Chris Kozacek

7 Media Reductions

Adullam Southwest May 16, 2010 @10:00am

——————— For the month of June, we will be taking a look at 7 reductions of Media. I have to admit – I LOVE MEDIA…

• Have everyone interact on what they think “media” constitutes. Not like news media, but like the instruments that entertain, help, make our lives easier/harder, etc…

Here is a video that kind of compiles a number of different media things I like. first, it’s a video. second, it’s music. third, it’s from a TV show I like (CSI). fourth, it’s a band I like (Rascal Flatts). fifth, I love the song and the songs message (Unstoppable). Let’s just say it compiles a lot of media avenues I enjoy…

Play Video 1 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSMNbnC9Kp8[/youtube]

I love all types of media (my friend Jeremy reminded me on the phone this week that he is better than me because he does not love media the way I do). I love TV (shows, sports, movies). I love the internet. I love computers. I love Apple products – hence my iPhone, iPad, Mac Mini. I love video games, especially sports ones. I love music and DirecTV… am I painting a picture. “Yes, Chris… you’re a loser” I have to say, and I told Cory this when we met a couple weeks ago to chat about this. Even though I missed the first two messages on Spending,  I hated it – which leads to this whole 7 series, I have to look at my life too much and possible change. So the thing that irritated me about the spending piece was I felt like Corrie and I have done a better job this year of limiting the places we spend at and trying to give more away. And even though Cory is a close friend, I didn’t know why anyone was telling me how to spend my money and what to give away. I don’t like that…

So, fast forward though to what God starting stirring in my heart about that… Despite my bad attitude I started looking at certain things we spend on and came to my email address – yup I pay for email (yes it comes with file storage and some other perks) – but I searched my motives and you know what, I want to keep it because it says…wait for it, you’ll think it’s cool too… yes…  kozacek – at – MAC - .com! Yup, it’s the stuff and you’re now jealous. Wow, I am a MAC snob and didn’t even realize it. I can have a not as cool gmail address for free (which is still so cool cause of all the things google does), or I can be even more awesome and have a MAC address for $100 a year. Good use of money huh? So… yeah. The MAC address is going away (there was a time when I really used the tools that came with this membership but I can find free alternatives and have already). To understand how many other people could use that $100 to help with their bills/life, etc… and all to have what I think is a cool email address. Nobody really cares but me… ok then… I do want to throw out a caution before we go one which does apply to our discussion about media consumption today as well as the spending stuff, and I’m not sure how this will go over.

But my caution, is that anytime we do this kind of thing, especially in church/Christian settings – we need to be careful that doing this stuff takes it’s right place in our lives. The Bible talks about the love of money being wrong and possibly being a stumbling block to coming to Jesus, and how it can turn into idolatry. It talks about giving our resources away to help others and how God will provide for our needs as we trust in Him. But we can also go the other way, where doing these things like spending only 7 places can become legalistic, or we can put our trust, identity and honor on the doing of the 7 things and not on the God we serve and the biblical principle as to why we are doing this. Hence these 2 contrasting stories – Rich Young Ruler (read the story and we’ll look at this more later)

The Rich Young Man

¹⁷As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’^[d]” ²⁰“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” ²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” ²²At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. ²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”  ²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is^[e] to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” ²⁸Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” ²⁹“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” and that of Jesus healing on the Sabbath (read this story) –

Matthew 12

Lord of the Sabbath ¹At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. ²When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” ³He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. ⁵Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? ⁶I tell you that one^[a] greater than the temple is here. ⁷If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[b] you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” ⁹Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ¹¹He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” ¹³Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

The Sabbath was intended for our good (and the Bible says the God of the Universe even rested on the 7^th day), not just to be a badge of honor for something we did or something that could not be broken if a legitimate need came in place. For example with the spending piece, if you need (use RMOG story of Justin’s car light) and because you went to one place that you’ll never frequent again, but can’t possibly break the 7 places thing – that could get into legalism. This 7 things series is not a Biblical manuscript (you won’t find the spending only seven places actually in the Bible), but touches on principles that are Biblical and is something that we are doing as a community together to accomplish Biblical principles of not serving money, things, or consumerism - but instead giving to those in need and working on living on the things we need instead of everything we may want. So let’s chat about these things called media… Thanks for the list here. I hope you’ll actually join me on a journey that, cause I don’t know where your at with media consumption and all that, but this time will not be all about me telling you guys what you need to do. It’s been a little hard writing this as it so much speaks to and challenges me. So I hope you will get something out of it and it not just be a time of how much I need to change. I have already admitted earlier that I love all my different types of media access. And therein lies the problem. Here is a video, quickly giving some media consumption stats - a few a little sobering especially now that i have children…

Play Video 2 - [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CBDoOQ9rPI[/youtube]

A few recap stats from the video:

• Average American watches 153 Hours of TV & online 68 Hours per Month
• Online Users visits almost 2700 websites and spends about a minute per site
• Users also average 5 hours and 24 minutes on Facebook
• Average U.S. home in 2009 has 2.5 people but 2.86 television sets.
• 54% of American homes had 3 or more TV sets at home.[1]

There was a time in my life, before a family came into the picture, that I would orient my weekend around taped TV shows and sporting events and work really hard never to come out of my house for the entire weekend. Actually there were times when I’d try to set up my Vacation that way. Part of this was being an introvert, Corrie has helped me be less so, and part of it was I just really liked that it didn’t want to do anything be with anyone else. Let me preface this by saying I don’t think it’s wrong to watch TV, or Sports, or Movies, or play video games, or surf the web, or talk on the cell phone, etc…  Actually there are some really good things that are attached to doing those things I believe. Maybe some would say it’s all bad, and that’s fine, but I don’t land there.

Actually, in my darkest hour spiritually you’ll laugh but it’s true, on  7^th Heaven (the dad and pastor – Stephen Collins) was actually going through his own spiritual crises and I can honestly say I tuned in every week to see what he was going through and where it was going to take. I truly believe God used that show, no matter what you think of it, to keep me somewhat engaged in his presence around me. There are other amazing things about media that keep is connected and can improve things. I got my Seminary Education through online studies as had many others including some in this room. Facebook, cell phones, IM, Skype, and so on…

The issue is where your treasure is. Where is your heart in terms of media and things…?  What do you treasure? If you are a follower of Christ, what does your heart desire – God or things? I’m afraid too often I’d have to say things if I were honest with everyone. And this is where our scripture verses come in today. There is nothing about Media perse in the bible. I can’t imagine that the writers of the books of the bible could have ever fathomed what our day and age would look like and what kind of things would be available to us.

So I chose - Colossians 3, Matthew 6:19-21 to take a look at. I scripture to speak to us about the principles behind this thing of media consumption, and not just a few passages that help us with behavior modification – like you should give your TV away cause it’s wrong or you should quit using the internet cause it has some bad things on it. If God leads you to do those things great, but it should be more because he led you to do something and not because I read a few verses up here and told you that’s what would make you better/holier – that stuff doesn’t last. So let’s read these two passages:

Colossians 3:1-3 – TNIV “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ²³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Matthew 6: 19-24- TNIV “¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, ^[c] your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, ^[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Where I want to park for a minute is on the serving 2 masters. I guess that’s where it all comes down for me. Is that what media is to some of us – does it master us? Do we serve it, even though we think it’s serving us? Do these things keep you from spending time with your family over and over again? Does it distract you from reading stuff including the bible, a good book, a spiritual book, etc… or more does it control your schedule – are you willing to either DVR it or God forbid miss your show/sporting event to meet with a friend in need or a sojourner in need of some good conversation or an encounter with God’s love… (this was me not that long ago… sporting events ran my life, I couldn’t miss one). And that’s where we are going with this. Does media master you? So let’s take a look at a list of possible media reduction items. As you think through 7 media reductions, think through items that either can waste a lot of time or money as we’ve been exploring this month.

• Computer time
• Video game time
• Cell phone usage
• Television
• Cable
• Internet
• Portable game system
• Music (radio, iPod, cds) – actually a good substitute might be a book on tape or something (or maybe it’s a distraction - sorry). Or if you connect to God through music like I do – this might be better not to take away. Or maybe you need the silence to hear from God?
• Books
• Selling something media-oriented

Again, while we close this, I want to emphasize something again. This is not a list of something to do just to do it. The purpose is to look for those things that as Christians, yes Christians, that distract us from God’s mission and from our first love which is God Himself. There is no test whether you made 7 reductions or a special room you get out-casted to for not following it exactly. Let’s keep the purpose of why we are doing this series in mind. God wants our hearts and minds, and not only does he want time with us, but He wants us to spend some of our time with others sharing that true good news. Let us all take a look at those things that distract unnecessarily from our calling in life. Can we many times be using our time better, for our neighbors, our community, our family, our God, ourselves…? Let the spirit speak to you, and he’ll show you any areas that might need to a looking at… God Bless you all, thanks for journeying down a tough area in my life. This will be a challenge to me, and I look forward to sharing it with you and the ones beyond this. Let’s sing one more song…

[1] http://www.cleancutmedia.com/internet/you-watch-153-hours-of-tv-online-68-hours ——— “7 Media Reductions…” message by Chris Kozacek, ASW 2010 ———