In a minor news story, JUSTIN BIEBER remarked that he wanted
to take his Christian faith more seriously.
Bieber talked about his Evangelical Christian upbringing. Bieber
says that he loves Jesus and wants to become more like Him. But the kicker is Christians have left “a bad
taste in people’s mouths” by being “overly pushy with the subject, overly
churchy and religious.” Bieber said, “It
doesn’t make you a Christian just by going to church.” Then Bieber made the analogy: “You
don’t need to go to church to be a Christian. If you go to Taco Bell that
doesn’t make you a taco.”
Bieber got his big break in the music industry being
discovered on YouTube. He was all of 13
years old. Millions of records sold
later, he is now twenty-one. His recent
behavior of the last few years is exactly what one might expect of a young
music star who has come into big money before becoming a real adult. He wanted to be a tough bad boy emulating hard,
dangerous, street-wise rap/hip-hop stars.
Several tattoos, vandalism, racing his Ferrari on city streets, intoxication,
and arrests later, Bieber wants to change. He wants to grow up and change his
public image into a serious recording artist and budding adult.
It is odd to compare going to church with going to Taco Bell—much
less Christians and tacos. But no one
has ever said merely “going to church” turns you into a Christian. It is actually the other way around. The Christian comes together with his other
brothers and sisters to worship, hear His Word, and keep the sacraments.
As Luther said of the sacraments, there are many ways God’s
may be heard. But baptism and communion
are the visible Word of God. And these are the only ways God can be
touched.
It is a little unfair to expect Bieber to be different than
his peers. Indeed, the Millennial
generation commonly identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. Abjuring organized religion, the Church, they
view worship as purely optional. Or more
exactly, being a part of living Christian congregation is not needed. In fact, there may be more authenticity and graciousness
in standing alone.
We should always be suspicious of the “spiritual/not
religious”. Typically, it grants these
individuals the license to pick and choose among features of the whole variety
of the world’s religions in order to amass his own belief system. Moreover, the foremost feature of building
one’s own “religion” –one’s own Christianity—is that it is undemanding and won’t
bring discomfort. No call to die and
take up the Cross.
One of the central insight of Luther is that despite one’s own
best efforts, the sinner will never be righteous enough to stand before a holy
God. No unrighteousness, no impurity can
possibly live, be admitted into the presence of the holy God. Truly, one finds that even his best efforts
sinks him deeper into depravity.
Nevertheless, our natural inclination is to try to be so good in order
to justify ourselves before God.
We can’t help ourselves.
Even knowing the project fails before we even start, we do it
anyway. Christ meets us…when we are
called by the Father…and calls us to trust in Him instead. The Christian is graced to stand before our
Holy Father because we are clothed in Christ righteous. But the creature the “old man” in us still
lives. We still are sickened by
unbelief which can overtake us once again.
There is a powerful temptation to shun with faith in Christ and go back
to the way we were.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that we have be constantly
reminded of who we are. We must come to
worship to be taught over and over again the work of Jesus. We have to hear the call of the Father often
and continuously for faith to live.
This will not happen standing alone.
We have to be a part of the company of believers, worship with our
brothers and sisters, listen to the Word of God, bare the sufferings of our
brothers and sisters, and receive the sacraments.
As far as it goes, Bieber is right. We Christians are a pretty icky bunch. The older I get, often sitting in the pew,
before the altar, I understand that I am inescapably a pretty rotten guy. In spite of the words of my mouth, I am a
hypocrite. I will always be a hypocrite
one way or another. Maybe the world sees me as a good guy and, by
those standards, I am. But, before a holy God, there is a completely different
truth.
There is nowhere else where we confess and receive
absolution but in the Church.
As the old confession is spoken:
O God, our Heavenly
Father, I confess unto Thee that I have grievously sinned against Thee in many
ways; not only by outward transgression, but also by secret thoughts and
desires, which I cannot fully understand, but which are all known unto
Thee. I do earnestly repent, and am heartily
sorry for these my offences, and I beseech Thee of Thy great goodness to have
mercy upon me, and for the sake of Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to
forgive my sins, and graciously to help my infirmities. Amen
This confession is hard.
It is not easy to speak with our whole hearts. It is in worship, before God, with our
brothers and sisters, where we can truly make this confession.
Likewise, it is in worship, before God, with our brothers
and sisters, where we hear the absolution:
Almighty God, our
Heavenly Father, hath had mercy upon thee, and for the sake of the sufferings,
death, and resurrection of His dear Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, forgiveth thee all
thy sins. Upon the confession which thou
hast made, and in obedience to our Lords’ command, I declare unto thee the
entire forgiveness of all thy sins: In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
The blessing of
Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be with thee always. Amen
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