don’t, not even giving them a chance by not imparting their own joy in Christ. If parents truly believe the gospel then I’d expect to find them on their knees begging their children to seek the truth, it’s their choice and giving them the information and encouraging them to meet Jesus isn’t forcing anything, I’d say it’s loving them as Christ loved us. I know how much my parents told me because they knew life without Christ was a waste of time.
At the end of the day though I think the main culprit for what we see is something far broader, the church.
Is the church too boring? No.
Is the Bible too boring? No.
Is the church and Christianity irrelevant? No.
Is the music not lively enough? No.
Is it because the church is just a place for old people and doesn’t speak ‘yoof’? No.
I believe the number one factor in what we see is the fact that the church has got away from teaching truth. That may sound harsh but please, hear me out.
Truth is attractive, Jesus is attractive, the gospel message is the most exciting message the world has ever known, an invitation to know, love and serve the creator of the universe and so often we find it polluted WITHIN THE CHURCH by the likes of…
“We can’t rule out other religions, everyone is seeking God, we’ll all find him.”
“The Bible isn’t reliable there are bits of it we know aren’t true.”
“Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, it was just a spiritual thing giving us new meaning.”
“The words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32-33 are just figurative, he didn’t really mean it.”
“God wouldn’t really allow something like the tsunami, we have no answers.”
“We must love our neighbours but let’s get rid of those youths hanging round outside smoking dope, we don’t like their sort.”
We dilute the truth to such an extent it vanishes into thin air…along with Generation X, Jesus Christ did not die for the sins of the world to be “just another option”, he is THE way, THE truth and THE life.
The one place I see Generation X and the generations that are following flourishing and not disappearing is not necessarily in the “lively charismatic churches” or the “youth dominant churches” but just the churches where we see the truth proclaimed, no watering down, no liberal mess questioning the deity of Jesus, just cold hard truth of the gospel. Those places are inspiring, seeing people living out who they are in Christ because they have been changed by truth, I’m seeing Generation X leading in those places, that’s exciting. To me this is significant. The gospel is a powerful thing, the truth is a powerful thing and yet in so many places it is being weakened to such an extent that it doesn’t attract it’s own, let alone outsiders.
We need to be those who cling to truth, who hold up the living Jesus who we see and meet in the pages of God’s word, meeting Jesus is unforgettable and undeniable, when we truly meet him we have no option but to sell out and surrender. We aren’t even giving The Belshazzar Generation a chance, it’s almost as if we’re herding them toward the door in efforts to “not press it on them”. The gospel is relevant and true, we long to see the unchurched ones receive it and see their lives transformed and yet the churched ones, the ones who have seen the heritage like Belshazzar, are getting away. We need to do something about it.
I pray for this unruly rabble of which I am a part and yet not a part. Will you join me?
posted by andyd @ 4:31 pm
3 comments
