The Generation Gap
1 Pet 5:1-11
My father and I have had a long standing disagreement about
music. I like good music and he likes
bad music! Whenever he would get in the
car, he would turn to a country station, and when I drove, I would turn to a
rock station. Of course there was most
of the time when we were in the car together.
He would turn to a country station and I would try to turn it to a rock
station. The usual reaction would be
him slapping my hand as I reached for the dial and this phrase, “ This is my
car, we’ll listen to what I want to listen to.
When you get your own car then you can control the dials.” I wasn’t able
to afford a car until I graduated from college. Mom and Dad came down for my graduation and then we were going to
spend a couple of days in Nashville as a graduation vacation. I knew Dad would ride with me in my new car,
so I bought the worst heavy metal tape I could find. We get in the car, and I stick that tape in. Dad started to reach for the dials, I
slapped his hand and guess what I said,
yep, “This is my car, we’ll listen to what I want to listen to. When you are in your car, then you can
control the dials.” It was one of the greatest days of my
life!
We were from two different generations that seemed to think
differently about everything. It’s been
that way since Adam and Cain. Peter
addresses this same issue as the last part of his letter.
PRAYER
I. A
Caution To Elders
A.
The Forgotten verse
1.
Usually when we think about the qualifications of elders we look
at the 1 Tim 4 passage and the Titus passage.
2.
Yet, this is just as an important passage as the other two.
3.
This passage really deals with the heart of the men who are to
be shepherd of our spiritual flock.
B.
What elders should be
1.
One of the first things we can glean from this passage is that
elders are supposed to be older by nature.
a)
What’s defines older?
b)
I don’t know that there is any magical age, but more a concept
of mature men who show by their actions they are able to be spiritual leaders.
c)
Elders by definition mean older and then in vs 5 Peter gives
the opposite of an elder by referring to young men and their role as opposed to
elders.
2.
Be shepherds of the flock
a)
I don’t know a lot about being a shepherd, but I used to help
on a farm that had sheep. The shepherd
never pushed sheep from behind. He led
them from the front and they naturally followed him because they had learned to
trust him.
b)
We need men who develop such a trust from the congregation
that the church will naturally follow them as they lead us.
3.
Serve willingly
a)
Elders and ministers have deal with some very unpleasant
situations.
b)
Often, they can’t win no matter what decision is made. there will be someone who is upset with that
decision.
c)
Let’s face it, when was the last time you said, “thank you for
taking on this heavy responsibility.” To one of our elders?
d)
Many men say that they just don’t need that kind of stress in
their lives and turn the church down when asked to serve in this capacity.
e)
There are two kinds of men who do this willingly. The one who has a deeps sense of
responsibility and desire to see Christians grow and the person who want power
or prestige.
4.
Eager to serve
a)
Notice what Peter says here.
b)
Don’t do it just for the money.
c)
Peter doesn’t say it is wrong to pay shepherds, but that money
shouldn’t be the reason they accept the position.
d)
A desire to serve to be the reason.
5.
Be an example
a)
Again he uses opposites to make his point.
b)
Don’t be a man looking for power.
c)
Lead by example.
d)
A church I am familiar with is looking to install elders. One of the blocking points to doing this is
that a group of men don’t want to give up the power they have in the business
meetings. When elders are put in, they
won’t have the power to run the church the way they want it run.
e)
The most dangerous person in the world is an elder on a power
trip. They can do more harm to the
kingdom of God than could ever be imagined.
f)
Good elders lead by example.
(1)
They lead by prayer lives.
(2)
They lead by Bible study.
(3)
They lead by morality.
(4)
They lead by wanting to grow closer to God.
II. The
Role of Young Men
A.
The dangers of youth
1.
Young people don’t have all the answers to life. They tend to think they do, but in reality,
our older members are simply more experienced in life. They realize that life is a little more gray
and not all black and white as many youth want to think.
2.
That’s why Peter remind the young people to submit to the
older.
3.
Youth’s passion needs to be tempered by age’s wisdom.
4.
Solomon had a son who made a fatal mistake as a king and
spiritual leader of Israel.
a)
He though young guys had all the right answers and the old men
were too out to touch with reality.
b)
It cost him his kingdom.
5.
It’s easy to think the older generation is out of touch.
a)
It may very well be they are out of touch with how to do
thing.
b)
Yet, the older generation has usually learned wisdom.
c)
Spiritual growth has much more to do with wisdom than the newest
way to do something.
6.
Learn submission
a)
This is really tough for me to say, still being one of the “young
men”
b)
We need to submit to our elders
c)
We need to respect their wisdom and experience.
B.
The Positives of youth
1.
Maybe God planned for deacons to be younger.
2.
Usually younger people are more progressive and tend to be the
workers in the church.
3.
They aren’t settled into a routine or pattern that doesn’t
allow them to be creative in reaching out.
4.
Youth has energy and drive.
5.
They are optimistic, not jaded by defeat.
C.
The key to the generation gap
1.
Peter points out a way to deal with the generation gap.
2.
be humble to each other and most of all submit humbly to the
will of God.
3.
We could have a big fight here between the younger people and
the older people in our selection of worship song. In fact I have seen far too many churches split over this
issue. Older folks could insist on only
the old traditional hymns. Younger folks
could demand the newer praise songs or threaten to go elsewhere. That hasn’t happened here. Instead, we have recognized that each
deserves to sing worship songs that are meaningful to them. We mix both types of songs in our
worship. Each generation has respected
and humbled themselves to the other.
4.
I think that is exactly how God would want us to handle
situations like this.