Weird: Because Normal Isn't Working


01/22/2012 - Weird in a God Kind of Way



Good morning and welcome to Valley View Community Church and our brand new series called Weird. Today we begin a six-week series that's going to take an honest look at what our culture calls normal and examine together why normal isn't working.

Right up front I want you to know that this series is based on the timeless truths of Scripture because we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. We believe that this book is filled with God's wisdom on how to get the most out of life both now and forever because that's what Jesus came to give us all ... life and life to the full!

And this series is also based on a recent book by the same name written by Craig Groeschel the founding pastor of LifeChurch.tv. Feel free to get a copy of the book and follow along with us. We'll be drawing on many of his ideas. For instance, in his introduction Groeschel writes these words. Maybe you can relate.

"Nowadays being normal isn't quite as easy and painless as it used to be. In fact, being normal is more time consuming than ever. There aren't enough hours in the day to buy, sell, drive, cook, clean, call, text, email, post, shop, eat, study, write, review, schedule, and follow through on everything. Overwhelmed, overloaded, and exhausted, everybody talks about wanting more time, but only to "catch" up on what they're already doing - rushing, planning, worrying, and rushing around some more. Normal is busy and getting busier.

"When it comes to finances, it's normal to go into debt so deep that you can't see your way out. Money becomes a dark pit of worry, fear, anxiety, tension, and arguments. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck even though they're making more money today than they ever have, but it's never enough. Now more than ever, it's expensive to be normal.

"Normal relationships require little and provide less. Married couples are so busy, so stressed, and so exhausted, that there's normally no time for each other. No wonder that affairs are normal. You want to spend more time with your kids, but there's just not enough time. They're almost as busy and stressed out as you are.

"And nothing's more normal than sex, right? Premarital sex, extramarital sex, group sex, friends-with-benefits sex, porn, experimentation, casual hookups - whatever feels good between consenting adults. It's all totally normal. But normal carries a hefty price tag: guilt, shame, confusion, remorse, disease, addiction, relational breakdown, alienation, unwanted children, and divorce.

"Normal infects our faith as well, both what we believe and how we live it out. When we consider how people relate to God, it's normal to either reject God altogether or believe in him but live like he doesn't exist. In churches, normal is lukewarm Christianity, self-centered spiritual consumerism, and a shallow, me-driven faith. God has become a means to an end, a tool in our toolbox to get what we want.

"All this is normal. But normal isn't working."

And he's right. Normal is not working and normal is not the way Jesus invites us to live. We will not experience the life Jesus offers living normal. We won't.

A few weeks ago I shared the good news of the gospel with you as clearly as I could. We called the teaching Priority One and said that the gospel is the good news that God loves us and offers each and every one of us life, real life, eternal life as a free gift through faith alone in Jesus alone who is the Christ who died for our sins on the cross and rose again. That's life changing stuff!

And in this series we're going to apply that good news to some of the most practical areas of our everyday lives like time and money, relationships and sex, and the values that we live by.

Jesus was not normal and didn't say things that were normal. Normal says hate your enemies. Jesus says in Luke 6:27-29, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.

That's not normal. That's weird.

Normal says seek revenge on those who hurt you. Take them to the cleaners. Sue them. Make them pay. Jesus says, Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

That's not normal. That's weird.

Normal says if someone punches you in the mouth punch them back ... harder. Jesus says, If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other also.

That's not normal. That's weird in a God kind of way.

Jesus is calling each one of us to a life that's not normal, to behavior that's counterintuitive to everything we learned on the playground in elementary school. And these aren't even Jesus' most challenging teachings. They get even weirder.

Like when he says in Matthew 5:11-12, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.

That's weird, right? We're supposed to be happy when our reputation is trashed with slander, gossip, and all kinds of false rumors because we're connected to Jesus? Jesus says, "Yes. You're blessed when that happens, when you take a shot in my name."

Or this one in Luke 14:26, If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even life itself - such a person cannot be my disciple.

What's up with that? Hate your mom and dad, wife and kids, brother and sisters? I know families don't always get along, but I didn't think we were supposed to hate them. I thought we were supposed to love everybody, especially our family. And hate life itself? I thought God was pro-life? Weird again, right?

Or maybe the weirdest of all in Mark 8:35, For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Huh? I don't get it? To make the most of your life you have to throw it away? That's really weird.

Jesus is always challenging what we think is normal. He's always flipping life upside down and looking at it from a totally different angle and inviting us to do the same if we want to experience the kind of life he offers.

But challenging the norm is not only the message of Jesus. That's the consistent message of Scripture. This month I started the New Year by reading the book of Proverbs, one chapter each day. There are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs just like there are thirty-one days in most months so I read the chapter that corresponds with that day.

And so on January 14, I read Proverbs 14. And in Proverbs 14:12 the writer says, There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

Then two days later on January 16, I read Proverbs 16:25, There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

The exact same passage. The exact same truth. Normal appears to be right. But if we're not careful, normal can have devastating consequences.

This week I read an article about a study that ABC Primetime did a while back on why people follow the crowd. It started out by saying, "It was a classic episode on the old Candid Camera show - people getting on an elevator and turning around backwards just because everyone else did, and we all laughed.

"We laughed again during the movie 'Mean Girls,' when an act of teenage revenge, cutting nasty Queen Bee Regina's T-shirt during gym class - an act meant to insult her - quickly became a school fashion trend instead.

"It turns out that the joke is on us. These two examples illustrate something that we humans don't like to admit to ourselves. We follow the pack. Like birds in a flock or sheep in a pasture, we follow - sometimes to our own peril. But why are people so conformist?"

And to answer that question they interviewed an expert on the subject, Dr. Gregory Berns, distinguished professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. And they also conducted an experiment in a swanky Asian restaurant in lower Manhattan.

They invited a group of strangers to have dinner together, but two of the people in the group, a man and woman, were part of the experiment and their role was to exhibit outlandish behavior that most people wouldn't dream of doing while dining out with a group of strangers or with friends for that matter.

So during the meal they licked their fingers, picked their teeth, talked with their mouth full. They did everything that Jennifer says I do at the dinner table! And when dessert was served they told everyone to pick up pieces of mango face first, using only their mouth. And eventually, people who were total strangers at the beginning of the evening were passing fruit back and forth, mouth to mouth. Only one couple didn't get involved, but everyone else followed the crowd and conformed.

So the article went on to say that we're all prone to conform. But conforming can have dangerous consequences. After all, it was conformity that caused many Germans to follow Adolf Hitler down the path of death and destruction.

There is a way that appears to be right and often that way is called normal, but in the end it leads to death.

Jesus put his own spin on these two Proverbs when he says in Matthew 7:13-14, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

I think this is one of the most disturbing statements of Jesus anywhere in Scripture. I don't have a problem understanding that there is a wide gate and a broad road that leads to destruction. I think we see that every single day. There are endless ways that we can destroy our own lives and the lives of others with the poor choices we make. I understand that. I get it.

I don't have a problem with Jesus claiming to be the narrow gate that leads to life. After all, he is the unique son of the living God who proved it by living a life that backed up everything he said. He's the only one with a resurrection on his resume. No one else that I know of has ever returned from the dead never to die again. There is no one like Jesus. In fact, it would take a Jesus to fake a Jesus.

I don't have any problem with Jesus claiming to be the only way to the Father. In fact, I'd have a problem if Jesus claimed to be one of many ways. But he's not. The very first name given to the Christian movement was "the Way, the Road" based on these very words.

But it's that last phrase that haunts me when Jesus says only a few find it. That's the phrase that troubles me. I looked up the Greek word for few and you know what it means? It means "few, a few, few in number." That's what makes this one of the hardest sayings of Jesus.

There are a lot of people headed down the wrong path, the normal road. But that road is a dead end. Only a few, the weird ones, have the courage to take an exit ramp off the highway called "Normal" and find the right road, the weird one.

I want to be one of the few who finds it and I want you to be one of the few as well. And when you put all the few together you get a whole lot of people who have followed Jesus through the centuries down that narrow road that leads to life. So let's go together.

Groeschel closes his introduction with these words, "Separating ourselves from what the world considers normal is not just a matter of obedience. God invites us to dance to a different tune, because he know what's truly going to satisfy and fulfill us.

"Instead of living stressed out, overwhelmed, and exhausted, you can live a life of meaningful relationships, intentional scheduling, and deep, fulfilling rest for your soul.

"Instead of choking with constant financial fear and tensions, you can let God's Word lead you along a path to financial peace, margin, and eternal investments.

"Instead of allowing your marriage to drift into parallel lives or divorce by default, you can experience true intimacy with your spouse.

"Instead of continuing on the normal sexual path towards pain, emptiness, and idolatry, you can allow God to heal you, change the way you think, and place deliberate safeguards in your life to protect you.

"God wants you to know him and love him - not just acknowledge him or consider him a cosmic sugar daddy. If you let him, if you choose not to coast along the world's wide open road but rather blaze a narrow trail with Jesus as your guide, then you'll never settle for normal again. You'll want only one thing. The God kind of weird."

Questions of the Week

  • What is the relationship between church and culture? How can we be "weird" but at the same time be missional?
  • Bruce mentioned several examples of ways that normal isn't working. What are some things that you can think of that are "normal" but opposed to the kingdom? How can we be countercultural in these areas?
  • What does conformity look like to you? Why do you think we struggle with conformity?
  • In what ways did Jesus challenge his cultural norms? What can his example tell us about how we are to relate to culture?