"Introduction to Weird" - January 8, 2012

Transcription

1 "Introduction to Weird" - January 8, 2012 We've been telling you that we are kicking off a new series called "Weird" this morning. Some of you figure I'm the perfect one to preach this series. I did a little digging around on the herd instinct. It's actually fascinating. Here are a couple of the definitions I found. The herd instinct is a mentality characterized by a lack of individuality, causing critters to think and act like others just follow the herd. One cow or buffalo or sheep starts wandering off somewhere and the others just kind of file in behind and follow. Or this one: the herd instinct is the inborn tendency to associate with others and follow the group's behavior. One dolphin gets the idea that he needs to be somewhere in a hurry, and all the others figure they don't want to get left behind. Isn't that an amazing clip? Or this one: the herd instinct is a theoretical instinct toward gregariousness and conformity. Elephants, wildebeests, rhinoceroses they find a pack, and they just kind of go to the same places, and eat the same stuff, and do the same things. Looks kind of weird, when they do it, doesn't it? I guess one of the strangest herd critters is the lemming cute but strange little things. They will regularly migrate as a herd to find a new food source. But every once in a while their numbers just explode (extra cold nights, I guess). And then at some trigger point of overcrowding, they start migrating outward in huge waves. If they reach a barrier like a stream, they'll crowd in together until they kind of panic, then they just plunge across whatever barrier is in front of them. Some of them will reach the ocean. And they just plunge in, sometimes jumping off cliffs. When they hit the water they just start swimming, still driven to move away, until they just die. But it's not just cows, and sheep, and dolphins, and ducks, and lemmings. It's people too. We have this herd instinct, don't we? It seems like we're kind of programmed to follow some pack. We don't want to be too different; we want to fit in. If everybody else around us is doing it, we kind of want to do it too. A momma tells her kid, "If your friends jumped off a bridge and got hurt would you do it too?" If the kid was honest he'd say, "Probably." We like doing what others are doing,

2 even if it hurts us. Have you seen this video clip yet? It happened over the holidays, kids in stampede for some Air-Jordans. It's wild. But it's not just about kids, we adults have this herd instinct, don't we? We don't want to be thought of as weird, so we wear basically the same clothes, and live in the same houses, and drive the same cars, and watch the same TV shows and music, and play the same games as everyone else... even when doing the same as everyone else hurts us. Here's the deal: most people in the herd are a mess; most people are broken. Normal doesn't work. Following the herd in our world doesn't work. If we keep doing what they're doing, if we keep chasing what they chase, we'll keep getting what they get. And that's a broken mess. Normal people are obsessed with getting more, even when they have too much already. And because of that normal people are broke and swimming in debt. Normal people have more things to do than they have time; and yet normal people are really kind of bored with life. Normal people are obsessed with sex, and yet they never really find it satisfying. Normal people struggle in their relationships. Half of our marriages die, a goodly number of the rest are sick or all but dead. Normal people find work to be a drudgery they spend 40 hours a week doing what they hate. Normal people believe in God, but don't really do life with him. And normal people wonder, very quietly, "Is this all there is?" I don't want you to be normal. Normal doesn't work. Normal is broken. Normal is a mess. Fortunately a few of those lemmings don't follow blindly after the ones that just swim out to sea and die. I suppose to the other herd lemmings that are normal, the ones that stay behind (and live) are the ones that are weird. Well, we are going to challenge you to choose weird. And not just a little weird... When you think on it, you realize there are different kinds of weird, aren't there. I've been around some people who are weird and they don't really have a clue. They are the clueless weird. You know the kind of people I'm talking about the clueless weird: I've had several clueless weird professors. One guy would come to class with his shirt buttoned up wrong. It was hard not to stare, and grin. We were

3 studying linguistics, and one day he kept talking about code texts, but he kept calling them Kotex, and he wondered why we kept smiling at him. Or clueless weird people who keep trying to look and act young as they get older. Too much makeup, too much silly. Guys, some kids clothes just don't work on guys 35 or 40 (like me), some kid behavior just don't work at 50 or 60 (getting closer). Or clueless weird grandfathers who pull their pants up above their potbellies, or who wear those black socks and wingtips with their shorts. My daughter has threatened to institutionalize me when I start wearing shorts and dress shoes. I'm going to do it just to annoy her (although I am afraid of her). Guys, when we challenge you to be weird, we're not talking about clueless weird. There are others who are intentionally weird just because they like the attention: attention getting weird. You know the kind of people I'm talking about. Attention getting weird kids who form a little pack and dress weird to try to spook you, or annoy their parents. They make their hair weird, or their faces weird, or their clothes weird to make some sort of statement, although it's usually unintelligible. Or attention getting weird guys in gangs who use their tats, or their piercings, or their leather to spook you. That's using weird to attract attention, isn't it? Or attention getting weird sports fans, who paint their hair, or their faces, or who bare their chests in a blizzard, or who shave their favorite number into their back. That's weird for attention, isn't it? Kind of funny, and innocent. When we challenge you to be weird, that's not the kind of weird we'll be talking about either. This is not about clueless weird, or attention getting weird. You see, there are others who choose weird because normal doesn't work. They choose weird because they have figured out that the herd is going the wrong way, and they don't want to end up swimming in the ocean with nowhere to go. Listen guys, if you really choose to follow Jesus you are going to be choosing weird. You are going to look different, and sound different, and live different from the normal people out there. But you'll be choosing weird because you realize that

4 normal doesn't to get you where you really want to be. If you choose to go all the way with Jesus, if you choose to do life with God -- God's way -- people are going to think you are really weird. And they'll be right, because God's way is weird in a world that is at war with God. Do you buy that? Do you want that? Think about how weird we will be when we do life the way Jesus leads. Normal people hold grudges, and they battle unforgiveness, and bitterness, until it shrivels their souls. Jesus tells us to forgive the unforgivable, as often as we want God to forgive us. That's hard; and that's weird. Normal people love the lovely and the loveable. Jesus tells us to love people who are not loveable. That's hard; and weird. Normal people quit, when a relationship gets tough. Jesus tells us to stay faithful, even when it costs a whole lot. Normal people are kind of cantankerous. Do you know what Jesus tells us to do when someone smacks our cheek? He doesn't tell us to just walk away. That's what our mom would tell us. Our dad would tell us to smack him back. Jesus says, "Turn the other cheek." That's weird. Jesus tells us to tell the truth when a little lie would be a whole lot simpler, and easier. Jesus tells us not only to give someone our coat, when he asks for it, but to take off our shirt and give him that as well. I think that's for the guys, not for you ladies. Jesus keeps shoving us way out of normal. He keeps dragging us away from the herd. Because... think about it, normal doesn't work. There is a whole lot better way to live... One of the weirdest books in the Bible is the book of Leviticus. If you are struggling with sleep, I recommend Leviticus. All kinds of laws, some of them downright weird. And one of the strangest chapters in this strange book is chapter 19, Leviticus 19. Here's some of the weird stuff you find in Leviticus 19: It says, "Do not mate two different kinds of animals." (19) Why not? It says, "Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed." (19) 1 guess that means they weren't supposed to plant beans with their corn. Why not?

5 It says, "Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread." (19) No cotton/polyester blends, no wool/nylon blends, no silk/linen blends. I'd bet that would weed out our wardrobes, don't you think, if we followed that one? Why not? Who cares if you plant beans with your corn. Who cares if they weave a little spandex into your underwear so they fit better. And yet, maybe God was telling them to keep their stuff unmixed as a reminder that that's the way they were supposed to live unmixed. Don't let the world creep in. Even the way they planted their gardens and made their clothes was a reminder that they were called to be different, to be pure. Kind of strange, but kind of cool. If you read down a little bit further there is some other weird stuff. It says: "Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beard." (27) 1 kind of like that one. I'm a little more holy than most of you guys in here at least I have a beard. Although I do trim its edges. And I guess I am a little guilty of cutting the hair on the sides of my head. Did you know this verse is why orthodox Jewish men wear those ringlets as sideburns? And then it says, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead (no worries there), and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord." (28) Well, that would eliminate a number of our staff. Why not? Who cares how you shave; who cares if you sport a cool little tat. And then, when you dig around a little, you discover that's the kind of stuff some of the pagans around them were doing. And maybe God was telling them to be different. You be different, you be weird... in your world. By the way, that's not the kind of weird we'll be talking about. I'm not going to ask you guys grow beards or scrape off your tattoos. I'm not going to ask you to start wearing black suits and ties, and cut your hair like Mitt Romney, and carry around a 15 pound Bible and start talking about Jeeesus. Ladies, I won't be asking you to start wearing long dresses, pouffy hair, and too much make-up that streaks when you cry, a lot. This part isn't for us. If you keep digging around in Leviticus 19 you'll find some other weird stuff; at least it looks weird until you think about it. It says:

6 "When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop." (9) Why not? That seems inefficient and wasteful. But then you read, "Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you." (10) Oh. God is telling us to be generous. It says, "Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay." (13) That's kind of weird, until you understand that in their world, if a laborer wasn't paid that day, his family probably didn't eat that night. It says, "Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble." (14) Well that's no fun. It says, "Do not twist justice by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich." (15) I'll bet you didn't expect that one. You expect the Bible to tell us not to be partial to the rich and powerful, but you don't expect it to tell us not to favor the poor. That's kind of weird, isn't it; until you realize that justice really should be blind. I could keep going. There's all kind of fascinating stuff in there. Weird because it is unexpected. And yet, when you dig at them, they have a purpose. But there is another kind of weird in Leviticus 19 maybe the weirdest of all when you really think about it. Laws like these: "Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father." (3) Honor your parents, it says. That's weird, in our world, where we learn to disrespect our parents as children. Just listen to the way kids talk to their parents in our world. Look at how adults treat their parents in our world. The norm is disrespect. God's way is weird. It says, "You must always observe my Sabbath." (3) Make worship part of the rhythm of your life. Well that would be weird, in our world, where we learn to blow off worship with almost any trivial excuse. Normal is to blow off worship, and church. God's way is weird, guys. It says, "Do not put your trust in idols." (4) Well I guess most of us don't put a silly looking statue of a god in our living room or on our desk. But I'll guarantee you that we have idols, things we treat as god, people we treat as god. Normal is to put our value, our trust, our heart in something other than God. God's way is weird, guys.

7 It says, "Do not steal. Do not deceive or cheat one another." (11) Normal is stealing (a little), deceiving (a little), and cheating (a little). As long as it's just a little we overlook such things, don't we? God's way is weird. It says, "Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely." (12) "Oh my God." "Swear to God." "Jesus." "Jesus Christ." It says, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge... but love your neighbor as yourself." (18) Guys, that's not normal. Normal is anger, normal is bitterness, normal is getting even, if you can. God's way is... weird. All of this weird stuff flows out of a powerful verse at the beginning of Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19.2: this is going to be our theme verse for the next few months. It says, "You must be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy." You must be holy... Do you know what holy really means. Most people think it means "pure." You are just a purer person than most. And it... can, mean that, but that not it's basic meaning. To be holy is to be different, to be separate, to be unique, special. In Bible times they would make something holy by giving it to God. It is God's now, it is set apart for God, it is for his use now. You be different, you be separate, you be God's now. That's getting closer. And here's the deal: when you are different, you are weird; when you do life God's way, you look really weird. The apostle Peter found this idea so powerful he stole it and used it in one of his letters. He says, "Now you must be holy, now you must be different, now you must be weird in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, 'You must be holy because I am holy."' (1 Peter ) We're going to simplify it. Here's the Capital City version: "You be weird, because I (your God) am weird." You be different -- you live differently, you talk differently, you love differently, you spend differently, you work differently because we do life God's way, and that looks flat out weird to a world at war with God. Do you buy that? If we really try to do life God's way, it's going to be weird... but really, really good because normal doesn't work. Remember those lemmings, most of whom just follow the herd even into the ocean to die? Guys, following the herd doesn't work. Jesus put it like this: he said,

8 "The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, and only a few ever find it." (Matthew ) That's a hard truth, but that doesn't make it wrong. Some truths are hard. Guys, following the herd doesn't work; normal doesn't work. Normal is having too much to do, and not enough time to get it done. Normal is busy and getting busier. There aren't enough hours to do the buying, the selling, the driving, the cooking, the cleaning, the calling, the shopping, the eating, the planning, the studying, the writing, the reviewing, the running, the exercising that needs to get done. Normal is overwhelmed, overloaded, and exhausted. Our families suffer, our priorities fade, our joy evaporates. Having time to genuinely relax, and connect with family, and connect with God seems like a fantasy. Normal is being so far in debt that it's hard to find a light at the end of the tunnel. Normal is that pit in your stomach driven by worry, and fear and tension. Normal is the tension you feel in the home over spending and debt. Normal is living paycheck to paycheck. It is making more money than ever, but still having more month than money. Normal is being in a relationship that actually requires very little, and even provides less. Normal is living side by side with a spouse without satisfying intimacy. It's no wonder that affairs and broken marriages are epidemic. Normal is bad parenting. We'd love to spend more time with the kids, we say, but there's just not that much time left over. And to tell the truth, to be honest, normal is not really wanting to spend that much time with them anyway. Normal parents want to get away from their kids. And normal kids are as busy and stressed as you are. Running here, doing way too much. Normal is being obsessed with sex, and yet finding little satisfaction there, a hunger that the food you choose just doesn't seem to satisfy. Normal is a shroud or guilt, and shame, and confusion, and remorse, and disease, and addiction intruding on God's gift of sex. Premarital sex, extramarital sex, friends with benefits sex, casual sex, kinky sex, porn whatever feels good. Normal is making excuses like, "Youwouldn't buy a car before a test drive," or "But I love him," or "You have to follow your feelings, don't you."

9 Normal even corrupts our life with God. A lot of normal people blow off God altogether. Most normal people claim to believe in God, and then live like he really doesn't exist. Normal people are practical atheists. Even if they do church, it really doesn't drive who they are and what they do. Normal Christianity is luke-warm, shallow, self-centered, consumer driven; a shadow of what life with God was meant to be. God is a means to an end, a tool in our toolbox to get what we want out of life which isn't much. Guys, normal doesn't work. God calls us to be weird, because normal doesn't work. We will be challenging you to get weird. And we are not going to challenge you to get a little weird. This isn't going to be about some minor course corrections. For most of us a minor course correction will still take us over that cliff. We are going to challenge you to radical weird. And I think you will like it. Don't settle for normal, don't settle for the herd God's way is better. If you do life God's way, if you do life weird... You'll slow down a little, without guilt. And you'll begin to start focusing on things that are important, and letting some things go that aren't. If you do life weird, you will become less obsessed with stuff. And you will start taking control of your budget, and your debt. And you will stop dreading those trips to the mailbox and start sleeping better at night. If you do life weird, you won't just endure your marriage, you'll begin to be proud of it, and it will start giving you the strength God intended. If you do life weird, you'll start enjoying your family more. You might do a little less apart, and do a bit more together. And you might find you start talking about something more than your schedule and your problems. If you do life weird, you might discovery more than sex. You might discovery intimacy, and joy, and satisfaction. If you do life weird, you might gain a whole new outlook on life when you go to work. It might not be such drudgery anymore. If you do life weird, you might gain a whole new outlook on God and church. You might find time with God and his kids something you look forward to, rather than something you endure.

10 To tell you the truth, once you taste weird, you won't be satisfied with normal any more. Do you buy that? These will be a challenging few months. If you are content with normal, you might want to visit another church for a few months. Because we aren't going to challenge ourselves to little changes. We don't need a little weird, we need all in. Are you ready to listen? Are you ready to try something different? The rubber will hit the road starting next week.... Let's Pray