How Much Media Is Too Much Media?
00:00:00.000 | Well, how much media is too much media?
00:00:08.300 | In the digital age, this is a question that we all face all the time, and it's a question
00:00:12.220 | with implications for our relationships, too.
00:00:15.020 | It's a dilemma faced by one young woman who listens to the podcast and writes us today.
00:00:19.740 | "Hello, Pastor John and Tony.
00:00:21.220 | Thank you for the podcast.
00:00:22.380 | I have been learning a lot about the conscience lately and how some things affect me in varying
00:00:27.380 | degrees compared to other Christians.
00:00:29.660 | I know I cannot pass judgment on those who do not share my convictions of conscience
00:00:33.860 | on things that are not inherently sinful.
00:00:37.700 | But I do struggle to apply my convictions to group settings, specifically the watching
00:00:41.460 | of constant television and playing of video games.
00:00:45.260 | As an adult, these things weigh heavy on my conscience.
00:00:48.840 | These are the things my family, who I still live with, and my friends maintain as part
00:00:53.480 | of their daily lifestyles.
00:00:55.820 | If I listen to my conscience and not participate, my time spent with them is greatly reduced.
00:01:00.260 | But if I do participate, the weight on my conscience brings me great misery.
00:01:04.860 | I ask them, but get nowhere because it's not a clear sin issue.
00:01:09.540 | So how do I live in a space that does not share my convictions with love and grace,
00:01:14.780 | and especially when it comes to screens?"
00:01:18.340 | I suspect that in the modern technological age that we have entered, especially an age
00:01:26.140 | of ever-present visual entertainment created within the framework of a God-ignoring or
00:01:33.480 | God-hostile worldview, I suspect that in this new entertainment-saturated world, the pursuit
00:01:42.520 | of purity of heart and possessing the mind of Christ and setting our affections on things
00:01:50.100 | that are above and being renewed in the spirit of our thoughts and being transformed in our
00:01:56.820 | emotions and keeping our lives unstained from the sinfulness of the world and laying up
00:02:04.380 | treasures in heaven and not on earth and keeping a clear vision of light, the light of the
00:02:11.060 | gospel of the glory of Christ, and enjoying the daily fellowship of the Son of God and
00:02:17.460 | having the eyes of our hearts enlightened to know what is the hope of our calling and
00:02:22.940 | the riches of the glory of our inheritance and the immeasurable greatness of God's
00:02:27.900 | power toward believers and the taste of the age to come and freedom from the desires of
00:02:33.820 | the eyes and the desires of the flesh and the pride of life and the power of the Spirit
00:02:39.940 | in our inner being and a clear sight of the breadth and length and height and depth of
00:02:45.820 | the love of Christ and the enjoyment of all the fullness of God, I suspect that in this
00:02:53.380 | new world of incessant screen time, whether widescreen TV or computer or tablet or smartphone,
00:03:02.700 | all these precious marks of what it means to be real Christians will require a kind
00:03:09.540 | of radical recovery of the ancient early church commitment to be more intentionally detached
00:03:19.980 | from the patterns of the world, especially the patterns of entertainment for the sake
00:03:26.540 | of the everlasting enjoyment of the greatness of Christ.
00:03:32.220 | For decades, most Christians have simply drifted into the embrace of the patterns of the world
00:03:41.980 | in the way we spend our evenings and our weekends, with the exception of a couple hours for church
00:03:47.100 | on Sunday.
00:03:48.660 | At first, this drift seemed harmless because there was such an overlap between the supposedly
00:03:56.460 | Christian worldview and the products of the media and entertainment empires.
00:04:03.900 | That overlap was not as great as we thought it was.
00:04:07.620 | At least, I think I really blew it as a kid and didn't see it.
00:04:12.740 | It was superficially Christian in that many taboos in the culture were still shared with
00:04:19.260 | everybody, but God was absent and we scarcely noticed, let alone were heart sick or offended.
00:04:26.900 | But now that superficial overlap of media culture and Christian culture is very small.
00:04:34.860 | And the vast majority of programs and movies are through and through void, not only of
00:04:42.300 | God and Christ and any worthy advocates for his greatness or his righteousness, but also
00:04:50.060 | increasingly void of any restraints on the celebration of sin.
00:04:56.660 | Sin is consistently destigmatized and normalized in what Christians watch with pleasure.
00:05:04.980 | And yet, even though these changes have happened, most Christians have not altered their pattern
00:05:11.020 | of immersion in that entertainment culture for their own enjoyment.
00:05:17.060 | Therefore, millions of Christians find themselves pleased with God-omitting, Christ-neglecting,
00:05:25.620 | man-centered, ego-exalting, sexually titillating, sin-normalizing entertainment night after
00:05:34.180 | night.
00:05:35.380 | The effect of this is a church that more and more absorbs the intuitions, the instincts,
00:05:43.620 | the reflexes, the preferences, the desires of the world.
00:05:49.100 | The church that regularly makes the world the source of its relaxation and enjoyment
00:05:56.980 | must become a worldly church.
00:06:00.180 | And a worldly church is a powerless church.
00:06:03.420 | It will not experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit and boldness in prayer and courage
00:06:10.300 | in witness and readiness to sacrifice for the salvation of lost people and for the exaltation
00:06:16.740 | of Christ.
00:06:17.980 | You cannot feel brokenhearted over lost people when you enjoy night after night being entertained
00:06:27.840 | by them in their lostness.
00:06:31.780 | This is why I said to be a real Christian in the days ahead will require a kind of radical
00:06:39.420 | recovery of the ancient early church commitment to being more intentionally detached from
00:06:48.460 | the patterns of the world, especially the patterns of entertainment.
00:06:53.340 | I do believe that God will raise up a generation who are so thrilled with what they gain in
00:07:02.220 | God and Christ and salvation and the way of righteousness and the sacrifices of love that
00:07:09.340 | they will not be intimidated by the accusations that they are a new kind of fundamentalist.
00:07:17.240 | They will joyfully recover with seriousness and joy.
00:07:22.540 | The words of the apostle when he said, "What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
00:07:29.260 | For we are the temple of the living God.
00:07:32.220 | As God said, 'I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their
00:07:37.580 | God and they shall be my people.'
00:07:40.420 | Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no one
00:07:47.180 | clean thing.
00:07:49.140 | Then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters
00:07:53.880 | to me, says the Lord Almighty."
00:07:57.500 | Second Corinthians 6, 16 to 18.
00:08:01.480 | The recovery of this kind of radical detachment from the emptiness of the world will not be
00:08:09.580 | for its own sake.
00:08:12.780 | We will not make the mistake of thinking that separation for the sake of separation is a
00:08:19.380 | Christ-exalting virtue.
00:08:21.740 | It's not.
00:08:23.100 | We will say no for the sake of the glorious, all-satisfying yes.
00:08:30.100 | We will say no to being children of the age because of the spectacular privilege of being
00:08:37.140 | sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty.
00:08:40.700 | We will say no to the short-term, unsatisfying titillation of our lusts for the sake of the
00:08:48.980 | deep, profound satisfaction of savoring Christ and serving him with the conviction that it
00:08:55.020 | is more blessed to give than to receive.
00:08:58.180 | We will say no to the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride
00:09:04.260 | of life because we are on a quest for something vastly deeper and higher and richer and fuller
00:09:11.700 | and more lasting than anything secular entertainment can offer.
00:09:18.920 | This will not be easy.
00:09:20.460 | The young woman who has written this question is showing us what we are up against.
00:09:28.700 | Sons of Christians simply default to TV watching and video games.
00:09:35.020 | They are not yet awakened to what's happening to them.
00:09:39.260 | And the fact that they would resent someone's discontent with their pattern of entertainment
00:09:46.540 | is simply more evidence of how profoundly saturated they have become with the spirit
00:09:52.400 | of the age.
00:09:53.740 | My simple counsel to this young woman is that she thank God for the direction her conscience
00:10:01.940 | is pointing and that she put all her focus on cultivating a great and glorious yes to
00:10:10.620 | God and his kingdom and his righteousness and his promises and his fellowship so that
00:10:17.540 | whatever "no" she must speak and live toward her family, it would point mainly to
00:10:27.700 | a great and better "yes," the glory of Christ.
00:10:33.640 | You won't regret it and neither will they if Paul's words become your passion.
00:10:39.300 | Since then, you have been raised with Christ.
00:10:43.180 | Take the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
00:10:49.660 | Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.
00:10:56.660 | The pleasures found in this path are greater and they last forever.
00:11:02.700 | Amen.
00:11:03.700 | Wow.
00:11:04.700 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:11:05.700 | This is a great question.
00:11:06.700 | Thank you for the response.
00:11:07.700 | Wonderful response.
00:11:08.700 | If you have a great question like this one for us about media or social media or gaming,
00:11:14.500 | go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn and from there you can send us an email with your question.
00:11:20.940 | Well, every day in America, the strong murder the weak, and it's all legal.
00:11:28.620 | It's legal for the strong to murder the weak in America because Americans have grabbed
00:11:34.940 | a God-like power to determine what is real and what is not real, who is human and who
00:11:40.500 | is subhuman.
00:11:42.220 | On Wednesday, Pastor John will explain this absolute tragedy.
00:11:45.260 | We are, of course, talking about the unborn.
00:11:47.500 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:11:49.140 | We'll see you back here on Wednesday.
00:11:50.820 | [END]
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