You may find a somewhat truncated version of this post
here.
* * * * *
How often do we go about putting training wheels on a seasoned
cyclist's bike? Do we ask a boxer with a heavyweight title in their
trophy case to run the paces with a high school pugilist to show they're
really the best? I'm sure Lakeside Christian Church's senior pastor,
Marshall, would be insulted by the former, as would Mike Tyson be by the
latter. Consider the other side: How often do we register our sons and
daughters for the Tour de France when they're ready for the training
wheels to come off? Do karate championships pare up a yellow belt and a
black belt?
Look at Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9:
1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You
are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among
you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
What
do we do, then, when we make God out to be in the business of behavior
modification, a worker in actions like one works in textiles? The
importance of this passage is not that Paul or Apollos does work, but
that God grows in God's field. God builds in God's way. What if we
changed the statements of who we follow to something like, "I don't
smoke" or "I don't drink" or "I don't cuss" - would these matter, or
just that God causes growth in His time in His way?
Now before we digress into a discussion of what's right and what's
wrong, watch this video and think about your response to it. Do you like
what he says? Hate what he says? Is it confusing? Does your mind
explode with passages and biblical understandings that he missed or
contradicted? Please take a moment to think about it
before you continue reading here.
This
video caused an immediate stir in Christian and non-Christian circles
alike. Their were Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Mormon, and Atheistic
responses to the video and the news stations (like CNN and ABC) took the
story that went from 1 to millions of YouTube hits in weeks and
reported it because it
is news. I weighed in on the topic too,
trying to strike a middle ground as I saw it, and don't consider myself
blameless in the discussion. I am as guilty as everyone who maliciously
attacked him and his video, or those who agreed with his video and
attacked those
responses.
It's amazing the life
some forums can take on in our current world of socially accessible
media. Whether it's a newspaper article, video, blog, Tweet, or Facebook
post, you can find it online on a computer, phone, or tablet and
comment and share to join the discussion. As great as all of this is, we
can also look at this freedom of access and see the all-too-damaging
possibilities as it pertains to God.
When the Hebrews
were rescued by God powerfully out of Egypt, all it took was a
wilderness to show their turning hearts (Exodus 16:3). When they were given the Law,
all it took was a perspective of "goodness levels" to make it about us (Matthew 6:1, 5, 16, 23:5-7).
When the Israelites were told how to worship God in honor of His
glorious name, all it took was another person who didn't do it right to
shift our attention from Him (Luke 18:10-14). When Solomon experienced all this world
could offer, all that seemed to matter in the end was to fear God and
keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). All in a day's work, yeah?
Enter Jesus.
Now,
because of Jesus, everything is different and yet everything is still
remarkably the same. God is still the one and only Redeemer (Jesus is
how we can
see what He's always been about, because we seem to
need that). We still turn away from God and focus on others (we can say
we'd believe if we saw the things "Bible people" saw, but we're just
like them so we're actually wrong).
God has
never been in the business of telling us to do the right thing or He'll hate and/or destroy us. God has
always
been about calling us to return to Him, turning from sin to the
fullness of life in His care, with HIM as king. But since we are more
concerned with "doing" and "acting," we have the example of Jesus
"doing" exactly what God wanted so we could stop "acting" like we've got
it all figured out. So now Jesus is the standard, and His sinless life -
which we must believe He lived, if He truly did ruffle feathers by claiming to be God, and God hates sin - is the only
thing God accepts. Because it's perfect. And God is perfect.
So
the $1,000,000 gospel question is: "Do I have to be perfect too?" The
mystery of God is that the answer is a two-part-er: "No (initially
because of Christ) and yes (inevitably in Christ)."
With each new generation comes a new
rethinking and
retelling
of the gospel of Jesus. New eyes have the challenge of telling the old,
old story - not a new one, not something dreamed up or manipulated till
it's something different, but the
same story - to a
fresh-on-the-scene demographic. It's part of the divine story that we
have been invited to participate in. You might say the Director is always the living and active Word of God. What does the redemptive work of
God throughout history look like
now for those who are followers of Jesus, or considering becoming one? Bethke's video is an attempt to continue the story.
Turner, in an
article
about the above video, wrote something that may be helpful in
understanding how it is we go about in writing our part of the story:
When Anne Rice ‘quit’ Christianity back in 2007, she said,
“It's simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome,
hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years,
I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow
nothing else.” How else are we to respond, except to carry on in our
quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious ways.
As I read
that, I wonder if Anne Rice truly saved herself from the burden of
church membership, or modeled the same behavior by pointing the finger.
The truth is
we can't belong in a group when we consider
ourselves better than its members. At the surface, we might all agree we
don't want to be a part of this kind of behavior. But going deeper, we
actually create more problems for ourselves by considering ourselves
above that kind of behavior. "I don't do this, therefore I'm better and
so choose not to associate with those who do."
I know,
it's picking at her words, and that's certainly not what she was
intending when she said it. That's not what she wanted (not that I know
her heart or wants, but I assume the best of her). But what we're
talking about here is not what
we want
, or what
she wants,
but what is
true about the faith and about us
. What's true is that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith.
What's
true is that we look to
OTHERS and pick apart
THEIR theology and cherry-pick scriptures to bolster our case and consider ourselves justified - nay, commanded to - by scripture.
Gregory Boyd
would say this is the necessary consequence of eating of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil - we become the judges, juries, and
arbiters of what is good and what is evil. The problem is, our judgments
are not God's and can tend toward the self-serving.
Think about this response to Turner's response to Bethke's video (get that three degrees of separation?):
This is a spoken word piece not a doctoral dissertation. Folks are
getting wound up about the so-call[ed] false dichotomy this young man is
creating that they fail to realize that spoken word uses/defines words
taking into account the historical/social/cultural significance of
words... He believes in church but not a form of godliness. Context
is key! It's analogous to bemoaning the inaccuracy with which Picasso
depicts the human form in his abstracts.
Bethke's
thoughts are his, and he's entitled to have them, but even as he speaks
from scripture - even as he reads the Word out loud and talks about it -
what we
hear is nothing more than commentary. A commentary that
Bethke himself admits is flawed and involves his own personal struggling
even as it's drawn from the Source of God Himself. I encourage you to
also watch/listen to
this sermon
Bethke gives explaining his heart behind the poem and consider his
encouragement. In a sentence, he challenges us to read the word for
ourselves and not rely on religion, or others, or worldly pleasures to
bring us the kind of fulfillment that only God can give.
So
where will we go with our abundance of opinions in social media? What
are we to do if there's more opportunity than ever before to pick apart
everything that anyone says?
At some point, we need to drop the act of picking each other apart and do what Bethke was encouraging us all to do: turn to
Jesus as the standard, grow in Him as we devour the living Word, and drop the self-serving act.
