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Perion & Hahz The Rippa, Ludacris, Nickelback, Ja Rule, Puddle Of Mudd. Do any of you know what I just said? Let me give you a clue. What if I added the name, Britney Spears? Would it help if I said that teenagers would know what I am talking about? These are musicians. And the ones I mentioned have some of the top songs and albums this week. It used to be that most teenagers listened to the same type of music, and everyone knew which hits were in the Top 40. Now the music market is split into rap, heavy metal, classic rock, grunge, contemporary Christian, modern rock, country, alternative rock, hip-hop and others - and everyone is listening to something different. There is no one "at the top of the charts" because there are so many charts. Of course, there has always been variety in popular music, and 40 years ago few people would have made the case that Jan and Dean, Elvis Presley, Marvin Gaye and "Little" Stevie Wonder were all playing the same kind of music and were adored equally by everyone. But most fans would have known their names and their songs and seen them as part of the same musical community. Let me ask you. What musical group would you place at the top of your chart? (Pause) For those of you who mourn the loss of the music of the good old days…let me share with you a startling fact. The top selling album of 2001 was…are you ready for this?….The Beatles Greatest Hits. In our text for today, Paul criticizes the church for splitting into fan clubs for Paul, Apollos, Cephas and Christ. He calls members of the Christian community to unite in the same mind and purpose, and to follow an undivided Christ. The same challenge lies before us: to focus not on denominational labels or doctrinal perfection, but to look to Jesus, the head of the church and Savior of all humankind. He needs to be number one on our Christian's Top 40 list. We all know that there is much division in our world today. The sad reality is that it exists in the Church of Christ as well. Frederick Buechner, well-known preacher and scholar said, "There are Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians. There are Presbyterians, Lutherans, Congregationalists. There are Disciples of Christ. There are Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Quakers. And that's only for starters. New denominations spring up. Old denominations split up and form new branches. There's no reason why everyone should be Christian in the same way and every reason to leave room for differences, but if all the competing factions of Christendom were to give as much of themselves to the high calling and holy hope that unites them as they do now to the relative inconsequentialities that divide them, the church would look more like the kingdom of God for a change and less like an ungodly mess." Do you often wonder why Christians cannot seem to be unified in their mission to the world? If Christ is truly at the top of our charts, we will find that a number of truths emerge. Like different instruments in a modern band, these core convictions, or rhythms, work together to make music we can all appreciate. There's the rhythm that suggests, for example, that being a Christian is where it's at. This is the beat that should undergird and drive the spiritual song that forms a soundtrack for our lives. But problems arise when we let our own preferences get in the way, when we march to the beat of whatever drummer seems most pleasing to us, when we fall for the sound of a Methodist bass drum or a Baptist cymbal, a theologically progressive snare drum or conservative conga. With all these different tempos and beats all around us all the time, we can lose touch with the steady, saving drumbeat of Jesus the Christ. To get back to this beat, we need to focus less on denominational labels and fine theological distinctions. Our call is to respond to Christ, not to a human agenda. "To close the gap between what I am and what God wants of me," wrote Joseph Cardinal Bernardin in his book, The Gift of Peace, "I must empty myself and let Jesus come in and take over. I have prayed to understand his agenda for me .... It is unsettling to pray to be emptied of self; it seems a challenge almost beyond our reach as humans. But if we try, I have learned, God does most of the work. I must simply let myself go in love and trust of the Lord" It is truly unsettling to let go of our personal agendas and allow Jesus to come in and take over. What will he ask of us? we wonder. A higher level of sexual morality? Greater generosity? More willingness to forgive? This is hard, no doubt about it. But if being Christian is our primary identity, we will find a way to allow Jesus to lay down the drumbeat for our lives. During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren churches, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp. When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension. Finally they decided that the situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ's commands. Then they came together. Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a friend who was there, "What did you do then?" "We were just one," he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred. When love prevails among believers, especially in times of strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ. There is a rhythm which suggests that being faithful is critical to authentic discipleship. The melody strummed through the pages of Scripture is one of faithfulness, not perfection, and we should be thankful for this. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget that we are imperfect creatures instead of perfect Creators, petty people instead of loving Lords, selfish sinners instead of selfless Saviors - and we come down rather hard on ourselves and others. Part of us knows that we are called to trust Christ, to lean on him, and to walk with him into an uncertain future, but another part acts as though our job is to achieve moral, spiritual and doctrinal perfection. Fulton J. Sheen, in his book, "Lift Up Your Heart", wrote, "A Christ-centered life does not mean a life in which one sings hymns, reads Scripture, and edifies his neighbors by hanging texts on the walls. One does not become a Christian by doing a good deed a day, nor by go-getting for religion, nor by engaging in economic and political reform movements, even though these things are done from the noblest of human motives. A Christian is one who, believing that Christ is the Son of God, has that Christ-life in his soul." In worship, we rediscover that we are of Christ, not of a denomination label or even esteemed spiritual mentors. In the confession, forgiveness, proclamation, praise, thanksgiving and fellowship of worship, we rediscover that our mission in life is to be faithful to the God who creates us, redeems us, sustains us, and loves us in spite of our imperfections. And when we see ourselves as redeemed and loved by God, we can see others in that light as well. Within the body of Christ, acceptance of each other is required; agreement on fine points of doctrine is optional. Daniel Fried was a graduate student when he converted from Judaism to Christianity. He wrote this in his Washington Post article, "A Spiritual Journey From Synagogue to Church," "Following Christ can be a zigzag walk. It has made me more conservative in some ways, more liberal in others. It has given me peace in some ways, and also has caused me more agitation than I had ever known before. If you believe that the Creator of the universe cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, it gives you a new terror at clear-cutting of the rain forests. If you believe that God loves all people, it gives you a new hatred of racism in yourself and in society. I have found the imitation of Christ to be largely an exercise in heartbreak. Not that I seem much like an imitator of Christ: A pious marble statue I am not. Believing in Christ has made me more aware of my faults and better at fixing them, but I am not a great model. But the glorious kicker of it all is that God loves us anyway. We may prefer to wallow in our silly prides and pointless desires, but God forgives us for it and wants to drag us, kicking and screaming, into the sweet kingdom of gentleness and openness and acceptance. And I'm perfectly content to be dragged." Each of us today must choose whether to be shaped by our culture, or to follow our calling. The call of Christ has always been to show the world that we are God's people, in all we say and do, at work or at home, in our labors and in our leisure. Who is at the top of the charts for you? If it's Jesus the Christ, you'll be singing a song that the whole church needs to hear. |
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01.27.02 - Top of the Charts (1 Corinthians 1:10-18)
