Media Fast: Day 2

Yesterday was the second full day of the media fast, and honestly, it hasn't been that big a deal.  The most interesting thing that happened was yesterday morning going to the gym.  Now, I am not using my iPod this week, so I was forced to listen to the music that was playing in the gym. 

Having been surrounded by media most of the time, I never really noticed what was actually being said or promoted in these songs.  I had heard these songs a thousand times before, but only through the media fast was I able to really see what these songs were all about.  The first one I noticed was a techno song where the girl kept saying, "I know what I want, and I want it now!" over and over and over again.  She sounded like spoiled brat.  Veruca, sweetheart!

The next song was "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world."  To say that this song is ridiculous is an understatement, but when I listened to the worldview being presented in this song, it struck me like never before.  The next song was "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" by Aerosmith- and I love Aerosmith. 

Song after song after song went on like this extolling sex, materialism, immediate gratification,  and the like.  I realized how immersed and bombarded I have been by these messages- in music, on tv, on the internet- everywhere.  I mean, it's everywhere.  Just like a fish doesn't notice the water it swims in, so it was with me and the media I have been swimming around in.  A fish only notices the water it's been in when it is taken out for awhile, then it REALLY notices it.  I've only been media-free for two days, and already just getting bits and pieces is a shock.  I realize how out of step I am with the values being presented 24/7 by music and tv.  I realize how it truly DOES influence me and lay down pathways in my mind that run contrary to Scripture.  I really had no idea until I got rid of it.  Now, I'm not sure I want it back.

Media Fast: Day 1

This week's small group challenge for Forty Days of Grace was based on the question:  Which influences you more, the Bible or the world?  We challenged each small group to do a media fast- no tv, no movies, no internet, no music, no video games- for whatever length of time the group came up with.  My group decided to go hardcore and do a week.  So I put plastic ties around the entertainment center doors, posted about the media fast on my Facebook page, and my kids voluntarily gave me their iPods and Nintendo DS's.  We were ready.

Day 1 was pretty amazing.  We already have a "no media before school" rule, so that wasn't a big deal Monday morning.  When Sam got home from preschool, we ate lunch and he immediately went to take his nap.  When the girls got home from school, Casey immediately started reading and Elsie and Sam played.  Elsie went upstairs, got out her guitar and her book, and began to teach herself how to play guitar.  Casey kept reading.  Sam got out some action figures and played.  Not one complaint about the tv.

Elsie then wrote a letter to the child we sponsor in Haiti (the child we haven't written to in about 4 years, regrettably).  Casey went to tennis practice, and Elsie and Sam and I went outside and played baseball, soccer, and football.  We rode scooters, played tag, and basically enjoyed the day.  When Rachel and Casey got home, we ate and then went and got Brusters Ice Cream (excellent).  Then, the kids got ready for bed, we prayed, did 40 Days of Grace devotionals, and went to bed.

Rachel and I, instead of going downstairs to watch tv, stayed in our room talking.  We fell asleep at 9:30, and when I woke up this morning at 5 am, I felt so rested and great.  This first day has shown me what a total and utter waste of time most media is.  This was one of the most fun days I've had in a while.  I felt so . . . . .  ALIVE.

A Tale of Two Stories

There are two stories going on at the same time.  In the second story, there is no author.  The characters have created themselves, and it is up to them to find some kind of storyline.  However, no storyline can really be found.  Because of this, they begin looking to the best-looking, the most talented, and most shocking characters around them and begin to imitate them.  They get frustrated, because of the seemingly meaningless existence they are living, and soon turn to temporary fixes to give them at least short-term pleasure- food, sex, alcohol, shopping, sports, politics, drugs, etc. 

In the first story, however, there is an Author.  The Author has laid out a plot, a storyline, revolving around the Central Character in the story.  The characters take up supporting roles in the story, each finding his or her part in the storyline unfolding before them.  Instead of looking to the best-looking, most talented, or most shocking characters around them, these characters look to the Hero, the Central Character, and begin to imitate Him.  What is important to the Central Character becomes important to them.  What bothers the Central Character bothers them.  What makes the Central Character happy makes them happy.

The second story people look at the first story people and think they are odd, weird, stupid, or downright crazy.  They can't imagine anything bigger than their own temporary pleasure or meaningless existence, and when they see first story people risking their lives to love others, giving up comforts and pleasures for a greater cause, or their love of the Central Character, they criticize and tear down.  

When God cleanses us of sin, He does more than just that.  We usually have a good sense of what we have been cleansed from, but do you have a good sense of what you have been cleansed to?  When Christ died on the cross for us, He took away every sin the people of the world would ever commit.  Amazing truth.  However, by His grace, He has also called us out of the second story, in which all of us have lived at one point or another, and called us into the first story.  It's a radical call away from  . . . . ourselves.  We are invited, by His grace, to take part in a story that makes sense.  It's the story of God, this first story, and although your role might seem strange or dangerous or difficult, the good news is- we know how the story ends.  The story ends with the return of Jesus- the triumphant King, evil vanquished, all wrongs put to right. 

I want to be a first-story person.  I know I have a role in all of this, and the rest of my life will be dedicated to seeking that supporting role to the Central Character in the story:  my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I wish no longer to look to the best-looking, most talented, and most shocking people around me for my values, my leaders, and my examples.  I simply want to look to Jesus.  I know that will get me in trouble- Christians have been getting in trouble for that since day 1.  But I know how the story ends.  In that, I find hope.

God's Seeking Grace: Cold-Call Sales or Invitation to a Party?

Last night at home group (it's actually a small church now- over 40 people there last night with two actual groups meeting, one in the family room and one in the living room.  We are doing a multi-site home group) we were talking about Luke 15 and how God is seeking us out.  I had made the point that Christianity is more about responding than initiating.

One person made the statement, "I used to be in sales, and the thing I hated the most was cold calling."  (For those of you that don't know what cold calling is, it is walking into a business uninvited to try to sell a product nobody asked for.  Tough stuff.)  "This is what I thought Christianity was like- walking uninvited into God's office where He is probably hacked off that you interrupted Him and being received that way.  But you are making Christianity sound like a party we are invited to, and we have to decide whether we accept or reject."

Honestly, I had never even thought about putting it that way, but that is exactly what Luke 15 is saying.  How do the parables end up?  A party.  I have found that if God had waited for me to reach up to Him, I never would have.  He came and sought me out, calling me back to Him, convicting me of sin and pointing me to Jesus.  He came after me like the shepherd going after the lost sheep.  He looked for me like the woman searching for the coin.  And He waited patiently for me to return like the father in the prodigal son story.  Becoming a Christian, or approaching God, isn't like making a cold sales call.  It's responding to an invitation to a party.  Knowing that truth changes everything.   

The Uncomfortable Thing About Grace

This past Sunday, we started our series, 40 Days of Grace, with the topic, "Why Grace is Necessary."  It was a different kind of message for me, because although I am not Joel Osteen with his "Best Life Now" type messages, I am not a fire and brimstone preacher either.  However, as we speak about grace, it is necessary to talk about some uncomfortable topics.

The first topic that was uncomfortable was the topic found in John 14:6 where Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  That is very unpopular in our society, but if we are to truly understand grace, we need to know that Jesus is the only way to heaven.  If heaven could be obtained in other ways, Jesus didn't need to die on the cross.  That is uncomfortable, because we all know people that don't believe in the crucifixion and Resurrection, and therefore won't be in heaven, if we believe the Bible is true (and Jesus' words are true). 

The second uncomfortable topic was the topic of hell.  If there is no hell, grace is totally unnecessary.  If we are not in danger, why do we need saving?  What is Jesus saving us from?  If you're okay, I'm okay, we're all okay- grace is totally unnecessary.  As a matter of fact, if there is no hell, the entire Gospel message and ultimately, the entire Christian faith is utterly irrelevant.  Without hell, and grace to save us from hell, Christianity becomes another in a long list of self-help strategies to make improvements on ourselves.  That was not Jesus' intention at all.

I had a person in my Sunday night home group that said he respected me because I was the first pastor he had ever had that ever mentioned hell.  Maybe that's why churches are so weak and anemic these days.  If Christians have no concept of hell, then they will never have any idea what they were saved from, no gratitude towards the Savior, and ultimately, no need for Him at all.  He becomes an annoying little guy over there telling us to give our money or show up for an hour on Sunday morning, not the savior of our lives from the most horrible place we could even imagine.

An old preacher told me, "In order to save someone, you have to get them lost first."  I believe that.  Until we know what we were saved from by Jesus' death on the cross, we will never know we need a Savior.  And yet, if I am the first pastor this guy has ever had that has ever talked about hell, no wonder so many people in the church have a low opinion of Jesus, if they have an opinion at all.  Even though it is only Day 3 of the 40 Days, grace has already been more than I ever thought it would be.  I look forward to the next 37 days.

Grace and Government Increase

I have noticed a disturbing trend in Western society in the last forty years.  Europe, once the hotbed of Christianity, has been thoroughly secularized with church attendance hovering around a whopping 8-9% in most places.  Although America has yet to reach these low numbers, the trend is definitely going that way.

Why should anyone other than a minister care about this?  Well, one thing that I have noticed is that with the decreasing influence of the church comes a decreasing emphasis on grace.  Grace is disappearing from our society as people turn their backs on faith and walk away from the church.  However, the problems still remain.  People are still concerned about divorce, violence, crime, homelessness, etc.  There still exists a desire for some kind of morality- people still hate being lied to, cheated on, cut off in traffic, treated unfairly, etc.  So what is the answer?

When grace leaves a society, the only thing left is legislation.  If people cannot deal with evil by grace, they have to deal with it by making more and more rules to govern an increasingly corrupt and rebellious society.  As Christianity has left the continent of Europe, government there has grown by leaps and bounds.  We see socialist states in the western part, and for a good part of the last century, communist states in the eastern part.  Government has grown and taken over more and more of life as the power of the Christian faith, and the power of grace, has subsided.

The same is true in America.  If American society does not embrace the grace found in the Gospel of Jesus, we too will see an increasingly alarming turn towards more and more legislation, as the world tries to deal with the problem of morality and evil in the only way it knows how to handle it.  More rules.  More guidelines.  More laws.  More government programs to create a fair society- one that can only be created through God's kingdom.  America needs to wake up and see that as grace disappears from society, rules and regulations increase.  As faith in Christ disappears, and the love and morality that goes with it disappears, we will see more and more governmental regulation and oversight. 

The answer isn't smaller government.  The answer is grace.  That's what this world needs.  But if the United States doesn't wake up and realize its need for grace, it will find itself under increasing government control.  I prefer grace.

Forty Days of Grace: What's So Amazing About Grace?

I have been studying Phillip Yancey's book, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" for about 8 months now.  I highly recommend it to anyone.

One of the many things I have learned through this study of grace (that I am about to present to my church over the next 7 weeks) is that grace MUST take place in a relational context.  What I mean is that grace, outside of a relationship with God, makes no sense.  If you try to practice or understand grace without Jesus, for example, all you get is empty forgiveness and/or permissiveness.  Neither works.  Neither is real.  And yet, that is where so many Christians and churches are in their understanding of grace. 

As much as I like the song "Amazing Grace," I wish that at least once in that song they would have mentioned Jesus.  All the emphasis in that song, as wonderful as it is, is on ME.  Count the number of times you sing the word "I," "me" and "we."  I once was lost but now I'm found.  Was blind but now I see. 

However, if our understanding of grace revolves around Jesus, we have to look at grace differently.  In the amazing story of the prodigal son, the son has run away to a distant land, spent all his money, lost all his friends, and is now starving and lost.  He comes back home to the open arms of his father.  There is no pretense of goodness.  The son knows he can't fake it.  He only returned for one purpose- the hope of restored relationship with his father.  It was a realization that his actions had deeply hurt the people he cared about.  It was the realization that his actions had not been good for him.  It was the realization that his actions had caused harm, both to him and the people he loved, and he needed to change. 

In other words, he experienced brokenness.  That is the starting point for grace.  Until we reach those same realizations, we will never be able to accept the amazing gift of God's grace.  The only reason we reach out for grace is the impossible hope of a restored relationship with our Father.  We don't reach out for grace because we have proved we deserve it.  No, we reach out for grace because we are at a point of hopeless brokenness, and we realize our desperate need for our Lord and Savior Jesus.