That’s right, Chuck D said it and I just copped it. Yeeeeaaahhhhh Booooyyy!!
Seriously, you’re either laughing or you’re dead inside. Either way, copping a Chuck D lyric made a better title than “Regrets and Damned Lies, the sequel.” I just finished listening to the final part of Pastor Gary Lamb’s “Rebel” series from Revolution Church. I was really connecting with this series. Granted, you slap the word “rebel” on anything and I’m likely to go all James Dean pose. The series lived up to the hype and I wasn’t disappointed. And I avoided posing, which was very appropriate given the topic at hand.
The part that stuck out to me the most was what Gary referred to as the “Christian ghetto.” I’m new to this whole Christian thing. I spent 20 years fighting against it so I didn’t expect to have a grip on it inside of a year. Initially I dove in and wanted to surround myself with as much Christian influence as possible. Afterall, I was pretty sure that the last 20 years were great examples of what NOT to do. So I thought I had to clothe myself in all things Jesus. EXCEPT, Jesus isn’t clothes. He’s not a fish on the back of my car and he’s not Tooth & Nail records (despite having some seriously kick @$$ bands on the label).
I also struggled, a LOT, because of the aforementioned past and what to do next. Afterall, now that I’m a Christian I’m supposed to do what the bracelets say and ask myself “WWJD?”, right? That means I can’t listen to Motley Crue and throw up the RAWKfist, right? I’m a clean, new, man. So it should be all Stryper and no more superhero worship, right? I should only buy shirts that resemble the popular fashion but have faith based logos or sayings, right? I’m supposed to convert all my friends and only surround myself with good Christian role models, right?
Or, maybe not. I mean, I could, as Pastor Gary so succinctly put it, wade into the “Christian Ghetto” where it’s safe. I could dress in the “right” clothes and listen to the “right” music, watch the “right” movies and disavow any degree of secular society in my life and my past. After all, there is a very successful, and vocal, sub-culture that says that is the way to go. But then things like my paster, Andy Stanley, name-checking Bad Company or Northpoint starting a service with a RAWKIN’ version of Journey’s “Faithfully” happen. Then I’m all confused. How, what, why, when did these secular things make it into MY church? Is that Coldplay AND Weezer playing over the loud speaker before the service starts? Did the DJ — yes an actual DJ spinning IN CHURCH — just play Jay-Z?? Did I really just hear Haddaway and a joke about “A Night at the Roxbury”??
So, maybe it’s okay to be me. Actually, it’s more than okay to be me. Jesus loved sinners. As a matter of fact –and I loved this part of the Rebel series– Jesus was a FRIEND TO SINNERS. It dawned on me, Jesus isn’t asking me to change my clothes, my music or my hairstyle. He’s asking me to change my HEART. More importantly I don’t have to change my friends. I have to change MYSELF. Sure some things may be added or subtracted along the way. My favorite band of all time, for almost purely nostalgic reasons, is still Faith No More. That’s not a statement of Faith For Sean. It’s music that I grew up with that I like. But at the same time I’m not going to be singing “Girls, Girls, Girls” with the same gusto. Instead I’m apt to crank up and sing along with Demon Hunter or Haste the Day (both of which hit me right where it gets me). I don’t have to change my friends but I have to BE a friend. My faith, my salvation, isn’t something I should shove down people’s throats. If I want my friends to join in this purely AWESOME feeling then I need to be there as a friend and let that feeling be obvious, not blatant or contrived.
I have friends that do some very un-Christian things. I have some self-professed Christian friends who have bought into the cultural mores that say it’s alright to ogle and lust after women and think pornography is just good, clean fun. I have friends, male and female, that think it’s alright to “look but don’t touch.” Once upon a time I bought into these things as well. That has all changed. That doesn’t give me carte blanche to cast judgement upon them. They’re still my friends. I didn’t love them for their sins, I love them for who they ARE. Jesus loved sinners for the people they were, mothers, brothers, fathers, daughters. He dined with prostitutes and lepers. This didn’t mean that he condoned their behaviours, just that he loved them and wanted to share God’s AWESOME love with them. He did this by being their friend.
So, why would I want to do anything differently than Jesus? Afterall, he is the blueprint.
So I’m going to keep being me and loving my friends for who they are. I’m not going to sink into the safety of the “Christian ghetto.” I’m going to be an honest and loving follower of Christ. I won’t judge, but I will do my best to pray for and love others. I won’t hide, I’ll go madly into the night and challenge sin where it rests. But I don’t think I need Christian Karate lessons or a “Jesus Saves” t-shirt before I do. I’m going to continue to work to be an honest and authentic Christian. Most of all, I’m going to be a friend. Afterall, THAT is what Jesus would do.
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