The Sins of Our Youth

Introduction

David prayed, “Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions. According to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.” (Psalm 25:6-7.) (See Psalm 51:5, Job 14:4.)

David asked the Lord two things: to remember His mercy and lovingkindness, and to remember not the sins of his youth. This is a penetrating statement, now made by someone who is beyond his youth. David, of course, as we all do, committed sins in his youth and in his adulthood. He needed the mercy and goodness of God all during his life.

David did not mention any of the sins of his youth by name. Perhaps, he did that in a more private manner in prayer to God. While sins are personal and private, they are also universal in nature. The temptations and sins that confronted David have challenged the youth of every age and nation. The Bible says concerning Jesus: “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15.)

Text Box: Think about a young oak sapling. If it is bent when young, it will grow crooked and twisted. If it is protected until it grows a few years and develops a good root system and trunk, it will be a strong, mighty tree. What happens in those early years is crucial to the wellbeing of the tree for the rest of its life.

Impulsive, Rash Behavior

Adam and Eve were probably young adults or even teens when they ate the forbidden fruit. They were old enough to be responsible for their actions. Their disobedience brought sin into the world. (Rom. 5:12.) Sins are destructive, dangerous, and detrimental, regardless of one’s age. Sin has caused physical death to come to mankind. Sin separates the sinner from God. “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23.) However, sins of the young can be especially destructive. They can mar and destroy one’s life.

Saul of Tarsus was a young man when he went on his mad campaign to arrest and kill Christians. The Bible says, “And they cast Stephen out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.” (Acts 7:58.) James and John were called sons of thunder when they were young. These two brother apostles wanted Jesus to send fire down from heaven and burn up a Samaritan village. (Luke 9:54.)

Joseph Kelly (summer interim from FHU) told me a story this week about one young man about sixteen years of age. He had a keen interest in bombs. He studied what made them tick! He decided to do some testing of his own to determine the pattern and width of explosion in the air. So he tied a stick of dynamite to a weather balloon. He thought the wind currents would carry it off to the south. When he turned the balloon and dynamite lose, it went north over a city and exploded. It blew out some windows of businesses and frightened people. The police knew immediately who was responsible. They drove to his house and arrested him.

This impulsive rash behavior causes young people to speed in their cars and take unnecessary risks. They will experiment with things like drugs, alcohol and sex. It is for this reason that those who are young should listen to the wisdom of those who are older. The young tend to do foolish and harmful things when left alone. No wonder David prayed, Remember not the sins of my youth.

Self-Centeredness

Young people are struggling to come out of their infancy and enter into adulthood. Young children must be taught to share, to think of others, and to deny self. This is one of the hardest lessons of life. It is contrary to our very nature. We want the attention, the gifts, and our way. We do not want to clean our rooms, to do our chores, and to make our own beds. We want to do it our way and be treated as little children. We want all the new electronic toys, expensive clothes and shoes. We want our parents to prepare the meals and take care of us. They work public jobs to provide for the family; while we, sometimes, are lazy and indifferent. We watch television while they wash our clothes and fold them.

Surely, one of the sins of our youth is lethargy, slothfulness, and selfishness. Television, video games and electronic toys have encouraged laziness. There are twelve proverbs about the sin of being slothful. None is age-dependent. He does not say that this applies only to those above 21 years old. Listen to this one: “The slothful hides his hand in his bosom; it grieves him to bring it again to his mouth.” (Prov. 26:15.) Solomon tells the sluggard to go watch an ant and learn industry. (Prov. 6:6-11.) He asks the sluggard, How long will you sleep? (6:9.) Sleeping more than you need to and laziness go hand-in-hand.

Growing to maturity and learning to deny oneself is not easy. These are the real growing pains. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12:24-25.)

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20.)

Ugly, Defiant Rebellion

The real problem is not the impulsive things or the slothfulness that the youth do in every age. It is not the long hair of the 60s, or the rings and piercings of the 90s. It is the rebellion and disregard for your parents and even God himself. It is the attitude: “I do not care what you say. I am going to do it anyway.” The real sin of our youth that displeases God and causes such heartache to parents is ugly, defiant behavior.

It is hard to imagine the impudence and arrogance of the prodigal son. The Bible says simply, “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto them his living.” (Luke 15:11-12.) I realize that this story, in the end, is about forgiveness and love, but, in the beginning, it is about rebellion and wastefulness. There can be no forgiveness unless there is humility and repentance. This young man caused his father untold shame and dishonor. In the West, we do not grasp the dishonor heaped upon this father in the eyes of others in the community. We have such a mushy understanding of love, that we fail to grasp either honor or love. Real honor is not selfish pride; neither is love a permissiveness that allows everything. This young man dishonored his father. The older son was a disappointment too. His immaturity and self-centeredness are repulsive.

The older son pouted: “Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. Yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.” (15:29.) If he threw a party, with his attitude, no one would come! The older son needed to be told, Grow up and stop acting like a baby!!

In the Old Testament, rebellious children were stoned to death! “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them, then . . . And all the men of the city shall stone him with stones, that he dies. So shall thou put evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear.” (Deut. 21:18-21.)

Someone replies, I sure am glad that we are under the New Covenant. But listen to what it says: “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:28-29.) The punishment is not less under the New Covenant! It is sorer, or worse, because you are rejecting the blood of Jesus Christ!

Nothing New Under the Sun

In the immaturity and folly of youth, they think that they have found something new. But the wise man, Solomon, wrote:

“One generation comes and another generation passes away. . . There is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us.” (Eccl. 1:4, 9-10.)

Sin and rebellion is as old as the hills. It is as old as Adam and Eve. Resisting established customs and traditions has been the hallmark of self-assertion and independence since the beginning of time. Youth think that they discovered sex, maybe even invented it! But see Proverbs 7:6-27.

“For at the window of my house I looked through my casement and beheld, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding. . He goes after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of stocks, till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare and knows not that it is for his life.”

Youth think that their fad of rings and piercing the body is something new. The Law of Moses forbade that 3500 years ago! “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am the Lord.” (Lev. 19:28, 21:5, Deut. 14:1, Jer. 16:6.)

Youths in the 1960s did not find anything new with boys wearing long hair and women short hair. Paul wrote in the first century, “Doth not even nature teach you, that, if a man has long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given her for a covering? But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.” (1 Cor. 11:14-15.)

Mark it well. The problem is being contentious and rebellious. Why do men want to wear long hair and women short hair? Because by doing so they are letting it be known that they are free, independent and 21!! The hippy days of the 1960s are long gone?? What are young men now doing? They are shaving their heads! And it looks sick!

Youth think that they have the right to do whatever they desire with their bodies, including fornication. But Paul wrote, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body. What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God and you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:18-19.)

“No bare midriffs: Court to get tougher on attire.” (Richmond-Times Dispatch article, Aug. 7, 2003.) The chief operating officer of the court said that the message judges wanted to convey is: “We take what we do seriously; you should too. Give it the dignity it deserves.” Midriffs must be covered in the courtrooms, and shorts will be allowed only on children 10 years old or younger. Think about it. If such dress is deemed inappropriate in a courtroom, how much less appropriate at worship!

In 1974, Mimi Tate, wife of preacher Rod Tate, wrote a small booklet titled, “the belly button brigade.” She wrote in the introduction:

“Some have told me that the title of this book is shocking and too vulgar and that I should choose other words. But ladies, I want you to be shocked! We need something to wake us up. If a title of a book will shock you because it names a particular part of the body then certainly you will be shocked to see this part of the body displaced before all. Yet, if you will look around you when you to a public place, I think you will realize why I have named this study The Belly Button Brigade.

Today, this is not shocking at all. Hip-huggers and midriffs are worn at church. A Jamaican preacher said that with the bottoms coming up and the tops of skirts and pants coming down, there isn’t much left. He said that some clothes that girls wear could qualify as a belt.

I can hear it now. Why all the fuss? What is so wrong with the fads of the youth? Ask those who now have illegitimate children. Ask those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Ask those who are sitting behind bars because they broke the law. Ask those who have destroyed and killed themselves. Ask parents whose savings have been wasted and hearts broken. Ask them if it matters. Ask God if it matters. An ugly, deviant attitude matters.

Conclusion: There are two kinds of rebellion. One is open and known. The other is silent rebellion. Both are sinful before God. Parents are able to recognize both forms. It is not true that every teenager or youth rebels against his parents and God. Some do. But it is not necessary. You are not created to rebel; you choose to have a rebellious attitude or not. What have you chosen to do?