Read: Romans 1; Romans 12:1-2; Psalm 119:11
As per my morning ritual, I perused Facebook with my morning
coffee. Scrolling through a headline caught my eye as it obviously had a direct
correlation my lesson for youth group. The Headline simply read “8 MostOutspoken (And Annoying) Christian Celebrities!” Funny how it was written in
April, but it only just now hit my newsfeed today…the day I’m teaching about
Christianity and Culture.
The Fame 10 Staff prove their point with lines like “While
he used to sing about one-night stands and sexual positions, he now preaches
the virtues of living a moral life.” I mean the audacity of a singer to not
sing about demeaning women and degrading sex, he now promotes respect and
morals. So annoying! (Notice my obvious use of sarcasm)
“His faith has restored meaningful
conversations with his director.” Again, that is so annoying; don’t we all want
them to keep on fighting? “He now calls the show that made him millions
“filth.” And…implores others to stop watching…”
The real rub is when a celebrity speaks
out against abortion, gay marriage or homosexuality. The article describes it
as offensive and annoying. However, they have no problem promoting and
offending so many when they promote sin as a good thing.
Another cultural interaction was how a
baker in Colorado lost her job because of her religious and moral views. Here
is her reply: "Our culture has accepted 2 huge lies. The first is that if
you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. Second is that
to love someone means that you must agree with everything they believe or do.
Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be
compassionate."
Let’s be realistic here, this level of persecution is
nothing. It’s laughable to be listed as “outspoken and annoying” in a magazine.
I mean…ouch, that really stings. Losing a job is a bigger deal. However many of
our brothers and sisters around the world are beaten, tortured and even killed
for their faith. ISIS is killing thousand of Christians in Iraq. You can follow
the persecuted church at Voice of the Martyrs website.
If you take some time and read the Christian Classic “Foxes
Book of Martyrs” or the contemporary books “Jesus Freaks” you will read about
Christians who faced very real and harsh persecution beginning in ancient Rome.
The stories in these books are hard to read, but you should read them. We
become so comfortable in our culture that we begin to look more like our
culture then our Savior.
Paul addresses the Christians in Ancient Rome. These were
very real people, living in a very dynamic culture. “All roads lead to Rome” is
a slogan that wasn’t just talking about the superior infrastructure of the Rome
roads. Every major discipline, the arts, philosophy, and the pillars of civilization
flowed from Rome. The people suppressed their knowledge of God and it led them
to all manners of unrighteousness. Right became wrong, and sin became good.
Anyone who stood in the way of their debauchery was persecuted, and I don’t
mean they made a top 8 list on Fame 10.
The emperors allowed brutality and the taking of the lives
of Christians. They tried to get believers to renounce their faith. They were
brought to the Coliseum and fed to lions, forced to fight or burned at the
stake. Yet they would not recant their faith, they would not give up their
Savior.
Yet today we conform to this world. We are comfortable. We
are lazy. Nobody is threatening our lives or forcing us to abandon our faith.
Yet we fall to peer pressure because of how we “might” make someone “feel” or
they “might” think something “bad” of us. They might even think you are stupid.
Oh poor us, right?
In chapter 12 Paul urges believers to live everyday for
Christ, out loud, boldly in face of real persecution. He says to not do what everybody
else is doing but follow the pattern Christ has set for us. Love Jesus, love
people, serve those who persecute you, be generous, live in purity, honor God
in all areas.
Stop worrying about whether your going to fit in with the
crowd. Stop wasting time of stupid celebrity gossip. Stop flirting with sin.
Pursue Christ, live Christ, talk about Christ and paint a picture of the
amazing love of Jesus that is so beautiful and enthralling that the world will
want what you have. Live counter culturally and praise God that we in America
are not fearing for our lives…at least not yet.
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