JR. Forasteros - November 6, 2011

What's Behind Us

This is Not the End

We live in a world shaped by choices other people have made. We live in an inheritance that seems pretty broken most of the time. It's easy to feel trapped by what's been chosen for us. But God gave Ezekiel a message for the Israelite Exiles that we need to hear too. God says that we are responsible to choose God here and now, in our time. That we will be held accountable not for what others have done to us but what we choose. What's behind us doesn't define us.

From Series: "This is Not the End"

We often look at the way our culture is headed and lament what we've lost. But God is preparing something new, something better. By listening to the voices of Israelites who lived after the Exile, we can learn how to hope in God's new thing. Because this is not the End!

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I was speaking at a pastors conference once about youth ministry. I had spent 45 minutes encouraging the pastors to think outside the box and – even more importantly – to trust their youth leaders. Some of the youth leaders had shared with me that they had tried to bring in “rock music” (by which they meant Christian worship bands like ours here at Catalyst), but their pastors often shut them down. I made a plea – if they want to bring in a rock band, let them try it!

There was a Q&A afterwards and immediately a pastor asked a question: “Why should I let rock music into my church if the beat of rock music summons demons?”

If that question surprises you, then you didn’t grow up in the Church in the late 80s/early 90s loving rock music.

Everyone from Kansas to AC/DC to yes the Rolling Stones was accused of being Satanic.

And why rock music? Well the arguments get pretty complicated (and hilarious), but they’re all ultimately rooted in a particularly origin story of the Devil that pretty much standardized in our culture:

The Devil was once an angel named Lucifer who was basically second in command of Heaven (some say he was the music leader, which is why he’s so into rock n roll). For some reason, he decided he should be God instead, so he led a rebellion, tried to take over heaven, and was cast into Hell. All this happened before anything else was created.

I’m guessing that sounds at least vaguely familiar to most of us.

But here’s the fascinating thing: that story isn’t in the Bible anywhere.

Bits and pieces of it are, but the whole thing isn’t anywhere.

And that’s actually sort of a big deal. Because we should take the Devil seriously. But the Devil’s mission isn’t to get us all hooked on sick guitar licks and double-kick drum. The Devil’s mission is to deceive us, to convince us that we are not worthy of God’s grace and to convince us that others aren’t either.

But to see that, we’re going to have to figure out what the Bible actually does say about Satan.

Even more than being about the Devil, today is about the God who overcomes him with the light of truth – the truth that we’re all loved and all given impossible, infinite grace that no one – not even the Devil – can take from us.

Join us Sunday as we learn how to extend grace especially to those who don’t deserve it.

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