"The one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor." Galatians 6:6 It was labeled "shock humor." I remember it well, the year was 1999 and I was a youth pastor at the time. The students in my youth group were discussing a comedian named Tom Green. He had an edgy new show on MTV and it was supposed to be absolutely hilarious. His favorite source of material for his plot-lines was from designing new ways to terrorize his parents. On one episode he thought it would be crazy funny to wake his mom and dad up from a dead sleep at 3:00 in the morning to see if they wanted to watch a Bon Jovi concert video with him. He once painted their house plaid while they were away on a canoe trip, and he even had a pornographic picture screen-printed on the hood of his dad's car. His most notorious stunt was placing the bloody severed head of a cow in his parents bed while they were sleeping. Apparently they were big "Godfather" fans and he thought they would just love it. They hated it. However, it didn't matter to him because he was garnering attention & advertisement dollars off of his parent's shock. I decided to watch one episode just to see what he was like so I could intelligently discuss him with my students, and all I found was a man who had absolutely zero respect for the dignity of his parents. You could visibly see the disgust they had for their son, all the while pretending to be amused...It was sick. The viewing audience lapped up this vile stuff believing it was all hilarious innocent fun. But to me, it was one of the clearest violations of "Honor your Father and Mother" that I ever saw. He uncovered and made sport with the very people he should have been most grateful and respectful to. Pride &Youth Culture Humility in our culture is not valued. Pride and the promotion of self is; and our children daily live and breathe in this self-obsessed spirit-of-the-age. They have been raised to be stars, the most important person in the room. Psychologists and counselors of today call it building self-esteem; we are told that this is a good thing. Whereas, medieval sages and teachers of the past used a negative Latin term for this attitude called "Vanagloria." (vain glory). In Catholic literature this became one of the seven deadly sins. Mirror gazing and self-promotion has now become a virtue for kids in our culture. This is especially true when it comes to the way we have taught them to view authority. Like the example of Tom Green's parents; children and teens across the board have learned to de-value the role of mom and dad. For Tom, his parents became the object of his cruel humor; and for your average student, parents have morphed into their domestic cruise directors: "Are you having fun son? I hope dinner is to your liking? And am I offering you enough exciting opportunities to choose from during the week?" Heaven help the parent whose children are ever bored or lonely! This over-zealous personal butler attitude has even spilled over into the church. If students don't like youth group, if the sermon is too long, if the songs have a monotone cadence, the family must leave and find a new place that their precious children will like. We cow-tow to their every whim, they are nurtured on narcissism. And this lack of humility won't stop when they move on and begin attending college - - it may actually grow into an un-controllable monster. Listen to a quote by one Christian professor as he noticed the attitude of some of his new students: “I find that many Christian students have allowed knowledge and critical study of art, music, philosophy and other areas of higher learning to cause arrogance and sophistication to plant a bitter root of doubt and disdain for their early Christian learning in their heart. Arrogance says that the rest of the world is clueless and ignorant. Sophistication believes that no one back home that I grew up with understands quite like me and the influential new teachers and friends that I now have. This is simply not true, and in fact arrogance is one of Satan’s most deadly tools to throw impressionable Christians into vast mazes of confusion and destruction for many years of their young adult lives.” Humility's Beauty What the world has failed to understand is just how beautiful humility actually is. Not only are humble people easy to be around, but they are truly grateful for the years of teaching they received from their parents, pastors and teachers. Humility recognizes that everything I have was first given to me. Humility takes into account the love that has been shown. Kevin DeYoung puts it like this, "Think of your Sunday school teachers. Think of your youth group leaders. Think of your pastors. Think of your dad. Think of your grandparents. Think of your mom. Did they not have your best interests at heart? Did they not love you? Were they imposters? Were they wrong in everything they stood for? Is it reasonable for you to conclude that those who came before you, those who taught you to trust the Bible, those who have more experience and probably more wisdom than you - that suddenly they are benighted morons? Are they deserving of your cynicism, rejection, or scorn?...Parents and pastors aren't perfect, even the really good ones...But here is the point, and it's very appropriate for teens and twenty-somethings who like to question every authority except their own: before you leave behind what you used to believe about the Bible and God, consider who taught you to believe what you used to believe." This kind of understanding requires humility. God asks us to respect the authorities that are placed in our lives because it is for our own good. People who love you don't primarily do it to control, but to bless. And that is something to be thankful for. And if you are thankful, tell them. Let them know what they mean to you. I find that the more ungrateful you are, the more pride has a hold on you. And pride is a very ugly thing!
1 Comment
Paul Slauter
8/22/2015 09:44:16 pm
Very good stuff, 100% agree!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
August 2018
|