The dreaded word… (Lk. 12:32–40)

Our world is changing.

I think you would have to be living under a rock to miss the fact that the world we live in is changing rapidly. From the technology we use every day to the rising house prices, we live in a very different society than we did 10, 20, and 50 years ago. 

At District Pastors Retreat this week, Geoff Brailey, a social analyst from McCrindle, spoke to us pastors about generational change. You’ve probably heard of the different generations we have in our society: the Builders, the Baby Boomers, Generations X, Y, and Z, and now Generation Alpha. 

Taking data from the recent national census, our latest National Church Life Survey, and McCrindle’s own research, he explained just how different Generation Alpha is from its predecessors. I’m only Generation Z (or a Millennial) myself, but already we are seeing some drastic differences in how our kids grow up today and the things they experience.

A good way to measure these differences is to remember what a normal Saturday was like when you were ten years old. I was a part of a home with three other siblings living in the suburbs of Bunbury, WA. We might get to watch a half hour or so of cartoons on Saturday Disney before dad took me to Auskick or Milo Cricket, depending on the time of year. In the afternoon, we might get to tag along on a Bunnings trip with dad or food shopping at Coles with mum. An essential ritual on an outing like this was buying a Brownes Choc Milk.

Chat time: When you were ten years old, what happened on a normal Saturday?

None of us can help the fact that we are a product of our time. We think the way we were brought up to think. We value the things that were taught were important. However, this can sometimes make it tricky to figure out how to relate to other generations. We can find it very difficult to appreciate the way people older or younger than us do things. 

As a community of Christian people, we have to work out how to share our faith across our generational boundaries. For any generation to feel like they belong, there has to be some way for them to connect and be included. This was the point that Geoff Brailey brought to the pastors.

There’s no hiding that Lutheran churches in Australia are dominated by those in the Baby Boomer and Builder generations. We don’t need to see the raw statistics to know that. Generally speaking, the challenge for our church, then, is understanding the generations younger than us. Grandparents do their best to learn how to video call their grandchildren. Some of you might have even had one of them teach you how to use Facebook or email. Most of the challenge lies in keeping up with the technology. Some give up entirely, which is fair enough.

As a Millennial myself, the challenge is the opposite. As pastor to people two, three, or even four generations before me, I need to try to understand the way you work in order to share the gospel with you as effectively as I can. Rather than having to step forward into new technology and ways of living, I need to step back out of my comfort zone as a younger person. We all have to face the challenge of crossing generational boundaries—this is just a fact of living life together.

We often say that “young people are the future of the church.” If you consider this to be true, what needs to be done to ensure that the church is in safe hands? What do we need to understand in order to help those in younger generations to take ownership of our church and help it to flourish in new ways? We need to spend time thinking about what our young people value, why they live the way they do, and how they might be a part of the life of this church.

McCrindle does extensive research to help Christian churches to work out this kind of thing. One of their findings is that, when they surveyed 1000 Australians from across the country, the number one life goal among Generation Zs (those currently in their 20’s) is to one day own their own home. This is followed by the goal to be financially independent. In third is the goal to have a job that gives them a sense of purpose and fulfilment. 

How many jobs have you had over your life time? Across how many different careers? The average Generation Z will have 18 jobs across 6 different careers by the time they retire.

If you own your own home, the expected time you’re expected to live there is 17 years. If you live in a home with a mortgage, it’s more like 5 years. If you are renting, the average time spent living there is only 18 months. Home ownership is going further and further out of reach, too. 

The shape of the lives of our young people is very different to what it was even five years ago. The pandemic has accelerated this, for sure. Our speaker at the retreat said that COVID forced five years of change to happen in 8 weeks. We created “work-from-home” spaces for work. School had to move completely online. People relocated simply to have more space.

Change is hard for all of us—it’s against our nature as human beings who like consistency and predictability—but we are experiencing change all around us at a quicker rate than ever before and in bigger ways than ever before.

Our perspective needs to change.

One thing that never changes, but merely looks different, is our desire to live comfortably. Our oldest living generation are known as the Builders. So many of them left their home countries in Europe to escape terrible things. They started businesses, built homes, and built churches with hardly anything to work with. They gave up so much just to give their families a place to be together. Many of those homes and church buildings are the ones we still use. 

The dream of our young people is to own their own home one day. This used to basically be a human right, but now they have to work hard and sacrifice far more to be close to affording it. But we will, because a home means safety, security, and stability. Even if you choose not to live in it, it sets you up with an asset which will only increase in value over time. It’s just smart thinking.

Jesus says: “Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves money bags that don’t wear out, unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there also your heart is.”

These words were as striking back then as they are today. Is Jesus saying that we need to sell everything and give it all away to have a place in heaven? Not exactly. But he is challenging us at a very deep level. When was the last time you sold anything of value to benefit someone else? When was the last time you gave something away? When was the last time you were willing to let go of what you have considered to be yours for so long?

If you give things away on a regular basis and have little value in what you own, then you are blessed and your reward is in heaven. If not, Jesus has some sharp words: where your treasure is, there your heart is also. 

Our younger generations are particularly susceptible in times when the average annual salary is going up, along with house prices and everything else. The more we possess, the harder it is to let go. The more secure we feel in this life, the less we feel we need God and his heavenly riches at all. That said, you could also argue that the less someone has, the more protective they can be over their property. If a child only has one favourite toy, that toy is everything to them.

Today’s reading quickly changes gear. One minute, Jesus is talking about selling your possessions, and the next he is telling a parable about being ready for his return. It might not seem like these two halves are connected at all, but they are. 

If we are Christ’s servants who wait for his return to earth to judge the world, which could be at any time, how do we make sure we’re ready? What can we do to prepare for Jesus’ second coming? 

The servants try to stay awake and alert. Jewish wedding celebrations go on for days, so the master’s return was a genuine mystery. They opened the door as soon as he knocked. They were watchful. They were patient. 

We, too, should be watchful and patient. It means being alert and avoiding distractions. What might some distractions be? What kinds of things take our attention away from God and his kingdom? Maybe something like wealth, for example. Or possessions.

Being ready for God’s kingdom to come is about placing our trust, our focus, and our whole identity in the things of heaven. It means that in everything we do, we consider what it means for God’s glory. It means that in everything we say and in every decision we make, we think of what it might mean for our faith in Christ. 

Our faith is not something we only think about on a Sunday morning. For Abraham and Sarah, faith influenced everything they ever did. By faith, Abraham “went out, not knowing where he was going.” We might call this aimlessness or even negligence. God calls it faith. 

Our hearts have been changed.

This faith did not come from Abraham himself. Sarah didn’t produce the strength to trust in God’s word on her own. Their trust wasn’t only in God’s promise for a promised land here on earth—“They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

It is God who grants this faith. What seems like blindness to us is sight in God’s eyes. Our God is not a God of logic and reason. He is a God of power and wonder. It’s this God that comes to us in things as simple as water, bread, and wine. It’s this God we encounter week after week in the Word. It’s this God who speaks to us today.

It’s this God who, when he returns home after the wedding feast, puts his apron on, sits his servants down at the table, and serves them.

The timing of Jesus’ coming will not be what we expect. He will break in like a thief in the night, interrupting our lives and taking away the things in our lives that simply don’t matter. His coming will be inconvenient and disruptive. For us who believe, for Jesus to interrupt our lives is a great thing.

Maybe this is how Jesus already interacts with us. Maybe he comes to us in ways we don’t expect, at a time we least expect it. Maybe He enters our lives when it’s least convenient for us and causes disruption.

He has already done so by our baptism. He has already changed our hearts by water and the Word. He has already broken into our hearts and stolen the sin that we hold on to so tightly. He steals it away every time we confess it, and he takes it to the cross. Our hearts have already been changed, whether you expected it or not. 

The world around us is changing. The next generation is coming through and we need to be ready for them. The way we communicate our message will be different because the way we communicate anything is different. But the message itself remains the same: “Don’t be afraid, my little flock, for your Father delights in giving you the kingdom.” 

May we keep our treasure in heaven, where thieves don’t steal and where moths don’t destroy. May our hearts be kept safe in Jesus by his peace which surpasses all understanding.