In the book The Culturally Savvy Christian, the author comments on the present state of our entertainment culture,

“So here’s the deal. The largest companies in the world are hiring smart people and spending billions of dollars to drive a diversionary, mindless, celebrity-fueled popular culture down the highway of new technologies and into our lives in order to sell us stuff we don’t want or need. They don’t care about us, what we believe, or how we want to live. Their ads and products regularly reduce women to sex objects and men to voyeurs and predators. They are unconcerned with what is in our best interest spiritually or intellectually, and in fact, it is in their best interest to keep us spiritually desensitized and dumb. They play to our unhappiness, magnifying our feeling that we are missing something essential and that if we had this something that they offer we would be fulfilled. They then encourage us to shop, convincing us that shopping will do today what it failed miserably to do yesterday–fill what French religious philosopher Pascal calls our God-shaped vacuum.
Today’s superficial popular culture is symptomatic of our human malaise, and technology, marketing, and the lust for profits simply spread our addiction and disease faster and further. For the first time in history it is possible for entertainment culture to distribute our spiritual sickness worldwide, producing a spiritual pandemic.”

The Culturally Savvy Christian pp. 26-27

Reflecting on what Staub (the author)  has to say I think that he is too negative toward pop culture. He doesn’t seem to carry a heart for common grace nor for the positive side of what companies and businesses are doing. There is an assumption that none of these businesses are of good intent or led by well meaning Christ followers or well meaning non-Christians.  He also misses the wonder of the book of Ecclesiastes that points out that God causes us to enjoy things out of his grace–including things, I believe, in pop culture (see Ecc. 2.24-26) I think that the Contemporary Testimony of the Christian Reformed church might have some play here,
51.
In our work, even in dull routine,[1]
we hear the call to serve our Lord.
We must work for more than wages,[2]
and manage for more than profit,[3]
so that mutual respect
and the just use of goods and skills[4]
may shape the work place,
and so that, while we earn or profit,
useful products and services may result.

But given these reflections, I alsobelieve that Staub gives much for thought and reflection both in this quote and in his book.

I was reading in the book of Acts and found that the reason the Paul and Barnabas leave Iconium is because there is a good possibility they will be stoned. After leaving Iconium they go to Lystra–where they are stoned. Bummer.

Each of us have things in this world that we really don’t care about or have opinions on.  For instance, while one person may be really upset about the Yankees making it to the world series, another could care less.  However, the person that could care less may start showing some interest when discussing the new indie film coming out next week.  I think it’s safe to say that we all have varying interests and things that we care about.  I love this about people and am blessed to enjoy that diversity each day.  Interests and passions make us very different from one another and it seems to be just more proof of a creative God.

What happens when we stop caring about caring?

I believe this is a little thing called “Apathy.”  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older or my paradigm is shifting, but I believe apathy is on the rise in our youth.  I was sitting down with a friend yesterday and discussing the fact that I just want kids to be passionate about something, really anything!  I know our mission at EGM is “making passionate followers of Jesus,” but I’m starting to see that some people have never been passionate about really anything.  How do we get to the point where nothing seems to matter?

When God created everything, He said that it was good.  God had a plan and a purpose in everything.  Whether that be for His original creation or through the process of reconciliation, God has a purpose.  God seeks us out.  God has saved us from what we deserve.  God rescues us from meaninglessness.  God intentionally pursues us.  God loves us.  This is not a God of apathy.  Our God cares and if we’re open to it, He engages us through His Spirit on a regular basis.  We bear the image of this God.  We are made to desire.  We are made to have purpose.  We are made to care.

It has almost become cool to “not care” about deeper questions on life, death, purpose, God, and so on.  I stated this the other day to a group of high schoolers when we were discussing their generation.  None of them questioned whether that statement was true or not, in fact, I had the strong sense that I hit the nail on the head.  However, as Martin Luther would sum up, “it’s irresponsible to not care.”  My heart hurts for these young adults making their way through this mix-signaled world.  “How soon not now, becomes never,” sticks in my head each time someone I love passes up an opportunity to recognize God’s desire for them.  Notice how I just stated that last sentence.  It is God’s desire for us that we must recognize.  All the people I know who are passionate followers of Jesus can acknowledge the same thing.  It all starts with a God who is passionate for us.  The continued recognition of how passionate He is for me fans the flame of my desire and passion for Him.  God has already told us who we are and has given us a purpose amongst the sometimes seemingly meaningless days.  He is not apathetic.

I propose to you that a Christian can’t be apathetic.  We can be different and disagree, but not apathetic.  A Christian is called to care, because we serve a God who cares.  A Christian must know what they believe and why they believe it, because there is a mission to be a part of.  If we are given the grace to do so, someday each of us will have to give an account for what we believe.  I don’t know about you but I won’t stand before an almighty God someday and say, “Does it really matter?  Can’t we talk about something else?”

God loves you and desires you to recognize what He has made you to be.

I’m working on my message for Sunday morning. Part of the message is a recap of where we have been at EverGreen in reading God’s story in Genesis. From the beginning of that story there is the call to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. This command is given first to Adam and Eve and then to Noah. Noah and his descendants are doing a pretty good job of this as we read in Genesis 10, but in Genesis 11 they stop spreading and decide to build a tower (ziggurat) and take control of their own destiny, making God their servant. Rather than allowing them to stop their spread through the earth God comes and confuses their language and compels them to follow his command.

As I read this I couldn’t help but remember Jesus command to go to all nations and make disciples of what he says in Acts 1.8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” While this is Christ’s command, the church seems slow in doing it. They keep themselves centered around Jerusalem. It takes the death of Stephen and the outbreak of persecution to get them to move into the world. (Acts 8.1 And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.) Is it possible that there is a dual connection here. The first connection is that fill the earth is now the command to make disciples of all nations. The second connection is that when we refuse to get out and bring the gospel that God finds ways to compel us to do so.

I was doing some study in Ephesians 5 which talks about Jesus making the church without spot. I thought a bit of Greek would be a good thing to figure out just what spot might mean in background, classical usage and so on. When I checked out the word in the Greek I got a bit of a smile. In the accusative case the word from spot in Greek is spilon

The other day a friend and I had a good discussion on the topic of “evil” in our current world.

We easily tend to look at the negatives in the world around us.  We see wars, famine, murder, and injustice all around.  However, if we really take the time to look back at our history, much of the evidence will argue that things are better then they’ve ever been.  We need to remember that the amount of media coverage and accessibility in knowledge to current events is higher then its ever been.  This causes us to be more aware of the evil that exists, but it doesn’t mean that it hasn’t always been there.  We actually have come a long way on large topics such as; slavery, war, diversity, sex, and even politics!  Write me off if you want, but the history speaks for itself.

Each day we are called to dedicate our lives to pushing back the sin in this world and restoring everything back to Him.  He wants your spouse, children, hobbies, career, friends, and just plain…everything.  By focusing on that mission, rather than being overwhelmed by the daily news, we can begin to live out our calling from God.  Having knowledge of current events and knowing the evil that exists is important, but even more, is taking part in a body of believers, the church, who daily push back this evil.  Now that’s a mission worth being a part of.  If anyone wants to discuss what this looks like further, email me at ryan@egm.org