This word of exhortation is addressed to our young people, to those of you who have been growing up in the covenant. Most of you are in a very different position than your parents—they have been on a pilgrimage from unbelief, or from other, very distinct expressions of Christian faith. For them, as a matter of choice, they have been attracted to the kind of worship we offer here.
But you are not in that position. Most of you are not repelled by it—perhaps it is the only thing you have ever known, and so why would you be repelled? But you are not eager for it in the same way that your parents became eager for it. They have a contrast with the past, and you do not.
The problem of the second and third generation is a perpetual one. On the value of money, on the value of education, on the value of religious worship, it is perilously easy for the second generation to become complacent about what they inherit. Different attempts have been made to address the problem in various wings of Christendom—anything from confirmation classes to periodic revivals that get all the church kids “saved.” And even though inheritance causes problems, God commands us to provide an inheritance for our children. This form of worship is part of that inheritance. So you are charged to cultivate a heartfelt love for it—not because you are whipped up by artificial emotions, but because you have come to love Jesus Christ more than anything or anyone else. That offer, in the gospel, is present, immediately, in every generation.