[Note: This sermon begins with a full congregational opening prayer before the exposition, which has been preserved in full below. The sermon expounds Matthew 24:34, arguing from comparative exegesis that "generation" (genea) means kind of offspring or descendants, not a span of time. Delivered 25 October 1981, Montreal. Part B continues directly.]
Our God and our Father, we truly want to acknowledge you as King of our life, and to you alone belongs all the glory and all the honor and all the praise and all the adoration that our hearts can give. Lord, though our poor hearts can give so little, we pray that what we give may truly be genuine, may truly be pure, may truly be from the depths of our being, as we offer to you the adoration and thanks that belongs to you. For we remember, O Lord, the days in which we lived under no other kingship than the kingship of the evil one, a kingship that we thought was the kingship of self, and we wandered in darkness, not knowing where we were going and what we were living for. We pray, dear Lord, that you will truly search each one of our hearts who acknowledge your name and profess to be Christians, whether indeed we live under your kingship not only in name but in truth. For Lord, we know that so often we have given you nothing more than a constitutional monarchy of our life, in which we have simply given you the name of king without any practical substance. And we ask you to forgive us our hypocrisy.
We pray that daily you will search us and grant us truly to live under your kingship, that we may know that we are members of your kingdom, citizens of your heavenly kingdom upon the earth, that, O Lord, we may glorify your name not only in what we say but much more in the way that we conduct ourselves. Lord, we pray also that as king you will defend us against the host of forces and powers that seek to attack us and often also to malign us, for we seem constantly to live under this sort of attack day after day, whether upon our being or upon our name. Lord, have pity upon us for your own name's sake. For our name is nothing to us, but your name, O Lord, is to be everything to us. We pray that you will glorify your name in us and lead us forward from day to day.
We commit this church to your hands, O Lord, and everyone in it, praying again that you will so work in our midst as to make us a church that is well-pleasing in your sight. In spite of our many weaknesses, O Lord, which we freely acknowledge and constantly acknowledge, we pray that by your power and your grace in our midst you will make this a church that can shine for you. O Lord, as we come today to worship you, we pray that you will open your word to our hearts and open our hearts to your word and accomplish all your purpose for which you have gathered us here today. We often acknowledge too that we are dull of understanding in regard to your word — we pray that you will teach us and illuminate our minds. Again, we lovingly commit your people, O Lord, who live under your kingship throughout the world, into your hands, praying your rich blessing upon them all, especially for your people in China who are so close to our hearts. Let your blessing overflow to them this day. Hear now our prayer and grant us above all your presence, and speak to each one of us, for we are not just a face to you or just a name — you know every person gathered here today, and we pray that you will meet each person in the place of their need. We thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Today we continue to study the teaching of our Lord Jesus concerning his second coming. Last week we studied the meaning of Matthew 24:34: "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place." As we sit here today, it seems somehow hard to comprehend — almost unreal, almost far-fetched — to think that Jesus will come again. Of course, as Christians we are used to acknowledging that. But it is hard for the reality of this teaching to dawn fully upon our minds. And it seems that everything keeps going in a certain sameness, making the sudden coming of the Lord, compared to a thief in the night, very hard for us to grasp.
What I want to do today is what we may call comparative exegesis — that is, we will look at two other verses alongside this one, using each to illuminate the other, in order to bring out the meaning within the passages. Since what we want to understand is what the Lord actually said, not what men's opinions on his teaching may be. Now the key question that everything hinges on is this: what did the Lord mean by "this generation"? Very often the language we know well influences our understanding of a language we know less well. In English, "generation" has the idea of a span of time, or people living within a given span of time — though there is very little agreement even in English on how long a generation is, whether 30 years or 70 years.
But when we carefully examine the Greek and the Hebrew, and look carefully at how this word is actually used in scripture, we find that generation refers rather to offspring or descendants. For example, it says there are 14 generations from Abraham — Matthew is not talking about 14 periods of time, but about 14 successions of offspring or descendants. And when we look at how the Lord Jesus himself uses the word, we find a consistent pattern. We must be careful not to take a definition of how one writer uses a word and assume another writer uses it the same way — I have shown the training team, for example, how Paul and the apostle John use the term "eternal life" in quite different ways. Paul always uses it as a future reality; John can speak of it as a present one. Anyone who studies scripture carefully will see this, yet preachers frequently confuse the issue because they do not observe the distinction.
This kind of mistake happens when we translate literally without understanding usage — much like reading a label from Hong Kong where the translator had a dictionary but no feel for English idiom. I remember one tin labelled "Grounded fish." Now there is quite a difference between "ground fish" (reduced to powder) and "grounded fish" (stuck on the shore or prevented from flying). The translator simply did not see that "grounded" is the past tense of "to ground," not the past tense of "to grind." In the same way, we must not let our English sense of "generation" govern our reading of the Greek word genea.
When we look at how the Lord Jesus uses genea, we find that it refers to a kind of person — a certain type of offspring or descendants, defined by their character. The word genea and the related word geneema both basically mean offspring. For example, when the Lord says in Matthew 23 "you offspring of vipers," he uses this language. And he frequently uses the term "sons of" in exactly the same sense: "sons of the resurrection" in Luke 20:36 means people who are of such a kind as will inherit the resurrection. "Son of peace" in Luke 10:6 means a person of such a character as will inherit God's peace and salvation. "Sons of hell" in Matthew 23:15 means people whose conduct and character are such as will inherit hell. The word "generation" therefore has to do with being — with what kind of person you are.
You can see this in Philippians 2:15, where Paul speaks of a "crooked and perverse generation" and says Christians must shine as light in the midst of it. He is not saying that only those 30 years of people in his own lifetime were crooked and perverse; he means people of such a character in any age. And this is exactly the same as what he says in Ephesians 2:2 and 5:6 about "sons of disobedience." Crooked and perverse generation = sons of disobedience: the same concept expressed two different ways. So "this generation will not pass away" means that this kind of people — crooked and perverse, disobedient to God — will continue until the Lord comes and puts an end to it.
Now let us turn to a second passage for our comparative study: Luke chapter 16 and verse 8, where we find "generation" and "sons" used together. The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence, for "the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light." Notice that the RSV inserts the words "in dealing with" which do not exist in the original — the Authorized Version is more faithful, giving simply "in their own generation." What does "in their own generation" mean? Given their own kind of people, given their own logic and rationale and character, the sons of this world are wiser than the children of light. The sentence becomes meaningless if "generation" means merely "contemporaries," because of course you can only deal with your own contemporaries and not with the dead or the unborn.
So here are two kinds of people: the sons of this world, and the sons of light. And the Lord Jesus says that the sons of this world — non-Christians — are wiser. How can this be? The more I study this passage and look around at Christians, the more I must say how true this is. The point is that the non-Christian is more careful, and exercises more foresight, in how he prepares for his earthly future, than the Christian does in terms of his spiritual future. Think of what the non-Christian does. He studies hard to get a good job. He saves money for retirement — this RRSP, this registered retirement savings plan. He makes sure his children will have a good education. He plans and provisions and works so that his future will be secure, even down to making sure there is a nice tombstone for him in the end. The non-Christian is very wise. He looks into the future and acts accordingly.
And what about the Christian? The Christian is foolish, because his provision for his spiritual future is nothing like the provision the non-Christian makes for his earthly future. Look at those in the training team. In worldly terms, they are the biggest fools you have ever seen — they gave up their jobs, their income, their prospects. If they had stayed in Hong Kong these past two years, the bank account would be getting bigger all the time. Instead, they paid their own fares to come to Montreal, and by the time they return they will have lost two years of experience and two years of promotion, and they will go back with one little suitcase of old clothes and mostly books that nobody in Hong Kong wants to buy. Fools. That is what they are in worldly terms.
And you congratulate yourself that you are not such a fool. You keep one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom, playing it safe on both sides. Put some into the kingdom just in case there is a heaven, and enough into this world so that if there is no heaven it was still okay — nice house, nice job, not too bad. That seems like wisdom. But let me tell you something: we are dealing with the living God. You will not make a fool of God. You will only make a fool of yourself. When you get to heaven, if I can use that imagery, you will find that your spiritual bank account is so small, you are going to be in all kinds of difficulty.
[Continues in Part B]
# This Generation — Matthew 24:34 (Part B) — Non-Christians Wiser in Consistency; Bertrand Russell; Church Must Transform Before Mission; Crooked and Perverse Generation
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 24:34, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 25 October 1981, Montreal.]
That is the truth of the situation, and the Lord Jesus foresaw it. The non-Christian is wise given his logic, given the kind of person he is — and in his own generation, by his own rationale, he is wiser than the children of light. Because if this world is the only reality there is, then of course we should store up here. We should go out and get the best-paying job we can find, make sure the bank account gets fatter, and leave preaching the gospel to spare time, if there is any spare time. But we are not dealing with a hypothesis. We are dealing with the living God.
And this is why the Christian is foolish on both counts when he compromises. If he compromises his thinking and becomes worldly, he cannot earn anywhere near as much as a person wholly in the world — he is losing financially. And if he still thinks worldly, he is storing nothing in heaven either. So he has nothing in this world and nothing in heaven. As Paul says, we are of all people most miserable if in this life only we have hoped in Christ. The bigger problem is this: at least the non-Christian is consistent. He goes all the way with the flesh. But the Christian is inconsistent — half spirit, half flesh — and ends up not wholly succeeding at either. Bertrand Russell used to say: "I don't think you Christians believe what you claim to believe. If you believed what you claim to believe, you would be behaving differently." And Bertrand Russell was right.
Consider Matthew chapter 6. The Lord Jesus says that God provides for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. But we say: I am not a bird, I am not a lily — what has that got to do with me? So we dispense with the whole teaching of the Lord. But he goes on: "All these things the Gentiles seek for. As for you, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Amen, we say. Amen. But the flesh is weak. So we store most of it on earth and a little bit in heaven, temporarily — maybe temporary for the next fifty years or so. Why? Because fundamentally we do not believe that if we are in a financial tight spot the Lord will see us through. There is our hypocrisy revealed.
This brings us to Matthew 26:41: "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." That sums up the root of the problem in the Christian's thinking. We said the temptation we are warned against is the cares of this world, as we saw in the last message. And the reason the Christian falls into that temptation is the weakness of the flesh — we dare not trust God for the future. Paul makes it explicit in Romans 8:5–6: "Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." There is no middle ground. To set the mind consistently, wholeheartedly, uncompromisingly on the Spirit is life and peace. To compromise with the flesh is to head toward death.
Consider Matthew 17:17, and notice something that shocks us if we read it carefully. The Lord Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration and was met by a man whose son was tormented by an evil spirit, and the disciples had not been able to cast it out. The Lord said: "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you?" These words, when we look at the context, seem to be addressed primarily to the disciples. That is the shocking thing — that "faithless and perverse generation" is addressed to those who have already become disciples. We make excuses for our faithlessness, but in so doing we put ourselves in great spiritual danger.
I am saying all this firstly because I am called upon to expound the word of God faithfully, without watering it down or diluting it. But secondly, because unless and until the church is transformed, our mission to the world is in vain. The non-Christian is not deceived. He knows very well whether you are genuine or false. I knew it before I was a Christian myself — I could tell a genuine Christian from a hypocritical one. You cannot fool the non-Christian. They are wiser, remember that. Until the church becomes genuine, consistent, faithful, true sons of light without compromise, our mission to the world is unavailing. I receive papers and articles and mission reports constantly from every direction. Most of them are about mission — mission research, the state of the Chinese church throughout the world, how we reach this people or that people. Mission is very important. But the church is not in a fit state for mission.
If you are a worldly Christian, the kind of Christian you will produce is another worldly Christian. You cannot produce other than what you are. That is the principle of generation — of offspring. As the Lord said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23: you go to land and sea to make one convert, and when you have made him, he is twice as worthy of hell as you are. The Pharisees, being themselves unspiritual, could only produce unspiritual disciples. Sons produce offspring after their own kind. You must be ruthless with yourself, honest with yourself, if you are going to be effective in mission. And I pray that the kind of Christianity we bring into China will be the pure, unadulterated, uncompromising gospel of Christ, not the watered-down version made in our own image.
I am constantly in this church trying to sort out people who were baptized at a time when their commitment was very much in doubt, and whose commitment is still in doubt. They are the people who are constantly giving us problems, because they have inherited spiritual defects right from the beginning. They were the offspring of people who were not genuine Christians in the first place, or who were genuine Christians still living in compromise. Something was wrong in the spiritual birth. And now it takes so much time and energy to deal with the consequences. What is your condition like today? What sort of Christian are you? What sort am I? Let us ask God to search our hearts on this matter. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.