Why and How I Am Tweeting

I had a friend recently send me a link to the following post at Desiring God.  I thought it was an excellent follow up to the conversations that sprung up from the last entry.  Even though Pastor John Piper’s personal convictions are not the ‘end all’ of what to do with the internet, media and the like; the principles he shares along with his balanced thoughts are challenging and insightful:

John Piper | June 3, 2009

I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.

Together with the team at Desiring God, I lean toward response #2. “Lean” is different from “leap.” We are aware that the medium tends to shape the message. This has been true, more or less, with every new medium that has come along—speech, drawing, handwriting, print, books, magazines, newspapers, tracts, 16mm home movies, flannel-graph, Cinerama, movies, Gospel Blimps, TV, radio, cassette tapes, 8-Tracks, blackboards, whiteboards, overhead projection, PowerPoint, skits, drama, banners, CDs, MP3s, sky-writing, video, texting, blogging, tweeting, Mina-Bird-training, etc.

Dangers, dangers everywhere. Yes. But it seems to us that aggressive efforts to saturate a media with the supremacy of God, the truth of Scripture, the glory of Christ, the joy of the gospel, the insanity of sin, and the radical nature of Christian living is a good choice for some Christians. Not all. Everyone should abstain from some of these media. For example, we don’t have a television.

That’s my general disposition toward media.

Now what about Twitter? I find Twitter to be a kind of taunt: “Okay, truth-lover, see what you can do with 140 characters! You say your mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things! Well, this is one of those ‘all things.’ Can you magnify Christ with this thimble-full of letters?”

To which I respond:

The sovereign Lord of the earth and sky
Puts camels through a needle’s eye.
And if his wisdom see it mete,
He will put worlds inside a tweet.

So I am not inclined to tweet that at 10AM the cat pulled the curtains down. But it might remind me that the Lion of Judah will roll up the heavens like a garment, and blow out the sun like a candle, because he just turned the light on. That tweet might distract someone from pornography and make them look up.

I’ve been tweeting anonymously for a month mainly to test its spiritual and family effects on me. In spite of all the dangers, it seems like a risk worth taking. “All things were created through Christ and for Christ” (Colossians 1:16). The world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why I Tweet.

By his grace and for his glory,

Pastor John

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

My friend sent me a link to a blog post that drew me to think of a topic God continues to bring to my attention throughout my life.  My brother calls it Social Christianity.  Jesus calls it practicing your righteousness before other people and I think it is one of the biggest things a Christian can struggle with being a part of the local church.  In Matthew 6 Jesus says:

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven….And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

In secret is a big deal in Matthew 6.  Jesus knew full and well that people love to be seen by others.  People are consumed with themselves (ourselves) and how they are portrayed by others.  When that poisonous pride of the flesh mixes with a Christian’s desire to do what the Lord calls him to it concocts the nasty blend of self righteousness.  The ‘I’m awesome’ mentality with a Christian flavor.

After reading J. Dodson’s post it helped me think, “Really?  Is that what we’re doing with the gospel?”  Have we become so familiar with the rhetoric and catch phrases of our religion that we spout off external knowledge instead of living out heart change – just so others think well of us?  Christ warned us of this.

He said to beware!  Don’t show off what isn’t yours to show off.  Keep it secret.  Keep it between you and God and He will reward you.  Show off how you’ve got it all together and sure, you’ll probably get the applause, the glory, the adoration of men…at least for a little while.  Until you fail.  What is in secret will be made known someday.  So beware because the Father sees in secret.

Christ did not come to earth to make much of you (me) and His purpose has never been for you to make much of you either.  He gave us the gospel to have a close, intimate and secret relationship with Him that in turn He uses to love on others, show others who He is and build up His Church.  Does that mean be secretive about being a Christian?  Well, can a light hide in a dark room?  Can it secretly pretend to be anything other than light?

Where am I tempted to show off my righteousness?  Well, the internet has become a new outlet for sure and I think that we have to be more aware of it as we find more ways interact socially:  Twitter, Facebook, Blogging (not this post, of course….ha!).  Maybe I’ll coin the phrase Social Network Christianity.  How’s that Ryan?  It is true, though, that the Social Network on the internet has stolen people’s secret time – the time they are most real and alone before the Lord.  When did we start getting so loud about our quiet time?  My brother, Ryan, writes of Social Christianity:

Are you putting forward a façade of Christian faith because it’s what’s expected?  Are you practicing a Pharisaical Christianity?  Are you dying because you feel like you can’t fail, you can’t sin, you can’t be immature even though you know you are failing, sinning, and immature?  The only cure for Social Christianity is to examine in private your motivation for faith—are you doing things to be seen by men?  Are you doing things because of [people's] expectations?  Are you being honest with yourself and with others about your spiritual state?  Jesus knew this danger, and calls us to abandon the games, the façade, and the fake faith for true, genuine, human faith in Him.  True faith is not bound up in society but in reality.  Strip away the supports of society and the pressure which comes from peers and family and social religion will fall apart.  What is left is the genuine state of your spiritual condition.

We need to know that when we strip away the supports of society and the pressure which comes from being around the Church, friends and family – that we will find ourselves hiding in Christ’s righteousness and not some worthless attempt to prove that we are religious.  The cost is too great and having people think that ‘you’re the man’ ultimately means jack if what the Father sees doesn’t match up.  He sees us in secret.

Do you ever wonder, while you’re singing in church, “Why am I singing this?”  I do…even while I’m leading others in singing.  I think the longer one is part of a local body of believers there is a tendency for redundant religiosity and faux worship – whether it is through song, prayer, communion, fellowship with others…as much as people like consistency it can be the consistency that erodes the genuineness.

I’ve been reading Kauflin’s book, Worship Matters, and chapter 15 is an awesome reminder of why we (as believers) do what we do and why worship leaders must not lose heart or focus in what it is they are doing.

He starts out the chapter asking, “Why proclaim scriptural truths we’ve previously heard an already know?”  Even though it is hard to admit, deep down inside I think that.  I’ve heard this before.  I’ve sung this before.  I’ve been singing the same song for over twenty years! Kauflin answers his own question and encourages the Christian, “Because we forget.  We lose track of who God is and what he’s done.”

That’s why we do what we do.  That’s what worship leaders need to remember.  Remember that people forget…people forget about the most important thing in the universe – Christ!  They forget about how He lived, why He died – about His power and place.  God knew we would need to proclaim it to help keep it first in our lives.  He also knew that proclaiming it would enhance our lives and comfort our souls.

That’s why I am so scared that I could be leading more of a religious system and corporate worship times that are obviously more about traditions rather than about Christ.  Bob Kauflin writes,

“If that’s not happening [proclaiming the gospel] in our churches, it could be because people don’t understand how Jesus’ dying for their sins affects the rest of their life.  They’re unclear on how to apply the gospel to their lives.  Maybe they see the gospel as something only for unbelievers or new Christians.  They’re fine with singing about it in church, but they don’t understand how it applies to the rest of the week.”

He goes on to give examples of how the Gospel is specifically connected to life dealing with our Sin, Suffering, Sanctification & Relationships With Others. It’s easy to forget that Christ is, “the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent,” (Colossians 1:18) and that it doesn’t impact just one aspect of our lives (religion) but that He is first in everything.  And that’s why we proclaim the Gospel.

Kauflin reminds me why I do what I do – that as we (God’s people) deal with life, with the lies of the world and our own tendency to forget about our first love,

“we gather as the church to proclaim the truth.  We gather to declare–to ourselves, to each other, and to God–what we know to be eternal reality.  There is one God, who is sovereign over the universe and every detail of our lives.  We have rebelled against him.  He sent his Son to die in our place for our sins.  And through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness and peace with God.”

Every Monday morning the Elders of Lakeside Bible Church discuss and pray for the local body.  Typically (for me personally) it is a time to sit and listen to the leaders of LBC (in whom  God is working, changing and imparting wisdom to) refine each other’s wisdom.  These are obviously not perfect men but the Holy Spirit uses their knowledge of His Word and their experiences to direct conversations.  This is especially beneficial to my heart as a spectator each week.

This morning a great conversation sprung up about what we, as God’s people, are investing our time and lives into.  What benefit is coming out of what we are doing with our lives…with our week…with our moments?  One of the comments made was, “I had been doing all of these things for twenty years and it got to the point where I had to say, ‘what am I doing right now?’”  It’s that age-old question – does what I am doing right now have any eternal impact?

If you are a leader in any way (at work, in ministry, in discipleship, as a spouse, as a parent, etc.) there is a further challenge – is what I am doing with the responsibilities given to me having any eternal impact?  That’s pressure!  But healthy and necessary pressure.

The take away from today’s meeting:  The older we get, the more time we are given on earth, we all tend to have an increase of impact and influence and as we continue to weigh the importance of our actions, we have to ask ourselves, “What is the eternal impact of what I am doing right now?”

Lately, I’ve been trying to be more efficient in the ways that I stay connected on the internet whether it is personally or through LBC.  It seems like with all of the social networking tools and resources out there, there’s a push to make things more streamlined and yet it is creating more things to line up and sync.  We want to be more efficient in everything we do at LBC – especially when it comes to Music & Media.  Thus, the blog switchover.

Hopefully this will be a useful tool and connecting spot for those who serve in Music and Media at LBC.  We chose the tagline, “don’t waste your gifts” as somewhat of a spin off of Piper’s book and overall mentality; Don’t Waste Your Life.  Two years into full-time ministry and 13 years serving in the local body it is easy to see that people (myself included) waste what God has given them and miss the fact that those gifts can have eternal impact.

So let this be a tool for you to help you use your gifts instead of wasting them.  Piper writes, “God created us to live with a single passion:  to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.  The wasted life is the life without this passion.  God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.”  So don’t waste your life – don’t waste your gifts.