Is My Humorous Personality a Liability?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Well, we have talked about the deadening power
00:00:06.820 | of the entertainment age in which we live.
00:00:09.240 | Just recently, we saw this in APJ 1811,
00:00:12.760 | and we have talked a lot on this podcast over the years
00:00:14.820 | about the flippancy of the age
00:00:16.520 | and of how humor and glibness sort of works its way
00:00:19.520 | into the language of the church.
00:00:22.000 | If we're not careful on this point,
00:00:24.680 | I'm reminded of APJs 328 and 905.
00:00:28.060 | We address that directly.
00:00:29.960 | But here's an interesting question about humor
00:00:31.640 | from a listener named Brian.
00:00:33.120 | Hi, Pastor John.
00:00:34.040 | A question I have wondered about for a while
00:00:35.840 | is these commands to Christians in general
00:00:38.280 | and requirements for elders specifically
00:00:40.800 | that we be sober-minded.
00:00:43.680 | I see this in texts like 1 Timothy 3, 2,
00:00:46.360 | and verse 11, 2 Timothy 4, 5,
00:00:49.800 | Titus 2, 2, 1 Peter 1, 13, 4, 7, 5, 8.
00:00:54.320 | I ask because my question is about humor.
00:00:57.280 | My default mode is outgoing and humorous.
00:01:00.000 | So I've wondered if maybe this is something
00:01:02.160 | I must repent of.
00:01:03.480 | I can understand not wanting to make light of things
00:01:05.760 | that are serious or holy,
00:01:07.680 | but do these commands to be sober-minded
00:01:09.880 | mean we should be serious all the time?
00:01:13.800 | - There are several different Greek words
00:01:15.600 | behind the idea of sober or sober-mindedness.
00:01:19.280 | The basic idea is either not drunk
00:01:24.320 | and all that implies as it applies to our mind.
00:01:29.320 | And the more general way we use it,
00:01:32.200 | namely thoughtful, self-controlled,
00:01:36.060 | without any reference to drunkenness.
00:01:39.320 | In both cases, the import is the same.
00:01:42.740 | A mind that is alert and clear
00:01:46.540 | and able to take reality into account
00:01:50.000 | for what it really is and process things wisely
00:01:54.140 | and draw informed and insightful judgments
00:01:58.640 | from what we observe and think about.
00:02:01.300 | In January of this year, Joe Rigney,
00:02:05.560 | the president of Bethlehem College and Seminary,
00:02:09.240 | where I service as chancellor and teach preaching,
00:02:12.280 | gave a message in chapel
00:02:13.960 | on this very theme of sober-mindedness.
00:02:18.680 | And I found it very helpful.
00:02:21.120 | I think you can probably go to the BCS website and find it,
00:02:25.580 | but it was really illuminating for me.
00:02:29.020 | I remember even now,
00:02:31.600 | he drew out three implications from biblical texts
00:02:36.100 | for what sober-mindedness is,
00:02:38.240 | especially for younger Christians like our students.
00:02:42.860 | One, clarity of mind.
00:02:44.940 | Two, stability of soul.
00:02:47.900 | Three, readiness for action.
00:02:51.420 | And we can see all three of these features
00:02:54.820 | of sober-mindedness if we just look
00:02:58.460 | at the three uses of the word in 1 Peter,
00:03:02.460 | without even going to Paul's letters or anywhere else.
00:03:06.620 | And then when we look at these,
00:03:08.340 | I'll turn around and say something
00:03:10.580 | about Brian's particular question
00:03:12.220 | about how humor fits into sober-mindedness.
00:03:16.160 | So first, 1 Peter 1:13,
00:03:19.220 | "Preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded,
00:03:24.220 | set your hope fully on the grace that is coming to you
00:03:29.520 | at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
00:03:31.220 | So you can hear readiness for action
00:03:34.380 | and a clear head that focuses on the hope of Christ
00:03:39.380 | rather than being cluttered
00:03:41.260 | and confused by worldly distractions.
00:03:44.480 | Second, 1 Peter 4, 7,
00:03:46.780 | "The end of all things is at hand,
00:03:49.060 | therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded
00:03:53.480 | for the sake of your prayers."
00:03:55.020 | And you can hear the need for stability of soul
00:03:58.380 | because of how fraught with instability
00:04:03.380 | the end times will be.
00:04:05.780 | People easily fall prey to hysteria and conspiracy thinking
00:04:10.780 | and lose their footing and their stability.
00:04:14.260 | So don't do that.
00:04:15.440 | Be sober-minded for the end of all things is at hand.
00:04:20.240 | And third, 1 Peter 5, 8,
00:04:22.320 | "Be sober-minded, be watchful.
00:04:25.120 | Your adversary, the devil, prowls around
00:04:27.660 | like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour."
00:04:31.200 | And you can hear the call for alertness to lion prowling
00:04:35.860 | and a readiness to act in defense of your soul
00:04:40.360 | against this lion and the need for stability of soul
00:04:45.360 | because living with a constant awareness
00:04:48.600 | that we have a supernatural enemy
00:04:50.240 | could easily throw us off balance that we could lose.
00:04:55.240 | And we need very much to think straight and clear
00:05:00.640 | and biblically about our adversary
00:05:03.080 | and not lose our bearings or our soul's stability.
00:05:08.220 | President Rigney went on then to make application
00:05:13.220 | to the particular challenges of our culture
00:05:17.140 | which are remarkably pressing today.
00:05:21.260 | And sober-mindedness turns out to be really in short supply
00:05:25.760 | and really needed, he argued.
00:05:28.420 | And I think he's right.
00:05:29.940 | And you can check that out for yourself.
00:05:31.540 | But Brian's question is different.
00:05:34.160 | He says, "My question is about humor.
00:05:38.640 | My default mode is pretty outgoing and humorous.
00:05:43.640 | So I have wondered if maybe this is something
00:05:46.660 | I must repent of.
00:05:48.140 | I can understand not wanting to make light of things
00:05:52.400 | that are serious or holy,
00:05:55.140 | but does the command to be sober-minded mean
00:06:00.140 | we should be serious all the time?"
00:06:03.720 | Close quote.
00:06:04.560 | Interesting question.
00:06:05.840 | I gotta define some terms here.
00:06:07.980 | I wonder if when Brian uses the word serious,
00:06:14.080 | he might mean in his assumptions,
00:06:18.140 | something like somber or dour or glum
00:06:23.140 | or the weighty look of the furrowed brow
00:06:28.320 | that you bring into every situation.
00:06:32.780 | If he does mean that by serious,
00:06:37.780 | then the answer is no.
00:06:39.780 | Sober-mindedness does not imply that.
00:06:43.860 | But the way I use the word serious is this.
00:06:47.520 | Its opposite is silliness, not joy.
00:06:52.520 | Silliness is the opposite of serious.
00:06:55.900 | Immaturity, trifling, frivolous, flippant, petty,
00:07:01.880 | those are the opposite of serious in my vocabulary.
00:07:06.880 | And I think sober-mindedness does prevent
00:07:10.520 | that kind of trifling humor.
00:07:14.240 | Sober-mindedness is the demeanor that corresponds
00:07:18.760 | to the weight of the things of life,
00:07:23.120 | the great things of life.
00:07:25.480 | It is possible to be sober-minded
00:07:29.540 | and have elements of humor in our life,
00:07:33.640 | but it's hard to be sober-minded and at the same time,
00:07:36.620 | be the kind of person that we've all met
00:07:39.840 | who is obsessed with being funny.
00:07:43.440 | So obsessed, he is incapable of serious moments.
00:07:48.440 | He is actually allergic.
00:07:50.800 | I've known people like this.
00:07:52.040 | They are allergic to serious moments.
00:07:55.680 | If a serious moment starts to happen,
00:07:59.400 | they're the first to break the mood
00:08:02.300 | with some pun or something.
00:08:04.100 | They can't take it.
00:08:05.580 | They gotta say something quick to break
00:08:08.380 | what they consider a seriousness
00:08:10.780 | that they don't know what to do with.
00:08:12.060 | They're just emotionally incapable of relaxing
00:08:15.520 | and enjoying seriousness.
00:08:18.200 | And that's what I would warn Brian against.
00:08:21.940 | You don't wanna be that way.
00:08:23.820 | On the other hand, unbroken seriousness
00:08:27.640 | of a melodramatic or somber kind
00:08:32.080 | inevitably communicates a sickness of soul
00:08:36.400 | to the great mass of people.
00:08:37.920 | And they're right.
00:08:39.440 | This is partly because life as God created it
00:08:43.480 | is not like that.
00:08:45.600 | There are, for example, little babies in the world
00:08:50.080 | who are not the least impressed with our passion.
00:08:52.920 | (laughs)
00:08:54.220 | Or my zeal or my sober looks.
00:08:57.140 | They are cooing and smiling and calling for their daddies
00:09:00.720 | to get down on the floor and play with them.
00:09:03.800 | And the daddy who cannot do this,
00:09:08.060 | 'cause he's so serious,
00:09:10.380 | will not understand the true seriousness of sin
00:09:14.420 | because he's not capable of enjoying
00:09:17.260 | what God has preserved from his ravages.
00:09:21.040 | He's really a sick man
00:09:23.040 | and unfit to lead others into health.
00:09:27.760 | He is in the end sober-minded about being sober-minded,
00:09:32.960 | not sober-minded about being joyful.
00:09:35.420 | The real battle in life
00:09:39.160 | is to be as happy in God as we can be.
00:09:43.880 | And that takes a very special kind of sober-mindedness.
00:09:50.320 | It is significant, isn't it,
00:09:51.820 | that the first use of sober-mindedness in 1 Peter 1.13
00:09:56.820 | puts it in the service of hope.
00:10:02.020 | Be sober-minded, set your hope fully on grace
00:10:07.020 | that is coming to you,
00:10:09.620 | being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus.
00:10:12.940 | What could be happier, right?
00:10:14.780 | What could be happier than hope?
00:10:18.000 | Put your sober-mindedness to work
00:10:21.260 | for making sure that you remain hopeful
00:10:24.260 | and joyful as a Christian.
00:10:26.420 | That's the great task of sober-mindedness.
00:10:29.660 | So Brian, there's no conflict
00:10:32.380 | between sober-mindedness and joy at all.
00:10:36.460 | This is real joy, strong joy, stable joy,
00:10:40.360 | spiritually alert joy, ready to act joy.
00:10:45.060 | If your humor serves that,
00:10:47.900 | then praise God and go for it.
00:10:51.300 | - Thank you, Pastor John.
00:10:52.140 | And great question, Brian.
00:10:53.580 | And to find that Joe Rigney sermon,
00:10:55.820 | I just found it on YouTube by searching for the title,
00:10:58.220 | simply titled "Sober-Mindedness,"
00:11:00.140 | a sermon published there on January 26th, 2022.
00:11:04.840 | Okay, so we are talking about the place of humor,
00:11:09.040 | and that leads us to ask about the tenor of public worship.
00:11:12.560 | How do we frame the gravity of our worship
00:11:14.980 | so flippant humor doesn't become the default vibe
00:11:19.180 | of our corporate worship?
00:11:21.460 | That question is up next time.
00:11:22.740 | I'm your host, Tony Ranke,
00:11:23.580 | and we'll see you back here on Wednesday.
00:11:25.460 | Thanks for listening.
00:11:26.460 | (upbeat music)
00:11:29.040 | (upbeat music)
00:11:31.620 | [BLANK_AUDIO]