YOU'RE THE WORST! (Just kidding. Friends?)

My first full-time position in ministry was as a youth pastor in Indiana.  It was a great church and a great bunch of people.  Even though I didn't know what I was doing, God came through and accomplished a lot of good stuff.  One regret I have, however, is my handling of a ministry culture issue.  What the heck is that, you say?  A ministry culture is like the spiritual and emotional atmosphere of a group.  After being there for four years we had developed a pretty tight and focused core of students and leaders. The ministry itself had a good and healthy Jesus-centered focus and some good ministry was happening.  But something was wrong.  I could feel it.  Even though things looked OK, the truth was that from the top down something was broken and was poisoning what Jesus wanted to accomplish there.  Worse yet? It was my fault.

What was it?  Hidden sexual sin? Nope. (though I'm sure there was some of that... #TEENS)  Unethical handling of finances? Nope. Then what?  Ready?

SARCASM

Ya, that's right. Sarcasm. "What the what?!" you might say. "How could sarcasm prevent God from moving as He would wish?"  At the core, any group is a community of individuals relating one to another.  For a variety of reasons I used, allowed and encouraged sarcasm in our communication with each other and it came to the point where it actually became cutting and venomous.  We could all say the meanest of things to each other and then afterward add two small words as if it negated the damage we had just caused. "Just Kidding" was the magic words that allowed us to say whatever we wanted.  There was no speaking of life and encouraging one another as a norm.  I opened the door and the kids ran with it. Even though we genuinely loved each other, we had become fools. Proverbs 26:18-19 says

18Like a maniac shooting

flaming arrows of death

19is one who deceives their neighbor

and says, “I was only joking!”

Why am I writing this?  I am concerned about what I see in the church culture today.  The current focus of my concern is the site Babylonbee.  If you are a Facebooker, you have probably seen some of the stories.  Listen, most of the articles are funny and I think it is totally appropriate for us to laugh at ourselves from time to time. Sarcasm in general is also fine and can be a useful tool in communication, but what I see a lot of these days is the mocking sarcasm that is then labeled as "Satire." In other words, mocking and then the proverbial "Just Kidding" tagged on the end. This whole satire thing is out of control.  People use it to malign and mock whoever they disagree with, but it's ok...because it's funny.  I see it from Christians who disagree with other Christians over things like doctrinal points, ministry style, size of a person's church, etc.  It's ugly and it needs to stop. It's a terrible witness and is the antithesis of John 13:35.  James 3:6 warns:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

I know. I'm a giant killjoy. But please run your speech through the filter of Scripture; especially the call to maturity in James 3:1-12. Helpful questions:

"Am I building up or tearing down?"
"Is this harmless sarcasm or am I mocking?"
"Am I echoing Jesus or demonic scoffing?"

Scripture (2 Peter 3:3) warns that in the last days there will be mockers and scoffers.  Walk with wisdom in these times. Be different.