Has God impacted your life over the past year or two at Cleary? The book of Revelation tells us that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Do you have a word of testimony that you would be willing to share with us? Has God healed an area of your life? Has God grown an area of your life? Has God freed you in a particular area of your life? How has God changed you over the last year or two at Cleary? Maybe God has impacted your life through a Sunday school class, a small group, the worship, the sermons, or some other ministry of the church. If this is so, would you please take time to type a 3 minute testimony and comment on this blog at kevinivy.com OR email it to kevin.ivy@clearybaptist.org OR you can drop it off by the church office Monday through Thursday between 8 and 5 (or of course on Sunday). It will only take a moment of your time to share with us what God is doing, or has done in your life through the ministry of Cleary and it will be well worth the time. Don’t put it off….go ahead and jot your word of testimony down now or you will not do it. We really need to know if God is working in the lives of our people.
I would also ask you to forward this blog to everyone you know that attends Cleary Baptist Church so that they too can respond with their testimony. We would love to have as many testimonies as possible as soon as possible. They will play a large role in some future surprises that are coming to Cleary in the upcoming months. Thank you, in advance, for your input.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Television and Cinema
I am really struggling lately over the issue of television. I am concerned with how much damage it is doing to the church, the family, and to us as individuals. I wrote a blog about my feelings about television and movies several weeks ago. I ran across an article by Pastor John Piper today as well that I want to encourage you to read. He said,
I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.
If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners. There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.
I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.
I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).
Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.
All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.
But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.
One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.
TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org
Since this is such an issue to me, I wanted to add below a copy of what I wrote several weeks ago as well, so here it is.
I want to write about something that is killing, and yes I mean KILLING our country, our churches, our families, and we as individuals. I want to reveal the identity of a real killer. This is really a recent revelation, but one that is true. It is one of those things that make you want to kick yourself because you can't understand how you could never have seen it before. The thing that I believe is killing us may surprise you. It is none other than discontentment. But it is not that simple. The discontentment that is killing us is a discontentment that is planted and driven by television and cinema.
The examples I could give are absolutely endless, but I will share with you a few that may hit home.Television and cinema drive discontentment in husbands. On the television, he sees Victoria's Secret models, Hollywood actresses, and women who have had multiple surgeries (and sometimes drugs) in order to achieve what "our society" defines as the "perfect body." (By the way, there are seasons in history where our models today would be repulsive) He then becomes discontent with his wife, his eyes begin to wander, and then his heart begins to wander, and his marriage falls apart, if not in court, in reality.
Television and cinema drive discontentment in wives. On the movie screen she sees handsome men who are hopelessly romantic and say everything right all the time. He is always right on time with the right things and the right words. He seems to be a hero in the home, at work, and yes, even in bed. She then looks at her husband who is kicked back in the recliner, pot belly, balding head, and a hint of body odor and wonders…what did I do? What she doesn't realize is the guy in the movie she just watched is as big of a slob as her husband, if not bigger, and on top of that he is not nearly as loyal, faithful, or wonderful as he appears on the movie screen. It is hard to remember that this is why they are called actors.
Television and cinema drive discontentment in youth. They go watch a movie together and then they simply must have what they see in the movie. After all, if the people on the big screen had little sporty cars with big loud pipes, shouldn't we? If the kids on TV got drunk, smoked pot, spent the night in promiscuity and got away with it, couldn't we? Teens see a movie and the movie dictates for them how they should dress, what they should drive, how they should brush their hair, and how they should live...and that usually costs money...imagine that.
Television and cinema drive discontentment in children. They watch a program where children are portrayed as having a room 30 feet by 60 feet filled with an indoor playground and $10,000 worth of computer equipment and they wonder why they only have bunk beds and a basketball. After all if ______ on TV has it, why can't I? The kids in the commercial seemed to be having a good time. Do you get my drift? Many of us live in homes where husbands, wives, and children are all discontent and the only reason they are all still under one roof is due to necessity. They don't even like each other anymore. It even applies to churches.
People turn on the television and there, portrayed on the screen before them, is a mega church with the best lights, the best band, the best worship, the best pastor, the best children's ministry, the best student ministry, and the biggest budget. After all they even have a single's ministry, a private school, and a McDonald's right next to the bookstore in the foyer. All we have is….well…..church. Then we get discontent, move down the road, and spend our lives looking for First Baptist Six Flags Over Jesus Church rather than plugging in and serving where God has placed us. Do you get my drift? Discontentment is killing us! It is killing our joy! It is killing our marriages! It is killing our families! It is killing our churches! And to be honest, most of the discontentment comes from the television set and the movie screen….sometimes radio as well. We need to learn to guard against discontentment.
Hear the Word of God. 2 Cor 12:10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.Phil 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content1 Tim 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be contentHeb 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you haveHow desperately we need to guard against discontentment. That may mean no more movies. That may mean no more television. That may simply mean a good old fashion reality check and a push out of fantasy land into the real world. I believe if we worked as hard at our marriages and our families as we do at keeping up with American Idol or the latest movie or sport we would see a difference that would rejuvenate and revive our spouses, our children, our churches, and ourselves.
Fight discontentment. Flee it. Live your life and live it the fullest…and you can't do that trying to live someone else's life, even if they are a Hollyweird actor. Let us be content and "give thanks with a grateful heart" for all the people and possessions God HAS blessed us with instead of wasting our lives pursuing what He never intended for us to have.
Am i saying, "throw out your TV?" No, but we would all probably be better off if we did.
I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.
If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners. There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.
I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.
I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).
Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.
All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.
But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.
One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.
TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org
Since this is such an issue to me, I wanted to add below a copy of what I wrote several weeks ago as well, so here it is.
I want to write about something that is killing, and yes I mean KILLING our country, our churches, our families, and we as individuals. I want to reveal the identity of a real killer. This is really a recent revelation, but one that is true. It is one of those things that make you want to kick yourself because you can't understand how you could never have seen it before. The thing that I believe is killing us may surprise you. It is none other than discontentment. But it is not that simple. The discontentment that is killing us is a discontentment that is planted and driven by television and cinema.
The examples I could give are absolutely endless, but I will share with you a few that may hit home.Television and cinema drive discontentment in husbands. On the television, he sees Victoria's Secret models, Hollywood actresses, and women who have had multiple surgeries (and sometimes drugs) in order to achieve what "our society" defines as the "perfect body." (By the way, there are seasons in history where our models today would be repulsive) He then becomes discontent with his wife, his eyes begin to wander, and then his heart begins to wander, and his marriage falls apart, if not in court, in reality.
Television and cinema drive discontentment in wives. On the movie screen she sees handsome men who are hopelessly romantic and say everything right all the time. He is always right on time with the right things and the right words. He seems to be a hero in the home, at work, and yes, even in bed. She then looks at her husband who is kicked back in the recliner, pot belly, balding head, and a hint of body odor and wonders…what did I do? What she doesn't realize is the guy in the movie she just watched is as big of a slob as her husband, if not bigger, and on top of that he is not nearly as loyal, faithful, or wonderful as he appears on the movie screen. It is hard to remember that this is why they are called actors.
Television and cinema drive discontentment in youth. They go watch a movie together and then they simply must have what they see in the movie. After all, if the people on the big screen had little sporty cars with big loud pipes, shouldn't we? If the kids on TV got drunk, smoked pot, spent the night in promiscuity and got away with it, couldn't we? Teens see a movie and the movie dictates for them how they should dress, what they should drive, how they should brush their hair, and how they should live...and that usually costs money...imagine that.
Television and cinema drive discontentment in children. They watch a program where children are portrayed as having a room 30 feet by 60 feet filled with an indoor playground and $10,000 worth of computer equipment and they wonder why they only have bunk beds and a basketball. After all if ______ on TV has it, why can't I? The kids in the commercial seemed to be having a good time. Do you get my drift? Many of us live in homes where husbands, wives, and children are all discontent and the only reason they are all still under one roof is due to necessity. They don't even like each other anymore. It even applies to churches.
People turn on the television and there, portrayed on the screen before them, is a mega church with the best lights, the best band, the best worship, the best pastor, the best children's ministry, the best student ministry, and the biggest budget. After all they even have a single's ministry, a private school, and a McDonald's right next to the bookstore in the foyer. All we have is….well…..church. Then we get discontent, move down the road, and spend our lives looking for First Baptist Six Flags Over Jesus Church rather than plugging in and serving where God has placed us. Do you get my drift? Discontentment is killing us! It is killing our joy! It is killing our marriages! It is killing our families! It is killing our churches! And to be honest, most of the discontentment comes from the television set and the movie screen….sometimes radio as well. We need to learn to guard against discontentment.
Hear the Word of God. 2 Cor 12:10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.Phil 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content1 Tim 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be contentHeb 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you haveHow desperately we need to guard against discontentment. That may mean no more movies. That may mean no more television. That may simply mean a good old fashion reality check and a push out of fantasy land into the real world. I believe if we worked as hard at our marriages and our families as we do at keeping up with American Idol or the latest movie or sport we would see a difference that would rejuvenate and revive our spouses, our children, our churches, and ourselves.
Fight discontentment. Flee it. Live your life and live it the fullest…and you can't do that trying to live someone else's life, even if they are a Hollyweird actor. Let us be content and "give thanks with a grateful heart" for all the people and possessions God HAS blessed us with instead of wasting our lives pursuing what He never intended for us to have.
Am i saying, "throw out your TV?" No, but we would all probably be better off if we did.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)