Named For The Revolution

The Lord laid it on my heart this morning to speak to the upcoming generations who are beginning to find their place in society; those who are considered Millennials and younger. So, let me get started with some terminology. Millennials, also known as Generation Y, were born between 1981-1996. The generation after the Millennials are called the Zoomers, also known as Generation Z, and they were born between 1997-2012. Between these two generations, you will find young adults from the age of eighteen, up to their mid-thirties. Of course, many are still just teenagers.

Now, we don’t know a lot about the Zoomers, but we do hear quite a bit about Millennials. They’re often seen as the ones still living in their parents’ basement. Allow me to share something from the Monster jobs website. It tells us this: “To some, the word ‘Millennial’ sounds like a dirty word . . . Managers view them as people who expect more than they deserve; society views them as the ‘me’ generation.” “They’re entitled,” “they want a trophy for showing up,” “they’re easily sidetracked by technology,” “they’re job hoppers,” and “they want special privileges.”(1)

Today’s message will speak to all young people, including our teenagers; but I am especially going to be addressing the Millennials, mainly because our Scripture is based on someone who, today, would fall into this generational category. Millennials have gotten a “bad rap,” and many feel directionless with no sense of purpose; and that’s where Satan wants you to be. You see, “the devil fears you, [and] here is his greatest fear about you – that you would find the one ingredient that would make you unstoppable . . . But what is it? We will see it in the account of a king – King Josiah.”(2)

“Josiah was the quintessential millennial in the Old Testament.”(3) “He was raised without moral training. He never had to work. He was oblivious to education. There was no [obvious] DNA for greatness there at all.”(4) But, something happened that led him to become a revolutionary for God by transforming a nation; and what I want you to see today is that, even though you may be down on yourself, the Lord can use you for greatness too! The Lord has called Millennials to be revolutionaries for the kingdom of God; and so I’ve entitled this message, “Named for the Revolution.”

Josiah’s Religious Reformation (2 Kings 23:1-15)

1 Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. 2 The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem – the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. 3 Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.

4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. 6 And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the LORD, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people. 7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image. 8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. 9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.