April 3, 2011
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
We seem to have a problem today called, TMI—too much information. Oversharing happens all the time. Sometimes, it’s WTMI—way too much information!
You might not be familiar with the term, but you know it when it happens. It happens when someone goes into details about a recent surgery. It’s when you start sharing what you ate last night that caused you to be sick. It’s when you start hanging out some dirty laundry that only you and your family needed to know. Too much information.
As your pastor, I hear too much information when I am going about my ministry. And you can be reassured that based on absolute confidentiality, your oversharing is never repeated by me.
It’s fortunate that although oversharing exists, most people have learned to hide uncomfortable aspects of their personal lives from others. Most of us have figured out that it’s best to keep some things to ourselves in order to maintain our own dignity and protect others from embarrassment. We’ve learned how to avoid TMI.
But that’s in the real world.
Social Media
Today there’s an alternate universe we call social media or social networking where a whole different set of rules exists.
Recently, an UCLA student named Alexandria Wallace from the Sacramento area posted a rant on YouTube that stereotyped Asians in the library, in the way they talk on their cell phones, how their families would come over to the dorms to do their students’ laundry, cook meals for them, and the general message that Asian Americans are not being Americans.
This video has gone viral across the nation and there’ve been many spoofs, rebuttals, and news coverage about such public airing of one’s perceptions. The UCLA president went on YouTube to apologize for the university. Some have said that this student probably didn’t hold these beliefs personally but mainly wanted to have notoriety and attention. Andy Warhol once said, “Everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Since this incident Alexandria Wallace has withdrawn from UCLA.
Whatever might be her motives, this was TMI.
Futurists of social media predict that in the next 10 years, sharing details of one’s life in the form of status updates, Twitter feeds and YouTube clips will evolve into something even more transparent and self-focused. There will be something that is being called, “lifecasting,” a nearly non-stop, streaming video of one’s every moment. If this happens, every second of one’s existence will be shared on computers and smart phones around the globe. TMI.
If this were to happen, what kind of person would the world see of you? With no distinction between the “private you” and the “public you,” what might the world truly think of you? Evidently, most people didn’t think too highly of Alexandria Wallace.
This is not a pleasant thought. Most of us are used to being one person when we are in private—completely alone, with no friends, no spouse/significant other, no kids, no one at all—and a different person when we’re in the presence of others.
The “private us” is private for a reason. We say things, look at things, ponder about things and generally do all sorts of things we’d never attempt to do if we knew someone were watching.
It’s been said that the truest test of character is not what you do under pressure but what you do when no one is looking. That’s why people get so excited when someone does something virtuous without the pressure of prying eyes, such as returning a wallet full of cash or returning to the mall, receipt in hand, when an error was made in one’s favor.
There was an incident when I benefited from someone else’s honest character. I was having dinner with a church staff at a restaurant in the Richmond District. And in my haste, I gave the waiter a tip that was larger than the bill. When I noticed it on my receipt when I came home, I simply accepted it as my mistake. But when my debit card account statement arrived, the restaurant changed my tip amount to be the appropriate percentage. I have patronized this restaurant many times since. That restaurant owner has an honest character.
The truest test of character is not what you do under the pressure but what you do when no one is looking. But if it were true that character is best tested by what’s done in private, then what kind of character would the world discover that you have if your every moment were broadcast?
The Apostle Paul in our lesson for today tells us to live life as though your every moment of what you do is broadcasting for the world to see. Paul doesn’t demand perfection. He doesn’t expect followers of Jesus Christ to be flawless. Far from it. Paul simply urges us to proactively expose our struggles to the light of day rather than hide them in the darkness. Paul writes, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly” (11-12).
We can argue that Paul wouldn’t be completely opposed to the idea of broadcasting your life for the world to see. He’s essentially urging Christ’s followers to live as if the “camera is always on.” We are to live our lives firmly believing that the more our struggles are exposed to the light of God’s Word and the accountability of God’s people, the better off we’ll be.
Before we came to faith, all we knew was a life of darkness and hiding. Before many of us became Christian we may not have been living a wild, secret life of sin, but our whole existence was still hidden in the dark. We were hidden in the darkness of unbelief. We operated in ignorance of sin and the necessity of salvation. Not only that, but our entire existence was hidden from the forgiving power of the cross. The light of mercy and grace was shining on others but not on us. We had a lot of life information but we were unwilling to share them with God.
But then something happened. The lights came on. Just like the beautiful sunny weather that we had this past week. The light itself comes to us in the form of God’s Word, which entered our world and started convincing us of our sin, stirring up a trust in Jesus and revealing the truth regarding the depth of our need and the height of God’s grace. And now, as forgiven followers of Jesus Christ, we live with the light of God’s Word shining over us all the times.
This is not too much information. This is what Paul wants us to know, “For once you were in darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light” (8). We are to walk as children of light. We are to step out of the shadows and into the shining light; to cast our lives in terms of what we know God calls us to do; to let the light of God and the Word of God inform all that we do.
Lent
In this season of Lent, we are called to place our lives under the intense light of God’s Word, preparing our hearts and minds for the gift of Good Friday and the joy of Easter morning. Paul writes, “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light” (13-14). In other words, the light of God’s Word helps us to see things clearly; we become more godly. We are transformed. But it all begins by exposing our darkness to God. When we had our first Inside Out event last week, it was exposing some of our darkness to God. This becomes Godly TMI.
Later on today, the Deacons will be meeting with 5 people who will be joining the church on Palm Sunday, two weeks from today. They will be sharing about who they are and making visible about themselves so that they will be walking in the light. Next Sunday, at the Membership Meeting, they will be sharing their testimonies with you because anything that becomes visible is light. This is Godly TMI.
No one likes to live with a shadow self that divides your life. Because at some point—whether we like it or not—what’s done in the dark doesn’t stay in the dark. It makes its way to the light. What’s done in the dark is exposed. Jesus said, “Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17).
Ultimately, everything about a person will be made known. If you don’t believe it, just think about those religious leaders and celebrities who have been caught in all kinds of scandals. We might say that these are big names. And these are big sins.
But this happens to little names and regarding “little” sins too. If not today, then perhaps the next day things will come out. Even if we’re able to hide stuff our whole life, someday the truth will come out. The Scriptures say that there will be a day of reckoning.
In some ways, we can’t blame Alexandria Wallace for what she did on YouTube since YouTube’s simple and straight slogan is “Broadcast yourself.” Millions and millions of people have done just that.
But regardless of how social media evolves, we need to remember what life as a Christian demands. Let’s be eager to acknowledge our struggles. In so doing, truth sets us freed from our darkness and transformation happens. In doing so, grace will be our constant comfort and forgiveness our closest friend.
At the final reckoning, we won’t need to worry about having too much information to share because we would have already received Godly TMI when we have walked out of darkness and now in the light of the Lord.
We won’t have to worry and being embarrassed about our life being cast or streaming every moment because our life has already been cast in Jesus Christ. “Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Let us pray.
Thank you, O God for the light of Christ who shines over the whole world and cast away all the darkness in our lives so that we may become true and honest once again with ourselves and with you. Bless our lives and transform us to get up from our sleep, rise up from our just about dead existence and invite Christ to shine through us so that we may be children of light. In Christ, we pray. Amen.