First, I want to apologize for not keeping up with the blog. I had some personal things going on for a while and simply did not realize it had been so long since my last posting. I am planning to get ahead a few posts in the future so we will still be able to update on a more regular schedule. As a refresher you may want to review the first two posts of Have you already lost your children and Why you may have already lost your children.
As in every generation, if the parents find it hard to understand or speak the language of their kids this may leave them with a serious communications gap. When this happens the kids are going to turn to their friends for answers and will not respect their parents. This is also true in the way Christians today try to reach the world. We have a huge communications gap, and it is another reason as to why we are losing our children.
In Acts 2, Peter stood up in front of the men of Israel and delivered a short concise gospel message. Over 3000 people were “added to the church” in one day and others were being added to the church on a regular basis.
In Acts 17, Paul stood before the people of Athens and gave then a more detailed and specific message of the gospel and only a few people believed.
Why would a short, concise gospel message bring so many people to Christ while a more detailed and specific message only reached a few? On the surface it appears that Peter was a huge success and Paul was not. Is that really the case? The answer lies in the difference in those two societies (or worlds).
Acts 2 world
The Acts 2 world already knew about God, who he was, and what he expected of them because they had:
· the Mosaic Laws
· a written history of creation
· an understanding of what sin is and its penalty
· written prophecies about the coming messiah from the prophets
This is what America (and others around the world) used to be:
· We had prayer in schools
· Most people attended some kind of church
· Many people believed in the literal six days of creation
· When you spoke of God almost everyone knew which God you were speaking of
Acts 17 world
The Acts 17 world was quite different in the following aspects:
· They worshiped many gods
· They had an evolution based society
· They believed in and tolerated many religions
· They did not know about the one true God who created all things
This is what America and most of the world is today:
· Evolution is the “religion of the state”
· We are forced to tolerate other religions
· Even with much scientific evidence to support creation most do not accept the one true God who created all things. They choose to turn to man’s ideas and his ways of doing things.
How does this relate to how we speak to our kids? If your family is like most, the parents and grandparents grew up in that time when America was the Acts 2 world while our children are growing up in an Acts 17 world. In the past the Billy Graham’s of the world could deliver that short, concise message and thousands would come to Christ. You preach that same message today and people will laugh at you and call you foolish, stupid, and narrow-minded. Why? The world today does not have that same foundation. They are taught that there is no one true religion or God, that evolution is the way things came about and thus, are omitting or limiting Gods role in the creation of the world.
How can we speak the same language?
We have to accept the fact that in most cases the parents and grandparents are the Jews and have somewhat of a foundation and knowledge of God and that our children are the Greeks being taught everything but the truth and pulled farther and farther away from God.
In order to reach our children today (and most people in our world) we have to take them right back to Genesis 1 and give them the foundation they are missing. You are probably asking how in the world can I remember everything from Genesis 1 and be able to tell people about that? I am going to give you a brief outline of the “7 C’s of history” to help you remember this (please refer to AinswersInGeneis.org for more details on the 7 C’s).
Creation
In the beginning God created all things seen and unseen and at the end of the 7 days of creation everything was perfect. Genesis 1:29-31 tells us
29) Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
30) and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.
31) God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
God said, “And behold it was very good”. What does God mean by “very good”? He meant that there was no sickness, pain, sorrow, suffering or death. People and animals ate fruits and herbs so animals did not kill and eat each other and people did not eat animals (this was not permitted until after the flood). Man and animals lived peacefully together and it was not until after the flood that animals had a fear of man.
Corruption
God told Adam that he could eat of any tree in the Garden except for one. God told Adam that if he did he would surely die (Genesis: 2:17). I think we all know what happened next. The serpent (Satan) tempted Eve and she told Adam, and they both ate from the tree that God told them not to. From that moment on perfection became imperfection and sin (disobedience to God) entered the world causing all kinds of problems for mankind.
Catastrophe
After the corruption took place, people began to multiply and do many evil things which greatly displeased God. This grieved God so much that he determined to destroy everything that had the breath of life including all people and animals (Genesis 7:23). God sent a catastrophic flood that wiped out all life except for Noah and his family. This was the penalty for sin and corruption.
Confusion
After the flood God told the people to multiply and spread out across the earth. The people decided to gather in one place and build a tower (Tower of Babel) that would bring the entire world together and to make a name for themselves. This was the opposite of what God told them to do and he was very displeased. In order to get the people to spread out across the world as he originally commanded, he confused the language of the people so that those who spoke the same language had to band together and to move off to different parts of the world. This is why we have different nations, languages, and customs today (there is only one “race” of people).
Christ
God required a perfect sacrifice to pay for sins of man. When Adam sinned God killed two animals as a sacrifice and used their skins to be a “covering” for Adam and Eve (physical and spiritual). God gave the law through Moses, but Gods standards were so high that breaking one law was the same as breaking all of the laws. God promised to send a sacrifice suitable to pay for all of man’s sins. That sacrifice was Christ Jesus.
Cross
The first man Adam sinned and brought death to all people. Christ came to the earth as a man but did not sin. This made him a perfect and suitable sacrifice for all sins of all people past, present and future. The last Adam (Christ) paid the price on the cross of suffering and death so that all we have to do is to say yes to that free gift of salvation that Christ paid for on the cross.
Consummation
The Bible tells us that there will someday be a new heaven and new earth. Just as God originally created things to be perfect, he will once again create that perfect place. We will be consummated with God and live forever in that new heaven and earth.
In summary
Was Paul a success to the Greeks? I think so. He had to undo years of false teaching and beliefs in a few minutes so the fact that anyone believed was a success. We live in that Acts 17 world today, and if you try and talk to people as if they are in the Act 2 world they will think you are being foolish just as Paul said how the Greeks reacted to his message. Because so few people have a good solid Biblical background we cannot simple tell them things like “Trust in Jesus” and “God has a wonderful plan for your life” because they do not understand the perfect place God created and how sin and death came about. You must take them back to Genesis 1 and explain about these things before they will ever understand who the one true God is and about his plan of salvation.
As explained in the first few postings it is very important that we talk to our children and be able to answer their questions about the Bible and God. It is important that our children know WHAT they believe, and it is just as important that they know WHY they believe it. Just because the Bible says so is not a valid reason. To be able to answer a lot of the questions you will hear, it is important that you know what the world believes, what we believe, and what the differences are. In my future postings I will provide some of that information so you and your children can be well equipped to deal with the “fiery darts” the enemy will throw at you.
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