“Three Monkeys to Save  Western Civilization”

Titus 1: 10-16

10 There are also many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision; 11 they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach. 12 It was one of them, their very own prophet, who said,

“Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.”

13 That testimony is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply, so that they may become sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish myths or to commandments of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Mayhem & Media

America seems to be going completely crazy. Consider: we have the greatest affluence, the longest lives, the most expansive and technologically-advanced medical care in all of history—right here, right now—so there is every reason for all Americans to live in peace, harmony, and freedom. For the lives we able to live, we should wake every morning with a happy song on our lips and a prayer of gratitude in our hearts—just  to be here. We are so blessed! Every one of us lives a quality of life with a standard of living superior to that of most of history’s kings and queens. Far better to be a commoner in the 21st Century United States than royalty in the 18th, 19th, or even early 20th century.

Are we a happy people? A joyous, contented, grateful, appreciative people? Afraid not. Turn on the news: what is the song we hear rising up from our streets (which, relative to the rest of the world, are paved with gold)? Are our children or children’s children waking to sing “God Bless America” with tears of gratitude? No—it sounds more like the cry of a collective, preschool tantrum.

We are on the verge of replacing “The Star-Bangled Banner” as our national anthem in favor of a new song called, “The Temper Tantrum Wail”. A free people with the greatest royal inheritance the world has ever known has made complaining the new national pastime. Like spoiled, identical twins on their birthday, each complaining that the other has received a larger slice of cake, we are divided by a sinful obsession with self-interests.

As surely as the moon will eclipse the sun tomorrow, the religion of Selfism is eclipsing the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. No—today it is me and my interests up and against you and yours. This is not America—or at least, it is not the dream we are supposed to share.

The historical faith of America—a broad, generous Christianity—also seems to be suffering the waxing darkness of a slow eclipse under the new religion of Selfism—and not just Selfism, but Extreme, Radicalized Selfism. Vainglory is becoming the new prime virtue:

“Me and my identity are all that matter!”

The vice of vainglory is a demonic voice whispering in America’s ear: “You deserve better treatment than this! You should have more! Good is not enough! Time to complain, gripe, grouse, moan, and yell in the streets!”

As we see most recently in Boston and Charlottesville, the political extremes increasingly become less rational, more wacko—be it Alt-Right or Antifa—more violence-prone, less capable of negotiation, less willing to find compromises and middle ground—rather factions, each crying My way or the highway, angrily seek to force their own bubble over the entire nation, each faction self-righteous and pride-swollen—all apparently incapable of appeasement short of having their own way, the way they want it, right now. These attitudes make for a very dysfunctional family, a very bad team, and guarantee our decline (if not our demise).

The passions and divisions are only exacerbated by the ever-present eye of 24/7 news coverage——CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Salon, Huffington Post, Breitbart, Drudge Report—like great swarms of flies looking for another pile of manure to attack and dissect—scavengers in search of corpses for hourly tweets and headlines. We may have once imagined that journalism was a noble profession—truth-telling and speaking the truth to power—but that seems to be a dream now quickly-dissolving in the mad dash to boost ratings, sell more ads, and increase profit margins for their shareholders.

And we, the Church—American followers of Jesus Christ—find our role and response either co-opted by these same interests or otherwise ill-defined. The Church remains—as it always has—in constant danger of going with the flow and selling out our faith to the terms of popular culture.

Activists accuse us of putting our heads in the sand by not staking our claim on one political side or the other. It seems they would have their zealotry divide the Body of Christ as well as the country. If John and Jane Q. Public are not jumping forth to serve their particular cause—their ideology and self-vaunting narrative—then they get quickly vilified.

And so we see that self-righteous causes always find a way to spit in the face of humility, just as the self-righteous Sanhedrin spit in the face of Christ.

What then is our course? How ought we as a Church respond to the fragmentation and general mayhem that surrounds us? Well, there’s good news and bad: the good news is that we know the answer—we know what we’re supposed to be doing, for we have been learning it throughout Christian history—humility, love, trusting in God—these are nothing new to us, though we need to relearn them year by year. The bad news is our country has become uninterested in the idea of answering to a Righteous God. It seems all care is directed only toward popular opinion as measured by Twitter followers and hits to one’s YouTube channel.

I’m going to suggest this morning, in line with our text from Titus, that there are three monkeys that can point the way to health and sanity. From the old, camp kitsch of the three monkeys that might have been found on your grandmother’s library shelf: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, we get a prescription for what ails us—an antidote to the poisons of overexposure and raging pridefulness.

1. See No Evil

There was a time when the sights of what is evil—things violent or otherwise inappropriate—would have caused people to turn their heads or cover their eyes. Covering your eyes at the scene of an accident, covering the eyes of your children, or looking away from something evil—are the norms in a gentler world. With the ever-present eye of cheap cameras and the internet, we become more accustomed to watching things we would be healthier not to watch.

Seeing no evil means we refuse to support or patronize the businesses dedicated to filling our eyes, heads and hearts with all things evil. There’s pornography and violence pornography, both forms of voyeurism—watching someone else’s pain or pleasure from a safe distance.

Our eyes are doorways to our souls, so what we take in—what we allow ourselves to watch—can affect our souls. We can pollute and otherwise damage our hearts by what we allow in through our eyes. I’ll recommend three ways we can resolve to see no evil:

We must learn how to turn away.

Not in fear but in self-respect.

We will not make a habit of bringing things in which darken the soul God intends for light.

TV, movies, internet—all make it their business to push the envelope and violate your personal boundaries. They want in so they can get you to buy their products. Stay on guard. Do not let them in. Turn away, change the channel.

We renounce voyeurism

Voyeurism has been almost normalized, but it wasn’t long ago that it was considered a perversion even by the American Psychological Association. To look on for the thrill of watching another real person suffer real tragedy, horror, or anything else that is truly that person’s own business is unbecoming for the Christian. Be it the rich, angry housewives of Orange County, salacious intimacies, or even the news—we must be willing to protect and defend our souls from garnering an appetite for spying on others.

We will not settle for being spectators

We may feel we are sitting at a safe distance when we’ve got our feet up on the ottoman in the privacy of our dens, but we are not unaffected by what comes into our souls through our eyes. Evil will find its way into your inner sanctum so far as you allow it to do so. We should not settle for spectating, because there is no such thing as “merely watching” in the spiritual world. If you and I are willfully observing evil, we may be enabling evil.

In our homes, there may be fewer things more morally significant than simply changing a channel, blocking a webpage, or just turning it all off, at least for a while.

2. Hear No Evil

What is true of our eyes is true of our ears as well. Through our ears we can take in the good news of Jesus Christ, but we can also take in unspeakable evils. Our ears are also doorways into our souls.

In our regular circles—family, neighborhood, community, school, or workplace—we hear lots of chatter every day. People love to gripe and cut down others who are out of earshot. Things we hear can get into us and rattle around in our hearts. The worst of them can get in there and be difficult to get rid of.  Ever heard of an earworm—infectious songs or ads that get into your head and rattle around in there against your will?

1. Most Christmas songs by Christmas: Felix Navidad

2. “It’s a Small World”

3. “We Built This City”

4. Cat food commercials “Purina Cat Chow” “I want tuna, I want liver, I want chicken please deliver”

6. (for me personally) Anything by Billy Joel

Sad thing is that it’s usually songs you really dislike. Talk about demons—I’m afraid I’ll now have “Piano Man” stuck in my head until Thursday afternoon. “It’s a small world aaaafter all; it’s a small world aaafter all…).

If I can get past the songs blaring in my head, I’ll recommend three things we can do to hear no evil:

We will learn to filter

This is selective listening. While some of us do this unconsciously (usually men, and especially when our wives suggest honey-do items), we can also do this deliberately. Someone makes an off-color remark, tells a joke that crosses a line, says something we find slightly offensive—in all cases we can send up the red flares or we can take it with a grain of salt. Yes, there are times to make it clear that someone has crossed a line and clearly offended, but others when we feel tempted to file that offense as something to hold against a person—a legitimacy for judging—rather than just letting it go.

Filtering means we consciously cut others a fair amount of slack because they are human beings—flawed children of God like us all. Sometimes it is best to let it slide and forget it, even as there are times to confront the offense and win one’s good will back.

Filtering is a way we keep ourselves from feeling polluted by what others may say.

We renounce gossip

I think again of the news, which absolutely thrives on gossip—which is evil talk—and keeping other people’s score (especially politicians and celebrities). Gossip is destructive by nature—evil in both its intent and affects.

The antidote is something like loyalty.

Once, I did something right. Can’t say I always have, but when I was working under a Senior Pastor in a large church, I was being handed a raw deal. Several church leaders came to me to express their disappointment with the Senior Pastor and let me know they wanted to take my side in any upcoming conflict. I told them: “I’m sorry, but I can’t hear a word against him!” They snickered. They knew I was being mistreated, but as God is my strength, I was clearly led to express loyalty without exception (in spite of my personal feelings). Leaving that church, I could have created a huge mess, but with God’s help, I refused to indulge myself the satisfaction of gossip. I believe I am much happier and healthier today for having done so.

When it comes to gossip, we need to be more like cul-de-sacs than intersections. When we hear evil about someone else, it needs to stop with us.

We believe in the virtue of innocence

The world believes in sophistication, which is in part the ongoing violation of innocence. Sophisticates can only see innocence as naivety. All who are sullied want everyone else sullied as well. The polluted want everyone else to be polluted as well. Here speaks the book of Titus most eloquently:

To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted.”

In all things, by refusing to see evil and hear evil, we exercise the right kind of self-respect: refusing to become the garbage can for other people’s refuse.

3. Speak No Evil

I’ve done many funerals for wonderful Christian people. One of the most impressive things I have heard several times is: “She never said a bad word about anyone!”

How fallen I know myself to be by comparison! And how wonderful and excellent a thing to be able to say about someone! Think about it: you know someone like that, don’t you—someone who never had a bad word to say about anyone else? How does your heart feel about that person?

I feel envy, and I’ve got to believe that if there is a right kind of envy, it is to envy virtue.

How do we speak no evil? Three suggestions:

We will learn how to bless.

I will say this is the best of the three and perhaps the most important. Christians must learn how to speak the truth, but to do so by speaking more of the good and less of the bad.

If we were to take a poll and hear every person’s response to the question: “Who was your most significant mentor in life?” I am sure every answer would include a story about how that someone blessed us. Someone important to us told us we were attractive, or smart, or good in a meaningful way that hit our hearts. Someone blessed us along the way.

It is not in our nature to be affirmers—we’re all much better at cursing the darkness than lighting lights—but surely this is part of what Jesus means for us when he says, “no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel.” Our light is meant to shine, and it rarely shines brighter than when we purposefully bless others.

We would all do well to improve our capacity to bless others and be a blessing to our world.

We renounce slander

Sometimes we can’t help but hear evil—horrid things about others that we afterwards wish we hadn’t known—but we can reject the practice of slander. Slander is character violence, a means to tear down and destroy—never to build up. Slander is the polar opposite of blessing. To slander is to curse. We should renounce slander in every form, and seek to undermine its power in our world.

We will be buck-stoppers

We are to be buck-stoppers, not back stabbers. By speaking no evil we refuse to pass on the evil we’ve heard. Again: we are to be cul-de-sacs, not intersections for evil talk. People may pass the buck to us, but can’t we just allow the buck to stop with us?

This is the pattern of the cross. Jesus absorbed the evils of the world, not returning the deserved, righteous judgment, but mercy and forgiveness. The evil stops with him. As he commands we carry a cross as his followers, we too should be cul-de-sacs, last station stops, final destinations, for the evils we hear. We can take those evils and leave them at the cross, where Jesus bears them away to an infinite distance.

What evil comes to us, ends with us. A lot of people think of Christians as terribly fragile or terribly sheltered, or both. They look at Christians as though they’ve never heard a dirty word. Why would they think that? Why should they? Is it that they see in us people whose innocence hasn’t been utterly forfeited? It is right and good that they should see us as innocent, because the evils we see and hear (as we live our lives in a fallen world) are not what shapes our character in their broken image. Rather we are shaped into the image of Christ—the one who absorbs all evil and gives only goodness back in return. This is our goal, for he is our image, and by the work of the Holy Spirit we are growing into him.

What evil comes to us, ends with us, and hat is the power of Christ working in us.

May we become such people that others would say of us: “She never said a bad word about anyone.” †