Christian Living

M06000

TITLE: THE CLASS OF 57 HAD ITS DREAMS

Read Ps. 145

OUTLINE:

INTRODUCTION

I. OUR DREAMS

II. OUR REALITY

III. OUR HOPE

CONCLUSION

I. OUR DREAMS

Just to recall some of my high school classmates, I dug out the 1958 Lexington Minuteman annual, and snooped for awhile. I took some time to look through some of the signatures etc. It is appalling what I was accused of in that book. These days I could call it liable, and sue someone. One underclassman stated, in words, the confidence that the student body had in Stanley Derickson. In my senior annual she wrote, "Best of luck in your future years at Lexington High School." Another was not so nice, "Well here's hoping you get killed."

I must admit I ran with a strange crowd. I must also admit, I had forgotten what a great guy I was!

In looking back, I always remember the kids I graduated with. One became a center for the Minnesota, Vikings, one a coach for the University of Nebraska, that went on to be a coach with the Vikings and there were many more.

I want, for a moment or two, for you to go back in your own minds to your high school friends. I want you to consider the result of your own generation. To help in this I'd like to share with you the thoughts of a Statler brothers song that was popular a number of years ago, and see if there isn't a whole bundle of truth for believers in 199... .

Yes, it is a secular song. Yes, it relates to how the world is. Yes, it shouldn't relate to church services. Yes, it is strange to bring a secular song into a preaching service. But! I trust you will see that it is very relevant to us today. Please bear with me and think with me as I read the words to this song and then bring our thoughts to spiritual things and some application.

THE CLASS OF 57 by THE STATLER BROTHERS relates that some are selling cars, fixing hair, working in grocery stores, selling real estate, working in research etc. The thought is that all the class of 57 had dreams of making a big difference in their world. The realization that few ever reach those dreams is the point of the song.

I'm not really that old! The class of 57 predates me a bunch!!! I was in the class of 58! I admit the song has some reminiscence value, but I have to be very honest in stating, I see in the song a reality in which many of my own class mates are probably trapped! It is a very sad thing to me to know that all those people had hopes and dreams that faded into a truck driving job or sales job that does little to fulfill ANY dream.

It is even worse when I think of the thousands of class of 57's that have experienced the same end. The highlight of their life is getting together now and then for a big bash called a class reunion. I have never gone to any of my reunions because they are always centered around booze and they usually cost a fortune.

Having dreams does not guarantee reality of those dreams in the future! Indeed, we know that King David had a dream that he left unfulfilled when he died. He had dreamed and desired to build the Lord's temple, but due to his life God told him that was not to be the case. David ultimately left the materials for his son to build the temple. READ I Chron. 22.6-8

II. OUR REALITY

Do you remember the Christians in your graduating class? Have any followed on with the Lord's work? Assuming we are all walking with the Lord - what made the difference between you and those that aren't walking with God?

What could you plan into a youth program to be sure all turns out well in future generations? What can families do to assist in turning out committed young people?

I talked recently with the youth pastor in a church and he was telling of some of the class of 92 in this same church. One of the young fellows has parents that bought him a car. The wife had to go to work to make the payments and the youths attitude is that if they will do that then why should he work. He rides around in his car and doesn't care about anything.

The youth pastor mentioned also that the kids in his youth group that aren't interested in spiritual things come from homes with parents that aren't interested in spiritual things.

I think that the home has a direct input into the youth's life! Those that were challenged before Graduation to follow God -- What was the key to their following and others dropping away? Might I call your attention to the REALITY of the class of 58? My Class (approx. 100 students)

Of the class only two have achieved any fame of any sort. I've already mentioned that one was an assistant coach for Nebraska and then the Vikings and the other was a center for the Vikings for several years. The rest are driving truck, selling cars, working here and there.

Of the Christian kids that I graduated with several are divorced, one drank himself to an early grave, one married an unsaved person, some are walking with the Lord and some aren't. None of us has done anything of great importance in our lives other than raise families.

This is not a song folks - THIS IS REALITY! This is what happened to the CHRISTIAN KIDS of the class of 58 in only one school in one year in this country!

Jesus said in Matt. 28:19-20, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age."

SO! Why, did some turn their back on the spiritual values that they had? Indeed, most of them had similar spiritual upbringing. (Mine was much abbreviated.) SO! Why is only one of these believers in active Christian service? SO! Why isn't the class of 58 going forth for their Lord and Savior?

I would challenge you to look into your own spiritual class of ...... and see how the averages are.

These young people came out of a good Bible belt, Bible believing, Fundamental church. Why have so many churches been turning out classes of 58 instead of classes of young people that are willing to go out into the world to make disciples instead of bucks?

Why have our young people turned to the world's standards for dress? For dating? For marriage? For divorce? Why have our young people turned to the world's standards for moral choices? Why have our young people turned to the world for their entertainment?

Because they have probably taken the standard that the church has taken - the world's standards of dress, standards of morals and standards of entertainment.

I have done a study of Humanism Vs the Church. I find almost point for point Humanism's belief is in the church today. The whole thought of self gratification is where the church is at today. If I want it - I SHOULD HAVE IT. If it is against what I've been taught - TUFF - I'll do it anyway.

I hear the same beat and sound in the Christian music that I hear in secular music. For the most part in tuning across the radio dial I can't tell when I reach a Christian station unless I turn it up and try to catch some of the words. When I happen to catch someone talking, I'm usually appalled at what I'm hearing! So much false doctrine coming from "Christian Radio" and believers are supporting it.

I hear the same rhetoric in Christian homes about money and things as I hear in secular homes. I see the same dress in Christian homes as I see in the secular homes. I see the same morals in Christian homes as I see in secular homes.

It is no wonder that our teenagers look, act and seem to be the same as the world, they have been following the standard that has been set before them by their Christian peers!

STRONG YOU SAY? YES, I trust it is strong, for I believe that is very true.

When the class of 58 graduated I had no dreams! I had no purpose in life and I had no desire to do much of anything. Why? Who missed it? Why wasn't I challenged spiritually?

God took hold of my life much later and turned it around. He gave me a command in my freshman year of college. GO YE! In our first missions conference a missionary named Ron Blue - He is now Dr. Blue and I believe he teaches at Dallas Seminary - explained that great commission text to us, and it was the neatest thing that I had ever heard. That it was for everyone - but more important, that it was for me!

From that point on I had a dream. I had a purpose. No Christian teen should ever leave high school without a strong sense of their place in God's plan for mankind!

From that point on, I thought I'd change the world with my works and deeds. I took my Bible college training and was from that freshman year headed toward teaching in a Bible College. All my hopes and dreams and plans were toward the day when I would accept my first teaching position and begin to train young men and women to obey the GO YE!

GUESS WHAT? Along the way to that goal that God set before me 20 years ago I have observed that we have a lot of class of 58's. 1. We have a lot of Christians that have gone everywhere but to the world with the Gospel.

2. We have a lot of split homes. The churches divorce rate is not that great when you compare it with the worlds!

3. We have a lot of worldly people. We have Christians in business that operate on the world's standard rather than the Lord's standard. We have Christians that act like the world. They talk, act, and live like the world.

4. We have a lot of immoral people. We have a staggering number of Christian ministers falling into moral problems. I recently talked with a man from a church in Nebraska that had had a series of three preachers that had totally embarrassed the church people. One stole from the church, one had an affair, and the third talked for months on sex and related subjects, in every service and on his radio program.

A man took a church in Colorado. He used the school where I taught as a reference. The school did not know the man. A deacon went to his house to talk and found the pastor smoking and gambling. The pastor had left his previous pastorate because of debts. He was being sued by his creditors.

5. We have a lot of materialistic people. I have talked with ministers that have decided where they will and will not serve God based on finances, climate and proximity to family.

I have talked with Christians that see as their purpose in life, to enjoy the money that they have to the very fullest. They at times even give to the church, but they could do so much more if they chose to serve Him completely.

6. We have a lot of disinterested people. I've spoken in churches where there were very few even listening to the message.

7. WE HAVE VERY PRECIOUS FEW THAT ARE GOING TO THE WORLD WITH THE GOSPEL - WITH THEIR LORD'S COMMAND IN MIND!

How do you rate when you consider what you have done for your Lord since your graduation from high school? Are you one of the one's that decided to follow Christ in the ministry that He set before each one of us? Or are you one of the one's that just faded into the woodwork of life? Or maybe you are just beginning to fade - maybe your commitment is on the decline.

I fear there are multitudes of people from the class of 57 in our churches. People that faded into the old timers class or maybe just arrived there having never been challenged. We were in an older adult class recently where the excitement of the day was the question whether a man with back problems should go with surgery or a chiropractor. The next exciting item of discussion was whether one of the men had retired or not.

IF, and I mean if, most of our church people have ever taken the great commission seriously, most have just as seriously ignored it later in life.

I personally am a pessimist when it comes to the class of 58 having any great impact on the Gospel scene. We are too old to go, too tight to give, and I fear too unwilling oft times to pray. However, there is hope and that hope lies in what the younger generations can do!

III. OUR HOPE

In thinking back over the class of 58, I find only one thing that may have determined my being the one to go into the ministry.

All of the others were raised in Christian homes. I was not and my being saved in high school is the only real distinction between myself and the other Christian kids I graduated with.

Being saved out of a life of sin seems, as I observe people, to bring the realization of God's call on the person's life to the forefront in their thinking and commitments. There is right up front, a realization that the person was destined for hell and only the work of the Lord changed that! The idea of God owning the person is very prominent in their thinking.

Maybe we need to communicate the lostness of man to our youth!

The question may have come into your mind. WHY ARE WE HAVING SUCH POOR RESULTS IN OUR YOUNG PEOPLE? May I make a few suggestions that may help you evaluate your own church and your own ministries relating to youth?

1. The Lord spent three years with the disciples and I believe all went into some type of ministry, be it missions or pastoring. How many churches do you know where anyone spends three years worth of time REALLY trying to train the youth in the things of the Lord? Is your youth program designed to help the youth to know what the Christian life is all about?

The youth pastor I mentioned earlier told me that he had taken a book of the Bible to study with the young people. They thought that was neat - they had never done that before. They had not been taught the Word of God. Is your program designed to teach them the Biblical standard of life? Or do you even have a planned, purposeful and committed program for your children, and youth.

2. Compare the lives of your youth with the standard that has been set before them by the majority of the church folks. Do you find that the youth are following what they have been seeing in the church folks? Is what they are seeing proper?

3. Does your church provide a youth program that is designed to help them to be evangelistic? Are they included in the missions planning and missions conferences?

4. Are your youth really saved, or are they just putting on the facade that allows them to live and operate in a Christian family and surrounding?

I would like to quote a very familiar text from Matthew and make some brief comments as we go along. This text is one of the most quoted of Scripture I would guess. Please do not go to sleep as you read it because you've heard it a thousand times before.

IF WE AND OUR YOUTH COULD LEARN TO LIVE THIS TEXT THEN SOME OF OUR FUTURE CLASSES WOULD TURN OUT ALL RIGHT!

Matt. 6:9b-13

I would like to read one of Christ's prayers and I am not interested in discussing whether this is really the Lord's prayer or not. It is a prayer of the Lord that we want to look at.

"Our Father,"

This may seem very simple, yet it is very hard. God must be our Father - we must be saved to live the life that is honoring to the Lord. Salvation is not an option in the Christian life! It is an imperative! We have so many "Chrisitans" today that don't know the Lord. Within the term seems to be a relationship, as well as a subservience - we are willing to do His bidding.

"who art in heaven,"

Again, this may seem very simple yet is very hard for some Christians. Our Father must be the Father that dwells in heaven and not the father of lies that dwells here on earth. Many try to serve the father of this world while calling themselves "Christian."

"Hallowed be thy name"

Holy is thy name. Not your own name, but the name of the Lord! Many seem to think that they are the one that should be reverenced instead of the Lord.

God IS holy! We are only struggling toward that end. The term hallowed is the Greek word that is normally translated sanctify in the New Testament. Sanctify means to set apart. His name is to be set apart! Held with honor! Used reverently!

We were watching 48 hours and they followed some people from a Christian tour around Times Square. One of the women used the Lord's name in vain twice. What a testimony! (7-8-92) In case you watched that show, yes we turned it off before it was over because of the trash. It is bad when you have to shut the news programs off.

"Thy kingdom come."

It is the Lord's kingdom that we are to be working for and toward, not our own. Indeed, to watch most of us spend, you'd think we were commanded to buy a kingdom. As you consider your life, be sure to compare all the time that you spend in your own pursuits with the time that you spend serving your God. If the latter outweighs the former, it will surprise me in most Christian lives.

"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,"

In heaven we all know that everything that God wants done is done. In earth however, we have another story don't we! We are very bent toward doing what WE want to do! In fact this may be part of the problem in our whole discussion. It is the dreams of the people that they leave high school with, rather than the dreams of their Lord! May we be so sensitive to the Lord's desires that we are constantly doing those things that HE leads us to do rather than doing the things that we desire to do?

"Give us this day our daily bread."

Believe it or not this phrase is not related to the postal service delivering your devotional magazine! It is the bread that is the staff of life, and not the money. We are talking in this phrase about the NEEDS that we have in life. God never promised to give us all that we can dream of possessing. God promises to provide our needs, and anything over and above the NEEDS of life is His gift to us.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

Mark tells us that if we don't forgive others that God won't forgive us. That makes our right relationship to others very important to our own relationship to God. If we haven't forgiven others then God has not forgiven us and we have sin in our lives that is keeping us from HIS VERY BEST! "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have anything against any, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father, who is in heaven, forgive your trespasses." (Mk 11:25-26)

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

This is one of the keys to the spiritual life. We must be constantly on the guard to flee temptation, and to seek HIS help to maintain our purity and holiness.

"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory"

It is truly the LORD'S kingdom, the LORD'S power and the LORD'S glory that we should be striving for. Not our kingdom. Not our power. Not our glory. That really chips away at the glory hounds that we seem to have in the Christian world today. The men and women that are out there charging big bucks to perform or speak. I've been told of some Christian concerts that cost $ 7-8,000 for one show and Christian's pay because they want to be entertained. I've been told that some big name speakers charge several thousand dollars per engagement. Publishers: Oh! we want to help get the Word out! That will be $44.95 please. JUST WHO'S POWER AND GLORY ARE WE SEEKING AFTER?

"Forever."

That is the plan that we are to be seeking! The eternal plan of God and not the temporal plan of man.

"Amen"

So be it. So may these things be true in your lives and in the lives of the youth that you train up in the coming years of your church.

CONCLUSION:

If we as church folk are living the life that we have just discussed then the youth that we have contact with will turn out to be the Christian workers that they should be when they reach adult years!

May we through a commitment to work with children and youth, bring about some classes of Christian young people that are willing to take the GREAT COMMISSION seriously.

If we aren't what we should be in this area - even now may we commit ourselves to rectify the problems that we have in our lives.

Let us take time to consider our success in fulfilling our spiritual dreams when we were high school graduates.

What are your dreams now spiritually? What are you doing, to see those dreams become reality?

We know the reality of the class of 58, and we can guess the outcome of the class of __ in your church, but what of other classes from this church?

In contrast to the class of 58 I'd like to tell you of another group of graduates that came from the same church a few years later. From one class of graduates there were six that entered the ministry.

One worked with Back to the Bible. Two pastor churches. One is a pastor’s wife.

One is working in a music ministry with her husband. One is a missionary to Venezuela. Seemingly, the church program also affects the outcome of youth! I would encourage you to plan and purpose, for your youth!

If you don't, the Devil will be delighted to do your job for you, and we all know how successful he is.

Three quick passages for your consideration. This study is not unlike the thoughts of some of the Biblical writers.

Ps. 78.4-8 "We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 5. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6. That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7. That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 8. And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God."

II Tim 2:2 may relate in this sermon as well - teach others that they may teach others that they may teach others.

Ps. 71.18 "Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to everyone that is to come."

God has given us two responsibilities as human beings. Reach our own generation with the Gospel and to reach our children with God's principles.

For the most part my responsibilities are about done. I have done about all that I can with my own children, and my years make me think that reaching my generation is slipping away. Many are already dead and many are to set in their ways to respond to the Gospel.

I trust that as you go away from this study you will reconsider where you have been and where you can go from this point on to see to it that you pass on your God to your own family and to your own generation.