of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts.
Be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength
and our redeemer. Amen. Well, if you really want
to, you can find plenty of reasons to be outraged
these days. I know that sounds curious, not the
part about being outraged. Yes, there are plenty
of reasons to be outraged. The curious part is
about finding reasons to be outraged. Why would
we want to be angry? Do we really seek it? Don't
we want to be happy? Don't we want to feel at
peace? I read an article recently that talks
about how outrage is addictive. Outrage produces
those feel -good chemicals in your brain. that
help you feel better. The same kind of chemicals
that heroin and opiates produce. No wonder outrage
is often sought. It's a powerful form of self
-medication. If we've learned that outrage makes
us feel better, then anytime we start feeling
bad, we will seek it in order to try and feel
better. But it's better than heroin, I guess.
Like any fix, any quick fix, or addictive behavior,
we only end up feeling worse in the long run,
which only compounds the problem, because we
want to seek it to feel better again. Let me
just go down that downward spiral into the abyss.
Outrage as a form of self -medication has gotten
a lot easier these days, especially with access
to social media. For starters, social media,
as you know, creates algorithms that feed...
the most controversial stories, the stories that
everyone's talking about, which are usually controversial,
as do traditional forms of media. These controversial
stories leave us feeling outraged, thus further
feeding our addiction. It's no secret that all
forms of media will often weaponize topics to
fuel outrage. Why? Because outrage sells. Secondly,
social media feeds us with a heavy dose of confirmation
bias. by feeding us what we already believe to
be true in order to satisfy our ego. Social media
creates echo chambers and silos. Social media
draws lines in the sand. This is really just
the devil at work with social media. Better yet,
social media draws trenches in the sand. We are
right and you are wrong. This creates a toxic
environment where no one wins. Sometimes I'll
find myself in conversation with someone on a
somewhat controversial topic. And sometimes the
other party has no idea what I'm talking about.
I've since learned that this is because the other
party either relied on social media for their
news or they just got their news from one source.
So if we have different interests and different
biases, then we might never read the same story.
Therefore, we are informed by two very different
stories. And in the end, this creates space where
we both think we're right and the other is wrong,
only perpetuating this outrage. Perhaps the most
dangerous consequence of outrage it seems is
that it feels like we're changing the world.
Well, I have news for you. If outrage could change
the world, then we'd be in heaven already, right?
Not that outrage is bad in and of itself. Not
that anger is bad in and of itself. As anger
and outrage serves as a way to tell us there's
something wrong. There's something wrong around
us or inside of us. However, as self -centered
human beings, our first instinct is to point
the finger elsewhere when something goes wrong.
Before we point the finger, however, what does
Jesus remind us? Before you judge the speck in
your neighbor's eye, deal with the log that is
in your own. And while there are plenty of reasons
to be outraged at the other, and many of them
justified, I have learned that this feeling is
usually less about them and more about me. My
level of anger or outrage tells me, how I'm doing
physically or emotionally or spiritually. Unresolved
anger, after all, has devastating effects on
your physical, mental, and spiritual health and
the health of the community. And so this season
of Lent, it seems, calls us to take a look inward
and to take stock of how our own heart and soul
are doing. This season compels us to look at
the log in our own eye before we judge the speck
in our neighbor's. Regardless of your political
affiliation, I imagine most of us are experiencing
a heightened sense of outrage these days with
what's going on around the world. And if this
is you, I gently invite you to turn your attention
toward your heart and your soul. The power of
God's word working in you has a much better chance
of changing the world outside you and inside
of you than does your outrage at whatever injustice
or perceived injustice is being perpetrated.
As we will explore on Wednesday nights and Lent,
the Word of God working in us will cultivate
the fruits of the Spirit, which are faithfulness,
gentleness, peace, goodness, joy, self -control,
love, patience, and kindness. Notice what's not
on the list. Outrage. During the season of Lent,
we will also gather on Sunday mornings to explore
various disciplines that help cultivate the fruits
of the Spirit. Using a book called Celebration
of Discipline by Richard Foster, we will explore
how the disciplines of prayer, study, simplicity,
service, confession, and worship create fertile
ground for the fruits of the Spirit to grow.
Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, which we
read about here this morning, paints a vivid
picture of how God's Word working in us, can
extinguish even the most seductive of human desires.
And the devil sort of gives us three of those
most powerful desires. Our need for instant gratification,
our need for power and control, and our need
for popularity. While these are nice things,
they aren't needs. And that's what the devil
does. The devil tries to convince us that wants
are needs. and our wants have the power to blind
us from the true needs of others, even our own
needs. If I were to identify the biggest need
for humanity today, it would be spiritual maturity.
As Richard Foster suggests in his book, we are,
as a people, spiritually bankrupt, at least in
developed countries, countries that have taken
the devil up on his offer for instant gratification,
for power and control, for popularity. These
are the desires and yearnings that God truly
wants us to let go of or give up this Lent. These
are the desires that corrupt our soul and prevent
us from loving God and our neighbor. But let
me be clear. God does not demand you let go of
these desires using your willpower. For starters,
your willpower isn't strong enough. You might
be strong enough to let go of some of the symptoms
of these desires, but not the desires themselves.
Letting go of the symptoms of the desires is
like pulling a weed at the stem. Those desires
will find a way to grow back in other ways unless
they are pulled up by the root and extinguished.
Even more, trying to conquer these desires on
your own suggests that you have more faith in
your own strength than in God's. And finally,
even the best of us fall victim to temptation.
Sin is not merely a choice. It's a part of the
human condition. condition of sin using a verse
from Isaiah. The wicked are like the tossing
sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters toss
up mire and dirt. He goes on reflecting, the
sea does not need to do anything special to produce
mire and dirt. That's just the result of the
natural motions. This is also true of us when
we are under the condition of sin. The natural
motion of our lives produce mire and dirt. But
this does not mean we should just stand idle,
hoping God will show up to save us. Instead,
we can participate in the various God -given
disciplines. And this is our most fundamental
work as followers of Christ, to engage in those
disciplines that put us in God's presence, where
we can be changed from inside out. Fun fact,
the word liturgy, which is what we're doing here,
literally means the work of the people. This
is our work. These disciplines in and of themselves
don't change us. If we believe it's the disciplines
that are changing us, we've simply created another
idol that will not produce the fruits of the
Spirit, but only hardness of heart. And that's
what Jesus' problem with the Pharisees was all
about. Consciously or unconsciously, the Pharisees
approached disciplines kind of like hand sanitizer.
It was less about inward transformation and more
about outward appearances. Approaching the disciplines
in this way doesn't lead to changed hearts. Rather,
this approach simply breeds judgment and contempt
for the other because they aren't doing it right.
Again, we are not changed or saved by our good
works, even our disciplines. Rather, these disciplines
are vehicles of God's grace. They make space
for us to experience the power of God's word,
which does have the power to change us from inside
out. And that's the key. Just as anger tells
me that my inner life is in chaos, so do the
fruits of the Spirit tell me that my inner life
is being ordered by God's goodness and grace.
If I feel angry and outraged all the time, that's
a red flag, right? That means that I'm grasping
after instant gratification, power, popularity.
If I feel at peace, that peace that passes all
understanding, then I know that God is alive
and at work in me. And as God's Word grows in
us, our sinful nature begins to give way to God's
nature working in us and through us. Foster says
it like this, just as the natural motions of
our lives once produced mire and dirt, now they
produce righteousness and peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit. So no, I don't think we want to
be outraged in our heart of hearts, but in a
world that makes us feel so helpless in the face
of so much pain and suffering, outrage sometimes
feels like the only option. It can make us feel
better, but like sugar, it's going to eventually
see us crash. But in Christ and through Christ
and with Christ, we have another option. We can
live lives that are marked by joy and patience
and kindness, by peace and gentleness and faithfulness,
by goodness and self -control and love. And that's
the good news of Jesus. God in Christ, the Word
made flesh, living in us, does in us what we
are unable to do on our own. The fruits of God's
word working in us is a community that begins
to reflect the answer to the Lord's prayer. Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it
is in heaven. Amen.