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RECREATION OR REPENTANCE!

"For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." (1 Timothy 4:8)

I must focus upon something that has been bothering me for sometime. I am concerned about the future generation and what it will become to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, this is about our youth and anyone who cares about them will at least read the whole context of what I say. The verse above was one of the instructions that Paul wrote to a young man by the name of Timothy. This verse basically tells young Timothy that physical exercise is good for him, but in God's eyes it is good for him in a minor way and not a major one. This verse does however make a great emphasis on godliness and living the way God wants us to live.

Before you jump to conclusions, let me say that I love sports and I enjoy being part of most recreational activities. But I am convinced that there is a high emphasis on these things involving our youth ministries that God never intended for us to have. I now will use an example that will sure raise some controversy. Consider the YMCA, which started with a main focus of winning souls but now I'm sad to say is focused upon entertaining the flesh. I would not have a real problem with it if it didn't have the name "Christian" attached to it. It's good for our youth to have some activities to do to keep them off the streets, but I'm trying to say if the YMCA preached the message of repentance to our youth and they truly received Christ as their Savior then the Spirit of God would help their lives better than the sports would. Let me clarify myself a little more. When recreation for the body exceeds the repentance for the soul, we have messed up our priorities and we are probably guilty of a modern form of idolatry in the eyes of God. Especially when God wants all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Someone might say to me that I don't believe in youth evangelism. If you do think that then it is because you don't know me. I am involved in my church's bus ministry and always make myself available to teach a children's class when the main teacher is not there due to illness. I am also in the final stages of completing a children's book. By the way, no one is paying me to do all these things either. I currently work in the textile industry in Reidsville, North Carolina and am not a paid church staff member. So it is out of the desire of my heart that I minister to young people as well others. I am simply trying to take a stand for more biblical youth ministry that focuses more on the inner things rather than the outer things. As a matter of fact, I've seen in my own experience that our youth knows when a minister is genuine and really cares about them compared to someone who just does it for a career and not a calling.

There are others involved in youth ministry that claim that the youth is a separate body from the church. Although they may not say this publicly, they do say it in their actions. Let me point out that this is not found anywhere in the Bible. The Bible plainly says that "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling" (Ephesians 4:4). A lot of youth ministries, especially among the contemporary churches, promote the youth as a separate body when they bring in the worldly music and also do activities while the preaching service is taking place. I also believe we underestimate the minds of our youth. We have got the strange idea that they won't understand what a pastor is preaching, but at the same time we have young people who know a lot about sin at an early age as much as a bootlegger at the age of a hundred. If they know about sin then they won't have a problem knowing about the Savior who can wash away their sins. The reason they probably can't find God is the same reason a thief can't find a police officer. But the responsibility is on the minister to be brave enough and compassionate enough to preach to them repentance so the Holy Spirit can do His convicting power.

All I am saying is that recreation is a by-product and not THE product in any ministry. There probably can be a lot more things said about this, but let me close by saying that this is not a new subject. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a great preacher back in the 1800s and he wrote about this topic back in his time. I will leave you with a statement he made on this subject in 1891: "Manliness we do not deprecate, but godliness is better; and there may be more manliness in quitting the pursuits of youth, in some instances, than in becoming a leader of them... We are not the enemy of the gymnasium; but it is not part of the temple."

- James S. Hodges

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