Hipster Jesus : Self, Selfies & Self-Help

Please feel free to watch and share the video version of this sermon.

Good morning, Wave-Makers! Welcome back to another week of diving into the Word of Jesus Christ. For those of you just joining us, feel free to take a quick listen to the past two weeks to catch up, they are both located on this blog. For those of you that read that and said, “nah,” here is a quick re-cap. We are doing a series called Hipster Jesus. So, what’s a hupster? Well, a hipster is someone who goes against the norms and trends of a current generation’s standards. Some of us may know these hipsters by their parent’s name: hippie. Now, I’m not saying that I believe that Jesus is interested in the same activities as the hipsters of today’s age (but, who knows? Jesus may love skinny jeans,) but what I am trying to suggest here is that Jesus was the hipster-est hipster of His time here on earth. But, anyway, we’ll get more into this a bit later; for now, let’s dive into the Word.

“¹On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. 

⁷ When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host;⁹ and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. ¹¹ For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹² He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴ And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

                                                                                                -Luke 14:1,7-14

Will you pray with me? Lord God, I ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together be glorifying in Your presence. You are our rock and redeemer. Amen.

Allow me to tell you a little story. Meet Rev. Dr. Smith. Rev. Dr. Smith was a Methodist preacher. He had graduated with honors from university and he was confident, but of course not too confident in his studies, as had been recommended to him by his mentors. He had served several churches already and was just reaching the fourth year of his service in his current church, which is the statistical average for Methodist itinerancy.

So, the time came that he found out about his new placement and he prepared to tell his congregation. During the service, one woman was brought to tears upon hearing the news. Moved with the spirit, Rev. Dr. Smith waited for the service to end and then went to be with her after it ended. He sat beside her and she said to him, through tears, “Things will never be the same.”

The minister tried to console her by saying, “Hey, now, don’t worry. I’m sure that you will get a new pastor who is even better than me.”

She continued to sob and replied, “That’s what the last three pastors have said, but they just keep getting worse.”

I’m sure that Rev. Dr. Smith was quite surprised by that response. We never quite expect when God comes to humble us. I tell this fictitious story to illustrate the point that no matter the level of humility we say that we have, we are likely pretty high on our own personal totem pole.

It’s hard to argue against this point given the current generation and the focus on the “self.” Walk into any mall or store in the city and you see hordes of young adults and teenagers taking pictures of themselves (typically in absurd poses) known as “selfies.” When I attended High Point University, I even received a yard-long metal pole that I could attach my phone to for a better angle on my “selfies” using the tool, the “selfie stick.”

Walk into the Walmart and you see most of the check out aisles are now known as “self check-out.” Don’t get me wrong. I love the self check-out. It let’s me do things my way.

Go into any book store (if you can find one) and one of the largest sections in the store is the “self-help” section.

We are obsessed with our selves. It’s not something to be ashamed of; it’s the norm of our current generation. Here in this country, we are all on the lookout for number one. I’m not suggesting anything political here, regardless of political leaning, we all have this obsession over ourselves. Whether you take a look at the government, or the entertainment industry, the local shopping scene, or even these walls we are sitting between right now, if you have a group of people together, they are all ultimately making sure that they get what they need first and foremost. It’s just natural.

But Jesus calls us to rise above what comes naturally from us. Jesus is the hipster that we may not want, but that we absolutely need. So, how does Jesus respond to this particular issue? We see it in this morning’s passage. First off, can I just say that this is seriously one of my favorite moments with Jesus. As I have mentioned before, I like to interpret the Bible from the standpoint of it being like a play or skit, being acted out with characters, sets and props. Well, if this were a play, it would be a script for a sitcom.

So, let me set the scene. Jesus is invited to this gathering. Imagine the snootiest of snooty people. I mean, these are the cream of the crop in this city. The richest of rich, and I’m not talking just financially. This was a gathering of the Pharisees, otherwise known as the religious leaders. These guys aren’t your local Nathan Webb’s either. These are the Joel Osteen’s, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s, Jerry Falwell’s, Billy Gee’s, Pat Robertson’s. These guys aren’t just the preachers; they are the best preachers of the best preachers. Now, I like to imagine there is a long rectangular table, because a circle table would make things too easy. Scripture tells us that Jesus sees these grown men choosing seat patterns and the way that they are sitting. It doesn’t go into more detail, but I imagine them doing a massive rock-paper-scissors competition, or a game of pick up sticks, or maybe some under the table bribery. Then, without missing a beat, Jesus speaks up over the game of ro-sham-bo and tells the men this parable of the man invited to the wedding. Jesus explains that you should always assume there is someone more important than you and that you should assume you are the least important in the room, so that if the host asks you to move higher up the totem pole, the honor will be yours.

(Kermit the frog meme)

Folks, it’s no wonder the Pharisees hated Jesus so much. I mean, Jesus just totally ices these guys. Although the word “subtle” may not have come into existence until the 1600s, I believe that Jesus knew the meaning of the word well. Jesus is clearly explaining to these men who are essentially playing lots to sit next to Jesus that all they are doing is making fools of them.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there, does he? He doesn’t leave well enough alone. After totally roasting the entire guest list of this dinner, Jesus turns to the host of the gathering and tells him that he basically invited all of the wrong people. He tells the host that he only invited all of these Pharisees with the expectation of getting something in return. You know everyone wanted to be at the gathering with the celebrity Jesus. So, this host now has favors from every single guy in the room. Jesus says that the real guest who should have been invited were the drunks, the poor, the sinners who could never have repaid the honor.

I mean, what I would give to be a fly on the wall during that moment. Talk about showing up on the first day of class in just your underwear. This guy must have been so red in the face that you couldn’t tell the difference between him and his glass of wine.

Jesus isn’t afraid to show us where we falter from His call in our lives.

Hipster Jesus sees our cultural standards and he throws the proverbial table into the air out of his righteous anger. Not only does Jesus call us to a life of humility and hospitality, but He demands it and lets us know when we aren’t doing it. In this passage, Jesus isn’t just talking to the Pharisees alone, he is speaking straight to us, as well. He sees us and he calls us to be hipsters in this day and age. He is asking questions of our lives. Why are you so concerned with who has the nicest car or the nicest house? Why do you feel like you have to be on God’s right hand? Why are you more concerned with your financial security than with the life of a brother? Why do you drive past a poor and broken sinner on the side of the road without giving him the time of day? Why do you hear news of a child of God dying and just assume that he or she deserved to die by doing some sin? Why can’t you take up your cross and walk with me? Why can’t you see that I didn’t sacrifice myself so that you could debate your feelings on who is and isn’t worthy of MY love?

Let me tell you, fellow believers, Jesus is calling out to us with these words. He wants us to be the hipsters in this generation. He is calling us to rise above ourselves and strive to be like Him.

Allow to me conclude with this story. This time a true story, no Rev. Dr. Smith this time. The year is 1998, the date is May 16^th. We find ourselves in an alleyway in Chicago, Illinois. A couple of young men playing basketball in a rough neck of the woods. Being in a rough part of town, one of the boys, 15-year-old Christopher Sercye, is shot in the chest with a bullet, puncturing his aorta.

Now, it would seem fortunate, because young Chris and his friends were only a few yards away from the doors to local Ravenswood Hospital.  The other boys ran off quickly to summon the hospital staff to come to Chris’ aid, but the staff refused. You see, it was hospital policy that the staff couldn’t treat anyone outside of the hospital. The catch-22 here being that it was too dangerous to move someone with a bullet without training or knowledge, and the only ones with the knowledge and training were not allowed to leave their campus.

After nearly 30 minutes of pleading and begging, deputy chief James Maurer was able to commandeer a wheelchair and, despite his best judgment to not move Chris, move Chris’ body to Ravenswood for treatment. Regrettably, the procedure was too late and Chris died in the ER of Ravenswood less than an hour later.

In his poem, “Why I Love Jesus, But Hate Religion,” Jefferson Bethke says that the church is not a museum for good people, but a hospital for the broken. If the church is a hospital, then what kind of hospital are we? Are we like Ravenswood?

I’ll end with the words of one of Christopher Sercye’s neighbors, Donna Dudley. “"If we cannot be responsible as human beings to help each other, it's a shame. Nobody should have to lie in an alley dying next to a hospital."

Please feel free to post any comments for discussion, I will try my best to respond. As always, if you have any private needs or prayers concerns, feel free to contact me personally at nathan@makingwaves.cc.