A-Cross Generations
Introduction
The un-discipled state of the Church in Western nations, corresponding to their moral decay, has called forth numerous responses in recent decades. None of these, from the “worship revolution”, to “signs and wonders”, to “strategic spiritual warfare”, to the “emerging church”, to “organic church” and so on, have had a significant impact on the overall spiritual state of things. I believe the ongoing crisis in our midst requires a much more fundamental shift in thinking and practice. Thinking biblically, the future is the key to the present. The Spirit is calling forth a movement that does not depend on the latest programme or hyper-gifted leader and is the reverse to the institutionalising of God’s people. It’s not a “strategy” but a return to the building blocks of reality. Something that has always been at the foundational of God’s ordering of reality, even before “ministries” as we now them. I prefer not to describe the teaching of this article a call to “intergenerational discipleship”, because this sort of language disappears after the middle of the book of Acts (9:25). Important ss the theme of discipleship is, its language doesn’t capture the elemental nature of what I’m seeking to describe. Additionally, “mentoring” and “coaching” lack the relational depth of our subject. The whole Bible speaks in terms of fathers and sons. Which, since it goes back into the life of the Godhead, has anything to do with gender.
Foundational
Submission to someone of greater wisdom than us, whose wisdom is usually formed through experience gained over decades, is the solid basis on which God builds. Respecting this order of reality honours God the Father as foundational to the structure of all things. Jesus lived by this order, for as the Son of God made flesh he always deferred to the Father as the one who sent him into the world (John 3:17; 5:23; 10:36). He only ever did “what he saw the Father doing” (John 5:19). This flows from the order with the Trinity, Father>Son>Spirit, an order embedded in the structure of creation. As a treasury of wisdom Proverbs affirms this basic parent-child pattern, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,” (1:8). Ultimately, the wisdom of Proverbs is a prophetic typology of God the Father instructing his Son throughout his earthly life. When the speaker in Proverbs 8:22 says, ““The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work (of creating)”, we should understand this as Jesus speaking of the Father laying the foundation of creation through his life. in New Testament terms he calls himself “the beginning of God’s creation.” (Rev 3:14 cf. Col 1:18), as “there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things…and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things” (1 Cor 8:6). Even now Christ the Word preserves everything in existence, including you and me, as he is instructed to by the Father (Heb 1:1-3). There is a rhythm between God the Father and Jesus holding everything together and carrying it forward in the divine plan towards its appointed goal. To grow as a Christian involves living in harmony with this rhythm. Through common grace Indigenous and ancient cultures appreciated that full living meant elders instructing younger (Gen 50:7; Ex 3:16; 1 Pet 5:5). This is what we are being called to, but through saving grace (John 10:10).
Submission begins at Home
Christians, of all ages, submit to the Lordship of Jesus because he first submitted to the Father in “emptying himself” of eternal glories and obeying God’s command to die “even death on a cross” (Phil 2:5-11). Without receiving instruction, the incarnate Son was fully ignorant of the ways of the Father. Therefore, the essence of true eldership as a seniority in Christlikeness is founded upon humble submission to the Word of God. This submission imparts spiritual authority solely because it bears the image of Christ. Since the formation of Christlikeness is the reason God created the world, any other reason for calling for submission, such as institutional position, ministry success, reputation, credentials, superior knowledge, has no proper foundation in the Lord. An older man passed on some infallible wisdom to me some decades ago, “Pay attention to those who you know God has placed you in relation with.” And those who God has placed your life can be identified by the way they keep pointing you to Jesus. When a spiritual son/daughter submits to the loving instruction/ direction/correction of a mother/father in the faith they receive a gracious impartation in the Spirit enabling them to become more like Jesus (cf. Heb 13:9). What the Lord has already shaped in their elder becomes part of their own life. All this sounds wonderful, and it is, however the key to it all is the painful “fellowship” of Christ’s sufferings (Phil 3:10).
Suffering Love
The Son’s submission to the Father’s will climaxed in the cross (Mark 14:36), and the resurrection revealed that his suffering was the means of perfecting the union between the humanity of Christ and the Father (Heb 2:10; 5:9). Since the Father and Son are one in love (John 10:30) there must have been a sense in which the Father himself suffered because of Jesus obedient death under judgement for our sake. Because Christ prayed for us to share in the unity between himself and the Father (John 17:20-22) the dynamics of these realities in God must find expression amongst us. When I find it painful to correct one of my many spiritual children this is a genuine expression of the Father’s love for his Son being mediated through my life in the Spirit (cf. 2 Cor 12:19-13:4; Heb 12:5-11). Ultimately, the widespread failure of “intergenerational discipleship” in Western Christianity is a refusal to follow the painful way of the Father and the Son. There can be no glory without walking this path of mutual suffering (Luke 24:26; Phil 2:5-11)
Conclusion
At the heart of what it means to be a Christian community, to be Church, is fellowship with the life of the Trinity. This is a spiritual reality which in the eternal love of the Lamb slain and raised (Rev 5:6; 13:8) transcends the real cultural and perspective distinctions between generations. Such holy love heals all divisions. Such wisdom hyper-excellent divine wisdom is the foundation of a new creation which can never be shattered. The reordering of the cosmos comes in the way of F/father-S/son instruction and submission. To maturely fulfil the Great Commission to disciple nations (Matt 28:18-20) depends upon older people hearing the call to spiritually father younger persons, and the younger submitting to Jesus in this way of the cross (1 Cor 4:14-21). Communion in pain, the pain borne by the Son for the Father in the cross to save us, is the bridge between every generation in Christ. “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” (Gal 6:17).