Title: Continue in what you have learned

If you firmly believe something, why would you not continue in what you learned about it? Actually, there are lots of things that we firmly believe, but don’t continue in them.

I firmly believe in the right way of eating, that I need to eat more vegetables and fruits and stuff that is high in fiber. But, do I do it? Far from always.

You might firmly believe that you should visit the dentist twice a year—that’s the way I was brought up—or, always obey the speed limits, or floss your teeth every day, or get to bed at a decent hour—or, in a more humorous vein, only leave the house wearing clean underwear, in case you are in an accident, because you wouldn’t want to embarrass your mother.

Why wouldn’t you continue in the way you were taught, and even firmly believe? There’s lots of reasons folks don’t go to the dentist, twice a year. We speed because we are in a hurry, and we are convinced that we will be safe and won’t get caught. Flossing is simply a chore. The television entices us to stay up later than we desire. And on and on and on.

In the most important things in life, it should be a no-brainer that a person would continue in what he has learned and firmly believed. Certainly, in the absolutely most important thing of life—a person’s belief about God, and what happens to a person for eternity—well, who would give that up?

Yet, many Christians are giving up the faith of their youth, and doing so in record numbers. I’m thankful that this epistle lesson came up, today, because it fits perfectly with the pastors’ conference I attended, last week.

On Monday, we heard a professor from our St. Louis seminary. Tony Cook taught us about the attitudes of today’s teenagers and young adults. He equipped us with knowledge to assist us pastors in understanding what young people are looking for.

On Tuesday, we heard the man about whom I gushed in the announcements, last Sunday. Ken Ham, a layman, who founded the organization, Answers in Genesis, and who recently wrote a book on the topic of young people leaving the church—Already Gone—was not shy in telling us exactly where we are failing our churches, and what to do about it.

Ken Ham might be a layman, but he preached the Word as clearly and intensely as you would want to hear. To get into Ken’s take on why young people are leaving the Christian faith, we go back to today’s lesson, and a verse that is familiar to many: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness . . ."

I’ll focus on the first seven words: "All Scripture is breathed out by God." Recall the name of Ken Ham’s organization: Answers in Genesis. When we consider this verse, that the whole Bible came from God, Ken Ham argues that we need to begin with the beginning, the opening chapters of the first book of the Bible.

Before addressing this, we move down the lesson to the charge that the Lord has Paul give to Timothy, which is the Lord’s charge to all pastors: "Preach the word."

Ken Ham argues that the pastors of the Christian Church are not preaching the Word, but are picking and choosing and, in the process, the young people are leaving. A point that he made, over and over, is that we talk about Jesus, and how He is real—His birth was real, His death was real, His resurrection was real—but, when it comes to Genesis—how God created the world in six, twenty-four hour days, not billions of years; and how God created all animals and plants according to their kinds, not that things evolved from lower forms to higher ones—we say, "Oh, that’s not important. Believe what you like." Indeed, I have read the position of many church bodies, and that’s exactly what they teach—they have embraced evolution, having been convinced that modern science has figured it out and, in the process, have rejected the first chapters of the Bible.

In other words, the Christian Church is saying that the Bible is true when it comes to our salvation, but it is not true when it comes to our creation.

Ken used this gag, over and over, for when pastors and parents are asked the hard questions:

As if those questions are not important. As if God did not tell us the truth about our creation. As if we don’t have answers to those questions.

Ken kept asking us pastors: Is all Scripture breathed out by God? Since the answer is yes, then we had better preach the Word as truth—from Genesis to Revelation.

One of the two major reasons young people are leaving the Christian faith is because they are getting conflicting information. The Church waffles about creation. The Church bends to the winds of what science teaches about evolution. The Church no longer sounds credible to young people. And, if the Church doesn’t sound credible about how we were created, why should we think that we sound credible when it comes to our salvation?

We don’t sound credible, and the young people have figured it out. From Ken’s book, Already Gone, the more eye-popping information is when our young people are deciding that church is not credible. That information, along with the other major reason for young people not continuing in what they learned and once firmly believed . . . you will have to wait.

On Sunday, November 7, between the two services, I will present Ken’s research in a Town Hall-style gathering. In the three weeks leading up to it, I am going to encourage you, pester you, and even irritate you about attending.

Folks, the Christian Church is dying fast. In Ken’s book, he illustrates how the Church has died in Europe. On any given Sunday, a church like ours, which used to have more than two hundred in worship, now has two dozen. The change only took two generations—since World War 2.

Can you see this being St. John, before the generation, whose children are in school right now, has passed away? If we don’t learn where we stand, and turn ourselves around, that is exactly where we are heading. And, if we get there, it will mean no more church school. It will mean sharing a pastor with Harbor Beach and Forestville. It will mean not being able to afford to heat this big building and having to meet in one of the classrooms, which will be plenty large enough for the few who are attending worship. If you think I am acting the alarmist, then you are not paying attention to the world around you.

I expect the church to be full for the Town Hall meeting. Rarely, do I get excited about stuff that I learn from books or hear at pastors’ conferences. This one nailed me, right between the eyes. I need to make it as explicit to you, so that it also nails you between the eyes.

Listen, again, to today’s lesson: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

This is exactly what has happened. The Church said that abortion is sin, while the world said it’s a woman’s right to choose, and a lot of churches caved in. The Church said that homosexuality is sin, while the world said that two of the same sex can love just as a man and a woman, and many churches are caving in. The Church used to teach that we were made in God’s image, then the world thought it figured out how we came to be from chimps and apes, and the vast majority of churches have come to buy into it, as if it is the truth. And, now, in every hard question about life and faith, the world has figured out that, if it pesters the Church enough—that is, according to what God warned us, they will "not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears . . . will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths"—the Church, acting in desperation to hold onto people, is also wandering into myths. And, people are not stupid. They have figured it out . . . and they are leaving.

Dear children of God, "As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed . . ." As I exhort you, consider this: Our congregation, and your pastor, have not caved in to the world. If your grandparents could be here, today, they would hear the same preaching, and the same teaching in the church school—the same Word of God.

All Scripture has, indeed, been breathed by God, and that’s how you believe in Christ’s gift of eternal life. By the God-breathed Word, I exhort you to repent of your sins. By the God-breathed Word, I assure you that Christ died for you, and He forgives you all your sins.

By the God-breathed Word, I lead you, as I always do, to the font of Christ’s forgiveness, to remember that you were clothed with the holy nature of Jesus when you were washed in Holy Baptism. By the God-breathed Word, I lead you, as I always do, to the altar of Christ’s eternal life, to eat and drink the body and blood of your resurrected and reigning Lord and Savior, to be strengthened in your faith, so that you can fight the good fight in this ever-changing world.

Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, dear children of God, for your eternal lives, and for the eternal lives of your children and grandchildren, in the name of Jesus Christ, your God and Savior. Amen.