Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, are we failing our sons? Now this is prompted by an article I read in the Washington Post this week about a new poll that is out looking at the current next generation and their declining views of marriage. 74% of 12th grade boys in America want to eventually get married. 61% of 12th grade girls want to get married. This is actually a complete reversal from where we were in 1993. Increasingly, young women are not wanting to get married. Now the reasons for this, the reasons they cite are very interesting. Now first of all, they are disenfranchised about the state of young men increasingly as a culture. We just have not prioritized developing young men. We've not prioritized a vocational school, civic training. In fact, the last 20 years, an emphasis on making sure we defend and protect and promote female equality, which of course is a fine thing, has come at the expense of valuing young men. What young men are increasingly hearing as they grow up is that young women are worth celebrating and young men just need to get out of the way. As a result, their generation is realizing that their, that their boys, their soon to be men, are not developed. So 12th grade girls are looking around at 12th grade boys and saying, these guys just aren't marriage material. In addition, we're continuing to cast a vision for women that not only tells them they're not locked in to quote unquote, traditional roles, but actually devalues things that have historically been understood as major life markers. We're actually raising a generation of young women to not want to get married, to not want to be mothers, to not think of themselves that way. And the result is, not surprisingly, that they have listened to us. And increasingly young women are saying, I don't want to get married. Which then leads to young men having very few prospects, going online, not engaging in real relationship and real community, and round and round the cycle goes. Now this is an issue I think the church must aim at not only if we desire to reach this generation, but also desire to, to lead our culture to flourishing and away from damage. You know, Paul, when he writes his letter to a young pastor in Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, says this. What you have heard from me entrust to, faithful men who will be able to teach others. Also, Paul's letting us in on this idea that the church is a self propagating entity, one generation passing down truth to the next, which in turn passes it down to the next. So in the church at least, it is our responsibility to teach young people what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman. And in two ways. The church must step into this. First, we've got to cast vision for young men. We've got to challenge them to become leaders, to become marriage material. To think of themselves as future patriarchs of families providing legacy and resources, moving the kingdom. We need to cast a vision for men that is compelling. We need to tell them that the real battlefield is not on their Xbox, that real love is not found on pornographic websites. We have to compete in the arena of ideas. Because I got to tell you, the porn companies, the gambling companies, they are going after young men. And if that's the only vision young people are hearing, what vision do you think they're going to buy? The church is wired to cast a compelling vision for the future for, for 15, 16, 17, 18 year old men. And we need to be doing that. But also the church has to continue to hold out a biblical view of what it means to be a young woman. I do not think the Bible teaches that women have to stay home or can't work or can't have ambition and career. But I also know that it teaches the value of a wife and a mother. We have to keep our daughters from swallowing the lie that true autonomy, true self worth, means foregoing the relationships for which they were designed. God made people in his own image, male and female. And yes, there are some distinct things that are worth celebrating. But in the very first instance of male and female, Adam and Eve, he put them together in the context of marriage, which is what he wants for so many of us. Listen, who is casting vision for young people, men and women? Because whoever is casting the most compelling vision actually controls the future of our families, of our churches, and of our world. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!