Recently, the administrator of the Christian school where I teach - and where the LOL juggling ministry is based out of - said to me, "We need to meet with some of the high school staff to get a handle on this Lordship thing." Right away I knew what he meant. In this case teens, although it is not an age specific problem, who may profess a belief in Jesus, and really want to cash in on His mercy and forgiveness, but who don't really live as if Jesus is Lord of their life. In other words, people who confuse religious activity and / or membership with a vibrant, living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I've thought about what points I can bring to the table when we discuss 'this Lordship thing', and what follows is the best I've got:
Know who we're talking about. From my experience, there's really three different categories of people that this discussion applies to.
1) Sincerely good kids who are just luke warm about their faith.
2) Kids who put on a good show of Christianity around parents, pastors and teachers, but live counter to the Word of God when with peers. (Hypocrites)
3) Openly rebellious teens who are blatantly rejecting Christ, or at least Christian religion.
Stop the legalism. The assumption, all to often, is that the evidence of following Jesus is in what we don't do. The fact is, in our town of Bridgton, there is a neighborhood where there is no crime, no infidelity, no drug abuse. No one even utters a single word of profanity. People who once partied all weekend or slept around stop the moment they move in. That neighborhood is called the cemetery! If following Jesus is about what we don't do, it becomes a truly boring endeavor indeed. I'm much more interested in what I can do (or must do) as a believer: visit the sick and imprisoned, feed the hungry, worship unrestrainedly, talk to the Creator of the universe sincerely knowing He's listening. If we show our young people that following Jesus is actively making a difference rather than merely acting differently, there's a lot less room for lukewarmness.
Enjoy Jesus. Not just the act of serving Jesus, or others who believe in Jesus. Enjoy Jesus. In the book Blue Like Jazz Donald Miller discusses how he never liked jazz music until he saw a street musician in New Orleans. Miller says sometimes we need to see someone else enjoying something for us to learn to enjoy it, too. Are we showing our kids how much we enjoy our friendship with the Lord. Our oldest daughter says she thinks God has hair like Bob Marley and plays guitar like B B King. This is sincere praise from someone who really likes her Savior. And guess what; Her former Christian school peers, who have long ago rejected the church, respect her for this.
Tone down the child evangelism. This is a sensitive one, but the truth is, most children who 'accept Jesus' reject Him later in life. Could it be because six, eight or ten years olds aren't capable of life time commitments to anything, much less something as abstract as an unseen God? Is in possible most of them are 'receiving Christ' simply to receive the approval of Sunday School teachers or grandparents. We never pushed our girls to 'get saved', and at times we discouraged this. Yet all are, the best we can tell, living a true life of faith at this time. Their initial encounters with Christ were highly personal and private moments somewhere between the ages of 11 and 16. When we encounter teens who are indifferent or even hostile to the church, it could well be that we are expecting them to live like believers when they simply aren't.
Stop the hate. Teens can smell a fake a mile away. If we claim to 'love the sinner but hate the sin' (Which by the way is a church cliche that appears no where in scripture) we better go heavy on the love side of that statement. I have heard of a Christian involved in full time ministry who once told a group of teens, "If I could go back in time and change one thing, I'd kill Ishmael." Really? The implication is he would put an end to tensions in the Middle East by preventing the Palestinian race from ever starting. How does he think that makes the Arab people feel? What about the thousands of Arabs who are fellow believers in Jesus? Teens growing up singing "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know" are justifiable turned off when they hear and see older believers contradict this.
Stop blaming pop culture. "Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world." The Holy Spirit is God Himself. He is stronger than Marilyn Manson, Madonna or Miley Cyrus. Christian youth have often flourished in cultures that tortured or even killed Christians. Do we really think VH1 makes it harder to be a disciple than, say Pol Pot? Our culture may be leading church kids away from church, but "nothing can ever separate (true believers) from the love of God."
Stop offering Christianized versions of pop culture. If teens can smell a fake, they are even quicker to reject what is cheesy. We are told to be in the world, not of it; All too often we push to be of the world but not in it. Christian rock music, Christian TV, Christian novels. It's as if our motto is "Anything you can do we can do five years later, and usually not as well." Kids recognize this, and, if the choice is a secular subculture or a religious subculture trying desperately, but failing, to be an equally cool alternative, the choice is a no brainer.
Don't think of doubt or even unbelief as a bad thing. Jesus encouraged seekers to count the cost of following Him before committing. He didn't plead with people who were undecided, and often they got to the point where they sought Him out sometime later down the road. I believe that it's impossible to follow Jesus completely until you have a pretty good idea what you are surrendering for Him. And when that does happen, following Jesus with your life, although never done flawlessly this side of heaven, becomes the natural desire of your heart.