Last Week’s “I Love My City” sermon, “Overcoming Opposition”
Last Sunday night was the VMA’s. While I didn’t watch it on Sunday night because something more important was on TV (the Dallas Cowboys), I found time yesterday to watch some of it. David and I don’t have a TV or the internet (we catch a little TV at his parents’ house or the gym), but you would have to be more disconnected then us to NOT hear about Lady Gaga. Up until Thursday, her dress at the VMA’s was the most talked about thing on Twitter.
The last time I meandered through Barnes and Noble I saw the magazine cover where she posed wearing barely anything, and what she was wearing was a raw meat bikini. It caught every passerby’s attention. And Sunday night at the VMA’s, she furthered her statement by wearing a dress made of raw meat.
Now, you may be wondering why in the world I’m even writing about it. Honestly, its really bothering me. She said to Ellen Degeneres after the VMA’s that she wore the dress because,
“If we don’t stand up for our rights and what we believe in, pretty soon we will have as much rights as the meat on our bones.”
She followed her statement by grabbing a picture of herself in the meat bikini exclaiming,
“And, I am not a piece of meat.”
Lady Gaga’s apparel statement is shocking. I don’t really feel like its fair to say that she does a great job backing up what she’s trying to say, but she is being very offensive. Because of the offensiveness of her statement, the world applauds. I think what they are really applauding is her confidence to be so countercultural in a world where everyone wants to comfortably fit in.
This week I asked the ladies in my community group what keeps us as women in our broken city from really fearlessly displaying the Gospel to the people around us. One girl spoke up and said, “I think it is apathy.”
I think she nailed it. To some Christians, Jesus is just a Sunday morning character. It’s hard not to feel indifferent or apathetic about Jesus if He is not very important to you. Other Christians are so afraid that radical love for Jesus and others will offend people, so they suppress all of the concern that they should have for the lost and hurting in the world and become numb. Our fear of being rejected by people we are supposed to love surpasses our love for them. Honestly, we just care about ourselves too much to make a statement. Living lives of radical, passionate love for our Savior and for the people around us could truly change this world. Certainly, God never intended for apathy to be our mark in this world. Neither did He intended for our lives to be just about our own comfort and gain. Yet, so often that’s just the statement we are making.
In Luke 10, Jesus tells about a man who came across another man who was dying on a road. These men were sworn enemies; their races were killing each other.
The STORY: Instead of responding as every other person did; He went to him, bound His wounds, poured oil on him, gave him wine, set him on his own animal, took care of him, bought him a place to stay, gave him money, paid all his medical expenses, and promised to come back for him. This is statement of love was so countercultural; he could have been shunned by his own people for his display. It was offensive to love like this.
The truth is, we were once enemies of Jesus. Humanity had rejected God, and yet He came into the world proclaiming radical love and life. He didn’t apathetically love us, but loved us to His own great expense. He was killed for it. Why would Jesus love and die for a people who rejected and hated Him? Radical love, and this countercultural love was so beautiful and powerful that it split history in two.
People are longing for something radical. They are longing for it so much that they will cheer and applaud for a meat dress. Yet, when we look a little deeper, we see that Lady Gaga’s little stunt is just a cheap substitute for what the world really needs—radical, countercultural love. The world needs Jesus, and a people who love and represent him. Let’s be that people.
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If you haven’t read my recent posts(“A Woman of the City” & “It Cost Me Everything“) , I’ve been writing a series that I am calling “ A Woman of the City” coinciding with a series being preached by David called “I Love My City.” You can catch up on recent posts here. I am also teaching a woman’s community group for ladies attending West Texas A&M or in the Amarillo Area, please email me at davidandkateritchie@yahoo.com if you want to be involved!
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