Generational Division
The unifying message of Jesus endures generational pressure to divide when all generations love and work together in harmony. When you think about it, I would submit that’s a pretty theologically profound and personally engaging truth. I’m looking across to every person here in this gathering today, there’s not many of us, so it does feel uncomfortable to have someone stare at you but there is a variety of people here today with different ideas and experiences from life, and family upbringings and from different generations.
It’s no easy task to take all of these differences and uniquenesses and experiences and to bring them together to make a unique song of adoring worship. A song that is loving, and where affections are burning with adoration and desire for Jesus. A church body centered on Christ alone, by faith alone. Today I want us to focus on old and young together, unified by the Spirit in ministry according to our Scripture in Acts 2:17.
Let me begin with a question. Are we so different during the final days that unity is impossible? From the moment we’re born, our birthdate begins to define you and me within a generation. Every person here today, whether you’re 8 or 80.. you are a part of a specific group of people that define what you as a group will be known for. You’re either a traditionalist, a baby Boomer, generation X or a millennial.
Where do you fit into this spectrum? Now, I’m not going to split us into who’s young and old. You can do that yourself and it will save me the embarrassment of saying that you’re old when you might believe you’re still young. But what I am going to do is ask you to think real hard about this question… Regardless of whatever camp or tribe or generation you decide to claim to be a part of….
“Are you so different and unique that in the final days, is unity impossible? A unique opportunity was given to Peter once he was filled with the Holy Spirit. In verses 3-4 The Spirit filled the room and then He filled everyone in the room. They walk out from that room and among the community. Every time I read this I just think… isn’t this a beautiful example to the local church of today?
We come in here, we worship, we meet God and then like the first Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, they walked out into the world on fire for mission. My prayer each and every Sunday is that when we leave, we leave here with hearts blazen because we met the God of the universe in worship. But when they exited that room they were confronted by those wandering are they dunk?
So, Peter steps out empowered by the Holy Spirit and he teaches those who would listen and begins by pulling up something they would understand. Which was the Old Testament. He gets their attention and says in verse 14, “listen carefully”. And then he brings out the old Testament from the book of Joel. Verse 17 is our focus verse this morning… Peter says: “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. What’s the first thing you think of when you think of the phrase, in the last days? The end times, right?. For many the end times reminds them of the hurt and pain and falseness and judgment to come and that’s true…Paul tells young Timothy about the people in the church during the last days….
People will be lovers of themselves (2 Timothy 3:2) People will be covetous (2 Timothy 3:2) People will be boasters (2 Timothy 3:2) People will be proud. (2 Timothy 3:2) People will be blasphemers (2 Timothy 3:2) People will be disobedient to parents (2 Timothy 3:2) People will be unthankful (2 Timothy 3:2) People will consider nothing as sacred (2 Timothy 3:2) People will be unloving (2 Timothy 3:3) People will be unforgiving (2 Timothy 3:3) People will slander others (2 Timothy 3:3) People will have no self-control (2 Timothy 3:3) People will be unusually cruel (2 Timothy 3:3) People will have no interest in what is good (2 Timothy 3:3) People will betray friends (2 Timothy 3:4) People will be reckless (2 Timothy 3:4) People will be puffed up with pride (2 Timothy 3:4) People will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:4) People will have a form of godliness but deny God (2 Timothy 3:5) People will take advantage of women, weakened by sin (2 Timothy 3:6) People will always be learning but not coming to knowledge of truth (2 Timothy 3:7) People will resist the truth (2 Timothy 3:8) People will have corrupt minds (2 Timothy 3:8) People will have a fake faith from a depraved mind (2 Timothy 3:8) People will not progress in fake faith and fail miserably (2 Timothy 3:9) That’s just 25 things from one letter.
How can all generations work together for the gospel? How can unity be possible in the last days? If this is true? Well, before we answer that, let's turn to I corinthians chapter 3. I want to show you what happens when we live in a church community of division. Peter is writing to the Corinthians who were all to aware of division. And so, in chapter 3, the first three verses he says: , But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
Paul begins by saying, You’re not walking in the Spirit. The first division we witness in the last days is this… Fleshly division. When we walk by the flesh we walk in our own & old understanding… The Corinthians were plagued by fleshly divisions among them. Chapters 1-3 they were divided into partisan loyalties and of course the greek/roman culture infiltrated their church to where they had worldly wisdom and culture.
Then the worldly speech got to them. We find in chapter 4 that they were easily swayed by those who slandered Paul when he was absent. They were character killers and murmurers and gossipers. speaking falseness behind each others back. In chapter 5 we find the they were tolerating sexual immorality. Chapter 6 they were suing each other in court. The list keeps going on. But this is people in a local church, living in the flesh, not by the Spirit.
And here is what’s so beautiful… Paul doesn’t call them out and say.. you’re a bunch of unsaved wicked people. The last days said you would be like this, that you’re nit a Christian. We actually find that Paul doesn’t even call them false christians, he called them fleshly christians. They were people governed more by carnal discernment and desire than by the Spirt in many different areas. What we learn is that when it comes to fleshly division, true christian unity can be expressed and maintained only when there is christlike love governing.
Which is why Paul goes in chapter 13 with the list of what love is. Love is patient love is kind, love knows no wrongs.. etc. Peter knows about needing to be loved… 1 Peter 4:8 says: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Solomon knows love and mercy needs to be granted as well.. in proverbs 10:12 he says: “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.
What these fleshly christians needed was to be loved and they needed to learn how to love one another. The second kind of division we see in the final days is maturity division. Maturity division is usually caused by pride and lack of humility. Any heart filled, evangelizing disciple making, prayerful church will have many levels of maturity among its members. You’ll have different generations, different life experiences, Spiritual knowledge and over all different levels of sanctification.
All of which does help stretch the church and grow the church. For example, a young person might have more experience in a certain area than an older person. Or a long time christian might grow weeds of the flesh in their life and be governed by the flesh than a new convert. Or hebrews 5:12 teaches us that some who ought to be teachers may regressed in maturity by habitually indulging in sin, and they need spiritual milk again.
We put so much emphasis on going from Spiritual milk to Spiritual solid food, but we can fall back and need to be nursed back to being mature again. I believe this is where humility is applied in our lives. Here’s the point though… Maturity diversity is normal within every church but it can lead to maturity division. The positive side to having different maturity levels within the church is that it gives ample opportunities to learn from each other and to grow in grace.
The negative side is this… we just don’t always seize the opportunity and instead of forgiveness and grace, we grow in division. The third and final division is the one that I believe God never wants, but it’s necessary sometimes… And so that is where it gets its name… necessary division. I Corinthians 11:19 says: There must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
Jesus taught in Mathew 13:24-30 the parable of the weeds in wheat. (Read) What Jesus teaches us is that in the final days, our churches will remain a mixture of Christians and non christians. That’s a fact… and through humility, and grace, and love within the church, our calling is to always be living among the weeds with the hope that the weeds become wheat by the end. But some weeds stay weeds and the danger is, those are the people we call false teachers, and people who cause division among others.
Paul in Romans 16:17-18 warns us, I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles, in opposition to the teaching that you learned; avoid them. 18For such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent. Jude 17-19 reminds us, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.
It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. And that’s the main theme of todays sermon… remember I asked us.. Are we so different during the final days that unity is impossible? The answer is no.. You see, Peter is speaking the first holy Spirit filled sermon pointing us to the fact that in the last days, it’s not just division and wrath and judgment that we fearfully wait for…
but in the last days is a day that God will pour out HIs Holy Spirit among all people. It’s a promise… The Spirit is poured out to the old men, and to the young men. The old ladies and the young ladies. They will dream together, and Vision together and prophecy together. It’s a picture of kingdom unity. That’s good news. We’re visioning and dreaming and prophesying together to draw us together so that we make much of the calling to be missional Chsritians that love every single person in this world.
It’s good news because this means that the outpouring of the fullness of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh means it is not to be restricted or held in; God means it to be shared worldwide. We’re living in the great time of mission, not division. Fleshly division is overturned with Spirit filled unity. Maturity division is brought together through Spirit filled unity. And necessary division pulls the weeds of those who refuse to love, who refuse to forgive, who refuse to show mercy, so that those who remain can grow.
When I read acts 2:17.. it’s one of the most amazing scriptures on the fact that in the last days… we have hope of unity because we have the Holy Spirit being poured out! So how do we begin… simple… we begin by repenting. Proverbs 1:23 says: Reptant at my rebuke, then I will pour out my thoughts to you, and I will make known to you my teachings.
The same message the prophet Joel preached, repent, rend your heart and return to me and then I will pour out my spirit upon you…. The same message Peter preached, repent, each of you.. not just me, he said repent all of you, each individual…. I want to believe that every person in the upper room received the holy Spirit because each one individually repented of their own sin, and then the Spirit came and united them together in Christ.
Not because they showed up to church… not because they said they believed… but because they repented. And the Holy Spirit was poured out and they received… freely and fully. I want to look at one more Scripture… it’s verse 40… and it says, then Peter, continued preaching urging all his listeners, Save yourself from this crooked generation. Earlier I asked you, what generation to you belong to?
The worldly generation only leads to worldly living.. Do you know why it’s crooked… because it is a generation that refuses to take responsibility for it’s sin. And that’s not just the traditionalist, the baby boomers, the generation X or even the Millennials. We all must take responsibility for our own sin, and become apart of the greatest generation… generations saved, sanctified and full of the Holy Spirit… because that is the only generation that will inherit eternal life.
What generation do you belong to? “Lord help me to never think that my crooked ways are better than the strait and narrow way of repentance that will always lead me to you. I want to be an offering not an offense to you. Forgive me of my pride, and may those who hold anything against me show me mercy as you’ve been so abundant in showing us all mercy. Help bring us back together in unity.
Let us put all pride and ill thought towards one another away. Let it begin with me. I’ve been hurt, my character has been attacked. Untrue things have been said. But Lord, you know all things. I still believe in unity. I believe in it, because you words tells us we’ll have it when we’ve laid ourselves down and take up the cross to love all. Just as you love all…
help me Lord… to see the sin in others as a calling to love and not a calling to judge… I just want to please you… let that be my song to you today… let my breaking heart of repentance be pleasing to you. Thank you Jesus by faith I believe. Amen. *