http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw2XX820jYo
The overwhelming sense of that song, both lyrically, and melodically, is of a man who knows that the world is not as it should be. And a man who longs for God to change it. (Whether it is the most theologically correct song going around, is definitely up for grabs), but at its heart it conveys in wonderfully poetic imagery the brokenness everyone knows and experiences in this world, and personally in their own lives.
Bono is sitting in the middle of the dinner, visually conveying the metaphor, that modern man is surrounded by people, particularly in the big city experience, and yet is profoundly alone at the very same time. In the midst of bright lights and activity that is the modern life, he asks the question, "where is the faith, where is the hope, and where is the love?".
Which is to ask in Christian language, that great philosophical question, “where is the meaning in life?”.
Like the poets and philosophers of old, he stops to reflect, and to look past the shiny and noisy wrapping that life comes in, to stare deep into its heart, and asked the question, "is there anything there?".
Or more importantly asked the question, "is there anything there for me?".
I'm not sure that our society is more vacuous now, than any other society in the past, but I really do believe that our society is the most distracted society in the history of man. People don't sit quietly any more, people don't think much anymore, they don't leave the space to do it. They fill their lives with noise and lights, with the goal of their own pleasure, which is to say an intention to distract from things that are unpleasant. To distract themselves from the hard realities of life.
The picture of the modern worker in transit to the city, from our very neighbourhood, is a person with their laptop playing their MP3, while they update their face booked status, and talk to their boss on their mobile through the other ear. Plenty of noise, plenty of lights, the essence of distraction, but the absence of meaning.
The poets and philosophers, of every age, ask those questions about the meaning of life, (which in a distracted society like ours, means they need to be musicians or contestants on a reality program to get a hearing).
But the reality is, all of us who have been given life, are duty bound by the gift of life, to find an answer for that question ourselves. Even if we don't want to contemplate it, even if we try and hide from it, even if we excel at distracting ourselves from its penetrating gaze. This question will come to us, each and every one of us who has been given life. “what is life about?”, and “why is the world, like it is?”.
You see it is a plain statement to every single living person, that this life is not what it should be. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
It is a completely uncontroversial statement, to say that the world is not as it should be. Everyone knows that, you don't actually need to convince anyone of that. Everyone knows there is a problem with this world, and with living a life in this world, and we feel this brokenness, this problem bear upon our lives.
Firstly it is obvious that the creation is broken, it is not as it should be. From the tsunami in Asia, to the swine flu in Mexico, from the poverty and war in Africa, to the inherent distrust and war in the Middle East, from the economic collapse that has forced so many people into financial hardship, and even out of their homes, to the environment itself (in the modern day blue-chip feelgood do something stock that is global warming). You do not need to convince people that this world is not as it should be.
And we haven't even begun to discuss the atrocities that mankind has done to themselves and their world throughout history.
Secondly it is obvious that relationships are broken, they are not as they should be. The recent census data has shown a significant increase in the number of single person dwellings. Of people living on their own in the city. Relationships in our proud and materialistic society are falling apart everywhere, and people are left with no choice but to live alone.
Loneliness is a profound burden upon us all at some point, an experience the brokenness of this world.
Relationships are broken. Whether it is the experience of loneliness, through divorce (which is significantly still on the increase still), to suicide (another profound scar upon the conscience and psyche of modern Australia). Even the breaking of relationships, and the isolation that comes, through redundancy and unemployment. A lack of connection with the rest of society, a lack of real and meaningful relationships, a lack of purpose through a lack of being useful that comes with unemployment.
Relationships are broken.
Thirdly, it is obvious that we are broken. People are broken, we are more often than not the source of the problem, not the solution. But more than that, we also have the brokenness of this creation act upon us, and we do not respond well, we fail. We suffer and bear in our very selves, the brokenness of this life, in personal disappointments -- of failing to achieve what we want to.
Whether it is the brokenness of physical illness, whether viral or bacterial, or mental, we all experience the brokenness of this world at the personal level sooner or later.
How else to explain a show like the biggest loser?
We don't watch it, because we want to see fat people get skinny, as though it is just some vain satisfaction to watch because fat people are ugly and skinny people are good-looking, although that's probably part of the appeal in our shallow society. The real appeal, in something that appears so simple at the surface level, is that in these people journey, we vicariously experience and witness a profound triumph of humanity against the brokenness of this world. Why else do we get to this sense of joy, over someone losing 75 kg?
It is because they have defeated the brokenness of this life, and they have got their life back from the edge of extinction in many cases.
A show like the biggest loser, it appeals to the secular gospel of our society, that if you work hard you can overcome anything. The power of positive thinking. That's the GOSPEL most people live with, but it is a gospel with at best limited power. In the end it is a gospel that cannot work. No amount of human effort will triumph over cancer, or death itself in the end.
We are broken, this life, our lives, our bodies, our persons are not as they should be. And looking in the mirror each day, and watching yourself get older should confirm that for you. No amount of plastic surgery or botox will be enough in the end.
Everyone knows that there is a brokenness in this world, that this world is not as it should be, that is an uncontroversial statement. The controversy starts, when we look at what the options are, what will be a solution to the problems we all face.
The apostle Paul in the book of Romans, leaves us in no doubt at all, about these problems. The problems with creation, relationships, and even ourselves are only symptoms of the real problem, which is our relationship with God.
Rom1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
The weight of brokenness we experience in this life, is the real (but not yet eternal) judgement upon mankind for his rebellion. Mankind has consciously and purposefully rejected the truth about God as God, and because of his rebellion God justly judges him in this world, with the goal that mankind would come to their right mind and understand God as God, and man kind place before him as his creation. Mankind in their sinful idiocy, decide for a idols who will become a terrible masters, and so God gives them over to the desires of their own heart.
God created us, Mankind, to worship. To honour and serve God, and this truth is evident to all creation, all man kind knows the truth, that there is one God the creator, because God has left himself the testimony of the creation. The creation itself tells of God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature. But mankind rejected the truth, and in their sin, they set up idols and worship them instead of the living God.
Every single person in this world Paul tells us, has turned to God, and demanded that the keys to their life be taken from God and given to another who they feel will be a better master. Not one person is innocent in this regard.
Rom3:10 As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
Deep down all humanity know that there is a brokenness with this world, deep down all humanity know, that they have not honoured God as God, truly, consistently and perfectly as he deserves. All humanity knows there is a problem with this life, we all feel the pains of alienation, a disconnection from reality and each other, and ultimately God, the question is, what is the solution to this problem?
Now just taking a step back for a moment, what we are talking about here, is the Christian doctrine of sin. In fact you may have heard the expression describing it as "total depravity". A description that is most normally associated with the theologian St Augustine in the fourth century, and then picked up an expanded and explained by John Calvin in the 16th century.
What the doctrine of the total depravity of mankind means, is that mankind is inclined away from God in all his thinking and actions because of sin. A sinful nature he inherits by birth from his father Adam. In fact you can read a little bit about that in chapter 5 in Romans from verse 12 on. What this doctrine means is that mankind is like a shopping trolley with broken wheels (an illustration I have used before). We know that God has made us, to go straight down the aisle and serve him, but we also know the inclinations of ourselves to skew to the side, to smash into the shelving, rather than striving to do what we know we ought, we know the inclinations of ourselves, and how easy it is to go with them.
And more than that, we even think to ourselves that smashing into the shelves might be a little bit of fun, and so we follow our desires, and reject the desires of our creator, for our lives.
We all consciously, purposely, and actively forego God and his purposes, we exchanged the truth for a lie, and in the process reject God as God, and set ourselves up under the Lordship of another.
The doctrine of total depravity, which is to say the Christian doctrine of sin, is that every single person rejects God and is deserving of his judgement. “No one is righteous not even one”. No one does the right thing all the time, and just one wrong thing, one time, is the conscious act to reject God as God. All humanity is silent before God, for all have sinned and fallen short of the standard and honour he deserves. No one has a claim upon God that God must be their God, that God must save them.
Now just so we are clear about this, the other side of this doctrine of the total depravity of man, that we need to hold together with it, is the truth that all mankind are made in God's image. While there is varying opinions as to what that means in detail, it is clear it means that mankind bears the stamp and likeness of their maker. Mankind was made in the image of God, but through sin that image has been marred, through sin the inclinations of mankind's heart are always and absolutely in rebellion against God. The image of God has been marred, it is broken, but it has not been obliterated.
What that means is, that while mankind is all ways depraved in his mind and hostile towards God. (In fact Romans chapter 5 tells us that we are God's enemy in our thinking and lives, and as a result God has become our enemy also!) We are depraved in our mind towards God, because the image of God in us is marred, yet we are not always in ourselves immoral.
Mankind can be profoundly hostile to God, and yet at the same time still moral in the normal sense of that word, to do good to their humankind. Fred hollows was an amazingly moral and good man, who did wonderful things for the people of Eritrea, but acknowledged himself that he'd given up on Christianity a long time ago, that the booze and the girls cut the Christianity out of him with the proficiency of the surgeon's scalpel.
God in his grace, has not totally removed his image from mankind, so Mankind, all mankind are capable of exhibiting some moral behaviour. But that same mankind is absolutely, and without question, proud and ultimately hostile towards God and his rule over their lives. They will not accept God as God, even though they know the good that has come from his hand.
“There is no one righteous not even one”.
The real problem, for mankind, is their relationship with God. But mankind in his stubborn and proud heart focuses upon trying to fix the symptoms, and in the process they actually increase their sin, and continue in, and even flourishing in, their desire to deny God as God.
The Bible tells is clearly what the problem is. Our problem is sin. Sin is what causes the alienation we experience in this world.
But unless you diagnose the problem properly, how will you ever find a solution? Everyone acknowledges there is a problem, everyone experiences in their own person and life, it is an uncontroversial thing to say.
So let me ask you, what do you think Mankind sees as the problem, and how do they approached the solution to this?
What do you reckon? (see mind map)
You see the reality is these things, are no solutions at all, because they don't recognize the real problem. They do not acknowledge the heart of the problem is mankind's relationship with their creator, the sustainer of all life, the living God. Mankind’s problem in this world is that they do not treat God, (they do not honour God, they do not serve God, they do not worship the true and living God) - as God, and instead exchange the truth of God with lie.
And God has given them over to the desires of their heart, the reality is that their proposed solutions are no solutions at all, and it is because God has designed them to fail. Their proposed solutions result in a shameful slavery to their desires, they end in disappointment. Our solutions ultimately fail to deliver, and we feel broken and trapped when true hardship comes.
The truth of reality, that is laid out for us in the Bible is, that Life without acknowledging God has no real and lasting meaning, it is a life of distraction, and instead of finding meaning it bears the full weight of its pride by experiencing hardship of life without Faith hope and love. The only real and truthful experience for the God denier, is to grieve under the uncertainty of life and it's fickle nature, but particularly to grieve under the spectre of death.
The God denying life, has its moments of pleasure, but is in fact a profound tragedy that cannot deal at any deep level, with the realities of life that creation is broken, that relationships are broken, and that we are broken. And worse than that, it has to acknowledge that any joy or any good thing we have will ultimately be taken away by death.
But even worse than that, (if you can believe it) the Bible says that in death, we will not just be separated from this world, but will in fact to stand face-to-face with our maker, the God we have tried to usurp, and we will bear in ourselves, in our persons, every last consequence of our sinful an obstinate life.
Rom 3:10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
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