Sins of Youth

Trinity is a relatively young congregation. While some of you are as ancient as the hills, the lot of you are young. You are young children, you are young men, young women, young adults, young marrieds, and young parents. This means that we as a congregation must recognize that we are tempted largely by the sins of youth. You are tempted to rebel against godly authority, and You are tempted to replace those godly authorities with pathetic substitutes like professional athletes, cutting edge authors, rock stars, political pundits, celebrities of every stripe, and all manner of foolish friends in your desperate attempts to be hip and cool and intelligent. You are tempted to excess: if one beer is good, two must be better. And if you can’t quote me a verse, you can’t make me stop. You struggle with self control and discipline. How much time do you spend on Facebook? Video games? Chatting/Texting/Whatever? You are tempted to lust for worldly power, glory, beauty, and sex. And while these temptations and sins are not limited to young people, they are the typical battles. And you need to know two things: First, the God you serve desires to bless you out of your mind. He has things prepared for you that you cannot even begin to imagine. And these things include but are not limited to deep and abiding joy, glory that pours down on your head, and satisfying pleasures that do not end. But the God you serve will not give His children a stone when they ask Him for bread. He is not satisfied with cheap substitutes, and He is not pleased when His children settle for less than the best. But the best comes through the cross. The best comes through serving, through giving up yourself. True glory, true authority, true pleasure comes through putting to death the lusts of the flesh and giving yourself away for others. Serve your parents, bless your brother, help your sister, bless your roommate, minister grace to your spouse, keep on loving those little ones. Out of the trenches of homework and housekeeping and giving rides and changing diapers and studying for exams and disciplining your children and serving your employer, out of those trenches will emerge many kings and queens. Jesus rode into Jerusalem like a king, but He was not enthroned until He had shed his blood for His people.

“Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!” (Ps. 25:7)