A Cause Worth Dying For: Materialism, Millennials, & the Authentic Mission

12191833_10153776782223385_2393537891005952926_n — Image source ihopkc.org used with permission

Let me ask you something, very simple: Is the Christian God real?

If not, then don’t waste another minute of your time. There’s the door. If the Christian God is simply a family tradition, a nice story, a cultural myth, or a moral teaching then we might as well toss it all aside. It’s nothing.

But, if the answer is yes then there is a desperate state of urgency. If yes, that God is really real, and that he really reveals himself through the ancient writings of the Bible, how should we respond? What do we do? And could this be the great cause of causes? Could it be the truth? Could it be the truth even if we don’t like it at first?

There really is no middle ground. God can be real, God can be imaginary. He cannot be somewhat real. I believe God is real. He reveals himself through the Bible. There are so many roads of inquiry to see that God is real, so many that we’ve ventured upon on this website. If you’d like to begin digging into the reasonable inquiry of God, click here.

For me, upon study, research, reading, science, philosophy, and every manner of inquiry I’ve learned that the Christian God is real. Since then, believing fully that God is really real our priority must be his mission.

What is his mission? His mission is the sharing of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, his life, death, and resurrection. His message is the good news of the absolution, the forgiveness of all transgressions, through trust. His message is the welcoming of the people of the Earth, humanity, into his family through the cross of Christ. His message is the gospel, the good news that Jesus restores our connection to God in this broken doomed world. All we have to do is believe in one he sent, Jesus, and then live that mission of love and service.

There are millions upon millions of people, in our own communities who don’t know Jesus. I’m sad to say that most of them, many of them are millennials like me. These people are lost without a savior, and it shows. What can we do to reach them? And why don’t our churches penetrate into those people groups? And if you’re one of those people, who brought you here? Why are you reading these words? Could it possibly be, just possibly be, that God is guiding you right now? Could his hand be on your shoulder?

The answer is simple, God is real, and he has revealed himself in the book. Only the purity and authenticity of His message could reach me. In Christ alone I found true authenticity, true purity, and the truth itself. A way, when I had asked so many times: “Where do we go from here?” Jesus Christ showed himself to be the way. I thought I was looking for a perfect ideology, a perfect equation, it turned out that I came to a person, to Christ. All of that revealed through the book.

The God, the supreme being who created the universe ex nihilo as they say, has chosen to reveal himself through a book. Why? Freedom. He isn’t going to force anyone to believe in him. If he made himself known and seen fully, and physically, there would no longer be any choice. God gives us a choice. We encounter this God, the real one, through a book. They call that book the Bible. But Bible just means “book.” I love that. There is no grand title. It’s not plated in gold. In fact many times the Christian life is like that. No gold, no fancy ceremonies. It’s just a relationship with God. A God whose name is “I am who I am.” As they say, Yahweh. Elohim. Jehovah. Adonai. Or just “abba” which means “daddy.” Daddy in the most intimate terms in fact. And of course Our blessed savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ just means God who saves, the messiah. Messiah means the chosen one. Just like you, the one reading these words, has been chosen to be a brother, a sister of Christ, of myself, and of the family on Earth.

The key is the truth. People like me, people in their twenties, college kids, they are hungry for the truth. And they aren’t getting it at the university. Often times they don’t get it at church either.

At the university they’re getting a lot of empty garbage like relativism, post-modernism, darwinism, marxism, liberalism, self help psychology, eastern mysticisms, and new age metaphysical self flagellation. Yet the mind recoils against a lot of these things. Why? Because they aren’t true. Many of them contain pieces of truth, but young people are hungry for a fundamental meaning. They want something of substance. There is no real substance in any of those ideologies. But if the Christian faith is the truth about everything, and I know it is, then it’s exactly what they’re looking for.

It was exactly what I needed, but I didn’t want it. I came like C.S. Lewis, very hesitantly. But in the end, God helped me to see his eternal reality. It changed everything in my life. It fundamentally changed how I see everything in the world. That is the only Christianity that can transform my generation; my family of millennials needs the real Christianity. Not the fake one, not the watered down one, not the experiential one, not the emergent one, not the gay friendly one, or the universalist one, but the real one.

Show me some boundaries! It’s all an open space in post-modernism. And it’s so open, selfish, and self-serving that its unliveable. There’s just nothing there to help explain existence or provide a cause for living. And those who don’t believe in anything, who haven’t founded a fortress of barriers, positions, and concrete views, are liable to fall for anything. And they are. Anything easy. Any priceless cause. Any liberal issue that requires no personal sacrifice. Sad to see, sad to see.

Paradoxically the free generation, open to new ideas, and all of that, deserves a cause of discipline, righteousness, hard work, and a cause to die for. My generation is starving for want of a solid ethic from which to approach life.

The gospel is the nourishment we require. The codes of clear ethics, boundaries, and standards within the Bible are required. They help me to live for something greater than myself. That is what is needed. The cross, the God of love is something I’m willing and able to stand for, and die for. The radical Christian mission is hidden by this body guard of lies, this distorted false church epitomized in the church channel on Cable, ministries set on making money, and churches heart-set on watering down the gospel as a sort of family support venture. We’ve got a lot of men and women trying to make it clear how important and prominent they are. And the true gospel is neglected. But the radical true gospel of those fighting the good fight in the wilderness, turned aside by society, mocked and ridiculed by the elite, is waiting for cause-lovers to champion. It’s not one you hear about a lot. Because the honorable, humble ones aren’t out to draw headlines and gather everyone to their “brand” of ministry. Instead they just patiently work and serve, doing beautiful things in hidden areas where few see. That is the work God calls us to. That is the purity of the mission of the Christian gospel that attracts young people.

In conclusion, millennials, young people, my friends and family of humanity, we need you! Are you one of the few that can receive this message? Are you one of the few that will come out of all that stupid pointless selfishness, and really serve in a noble, true cause? Is that you? Are you tired of all the selfishness? Are you tired of all the depravity, sexuality, and corruption? Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Then it’s you. I hope you’ll take up this cause. I hope it’s you who will serve. This mission is the real meaning of life.

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About Justin Steckbauer