Violent for the Kingdom :: Luke 16:16 (Jonathan Edward’s sermon “pressing into the kingdom of God” for modern youth culture)

Disclaimer: For Jonathan Edward’s original sermon of the similar title, visit the following link… http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.pressing.html    I took most of his words and basic ideas from each paragraph and translated this great revival message for a teenager’s world today.

16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.  Luke 16:16 (ESV)

2 things I want you to know about this 1 simple but not so simple verse.

1^st, The purpose & ministry of John the Baptist was preparing for & preaching the Kingdom of God.  This Kingdom would succeed the law and the prophets.

You see, the law and the prophets is what God used to reveal a little bit of His kingdom to His people… it was meant to reveal Himself through guidance, forewarnings, promises and most importantly pointing to the savior to come, Jesus.  The same savior who John the Baptist prepared for in his messages about the kingdom of God,  John would say “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near”  John first preached this message, where Christ came to do the same in his fulfillment of the kingdom and his disciples followed suit.

Matthew 4:17 says: “17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Then in Matthew 10:5-7 the disciples were told to preach: 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

You see it was Christ who brought in this kingdom of God, and John the Baptist who prepared Christ’s coming as John’s ministry decreased. In John 3:30, John the Baptist says “He must increase, but I must decrease.” But his ministry was none the less important as he prepared men’s hearts to receive that kingdom of God which Christ was about to fully reveal and erect.

2^nd, John the Baptist was successful in one thing that appeared in the very beg. of his ministry & should extend to today…

“Every man who preached that kingdom forced that kingdom on earth.”

Know 2 things about this statement…

1. When Luke says every man, He doesn’t mean “every man” If you thought universalism and the worldview that everyone will be accepted into the kingdom of heaven when they die was only believed in todays culture, then you were wrong.  Edwards dealt with it and we’ll deal with it.  “Every man” is regarding every person who is now accepted into the kingdom through the accepting of the Gospel.  When John preached this Gospel, this kingdom to come, an uncommon awakening occurred, a concern for salvation appeared on the minds of all types of people.  Before it was only the Pharisees or Sadducees who cared about these things. But now the most unlikely of people was being changed by this Gospel.  The religious people of that day denied this kingdom brought about by Christ.  The humble, repentant people embraced it.  Obviously this kingdom wasn’t for every man, just like it’s not for the religious people of today.

2. The success of the kingdom appeared when the people who heard about the kingdom forced into it.

Let me repeat that… they forced into it. What does that mean exactly?

Some translations say press into it.  The greek word for this word is “biazo” and it stands for violence.  “They were violent for the kingdom of heaven.”

This word was also used in Matthew 11:11-12 describing the kingdom John was preceding and Jesus was fulfilling: 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

What does this mean? 

This expression pressing into, forcing into, violent for the kingdom expresses a feeling of desire.

Have you been around a violent person?  They are forceful and aggressive.  I grew up in a violent family with violent friends in a violent school.  Most of you have heard the story of my family and city.  In 7^th grade, at the end of the 1^st day of my public schooling I was at my locker and a kid threw another kid through a glass showcase with force.  When you see violence in movies you see the emotion in the violent people portraying these characters at war against someone. You saw the aggression in the Oregon football player  (Blount) who knocked out the player of the opposing team after his team lost, how he started pushing his own team player, and then went after the fans in the crowd to coaches, teammates an police officers trying to hold him back.  Is God saying this stuff is good?  Are we to tell people accept Christ or I’m going to punch you in the face or something?

No, it’s about the unstoppable desire of force they have to go after that other person.  When an army attacks a city they do it by force.  When a person fights in the UFC they do it with strategy and a desire to win after many days of hard work in practice.  It’s that uttermost raw desire to get things done where you feel unstoppable.

Anyone that under an environment of hearing the Gospel and believes in God at least desires to go to heaven rather then hell.  If you grew up in church, have a family that taught you the Bible, heard about Jesus a lot….  you desire to go to heaven; and even if you desire it, it doesn’t always mean that you’ll live like you do. You still live an insecure and careless life.  But some who hear are hearing this Gospel, this message about what Jesus did and what it can do to us.  They’re under an awakening of God’s spirit but are still not pressing into the kingdom.

They are seekers who have a conviction of the miserable state that they are in now.  The miserable state of sin they feel as they realize how the simple lies to their parents to hang out with certain people have become part of their character.  The miserable state of sin they feel when recognizing how their sin is not only making an impression on their friends who know they go to church but look like them in their actions, demeanor, and talk, therefore not believing that they have any type of difference in their lives or truth that sets them apart from the lies their living.  These seekers are starting to feel conviction for their sins and to receive salvation is desired by them above all things in the world.

Soon this concern of their eternal state and their soul is so great that it shuts out other concerns.  Their desires in which went toward women and how to deceive them into going a step further, or the desires that went into that drunken and high stupor where they felt more popular and loved at the party then in their very home… These desires toward the very sins that they at one time loved was starting to be replaced with a desired on how to get rid of these very things that are separating them from this kingdom of God they are hearing about.  Some are divided between these two worlds and don’t know what to do.  But when you come to this text from Luke… about forcing into the kingdom of God, this concern soon overwhelms all other desires.  The guys, girls, friends, popularity, sports, sex, drugs, alcohol, worldliness.  Desires for these things soon went toward a seeking of eternal life.  Because they realize that eternity and the things that matter in the soul is the things that matters the most in life.  That desire becomes passion.  A passion for the kingdom of God.  As they hear the Gospel, feel the kingdom of God at the brink of their heart and repent of these sinful desires with more then just words but trading in their hearts for a new one.  As they strive after the very thing that will rid them of their sin.

This desire is similar of the psalmist who says “one thing have I desired, and that I will seek after.” That desire for cleansing, for grace, for mercy, for love.  A great importance and necessity of these things that are brought about through Christ’s death and resurrection.  Everything in their power, to do anything that is required to obtain this.  They soon realize that they must become violent or must fight to obtain this kingdom.  They must fight the lies that they are used to living.  They must fight the distractions and temptations seducing them away from the very thing that they were put on earth to hear about.  They are not going to get along with people who go against this kingdom.  The world they loved will now hate them.  They will love on that world and that world will still hate them.

But this doesn’t create hopelessness but hopefulness. Hope that they can still obtain salvation.  And that salvation can be obtained by others, even if they hate them now.

This forcing into the kingdom breaks through opposition and difficulties that will come no matter what.  Because let’s face it.. it will be there.  If there were no opposition, if receiving this salvation would be so nice and neat, well there would be no point of pressing to get along.  Therefore they press along and force themselves into the kingdom by breaking through the difficulties that are in the way.    They therefore think…

My parents will think that I’m in a cult, but still I press into the kingdom.

My friends will call me the goody two shoes girl or jesus freak, but still I force myself into the kingdom.

My status in the world and with people at school will go down the drain, but still I become violent for the kingdom.

Like the apostle Paul, I say “If by any means I might attain the resurrection of the dead.” Many people around the world who hear the Gospel, believe the Gospel, and receive salvation through the Gospel give up money, family, jobs, safety for this life change and they know it and press on.  Some won’t even give up their privacy & rights to their phone/computer, their friends from school, their relationships, their popularity for this Christ.

Three years ago, I was able to lead a student to Christ at Jessica’s old church summer camp.  It was genuine, real, and heartbreaking.  I say heartbreaking because he came up to me the next day crying his eyes out after realizing that his parents are going to hell.  If what he believed was true then his parents are being deceived and they would go to hell if they died today.  This was heartbreaking… yet true.  I encouraged him to be the light to his parents and to not be discouraged for God’s great mercy and love that he felt yesterday is still obtainable to them through the message of the Gospel.  That’s a tough message to swallow. Just like it was a tough message to swallow for my parents once they accepted Christ.  They too, realized that their sons and daughters were going down that wide, deceitful road to eternal torment and a separation from God.  So just like they forced their way into the kingdom by giving up everything in their life that they had ever known to accept Christ.  They continued to advance the kingdom by passionately, violently doing what ever it took to make sure that my sister and I heard the Gospel, would go to church to hear the Gospel, to see the life change that they now lived through the Gospel.

Not only should the kingdom be sought after in this way, but it needs to be sought after in this way.  Face it. We need salvation.  We as a world are perishing, chasing after the latest popular thing but having nothing to show for it.  WE need saved from this lifestyle and these type of thoughts.  We need to redirect our passion and desires toward the kingdom.  No, the kingdom of God is not safe.  You cannot hide there.  But it is the only city of refuge in which one can be secure of the one who pursues you for evil? Do you not believe in evil?  Do you really think that your nonchristian friends truly want the best for you? That the celebrities, musicians, media you idolize want your hearts over your money?  The vengeance of God will pursue, overtake, and eternally destroy those that are not in the kingdom.  All that are outside of this kingdom will be overtaken with the fiery wrath of God.  His fearful vengeance will sieze them; the devils will lay a hold of them; They may stand at the door and knock, and cry, Lord, Lord, open up that door, all in vain but will be thrown back, for it is too late.  There is no mercy left.  They will be eternally left of Him.  Where at one time God lovingly pursued them, he now becomes their enemy as they continually denied the one thing they were created for yet denied.  For who knows the power of God’s anger? And who knows the power of God’s anger? And who knows the misery of that sin?

And students, know that the time is getting short.  You cannot be certain of the opportunites that will pass you by to preach this kingdom that can save you or has saved you?  Our days are limited.  It is difficult to get into the kingdom because people cling on to their sin.  Many give up, fail, and perish.  The difficulties of giving Jesus their entire life, their mistress, their popularity, their porn, their nights of partying is too much to ask from the person that gave them that life they are wasting.  The difficulties are too many and too great for them and they do not violently press forward.  Matthew 7:13-14 says 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

But don’t be discouraged.  For this doesn’t mean that this obtains to you.  It’s Difficult, but not impossible.  You can be the most sinful person on earth, whatever the circumstances is, there is still salvation being offered.  You, the people in your schools, the people on your sports team, the people who make fun of you for going to church or you’re hiding your church from.  They are all capable of this salvation, and God is able to accomplish it. His mercy is sufficient, It is sufficient through Christ, that God made it possible through the Gospel and how the Gospel is consistent with the honour of God’s majesty, justice, and truth.  The greatest and most evil of students, the blind, dead, hard-hearted sinner in your school is capable of saving light and grace.  Since there is such a necessity of obtaining this kingdom of God, and such a short time, and such difficulty, yet such a possibility to receive it, we’ll do well to be violent for the kingdom.

APPLICATION (So how do you do this?) How do you press into the kingdom, become violent for the kingdom, force your way into the kingdom?

1. As a Christian who is regularly around people that don’t know Christ you become a missionary to those people, toward your public school, to your sports teams, school clubs,  people you work with, family member forcing the kingdom upon them.

1. There’s usually two types of Christians:

1. The one’s who look like these people and want to live that type of sinful lifestyle.

2. The one’s who hate these people and don’t want anything to do with them.

Both aren’t pressing the kingdom are in sin.

The 1^st group is worldly while the 2^nd group become modern day religious Pharisees.

Both can solve this by thinking of themselves as a missionary to press the kingdom.

Quit wanting to be like the world and start working hard at showing them why you’re different.  Quit looking like them and look different.

Do you think you look more like Jesus or the Pharisees as you claim to stay away from the world and sin but don’t care about their salvation?

Quit hating them for they don’t know what they do.

You’re a missionary. And forcing the kingdom is hard.  You’ll be ridiculed, you’ll not fit in at times, but you find common ground with those people through OSU football, music, media that is not sinful or by taking the sinful stuff and showing how it’s a deceit and lie. You be nice to people when they are mean to you, you love on them and buy those delish ice cream desserts in the lunch cafeteria for people you are trying to share the Gospel with just to be nice, you purposefully initiate conversations with them and ask them how their weekends were…. And when they say good, I got wasted and had epic sex with my girl/boyfriend, how do you like that? Am I a sinner? …. You don’t say “You pig, you are a sinner and you’re going to burn in hell.”  You pray for God to give you the words and tell them in a gentle way “yes, you’re a sinner just like me.” And not just because of what you did this weekend but bc of what the bible says about all people who are born into this world.  But like me you can be saved from that sin.  You may not even believe that you’re a sinner or that what you do is sin.  Well, just look at Jesus and what he says is sin and be open to what He says about Himself, what he did on earth, how he died, why he died, and what His resurrection means to us.  What the purpose was for? Or you may just want to say “Ya, I think that’s sin, just like I have sin in God’s eyes… but I still love you like Jesus loves you and I don’t think that has to be something that makes us enemies.  If you want to know more about Jesus and why scripture says that it’s sin then I’d love to tell you because it’ll save you from a lot of troubles in the future and some consequences that I bet you’re even starting to feel but if not I would still love to get to know you and talk to you even if we’re different and believe in different things.  Love those people even when they hate you.  Connect with those people even when they stay distant from you.

2. As a Christian who is hardly around people that don’t know Christ you force yourself into relationships with these people.

That’s right. I said you force your way.  If mom and dad won’t let you hang out with them then you need to trust in their wisdom and protection in this area.  Most of the time this is because they know that you are influenced by the world and cant think like a missionary would with these people.  Some are just under too protective of parents who don’t trust their kid with these people but are sinning by not allowing them to fulfill the great commission.  Those students still have to respect their parents and pray for them and their own hearts and motives.  Forcing your way into relationships with the lost may mean through a job or people at your church who doesn’t show fruit of a Christian because please believe me.  There are people around you in your student ministry who don’t know Jesus.  Some of you love your Christian bubble and don’t realize that you were put on this earth as a Christian who was sent here not secluded.  Sanctification is to be set apart for holiness still living in this world, not secluded from the world that you were sent to reach.

3.  Lastly, Become familiar with the Gospel message and continually preach it to yourself.

The message of Jesus Christ dieing on the cross and rising from the dead to give you salvation for your sins as you repent of those sins and violently give your life to Christ is not a one time thing and I’m done.  It’s a one time thing in God’s eyes where at that moment you are now righteous before him in the payment for your sins and hell and where at that one time you received a new life here on earth as you will in heaven.  But life doesn’t end there.  You notice how you still mess up, how you became hardened to things of God all over again as you lack compassion for the lost or strive to live like the world and go back to the sins you repented of.  It’s because you have forgotten the Gospel.  The love that you felt when you realized what Jesus suffered through to pay for your sins, the hope you had found when you realized that you can get rid of that sin that is ruining your life, the grace you received when the world did nothing but tell you must pay for your wrongs and Jesus saying I did that already on the cross, the power you had over temptation in sin for your God rose from the dead to show the power He has over all things in this life… the power to save your friends, your parents, and yourself.

It’s this Gospel message that saved you and will save others that you need to be familiar with the rest of your life.  When you are tempted to become religious and add things onto your Christian life with a check list of do good things. You need to remind yourself that Jesus and the Gospel is all I need.  When asked by others why you are different it is the Gospel in which you point to, when family situations get tough and death looms near it is the Gospel who gives you the power to persevere.  You will become passionate for the things of God and motivated to work hard, press into the kingdom when you fall in love with the Gospel that saved you and will save others.

What the MTV Video Music Awards 09 can tell us about idols and the Gospel

The MTV video music awards is the biggest night of the year for the channel that has influenced youth culture and has been influenced by youth culture since the early 80’s.  The VMA’s influence has overflowed from youth culture to all of American Culture over the last decade as Madonna’s kiss with Britney Spears headlined newspapers all across the country neatly a decade ago and Russell Brand’s mocking of the Jonas Brothers set off millions of tweenage girls last year.  As an interpreter of youth culture and a steward of the Gospel I make sure to catch this event each year.  Here is my analysis of one of the biggest nights of entertainment that had enough drama this year where the president of the U.S. even put his two cents in.  This is a mixture of notes I took the night of the event, some add ins in hindsight, and much prayer into this world that captivates many hearts who Jesus wants for his own.

The event started off with a Michael Jackson tribute where Madonna took the stage to give a salute to the recently deceased king of pop.  She wrote her speech herself and it was said in such a way where it looked like the crowd was at church hanging off her every word.  She basically celebrated his life, music, and uniqueness while condemning anyone who has ever judged his wrongs and gave excuses for them.  One such excuse was how Michael Jackson became a celebrity by the age of 8 and never truly had a childhood and therefore wanted to be a child forever.  I believe that she is somewhat accurate in this analysis but this inherited family sin of pressure, fame, and growing up too fast does not excuse a grown adult who gave a child wine telling them it was “Jesus Juice” and looking at pornography with them.  That is sin and will forever scar his fame in a Biblical worldview.  As a father of a young child it is hard for me to look at him in any other way and remember him for any other thing.  But God is the judge of Michael Jackson and if he didn’t repent of his sins and accept Christ’s atonement for those sins like any other person then this is what he will be known for in God’s eyes as well, not his life, music, and uniqueness.

British comedian Russell Brand, was the returning guest host of the event and like last year tried to shock the American culture with his brand of humor: sex, sex, sex and anything else that can shock the people there and who is watching.  The problem with Russell Brand is that he tried to be crude & witty and fell flat with both in trying to make the audience laugh or shocked.  If he’s going to go that route he really needs to take a lesson from Judd Apatow on how to be funny and crude while teaching conservative moral lessons (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/opinion/10douthat.html?_r=2) Mr. Brand received no laughs & just came across as crude. The only thing he said that was funny was how how the Jonas Brothers had forgiven him from last years mocking of their pledge abstinence.  He ended the comment by saying they had to because they’re Christians. Otherwise then that one witty line he pretty much embarrassed himself by just trying to be controversial and it was evident by the celebrity audiences faces.  Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day’s face was one who expressed this disgust throughout the ceremony whether it was Madonna’s praise for MJ or Russell Brand whenever he opened his mouth.  They didn’t even look shocked at the things he was saying but rather bored and dumbfounded.  One last thing about Russell is how hypocritical it is for the guy to confess to being a self claimed sex addict who went through counseling for nymphomania and his continual praise for it.  He ended his opening monologue by claiming that the theme of the night is supposed to be how we need to “unite and love” like Michael Jackson would want us to.

Next came the award for best female video.  This 5 minutes of live tv ended up being the controversial part of the program that made headlines across the nation the next morning, had twitter abuzz, and reached the ears of the president where he even commented on the moment off the record (but nothing is off the record via twitter in which he later learned).  As you probably already know, loved country singer, Taylor Swift won the award and as she was about to give her acceptance speech talented rapper, Kanye West bum rushed the stage (one again), took her microphone and rudely said that “Beyonce (one of the other nominees) had one of the best videos of all time.” I have to admit that the face on taylor swift when  Kanye West interrupted her acceptance speech on behalf of Beyonce was absolutely priceless.  As much of America, celebrities, the media, and even the president has made known his interruption was rude and inappropriate.  However, to play devil’s advocate, I do believe he was right. Beyonce’s video crushes hers & has spun off an infamous Saturday Night Live short (with Justin Timberlake and Adam Samberg dancing to her song) & a viral video classic with the Jonas Brothers). This of course does not excuse his actions or drunken comments but made it worth it to watch this train wreck of a live tv moment. Also, as much as I loved the awkwardness of the whole live drama, it also further proved how egocentric Kanye is in spite of his talent as he’s done this several times before.

Next noticeable thing for me was when Jack Black came out in the stereotypical cheesy rock outfit.  Most Christians wouldn’t have found his act funny as he prayed to Satan because that’s the metal thing to do.  Now know that praying to Satan is really not funny as we can underestimate the power of the prince of the air and the demons he has on earth.  However, mocking the stereotype of rock music being Satan’s music is funny and I couldn’t help to laugh at this obvious satire of the stereotypes of rock music (which by the way is my personal preferred choice of music and always has been).

Up next was Taylor Swift’s live performance.  I’m sorry, I feel like a pansy saying this but at this point I noticed that Taylor Swift is kind of growing on me.  She seems fun, funny, a little cheesy, somewhat moral, and she does have verrry catchy songs (by the way all the same reasons why I like Miley Cyrus, except Miley doesn’t have the catchy songs).  One thing I don’t like about this whole Swift craze is that I hope girls really don’t think that love is her type of love but the love that is found in the Bible.  We got enough girls over romanticizing love into Disney expectations where they miss the true purpose and point of the sacrificial love that is talked about in Scripture.

Lady Gaga performs next as the later winner of new artist of the year.  GaGa has been all over the music scene this year and this just confirmed what I always thought of her.  She is so weird! I do admit that she is creative but always in a slutty way.  Long before this performance she was making headline with her revealing outfits in the dead winter, over the top sexual lyrics being sung in Israel, and her consistent presence on the billboard charts with several songs.  To understand why she is so extreme with her love of all types of sexual sin and all things creative, you have to understand a little of her background.  The girl was a burlesque dancer with in the GLBT world in NYC.  Of course she’s going to display this love for arts, drama, and extreme sexual sin.  She is creative, talented, passionate, and gifted and as her influence increases I will continue to pray that she sees her gave her those gifts and how she needs to come back to that Creator who will save her from her sins.  Her show did seem a little out of place as she tried to be artsy in a show that is known for performances by girls who defined their sinful sexual status in media (In show’s past Britney Spears, Christian Aguilera, etc).  She already gained that through her videos, songs now and I think people expected her to be even more over the top where she switched it up and just got artsy violent on them.  It just seemed out of place and weird.

Side note…. Background to the show and graphics looked awesome!  As someone who always pays attention to the transition parts of church services and background music I thought MTV did a great job with the band in between. They sounded unique and different from the stereotypical rap artists out there.  I didn’t get to catch who it was but they sounded good in between commercials performances and as always MTV had great background graphics in today’s culture.

Tension rises as Beyonce’s next nomination will be announced. Part of me wants her to lose again to see what will happen.  Will Kanye freak out again? Will she apologize on behalf of Kanye?  Britney won, no drama

Megan Fox announces Green Day performance.  She’s the “it” girl of today’s youth culture.  Almost all my guy students is a member of her fan page on facebook and she dominates the media world right now.  I’ll be writing a blog post on her upcoming movie shortly as it combines her acting and famed director/screenwriter, Cody Diablo (girl who wrote “Juno”).  It will be a box office hit amongst teenagers and they need to know what Scripture says about it’s themes.

Green Day plays their anti-Christian song on their latest cd.  It’s pop punk and very catchy.  I also still need to do a blog post about this song and their history of anti-church, anti-Jesus in past songs.  These lyrics have some of their most obvious issues with the church.  However they are on point with the stereotypes many young adults and teenagers have about the church.  Lead singer, Billie Joe knows how to put on a show and this one kind of reminded me of their Woodstock 94’ performance. I am also reminded how Anarchy and influence is dangerous when mixed together.  I pray and hope that people didn’t pay attention to the lyrics as they can just reaffirm people who is starting to have a dislike toward church.  I am reminded how Jesus loved the church so much that He gave His life up for it.  How some of those stereotypes people have of church is true but that’s because they focused on people who are imperfect in stead of the one who found the church, Jesus Christ.  There is no church without Jesus Christ so I pray that Green Day and others realize that they need to focus on what Jesus said and did, not the church which we can mess up as Christians but the God still uses and will use to proclaim Gospel mission and Gospel community.  More on that on a later date.

Ok…. Rap Award is up next…. please have Kanye West win….. and the winner is…. T.I…. who is in jail… Dang it.  At least we know that this show really isn’t staged by MTV because they definitely would’ve had Kanye win it for the drama and ratings which go hand in hand.  I later learned that Kanye wasn’t even there anymore as MTV escorted him out as the crowd became even more hostile toward him…. Oh, the power of innocent pop country crooner, Taylor Swift.

Muse is going to perform next.  Great band and not that well known in this overexposed all about $ billboard artists we’ve seen so far.  Muse didn’t disappoint and rocked it out.

Lady gaga is soooo weird!  She wins the new artist award and comes up with this mask that looks like it came from a horror film.  She’s for real too.  She’s not trying to be funny or anything.  She really thinks that this is art.  She ends her acceptance speech thanking god and the gays. Once again, if you know her past you know why she does this.  The god part was definitely out of place for her as I wonder if she’s just trying to be controversial and mock that who political culture of God vs gays that we have in America or if she genuinely believes in both and loves both.  I’m leaning toward mockery but will research it a little more.

Pink put on what looked like a spectacular performance swinging on a trapeze while singing with a great song and an outfit that revealed one of her boobs with a pink heart covering her nipple.  Therefore, I missed her whole performance because I believe that according to scripture and in my vows to my wife I couldn’t watch bouncing boobs without sinning.  Was that really necessary Pink? You could’ve walked away being the talk of the live musical performances with this intriguing and creative performance and now you’re just walking away with teenage boys lusting after you.  It could’ve been creative but you had to make it sexual and therefore becoming hypocritical in all you say about the other girl celebrities out there and what they do for fame.

Video of the Year is next.  This is the award of all awards for the night. And the winner is…… Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” (random camera shot of lady gaga with a different weird mask on then before… once again, she is so weird)  Will she ignore the beginning drama of the night? Will she stick up for Kanye for trying to stick up for her?  Will she stick up for Taylor for it taking away from her “moment”?  Well, as newspapers and tweets told us, Beyonce ends up inviting Taylor Swift to come out to have her “moment” and allows her to thank the people she didn’t get to earlier because of Kanye’s interruption.  I am reminded of the unity and love that MJ wants us to all know (gag).  But being serious, I was glad that Beyonce did this and it felt like one of those feel good moments you feel when watching one of those feel good movies.  I guess I’m kind of not used to feeling utterly disgusted and repulsed by the present state of MTV and their over the top antics at the end of their awards show (what I’d feel after seeing Marilyn Manson end years ago, still being shocked by earlier antics in years past.)  I still did feel that ickyness on some things I’d seen (Russell Brand’s sexualized comments, Pink’s unnecessary boobage, etc.) but it was weird how it ended with a wrong made right…. Oh, but wait, the show has 15 minutes left.

Jay Z then performs and we are reminded at how awesome all of these celebrities think MJ is.  No other shocking performances or over the top sinful antics. Hmmmm, so what are we to think of the present state of youth culture and the entertainment industry on display through one of their biggest nights of the year in the eyes of Scripture and a Biblical worldview?

1.  The false worship of celebrity idols in youth culture and how we need to realign that worship to Jesus.

Taylor Swift, Megan Fox, Green Day, The Jonas Brothers, are all idolized and will be in a me generation that idolizes fame and popularity.  At one time after the show ended the top 10 twitter trends had something to do with the MTV VMA’s.  We need to be reminded that our hearts are idol factories and whether it’s through celebrities or boyfriend/girlfriends we need to confess to this sin of false idolatry and look at Jesus as the only one to worship.  I was reminded of this in the most unlikely of circumstances through this show as I saw the army of Taylor Swift fans call for Kanye’s head on a platter.  What he did was rude and uncalled for.  But I was shocked by the reaction of friends and media.  More people felt hurt for their idol’s lost “moment” then the lost state of people around them in God’s eyes.  These are celebrities who are wronged in many more ways then not being able to say thank you to friends and family.  They are wronged as they are continually deceived by Satan who makes them think they are worthy of this worship and need us to get upset about that and pray for them and ourselves as we give them that glory.  I am guilty of this myself as I put “celebrity” pastors and athletes on a pedestal and get angry when I hear someone slander them.  I need to be reminded at those times that I need to pray for them and refocus my worship on Jesus.  It’s him who I need to focus my breath on and defend.  Not Mark Driscoll or Taylor Swift or being wronged.

2.  Sexual sin is present in youth culture, celebrity culture, and American culture because it’s present in our hearts.

Every year Christians claim that it the state of sexual sin gets worse and worse.  I don’t know if this is true as I’ve studied the history of the Egyptian and Roman Empire eras but I do know that it will forever be present in a sinful world where Satan corrupted our hearts through the fall.  What was intended for good became a false god amongst many people and will always be celebrated in people’s lives and entertainment choices.  As Christians we are to abstain from sexual sin and speak into it as it will always be around.  I always feel quite a dilemma when this yearly event comes around for I know it will be present but also know that we must speak truth into the lies MTV tells concerning sexual sin.  I thank God for a wife who keeps me accountable in making sure that some viewing is too much and a great Savior and Holy Spirit who I am accountable with in what I see and what I put in my head and heart.  For me, Pink’s performance was too much as I turned my head from her entire performance.  We need to forever be discerning on these issues but realize that we need to know how the lost are being deceived into these things.  Some things to remember when doing this is….

1. It starts in their hearts just like it starts in our hearts.  It’s not Lady Gaga, Russell Brand, the porn industry who we need to blame but Satan and how sin has affected all of our hearts in this area.  This is also what we need to speak into when announcing such a great Savior for that sin that started in their very hearts like it did in ours.

2. If you are entering into this culture to study, redeem, and present truth of the Gospel to make sure you are honest with your self in convictions led by the spirit and accountability.  Most Christian teenagers need to stay away from this stuff as it usually becomes entertainment and sinful for them.  Unless you are thinking like a missionary who would enter into a foreign and sinful culture, you need to error on the staying away from all things sexual side.  MTV VMA’s will always push the boundaries and you have to realize that.  Watch with discernment and a motivation to look for truth out of lies being sensitive to the lost people who don’t realize what they are watching is necessarily sinful.  If you can’t handle it as you start to lust after some performers, start idolizing the messages they say about sex, or feel convicted for watching any of it you need to abstain from it but not judge others who are in the world but by their interpretation of the event are obviously not of the world.

3.  Pop Culture, Celebrities, and MTV will come and go while the Gospel will last forever.

What amazes me about this fickle world is how much it changes from year to year in artists, celebrities, and what’s cool pointing to an unknown example of how fickle are very lives really are.  It is the message of the Gospel that lasts in a temporary world about self.  It’s the eternal message of us being sinners in a culture that in some type of new way will preach else wise.  The eternal message that Jesus died for that sin as He thought of us and glorifying His father in a culture that wants to glorify ourselves and whatever is popular which forever changes.  It’s the eternal message that Jesus rose from the dead and showed how He had eternal power and authority over death which took MJ’s life, sin which captivates and deceives our hearts into thinking that life is all about sex, Satan who is not someone we want to pray to but does not have control over a guitar and drums (but instead lyrics that can deceive some hearts).  It’s the Gospel that changes this culture and speaks into the heart of it.  It’s the Gospel that reveals the eternal out of the temporary as all of these celebrities get old and our hearts start worshiping what ever is next that Satan dangles before our eyes.  Point this out to this temporary culture because teenagers will notice how Brittany Spears had faded, N*sync disbanded, and Jessica Alba is not the “it” girl anymore.  They want something permanent to worship but need to hear the Gospel to see Jesus as the permanent solution their temporary idols.

Christians in Public Schools, Barack Obama, & The Gospel: A Missional Opportunity in Barack Obama’s Educational Speech this Tuesday

Last month President Barack Obama announced that he will be speaking to public school students on Tuesday, September 8 in an address that will be shown love at noon EDT.  He has told us that it will be about the need to work hard and stay in school.  If this wasn’t controversial enough for most Republicans then the lesson plans for teachers created by Obama’s Education Department put it over the separation of religious political/public school line.  After all of the backlash from Republicans who accused Obama of trying to indoctrinate America’s children with tax payers money and parents who threatened to pull their kids from school that day, the white house plans on releasing the speech online Monday so parents can read it.

Now, as a stereotypical, Bible believing, Evangelical Christian who works for a Southern Baptist church and doesn’t agree with many of our president’s policies (whether it’s Scriptural: ie. abortion/same sex marriage or political: ie. health care) you would think I would be joining this war against all things Obama this Tuesday.  But I’m not.  In fact I find myself throwing up inside my mouth a little when I think about how most Christian’s respond to this situation.  In fact, I truly believe that the wisest response to this whole situation is for Christian parents to allow their kids to go to school this Tuesday, whether Obama is being played or not and to talk with our kids about what is being said.  I believe that Jesus had seen much worse being done with the denarius he gave to the Roman Empire.  Now before I explain any further let me put a couple disclaimers out there….

1.  I am not known liberal blogger, Tony Jones hiding under some student pastor’s identity.

2.  I did not vote for Barack Obama and if I had the chance to vote right now I still would’t vote for Barack Obama so this has no political agenda behind it.

3.  According to the Bible I do believe that it IS the parent’s God-given role and responsibility to take their kids out of school this Tuesday if they truly want to.  I just think it’s unwise as a Christian in today’s culture and according to how we should correspond to our authority in scripture.  However, I am not that parent and I believe they have a right to do this.  I would also tell any middle school/high school student to respect their parent’s in this even if it felt that it just killed their testimony as a Christian to the stereotypes most teachers and students already have of us.

Now that those points are off my chest I’ll share why I believe it is unwise to ban Obama concerning this upcoming education speech.

1. The “Christian Stereotypes” of us banning/protesting stuff we don’t like or disagree with.

I’m sorry but I didn’t grow up in the southern Baptist world so I never really got this part of it.  When we disagree with something or see something that is sin in the world we protest and ban it.  From alcohol in the prohibition days to good ol’ mickey mouse himself during the gay days at walt disney world.  The “banning/protesting agenda” has no boundaries as we saw at the SBC as people motioned banning of speakers who associated with people of their own faith (at least three other motions were made against Mark Driscoll/Acts 29 Church Planting Network).  Now this can be argued from a holiness perspective and I am not going to argue with that right now.  If a Christian truly believes that they are protecting themselves or their children from sin out of holiness then fine.  That’s their own heart’s convictions and Holy Spirit’s leading.  But let’s keep at the topic at hand.  Protesting the President’s speech is not protecting your children.  This could’ve been argued in the beginning but the president is releasing his manuscript the day before so we can see word for word what he will be saying.  Also there have been presidents in the past who have done this (George H.W. Bush in 1991, http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-obamawhy_04nat.ART.State.Edition2.4be01a1.html) and it was never an issue.  It’s because 1. We have such a divisive country in politics right now. 2. There are so many people who truly hate Barack Obama, including Christians who will do anything to fight back at him.  Like I said, I disagree with most of his policies.  But this is something that according to what the White House has said, looks good for public school kids to hear about education.  The argument of indoctrination goes out when we see what he says Monday and they’ve already changed several things (assignments, etc.) to show that they do not have a political agenda behind it.  If the president wants to speak to kids of America on why education is important then so be it.  Just like when Bush did it and many presidents beforehand did it.  He’s not talking to them about his liberal agenda or health care according to all white house releases.  So instead of just banning him or protesting think about how much us Christians are already known for one’s who run away from stuff we disagree with and how you may not even disagree with this one thing you’re protesting against.  You’re just hurting the Christian’s reputations as one’s who ban everything.  And if you think that I’m the only one who feels this way then be warned.  There are many young, Bible believing, evangelical Christians that want to be know for nothing but the Gospel and has realized that we have been known for protesting political bullies and are sick of the stereotype.  You may not care but you should. This leads to my next point.

2. Missional Families in the Public School.

Ok, I don’t want to hear the excuses on why your kids are at the public school they go to.  Whether it’s because the private schools are too expensive or the home schoolers are too weird.  Because the Christian schools look the same as public or because you have no choice because of where you live.  You’re there and you’re there for a purpose.  And it’s not just to get you kid educated, graduated, and kicked out of the house (hopefully to do bigger and better things with that education).  You are there because you are called to be a missionary to those teachers, kids, and families in that public school.  Yes, You.  I don’t care if God didn’t tell you this through a burning bush or made you blind so that you can now see.  It doesn’t matter that you didn’t have a dream where God made a sheet from heaven and said to you Rise, Reteach, after the public school teachers teach because most aren’t teaching that well, & Witness.  You know that this is your responsibility as a Christian because Scripture tells you.  Jesus, the greatest missionary sent on earth prayed for us in the garden before he died as He told us that like He was sent to this earth He was sending us here to be a witness for Him.  He later prayed in that prayer that we are to be in the world not of the world.  Well, there is no greater place then to be in the world then in the public school.  Yes, you’re kid will get made fun of for going to church, staying virgins, and loving Jesus.  But is their and your missional calling to share the Gospel with these people.  Like Paul did when he talked about doing whatever it takes to connect with others in order to win a few (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).  Like missionaries do when they go to another country.  These are not super Christians (Well, Jesus was bearing the name we represent but aside from our Savior…) we are in the school for a reason.  Like Russell Moore tweeted on September 4 on this issue: If you have such a problem with these type of things, what are you doing in the public school in the first place?  What does this have to do with Obama’s speech? Well, do Christian parents really think that THIS is the worse a public school could do? Everyone knows that most public schools have liberal views with religious tolerance themes.  That’s the world, my friends.  The world we try to share the Gospel with.  This is more about hatred for Obama then protecting our kids.  If you want to protect them, then take them aside and go over what was said to them during the speech.  Something I pray and hope these parents are doing with everything they are being taught in a public school.  If you don’t trust the school then fine, take them out.  Homeschool them, enroll them into a Christian school if that’s your convictions.  Not because of one speech that you can look at yourself.  It’s harder for the Christians who are actually trying to gain a voice with these people to share the Gospel with them when you continue to feed the stupid stereotypes they have of Christians who look down upon them, run away from anything they don’t like without a good argument on why they are running away.  I may have a little more of a burden for these people as I went to a public school where yes it was hard and discouraging at times but talk about an opportunity to be around people that don’t know Jesus.  A teenager will not have a bigger opportunity to reach this many teenagers in their life.  You say that this won’t hurt those chances but I would beg to differ.  These teachers and students aren’t stupid and know what’s going on when you do this.  As a 26 yr. old, 8 yr. graduate out of my high school, I still have kids that contact me that remember the bad and good that I did during that time (I’m reminded through facebook).  Don’t let this be what you will be remembered for at parent teacher conferences.  Be remembered for the Gospel, not political protesting that has nothing to do with the Gospel and Jesus.

3.  Better Parenting in the Public School is not protesting together but talking though the Biblical Worldview together.

The number one excuse for protesting this speech has been it’s my right as a parent.  It is their right but is it truly better parenting?  My mentor (fomer collge dean of the undergraduate school at SBTS and now Sr. Pastor of !st Baptist West Palm, FL.) would allow his kids and students he discipled to listen to secular music in his car whenever they begged to do so.  After so he would ask them what the artist was singing about, if they were trying to push any type of worldview through and if this differed with what the Bible says.  If so, why?  Instead of banning it, he would listen to it with them and have them analyze it according to Scripture.  This is what I believe is the better option for parents in this situation.  When my daughter goes to school, I plan on doing this with anything that she is being taught.  You cant hide kids under a rock forever so allow them to place the world they hear about and see in the lens of scripture with you.  Interpret these things in a Biblical lens together.  If your kid is of the elementary age then I am a little more understanding in keeping them away from influential worldly things.  Elsewise, your kid will be in college and a work environment where they will need to do this themselves.  I’m also not saying that you can participate in sin with this.  I wouldn’t do this with a porno with a guy saying that this is the world and what other guys watch so how does it differ from Scripture.  That’s sin and stupid.  This is a speech whose words will be available for all to see and nothing in the grand scheme of your kid’s view on Jesus and how to get closer to be more like Him.  This is more about a hatred for Obama then a hatred of sin and Satan.  Parenting is not protesting.

Jesus, Caesar, & The Gospel

Aside from all of this let’s look at the greatest example in how to interact with the government and authority above us without saying “yes” to sin (Mark 12:13-17). When Jesus was asked if He should go against the Scripture and pay Caesar (one who made himself a god to be worshipped, had practicing religions who would have orgies as part of the worship service, was known for boy pedophilia….  Ummm, you can pretty much say a little more immoral then Barack Obama) or if they should give it to God.  He asks them for a denarius (in which they did, showing that they already are in this system, much like many public school parents are) and asks who is on the coin? They answer “Caesar.”  He then tells them to pay Caesar with what is Caesar’s and to pay God for what is God’s.  He didn’t bring up all of the immoral, sinful things Caesar was doing.  He didn’t throw it at them and say let’s not pay it at all. Ban Caesar’s taxation. Let’s protest against his injustice.  He made it a point to respect the authority (even when unfair and immoral) above Him by paying him what he asks and to make sure to give God his due as well.  Jesus modeled this respect for political authority during his entire ministry.  I don’t think this allows us to be pacifists and to argue against the just-war theory or believe that it’s ok to not stand for political issues that clearly go against Scripture.  I do believe that Jesus modeled a respect for authority and a participation in some of it’s doings when it doesn’t go against Scripture.  The taxation can be easily translated as a political speech that so far doesn’t go against our Biblical beliefs but instead against a man we rightfully don’t agree with (on different issues).  As our authority, I believe we gain a bigger voice for the Gospel by respecting that authority and allowing our kids to hear from it when it has nothing to do with the stupid stuff they are doing.  It’s truly amazing how Jesus didn’t bring up any of the bad that this empire was doing to the “religious people” but instead showed Himself as their Savior for that bad and sin instead.  It was those people that Jesus died for as members of the Roman centurion accepted Him as their Lord and Savior seeing how He was the Son of God and the only hope for salvation for their sinful doings. This is because when it comes down to it, the Gospel is more important then anything else we are here for.  Jesus knew this and knew how important it was to teach them to respect authority when sin wasn’t involved in order to teach this to us and reveal the true motive behind this situation with religious people who had a different agenda.  Now ask yourself, what will show the Gospel more on Tuesday? Is it going to be through a protest or teaching your kid to be pro-Gospel the way Paul & Jesus was, as a missionary to every person around you.  Teaching them how to interpret what they hear through a Biblical lens. You’re at that school for a purpose; you have those teachers for a purpose… to use your surroundings to show the Gospel, not feed the stereotypes that go against it.  Being sent to something is running toward it with the Gospel not sitting at home away from it.

Resources from our “Save the Elephant” sex and dating series

1. The Elephant & Culture: Romans 1:18-32, Romans 6:11-14

“Sex and the Supremacy of Christ” edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor:  Best book I’ve read on the subject.  It tells you what the Bible says about sex, how Satan has distorted sex, and a little bit of everything else that was hit on through this series.

“Sex is Not the Problem (Lust Is)” by Joshua Harris:  This book shows how the problem is not exactly out in the world but in our heart.  Where lust comes from.  Sex is a good thing and created by God to be done for His glory.  It’s when lust enters the picture where sex becomes sin.

“God on Sex” by Daniel Akin:  A great book on the Song of Solomon that defines God’s purpose of love, intimacy and marriage. Tommy Nelson’s “The Book of Romance” is the standard SOS exegesis and I think that Akin gives him a run for his money.

“Sex has a Price Tag” by Pam Stenzel with Crystal Kirgiss:  These authors provide plenty of statistics and pointers on the different consequences that come from sexual immorality.

“Religion Saves” by Mark Driscoll (Question 5: Sexual Sin):  This book came out of a sermon series this Pastor preached through answering the top 9 questions his church and Christian bloggers wanted to know concerning Christianity. Question 5 was “How should Christian men and women go about breaking free from the bondage of sexual sin?”

“SexGod” by Rob Bell:  In no way do I agree with Rob Bell’s implied theology of God’s character being a women or his view of women in ministry.  One chapter in particular I disagreed with entitled “God wears lipstick.”  However, the rest of the book is very helpful in connecting sex with spirituality.  Biblical Sex in marriage is a spiritual thing as you glorify God in it and bond with your spouse in it.  Bell did a great job showing this to an audience who doesn’t think about God in general and especially in their sex lives.

2. The Elephant and Biblical Men: 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, assorted passages

“The Exemplary Husband” by Stuart Scott: My wife’s favorite Biblical counseling professor from SBTS wrote a deep, well rounded book on what a Biblical Husband looks like and needs to strive toward.  Truly convicting as a husband.

“Every Man’s Battle” or “Every Young Man’s Battle” by Stephen Arterburn:  I am not a huge Arterburn fan however these books have helped many guys in sexual temptation and lust.  “Bouncing Your Eyes” became popular within Christian men in large part from this book, something that has helped me with temptation and lust to this very day.

“The Godly Man’s Picture” by Thomas Watson:  Thomas Watson, a preacher in the puritan era wrote this book highlighting 24 characteristics of a Godly man. Pssh, and to think that some guys thought my 5 characteristics in this sermon was too much.

“Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge:  This 2003 book of the year for family Christian stores started a movement among biblical men who recognized that they are in a battle.  Out of their love for adventure many men embraced the adventure, pursued their beauties, and took ground in this spiritual battle.  Not as deep and scriptural as the other books but still helpful.

“Porn Again Christian” by Mark Driscoll (FOR GUYS ONLY):  A short read for men who struggle with sexual sin, lust, pornography, masturbation, etc. Best book I’ve ever read on this subject He calls it all out as sin without being nice about it but in a way that truly connects with guys who struggle with these things.

Sermons/Podcasts

“Men and Masculinity” by Mark Driscoll:  http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/proverbs/men-and-masculinity

“Marriage and Men” by Mark Driscoll:  http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men

“Defining Masculinity, Men as Husbands, and Men as Fathers” by Matt Chandler:  http://theologica.blogspot.com/2009/06/matt-chandler-on-role-of-men.html

3. The Elephant and Biblical Women: Prov. 31:10-31, 1 Peter 3:1-6, Titus 2:3-5

“The Excellent Wife” by Martha Peace:  This book compliments my favorite book on the above Stuart Scott book on biblical husbands.  It goes through the different characteristics that make up a biblical woman in a sometimes deep but very rich way.

“Feminine Appeal” by Carolyn Mahaney:  This book is written by the wife of one of my favorite author’s/preacher’s, C.J. Mahaney.  She goes through Titus 2:3-5 and talks about how a woman can model these characteristics found in these passages.  Probably my favorite book out of all of these books as she weaves personal stories from her life, church, and ministry to the passage at hand.

“Called to Womanhood” by Beth Impson:  This book does a great job on going through the history of feminism and how it has distorted the biblical view of wives and womanhood.  It helps you understand where that side is coming from and how you can defend the biblical roles in marriage.

“Every Young Woman’s Battle” by Shannon Ethridge and Stephen Arterburn:  This book teaches young women how to guard their heart and body with the women specific issues they struggle with.  This book was a great resource for my wife as a teenager in high school.

“The New Eve” by Robert Lewis:  This book just came out recently but and has gained much momentum in churches striving after Biblical Womanhood.  It does a great job in putting historical Biblical truths on women in a relevant style of writing.

4. The Elephant and Dating: 1 Corinthians 7:25-38

“Dateable” by Justin Lookadoo and Hayley DiMarco:  A book written for teenagers on how to date the right way and the type of guys and girls you should date.  If a teenager is going to ever think about dating then they NEED to read this book and listen to the good, practical tips that are written in a humorous way.

“Passion and Purity” by Elisabeth Elliot:  One of the most popular books in the topic of Christian dating and true love.  The author intertwines her testimony on how she met her husband and married him and how two Christians can do the same God’s way.  Whether or not you believe in dating, every Christian should read this book.

“I Kissed Dating Good Bye” by Joshua Harris:  Joshua Harris has recently came out and said that he still believes in the intent of the book, that most pre-mature, short-term, romantic attachments can be a big distraction from serving God.  However, many Christians have read this book and have taken a legalistic, judgmental view on dating where they don’t talk to the opposite sex and become uncomfortable around them.  The book is still very helpful in showing the distractions of dating and how you can seek out God in this area as He gives different singles different convictions on how to find the person they should marry.

“Boy Meets Girl” by Joshua Harris:  The story of how the author of the last book found his true love and pursued her and eventually married her.  A little more balanced then the one sided anti-dating argument that came out of his previous book.

“Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships” by Chip Ingram:  A very practical book on dating, love and sex.  Everything from the dating process to the love you should see in marriage is covered in this popular author who does a great job on writing several different subjects.  God really used this book in my life when I went to college, talking about the difference in love and infatuation.

Books I’ve already mentioned that was used in this study:

“Sex and the Supremacy of Christ” edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor

“Religion Saves” by Mark Driscoll (Question 3: Dating)

5. The Elephant & Marriage: Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Corinthians 6:25-30

“God, Marriage, and Family” by Andreas J. Kostenberger:  I’ve recommended this book to the families at Jersey before as it covers a wide spectrum of Student Ministry issues in such a Biblical way.  It probably won’t be the last time I recommend it as well.

“Sacred Marriage” by Gary Thomas:  Best book I’ve ever read on marriage.  Books like “His Needs, Her Needs” and “The Five Love Languages” are great practical books for the everyday thoughts and actions you put toward your marriage.  This book is different as it deals with the holiness that comes from your marriage.  How it gets you closer to God, not just each other.  This book speaks to the heart where some other marriage books speak to the emotions.

“The Intimate Marriage” by R.C. Sproul:  A small book where the author goes through the roles of husbands and wives in marriage, communicating in marriage, and the problem of divorce.  Only six chapters that get to the point of each topic.

“Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood” edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem:  This message talked about the Biblical roles God has for the husband and wife: Headship (Sacrificial Love) in husbands and Submission in wives.  This book does a great job clarifying those roles and how the culture distorted God’s intended purpose in them.

“Intended for Pleasure” by Ed Wheat (Intended for Adults Only):  This book is a good resource for people who are engaged and married as it goes through scripture that shows us the freedom we have in the marriage bed.  Students need to know that sex is not dirty in marriage and although I wouldn’t recommend for them to read this book yet, it does a great job showing Christians biblical proof of the pleasure only marriage can bring to sex.

The Elephant in the Church

Our student ministry is wrapping up a series called “the elephant in the church” where we talked about one of the top things that teenagers struggle with and are confused about in which the church will usually ignore.  Of course I’m talking about SEX here and how important it is to speak God’s truth into the many lies Satan feeds teenagers on this subject.  Youth culture cannot get away from it as their innocent disney stars grow up sharing their naked camera pics of themselves to the rest of the world and dancing provocatively around a pole at the teen choice awards.  It’s still going on in the church as youth workers/pastors are finding their kids sneaking around the church to get alone time, make out, and God knows what else.  They are bombarded by it from all angles.  Media, friends, school, movies, music, online ads, and the list can go on and on.  Most Christian parents put up their protective umbrella up almost immediately as they shelter their kids from this type of immorality.  This is better then allowing them to drink from this dirty toilet water world they can live in but can also cause teenagers to have a culture shock when they’re out in the real world or tempt them even further to see why this sex stuff really does sell.  Those students who are protected from this sin still thinks about these type of issues even when they are surrounded by parents as most of these teenagers have the same type of desires and lusts that their peers has but without the media gasoline being thrown onto the flames.  I say all this to remind you how important it is for the church to speak truth into these lies and point teenagers to the true problem behind sexual sins.  Their own evil, dirty, perverted hearts and the urgency to become the type of Biblical Men and Women they were called to be.  Of course both things can only happen through the Gospel where Jesus washes our evil, dirty, perverted hearts clean and sanctifies us into the future biblical husbands and wives teenagers need to become.  Here is how our student ministry has combatted this battle against the age long temptations of sexual immortality that has plagued our world and culture since the beginning.  We hit these certain topics in preaching:

1. Sex & Culture: Romans 1:18-32, Romans 6:11-14

In this message we talked about the history of sexual immorality in the world and how it has always influenced and been present in the culture.  We talked about what it looks like in teenage culture today and how it has been that way since the beginning which is found in Romans 1:18-32 where Paul gives us specific items of what the world will look like concerning sexual immorality and the dead culture that comes along with it.  He later talks about how we are alive in Christ in need to put these sexual sins to death and not look like the world in this area.  This was an illuminating message to preach as i was able to interweave the present teenage culture and the history of sexual immorality into this passage in Romans.  I think this was very eye opening to many teenagers as they saw that it wasn’t only them who struggles with what the world did with something God originally intended for good and how much hope they have in redeeming this area in their life.

2. Sex and Biblical Men: 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, assorted passages

Instead of talking about the stereotypical sex and guy messages where you have a man talk on the things they struggle with sexually we talked straight with our teenage guys on how to become the biblical men they need to be in order to get married one day and have good biblical sex. A Biblical man is one who has self-control, works, fights (not in the mach man way but for women & their faith), leads, and sacrificially loves.  I may have went a little Mark Driscoll on them here.  This was one thing i connected with him so well in his book “Reformation of a Rev” which is pretty much a book on the history of Mars Hill Church with his one of a kind off the cuff humor.  His greatest year of growth came when men finally “Manned Up” and i’ve seen the greatest growth in myself and others when this happened as well.

3. Sex and Biblical Women: Prov. 31:10-31, 1 Peter 3:1-6, Titus 2:3-5

Like the men, we kept the girls in the room to hear a message from scripture about what a godly woman looks like and how she’ll be ready to be pursued to be married by a godly man.  This biblical woman is one who is content, is a helper, will be beautiful on the outside (every woman is) and inside, influential, and submissive.  This was a little tough to preach as i constantly thought about my daughter in this message and how much i hope and pray that she will become this type of woman who loves Jesus and will serve her future husband in a world who tells you that it’s wrong.

(By the way… we did cover the guy specific and girl specific issues in a hand out that we passed out to each gender)

4. Sex and Dating: 1 Corinthians 7:25-38

This was probably my favorite message to preach out of the series as we expositionally went through a passage that i haven’t heard many student pastors or head pastors preach through concerning the topic of dating.  It was written for anyone who is not married (singles and widows) and clearly shows the wisdom of Jesus in one of the toughest things Christians have to go through in their awkward intermediate state between puberty and marriage.  For teenagers it was almost a no brainer as we say how much dating can distract us from promoting good order and giving Jesus our undivided devotion to the Lord.  Of course this is much easier said then done (still said by the way) and we went through the history of dating, the  different ways guys and girls interact in relationships according to the world (hooking up, random dates, dating/going out, courtship).  We ended with practical Biblical points that a guy or girl should make sure of doing if dating as a teenager.  You know the stereotypical student ministry points like “Date only Christians, Set physical limits and set them high, listen to you parents on this issue, you’re stupid if you put yourself alone with that person.  It may be unwise to date as a teenager as Paul says but doesn’t command (vs. 25) but they will still do it anyways so these points are truly important in one’s dating life.

5. Sex & Marriage: Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Corinthians 6:25-30

So many times you have a sex series where the teenagers make all of these covenants to stay virgins, get rings to remember these vows, and go back on their commitments within several years.  Like Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the cover article of Christianity Today says… The problem with these teenagers is that they never put themselves into the position to get married and therefore struggle with it longer then they should have to.  Now they argue that they should get married earlier where i would say to each their own.  Let’s focus on molding you to those future husband/wives first and truly see what Marriage is before we go all Jonas Brothers on our youth groups and tell everyone we’re staying pure, we’re staying pure before we even know we want to.  This message focuses on 1. what marriage looks like for the husband/wife. The wife being submissive to the husband while the husband sacrificially loves the wife.  2. What good sex in marriage looks like (1 Corinthians 6:25-30 is pretty self explanatory).  3. What Marriage represents… the Gospel and the realationship Jesus has with His church.

We’re ending the series with a focus on the word “covenant”…. since it is so important in Marriage and also the intermediate stage one has when waiting to say make that covenant before God.  I pray and hope that much fruit comes from this series as we reveal the elephant in the church to our teenagers and don’t shy away from the honest questions and struggles that they are dealing with in sexuality.  I pray and hope that more then anything our students follow God’s prophetic voice in this area so that they can have great marriages and great biblical sex that the world can only dream of…. all pointing back to the Gospel and God’s glory.

When Christian Celebrity becomes Celebrity Apostasy

“You could throw me in the fire and I wont be burned for my faith is your desire and your love endures, you could throw me in the prison cell shackle me up against the rail but time and time again my faith wont fail, for he’ll prevail in the midst of all, my trials and tribulations and he’ll prevail in the midst of all my sin and temptations he’ll prevail when I and he will pick me up for time and time again my faith wont fail time and time again my faith wont fail.”                                                                          - lyrics to song “Faith Won’t Fail”

 

 

“And ill give you my heart, say I love you, say I love you, and ill give you my heart, say I love you, cause I do, Jesus…” – lyrics to song “”When There’s Nothing Left”

 

These lyrics were penned and sung by a young Christian artist by the name of Katy Hudson who toured with such Christian bands as Newsboys, Larue, and Jennifer Knapp.  Seven years later this singer was singing to a different tune as this artist’s hit single of last summer went something like this…

 

I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chap stick, I kissed a girl, just to try it. I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it, it felt so wrong, it felt so right, don’t mean im in love tonight” - lyrics to song “I Kissed a Girl”

 

With a new name, attitude, and look, Katy Hudson reemerged in the music scene as Katy Perry, scoring a number one single for the summer, a top-selling album, and a lot of pissed off Christian parents.  This would include her own, who both are evangelical ministers in a Pentecostal church.  Her mom said this about her daughter’s new life and last summer’s single “I hate the song. It clearly promotes homosexuality and its message is shameful and disgusting.” “Katy knows how I feel. We are a very outspoken family and she knows how disappointed her father and I are. I can’t even listen to that song. The first time I heard it I was in total shock. When it comes on the radio I bow my head and pray.”

 

However, Perry is not the only one in Hollywood with the Christian background who is known for anything but Jesus.  Joe Simpson, otherwise known as Papa Joe, is a former Southern Baptist Youth Pastor who now manages the careers of his two famous daughters, Ashley and Jessica Simpson.  The former pastor is known for his sleazy quotes on his own daughters’ sexuality and image.  When asked about Jessica’s sex appeal he said to GQ magazine “Jessica never tries to be sexy. She just IS sexy. If you put her in a T-shirt or you put her in a bustier, she’s sexy in both. She’s got DOUBLE Ds! You can’t cover those suckers up.”  His daughter, Jessica brushed aside the comment.  Jessica came upon the music scene during the Britney Spears-Christina Aguilera pop scene as the innocent girl who was saving herself for marriage.  The Simpson Christian image started off well but slowly took a turn for the worse when Jessica’s image got sexed up (reminder: Papa Joe has been her manager since she started).  I’m not even going to touch upon her sister’s embarrassing singing career and marriage to Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz.

 

When I think of these such things, I can easily get upset and confused.  How can people who once sang and preached the Gospel represent the sin that they once claimed Jesus redeemed them from?  How do we respond to celebrities who once represented the Gospel and now represent unrepentant sin?  Are these celebrities apostates, people who abandon their Christian faith and should we treat them like apostates?  And what does this tell our teenagers in the church who is usually more familiar with the Hollywood culture then Jesus?  Well, first we must know that questions like these have been around since the beginning and the answers weren’t clear then and won’t be as clear here as well.  However, we can learn from what the church did in history with apostates and what scripture says about people who have seemingly fallen away from their faith.

 

Apostates in the Early Church

An apostate is someone who at one time represented Jesus Christ as a Christian and has now denied their Christian faith either through their words or actions.  This was a serious offence in the Christian church, which resulted in death at times when Christianity was intermingled with the state.  During the Roman Empire era, Christians were tortured and killed for their faith unless they denounced their worship of Jesus.  The people who denounced Jesus either for their life or their families lives presented a problem for the church as some would try to come back to Jesus and the church right after their denunciation of Christ.  The church first denied them, believing that if they were true Christians they never would’ve denied Jesus in the first place and would’ve been honored to die a martyr’s death.  As Christian persecution increased, more and more Christians were put into this predicament resulting in churches to differ with each other on the repentance of these “apostates” who publicly denied their faith.  Of course, this is completely different as people were verbally denying Christ to save their physical lives where today in America we have people who are called apostates who deny Christ through their lives.  I’d ask two things about these so-called celebrity apostates.

 

Are We Asking This Question Out of Our Obsession with Christian Celebrity?

First, we must get rid of our obsession with the celebrity culture, whether it’s Hollywood or the Christian sub-culture.  I know many people think of Hollywood as Satan and the world but we really need to start thinking of them as a culture that needs redeemed and start thinking of the Christian sub-culture as people who claim to be redeemed but still broken, sinful people who will mess up.  When the Christian subculture was created, Christians were happy to have their own Hollywood where they can “praise” Jesus through their art but at the same time satisfy their Hollywood following.  Now we have a “Christian version” of movies, music, video games, etc.  Now don’t get me wrong, I know this has been done by people who want to authentically worship Jesus, lead others in worship of Jesus, and to provide a “safe, family friendly” alternative to  the sinful media world out there.  The problem is that the Christian subculture is still sinful human beings who at their best do nothing but point back to Jesus through the Holy Spirit and at their worse get divorced like the rest of the world (Amy Grant, Kevin Max of dc Talk, possibly Jon & Kate plus 8 who’s book is in the top 10 Christian book sales and sold through Zondervan, the biggest Christian book distributor), stop singing about their faith and start singing about kissing girls (Katy Perry), or get dropped from their Christian label for marital infidelity after making several albums with Christian rap songs about the temptations of sexual sin (Ambassador from Cross Movement Records).  I don’t bring this all up to judge these people for their sin but to remind us that our holy, Christian sub-culture can easily look like the world.  This is normal for the average Christian at church but becomes a bigger deal when they are looked upon as Christian celebrities.  When the Gospel is being heard from their mouth or seen through their actions it was because of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit.  When they screw up like we all do, we know that it’s part of their nature and we follow scripture as the church in church discipline and a call for repentance.  But don’t judge them harsher then the average person sitting next to you on Sunday for their Hollywood Christian status.

 

 

What Do They Say About Jesus?

Second, ask what celebrity apostates are saying about Jesus?  This is not including the average thank you Jesus after a touchdown, acceptance of an award speech, or Jesus is my homeboy t-shirt worn.  But what do they say about the exclusivity of salvation & Heaven through Jesus, the importance of Jesus Christ as the only Godman who walked on earth, his messianic fulfillments, etc.  What do they say about Jesus still?  You’ll find it harder to hear what they say about this subject but it’s a good indicator on how to think of them in way of a fallen Christian being tempted by the world or a celebrity apostate.  When their life starts reflecting nothing but the sin shown in Scripture and you hear less about Jesus, then you’re going to get a better feel about where they are at and how you should view them. If these people in the limelight that we are so concerned about is a member of our church then we do need to be concerned for their claims of being a Christian.  Remember it is Jesus’ place to judge the heart and our place to treat them like they know Jesus or not.  Church discipline and prayer is also our responsibility but is the last thing that we think about for we all know that we aren’t going to meet these people so instead resort to anger over their testimony as a so-called “Christian.” 

 

I know that I got mad at Papa Joe’s statements on his daughter’s breasts as a Christian father but he is no different then the average lost person who would say something stupid like that.  I also know that this Simpson family is one of the closest families in the Hollywood business and are there for each other through the thick and thin of the Hollywood gossip or latest Eminem song slamming on their family.  Jessica still talks about Jesus and even ended her latest GQ article with a quote talking about her dependence on God.  The journalist gave signs of authenticity in these statements and I don’t doubt it as she get less and less popular.  I don’t know if this family knows the true Jesus or not but I do know that they have heard and even preached the Gospel before and can still repent of sin and live abundantly in Jesus.  But JoePa and the rest of the Simpson family doesn’t go to my church and I can only pray for their lives and influence out of a burden that i would have for any teenager i encounter who is struggling with sin that is separating them from God.

 

I honestly think that we need to be careful in our judgment upon all sides of the world where we put anyone in a place of influence in media.  Whether it’s through a Christian subculture, a Christian in secular media living for Jesus, a claimed Christian in secular media not living for Jesus, or a once claimed Christian in secular media who denounces Jesus through actions and words now.  Be careful in your obsession with their fame, take their pointing to Jesus as nothing but the work of Jesus and not them, pray for them when they mess up, and seek out those physical role models we have in our church who can physically point our teenagers to Jesus in their every day life, not just hear about it or see the cheesy ripped off from the world version of it.  This way we can point the good and bad back to Jesus and teach our students the sin of idol fame and putting hope into man over Jesus.  So when teenagers ask us if This band is a Christian band or if this actor is a Christian we can tell them what they said about Jesus and that it really doesn’t matter in a way. Because if they said all the things we evangelicals want to hear, we still know that they can mess up like every one of us and that the good things they do point back to Jesus, not them.  In this way when their favorite Christian female artist starts singing about kissing girls and their favorite Christian rapper cheats on his wife we can remember the Gospel and it’s fruit and forget our sinful selves that get in the way of that loving, always forgiving message.

the sin of no self-control in a do anything, anywhere, anytime world (part 2)

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.                   Titus 2:11-14

This passage shows us two things about self-control.  1. We need to have Self-Control over Sinful Desires.  2. To have Self-Control toward Godly Lives.

Self Control toward Godly Lives

and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,   – Titus 2:12b

This is possible through….

1. Accountability: To have self-control over sinful desires and self-control toward a Godly life we need other people to hold our hand while we are out in the world trying to reach them. We need people to remind us how much we need to read God’s word and apply it to our life. We need people to help us persevere through the tough times, who will not judge us when we sin but lovingly warn us of God’s judgment and sin’s consequences.  We need accountability to have self-control in our lives.

2. Time Management: Agh, one of my biggest weaknesses as an ADD Christian.  A summer interning for Jay Strack’s Student Leadership University and working under Pastor Jimmy Scroggins helped get me in shape on this one.  Schedule your life and the time you have each day to affectively use each moment to glorify God and lead others to do the same.  You may have to cover this part up when building relationships with the world but it is a necessity in living a self-controlled life toward Godliness.

3. Developing Spiritual Habits: Develop a regular discipline of reading scripture, praying, going to church to hear God’s word, being around other Christians, learning from God though other people, sharing the Gospel, fasting, helping out the less fortunate, poor, and oppressed, etc.  Develop a routine of things that get you closer to Jesus and helps you fulfill his commands on earth.

4. Gaining Wisdom: For me this was done by hanging out with older, wise people who loved Jesus and is at a place in their life that I would want to be at their age and by reading books.  Read lots and lots of books.  If you hate reading, too bad! Get over it and struggle through it until you start getting used to it.  You should be getting used to it through the reading of Scripture right now so there’s a good place to start.

5. Time for Sabbath & Restoration:  If you just replace sinful desires with nothing but Godly works you will forget the purpose of why you’re doing those things in the first place.  Pretty soon a self-controlled, upright, Godly life becomes either a legalistic life or a life that will crash & burn.  Make sure to schedule some time for rest and restoration.  Mark Driscoll once said that if you don’t take a Sabbath, God will give you a Sabbath and I believe that is true.

6. Inspiration: Inspiration and motivation leads to action. Honestly, I’m not smart.  As much as I read, I should be much smarter.  But I just can’t retain that knowledge as much as most people could.  But I persevere through passion and to flame that passion I need to be inspired every once in a while.  Find out what inspires and motivates you to live a more self controlled, passionate Godly life and do those things that inspire you more often.  While you’re at it, think of the things that robs you of inspiration and either get rid of those things or don’t spend your time doing/thinking of those things as much.  Pastor of Summit Church in NC and fellow blogger, J.D. Greear, wrote a great blog about his inspirations and things that rob him of inspiration so I decided to do the same for you and encourage you to make a similar list to look at every once in a while.

What is it that inspires me?

1.  Sermons by Mark Driscoll

2.  Seeing my wife’s wit and interaction with students.

3.  Relating Scripture to youth culture.

4.  Hot coffee and personal devotions.

5.  Pop Culture that reveals restoration, hope or our fallen nature.  (Ex. underoath, the shawshank redemption)

6.  People who value integrity.

7.  Driving around reflecting/meditating.

8.  Rock Music that has meaning behind the lyrics.

 

What is it that robs me from being inspired?

1.  People who just want to hang but don’t ever want to talk about spiritual things.

2.  Watching too much tv and spending too much time online.

3.  Following Sports too closely (especially Ohio football).

4.  Pastors who mess up morally.

5.  Arguments with my wife.

6.  Pride, Selfishness, worldly pleasures

Now remember, A self-controlled life is only possible through Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit.  People can be all militant on this stuff but it won’t matter unless the Spirit drives it.  This requires continual exposure of our mind to the words of God and continual prayer through the Holy Spirit to give us both the desire and power to exercise self control.  Let’s be honest, self-control is not really control by our self but control through the power of the Holy Spirit. So use Jesus’ Coming as a motivation. (13 waiting for our blessed, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ -Titus 2:13) and use Jesus’ Sacrifice as an example (14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness –Titus 2:14a)

Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross and the building up to the atonement is the greatest example of self-control, determination and disciple that we can have.  As Peter went all kill bill on a Roman Soldier’s ear, Jesus reminded his disciple that He could call a legion of angels at that very moment down on earth to destroy these people but knew that was not what was needed to save us and to fulfill the will of His Father.  Jesus allowed himself to be arrested, tortured, mocked, and murdered, all while keeping silent to fulfill the Messianic prophecies written about Him and to show the love and forgiveness that He would later offer His accusers.  He controlled Himself because He loves you and He asks you to control yourself out of your love for Him.  And when you do that…. God will use your self control over sinful desires, your self control toward living Godly lives and redirect those passionate desires toward what they were created for, showing people the Gospel and glorifying God through your good works. (and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.  –Titus 2:14b)

The Sin of No-Self Control in a Do Anything, Anywhere, Anytime World (part 1)

We are people born of passion, desire, enthusiasm, deep emotions, ardent love and lust.  In result of such strong feelings and emotions we have people out there called cat ladies (anyone else thinking of a cartoon with a crazy woman throwing her cats at the young children on her property?).  We have people like my former roommate who was a fitness freak and ate nothing but cottage cheese and tuna for protein, sometimes the two mixed together.  This is why we have people who are so green that they go out to the middle of nowhere to pray, cry out to, and pretty much worship trees, much to our entertainment (Passionate Tree Huggers).  Nothing gets in the way of a person who’s passionate and we are all passionate about something, whether it’s video games, music, school, politics, movies, friends, or girlfriends and boyfriends.  A lot of these things that we are passionate about can be good or bad things.  It’s great to be passionate about music when it what you’re using to glorify Jesus in.  But as people born of sin and born of passion it can be hard to have self control over those desires and especially the sinful desires we tend to tolerate.

Jerry Bridge, author of “Respectable Sins” explains Self Control as “A governance or prudent control of one’s desires, cravings, impulses, emotions, and passions.  It is saying “No” when we should say “No”.  It is moderation in legitimate desires and activities, and absolute restraint in areas that are clearly sinful.  It would, for example, involve moderation in watching television and absolute restraint in viewing Internet pornography”

If you don’t think that this is a need in the Christian life and a sin to not live a self controlled life then we will need to rip out the whole 2^nd chapter of Titus.  Paul is sharing with Titus how the older men & women of the church should act and what to teach the younger men & women.  Paul tells shares with Titus that each specific age group needs some type of self-control.  He ends the chapter saying this…. 

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.                             Titus 2:11-14

This passage shows us two things about self-control.  1. We need to have Self-Control over Sinful Desires.  2. To have Self-Control toward Godly Lives.

 

Self-Control Over Sinful Desires

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions  Titus 2:12a

To have self-control over sinful desires we must….

1. Train & Control our passions that will turn into addictions:

Jerry Bridges says the stereotypical church goer usually cannot control these three areas. 1. Eating & Drinking. 2. Anger. 3. Personal Finances.  If you don’t control these things now as a Christian teenager you may grow up a moral living person on the outside and a torn apart Christian on the inside & a future horrible family leader. All three of these things can be good as we know that we can eat and drink for the glory of God, have righteous anger, and bless others through our personal finances.  But when good things in moderation start mastering over our desires and life, they soon become sin.  I found this out the hard way about a month ago.  You see I absolutely love my newborn daughter; I pray for her daily and look forward to spending time with her each day I get home from the church.  Of course as a baby she still tends to scream and cry a little. Sometimes it’s because she is hungry, or because she has a poopy diaper, or want to be held a different way but sometimes she will do this and my wife and I can’t seem to figure out why.  One particular day when I was trying to figure out the source to the blood curdling scream that was coming out of this 10 lb body I was also trying to post a blog up and I started ignoring her crying leaving her in a swing an ignoring her.  This happened until the righteous fury of God came in the form of Jessica who came down the stairs from a nap witnessing a crying baby on a swing and a selfish father on the computer.  And as I tried to justify my selfishness to her, I started I recognizing the lack of self control I had when it came to time on the internet.  Since then I have repented of my sinful addiction to the internet fasting from it and not getting on it nearly as much when I am around my family.  I know that God uses it in my calling to share Jesus with teenagers who depend on technology but I needed to ask my self if I was addicted to it and if put it over my family?

This sin can sneak into so many areas in a teenager’s life.  With girls in particular it can come through everyday ok things like shopping, gossiping, flirting, an obsession with boys, etc.  Teenage guys deal with anger, time spent on video games, sports, etc.  And both genders probably already deal with this sin in the time they spend on the internet, their cell phones, music, and other entertainment choices.  If we aren’t careful with the everyday things in our life that we spend doing because we are passionate about it, they will become a sinful addiction, hurting our relationship with the God who gave us that passion but wanted you to use it to glorify Him, not give you selfish pleasure.

 

2. Not spending time at places where we are tempted to Sin:

A man without self-controlis like a city broken into and left without walls.                    Proverbs 25:28

This was written at a time where the city’s walls was it’s main defense against the pursuing enemy armies.  If the city had no walls, the enemy would usually pour into the city, and conquer it.  Most of us is familiar with the story in Joshua with the fall of Jericho’s walls (veggietales anyone?) In the same way that a city without walls was vulnerable to an invading army, so is a person without self-control vulnerable to all kinds of temptations.  Most sin that controls your life wouldn’t even be their if you didn’t put yourself into the place where you would be tempted to sin.  If you controlled your time with those places it would do wonders for your relationship with Jesus. Immy Scroggins, pastor of 1^st Baptist Naples, Fl. Once said this to me.  “You’ll always have 2 things

1. Desires  2. Opportunities to Sin. When you mix the two together you get = SIN.”

So what would happen if you got rid of the opportunities where you tempt yourself to sin?  What if you were never alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend? What if you weren’t with your pothead friends when they weren’t smoking pot? You can date, be friends with the druggies but not have to tempt yourself to sin.  That’s why we try to steer my overweight dad away from the buffets so he doesn’t have to over eat.  If he’s not around the all you can eat restaurants, he won’t eat all that he can.  As a server in a restaurant I remember getting made fun of being accused of being legalistic for not taking girls home from work.  But guess what? I never cheated on my wife, nor put myself in a place to cheat on my wife, nor give someone the opportunity to accuse me of cheating on my wife because I never alone with someone to make that possible.  If you take away the opportunity to sin, the sin that you struggle with won’t happen.

 

3. Continually Abandon & Repent of our sinful desires:

It’s funny because the man who wrote that proverb above didn’t do a good job of living it.  Solomon, a man who had more women then Hugh Heffner, more buildings then Donald Trump, and more power then President Barack Obama, also wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes how chasing after all of these false pleasures and desires was like chasing after wind (Ecclesiastes 2) Have you ever caught wind? I didn’t say break wind, I said catch wind. No?  Me neither.  Do you know why?  Because it’s air and your stupid to waste your time trying.  Just like living for your sinful desires and passions is stupid and meaningless.  It doesn’t add up to anything and he said that it’s a waste of time to try to satisfy your false pleasures in life.  A man named Oscar Wilde found this out the hard way.  He was the Christopher Nolan/Dan Brown of the late 1800’s. What you know as school dramas/musicals/broadway was Hollywood during most of the 1800’s and Oscar Wilde was one of the most popular writer/producers of those plays.  He lived a lifestyle of feeding all of his sinful passions and desires concerning sexuality, homosexuality, alcohol, partying and through other stereotypical sins of the world.  Much of it came from no self control to in these things.  He would have bouts of shame and guilt concerning these sins and would  try to change his life in these things at times but it would never last.  Ashamed of his desires for men he would at one time marry a woman  to try to calm these desires.  Ashamed of his horrible lifestyle of partying, he’d make new friends but soon those desires became too strong because he would never abandon or repent of that sin and slip right back into ungodliness and worldly passion.  He would promise his family a many of times to change his ways but would slip down the same slippery road time and time again.  He was soon arrested and put in prison for two years for his sexual immorality with young male prostitutes and in a letter from prison he wrote this about his sinful desires.

“The gods had given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease… Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion.  I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the house-top. I ceased to be Lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace.”              – Oscar Wilde

Know that I am a passionate person and I resonate with this above quote and I know you do to if you’re stuck in sinful desires and passion.  That’s because in Jesus or with no Jesus we know that these sinful desires start controlling you.  Right now I live for Jesus with passion but when I sinned, I sinned with passion.  The closest thing I can compare these desires to would be an animal viciously tearing apart it’s prey when you’re in the midst of living out these sinful desires.  It’s amazing how much you can love something and hate something so much and how it can take over your life. And it will continue to tear us apart, take over your life and consequences will continue to build up.  This is why we must continue to fight that sin and repent to Jesus of it.  That hate you have for the sin must overpower the love for it. We are frequently impulsive, passionate, ambitious, volatile, and sometimes arrogant, but we are to exercise self-control and show good sense and judgment in all things.  The only way to truly fight these desires back is through repentance in Jesus.  Only He can give the freedom we so desperately yearn for in the struggle we have with sinful desires and passions.

Creating Culture: Beauty out of Dirt

“We are not worthy to enjoy the condition of our first father, who was to live in a pleasant setting without having to work hard.  Nevertheless, before sin entered the world, and before we were condemned by God to painful and difficult work, it was necessary for men to occupy themselves with some work. Why? Because it was against our nature for us to be useless blocks of wood.”

- John Calvin

Andy Crouch, popular author of the book “Culture Making” says that people (especially Christians) usually view culture in four ways:

1. Condemn Culture- Where one would look at every song, every movie, every tv show and shake their finger at saying “Bad Media, Baaaaaad Media”

2. Critique Culture- This is the category where I personally can easily fall into.  My wife tells me that she cannot enjoy any type of movie with me anymore because I am analyzing every word, action, and consequence. 

3. Copy Culture- Crouch uses the examples of the rise of CCM from the Jesus Movement in the 60’s to illustrate this view.  If you have ever seen “Joshua” or played “Guitar Praise” then you know what I’m talking about.  The world makes fun of this subculture for good and bad reason.

4. Consume Culture- Crouch says that he believes that most Christians are probably known for the above three views, the majority of Christians would fall into this category.  Just like the rest of the world most people walk out of their media experiences just saying “Whoa” not thinking too deeply about the worldview being portrayed and wanting more of whatever they were just fed. 

 

All four of these views aren’t necessarily good or bad views and I do honestly think that there is a time and place for each one of them.  But like Andy Crouch says in his book, these views aren’t going to change culture.  He says there is only one thing that will change culture which I pretty much turned into two things.  The first one is this.

 

Create Culture. (Genesis 1-11)

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”            Gen. 1:26-28

In a way, God created us to make something out of nothing. We know this because we are commanded to utilize our skills, talents, and gifts to develop the potentialities “hidden” in the earth waiting to be discovered and realized.  The Biblical proof to creating Culture is found in Genesis 1-11.

 

Created in God’s Image to Create Culture

Created in the image of God says many things.  Augustine said that it shows “our ability to reason logically unlike any thing else God created” This passage also tells us that we are more unique, emotional, and spiritual then anything else created.  What is often over looked in this passage is the Biblical proof it tells us in our ability to create!  The number one characteristic of the God that we are created in the image of is how much He created.  This points to the great desire we have to do the same.  We were born to create culture because we were born in the image of God.

 

Ruling Over the Animals to Create Culture

Next God says we have dominion over or rule over the fish of the sea, birds of the air, and over all living creature on the earth that moves.  What do you think that means? Just to go hunt all day?   I know my head pastor would love that and I’m sure they did spend a majority of their time doing this.  But it means a lot more then that.  It points to the responsibility we have to rule this earth and take it’s resources to create culture.  Adam didn’t condemn the animals when subduing them “Bad Dog, Baaaaaad Dog.”  He didn’t critique it.  “Look at the size of the neck on that animal.” He didn’t copy them although most women would say most guys do copy a certain animal whose name is associated with a certain disease scare in the news.  And lastly he didn’t consume in it (sorry but i got nothing for your there, i can’t imagine what that would even look like.)  Instead, like Adam, we are to take responsibility and rule over these resources and use them to advance and rule the earth, to get creative.  It’s funny how God tells him to rule and advance through the animals on the ground, sea, and sky when there were no boats or planes created to help them.  That’s because this was something that was supposed to take place in the future.  A mandate for all.  This advancement in culture in culture was our mandate to create cities, roadways, civilization, and technology.

Agriculture and Creating Culture

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it                        Gen 2:15    

God told Adam to work the garden and keep it, giving him the resources to bring beauty out of dirt.  Therefore, the first job of man was taking the things you have around you and making something beautiful out of it.  Another word for gardening is “cultivation” or “agriculture.”  This is also where we get the word “culture” from or with the latin word “cultura” meaning to plow or till.  It was used when talking about taking care or tending plants or animals (hence the word agriculture).  The word culture was not even used in the English language until the fifteenth century and was only used in reference to farming and tending.  Within a couple hundred years it started being used as “the state of being refined in mind, tastes, and manners, and to the intellectual side of civilization.”  But until then it was known simply for bringing about the beauty of the land from the resources of the dirt.  The same thing we do when we create culture.  The same thing musicians do when they take their ear for music, their resources in instruments and create beautiful culture out of the gifts God has given them.  Art, movies, stories all do this in a way.

 

God Gives Us the Opportunity to Create Culture

19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.                         Gen. 2:19

The last Biblical proof I give that God gives us the opportunity to create culture is how He created the animals, but gave Adam the opportunity to name them.  God could’ve done this but instead he allowed Adam to use his creativity to speak something out of nothing. Create a name where there had been none and allowed that name to have its own being.

 

You were called to create.  Some of you do this and you don’t recognize it.  When you create a blog, a facebook page, photoshop a picture, take time into taking pictures.  This is all creating culture.  Taking the resources around us and making something beautiful out of these resources, like that dirt that became a beautiful flower or food to eat and advance.

 

Sin Corrupted the Beauty of Creating Culture

Now you might be saying to yourself by now that this makes sense but much of what people create is not beautiful to my ears or eyes.  I think about this when I turn on the radio and hear a country song.  I know that artist is gifted, I know they picked up their guitar and other resources around them to create music but in my humble, yet accurate opinion it is not beautiful.  On a more serious level, we know that much of what we humans create can become sinful.  It wasn’t supposed to be that way.  This was the result of Genesis 3 when sin entered the world and messed up everything.  From the moment that Eve was deceived by Satan to become knowledgeable like God and her husband didn’t have the guts to stop her or read into the manipulation himself.  Now, all of culture and the world has been tainted and stained by the sin of father Adam. This includes work where using God’s resources and making something beautiful out of it became hard and laborious.  This includes the being fruitful and multiplying part where populating the universe is good and fun within marriage but painful in labor for women (….and my wife just let out a long southern Baptist “AMEN”).  This is also why stuff that was originally good and creative became bad.  Where the Internet which helped advance our world made it easier for men to lust and sin by look at porn at the tip of a finger.  Where something as creating culture by making food can turn into the sin of gluttony.  Sin has affected the great gift God has given us in creating culture.

 

Becoming Prideful in the Gift of Creating Culture

People that became good at creating culture, taking the resources around them and making beautiful things from it started thinking of themselves as God and stopped looking at what they created as a graceful gift.  In Genesis 2 man created culture in the garden, that garden advanced to become a city.  This was all good.  But in Genesis 11 these people that advanced the earth in this way became prideful and started using their gifts in a sinful way by trying to make a way to heaven on their own, outside of the grace of God in which we are given that relationship.  Because of this act God scattered humankind and created different cultures through different ethnicities and languages.  This is why you don’t understand the Chinese language unless you study it or undrstand Thug unless you visit urban dictionary.  This is extremely evident in our culture as we live in a country with plenty of resources and plenty of ungrateful talented people who has created and advanced our little kingdom, not thinking of the God who has given us it all.

 

Christians who Create Culture

I believe that the gift of creating culture is not only our responsibility from God but a mandate from God.  We change culture through creating culture.  We do this by using the gifts and resources God has given us like others do but giving God the glory in our works.  In this way we aren’t simply copying the world and their tainted culture they created, or critiquing/condemning it for Jesus can redeem it all if we let Him.  Instead, we are creating something that gains a voice in the world as we show the thankfulness we have in Jesus in the everyday things we do.  So whether it’s through work or music, art or internet… Create Culture and point it back to the Creator, Jesus Christ.

Sex and Speidi

Speidi: The nickname given to the couple Heidi & Spencer from MTV’s “The Hills”

Ex. Wow, Speidi is so annoying!!! Speidi is such a liar.

Definition taken from urban dictionary

 

Speidi and MTV’s “The Hills”

Whether you love them or hate them this young on again, off again couple that recently got married (for real this time) is part of the reason “The Hills”, MTV’s “Laguna Beach” spin-off is so popular amongst teenagers today.  If you don’t have enough drama in your life already, get a load of Speidi as they manipulate their way into our sick, fallen little hearts who can’t seem to look away at the young media loving couple as they grab it through voting republican or making albums.  Whatever they can do to get their name on Perez Hilton and TMZ’s websites.  Well, I’m no Perez Hilton but they earned their spot on this little blog after my wife yelled out to me that I would probably like the newest episode of this so called reality show.  This episode served as an apologetics lesson for all teenagers on an issue that Christians has always had to and will have to defend until Jesus comes back.  Why Christian’s wait to have sex until they’re married.

 

Abstinence and MTV’s “The Hills”

The episode starts off when Spencer was able to finally meet Heidi’s ex-boyfriend who is a southern Baptist who goes to Bible college that doesn’t drink, doesn’t have sex before marriage, and being the good southern Baptist he is….  dance.  It’s quite funny seeing Spencer’s facial expressions in response to this guy who doesn’t enjoy in all of his own personal vices.  Like bitter beer guy his face curls from part anger and probably guilt, knowing that this was his woman’s man before him and how completely opposite he is to this weird creature who doesn’t live like the world around him.  When our southern Baptist is asked how he stays a virgin he answer’s  through a lot of prayer and a lot of time with the Lord and that it’ll be well worth it in Heaven which leads to a conversation of if their will be sex in Heaven.  When asked by Spencer where this crazy idea of abstinence is spoken about in the Bible the young Christian man draws a blank but promises to show him if he attends a Bible study with him that night.  Spencer agrees to go but takes a polite stab at him telling him that he has to admit, he feels like he’s hanging with an alien right now. Later at the Bible Study the Christian man and his girlfriend drops the F bomb on Speidi (Fornication) and shows them their Biblical proof for abstinence in Hebrews 13:4 which reads

 “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral”                          Hebrews 12:4

Spencer says that his interpretation for that passage was that God was telling us to keep the sheets clean.  Hermeneutics at its finest Spence!  The girlfriend of the Southern Baptist Bible Colleger gets a little bold and then starts talking to no one in particular saying  “Imagine if everyone in this world just loved each other and just listened” (in reference to listening to the Bible).  Spencer in response (or at least so we think in how he responded according to tv editing and how teenagers will interpret when watching this episode) calls this world imaginary.  Meanwhile, the other subplot of the episode is a guy away from his girlfriend who commits the fornication Speidi is hearing about with a girl who recently got her heart broken and the show ends with Speidi reflecting on their time with the aliens.  This includes Spencer mocking Heidi for dating him while she defends him for his good values in how he treats women and how he treats parents as Spencer continually mocks his stand for living righteously. 

 

My Round About Defense on Abstinence According to Scripture

My wife, Jessica was right as I ate this episode up.  I thought of the many young Christians across America who has to defend this foreign idea of saving themselves for marriage.  My wife and I had to tell a countless amount of people that thought we were crazy why we were bucking the only trend that wont fade… to have sex anytime, with anyone, anywhere is perfectly ok.  Not to long ago the popular Disney band, The Jonas Bros. had to defend their purity rings to millions of Americans explaining their biblical stance on why they don’t give in to the countless amount of girls that throw themselves at the young gentleman.  It’s an issue in our culture that Christians will always need to stick by and defend and here is some reasons why.  Just in case your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend becomes a reality tv star and you have to defend your “alien” to the rest of America as well.

I had always told people that thought that I was crazy not to have sex with my fiancée while I was engaged and this is the round about information I would give them. First, Christians are not anti-sex.  I love sex.  In fact, God loved sex.  That’s why he created it and gave it to us as a gift.  He gave it to us as a fun way to enjoy our spouse, to have children and to advance the culture.  So don’t be viewing my choice or any other Christian’s choice to abstain from sex until we’re married as one that is trying to steal the fun from sex.  The world needs to know this.  They need to know that God originally created sex as one between a man and woman in marriage and that this wasn’t an issue until sin entered the world through the Fall and caused us to have lustful, deceitful desires toward other people who is not a part of our sacred covenant we make with marriage.  He also made it to be beautiful bonding experience between the husband and wife, something that connects with a broken, scarred person who feels used from the consequences of having sex with anyone at anytime, anywhere.  This wouldn’t even be an issue if it wasn’t for the sin we are born with which took something beautiful that God created and corrupted it.  But God redeemed it through marriage.  When we mess this up, whether through acting like the world concerning sex or doing a horrible job in defending it we mess up the Gospel because the marriage between a husband and wife points to the marriage between Jesus and His people.  Jesus wouldn’t sleep around on His people and would certainly do a good job defending his atonement taken place for His people.  Oh ya, and Speidi… there are several statistics saying that Christians who are married and regularly do their devotions together have more sex then the rest of the world.  So chew on that Speidi!

 

Good Sex according to Scripture

Christians should be well familiar in some of these passages which point to how God created sex to be good and fun between a husband and wife:

• Genesis 1:27-28
• Genesis 2:24
• Proverbs 5:18-19
• Song of Solomon 7:6
• Umm, pretty much the whole book of Song of Solomon

 

Bad Sex according to Scripture

Christians should be well familiar in some of these passages that point to how sexual immorality outside of marriage is sin and that sin separates us from God.  But Jesus redeems us from sin and marriage redeems us in sex:

• 1 Corinthians 7:2-3
• Hebrews 13:4
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
• Romans 1:24
• 1 Corinthians 6:13-20
• Matthew 5:27-28

Lastly, I want to say two things.  1. That I commend this Southern Baptist Bible College guy for defending his biblical worldview on sex with kindness and gentleness.  We can only interpret what was edited so we don’t need to go into how well he defended scripture, good sex, etc.  We know he stood firm and was genuinely real and nice in doing it, something Christians can have a hard time doing when defending their view, especially within my preferred denomination.  Now let’s talk about that whole dancing thing   2. I didn’t touch upon this issue but at the end of the episode I mentioned the argument Speidi got into when Heidi defended the Christian’s integrity.  BOYS AND GIRLS, this is why scripture talks about the dangers of dating and eventually marrying someone who doesn’t hold to the same Christian beliefs as yourself.  I don’t know if Heidi is a Christian but I have read several things indicating her parents as God Fearing Christians who continually tried to point her away from Spencer.  Well, it didn’t work and they are married.  We need to pray that the Gospel will continually be shared with them and that the seeds planted from this conversation seen by America will turn into fruit.