Good Vibes Only - Addressing Partial Truths
This past Sunday we shifted gears into a message that Pastor Robbie really felt like he needed to preach on addressing the Christian sense of the common phrase ‘Good Vibes Only’. We hope you enjoyed our At The Movies Series, but some good things must come to an end! Now that we don’t have any pressing copyright concerns, the Podcast(s) for future Sermons will be available unless otherwise noted. If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we missed you!
In our American culture today, the phrase ‘Good Vibes Only’ or some version of this can be seen almost everywhere you look, especially on social media. Scrolling through Instagram, you will see many people happy and thrilled with what is going on in their lives so they throw #goodvibes or #goodvibesonly in their caption to declare that they never want the feeling and experience they have captured to go away. Now there may not be anything explicitly wrong with this sentiment, but there different subtle versions of this idea that has seeped into Christian culture in ways that are not altogether wrong, but they are not altogether right either. When we look at what Scripture says of our lives, we see that this life is filled with blessings but it is also filled with trials. We are going to explore some of the ‘Partial Truth’s’ floating around in our Christian culture today and address them honestly and fairly.
The first Partial-Truth that was addressed is the Prosperity Gospel. You may or may not have heard of this, but basically what this idea suggests is that God, at the end of the day, wants you to be happy, healthy, and wealthy. Ps. Robbie stated ‘It's not like he is radically opposed to that, but it is not the entire truth because it sells itself short in saying, "At the end of the day, do you know what God wants for you? He wants you to be wealthy; he wants you to be healthy. If you follow God, this is what is in store for you." And that just doesn't align with the Bible. Jeremiah 29:11 is often wielded as evidence for this idea concerning God’s will for our lives “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” The context of this verse does not allow for the Prosperity Gospel; the people of Israel are being conquered by a foreign nation and there isn’t anything they can do about it! Hey, people are saying you're coming home. You're not coming home. Get comfortable. Seek the welfare of the city that you're in, but put down roots. You are not coming home. In fact, some of you guys are not even going to live for 70 years! Ultimately, the prosperity gospel creates this weird relationship where you don't actually worship God. You worship what he can give you.
The second Partial-Truth Pastor Robbie addressed is the Positivity Gospel. This movement towards self-help and overwhelming declarations towards positivity in one’s life has its benefits, that are Scripturally based, but sometimes it is taken way too far. God promises blessings in our lives, as we come alongside what He desires for our lives - but where it gets distorted is it begins to make promises that God never made. God does not promise you a promotion at work, the right relationship, or that you will be free from pain and suffering of any kind. Philippians 4:13 is probably one of the most well-known verses in Scripture because of this misunderstanding, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me”. Paul writes this from a prison cell to the church in Phillipi not to suggest to us that we can conquer the world - it suggests that no matter what happens, if I win or if I lose, if I'm rich or if I'm poor, that no matter what I face I can handle it all because of Jesus. He is enough. Positivity is one thing, but the peace that passes all understanding in Jesus Christ is truly transforming; positivity can bring you happiness, but Jesus brings you peace and joy!
The last Partial-Truth that was addressed this past Sunday is Promised Upgrades. This one that we probably hear often, ‘Oh you’re boy/girl-friend broke up with you? That’s because God has someone out there that s better for.’ This partial-truth basically tells people that bad things are only happening in your life because God has something better in store for you in the future - this feeds off of the idea of both the Prosperity and Positivity gospel points mentioned before. If God only desires good for our lives, well this bad thing that I’m going through isn’t actually bad, its actually good and I should lean into that. Romans 8:28 is often used to fuel this idea, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”. We must get away from this idea that God’s goodness in our lives is always about making us more like Jesus, Ps. Robbie said it well in that “The specific good that God is at work. What’s this good? It's that in every situation that you face, God is going to bring about the good goal of using it to make you more like Jesus. That's the specific good in every situation.”
Consider what Partial-Truth’s you may believe in your life - dive into Scripture and pray that the Holy Spirit continues to illumine your mind and heart towards God’s will for your life. God’s Word and what He wants us to understand is the whole truth, while the subjects discussed this past Sunday have partial-truth, we are called to understanding whole truth and living our lives as such.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Good Vibes Only - These partial truths, when misapplied can be damaging to our lives.
Main Scripture Passages: Philippians 4; Jeremiah 29:8-11; Romans 8:28
The Prosperity Gospel: God does not will that you should always be happy, healthy, and wealthy.
The Positivity Gospel: God does not will that we place our source of peace and joy on anything other than our relationship with Him through Jesus.
Promised Upgrades: Every unfortunate situation in our lives is not something better waiting to happen - take the good with the bad, all by leaning on the work that Jesus has done in your life.
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Join us next Sunday as Pastor Robbie begins an exciting and mysterious new series: Angels & Demons!
We’re saving you a seat, and know that You Are Loved!