JR. Forasteros - May 28, 2017
Star Trek
We tend to quit when relationships get hard – that’s because truly intimate, life-changing relationships take a lot of work. How can we embrace the pain of true community for the sake of our own faith, the faith of others in our community, and ultimately, the faith of our world?
From Series: "Strangers in a Strange Land"
Great Science Fiction offers visions of a utopian future where humans have achieved peace and prosperity through progress. But Jesus' resurrection challenges the assumption that humans can save ourselves. In this series, we'll examine some of the most famous sci-fi visions of the future against the image of the Church we find in 1 Peter and see how the Spirit at work in us is the true hope of the world.
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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.
