What Punk Rock taught me about Grace, the Gospel, and Freedom. (Part 1)
Let’s be honest, religion and punk rock don’t always get along too well. To many these two things may even be diametrically opposed, but that’s never quite what I got from either. I believe God used punk rock to teach me a lot of lessons. I love how God uses our experiences to reveal himself and to teach us things about who He is. In this, the first of three parts, I will simply try to share some of the lessons God and punk rock, taught me. If it seems far-fetched at times, that’s okay, not everyone has to agree about everything. Which brings us to the first topic of discussion, conformity and uniformity. At some point over the last few hundred years Christians have sacrificed unity on the altar of uniformity. Here’s what the Bible has to say about the issue:
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:1-4
To sum it up, if you actually do love one another and actually do take part in the Spirit, then consider other’s interests. If you have been encouraged by Christ then think about why others believe differently than you. What life experience do they have that would make them believe that way? Why do I have to be right? Am I putting their interests above mine? What does it matter if we disagree? The honest truth is we should be in the same book, but we don’t have to be on the same page. God’s word should be our source for our beliefs but never does the Bible write out experience, rather it does the exact opposite. You can’t tell me that Paul and Peter agreed on everything, and that was all because of life experience. Paul was extremely educated, he was a roman citizen, and probably came from a very wealthy family. Peter on the other hand pulled himself up by his boot straps. Peter was probably out fishing 10-12 hours a day in the hot sun while Paul was busy memorizing the Torah. These guys had a very different set of life experiences, and it’s evident because, well there were disagreements between them (Galatians 2:11-21). But, even though they weren’t always on the same page, they were always in the same book. To put it simply, they disagreed but their focus was always the grace of God. We’ve all experienced God’s grace differently because we’ve all been delivered from different things. If your relationship with God looks just like someone else’s then I’d question who you’re actually following. Every believer has a difference of opinion because we’ve experienced God differently. It may be a ridiculous analogy to draw but it’s like punk fans disagreeing over bands. While you may have gotten into punk during the 80′s because you saw Black Flag in your buddy’s living room, I got into punk through a series of tragic fads and scene kid bands that eventually lead me to Minor Threat and H20. Just because we have different backgrounds doesn’t make either of us more or less “punk”. We may not listen to the exact same bands or have the same tattoos but we’re both punk. We’re united by a passion for underground music and that difference is celebrated. That’s one of the things I love most about the Punk scene is that it’s one of the few places where differences are celebrated. It’s understood that while different paths got us here, we’re still united by a love for the same thing.
I wonder what would happen if the church would do the same. If we would be united by our love for Christ rather than divided by our differences in opinion. I wonder what would happen if we would accept people in spite of their past or what brought them to Christ. I wonder how many would be added to the number if we would be more worried about “building the scene” than arguing about Target bathrooms (oops).
“ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”John 13:35
They will know we are Christians by our love, just as punk is known by loud music, wearing black, and going to house shows. At the end of the day we should be more worried about people being able to identify us by our love, not our policies, procedures, and excluded people groups. For the person who has been shut out by Christians, let me be the first to say; God cares about you very very much. He’s been looking out for you since before you were born. He’s not offended by who you are or what you’ve done. He does want you to change, but you won’t have to do it alone. His love changes us. You can be identified by your love, not your sexual preference, you can be identified by your love, not your addiction, you can be identified by His love, not your efforts.
Not too long ago I wrote a blog no one read so here it is again.
