My talk at UConn tonight
Mat invited me to speak at the UConn Intervarsity Fellowship tonight. If you ever get the invitation, go for it, they feed you, they give you T-shirts, you laugh, you cry, you worship with a passionate praise team...it's better than Cats.
This is the talk i gave. it's a reworking of stuff i posted in the past few weeks...
WAYS THE BIBLE WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF WRITTEN BY
COLLEGE STUDENTS
* The Last Supper would have been eaten the next morning - cold.
* The Ten Commandments are actually only five, double-spaced, and written in a large font.
* New edition every two years in order to limit reselling.
* Paul's letter to the Romans becomes Paul's e-mail to abuse@romans.gov.
* Reason Cain killed Abel: They were roommates.
* Reason why Moses and followers walked in desert for 40 years: They didn't want to ask directions and look like Freshmen.
* Instead of God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh, he would have put it off until the night before it was due and then pulled an all-nighter
A student-athlete walks into his Prof’s office, closes the door and sits down uncomfortably. “Prof, I have a problem. Unless I bring my grade up to a C, I’ll end up on academic probation, and I won’t be allowed to play…Is there anything I can do to bring up my grade? Any extra credit project? You know, anything you need done? Around the house? Heavy lifting? Painting?”
“Anything?” asks the prof.
“Yes, anything that could bring my grade up.”
“How about studying?”
My desire tonight is to encourage you all. To assure you that God is good. That his love letter is really trustworthy. That Jesus is faithful even when we are not. That the Holy Spirit is always available and always at work. And to promote more kissing in your group!!!!
Hypocrisy
Matthew 7:4-5 (New International Version)
4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
I spent my freshman year at a Christian college on the North Shore of Cape Cod. I wanted to pursue my biology studies under Christian professors and experience dorm life with Christians. Unfortunately for me, I was expecting Christian camp, not Christian college. I was disillusioned that the kids drank and smoke and swore and fooled around with their girlfriends. I expected an environment of exhortation and encouragement where people like me could stay on the higher path. To make matters worse, my excellent Ecology professor taught us about human evolution. I wouldn’t say he advocated it, but it wasn’t his job to discuss biblical interpretation. On top of this, I felt I was sequestered from the world. I came up through the public education system and had been surrounded by people who weren’t like me religiously, ethnically, scholastically, or economically. My Christian college was a straitjacket of all those except for a few of us who were poor and a few Africans.
By winter break I had sent in my application to UConn and was accepted before Spring Break. I reasoned I could get the same debauchery (with honesty and vigor) and evolutionary biology for a third of the price. I felt surrounded by Christian posers, it was an immature perspective, and I wanted to be around honest sinners. At least I could offer them Jesus.
I also figured, why not heap it on thick and requested the dorm complex at UConn with the most debauched reputation. The Jungle. This is when the Guns-N-Roses song “Welcome to the Jungle” was very popular. Several students like to demonstrate their brilliance every fall by aiming their speakers into the Jungle’s quad and turning up the volume, plenty of evidence against an intellectual straitjacket.
Alcohol
Romans 13:12-14 (New International Version)
12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
There's a reason laws were written to discourage alcohol consumption for those under 21 years of age. Young adults grow into the concept of subtlety. Usually life is lived in extremes. There are many positives to this, but when it comes to drinking, having a beer is a difficult concept. Getting drunk is a simple concept. Since the youth culture esteems extremes, heavy drinkers achieve a high social status. Because my higher value on being a cheapskate overrode high social status via drunkenness I didn't imbibe as much as my friends. I was limited to free or really cheap beer. But when I came across it, I imbibed with abandon. Perhaps my German and Irish DNA saved me from of the typical reactions to drunkenness that my friends suffered, vomiting and black outs, but also left me, perhaps, with a tendency toward alcoholism. After 2 years in the UConn party world, I found myself drunk the night before a test. I realized, by the grace of God, that I had lost control to alcohol. So I quit drinking alcohol altogether. I never drank a drop for the next 10 years. Due to a variety of factors I tried it again. I drink in moderation now. When I feel rich enough at the grocery store after my family has enough food for the week and there is money left, I will buy wine or beer and milk it for a long time. I don't think alcohol is evil. Like money, its the love of it that is the root of all sorts of evil. As an adult, alcohol, for me, is part for the pleasure of a time with good company and good food and good conversation. As a youth it was the end and not a means. It was an idol. Alcohol is for the mature, not the immature. If you are under 21 save yourself the trouble and prove that wisdom is right like Jesus said.
Luke 7:33-35 (New International Reader's Version)
33 "That is how it has been with John the Baptist. When he came to you, he didn't eat bread or drink wine. And you say, 'He has a demon.' 34 But when the Son of Man came, he ate and drank as you do. And you say, 'This fellow is always eating and drinking far too much. He's a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' 35 All who follow wisdom prove that wisdom is right."
Freedom and Grace
Ephesians 2:1-10 (New International Version)
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
For whatever reason, most likely my sinfulness, i entered a rut of considering myself unworthy of answered prayer (true) unless i was a good boy (false). so i entered this weird religious performance cycle of sin - guilt - need - recommitment - good works - sin .... and my wonderful Intervarsity staff person decided to start a special education Bible study for me, my roommate, and another student and affirmed to us over and over God's love and grace. i responded in that typical immature way by having less guilt about the more sinning. i turned it into an i can do it all, sin and security thing. what Father also did was develop a genuine love relationship between us through this. i wasn't performing for Him.
As evidence of my embrace of grace my roommate and I started Thursday night bible study right after dinner, before people went out to the clubs and parties. It was John and Geoff’s excellent Bible study, AKA bibles and beer. We wanted people to feel comfortable bringing their genuine selves to Jesus. And they did. No one got converted out of this however.
As i grew in grace and out of legalism i relaxed in my formalism in praise. a campus group doesn't usually have hymnals and organs. in fact the song leaders sounded alot like my youth group's band. but where i grew up, the youth's band style was abandoned in big church. i also found out some churches also had bands in their big church. this worship was emotional and physical. don't get me wrong, the hymn "and can it be" brings tears to my eyes. and i love belting it out. but i found freedom in college to include in my praise clapping (just like camp and youth group) and kneeling and hand raising and unashamed out of key singing. i also encountered in IV charismatics. and then i ended up at a vineyard my senior year.
but there's a cautionary note at this point of the story. i returned to campus after my co-op and the group had fallen under the spell of someone off campus who offered many answers. and instead of pointing people to the leading of the Holy Spirit he pointed to himself and his systems and structures and guidance. he not only considered himself a shepherd in the kingdom but also a general. one night's fellowship consisted of watching a movie together. i think it was a John Wayne movie, it was a WW2 movie, perhaps the Sands of Iwo Jima. he kept pointing out to us how the church needs to be like an army unit with unfailing commitment to their commander, specifically him, not Jesus. i had already tried to confront him on the legalism i was perceiving but had gotten nowhere, plus all my friends were in this group happily. they thought i was nuts to think the emperor didn't have clothes on. at the end of the movie we ate snacks that everyone brought. and the last straw fell for me. he casually complimented the group on bringing so many tasty things as he had been in another group that never brought food that he liked. i concluded this guy really believes its all about him. he considers himself our intermediary between us and God. my stomach knotted up. i loved grace so much i knew i couldn't be a part anymore. so i stopped attending. i stayed in touch with all my friends but refused to join them at his house.
at one point i was sick of my acting and told Father i wouldn't be talking to Him in the mornings or reading His love letter to me so i could pursue earthly pleasure. i missed Him. after some period of time, more than a week, less than a month, i broke down and started talking to Him again. i told Him how much i missed Him. and as I talked to him an acquaintance from church back home happened to be driving by on campus. he stopped and offered me a ride. i didn't need a ride but unknowingly he showed me the love and grace of Father. i understood Father had choreographed a visit as i prayed. a visit that offered me something instead of demanding something. i was ecstatic for the rest of my walk. He still loved me. my pet sin didn't end that day. eventually i did change direction on that one. but grace is so cool.
God used that whole experience to demonstrate his grace to me and prepare me for some heavy encounters with other intervarsity leaders who embraced the heavy shepherding model. it shipwrecked some people's faith. they couldn't perform. they gave up. i recommend my friend anton's site to learn more, especially if you think Jesus' yoke is awfully heavy. it's not. it's easy and light.
Love
1 Corinthians 7:8-10 (New International Version)
8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Why date? I dated women inside and outside of the kingdom. If you aren't ready to marry anytime soon, just make friends with people. You will get to know women so much better if you aren't focused on the making a move on them. Whenever I jumped out of the dating pool, either by conviction from the Lord or from another broken heart and membership in the "He-man Woman Haters Club" I had friendships with women that were so normal. Raging hormones bring on a form of psychosis anyway so you never date the normal version of a person that you didn't know until a few months after you marry.
I met my wife on an IVCF missions trip to Jackson Mississippi where we served under John Perkins and his ministry, Voice of Calvary. We both thought each other attractive and made a casual friendship. I didn't see her again until our schools did joint meetings sporadically. When I did a Co-op 2 years later by her school I got to know her and all her friends. Yet attraction never became romance then either. When I graduated and went to work at the same business, but now as an employee and able to provide for a wife I then began to court her. When i thought I had convinced her to date me she made me read a book called Dating with Integrity which, ironically, is from the same people as our homeschool curriculum. I hated the book. But she wanted to protect her heart. The book described courtship while calling it dating and it ruled out kissing! I was traumatized. But I was sure this was the woman for me, until I broke up with her. Needless to say, it was a breakup though without any moral regrets. After a month we decided to try again and were engaged a month after re-courting and married 6 months after that. We've been blissfully married 11 and a half years and have three children.
The woman I had to pursue and honor and cherish and interact with as a sister in Christ's family was the woman I finally was allowed to interact as a husband with in all that role’s forms of intimacy after the wedding ceremony. All the women I "dated" got the intimacy without a wedding. It came before the ceremony and ended in disaster. But the woman I respected as a sister was the one with whom I could properly share intimacy.
# Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
# 1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
# 2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
# 1 Thessalonians 5:26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
# 1 Peter 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
I conclude from these verses, let’s start kissing the Christian way.
God redeems what I waste. He also rewards when I’m faithful. Both ways are painful, but it’s the difference between dumb accident pain and hard physical training pain. The pain after I finished an 11.5 mile race was sweet, unlike the pain of chopping my fingertip off with an axe. You learn from both, but they don’t both make you feel stupid.
This is the talk i gave. it's a reworking of stuff i posted in the past few weeks...
WAYS THE BIBLE WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF WRITTEN BY
COLLEGE STUDENTS
* The Last Supper would have been eaten the next morning - cold.
* The Ten Commandments are actually only five, double-spaced, and written in a large font.
* New edition every two years in order to limit reselling.
* Paul's letter to the Romans becomes Paul's e-mail to abuse@romans.gov.
* Reason Cain killed Abel: They were roommates.
* Reason why Moses and followers walked in desert for 40 years: They didn't want to ask directions and look like Freshmen.
* Instead of God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh, he would have put it off until the night before it was due and then pulled an all-nighter
A student-athlete walks into his Prof’s office, closes the door and sits down uncomfortably. “Prof, I have a problem. Unless I bring my grade up to a C, I’ll end up on academic probation, and I won’t be allowed to play…Is there anything I can do to bring up my grade? Any extra credit project? You know, anything you need done? Around the house? Heavy lifting? Painting?”
“Anything?” asks the prof.
“Yes, anything that could bring my grade up.”
“How about studying?”
My desire tonight is to encourage you all. To assure you that God is good. That his love letter is really trustworthy. That Jesus is faithful even when we are not. That the Holy Spirit is always available and always at work. And to promote more kissing in your group!!!!
Hypocrisy
Matthew 7:4-5 (New International Version)
4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
I spent my freshman year at a Christian college on the North Shore of Cape Cod. I wanted to pursue my biology studies under Christian professors and experience dorm life with Christians. Unfortunately for me, I was expecting Christian camp, not Christian college. I was disillusioned that the kids drank and smoke and swore and fooled around with their girlfriends. I expected an environment of exhortation and encouragement where people like me could stay on the higher path. To make matters worse, my excellent Ecology professor taught us about human evolution. I wouldn’t say he advocated it, but it wasn’t his job to discuss biblical interpretation. On top of this, I felt I was sequestered from the world. I came up through the public education system and had been surrounded by people who weren’t like me religiously, ethnically, scholastically, or economically. My Christian college was a straitjacket of all those except for a few of us who were poor and a few Africans.
By winter break I had sent in my application to UConn and was accepted before Spring Break. I reasoned I could get the same debauchery (with honesty and vigor) and evolutionary biology for a third of the price. I felt surrounded by Christian posers, it was an immature perspective, and I wanted to be around honest sinners. At least I could offer them Jesus.
I also figured, why not heap it on thick and requested the dorm complex at UConn with the most debauched reputation. The Jungle. This is when the Guns-N-Roses song “Welcome to the Jungle” was very popular. Several students like to demonstrate their brilliance every fall by aiming their speakers into the Jungle’s quad and turning up the volume, plenty of evidence against an intellectual straitjacket.
Alcohol
Romans 13:12-14 (New International Version)
12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
There's a reason laws were written to discourage alcohol consumption for those under 21 years of age. Young adults grow into the concept of subtlety. Usually life is lived in extremes. There are many positives to this, but when it comes to drinking, having a beer is a difficult concept. Getting drunk is a simple concept. Since the youth culture esteems extremes, heavy drinkers achieve a high social status. Because my higher value on being a cheapskate overrode high social status via drunkenness I didn't imbibe as much as my friends. I was limited to free or really cheap beer. But when I came across it, I imbibed with abandon. Perhaps my German and Irish DNA saved me from of the typical reactions to drunkenness that my friends suffered, vomiting and black outs, but also left me, perhaps, with a tendency toward alcoholism. After 2 years in the UConn party world, I found myself drunk the night before a test. I realized, by the grace of God, that I had lost control to alcohol. So I quit drinking alcohol altogether. I never drank a drop for the next 10 years. Due to a variety of factors I tried it again. I drink in moderation now. When I feel rich enough at the grocery store after my family has enough food for the week and there is money left, I will buy wine or beer and milk it for a long time. I don't think alcohol is evil. Like money, its the love of it that is the root of all sorts of evil. As an adult, alcohol, for me, is part for the pleasure of a time with good company and good food and good conversation. As a youth it was the end and not a means. It was an idol. Alcohol is for the mature, not the immature. If you are under 21 save yourself the trouble and prove that wisdom is right like Jesus said.
Luke 7:33-35 (New International Reader's Version)
33 "That is how it has been with John the Baptist. When he came to you, he didn't eat bread or drink wine. And you say, 'He has a demon.' 34 But when the Son of Man came, he ate and drank as you do. And you say, 'This fellow is always eating and drinking far too much. He's a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' 35 All who follow wisdom prove that wisdom is right."
Freedom and Grace
Ephesians 2:1-10 (New International Version)
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
For whatever reason, most likely my sinfulness, i entered a rut of considering myself unworthy of answered prayer (true) unless i was a good boy (false). so i entered this weird religious performance cycle of sin - guilt - need - recommitment - good works - sin .... and my wonderful Intervarsity staff person decided to start a special education Bible study for me, my roommate, and another student and affirmed to us over and over God's love and grace. i responded in that typical immature way by having less guilt about the more sinning. i turned it into an i can do it all, sin and security thing. what Father also did was develop a genuine love relationship between us through this. i wasn't performing for Him.
As evidence of my embrace of grace my roommate and I started Thursday night bible study right after dinner, before people went out to the clubs and parties. It was John and Geoff’s excellent Bible study, AKA bibles and beer. We wanted people to feel comfortable bringing their genuine selves to Jesus. And they did. No one got converted out of this however.
As i grew in grace and out of legalism i relaxed in my formalism in praise. a campus group doesn't usually have hymnals and organs. in fact the song leaders sounded alot like my youth group's band. but where i grew up, the youth's band style was abandoned in big church. i also found out some churches also had bands in their big church. this worship was emotional and physical. don't get me wrong, the hymn "and can it be" brings tears to my eyes. and i love belting it out. but i found freedom in college to include in my praise clapping (just like camp and youth group) and kneeling and hand raising and unashamed out of key singing. i also encountered in IV charismatics. and then i ended up at a vineyard my senior year.
but there's a cautionary note at this point of the story. i returned to campus after my co-op and the group had fallen under the spell of someone off campus who offered many answers. and instead of pointing people to the leading of the Holy Spirit he pointed to himself and his systems and structures and guidance. he not only considered himself a shepherd in the kingdom but also a general. one night's fellowship consisted of watching a movie together. i think it was a John Wayne movie, it was a WW2 movie, perhaps the Sands of Iwo Jima. he kept pointing out to us how the church needs to be like an army unit with unfailing commitment to their commander, specifically him, not Jesus. i had already tried to confront him on the legalism i was perceiving but had gotten nowhere, plus all my friends were in this group happily. they thought i was nuts to think the emperor didn't have clothes on. at the end of the movie we ate snacks that everyone brought. and the last straw fell for me. he casually complimented the group on bringing so many tasty things as he had been in another group that never brought food that he liked. i concluded this guy really believes its all about him. he considers himself our intermediary between us and God. my stomach knotted up. i loved grace so much i knew i couldn't be a part anymore. so i stopped attending. i stayed in touch with all my friends but refused to join them at his house.
at one point i was sick of my acting and told Father i wouldn't be talking to Him in the mornings or reading His love letter to me so i could pursue earthly pleasure. i missed Him. after some period of time, more than a week, less than a month, i broke down and started talking to Him again. i told Him how much i missed Him. and as I talked to him an acquaintance from church back home happened to be driving by on campus. he stopped and offered me a ride. i didn't need a ride but unknowingly he showed me the love and grace of Father. i understood Father had choreographed a visit as i prayed. a visit that offered me something instead of demanding something. i was ecstatic for the rest of my walk. He still loved me. my pet sin didn't end that day. eventually i did change direction on that one. but grace is so cool.
God used that whole experience to demonstrate his grace to me and prepare me for some heavy encounters with other intervarsity leaders who embraced the heavy shepherding model. it shipwrecked some people's faith. they couldn't perform. they gave up. i recommend my friend anton's site to learn more, especially if you think Jesus' yoke is awfully heavy. it's not. it's easy and light.
Love
1 Corinthians 7:8-10 (New International Version)
8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Why date? I dated women inside and outside of the kingdom. If you aren't ready to marry anytime soon, just make friends with people. You will get to know women so much better if you aren't focused on the making a move on them. Whenever I jumped out of the dating pool, either by conviction from the Lord or from another broken heart and membership in the "He-man Woman Haters Club" I had friendships with women that were so normal. Raging hormones bring on a form of psychosis anyway so you never date the normal version of a person that you didn't know until a few months after you marry.
I met my wife on an IVCF missions trip to Jackson Mississippi where we served under John Perkins and his ministry, Voice of Calvary. We both thought each other attractive and made a casual friendship. I didn't see her again until our schools did joint meetings sporadically. When I did a Co-op 2 years later by her school I got to know her and all her friends. Yet attraction never became romance then either. When I graduated and went to work at the same business, but now as an employee and able to provide for a wife I then began to court her. When i thought I had convinced her to date me she made me read a book called Dating with Integrity which, ironically, is from the same people as our homeschool curriculum. I hated the book. But she wanted to protect her heart. The book described courtship while calling it dating and it ruled out kissing! I was traumatized. But I was sure this was the woman for me, until I broke up with her. Needless to say, it was a breakup though without any moral regrets. After a month we decided to try again and were engaged a month after re-courting and married 6 months after that. We've been blissfully married 11 and a half years and have three children.
The woman I had to pursue and honor and cherish and interact with as a sister in Christ's family was the woman I finally was allowed to interact as a husband with in all that role’s forms of intimacy after the wedding ceremony. All the women I "dated" got the intimacy without a wedding. It came before the ceremony and ended in disaster. But the woman I respected as a sister was the one with whom I could properly share intimacy.
# Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
# 1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
# 2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
# 1 Thessalonians 5:26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
# 1 Peter 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
I conclude from these verses, let’s start kissing the Christian way.
God redeems what I waste. He also rewards when I’m faithful. Both ways are painful, but it’s the difference between dumb accident pain and hard physical training pain. The pain after I finished an 11.5 mile race was sweet, unlike the pain of chopping my fingertip off with an axe. You learn from both, but they don’t both make you feel stupid.
Comments
Geoff