A few years ago I was speaking to a group of students on a parish weekend and brought along Drew Miller to lead some worship music. On the sunday, after dropping Drew back at his dormitory, I noticed a poster on the wall as I headed out of the building. It caught my eye because I was familiar with the para-church youth ministry who put it there. The poster depicted a student sitting on campus smiling for the camera. The text described the student in detail with reference to the clothing brands and styles he was wearing and noted how “cool” he was. At the end of the text, the poster stated that “you too can be cool like (name)… come to (name of para-church organization)”. I was very much stunned by the poster, not only because I had been part of that organization in the past, but because of the blatant, crass advertising that suggested being cool would result from joining this Christian club. I grabbed the poster off the wall, much to the complaints of my wife standing next to me, and later learned that the organization was recruiting prospective leaders to do ministry with local high school students. That news made the poster all the more hideous in my mind. What was my beef with this poster? Simply that I get sick of people trying to make Christianity cool by connecting it to popular trends. To me, following Jesus is a radical call on our lives and not something the world aspires to in any way shape or form! It is not “cool” by the world’s standards! Trying to make it that way runs the risk of reducing the gospel and allures people on a false pretense.
Last week I was listening to a sermon by John Piper in which he commented on John 5:43–44:
“I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
This is one of the most important verses in the whole Gospel of John—at least for my heart. “You cannot believe in Jesus if your root desire is to be praised by other people.” Pride at its core is the craving for human approval. And Jesus is saying that if pride is at the root, faith can’t be at the root. Faith at its core is humble gladness in the God of grace. It’s not driven by the need to deserve human praise. It is driven by a thankful joy that God is for us when we deserve no praise at all.
The context of the sermon was examining John 7:1-24 and comparing the unbelief of the crowds with the unbelief of Jesus’ brothers (James being among them). He was asking what was in common that both were described as unbelieving. Jesus’ brothers wanted Jesus to make them famous because he did miracles. They were not looking for a saviour, they wanted to be with the powerful man who healed people. It made them look good. How is that different to a desire to make Christianity cool? Where is the difference between youth ministries trying to make Jesus cool and Jesus’ brothers wanting to hang out with a famous healer? The poster that turned my stomach was suggesting that joining this particular Christian ministry would lead to a transformation to coolness. God desires to transform us in a way that more likely results in our being despised by the world. In fact, the more we look like Jesus, the more people feel uncomfortable around us. This we see in scripture stems from Christ shining through us and Jesus’ purity and holiness made people uncomfortable.
So, should our youth ministries promise to make people cool? Is it wise to put up such dishonest advertising? Does a desire to be cool help lead anyone to Christ? No, No, and No! Why can’t we let the glory of God shine from us so that the world sees that we are different and wants to know the hope within us?
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