The "Different" Sub-culture
So, It's been a while! Life has been buuuuuuusy, but amazing! I can honestly say that this church is amazing! Every day we're seeing new people and non-Christ followers enter our doors. Our youth group has grown exponentially and we're taking a healthy group of highschoolers to our first retreat this Friday.
But that's not what I'm hear to write about. So, let me begin...
I know too many people, or maybe too many people know me.
I don't say this to boast, but I tend to be that 'person' that everybody remembers. Everywhere I go I run into old classmates, old ministry friends, ex-band fans, old campers and people that I know from other circles. I have come to the realization that I cannot go many public places without running into someone that I know. And this has been happening at my latest 'hangout spot'... a.k.a. a coffee shop.
It's called Ethical Addictions and it's in downtown Langley. It's filled with college students and teenagers, hanging around the couches playing card/board games and chatting. It's unique, in that, all sorts of cultures/social groups come out to this gathering place. From punk rockers in their spikes to preps in their latest fancy urban shoes, rolled pant cuffs and tight sweaters.
Every day that I have stopped in to read or study my bible, I have encountered old friends and the conversations I have had with the majority of them is starting to give me a 'holy discontent.'
Some of you may be getting sick of me bantering about this topic continually, but it seems to be so prevalent in our culture/generation. I have been seeing peers, who proclaim to be Christ-followers, live lives of outright sin and blatant compromise.
And it's ticking me off.
For some reason, many of my peers are falling into the idea that living with their boyfriend/girlfriend, or going on couples camping trips (and being in the same tents... even though nothing may be happening, it's like lighting a match in a room full of open gun-powder... it's making room for the enevitable.), or getting drunk on weekends, or living in lives of lust and sexual activity, or socially dabbling in drugs, or dating unbelievers (ministry dating? pffff... whatEVER!), or stooping to a lower level and dating a creep for the sake of dating, or participating in the activity of things that are unacceptable, or making jokes that are way over the line... theses things they view are all acceptable and ok because 'we are all believers and know where each other stand.' (How many times have we used that one before... I know I have).
I have been feeling truly sad in seeing the lives of compromise that Christ's bride seems to be living. Are we having an affair? It's seeming that the christian community is turning into the same community that existed in Corinth. Paul made it his effort to attack the lives of sin that they were living in. (If you want to hear an amazing series on the book of corinthians in the light of N. American culture, download Mars Hill podcasts with Mark Driscoll)
Tonight, I was prepping for my breakfast devotion group and felt called to continue reading on into the third chapter of Colossians and read the following:
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
For some reason, we have forgotten that Christ is all that matters.
This is call for us to live differently. Being a Christian is to be a different culture. Being a Christian means to stand out and apart from the world and live the way Christ intended for us to live.
That is all, I have written too much and I need to go to bed... Just felt like I needed to give you a post so you don't think I'm dead.
But that's not what I'm hear to write about. So, let me begin...
I know too many people, or maybe too many people know me.
I don't say this to boast, but I tend to be that 'person' that everybody remembers. Everywhere I go I run into old classmates, old ministry friends, ex-band fans, old campers and people that I know from other circles. I have come to the realization that I cannot go many public places without running into someone that I know. And this has been happening at my latest 'hangout spot'... a.k.a. a coffee shop.
It's called Ethical Addictions and it's in downtown Langley. It's filled with college students and teenagers, hanging around the couches playing card/board games and chatting. It's unique, in that, all sorts of cultures/social groups come out to this gathering place. From punk rockers in their spikes to preps in their latest fancy urban shoes, rolled pant cuffs and tight sweaters.
Every day that I have stopped in to read or study my bible, I have encountered old friends and the conversations I have had with the majority of them is starting to give me a 'holy discontent.'
Some of you may be getting sick of me bantering about this topic continually, but it seems to be so prevalent in our culture/generation. I have been seeing peers, who proclaim to be Christ-followers, live lives of outright sin and blatant compromise.
And it's ticking me off.
For some reason, many of my peers are falling into the idea that living with their boyfriend/girlfriend, or going on couples camping trips (and being in the same tents... even though nothing may be happening, it's like lighting a match in a room full of open gun-powder... it's making room for the enevitable.), or getting drunk on weekends, or living in lives of lust and sexual activity, or socially dabbling in drugs, or dating unbelievers (ministry dating? pffff... whatEVER!), or stooping to a lower level and dating a creep for the sake of dating, or participating in the activity of things that are unacceptable, or making jokes that are way over the line... theses things they view are all acceptable and ok because 'we are all believers and know where each other stand.' (How many times have we used that one before... I know I have).
I have been feeling truly sad in seeing the lives of compromise that Christ's bride seems to be living. Are we having an affair? It's seeming that the christian community is turning into the same community that existed in Corinth. Paul made it his effort to attack the lives of sin that they were living in. (If you want to hear an amazing series on the book of corinthians in the light of N. American culture, download Mars Hill podcasts with Mark Driscoll)
Tonight, I was prepping for my breakfast devotion group and felt called to continue reading on into the third chapter of Colossians and read the following:
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
For some reason, we have forgotten that Christ is all that matters.
This is call for us to live differently. Being a Christian is to be a different culture. Being a Christian means to stand out and apart from the world and live the way Christ intended for us to live.
That is all, I have written too much and I need to go to bed... Just felt like I needed to give you a post so you don't think I'm dead.
posted by Tyco Montoyo at 1:13 AM
5 Comments:
Glad you're not dead...kudos for posting - it's been something I've been wrestling with lately. I wondered why it bothered me so much that others were choosing the world - I mean, when you taste God's presence, who could go back? God gave me this verse...
"You have finished with sin. You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of evil things that godless people enjoy - their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols...your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do..." I Peter 4:1b-4
Continue being anxious to do God's will...be thankful you've had enough of the world and no longer desire it. And give a leather couch at EA a solid hug for me!
Thanks for your honesty Tys. I agree...sometimes we as Christians can become so 'comfortable' and can become defensive when anyone challenges us or speaks Truth into our lives. We go as close to the line as possible when, as you said, we need to fix our eyes on our prize: Christ. The gospel IS 'offensive' in the sense that it requires a change in our lives...choosing to surrender to Christ instead of giving into our human desires. If you truly encounter Christ, your life will be transformed.
Romans 6: 1- 4
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Sidebar...I didn't want my comment to come off in pride as a "I'm so glad I'm not like the tax collector" mentality...more of a recognition that we are ALL sinners, a gratitude of no longer being in that "spot" of destructive living, and a sense of sorrow that leads to prayer for friends to no longer compromise truth, but to have the abundant life you enjoy by NOT chasing after selfish desires and seeking after God's will. Hope my thoughts make sense!
Likewise for me...hahah. I include myself in the 'we as Christians'
You're the person people remember because you're memorable Tyson: different from others. That is a gift from your Maker! I praise Him for you and for gifting us with your candor and wisdom. Be blessed today T-dawg.
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