Looking for real

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:1-3 ESV).

Some years ago, on a missions trip to Indonesia, I was nearly overwhelmed by the street vendors selling their wares. While walking along the streets of Bali, we could barely take two steps before another peddler would be pulling at our sleeve, saying, "You American? You buy good watch, OK? You want Rolex, right? Only ten dollar!"

"No thanks." I would say, while shaking my head and wagging my finger. You had to be firm in your denial because they were really persistant.

"Here, you take a look!" They would insist, holding out a handful of watches or pulling back their jacket to expose a neatly arranged inventory.

Lifting the watches in front of my face, it was difficult not to look (I tried to avoid eye contact so as not to encourage them). But with this one guy, I couldn't help it. Looking closely I noticed that the watch he was really wanting to sell me had "ROLLEX" written on its face. Clearly, too many letter "L"s in the name, so I said, "They're not real! They're fake!"

I guess I shouldn't have said that. Because he acted offended and started yelling at me in Indonesian. Then, quickly over his apparent anger, he leaned close and whispered, "OK. You have American dollar, right? OK. You give five dollar and you have special watch for half price.

"Tidak." I responded using the Indonesian word for a firm denial and walked away. I didn't need a watch. And I certainly didn't need a fake one.

The vendor didn't miss a beat before continuing his loud mantra on the next passerby, "Watches, watches! Rolex, Seiko! Ten dollar!"

I guess there's always someone who will settle for a counterfeit. That's what keeps vendors like this in business. 

The same may be true when it comes to matters of faith. Many settle for a fake. They just go through the religious motions and hope that God isn't looking too close.

It's this hypocrisy that has driven many of our young people from the church. They graduate from high school and their church's youth group pizza parties, heading off to college, never to return. The so-called faith that their parents and churches have sold them just isn't standing up in the real world. They are looking for something authentic. They're looking for real.

In the apostle John's first letter, he addresses this problem of fake faith, of counterfeit Christianity. He told the first century believers that they could trust the message of the gospel that Jesus Christ had died for our sins and risen from the grave because he was an eye witness to these facts. John told them that he had heard, seen, examined closely with his eyes and handled carefully with his hands the risen Lord Jesus and he was positively sure that He was the Son of God. John believed in the reality of the resurrection because he was there!

John said that those who would walk in the light of this message would have authentic fellowship with God. Real fellowship. Real faith.

This Easter, why not look for real?

Comments

[Mike Wheeler]

I would have loved to have touched Him with my hands... For some of us being real doesn't look pretty to the average Christian. Sometimes the most attractive box is the empty one. Being a real Christian may alienate us from friends or even family. But I agree being real is the only way to convince our youth to carry on the faith!

[Mike Massey]

Gary once again you have hit the nail dead center. Some, not all, churches are not getting real enough with these teenagers. Experienced christians have all too often been the first too slam the judgement on the youth. Forgetting where we where before we accepted the gift of grace is why we are seeing such a big disconnect between christians and non believers as well as the youth today. Sorry, but telling a youth to "just pray about it" or "you'll go to hell if you do that" isn't going to cut it anymore. They want us to share with them our wretched past, because if they don't know we were just as filthy as they feel right now then we can't make that connection. We need to stop pretending we don't have a past or we are ashamed of it. The youth are seeing right through that hypocrisy of us as adult leaders and we better wake up and be willing to get down and dirty and fully invest in their lives. Share with them what to expect as they journey, give them insight on our past and the mistakes we made, but being mindful to know the difference between when our opinion is being asked for vs them just wanting us to listen and say nothing. We need to quite condeming these kids too soon and too often as they are not fully developed in their faith. Would we stay with a new job if your boss offered no real training, but would consistently condemn you everyday without first showing you how to do the job? I wouldn't and that could be just one of the reasons why some teens run as far and as fast as they can from church when they head off to college or leave high school. I know personally of leaders today in Wilson County still teaching young people that comtemporary christian and christian rap music is bad and the beat will make them want to sin. The church we grew up in during the 80's and 90's are long gone and we better kick that mentality ASAP if we expect to have any hope of reaching this generation. We all screw up, this generation wants more than bible thumping, fire and brimestone fear messages. They want authenticity, they want acceptance and they want a relationship with someone with real credibility. They want to see leaders actively living out Matt22:37-40 and not just screaming it to them. This ofcourse is my .02, but I have a teen at home and trust me when I say I am 100% fully invested in her and she knows the dirty stuff in my past. I can't expect to be an effective leader to other teens if I can't lead my teen in my own home. So with that said, nice to see WCC up and running in their new home. Take care.

[Gary Combs]

Thanks for commenting Mike. Great to hear from you!