As a kid I was a “professional wrestling” fanatic. My friends and I would practice body slams and back breaker moves on each other. It was great fun! Wrestlers like Gorgeous George and Andre the Giant were my heroes. I would beg my folks to take me to see a match. I liked the “Smack-down” one-on-one bouts, but my favorite was the tag-team matches. My friends and I would scream at the TV when a tag should be made (They never listened!) and we would moan when our team lost!
Today our society has begun to look a lot like professional wrestling. This is seen especially in the supposed inter-generational conflict that is amplified across our society—from news rooms to living rooms and from school houses to houses of worship. Boomer verses Builder! Millennial verses Gen X! Gen Alpha verses Gen Z! Though there is some merit to these groupings, in my opinion they have become a marketing ploy used to exaggerate differences to boost sales.
In society today there are 6 active generations—more on average than at any time in history. As Christians we need to decide which model we will follow. To borrow the wrestling analogy will it be the “Smack-down” model where one generation tries to dominate the other? Or the biblical “Tag-team” model of the Family of God? “Smack-down” or “Tag-team” which will it be? The answer to this question is critical. Will we “bite and devour” (Galatians 5:15) and destroy each other in an inter-generational smack-down, or will we “tag-team” to build one another up (Ephesians 4:12) so that we can be more effective for the Lord?
We must take seriously Peter’s warning in 1 Peter 1:8 to be on the lookout for the devil. In verse 9 he advises us to resist him—yet he notes we don’t do this alone. We resist evil in the company of the family of believers. Our tag-team mates are all around us, from 3-92 (Happy Birthday Dixie J.), if we will only reach out and tag them in. Our failure in this must frustrate God. I can picture God watching us struggle alone with sin, screaming at us to tag out! Will we listen? Will we see one another as supportive team mates or as rivals who devour each other for Satan’s delight?
Church, we have a choice. “Smack-down” or “Tag-team” —which will we be?
Your Brother,
Roger Woods
