One of the greatest indictments against modern evangelical Christians today, is that we are like a bunch of grumpy old men; marked by pessimism and more interested in pushing political agendas and in winning intellectual arguments than in offering a universal vision of hope and working to change individual lives.
Increasingly, many of my Christian friends and family members seem to be "as mad as hell" about the state of our world and committed to not taking it anymore. This might not be an altogether bad thing, except that it is very often coupled with the belief that the world is a lost cause anyway. Most seem committed to the idea that taking the books of Daniel and Revelation seriously requires us to believe that the world is only going to get worse and worse until Jesus finally comes back to put a halt the zombie apocalypse. Worse yet, those who do believe that there is some hope for the world seem to see it most clearly through a political lens. It’s as if the platform positions of the Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green or some other political party ought to be taken as seriously as the Gospel of John.
Brothers and Sisters…these things ought not to be!
We are called to be people of the gospel…people of good news. People preaching hope…people preaching compassion…people preaching peace…we are called to be possibility people, but have failed miserably in our calling. Today, even the term “preaching” has become associated more with self-righteous moralizing and judgementalism than with the liberating proclamation that “with God, all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26)
Jesus said that other people would know us by our love for one another (John 13:35), but we are constantly and increasingly in danger of being known only by who and what we oppose. This is a serious problem for the modern church…very serious…most serious…and it is because of the grave seriousness of this problem that I must strongly suggest that we learn to take it lightly.
I’m serious…deadly serious: If we are to become the people that God wants us to be…a city on a hill and the light of the world (Matt. 5:14), then we have got to, seriously, lighten-up. We’ve got to stop believing and acting like every little challenge to our traditional ways of thinking and behaving is the end of the world. Even if something comes along that’s not a little challenge, especially when we are faced with big world-changing challenges, we need to recognize that no amount of cynicism, belligerence, or belly-aching will do anything to make a significant difference. If it could, God might have stopped with Jeremiah rather than with Jesus…with prophesying judgment rather than proclaiming peace.
Too often we meet the perceived challenges and threats of the secular world by building walls of defensive doctrines and raising the gates of reactive rules-keeping. We forget that Paul taught that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)
Ours is a kingdom of righteousness, absolutely, but it is no less a kingdom of peace and joy. There has, as of late, been many discussions about right and wrong and about warfare and peace…these are important discussions…serious discussions…but I must ask, someone must ask...what of joy? How right is righteousness or peaceful is peace, if there is no joy? Is it really salvation if the person who receives it becomes more anxious and angry and afraid?
I’m afraid that there are too many Christians who just aren’t sure. …Seriously!
I think this is exactly why Mark Twain could recommend going “to Heaven for the climate, and Hell for the company.”
Joyless Christianity is an oxymoron and anyone who tells you otherwise is plainly the simple kind. (…think about it…it’ll come to you.)
It is commonly believed that 1 Thessalonians is the oldest writing in our New Testament. In the last chapter of that epistle, chapter five, the Apostle Paul goes through a litany of things that are significant for a vital Christian faith. Beginning in verse eleven:
Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
So…right up there with church government and discipline, taking care of the weak, praying and giving thanks and discerning right from wrong…right in the middle of all of these very important things is the COMMAND to Rejoice Always! Just as important as praying is making joy.
To be humorless, uptight, and overly concerned about appearances is to be outside of the will of God. Seriously! For the love of God, some of us really need to lighten up!
In Philippians chapter four, again in the context of church discipline and prayer, Paul gives the COMMAND: “Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice!” (v.4)
It is in making joy that we participate in God’s redemption of the world. In making joy we take the ordinary, the ugly, the painful, and the misunderstood and imbue it with a kind of beauty. A beauty that is essential for kingdom living and for human well-being.
That’s why we honor comedians so highly in our society. They take what is common…walking into a bar, shopping in a store, fulfilling a bodily function…and they make it remarkable and fun. In their anecdotes and stories, they "redeem the time." (Eph. 5:16)
Speaking of bodily functions, just yesterday I posted, on my daughter’s Facebook page, what I thought was a fairly entertaining story about our struggle to help her go to the bathroom. Unfortunately, someone had an "issue" with the post and proceeded to pee all over it. She is, by the way, someone who doesn’t even know me or my family…and sadder still, I suspect that she thought she was doing her “Christian duty” which, happily, sounds a lot like “doody.” Fortunately, a number of people who frequent our page rose to the occasion and promptly pooh-poohed her objection.
I have to admit to feeling a little joy, just retelling the story.
The point that I’m trying to make is that if we take ourselves too seriously…our dignity…our agendas…our appearances…if we take them too seriously, it is a sure indication that we are not taking God seriously enough.
It is God’s intention to win the world to joy. In 1 John, chapter one, the writer connects the truth of God in Christ, our salvation even, to this intention. Listen to verse four: "These things we write to you that your joy may be full."
What is the purpose of truth?…the purpose of keeping right from wrong??…of following God??? According to 1 John, the purpose is to be filled with joy.
And this makes sense when you think about it. Just a little over a month ago we celebrated the second most holy event of our faith...the event marked by the angel of the Lord telling certain shepherds that it was “good tidings of great joy that will be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)
And what a sense of humor our God has… not only did he create giraffes and elephants and platypuses (platipi?), not only did he do some remarkably funny things in creation, but he chose to enter it Himself…our faith insists that the God of all Power bore the indignity of being born small and bloody and shivering near cattle poop and donkey pee…and that he died naked and bloody and alone because of his great love for us. Do you see the dark humor…the irony? But for an almost overwhelming sense of joy, who could imagine bearing such a thing?
There’s a little song I was taught to sing in Bible school that I believe might help with our joy and dignity issues. Just to show you how serious I am, I’ll sing it through the first time by myself:
Ho, ho, ho, hosanna
Ha, ha, hallelujah
He, he, he, he saved me
I’ve got the joy of the Lord!
Now you sing it with me!
...And one more time with gusto; really let yourself go!
Ladies and gentlemen, it is not possible to create joy without self-deprecation. Without self-deprecation there is always the suspicion that the joke may be on the audience…that the comedian may be mocking them…judging them.
And so I say again: For the love of God, we really need to stop taking ourselves so seriously. So long as we are consumed with our own dignity we will fail to fight for the dignity of others. So long as we are consumed with understanding and defining the sin, whatever the sin may be, we will fail to love the sinner as only another sinner can.
Those we would label “the lost” of this world don’t need shining knights to ride in and save them…no matter their pain they will shy away and be blinded by the light. What sinners are most in need of are other sinners, who are willing to hear them, humor them, and help them find the way to the Healer.
The lost sinners of this world -the sad, the lonely, the bitter and confused- they will never be saved by the so-called righteous. That is a fairy-tale: as monstrous as it is appealing.
The lost sinners of this world need the joyful encouragement of other sinners who’ve been shown the Way to greater joy.
Only a fellow sinner, someone who deeply understands the indignity of being human, can bring joy to a soul in crisis.
Which is why, I suspect, that he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)
And also why He has taken all of us…so very different…so very strange…each weird in his or her own way, and is making us into the one body of Christ. The very idea that you and I could truly become one flesh in Him…now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are!
Go ye, therefore, into all the world and make joy!
Laugh, ease tensions, help people find their smiles and teach them how to share them.
And behold, the Joy-Giver is with us always, even to the unknown end.
Cheers; in Jesus’ name, let us pray!
