The World: Media & Culture
- Drew Goodmanson
- Dec 20, 2009
- Series: Topical
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
When we speak of love of the world, what John is talking about is not a single incident, but a lifestyle of allegiance to things not of God. This love is the same love God demands. It is a warring affection that creates an attachment, intimate fellowship or devotion. It is the desires of flesh that cause us to pursue wrong sexual desires and covetousness. Today we will look at two examples, media, the desire of our eyes/flesh, and consumerism as a systemic underlying structure that leads us to take pride in our possessions.
C.J. Mahaney writes in the book Worldliness Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World.
Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelicals is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world.
One of the dominant shapers of what we believe is the continuous seduction of the media. From the moment we wake up to the radio, to spending our day online and ending it in front of the TV, our affections are being shaped. In our world, 100’s of billions of dollars have been spent on media infrastructure. We are bombarded with thousands of ads daily. Can we honestly say that our affection is not being drawn to the world by the influence of media?
As believers, we often watch based on what is permissible versus what is beneficial (1 Cor 10:32). Are we thoughtless in our watching versus our intentional pursuit of God? Let’s look at a couple examples at how media can impact us:
- Nudity (Sexual Desires)
- House Hunters (Covetousness)
- Reality Show (Gossip & Slander)
Even if you believe you are not impacted by what you watch, the heart is deceitful above all else (Jer 17:9). One example of this is that researchers tell us that 96% of Americans claim to watch less TV than they actually do. Many of us are more impacted and involved than we care to admit.
The goal for discussing these issues isn’t to make you change your behavior (situation), which usually leads to legalism or guilt, but one of heart transformation (lifestyle). Here is a list of questions that will help you get to heart motivations and turn to the gospel.
- Why are you watching a particular film? Is it a form of escape? Are you seeking comfort or relief? Are you watching because you’re bored or lazy? If so, what does that reveal about your heart?
- Do you secretly want to view something that is sinful?
- What lies are you subtly believing that undermine the truth of the gospel?
- What do you find yourself day dreaming or fantasizing about? Are you astonished with the gospel?
- Is there a movie, book or video game that you are more excited about than serving in the local church? What are you setting your affections on and pursuing?
- Are technology and media stealing attention from your family or community?
We can see media but a powerful underlying central story that we put our hope in is consumerism. This is how Susan White says it, quoted by Bartholomew:
If there is any overarching metanarrative that purports to explain reality in the late 20th century, it is surely the narrative of the free-market economy. In the beginning of this narrative is the self-made, self-sufficient human being. At the end of this narrative is the big house, the big car, and the expensive clothes. In the middle is the struggle for success, the greed, the getting-and-spending in a world in which there is no such thing as a free lunch. Most of us have made this so thoroughly ‘our story’ that we are hardly aware of its influence.
A consumer culture is one in which the core values derive from consumption. A consumer culture is one in which freedom is equated with individual choice and private life. As Christians, we can even pursue an individual consumption of the cross. We view salvation through a lens of individual atonement instead of seeing it as becoming a radical alternative people of God. (Example = History of this view from Constantine.)
Our current consumer culture is a stark contrast to those in the NT who responded to faith by having all things in common. Even the OT presents some challenging concepts to our belief in economics. We see gleaning laws that require land owners to leave a portion of their crop un-harvested to allow the poor to eat. We see the Jubilee year that removes debts owed. We see social structures that limit profit-taking and income production. When you add them up, some would say there is a picture of a socialistic economy presented.
Craig Blomberg wrote a theological work on wealth, Neither Poverty Nor Riches. Here is the recommendation he came to after thorough study through the Bible:
Christians should form communities that establish a voluntary consensus on minimum levels of income and resources below which people in the community should not be allowed to fall, and maximum levels of consumption and expenditure on self, above which people ought not be allowed to continue...Christians should focus on the creation of small local groups of a cross-section of major political, economic, and religious leaders of individual communities, taking the needs of their local settings into their own hands, as an alternative both to the impersonal and often ruthless policies of multi-national corporations that dominate global capitalism and to the large interventionist and statist machines that often characterize western and particularly European governments.
Last time I preached and mentioned this quote, several people thought I was a communist. I read it because it is such a challenge to think of something like this. Is our love of the world and its systems and ideals (worldliness - American dream) so powerful we are unwilling to investigate whether we are wrong? What would this even look like in our culture?
The Revelation series we preached through spoke about our own tendencies toward loving the world rather than God. Jesus thought it important to warn many of these churches of their ‘worldliness’. How would we apply the text to our context today?
Modern Pergamum – [Culture] Some of them were saying that it was ok to worship consumerism or the culture as you didn’t mean it. They were saying that it was ok to go to sexually graphic movies.
Modern Thyatira [Economic] was an economic center where everyone worked at a trade guild that was the center of the economic and social life of the city. One of the central aspects of these guilds was their massive feasts where they worshiped the patron deity over their guild. Participation at such feasts was seen as mandatory, and failure to participate would usually result in the loss of your job and social sphere. In this church, people say God doesn’t want them to suffer on earth. You are told you can have a relationship with Jesus that is so deep and so personal, it doesn’t really matter what you do with the rest of your life. You are told its ok to participate in all the things of the culture as you remember that they are not true.
Modern Laodicea – [Of the World] Jesus calls his people to be salt and light. Rather than be a contrast community; they are lukewarm. They do not offer anything to the world because they have become just like them. Because they value the same things that the world values they offer nothing that the world doesn’t offer. The world and the church only seek happiness through comfort, pleasure, and wealth.
The more oblivious we are to the tension, the more we will not fight against the lies of the world and the more at home we will be with the systems that are counter to our beliefs. Part of this is because, whether we believe it or not, we still believe the myth that we are in a “Christian Culture” in the west that poses no threat to our Christian faith.
Charles Spurgeon wrote this over 150 years ago:
Put your finger on any prosperous page in the Church’s history, and I will find a little marginal note reading thus: “In this age men could readily see where the Church began and where the world ended.” Never were there good times when the Church and the world were joined in marriage with one another. The more the Church is distinct from the world in her acts in her maxims, the more true is her testimony for Christ, and the more potent is her witness against sin.
Are we at home with the culture? Are we fools for Christ’s sake? Pitied amongst all men? Persecuted/suffering? Jesus is calling us, like Laodicea, not to wealth, prosperity, or comfort, but to suffering, trials, and need. He is calling his church to be a sick and needy people who have cast their lot in with Jesus. And he is very serious. He tells her that if she does not repent he will spit her out of his mouth. Basically he is coming to the church that sings songs to him and gathers on Sundays to worship him but still lives just like everyone else, and saying, “You make me sick.”
We need to consider the seriousness of this sin and the difficulty of the call to be a Christian. Just a few verses later, in 1 John 2:19 people leave community to pursue things other than God. People who love the world are evidenced by this as they leave and want nothing to do with His people.
…but if we sin we have an advocate to turn to in Christ (1 John 2:1) Jesus came into the world, to love it and die for it and calls us to be an alternative people (exiles). Jesus understands our temptation because he was tempted in every way. The devil offered him the world; the people wanted to coronate him as King. But for what was set before Him he went to the cross, living the life we couldn’t and dying the death on our behalf. It is here our love of the world is crucified and conquered. Jesus knew that “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
Although we fail, Jesus has achieved our victory. He has given us grace and His righteousness so that we are now adopted as his children, perfected by his love.
Our response should be cosmic, corporate and individual. We are called to be a redemptive community in this world seeking to restore all the domains of society. We are called to be a local, corporate, communal witness seeking to offer hope to the broken and help to the needy. And as individuals we should set our affections on the cross:
- The cross tells you who you are. A sinner saved by grace.
- The cross interprets the world that you live in. God made the world as good, but sin is a corruption of this.
- The cross gives our life purpose. Through the cross, I have been redeemed by God and restored to my true humanity. I can glorify him in this world.
As we have communion, please read John 17. Jesus’ prayer for us is that we are in the world, but not of it. Today, I want you to see communion as a declaration of your being a traitor to the world. In many places this act may cost you your life…..including here. We are called to be dead to the sinful world and alive to Christ.
0 Comments | Login to Post Comments