Main Point and Overview:
There’s a big difference in being with someone to motivate and challenge him and attempting to do it from a distance. In some ways, our church building is a “protective cocoon” every Sunday as we gather with people who love us, believe in what we believe, and love the same Lord Jesus Christ. Then, we go out into the culture which is often filled with viewpoints that are antagonistic to God’s Word. As we celebrate our high school graduates, we feel the same angst. For many of them, they have attended youth group for years. They have youth leaders who have loved them in multiple ways from a meaningful conversation to showing up to their events to encouraging them through the pain of their parents’ divorce to a million other examples. Now, they will be leaving the “cocoon” to go off to college or simply to start a new phase in their lives. Different people, different places, different challenges, but the same God! That, my friends, was the encouragement that the Apostle Paul was attempting to give to the Philippians. He was no longer with them to encourage or motivate them face to face. The time had come for them to take their faith to the “next level.” The same is true today of our high school graduates. It’s been said that a teenager’s faith must move from his parents’ (or youth leaders’) faith to his own faith at some point. Paul challenged the Philippians to do just that by continuing to pursue a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. He admonished them not to get sidetracked with meaningless distractions. Ultimately, he wanted to be convinced that his investment in them was worth it as proven by their persistence. This is the same thing that every parent and youth leader desire. What’s next should look a lot like what’s been – just in new ways.
There’s a big difference in being with someone to motivate and challenge him and attempting to do it from a distance. In some ways, our church building is a “protective cocoon” every Sunday as we gather with people who love us, believe in what we believe, and love the same Lord Jesus Christ. Then, we go out into the culture which is often filled with viewpoints that are antagonistic to God’s Word. As we celebrate our high school graduates, we feel the same angst. For many of them, they have attended youth group for years. They have youth leaders who have loved them in multiple ways from a meaningful conversation to showing up to their events to encouraging them through the pain of their parents’ divorce to a million other examples. Now, they will be leaving the “cocoon” to go off to college or simply to start a new phase in their lives. Different people, different places, different challenges, but the same God! That, my friends, was the encouragement that the Apostle Paul was attempting to give to the Philippians. He was no longer with them to encourage or motivate them face to face. The time had come for them to take their faith to the “next level.” The same is true today of our high school graduates. It’s been said that a teenager’s faith must move from his parents’ (or youth leaders’) faith to his own faith at some point. Paul challenged the Philippians to do just that by continuing to pursue a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. He admonished them not to get sidetracked with meaningless distractions. Ultimately, he wanted to be convinced that his investment in them was worth it as proven by their persistence. This is the same thing that every parent and youth leader desire. What’s next should look a lot like what’s been – just in new ways.
Posted in Devotional