Worship > Sermon Archive

The Reverend James Derkits
June 24, 2007
Luke 9. 18-24
Gal. 3. 23-29
Youth: Exemplary Christians

Sometimes when we think of youth in the church we consider what example we might offer them, what instruction we can give them so that they might one day become responsible Christians. Today I want us to consider what an example our youth are to us.

Youth culture, impossible to keep up with, always shifting, a whole industry devoted to following, packaging and selling youth culture back to youth. One thing youth culture has consistently been for years is challenging, pushing, changing, and ultimately leading the culture around them. Youth culture is in a sense counter-cultural.

In that way, they can become for all of us an icon of what Paul is talking about. He teaches us about Law: that which guides us to live in community. Law is generally a good thing, it teaches us how to behave around one another, it keeps us safe. And Paul uses a youth metaphor from his own time. The disciplinarian he is referring to was the servant in his society which guided children, taught them how to be in the world, they were what we might call a life coach. Their role was temporary. Once the child grew old enough, the disciplinarian's role was over. So, Paul, in his letter to the Galatians is saying with Christ we have matured beyond the need of that disciplinarian, now we have Christ to bring us salvation and to instruct us in our interactions. The law is still a good thing, but it is not our primary focus, not our primary identity. So, with youth, the laws which govern our society, the rules we abide by are not primary, but they are able, by their age, and by our willingness to give this freedom to youth, they draw their identity from the counter-cultural youth culture. It is always testing the establishment. It is always questioning, it is always offering another view. It is pushing up against the culture we have, testing it.

This is our example to follow, having been baptized in to Christ. Paul uses physical imagery to help us to understand the new way we exist in the world. Being in Christ does not mean we just adhere to a set of laws, not that we just say yes to certain doctrine. Baptism means "dunking." We are submerged into a new and different reality when enter Christ. He also uses clothing as a metaphor. We are clothed in Christ, surrounded, protected, and projecting our identity, that identity in Christ.

Baptism is sacramental, it is outward and visible of something that happens inward and spiritually. Just as our relationship with our partner doesn't begin when we are married, so the entering into Christ isn't confined into the moment when the water is sprinkled, it only signifies that it is happening. The depth of what it means, and our living out our baptism is the journey we are all on in the church. Being nourished by Christ, as we learn what it means to be in Christ, what it means to see the world through the eyes of Christ, looking at our own culture, and seeing it as secondary to our true identity in our savior Christ.

Peter, in our Gospel today gets who Jesus is. He recognizes him as Christ. He will never be the same. The moment of questioning is a sacramental moment of a process he has been in walking beside Jesus, and a process he will continue with as he follows him to the cross, and beyond.

Our youth may be more able to have a sacramental moment like the one Peter has, because youth-culture (partially driven by changing hormones) teaches them to challenge on some level what they understand to be reality. The reality of their parents, of the adult world.

So in our youth ministry we are moving toward empowering these faithful questioners. These who are willing to look at Jesus and recognize him as Christ. These young people who are already leaders in our church in worship, in Vacation Bible School, with puppet ministry, with our elder-care ministry. Now, because our youth realize they are already leaders, they will be taking a more active role in leading their youth ministry.

In the church, youth culture can thrive in positive way. We are equipped to offer a counter cultural example to follow in Christ. We are able to offer opportunities that go against the grain of many of our cultural norms. Opportunity to serve the homeless which some youth and adults are doing today, a very counter-cultural thing to do.

Our identity in Christ is counter cultural, not anti-cultural. Christ can always bring judgment to our societal structures and norms, and liberate us from the ones which are destructive. He frees us from that helpful disciplinarian, and teaches us that He is the ultimate example, and he is our ultimate identity as Christians. Let us learn from our youth, who are unafraid to question the world around them, to push up against our conventions, who are willing to look at this person Jesus and say you are the Christ.

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