Your PG-13 Becomes Their R.

It’s crazy how quickly my kids can point out when I do something wrong.

They know when I say or act in a way I have previously made clear we don’t do, they are ready to make sure I see the error of my ways.

Unless it is something they kind of want to do too.

My wife or I have slipped up and made dumb comments about people we know (not cool), only to have a kid say something and take it to the next level.

Or when it’s time to turn off the tv or video games, only to be reminded that I was on my phone, a lot.  

They can take something I do that I don’t consider to be a huge deal, and in every respect act it out and point to me as the model.

It’s not the kids who are guilty, it’s me!

Whether I set a good example or bad example my children are watching, I am modeling what being an adult is.

If my behavior is tantamount to a PG-13 movie, my children’s will surely be the rated R coming attraction.

It’s never our intention to hurt or destroy precious things for the next generation, but intent matters less than reality.

Compromise causes more loss than you think.

It does it slower and subtler, but it takes more ground than you would have initially agreed upon.

It does it in a way that if you aren’t paying attention you have no idea that you lost.  

When it’s pointed out to some on the precipice of losing there is a shrug and ‘it was bound to happen’ concessional attitude. 

This is not the attitude of a winner.

An overwhelming amount of kids that grow up in the American church leave when they become of age.  

There are two major assumptions I have heard through the years in Camp Compromise, by people whose kids really do eventually drop out.

1. You can’t force kids into church. 

2. We need to make things more like the culture.

Compromising on what is good and right will never yield good and right fruit.  

At best it will give you wild, poisonous fruit.  It’s what Hosea said of Israel. (Hosea 9:10, 10:1)

There are several real reasons why modern churches cannot hold onto young people; many of the reasons are rooted in compromise.

Demoting Christ to buddy status instead of Lord.

Lowering the standard of holiness to make more people comfortable.

Our gatherings having little to do with the Lordship of Christ and calling people into holiness.

This compromise leads to the kind of loss where the church is unrecognizable.

The church is supposed to be the hope of the world, a city on a hill.

Apologizing for the hill and making a fort out of common garbage isn’t being relevant, it is a sign to the world of “nothing to see here folks!”

When a church isn’t much more than a Ted talk taught by a sexual deviant why should we wonder where did the young people go?

If our children see us treat church and righteousness in this way, we should not be shocked when they take it further than we wanted.

The church of Jesus Christ in reality is destroying the works of the enemy and taking ground.  

If your church in reality doesn’t do this find a new church!

I am privileged to be a part of a church that is taking ground for the Kingdom in Denver; not a perfect house but one that strives for holiness.

I have been fortunate to meet many other pastors and churches walking in a similar way.

That hasn’t always been my experience working inside the church, but my wife and I had great conviction that we could not live in compromise.

Unfortunately I am seeing and hearing stories play out in many churches falling into dangerous traps that damn future generations.

My hope is that pastors steeped in compromise would repent before it’s too late, they can turn their ships around.

The great danger they don’t see, the great loss I am speaking about is much more than attendance numbers or reputation.  

It is their own children and the children of their disciples.

If they could see that loss up front it would bring them to their knees, it wouldn’t be shrugged off as secondary.

As I write and you read this, surely there are some that believe this kind of judgement is unChristlike and mean spirited.

My intention here is to exalt Christ and call all fathers to protect their families at all costs, and pastors to protect their people at all costs.  

I must be vigilant in my own life as I encourage you- the parent, the pastor, the Christian, to do the same.

The war we are in results in casualties, it is no time to be casual with the truth.

I have seen casualties in my lifetime, and I know many of the testimonies of others who have suffered loss like this.

I believe American church culture can change and we can see a major shift in winning younger generations; I also believe we can get ones back that have left.

Of course it would take a miracle and some radical obedience, but God can do this.

Please read my next post where I can expound what I’m sharing here with a story in the Bible you’ve potentially skipped over.  God bless!