Ep 851 ｜ 'Church at the Movies：' Helpful or Heretical？
Episode Stats
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Summary
Is at-the-movie sermons an acceptable way to get people to church, or is it an unbiblical distraction that we should be wary of? We'll get into that and more on this episode of Relatable.
Transcript
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Several churches across the country, including Saddleback Church in California, have done
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an at-the-movie sermon series, where their series are based on popular movies.
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Is this an acceptable way to attract people to church, or is this an unbiblical distraction
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That's what we're going to spend most of our time discussing today.
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One about Jamie Foxx being accused of anti-Semitism, and the other about the chaos that ensued
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What do all of these things tell us about the gospel, about the Word of God, about humans'
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We'll get into all of that today on this episode of Relatable, which is brought to you by our
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Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, that the start of your week is great.
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When I get towards the end of pregnancy, obviously there are difficulties that come with that.
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But there's also so much gratitude that, wow, I'm so thankful that thus far I've had a healthy
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And so next week we will be off for 12 weeks, but you will still be getting a new episode
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We've already come up with the schedule and everything for that for the next few months.
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We have very thoughtfully scheduled every episode.
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And I am so looking forward to hearing what you guys think about so many of these conversations
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A lot of the Q&As include some controversial topics that you guys have been asking me about
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So I'm really looking forward to you hearing all of those, watching all of those.
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It'll help a lot if you not just, you know, listen and watch them, even though we'll be
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kind of out of the news cycle, but also share them with friends and things like that.
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And of course, if you love the podcast, leave us a five-star review on Apple, subscribe on
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I'm sure I'm in full-on nesting mode right now.
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So I have like six different organizational projects going on in my home at any given time.
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And so I am a little unplugged right now, but I do have some videos coming out.
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I've got some funny videos coming out this week, okay?
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We don't always have time to do the funny videos because the podcast takes so much of
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our time and energy in a great way, but it just does.
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So we've got a few funny videos coming out over the next few weeks that have already been
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And then today we've got an announcement, a fun announcement that we are making with
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a fun video, and it will be an item that you can purchase.
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So lots of good stuff coming down the pipeline.
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I will keep you guys updated on the baby and all that good stuff.
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But thank you so much for your prayers, for your support.
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I've gotten several messages from some of you over the past few days who have just delivered
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your babies and you just wanted to send me encouragement and a positive birth story,
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which every woman needs when they're about to give birth.
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A lot of people, when they see me, they just remark like, oh my gosh, you're very pregnant
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However, my overriding feeling is one of gratitude and excitement.
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And I actually feel, considering how far along I am, I feel really good.
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Thankful for all of you, but thankful to the Lord also just for allowing me to be a mom.
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I think that's all the housekeeping stuff I have to say.
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So do the next right thing with excellence for the glory of God.
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And a constant reminder for myself right now, as I am overwhelmed with all these different
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things that I feel like I have to get done, the only thing that I can do, the only thing
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that I really have any control over is doing the next right thing in faith with excellence
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I have to remind myself constantly that that is sufficient.
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No matter what is ahead of you, that's the only thing we can ever do.
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The next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God.
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And even that has to be powered by the Holy Spirit.
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So in the background, or a lot of times in the foreground of everything that we're doing,
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it's constant prayer and asking for that strength, which God promises to supply us in Christ Jesus,
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We're going to talk about a church series that maybe some of you have seen on social media
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And we are going to examine whether or not this is a biblical thing to do at church,
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whether or not churches really become too much of a production, too much of a seeker-sensitive
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movement rather than just exegeting the word of God, or if this is just a creative way to
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serve your congregations and to attract people that may not go to church otherwise.
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And so we're going to look at all of that today.
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And then we're going to talk about a couple other things, as you heard in the introduction.
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Okay, so there has been some discussion, some debate on Twitter about this At The Movies sermon
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series that is being preached at churches like Saddleback Church in California, but also several
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And it's basically where a church dresses up their staffers, dresses up their pastors,
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preachers, and decorates their church to look like a particular movie.
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And so let me show you the clip that's going around from two co-pastors, Andy and Stacey
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Wood at Saddleback Church that has a lot of people talking on social media.
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As you guys are being seated, tell your partner beside you, do you vote for Team Woody or Team
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And I better hear a lot of Team Woody out there.
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Okay, we got a Southern draw, little Bo Peep there in California.
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So if you don't know about Saddleback Church, they've been in the center of controversy for
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the SBC, the Southern Baptist Convention, because they are allowing female pastors.
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And Rick Warren, who used to be the head of Saddleback Church, was in defense of allowing
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women to be pastors, despite the biblical command that women not be pastors.
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There are many roles of ministry that women can occupy.
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There are lots of ways that women can and should be serving the church, but the office
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of pastor and the role of exegeting scripture in front of a mixed crowd or a crowd of men
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is to be reserved for a man that's actually rooted in the creation order.
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I can link some past episodes where we've talked about that more thoroughly.
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So Saddleback Church has seen its fair share of criticism.
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Let me tell you a little bit about what this sermon series is.
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It might be possible that you and I disagree on our conclusions here.
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And I'm interested to hear what you guys have to say.
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So Andy and Stacey Wood are preaching a summer series entitled At the Movies, Finding Inspiration
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And just so you know, I already have a problem.
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At the movies, finding inspiration in the stories we love.
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I I'm I'm struggling to get through each word because I have a problem with every word so
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far shows us a glimpse of the human experience, whether it's a team of superheroes defeating
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evil or the true story of one person's courage and conviction.
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But what is it and what does God have to say about it?
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Join us for At the Movies, a cinematic summer experience at Saddleback.
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We'll be talking about blockbuster movies and how we can apply their messages to scripture.
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Not only that, but every campus will be decked out in its own movie theme.
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The pastors will be preaching on Toy Story 4, Lion King, Top Gun, Maverick and Jesus Revolution.
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So let let me just go ahead and tell you, I was going to try to tease this out and explain
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this a little bit more, but I just I can't leave that description alone without telling
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you exactly why I have a problem with it, because we are the center of it.
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The audience, the congregant is the center of this description of the sermon series, that
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each story that we see in the movies is a reflection of us.
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Each story shows us a glimpse of the human experience, superheroes defeating evil or the
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true story of one person's courage and conviction.
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That might be OK for a lesson for a bunch of kindergartners or maybe even a bunch of sixth
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That might be OK if you're going to the movies and you're going home with your kids and you're
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trying to give them a real life, godly application.
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Is that the most educational, empowering and edifying message for a pastor, for a preacher
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Let us look away from Scripture, look at these cinematic experiences and see how they reflect
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our own experiences, our own courage, our own convictions, our own stories, our own journeys.
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Even the headline or the description at the movie is finding inspiration in the stories
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There may be nothing wrong with that in general.
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I've always loved books since I could read, devoured books throughout school.
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And I think it's so important for us to read stories, even stories that are not explicitly
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I think we can absolutely gain lessons from stories, glean inspiration from stories.
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But is that what we're supposed to be doing at church?
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We're constantly seeing narratives, whether it's in the news or in the entertainment that
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we're watching or in the narratives that we're building in our head.
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Like we are constantly seeing stories play out.
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We have the opportunity to gain inspiration from these things.
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But on Sunday, we are gaining inspiration, education, and conviction from Scripture.
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I don't see the need to draw from secular stories from the pulpit at church in order to gain
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Do you know how biblically illiterate the church is today?
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Do you know how little most professing Christians even understand the gospel?
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Like if you look at a Barna survey, they conduct a survey every two years and they ask Christians
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or professing Christians, different questions about the nature of Jesus, about who God is,
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about sin, about salvation, about repentance, about heaven and hell.
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There's a large percentage of professing Christians that do not know the basic tenets of Christianity.
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And so I just fear wasting time with this kind of entertainment when, gosh, the church is so
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desperate, so hungry for clarity that comes from the word of God, sans distractions.
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That, look, if this attracts someone who maybe wouldn't go to a stuffy church, a traditional
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church with the pews and all of that stuff, and if this brings a family in who maybe didn't
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want to go to church before, but their kid heard about it from their friend at school,
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And so this family decided to go to church, and maybe they heard the gospel for the first
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time, or they heard about Jesus for the first time.
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Look, I think that that is, in a non-fallacious way, a slippery slope.
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Is the church to accommodate constantly the non-believer with secular forms of entertainment so as to try
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to attract them to the church with something other than the cross?
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Like, is the aroma of Christ not sweet enough that we actually need Pixar to help us invite
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So I have a problem with this because it's seeker-sensitive, and not all seeker-sensitive
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I think that there are creative things, creative strategies, ways that we can use, that we can
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employ to try to get people to church, of course.
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But the church's function, the church's primary function, is to build up the body of Christ.
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And so for the person sitting in the audience who maybe knows the gospel, they know the
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basics of Christianity already, but they need to understand theology.
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Like, they need to really understand by grace through faith.
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They need to really understand how to love their wife as Christ loved the church.
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They need to really understand how Genesis 1-1 applies to all different aspects of society
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Whatever it is, whatever theological issue that you want to name, is that what they're
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I did not sit and saddle back and see all the sermons.
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So I'm not even saying that every sermon was bad or every sermon was unbiblical.
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I went to a church several years ago when I lived in another state and I walked in actually
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two churches, two different states, but in the same region.
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And in both scenarios, these churches, which were very similar, not connected to each other,
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but very similar, they were singing secular songs in order to try to, you know, fit themselves
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into the, uh, into the sermon, which I don't necessarily think is always bad.
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Like, I don't think I'm not like freaking out about that and saying, oh my gosh, how simple
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Everything can be used, of course, to the glory of God.
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Is it the most equipping to sing a song by Michael Jackson?
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Like, there's no Christian song in our entire Rolodex that speaks explicitly, specifically
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There was none, like there was no song that you could have picked that reiterates scripture
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or that repeats scripture so that we know that the words that you're singing are actually
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inerrant and infallible because they're just repeating God's word.
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Like, I think we need to kind of rethink how we approach what is acceptable in church or
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really what's acceptable in our own lives away from, is this kind of permissible?
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Can we finagle this to be acceptable biblically?
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How can we make this as little about us, as little about human experience, as little about
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Now, that doesn't mean—I'm not saying that we cannot have application in scripture or that
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we can't have humor in scripture or that we can't have stories and allegories and anecdotes
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Not perfect in communication, but I think that they should be darn good at communication.
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They should be able to capture someone's attention.
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Not with a bunch of distractions, but with the compelling way in which they are able to
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And so, of course, I think real-life application can be good.
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Real-life application can be good, but we are not the center of it.
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We're not the main character in the biblical narrative.
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We're not David in the story of David and Goliath.
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Like, we're not Moses in the story of wandering through the wilderness.
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Like, we are not stand-ins for these biblical characters.
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All of these characters, all of these stories point to Christ.
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Maybe they're saying, look, every story out there points to Christ.
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But it's just hard for me, knowing, like, the urgency of people understanding the gospel.
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Knowing the dire hunger and thirst that the church has for real substantive theology and
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clarity when it comes to issues that is only found in the word of God.
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It's hard for me to justify wasting any time whatsoever on frivolity and silliness.
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I could see this for your first grader, because maybe that is the only way that you can capture
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But for equipping the saints and the members of the household of God, for equipping the
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evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers, is this cutting it?
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Um, so as I said, there were several sermons, and I'll kind of just go over those for a
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second, and then I'll look at some other examples, because it's not just Saddleback
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Several other churches are doing the same thing, and I'll share some of my thoughts on that.
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Okay, so if we look at the examples of some of these sermons, because we have all the
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notes from the sermon, so I don't want it to seem like I am trying to misconstrue or wrongly
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I'm really not trying to be unfair, because look, I mean, if God uses any of these, any
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of these things to bring someone to himself, I mean, praise God, that will be a credit
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to God, not a credit to these strategies, but I will be thankful for that, okay?
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And I don't want it to seem like I'm indicting every single motive or every single person
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There are a lot of people who are very talented and using a lot of different creative strategies
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for the church that feel that they are doing the right thing.
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Is it the most edifying, the most glorifying to offer what I think are distractions in the
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name of being seeker-sensitive rather than functioning as what the church is supposed
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to function as, which is building up the body of Christ, the equipping of the saints.
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So a few sermons that we saw from Saddleback, which as I, you know, as I said, I have problems
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with Saddleback anyway, because they have female pastors.
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Um, the Toy Story Sermon, Finding Purpose in Unexpected Places, Toy Story 4, really depicts
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Uh, Woody symbolizes people who may feel past their prime.
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And to those, oh, I'm struggling, I'm struggling, I'm struggling to read this, to encourage people
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who feel past their prime, uh, Andy Wood shares Ephesians 2, 8 through 10.
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I know the ESV, it says, God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take credit
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It sounds like maybe the message, but, um, so he's basically saying, you know, Woody might
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represent if you're past your prime, but look, God has a purpose for you.
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Forky, the fork created by Bonnie at school, God lovingly created each one of us.
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Gabby Gabby, the doll who is missing her voice box.
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Like Gabby, we are all stuck between our dreams and our current reality.
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Um, and it goes on and on and things like this.
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Again, my problem with this is that it's about you.
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They're looking at stories and not even seeing like how this reflects the heart of God necessarily.
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Not saying that they never mentioned that, but that these characters reflect you and
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People want to be seen and heard and understood and reflected and represented.
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And there is something to appealing to those desires that we have as human beings, but it
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Like I not, I'm not trying to promote my book, but I'm saying that this is why, this
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is why I wrote this book because we are constantly being given this message.
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Whatever it is, we are constantly told these messages.
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We don't need to be told those messages when we go to church.
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They're constantly telling us you're sufficient.
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They're constantly telling us to feel bad for ourselves, to turn every hard experience into
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trauma, to justify every difficult or every bad characteristic that you've had is just
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some sort of like quirk that other people need to tolerate.
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We're constantly being told that we should worship ourselves, center ourselves, idolize
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The last thing that we need to be thinking about when we are at church is ourselves.
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We don't need to go to secular stories to see how our human experience is reflected in
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We need to go to the greatest story ever told, the truest, best story ever told, which is the
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narrative of Christ and to understand who Christ is.
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And yes, also how we graciously, wonderfully, redemptively fit into that grand biblical narrative,
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There is freedom and self-forgetfulness in the self-denial to which Jesus calls every single
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There is so much beauty and so much satisfaction that comes from the self-emptying that is required
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And are we getting that from a sermon that is about toy story and how we are like Forky?
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Um, and Andy Wood, again, points to the different ways that Top Gun reflects biblical truth, reflects
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Um, some things will change whether I want them to or not.
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Some things won't change even if I want them to.
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Some things can change, but it's up to me to change them.
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He looks at Maverick's skill as a fighter pilot.
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It doesn't change from the first movie to the second, but he's still haunted by the
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Goose, spoiler, sorry, if you haven't seen the original Top Gun.
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Um, and then he points to believers who may be struggling with guilt or regret.
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And then he says, God never changes, which is true.
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Uh, he also says it is important to see the world through the lens of God's word, not the
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word through the lens of the world, which I agree with.
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Although that is exactly kind of what this sermon is doing.
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You are literally looking through the lens of Maverick, Top Gun, uh, to, uh, exegete scripture.
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I exegete taking out the meaning from scripture by going to scripture and saying, what does this
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Not just what does this mean to me, or what does this mean for you, or what does this
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There are all sorts of expository message or methods to be able to glean the meaning.
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The context of the chapter, the context of the book, the context of the entirety of scripture.
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There may be application, but you were not the center of any passage.
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And so if that would be like me saying, I want to, um, look at a message or I want to create
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And so I go into scripture and I find all of these different verses that fit into the topic
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It's not always wrong, as long as the meaning is still the meaning.
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Like you are using all of the context of each verse, and this verse really is about leadership.
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It really does make a biblical sense in light of all of the context.
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As long as we are not inserting meaning into the text that is not really there.
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And really the best form of consistent preaching is exegesis, going verse by verse and exegeting,
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lifting out the meaning of the text in light of everything that we know about scripture,
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the character of God that we see revealed in scripture.
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So this is a bad case of eisegesis in which we are taking a movie and we're starting with
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We're not really starting with the word of God.
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We're starting with the movie and saying, what does this movie say?
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And can I find verses that fit in to this meaning that I have drawn out of the movie?
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That's not giving anyone a proper understanding of scripture.
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You're not helping anyone understand these complex theological or even societal issues.
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You are trying to fit meaning into the text, which may or may not be there.
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Now, I'm not saying that there is no truth shared in any of these sermons or anything helpful.
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But again, is this how we handle the word of God from the pulpit?
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Is this equipping the saints for the work of ministry?
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Again, maybe for a kindergarten class, not for saints and members of the household of God,
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Life Church in Colorado also did an At The Movies.
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And there is this video that someone posted on Twitter showing this incredible, truly, incredibly
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impressive Star Wars, these Star Wars decorations at Life Church.
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I do want to give kudos to the people who use their God-given skills and their creativity
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If you're watching, you can see the decorations, how intricate they are.
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And so, I mean, I applaud the people who use their gifts for this.
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And I am not against people using their gifts in creative and artistic ways.
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There's also Lake Point Church in Dallas, Faith Church, Lawrenceburg in Tennessee, Free
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There is a Barbie sermon series at several of these.
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I also think like it's a little bit troubling because unless you as a church are endorsing
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the entire message of all of these movies, it's a little weird to promote them and try
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to use them to attract people to your church, right?
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Like you are basically giving free advertising to all these movies.
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So are you endorsing everything that happens in Barbie?
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Like, you know, there was literally a joke in Barbie.
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There's a joke in Barbie about gay masturbation.
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Like there's a joke in Barbie about, you know, premarital sex.
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Whether you think it was some kind of conservative satire or some feminist screed, I think as a
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church, you should ask yourself, is this, are these all messages that we want to promote?
00:32:11.080
If we are putting the thought in people's mind that they should go see Barbie, is God going
00:32:18.480
Are they going to be sanctified by that experience or not?
00:32:24.940
I'm not saying that no Christian should ever see these movies.
00:32:30.780
Are they all biblical messages that again are edifying and equipping the body of Christ?
00:32:39.600
And you have like little girls dressed up in, you know, their Barbie outfits and you've
00:32:50.900
Do you want these little girls to say, well, you know, my church said it was fine.
00:32:56.380
Should these nine-year-olds go and see Barbie and hear the gay masturbation?
00:33:01.960
I don't think that's something that the church should be endorsing.
00:33:07.300
And so this is the problem with seeker sensitive at all costs.
00:33:11.180
This is the problem with the whatever it takes mentality when it comes to trying to get people
00:33:20.600
Like the love of the church, the role of the church as a beacon, a refuge of clarity in
00:33:36.120
We are not so evolved that 2000 years later, suddenly the message that Christ preached isn't
00:33:43.380
I think a lot of people do think that for the unbelieving world, we have to soften the word
00:33:47.800
of God, that we have to kind of like let God off the hook by saying, oh, yeah, I know you've
00:33:52.380
heard about this judgmental guy, but don't worry.
00:33:55.920
We have a lot of fun, too, and we have a lot of fluffy stuff, and then we'll get to the
00:34:05.060
We've got a lot of complicated, pressing issues.
00:34:10.360
It is not the time for Barbie-themed church events.
00:34:17.400
It's not the time for watered-down sermons that don't really teach us anything.
00:34:26.920
It is time for the church to get serious about understanding, teaching, and applying the word
00:34:35.220
And I know some of you might say, but not everyone is there yet.
00:34:44.420
Okay, it's true that infants need spiritual milk.
00:34:54.040
Like, when we talk about infants, new people in the faith, or people coming to the faith
00:34:58.440
needing milk, like, we're talking about the importance of John 3.16.
00:35:03.320
Not that all of us don't need that, no matter what stage of Christianity you're in.
00:35:08.900
But, like, that's talking about the basics of the gospel, the basics of truth.
00:35:15.460
We're not saying that you need to compare yourself to Woody in order to understand the gospel.
00:35:22.460
Like, remember that the Holy Spirit is so powerful.
00:35:29.280
That person that you think could never understand the Bible, that person that you think would
00:35:34.660
never be attracted to the church, that person that you think would never like singing hymns,
00:35:39.440
that person who you think could never pay attention to a whole sermon, you are discounting the
00:35:45.500
That does not need these movies, does not need this hoopla, does not need all of this silliness
00:35:58.520
And it is our joy as believers, our service as believers, our love, our boldness, our strength,
00:36:07.340
our stability, our soundness of mind, our fruit of the Spirit that is supposed to attract people
00:36:14.600
to church through the power of the Holy Spirit, not even our own efforts in that.
00:36:25.420
I'm not against utilizing the skills, the gifts that God has given people, artistic,
00:36:29.880
creative gifts to serve the church and to create a beautiful church service, to create
00:36:36.320
a beautiful church building, a really dynamic and compelling sermon, beautiful sounding music
00:36:46.300
I'm not saying that everything needs to be stoic and utilitarian and boring and that our
00:36:52.540
kids' ministries should just basically be like that episode of The Office when Dwight creates
00:36:57.640
a nursery and it's just a bunch of, like, leftover pencils.
00:37:02.860
Of course, it can be beautiful and fun and entertaining, but the point is that Christ must
00:37:08.680
be central, not just a character, the glory of God, the cross, the gospel must be so all-encompassing
00:37:17.640
and so main in any production that we put on, in any program that we try to produce,
00:37:28.000
in any sermon, in any service, that there are no distractions like this.
00:37:37.340
There's no reason to try to fit in secular stories to the Bible in the hopes that people
00:37:48.120
Let me read you the verse that I have been, uh, that I've been referencing or paraphrasing
00:38:01.280
And he, Christ, gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers
00:38:06.980
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we
00:38:13.060
all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature,
00:38:18.120
manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer
00:38:23.020
be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
00:38:28.900
by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
00:38:32.260
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up, grow up in every way into him who
00:38:39.400
is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint
00:38:44.940
When each part is working properly, speaks or makes the body grow so that it builds itself
00:38:56.520
Let's leave behind childish ways and let us grow into the stature of the Son of God, to
00:39:14.120
So it doesn't seem like there's a lot of time and a lot of leeway for these kind of juvenile
00:39:19.400
games that seem to be being played at a lot of churches these days.
00:39:23.520
Okay, so I don't know if you guys have seen some of the controversy surrounding Jamie Foxx.
00:39:43.800
Jamie Foxx, the famous actor, he posted this on Instagram.
00:39:56.660
Now, a lot of people are calling this anti-Semitic.
00:40:01.120
Actor Jamie Foxx's headline says, post horrifically anti-Semitic message to his 16.7 million followers.
00:40:13.280
He said, I want to apologize to the Jewish community, everyone who is offended by my post.
00:40:16.360
I now know my choice of words have caused offense, and I'm sorry, that was never my intent to
00:40:20.120
I was betrayed by a fake friend, and that's what I meant by they, not anything more.
00:40:24.000
I only have love in my heart for everyone I love and support the Jewish community.
00:40:28.220
My deepest apologies to anyone who was offended.
00:40:32.540
Actress Jennifer Aniston got caught up in the scandal after an Instagram screenshot showed
00:40:39.960
She denied that she had intentionally or unintentionally liked the post, which she described as anti-Semitic.
00:40:53.280
So I think that this whole thing is very strange.
00:40:57.180
People automatically assuming this is anti-Semitic.
00:41:00.100
I didn't see any other context that would make anyone think that Jamie Foxx is anti-Semitic.
00:41:08.500
I mean, here's how I would have taken this if I would have seen it.
00:41:11.460
I don't follow him, but if I would have seen it, I would have taken that as, I mean, a poor
00:41:18.900
It's not about like fake friends and things like that, but I would have taken it as the
00:41:31.300
I'm not sure why people read Jewish people into that, except for you just see what you
00:41:39.840
And so you're going to be offended by something by reading into something that's just not there.
00:41:45.900
Jennifer Aniston, like apologize or like saying that, oh, I'm so sad that people were, you
00:41:51.700
know, offended by this or this was wrong or whatever.
00:41:53.900
Again, people just say the things that they are supposed to say.
00:41:59.160
I mean, it was nice, but I mean, clearly it wasn't anti-Semitic.
00:42:06.040
Anyone with any knowledge of scripture can see that.
00:42:08.820
There are a couple of verses that came to mind and based on his apology, I think that
00:42:13.380
Again, not a good use of scripture, but I can see what he meant.
00:42:16.300
Matthew 24 and 9, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and
00:42:21.760
you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
00:42:27.300
So that is Jesus saying that, look, you're going to be hated like I was hated.
00:42:32.520
If they hated you, the world, if the world hates you, remember that they hated me first.
00:42:38.540
And so, again, this is an example where we shouldn't try to insert ourselves into the
00:42:43.200
passage and try to apply this verse, which is about Christ and about those who follow
00:42:50.580
But it is applicable in the sense that if we are really believers in the same way that
00:42:55.400
the world hated Jesus and hated his message, those who didn't believe him hated him with
00:43:00.280
a vile hatred, then we have to expect that those of us who carry his gospel too will also
00:43:06.640
be hated and will also be rejected and will have to suffer many things because of the gospel.
00:43:11.900
However, I do want to deal with this controversial piece because I have seen people say, I guess
00:43:17.380
because I read this verse at some point, I have seen people say that if you say something
00:43:25.720
like the Jewish people delivered Jesus unto death, people will say that is anti-Semitic,
00:43:34.380
And I've seen people say, oh, that's anti-Semitic.
00:43:37.280
You can't say that the Jewish people killed Jesus.
00:43:43.620
Well, I guess it depends on how you want to define anti-Semitic.
00:43:47.340
I won't define that for you, but it is biblical.
00:43:49.880
I mean, all Christians who believe the Bible, and by definition, if you're a Christian, you
00:43:53.120
should believe the Bible, believe that the Jewish people who were with Jesus at the time
00:44:01.460
and who were with Jesus or who were there before Jesus' execution did have a hand in
00:44:09.080
Now, that is not an excuse to be hateful or rude toward all Jewish people.
00:44:15.380
That's not saying that there is anything innate about Jewish people that we should oppose or
00:44:23.460
But to say that believing something that Scripture clearly says is true is anti-Semitic.
00:44:37.800
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs
00:44:46.060
As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge
00:44:51.040
of God you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
00:44:55.160
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held
00:45:02.620
Yes, Christians do believe that the Jewish people at the time, that the Jewish religious
00:45:06.820
leaders, that the Jewish people who said release Barabbas but execute Jesus, of course, had
00:45:13.720
Again, that's not an excuse for hatefulness towards a group of people or for meanness,
00:45:21.800
But to say that reading that verse or believing that tenet of Christianity is anti-Semitic, okay.
00:45:34.200
Now, I don't think that's what Jamie Foxx was saying at all.
00:45:37.360
But I have seen people say that you can't say that Jewish people at the time had any
00:45:41.400
hand in crucifying Jesus without being an anti-Semite.
00:45:48.480
And this was the necessary message of the gospel that was being preached to the men of
00:46:05.260
I don't know if you guys saw the full-on riot that broke out in New York City and Union
00:46:12.100
Square and people just destroying property and reveling in this anarchy and the destruction
00:46:22.140
But let me let me play you a clip of that in just a second.
00:46:27.340
And then I'll tell you kind of the biblical thing that I was thinking of.
00:46:42.960
All right, here is a clip of what was going on in New York City over the weekend and last
00:47:02.340
So if you're listening to this, they're jumping out of car and destroying all kinds of property.
00:47:07.840
There are tons of young people yelling about this.
00:47:19.260
I think that's how you pronounce his last name.
00:47:20.880
Plan to give away PlayStation 5's computers, microphones, other gaming accessories at the
00:47:24.740
real life meetup scheduled for Friday afternoon.
00:47:29.880
I can't even read you the message that he says that he put out for his followers because
00:47:37.600
it says the N word so many times when Sinat arrived at the park to do this giveaway, he
00:47:43.600
was immediately mobbed by thousands of cheering fans.
00:47:45.860
And within 30 minutes, the crowd turned violent.
00:47:48.760
Rioters began tossing cones, bottles, rocks and brawling with each other.
00:47:53.240
The chaos resulted in the arrest of 66 people, including Sinat and 30 miners.
00:47:58.340
And so there are so many videos like this of these mobs of teens just running around New
00:48:03.500
York City, destroying property, fighting with each other, just completely wild and anarchistic.
00:48:09.560
And in that video that you just saw, they're dancing on a car, they're kicking a car, they're
00:48:14.920
I feel very badly for the innocent person whose car that was.
00:48:19.280
When I first saw the picture of this, I thought, how could someone find joy in creating chaos
00:48:26.000
We know chaos and destruction are things that the enemy loves.
00:48:35.700
And I got a message from someone who said, you know, I used to be a liberal and I would
00:48:40.500
have loved to do something like this a few years ago.
00:48:44.780
There's part of you that just like hates the system, hates rules, hates authorities and
00:48:50.160
And so you kind of justify acts like this, thinking that you're rebelling against
00:48:57.720
But at the same time, it's just, it's also just like the power of evil.
00:49:04.860
And as you probably know, I couldn't read you all of Psalm 119 because it would take
00:49:10.360
But if you read this Psalm, which in my, in the ESV, the heading is, your word is a lamp
00:49:19.820
Basically, it is just a rejoicing over God's law, a love for God's law, a hatred for wickedness,
00:49:27.700
a hatred for lawlessness, a hatred for hypocrisy, a hatred for evildoers, and a love for God's
00:49:35.860
order, a love for God's ways, for his parameters, for his regulations, for his restrictions.
00:49:41.520
And I just think about like, that is the power of the Holy Spirit.
00:49:46.160
That is the power of God to change our hearts from these dead, decaying things that love
00:49:52.420
anarchy and chaos and disorder and destruction and are so selfish and so self-centered, never
00:49:58.220
thinking about the needs and the well-being and the safety of other people, to then loving
00:50:07.420
In this world today, where we're constantly told, just to bring it full circle, that everything
00:50:11.460
is about us and everything is about what we want and what feels good in the moment, God
00:50:20.980
He offers us a righteousness, a goodness, an orderliness that can only be found in him.
00:50:31.360
It's not just about following rules for the sake of following rules.
00:50:34.880
It's about being like Christ because we love Christ, because he first loved us.
00:50:40.140
It is about self-forgetfulness and self-denial and the self-emptying that comes through being
00:50:47.800
a disciple of Jesus and making everything about him.
00:50:52.960
When we make everything about him, we don't tolerate evil and wickedness and anarchy and chaos
00:50:58.580
well. So really, when I look at all of this, that's not just happening in New York City,
00:51:02.940
but in other places too, I don't just think, wow, those people need police.
00:51:16.040
There should be proper biblical church discipline.
00:51:21.800
The lack of discipline, the lack of control that we see, the lack of self-control that
00:51:26.700
we see, it's a product of all kinds of massive things in our society.
00:51:31.240
But I also look at them and I just see sheep without a shepherd.
00:51:34.800
I just see people who have not been changed by God, people who don't love God's law, people
00:51:38.820
who don't love order because they follow the father of lies, who loves chaos and destruction,
00:51:44.420
doesn't have anything good for these people who are sowing the destruction either.
00:51:48.480
So there is a level of compassion there that I see.
00:51:53.000
And so, gosh, there's a lot of things that we can change policy-wise, but most of all,
00:51:56.720
we need to pray for the changing of hearts because this kind of Satan-wrought anarchy,
00:52:07.640
It hurts real people and it hurts our country as a whole.
00:52:13.520
Today, there's a lot more that I could have said, but we'll try to cover it all this week
00:52:22.020
Thanks so much for listening and for watching, and we will be back here tomorrow.