Drug-Induced Sleepiness

"You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).

Anyone who has worshiped with us at Faith Community Church over the past year would agree that their pastor (that would be me) is a bit preoccupied with idolatry. During Lent, we explored idolatry throughout Scripture, affirming the belief that the central premise of the Bible is the rejection of idolatry (Habertal & Margalit, Idolatry, 1992). This summer, in working our way through the Acts of the Apostles, we find a recurring theme in the apostles' ongoing (and very provocative) confrontation with the idols of 1st century Hellenism.

The challenge of preaching in the 21st century church is, invariably, to find where and how God's word is applied to our present context. I know of no person within our congregation or even within our greater West Chicago community who would claim to worship Baal or Artemis. Even if pressed, one would have a hard time acknowledging their worship of contemporary gods like money or sex.

I have made the point in preaching (cogently, I pray) that we are, all of us, susceptible to the worship of gods-who-are-not-God. These false-gods we often worship unknowingly, even passively, and for a variety of reasons: for purpose in life, for a sense of identity or being, in hopes of accomplishing something, to give life a sense of meaning, to rise above the unavoidable realization that life is terminal, to prolong life, to avoid death.

In reading the newspaper this morning (Chicago Tribune, New York Times), I was struck yet again how every problem in the world is a result of idolatry. Some examples:

• Social service officials in Pakistan have noticed a significant increase in infanticide, the killing of newborn infants. This horror can be tied to the idolatry of money--most of the infants killed in Pakistan are girls, who are not allowed jobs and thus bring no income to the family. Idolatry is traced to the parents who murder, the cultural system that oppresses women, an international economy that perpetuates poverty in countries such as Pakistan, and twisted religious systems that reward death.
  
• The UN has now declared a famine in Somalia. A famine. That means there is not enough food in a large country to feed its citizens, and those citizens (particularly the most vulnerable) starve to death. This is in the 21st century. How does this happen?
  Where is the idolatry here? There are many, to be sure. Primarily, it is the idolatry of power, which has so corrupted a government and its systems that, despite the availability of food, people are starving to death. Starving to death.
• The United States Senate is embroiled in a lively debate regarding the nation's debt-ceiling. Though a compromise is at hand, it reveals perhaps the biggest false-god in the American consciousness--the god of wealth. We tax and spend, spend, spend (Democrats) or borrow and spend, spend, spend (Republicans), and then scratch our heads wondering what went wrong when, at long last, the check bounces. I try to imagine what would happen in America if we initiated austerity measures as they've done in Greece--rioting in the streets, methinks. We are a country who bows down to the god of wealth. It is so ingrained in our culture, we have an entire economy and political system which basically says, "You must choose this way if you want to be/stay rich." (By the way, America is certainly not alone in this, we simply lead the way.)
  
• Social ills are an easy target, but consider the proliferation of medical marijuana use in New Jersey. Governor Christie is showing signs of legalizing more wide-spread use, following other states in doing so.
• On Sunday, thousands of homosexual New Yorkers will enter the state of official wedded bliss as the state finally endorses same-sex marriage.
• Both of these are examples not of the idolization of drugs or sexuality, but rather could be categorized as the idols of the heart. What I mean is this: we find all kinds of reasons to do what it is we want to do (i.e. "the drug will make me feel better and live longer," or "this is who I am, I really love this person, and I want to be happy"). All of us are inclined to follow the desires of our hearts. What the Bible tells us, however, is that oftentimes these desires are antithetical to what God would have for us (we have a word for this--sin). We often think of sin as the bad things we do or say or think that brings upon us God's wrath. This is not quite right. Paul explains in Romans 1:24 the reality of all idolatry (following the desires of our hearts), "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!" In other words, our sinfulness is evidence of God's wrath against us, as He turns us over to the desires of our hearts, allowing us to walk the path that invariably leads to death (idols always destroy those who serve them). I know of few cases where the use of "recreational" drugs does not inevitably lead to some form of physical or relational or emotional destruction as use becomes abuse and the drug becomes a god. Or, per the latter example, where defiance at God's word (He is quite clear when it comes to all forms of sexual expression) turns to resentment toward God and His church.

The story of the Garden, and the story for all of us born of Adam, is that we have a broken relationship with God that manifests itself in brokenness at every other level--economic, social, religious, and political (Corbett & Fikkert, When Helping Hurts, 2009). The examples I've given above are just a few of many rather dramatic examples of what this looks like for us today.

But that's not what I want to write about (God bless you for sticking with me this long!).

Most everyone who might read this would surely affirm some level of disappointment over the examples given above (for others, even outrage). But most all who might read this would also say, "These examples are a long, long ways from me and my experience." Infanticide and starvation are hemispheres away, right? I don't know about people starving, but Pakistan has nothing on us in regard to infanticide in the U.S. As far as twisted sexuality, I'm guessing that most of us are either affected or have loved ones who are deeply affected. Politics and the economy? Good grief, Chicago wrote the book on thuggery-as-politics, messiah-complex politicians, and a system that spends frivolously even as we sink deeper into red ink.

Okay, so all of these ills are very real and present dangers. Idolatry all around! But you and me? Na! (Cue lullaby...)

My concern is that we are (and I very genuinely include myself in this) quietly, softly being lulled to sleep. There is a battle raging all around us, as evidenced by the above (and our own growing, disquieting concern that perhaps the brokenness all around isn't too far from my own heart), and yet...and yet...I'm just so sleepy...

We are a culture very adept at self-medicating. What is our anodyne? Homes, cars, safety, comfort, the NFL (have you not noticed a remarkable parallel between the ongoing Senate debt-ceiling debates and the ongoing NFL collective bargaining agreement debates?), and youth football.

Yes, youth football.

Ian is playing West Chicago Park District tackle football this year. I find it interesting that the football season for ten-year olds begins earlier than NFL training camps (and the season goes almost as long as the high school season). Yesterday was his first day of "voluntary-ahem-mandatory" conditioning camp. It is July 20. Again, Ian is ten.

So I, along with a bunch of other parents, spent two hours last night watching our boys sweat it out on the Reed-Keppler practice fields. Look, I love sports, and can rattle off many, many reasons for why football, in particular, should be a part of every boy's life. My issue is not with the game, or the coaches, or even organized practices in 100 degree weather in mid-July for 10 year old boys. My issue is with what I experienced on the sidelines last night with a lot of other parents. I had an overwhelming sense of sleepiness all around, and my own increased sleepiness as I succumbed to the anodyne of youth football. I came home and was nearly crawling out of my skin, the effects of the drug wearing off.

Here's where I'm going with this: there is a battle raging right here, right now among us (yes, right here in quiet, peaceful, beautiful West Chicago, Illinois, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above-average). If you are to accept, as I pray you do, that there are idols all around, you must also accept that this is not a passive affront to our created purpose (we are made to know and love God), but rather an ongoing and deliberate war by the evil one to lead us down paths of destruction. Paul, in Ephesus, perceived this very well. Artemis may be an inoculous non-god, but she is certainly a tool in Satan's larger scheme to distract, corrupt, and lead us away from our created purpose and identity. And it is a full-scale war: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). Just as we settle in with our anodyne. Liberty breaks down at every level as we snooze. Battles are lost as we cheer our favorite teams. To quote Padme Amidala, "This is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause" (Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith).

Jesus Christ came not only to abolish idolatry (thus restoring humanity to its true, created purpose), but also to shake us out of our sleepiness. The Holy Spirit testifies, "To all who did receive [Jesus Christ], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). And thus Paul writes (again to the church in Ephesus, 5:8-9), "For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)." Therefore (and I pray the picture you get is Christ shaking us out of our anodyne-induced sleepiness),
"Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you." (5:14)

Christ rescues us from the desires of our hearts.
Christ delivers us from our idolatry.
Christ rouses us from our drug-induced sleepiness and apathy.
Christ clothes us in righteousness and glory.
Christ establishes us in freedom and joy.
Christ secures us in our God-created identity.
Christ purchases for us a place in His kingdom.

And I (among so many others) will continue to shake you with this gospel, just as I am shaken to alertness. And we will sing together,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Eph. 1:3-10)

Amen.