Leaving Family, Graduates

While you're turning to Isaiah 43, a little something we want to bring in to help make the point today. The title of today's message is Whitewater Rafting for the Soul. Good job, guys. All right, thank you. Just before we read the scripture, I thought I'd read a little portion of something I read in the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago. So, graduates, no doubt it says you're salivating about the new experiences that await you as a college freshman, like being able to eat pizza every day for breakfast, but what I wish to alert you to are the sights and sounds that you won't be hearing anymore when you arrive at college or when you leave home. You'll know right off that this isn't high school when you wake up and realize there's no one telling you to get out of bed, to get back in bed, to turn off the television, to go to bed, and I swear I'm not kidding this time, to quit picking your nose, to wipe your nose, but not on your sleeve, to help with the dishes, to comb your hair, cut it or get it out of your eyes, to make your bed, to stand up straight, to speak up, to clean that pigsty in your room, to come here right now before I count to three, to look at your mother when she talks to you, to not look at your mother that way, to eat your dinner, to take out the trash, to settle down, to grow up, to stop growing up so fast, to get in the bathtub, to get out of the bathtub, to walk, to hurry up, to check the shoes on your shoes for mud, to go ask your father, to dress warm, to say thank you, to say you're sorry, to look both ways, to wipe your hands, but not on your clean shirt, to kiss your mother goodbye because I said so. How many of you have ever been white water rafting? Let me see your hands. Wow. Tremendous. Well, if you've never been white water rafting, how many have been to Kennywood and ridden the raging rapids? Well, there you go. It's a good substitute. But for the really faint at heart who's never been to either of those, go on down to the Omnimax Theater right now at Carnegie Science Center. You can ride the white water rapids in the movies and almost feel like you're being there. I don't think there's anything more exhilarating or exciting that you can do that's legal than ride the white water rapids of some of the rivers, even here in our own area. It's quite an experience. If you've never done it, you've missed something. And graduates, I want to say to you today that for the last years, whether you know it or not, you've kind of been out in sort of, and by the way, as I say graduates, I want to also talk today to those of you in transitions of various kinds. You might find some application here. Maybe, how many, any college graduates here back today? No college graduates. Now they're all sleeping in. Say they're going to get here at 11.15. Maybe some new to the area, whatever. You've found yourself, whether you know it or not, in sort of the headwaters where things are sort of calm and maybe just a little bit of a, little bit of a flow going on. Laughing and splashing and occasionally paddling. And when a little turbulence came, it was sort of fun. But things are about to change for you. Just around the next bend in the river of life, if you stop the party circuit for just a moment, you're going to hear some thundering sounds of white water just ahead. I'm talking about level four and level five rapids here. I'm talking about double hydraulics and narrow openings between the rocks that will shoot you through like a cannon. But don't look now, because the people in your raft are about to change. No longer will there be, you know, hopefully a strong dad and mom there and a few predictable if nerdy brothers and sisters in the raft with you. But there'll be a whole new group of peers, none of whom have done these waters before, just like you. Oh, and what about your guide? Well, I don't know what's more important. But we're going to talk about that in just a moment. Let me tell you again, there's some nasty rocks just around that bend. And you do well to be prepared. I want to describe for you, seniors particularly, what's happened kind of since you've been born. Just a little review of history to give you some context of the waters you've been in, all right? The 70's, the time you were born, were in my estimation a time of what I'm going to call serious disillusionment. Just to let you know, the 60's were a time of rebellion. If I had to describe it in one word, it was rebellion. How many of you were around in the 60's? Let me see your hand. 50's? 30's? Okay. Well, all right. I won't go any lower than that. But you see, the 60's were a time of rebellion. I mean, terrible things happened over and over again in the 60's. John Kennedy was assassinated November of 1963, the Vietnam. Terror was on our televisions every night. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated April of 68. Robert Kennedy, June of 68. Kent State, Woodstock, kind of proved that everyone can just sort of get high and have free love without any consequences. Ho, ho, ho. And Frank Sinatra crooned, I did it my way. But the 70's followed that. The rebellion didn't get us anywhere but into deep trouble, and so things tried to shift gears in the 70's. And graduates, just before you were born, a few very important things happened. When you were just a gleam in your daddy's eye, this is what happened. The Supreme Court legalized abortion and opened an internal wound that's still infected to this day in our nation. 1973 and 4, Watergate devastated and already eroded confidence in the institution of government. And I don't think we've recovered since. And then the energy crisis hit. Just before you were born, could you imagine graduates waiting two or three hours to get five gallons of gas? Used to do that. Used to burn candles at night and wear coats in our houses. And in sort of an eerie symbolism, even Christmas lights were turned off during the energy crisis. For the first time since World War II, Americans were hit where it hurt the most, in their wallets, and discovered that maybe their destiny was being controlled by someone outside of their borders, something they'd never experienced before. And a new term began to be heard right about this time, right around when you were born. It was called the National Debt. As a result of the Vietnam War and the war on poverty kind of happening simultaneously and some miscalculations, deficits each year kind of grew and a debt accumulated. Now I did a little graph of this or picked one up for you just to give you an idea. Let's cover up that part, please, Lee. Just when you were born, graduates, here's where the debt was. Go ahead, flash it up there. See, Gerald Ford, that was, who was president when most of you were born? And our total debt at that time was just about, not very much at all, about 400, 300, 400 billion dollars. I mean, that's, wasn't hardly anything, okay? Then you were born and things began to heat up very interestingly. Next, during the next presidency, more debt arrived in those next four years than had happened in all the years prior to it. What were you guys doing? And by the time our next president came, whoa, things were really spiraling. And I'm going to come back to that in just a moment. A couple of good things happened in the 70s, I might want to say, just when you were sort of little. There was some wonderful stuff happening spiritually. Many of your parents came to Christ during what was called the Jesus People Movement of the early 70s. And then the Charismatic Movement happened all around the country and parts of the world. Thousands of Roman Catholics came alive in Christ. Thousands of other denominational churches were turned around by the move of the Holy Spirit. Great festivals attracted tens of thousands, even here in Pennsylvania. A man by the name of Pat Robertson became a household term, and his 700 Club familiarized millions of people with the everyday language of the contemporary move of God. Strangely though, none of these things really seemed to affect the fabric of our social culture. And the kind of sweeping revival many people were praying for never really materialized. And all this happened, and you were only five years old. Well, then the 80s came, and the 80s in a word was a decade of indulgence, a decade of materialism. One word, materialism. Prosperity at any cost. Let's put that graph back up there. And the cost, I might add, was enormous. 1.34 trillion dollars. And by the time early 92 had passed, the graph was spiraling out of control. And it wasn't just materialistic greed. It was sort of a selfish indulgence of all kinds. Let me just say, this sort of imbalance created some tension in our culture, and there was more and more a have-and-have-not sort of thing being set up. And there was sort of roots of anger and upheaval being fueled, and that's what sort of erupted just about a year and a half ago out in Los Angeles. The welfare system got way out of whack, and we were spending four times as much as we were 15 years ago just on welfare. And spiritual indulgence, listen, came into vogue. So the Christians were finding ways to prosper themselves using the Word of God rather than to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the kingdom. The 80s was a decade of indulgence, and then we hit the 90s. Where you are today, graduates, you all can see for yourself. Now you're old enough to figure it out a little bit anyhow. The 90s are upon us. Take a look at where the national debt's heading. No, no, no. Put it down so we can see it all. By the time you graduate from college, we can't even get the national debt on the graph. Now you can slide it up a little bit, Lee. Kind of looks like our savings account when it comes to paying those college tuitions, doesn't it? But that's just one thing. Now there are some good things that have happened in the 90s, like, oh, hello, hello. Well, what's a good thing that's happened in the 90s? Billy Graham, all right, yes, he's going strong. But how about the end of the Cold War? I mean, the fall of Soviet Communism, I'd say, was a marvelous answer to prayer and a great revolution of love, all right? There's some other good things that have happened. There's been some impact made in places in the world where it's not been seen before. Eastern Europe's open to the Gospel in ways we've never imagined possible. Even, and by the way, it's interesting, USA Today, three weeks ago, 5-18-93, officials say up to 55% of Russian teachers, many of whom were former atheists, have made personal commitments to Christ. Many are using the New Testament in schools. In the meantime, we were almost forbidden to say the name of God in our commencement exercise. Jesus Christ is God's Son, and He died for our sins. Teacher Natasha Popova tells her 27 students at public school number 42, He's alive today and can be your best friend. As you know, graduates, almost everything else in our culture is up for grabs. A few weeks ago, I quoted the leading cultural indicators compiled by William Bennett, and I won't go into them all in depth, but you know that things aren't going all that well. And it's very interesting to me. It seems like the harder our new government tries to fix something, the worse it gets. And there doesn't seem to be any moral pinions sunk down deep enough to be able to build something upon. And so the AIDS crisis continues to spiral, and the violent crime situation is 500% higher than it was in 1963. And child abuse, and you know, it just gets through on and on and on. Let me say something, graduates. Listen, you didn't cause this. Now listen, church, we did. This is what we're handing these kids. If you've tuned out up till now, I want you to tune in right here. It's our responsibility to this point. Now, graduates, it's what you're going to get. You've got to learn how to navigate these whitewater rapids that you're facing. The cultural upheaval is immense. And I need to tell you, according to Dr. James Dobson, it isn't going to get better when you go to college. This isn't meant to discourage, but just to get you on alert, here's what he writes in one of his most recent newsletters. Secular universities today are bastions of moral relativism that leave no room for the Christian worldview. I doubt if many parents realize just how antagonistic many of our state schools have become to anything that smacks of Christianity. There is simply no place for God in the system. Diversity is the new God, which respects all worldviews and philosophies except one. The Christian perspective is not only excluded from the classroom, it is often ridiculed and undermined. The dominant philosophy in today's public university is called relativism, which categorically denies the existence of truth, with a capital T, or moral absolutes. Those who are foolish enough to believe in such archaic notions as biblical authority or the claims of Christ are to be pitied and bullied. Such is the prevailing attitude in most state-sponsored institutions today. Graduates, the white water is just beginning, and it's going to get kind of nasty as you go. No doubt about it, this turbulence can be awesome. The moral compass that many of us had 30 years ago has been clouded. The social fabric has been stretched to where now—I thought it was great yesterday at the Richland High School commencement, near the end, because all of the controversy about God, someone sneezed, and the class all said, God bless the class of 93. Well, you know, it worked, all right? They got it through. So what are you going to do? Let me get on. I just, I had to paint the picture as it is, all right? Let me talk about what you can do to navigate the white water rapids. Are you ready? The first thing you need to do—by the way, this isn't a for real white water raft. I can see some of you purists saying, boy, that thing wouldn't last five minutes. You're right. And those of you on the side, I apologize. Our new auditorium, you'll be able to see all this stuff. The first thing you need to do, graduates, is to know without a shadow of a doubt who is ultimately guiding your raft. Who is your guide? Four years ago, I took my family out west to Colorado to visit with some friends and to experience some things, and we took a ride on the Arkansas River. Remember that? It was a cloudy, gloomy day, sort of a perfect day to get ready to have the ride of your life. We all arrived early at the station, you know, where they receive everybody, and there were some other parties all together, and they assign you right away to go down and get your life jacket fitted in and your rubber suit because the water's cold. This is Colorado, all right, and all that. And so you get out there, and the next thing they tell you is, we're going to assign you your guide. Well, you know, I'd been on whitewater before, but my family had not, and I went, you know, this isn't like, you know, this isn't the Beaver River we're talking about. We're talking about rocks and stuff, and I said, well, Lord, you know, let it be a guide that, you know, inspires us with confidence. And I looked at some of these guys, and some of these guys were heavy hitters. I mean, big, tan, you know, some of them with beard. They looked like they were mountain men, you know. I said, that's the kind of guide, Lord, we need. So we go down to our raft, and I'm waiting, and I'm just a little bit anxious because, you know, I mean, I'm, this is my family in this raft, okay, and they were four years younger, so they were all actually quite small. And our guide shows up, and all I can remember was, he was a thin, little, white-as-a-sheet kind of guy. And then I asked him, well, where are you from? And he said, Nebraska. There can't, the only whitewater in Nebraska comes out of the bathtub, as far as I can figure, right? Oh, man, I'm saying, oh, Lord, this isn't good. But you know what? We weren't two minutes on that river, but this guy knew what he was doing. I mean, he had control of the situation, and I was glad because I sure didn't. Graduates, who's guiding your raft? Is it popularity, boyfriend, girlfriend? Is it success or career goals? Is it more vague than that? Is it just happiness or doing your best or kind of, well, you know, whatever works for me? You know, there's really only one guide that you can count on to get you through the whitewater, and his name is Jesus Christ. And I know that most of you know this, but I want you to listen carefully. You see, not only is Jesus the master rafter in terms of skills, he's also been down this river thousands of times. He knows where the rocks are, and any guide who doesn't know where the rocks are isn't going to make it. Jesus promises you two things, an abundant life and that he'll never jump out of the raft. But there is a catch, graduates. Not only do you invite him to get in the raft with you, but, listen, you've got to give him the paddle. He's got to be the one that's controlling the direction of the raft. It's not enough to say, hey, Lord, get on in here and be my savior just in case I fall out of the boat. You have to say, Lord, get on in and be the Lord. Give direction. You guide me through. And I want to say to the whole church, I'm afraid there's far too many people in this church that have Jesus in their raft as their savior, their life preserver, but don't have him as their Lord, not guiding the way. I wish I could tell you how many young people I've talked to over the last 20 years of ministry whose lives hit the rocks in this period in their life, because they insisted on holding on to the paddle. They knew a little bit better than God how it ought to go. So they got into that relationship. They lived with that guy or that gal. They experimented around and tried a few things and blew off some classes and some responsibilities. They did what they wanted to do because they knew in the end this was their last fling before they had to really settle down. So they partied hard on weekends because they deserved it, but in the end they hit the rocks. And when they hit those rocks of broken relationships and wounded spirits and pregnancy and academic failure and financial wipeouts, they called to Jesus in the raft and said, Lord, help I'm drowning. And you know what? He did. He helped. But they never had to flip the raft. They didn't have to have that happen to them if they'd only given them the paddle. When a professor or a dorm buddy or some other pleasure or philosophy of life says, trust me, I'll get you through the water, don't believe them. Two-thirds of all Christian kids, by the way, flip their rafts. That's the statistic. Only about a third of the kids who know the Lord going into college come out as strong or stronger than when they went in. Graduates, you'll hear those little voices saying that something you haven't tried or tasted or taken is going to enhance your life somehow. There's a group of people in the raft that will be there for you. Any rafter will tell you the folks in that raft with you are going to make or break it. Am I right? And there's two different kinds of people I never want to get into a raft with. All right? Here they are. The first kind of people I never want to get in a raft with are wimps. And the second kind are wild men. I've been in rafts with both. The wimps, when the times get tough, scream, cover their heads and dive for the center of the raft and hope someone will get them through. I'm not going to say anything about my experience on the Arkansas River. But some were paralyzed with fear. They wanted to help but they couldn't let go. You know what I'm talking about. You know when you're just about to go through that real narrow opening where the water accelerates and the guide says, and when you go through there, you've got to push real hard on this side to keep you from slamming on the rock on that side. And you go flying through. And instead of pushing on this side, they all jump in the middle and the raft goes, whoo, up against the side of the rock. And you go, wham, down. If it wasn't for one of these guys, it could be the end of the ride. But graduates, it's equally bad to have wild men in your raft. Men who think, or men in the generic sense, men and women who think, hey, the whole reason we're in this raft is to have a good time. Let's party. Let's get you out of this raft. Let's see how many times we can dump you. Anyone been in a raft ride like that? I've seen it. I've been there when, hey, just as soon as someone's back was turned, whoop, out they went. Their biggest laugh was to watch your head bobbing up and down and your arms flailing as they went on down in the raft. Now, don't get me wrong. I love having a good time. Calm waters are a time to have fun. I've had some of the greatest water battles of my life. I've turned rafts upside down in the calm. But let me spell it out, graduates. Choose very carefully who you will have in that raft with you. And if you're a believer in Jesus, can I tell you, there better be other believers in that raft. If you surround yourself, when you go off to school or work, wherever you're going to go, with people who don't know God, as you go through these whitewater rapids, I want to tell you right now, your raft's going to go upside down. You won't make it. I can tell you, I never would have made it if it hadn't been someone who jumped in my raft. I'd try to dump him out. I said, I don't need you in here. He said, yes, you do. And he stayed with me. Now, everyone else in your circle of friends, if they're all people from your fraternity or sorority or just folks that you hang out with in your dorm, if that's all that you have and there's no believers in there, you're headed for disaster. You see, in the end, your relationships help to form who you become. And they all, for you, will be the most important things in your life. And don't forget the ones, by the way, who were in the raft with you earlier, you know, your family and your friends from before. Every once in a while, let them know that you're doing okay. It's important to them. I had a reunion just a few years ago with some of the guys who were in my raft in college, and I had a mixture. I had some who didn't know Christ. And you know what? Twenty-five years later, they still don't. They've been through divorce, alcoholism. They're still my friends. But the ones in my raft who know God, they're still serving God. And that's what I believe the Lord wants for you. Third and finally, the third thing you need to do to get to the Whitewater Rapids, love God and let Him be your guide. Surround yourself with a group who will be with you. And number three, leverage your strengths. In other words, every person in a raft needs to make a contribution to kind of get it through. If you've ever been on a real raft trip, everybody has a job to do. You know, somebody's got to make sure that the gear gets put in right. Someone's got to be sure that the ballast is this way or that way. A couple of people may even have other paddles to help keep things going in the right direction. Resist the temptation, graduates, to shrink into your own little world. The most selfish people I know many times are college students and early marries. Their whole world is them. And I discovered something kind of by accident that the best way to keep moving in that river is to get your focus off of you and get it on what God wants for you to do and just give a little of yourself. Now, clearly, your priorities are to be there to study and do your best and so, but always have an outlet. Give something of your strength. Volunteer at a local hospital or work with a local church youth group or do something where you're giving a little of yourself. For me, it was kind of an accident. The friend in my raft said, Hey, let's start, we need a fellowship on our campus. There was not one Christian fellowship on our campus. He said, Let's start a fellowship of Christian athletes. I said, Well, okay, I'm one of the two. You be the athlete, I'll be the Christian. We worked together and after a while that worked and God used that and then by the time I was a senior, I was working with junior and senior high youth group, a youth group in a Presbyterian church just down in the town where the school was. Somehow, God always took care of giving me enough time to do my studies, to get through, to even have a job, but by giving something of myself, it kept the focus off of me and I believe that's a key to getting through this time. Graduates, really, there's only three things that matter. It's loving God and letting him be your God. It's loving other people and having a group around you that'll be there for you as you go through and it's giving of yourself. I just want to say, if you live your life that way, you're going to get through those rapids. You're going to get on to bigger rivers and greater things. Notice what it says in Isaiah 43. Go ahead and open your Bible back up again. Verse 4, Since you're precious and honored in my sight and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and people in exchange for your life. Graduates, there's nothing higher than that. Do you see it, Isaiah 43 and 4? Do not be afraid, the Lord says, for I am with you. I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, give them up. To the south, do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who's called by my name, everyone whom I've created for my glory, whom I've formed and made. And I want to say, you know what? These next years can be the greatest ones of your life. They really can. I look back with great fondness to those years in college and I want to say, I believe for you they're going to be the greatest years of your life to this point. Campus life doesn't so much build your character as reveal it. What's going to happen to you? If you have a guy and a group and a goal, you're going to make it. One last thing, words of David Chartrand in this article. He says, graduates, don't be surprised by the tears that are streaking down your parents' faces in September as they drop you off at the dormitory. They're not sad. They weep because they're having a hallucinogenic experience. All they know is that yesterday you were little frogs and snails and puppy dogs' tails and they have no earthly idea when you turned into this wonderful young adult. It's a surreal and mind-altering experience that will be much clearer to you when you have your own kids who leave for college. You too will cry now and then as you realize how much your family means to you and how well they've prepared you for this moment. Remember always who you are. Stand up for what you've become, but for crying out loud, stand up straight. Let's stand together.