[00:00:00] You. Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's. Words you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 A.m.. If you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected]. Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by you in the fall of 2002, I believe it was, I purchased a 1993 Cheyenne pickup truck. It was fantastic. It was solid white. It had a new rear bumper because the guy I bought it from had just been in an accident. And so it went from nice little dainty bumper to a real man's man. I mean, it had like the little diamond shaped metal thing. It was great.
[00:01:06] You've probably seen a very similar style of vehicle on a maintenance team. The Department of Corrections, I feel, is very fond of this particular model. It was great.
[00:01:17] It was an upgrade, you would say, in size for sure, for what I was previously driving, which was a beautiful 1976 Datson B 210, yellow orange racing stripes, eight track player, to cassette to portable CD player adapter. Chick magnet goes without saying, but this truck was great because on that Datsun B 210, which I loved dearly, it was a four speed and you had to have a very particular set of skills to operate the shifter. So no one stole it from me. But on the little cassette area or the eight track player sorry, cassette, new technology. At the time, there was a little orange thing that when you turn this knob over I'm talking to you guys. When you turn this knob over here, this orange pin went that way. We call that a dial. But in this truck, this 1993 Cheyenne extended bed, no markings whatsoever on it. Again, every now and then I'd pass a Department of Corrections and they would try to get no, not, this is mine. I had radio dials that were digital. They were blue and they glowed as pure as the snow. It was a whole new era for me, being in a vehicle that had digital not analog, but digital interface on the stereo system, it was great. I was really excited because I could fit about 15 bags of grass in the back. I had my own little lawn business and that was really exciting. But I was in the digital age now.
[00:02:46] In 2002, I was really excited.
[00:02:50] A lot of times we think that new technology is amazing. And we call it amazing because of what we're used to at one point in our church's history, PowerPoint was a topic of discussion. It was newfangled technology.
[00:03:05] We've gone from projectors to screens. Our vehicles have gone from having analog radio dials to having entire Billboard sized computers in there. I rode in a friend's Tesla the other day, and this is how George Jetson felt, apparently, because it was amazing. We've come a long way from the eight track to cassette to portable CD player days to listen to music. Now we stream everything.
[00:03:28] I love technology. I think it's generally wonderful. I think generally speaking, we have progressed in a lot of ways. Huge fan of the HVAC inventor. Indoor plumbing, two thumbs, way, way up.
[00:03:41] But oftentimes we accept and embrace technology without giving any thought to how it might be shaping or forming us spiritually. Oftentimes we adopt something that's new. Sometimes we adopt it because it's been around so long, it's no longer new, it's normal. And because it's been in our life so frequently, we just say, okay, this is how things have to be done this morning. I don't want to convince you to throw away all of your devices. I want to encourage each of us to think deeper about the role of technology in our life. Whether it's a device or whether it's a platform or whether it's an app.
[00:04:17] I think too often we get caught up in new and we get caught up in what life looks like around us that we forget to actually recalibrate with what the scriptures say life should be like for us. And if technology can help us amplify the gospel, full speed ahead. But if at some point technology has entered into a lane of traffic that it doesn't belong, we need to be able to pump the brakes. Technology should inform us. It should make us more informed people, which then should in turn make us better at loving each other. But too often technology forms and shapes us into something that is not the image of Christ.
[00:04:53] Too often, technology causes us to be informed with the wrong things, or it causes us to be informed and enraged. And we take that rage and we misrepresent Christ.
[00:05:03] Too often we become informed about someone else's life and we let it just stay right there. We don't actually take action and put it into practice.
[00:05:14] When allowed, technology will shape and will form us into something other than Jesus. And that is not our purpose for living as Christians. Our purpose is to glorify Him, to grow his kingdom. And so we use technology the same way we steward relationships. I don't know what you think about when you think about technology or the purpose of technology in your life, but for me, typically, I adopt a new technology when it makes me more efficient with my time or makes things more convenient or comfortable in and of itself. Those three things are not wrong. They're not sinful by any means. I'm a big fan of comfort, but too often I then develop the expectation of being comfortable.
[00:05:52] And when I expect to be comfortable and I run into discomfort, I don't always respond well to that. You think of times in Scripture, the Good Samaritan, there was a huge discomfort and a huge inconvenience in the life of the Good Samaritan. He had to stop. He had to tend to someone, which is, if you've ever taken care of a stranger's wounds, I assume that's an unsettling experience.
[00:06:16] I've dealt with plenty of wounds. In our house. We have four young children. There's always a boo boo somewhere. But a stranger, another adult, to take time out, to take money and invest in this person that you don't know what they're going to do with this investment. Are they going to actually be grateful for what you're doing for them? Are they going to be resentful? Are they going to get a night, stay in a hotel and then run away? You don't know, but you know the right thing to do and you're willing to be inconvenienced. Too often, technology makes us creatures of comfort, and we find ourselves in pursuit of the gospel of comfort over the gospel of Christ.
[00:06:53] If we are drawn to convenience over doing the right thing, over being willing to sacrifice for each other or even being willing to sacrifice for strangers, then technology has put us in a place, informed us in a place that is not making us look more like Christ. The greater the convenience, the greater the cost. Oftentimes I think in our minds, we think the greater the convenience, the greater the value. For instance, fast food is very convenient, and so I'll pay a little bit more to go through the drive through, or I'll pay a little bit more to have food delivered to my house because it's very convenient. But there's always a cost.
[00:07:26] Fast food, if you were to eat a steady diet of nothing but fast food, there's a cost to your health because we're sacrificing a bit of the nutrition.
[00:07:35] You're having someone come to your house, you're sacrificing extra money for that so that you don't have to leave. Sometimes it's the right thing, other times it's not. We have to develop wisdom and discernment to be able to make the right choice at the right time. We need to be able to take this equation that the world says that convenience equals value and realize that it's actually convenience plus cost or convenience plus consequence equals the real value.
[00:08:01] And if the cost or the consequence is too great, then the value is not there for us because we're spiritually minded people. Matthew, chapter seven, verses 13 through 14. Jesus had something to say about the idea of convenience. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few.
[00:08:26] When you read this passage and you realize jesus is in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, he's speaking to an audience. He's teaching them the new kingdom that has come. He's teaching them that you have heard, it was said, you have heard in the law of Moses, but I'm telling you what the law was meant to actually lead you to. They had a very tangible, a very literal interpretation of something that was intended not to legislate them, but to change their hearts.
[00:08:52] And he says, the gate is wide and the way is easy. It's extremely convenient.
[00:09:00] The way of convenience and comfort leads to destruction. There's zero resistance. In fact, there are a ton of people headed in that direction. So you don't really have to be wise and discerning. You don't really have to put the brakes on. You don't have to be uncomfortable. You can go that way and there's no resistance. But you will not find Jesus and you will not find God in eternity down that path for the way that is narrow, the gate that is narrow and the way is hard. It's difficult, but it leads to life.
[00:09:30] If you're looking for a spiritual life that is easy and that is void of difficulty, you can find that. But you're not going to find it in Scripture.
[00:09:40] You're not going to find that lifestyle in Christ.
[00:09:44] God designed us not to avoid harm or to avoid pain or to avoid difficulty. He designed us to heal both physically. Our bodies are designed to heal themselves. It's remarkable. If you've ever been around little children that fall down and they skin their knee by lunch the next day, it's totally gone. It's amazing. Now, those of us as we get older, linger a little bit longer, it's a lot of lunches. And then that adds other issues internally. Anyway, we're designed to heal.
[00:10:12] We're designed for reconciliation. So emotionally and relationally, we're designed to heal there as well. Paul said that we have a ministry of reconciliation. Christ, in this same sermon here, says that if you know that a brother has something against you, and you're standing there at the gate ready to go and offer your sacrifice at the temple, stop. Put your sacrifice down, go and make things right. Go be reconciled to your brother and then come back, and then you can worship. He prioritizes reconciliation over worship. We're designed to heal. We're not designed to simply try to avoid discomfort. In the Book of James, the very first chapter, the half brother of Jesus writes, when you find yourself in various trials, in difficult circumstances that are beyond your control, things that are hard in life, not because you chose them, but because they ended up where you are, count it all joy, my brothers.
[00:11:08] He doesn't give the good old Southern, bless your heart. He doesn't even apologize, say, I'm so sorry. He's writing to a group of people that have left their home because of poverty, because of famine, because of persecution, not because they've always wanted to retire, or they want to be close to family, or because they saw the brochure, or they saw something online. This is like a good place to live.
[00:11:26] They were forced out of their home, they were forced to change the plans that they had for the rest of their life. And James'response to that is, count it joy. Why? Well, because there's spiritual value, because difficult circumstances produce spiritual resilience. And that's God's will for us. That's his plan for his people. We should be the ones as God's people that navigate cris the best, because we have an underlying joy. We have a God whose peace surpasses all understanding. The peace that we have as God's people shouldn't make sense to the rest of the world. It doesn't make sense because it's founded in something that is far greater than anything this life has to offer. Romans Chapter Twelve says do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And oftentimes I find myself really emphasizing that part of this passage. But keep reading that by the testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[00:12:25] We have to develop, discernment the ability to analyze, the ability to look at two situations or two options and to make the right choice, the wise choice. Not the choice that's driven by our desires, not the choice that's driven by the people around us, not the choice that's the easiest. But to discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[00:12:46] And technology provides a wonderful place for us to think critically and to develop discernment. Because technology is all around us. Right now we're streaming online and if you're with us, we are so thankful that you've gathered with us. And it may be that you're watching this and it's not even Sunday, it's a different day. Because of modern technology, we're able to take worship and we're able to take it outside this building in ways we've never been able to do before. That's remarkable.
[00:13:13] But it's also remarkable at how crafty Satan can use something that is good and to tweak it and to manipulate it into a way that is no longer good for us.
[00:13:25] And now instead of leveraging things for the kingdom of God, it leverages our relationship with God and it puts distance between us and Jesus. So we have to have discernment. Paul says that we have to understand, we have to develop. That's a part of maturing, spiritually. As the fruit of the Spirit continues to grow and continues to develop in our life love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control. We begin to look more like Christ. We begin to take on the nature of Christ, we begin to discern more effectively, which is generally why as teenagers, you have a different opinion than your parents do when it comes to technology or when it comes to freedom. When it comes to different things, that when we're younger, we think, I got to have this. But when we're older, we think, I've lived through the consequences. You don't want that. There's a cost, there's a convenience there. The value is not what you think it is.
[00:14:19] Technology should help us listen to each other. It should help us to communicate better. One. John chapter Two. A very similar thought here. Do not love the world or the things of the world.
[00:14:30] It's important for us to be able to discern what is of the world and what is not. What is of the flesh and what is of the spirit. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, then he will forgive us of our sins. The blood of Jesus will continuously cleanse us.
[00:14:46] But if we find ourselves what we think is the light really actually being the darkness, really being the world, we think it's the light because everybody else is doing it, because it's something that's very easy, because it's effortless, because it's not painful.
[00:15:00] Then we look up and we realize we're actually falling in love with the things of the world.
[00:15:04] Satan does not want you to view him as this tiny little red horned with the tail, with the trident. He wants us to think that that's what he looks like. Because if we're looking for that, we're not looking for him.
[00:15:19] He's a lot more camouflaged than that. He exists in our lives in a lot more crafty ways than that. And although technology can be leveraged for good, technology can also leverage us for his will and for his purposes. We have to not love the world. How is modern technology shaping us? How is it forming us? Well, as I mentioned before, I am a big fan of HVAC, of air conditioners, big fan of indoor plumbing. I'm a big fan of vehicles, of communication.
[00:15:46] But there are things that happen with technology when they're introduced, when new innovations come about. There's a lot of fine print, and some of the fine print we don't ever really know until we're a generation or two into that new development, into that new innovation. Right now, we live in an instantly gratified world. If I desire to have ten packages of, I don't know, cocoa mix, I can go on Amazon and within a heartbeat, I can have it come to my door within two to six weeks these days.
[00:16:17] Or I can drive up to Walmart and it's like the future where I drive up and I show them a number and they say, here are things that your wife purchased. Awesome. Good. Are these the things you purchased? No idea, but here's my number. Sure.
[00:16:30] It's remarkable what can be done.
[00:16:33] It's caused us to be more efficient in a lot of ways what are we doing with that newfound time?
[00:16:39] If something's efficient, then it makes us get things done quicker. Well, now we should, in theory, have more time, but what do we typically do? We fill that with more stuff.
[00:16:47] And in fact, modern technology is designed with time in mind.
[00:16:53] It's designed to focus us to take our time wherever that device or that platform wants us to go. Modern technology is going to continue to develop. There's no way around it. I don't necessarily want it to stop. I want to make sure that I get better at using it and understanding how it could potentially use me.
[00:17:12] I want to make sure that I'm learned on what modern technology is. I have to learn to think deeper. I have to learn in this digital age that possibly we went a little bit wrong along the ways when we kept saying, work smarter, not harder. It's possible that over time, if we continue to really use that philosophy and teach the next generation to work smarter, not harder, then at some point it's very likely that we produce a generation that can no longer work hard, at least not in the ways that previous generations did.
[00:17:45] It's not a bad philosophy. I do it whenever I have the chance. I cut grass for about ten years growing up in Montgomery, and I got more efficient because time is money in the lawn business. You get done with this yard quick, you can go to the next one.
[00:17:59] But I'm a talker, and so that didn't always work well. End up staying around talking for a while sometimes.
[00:18:05] Technology in this digital age that we live, that we choose to live in, sometimes it starts telling us when to stay and when to go and where to go and how to feel.
[00:18:15] Oftentimes we allow the digital age to be the work smarter, not harder philosophy to guide us into what we're willing to do. Because as a student, I was an undergrad at Faulkner, graduated in 2008. I just recently wrapped up a master's degree. A master's degree apparently requires a lot more research than most of my classes in undergraduate. I'm not a better student today than I was then. I can go and search a lot more things today because of online database and things that are available to me. But if I don't find it within, like, two or three Google searches, am I right? Then it doesn't exist.
[00:18:52] It doesn't necessarily make me smarter.
[00:18:55] It gives me more access to things.
[00:18:58] So the smarter, not harder things sometimes can work to our disadvantage. Discernment that's why it's important.
[00:19:05] The reason social media in particular, as it's come about in the last 20 or so years, the reason why it's become something more of a danger in a lot of people's minds, and particularly, most recently our government's minds, is because we now have some data that shows the effects of what's been going on.
[00:19:21] What is this new digital age producing? Jean twingey, in her book Generations outlines using a massive data set, one of the largest data sets ever used to study generations. She put together a book that talked about the relationship between silent generation, the Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and then a little bit of a preview of what's to come next.
[00:19:44] And what she found is that there are a lot of similarities, but there's some trends that are a little bit disturbing that we're starting to see that emerging generations are maturing later in life. They're working later. They're getting jobs later. They're not getting jobs as young teenagers anymore. They're getting jobs once they get to or out of college. They're driving later. There are actually people that are delaying getting their driver's license.
[00:20:07] They're drinking, they're marrying and having children later. Part of that's because we've moved to a knowledge based economy that requires more education. It requires more education. You get out of school later, usually get married later. So there's a residual impact on all of these things.
[00:20:20] They're less equipped emotionally.
[00:20:23] And it's ironic in a time where we have never been as connected online as we are today, we've never been more disconnected offline than we are today.
[00:20:33] There's some disturbing trends that we see in the data around emotional well being, around mental health. There's a term called the dark triad that's used in counseling a lot of times, and it refers to anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation.
[00:20:49] There's an exponential rise in reports of suicide attempts in hospitals. There's a huge rise in counseling reports of anxiety and depression. And it's not exclusively among emerging generations, but it seems to be more prevalent among those generations. Some of the ways that we're being impacted right now with screens up here, we have this yellow line which represents the amount of time spent alone. And down here, the amount of time green is with friends. And the mauve there is with companions.
[00:21:21] From 2013 to 2021, some reports were taken to observe how we're spending our time. And as you'll notice, there are two very distinct paths. Time alone became exponential, and time with others and with companions began to decrease significantly.
[00:21:42] What's significant about the year 2012 is that was the first time in our nation's history where the majority of teenagers had smartphones and access to social media, to app stores, to download games and social media. 2012 was kind of a hallmark year for that.
[00:21:59] The majority of the teenagers in our country had access to these things. There's no coincidence.
[00:22:05] This is not just correlation. This is causation.
[00:22:09] There's more data out there. The percent of anxiety prevalence over the span of time from 2008 to 2018. And you'll see, again, right around 2012, there begins to be this large upward advance percentage of 18 to 25 year olds. We see that it impacts young Gen Z and Millennials more so than it does Gen X boomers in silence.
[00:22:33] There are a lot of reasons for that. One is because the older generations grew up with more time in an analog setting. So they have those physical, those tangible relationships that are already hardwired into their being.
[00:22:46] But imagine for a moment if you're in one of those generations.
[00:22:50] Imagine instead of the majority of your time being spent outside climbing a tree with the four or five or ten people in your neighborhood. Imagine spending time, all of those formative years online gaming with an untold number of people.
[00:23:05] Now, online gaming in and of itself is not evil. It's not sinful.
[00:23:10] But the access to adolescence that the world has today is greater than it's ever been, and technology facilitates that.
[00:23:21] And if we just go around blindly accepting and embracing, then we will find ourselves in a way that is easy, that is comfortable, and it's familiar because everybody around us is doing the same thing.
[00:23:36] Discernment says, pump the brakes for a minute. Let's talk about how this could be helpful, but then let's also talk about how this could be harmful.
[00:23:44] These graphs are not it's not just data. It's not just numbers up here. These represent souls. These represent people that are cling to life in some circumstances. These are people that are feeling isolated and alone.
[00:23:56] And it's not immune. It's not just the people outside this building. It happens in here too. It's very possible that you're sitting in this room filled with hundreds of people and you feel completely alone.
[00:24:08] When we struggle with sin, if our only connections to other people are digital, it makes it so, so difficult to be pulled out of that sin, to be pulled away from that temptation.
[00:24:21] Instead, what technology ends up doing is it pulls us deeper into despair, deeper into isolation. Carl Truman wrote a book called Strange New World where he looks at the last 100 years of philosophies in our country. And the prevailing spirit is, as the subtitle of the book, the rise of the modern self. We are very individualistic people. We fight for our individual liberties. And in the right context, that's a positive thing. But what also happens is our households become smaller and smaller. An average household today has children and a parent or parents. A couple of generations ago, not even first century a couple of generations ago, in the average household, typically, it was not uncommon for there to also be a grandparent presence, if not living in the house with them nearby and on a regular basis. When we were in agrarian society and everyone lived on the family farm, there was regular interaction with older generations.
[00:25:15] That produces some wisdom in the ear of a young person, that produces life experience that they get exposed to, and not from a stranger, but from someone that they love and respect, someone that they're connected to.
[00:25:28] Technology, it advertises disconnectedness. Listen. Mark Zuckerberg has been phenomenal at building an empire on trying to create a global worldwide network. He's been very successful with that.
[00:25:41] But what he's advertising is not exactly what's been being produced. There are three questions that every generation of adolescents seeks to answer during the time period of adolescence. Who am I that deals with my identity?
[00:25:56] Where do I belong, that's community?
[00:25:59] And why do I matter that's purpose?
[00:26:03] These are the three questions of adolescence, but too often they don't get answered in adolescence. How many of us in this room are still trying to answer some of these same questions as adults?
[00:26:14] Now, where we've gone off the rails a little bit is in this new digital age where we allow anyone to have access to everything.
[00:26:24] Now our emerging generations are seeking the answers to these very critical, very God centered questions, very good questions, very deep questions. They're seeking answers with everyone. They have access to the global microphone.
[00:26:39] They have access to every Ted Talk ever given.
[00:26:42] And there's some really interesting things to learn in Ted Talks.
[00:26:46] But you won't find the answer to these questions anywhere other than the Scriptures, anywhere other than what God has inspired for us to find and to search. We find meaning in who he is. The apostle Paul said that I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. His identity was firmly grounded in Jesus Christ.
[00:27:11] As the adults in the room, we've really not given ourselves a chance. In some ways, when we allow the emerging generations to have the keys to the Formula One racing car without ever actually walking them through how to discern, how to navigate, we're saying, go for it. Have fun. How old should your child be before you're willing to drop them off in the downtown Beijing, downtown New York City, downtown San Francisco and say, good luck. I'll see you at home. Be home for dinner?
[00:27:41] Because that's what we do when we give unfiltered access to the Internet. The sins are the same lust, truth, lying. Truth is not a sin. Lying, in fact, is a sin.
[00:27:54] Murder, all of these things, all of these sins have existed. Samson said not Samson. Solomon said it.
[00:28:00] There's nothing new under the sun. And he's right.
[00:28:04] But the access to those sins we're in this horrible pattern where our young people, our emerging generations, are less equipped emotionally, but they're given more access technologically. That is a recipe for disaster and for brokenness and for pain.
[00:28:22] And it's a recipe that Satan loves because he can use that then to use the generation gap, to further divide us, to further manipulate us in polar opposite directions. Neither direction leads to Christ.
[00:28:34] This is a very real thing that is not a young people problem. It's not a teenager. Conversation. This is for all of us. We all have a hand in this. Where are we going for answers? Well, we're allowing ourselves and we're allowing the next generation to go online to find everything that can be dangerous, that can be really good, that can be dangerous. Technology, is it good? Is it positive? Is it negative? Is it neutral? It's definitely not neutral. There's not an algorithm out there that's neutral. It's designed with a purpose or a direction of some sort.
[00:29:06] It is powerful. And because it's powerful, we as Christians, as people who are walking in the light, as he is in the light, as people who are trying to live a life led by the spirit, we have to think deeper and more critically about the things that we put in our life and in the lives of the next generation. There's a gentleman by the name of Wendell Berry. He's a farmer. He is an author. He's an essayist. He's a really, really interesting guy. He's got a book called The Unsettling of America. And in the context of this quote, he says he's talking about how our country has moved from an agrarian society, from an agriculture society to an agribusiness society. And these days, for farms to make it the small family farm just doesn't really have much of a chance anymore because they have to have to buy at least all of the land. They have to lease all of these massive pieces of equipment, and they have to do farming a certain way because of the laws that have been put in place. And all of this to the point where now the cure preserves the disease. They have to go into more debt in order to make any money, which in turn, doesn't make any money.
[00:30:13] When it comes to technology, in particular social media, we have this idea and this mentality that I have to have more or I have to let's just take a low hanging fruit here, beautification filters.
[00:30:27] I have to change things here before I can post because if it looks better, then it'll get more engagement and then I'll get more likes, and that will build up who I am more.
[00:30:40] You see how the cure preserves the disease, the idea that other people's thoughts and opinions actually build my identity, it's possible for us to live a very different life. We live in this digital age, but we can limit how technology plays a role. In fact, if you don't believe me, we can take a road trip about an hour and a half north of here in Tennessee, and we'll find a community of people who still drive horse and buggies. They build barns, they farm.
[00:31:11] They keep technology in a very particular place which is generally away from their communities. I'm not advocating that I want to move to an Amish community. What I am saying is that we have a choice.
[00:31:25] We can put limits and guardrails in our life. Even if the people around us are not doing that, we get to choose the life that we live. We are born at a certain time that allows us to be alive right here in 2023. And to borrow a phrase from the Old Testament for such a time as this, I believe each one of us are here for a purpose in this digital age to leverage technology in a way that does glorify him, that does grow his kingdom. Our emerging generations are uniquely equipped with their creativity to use those things. But we have to be discerning in when we allow them access to those things. We have to be discerning when we allow ourselves access to those things. The idea of binge watching is used as marketing today. If you look in scripture, you're not going to find binge watching. The closest term you'll find to that is probably gluttony.
[00:32:13] That's not a spiritual habit we want to develop.
[00:32:16] That throws away all the limits. That means that we're not self controlled. The life we are called to live is the exact opposite of that. The cure preserves the disease in so many ways. What technology promises is not always what technology delivers, and research is telling us that. I have a couple of stats to run by here for just a moment. The number of teens and young adults with clinical level depression more than doubled between 2011 and 2021. What's even more disturbing about this is that these trends are also measurable in self harm behaviors and suicide attempts. More teen and preteen girls have been admitted to the emergency room after deliberately harming themselves during this time period. Specifically, among young girls ages ten to 14, that number quadrupled in a ten year span.
[00:33:06] The research is interesting because guys have addictions as well, but their addictions oftentimes deal with either adult content or video games. Right? With the video game part of it, there's a measuring up of one another to try to see if I'm the biggest rooster in the room kind of thing in the game. But with girls, there's an image, a deep, connected to the heart image struggle.
[00:33:30] What technology advertises that we will be connected to everybody in the world. You know what I don't want? I don't want everybody in the world connected to my child.
[00:33:39] I don't want everybody in the world connected to me. To be quite Frank, and that's no disrespect to anyone named Frank.
[00:33:46] I think we have to be discerning. I think we have to use wisdom. I think we have to weigh the convenience with the cost to determine the value.
[00:33:54] If we go with the flow, then we will absolutely find no resistance. Satan is sure of that. In a Wall Street Journal article written in December of 2022, the author writes that most girls, by contrast, are drawn to visual platforms, instagram TikTok in particular. Those are about to about display and they're about performance. You post your perfect life. And then you flip through the photos of other girls who have the more perfect life and you feel depressed. And I know that not everyone goes to these platforms for those reasons. But this data is scanning a wide swath of folks and huge percentages of not just teenagers, but of adults, middle aged adults.
[00:34:31] And it's now creeping into elderly age adults because none of us understood just what was going on with these devices. We may know people that have an opioid addiction or an alcohol addiction. We may know people that are stuck in a stage of life where it seems like if they would just change their mind and choose not to do it, they would be better off.
[00:34:51] But what we've realized over time is that it's actually a brain thing.
[00:34:56] Chemical addiction is not always referring to the chemical. That a substance that someone's addicted to. It's the chemicals in our brain. It's the hormones and it's the neuropathways that our God designed but have been hijacked by a substance or by technology.
[00:35:11] You get about 100% of a boost in dopamine in your brain when you play a video game because video games are full of novelty. After you beat the game, you beat the game over and over again. You're no longer interested in that game because it's no longer novel to you. Same thing with a drug addict.
[00:35:28] Methamphetamine has a boost of about 1200% of dopamine released in the brain. It is widely considered the most addictive drug out there.
[00:35:38] Other opioids are somewhere in between those two. On the scale, when you eat, there's a 50% increase in dopamine. I love it so much. I do. It's not my fault.
[00:35:50] But you see where I'm going with this. There are processes that are natural that God put in place to help us, to protect ourselves, to run when there's danger and to find safety when there's danger, to be drawn to each other in relationships.
[00:36:05] But what technology has done specifically, and please understand, these companies are getting people that know how our brains work before they're getting people that know how to design technology. Mike Baker and I were talking recently about a project he was working on with some mapping software. He's a software guy, so he writes the code, he builds the app. There are three other people on his team. They all have PhDs in psychology.
[00:36:28] They're concerned with how the person using the app is going to think and how they respond. There's a reason when you get a notification on your phone, that little dot, that little circle is red because we respond differently to red than we do to other colors. It's why all of our stop signs aren't blue. We'd have a lot more accidents if they were. Red means, hey, I need your attention. There's an emergency, there's something important here.
[00:36:51] And these app companies and these device companies, they know that, and so they leverage that they leverage God's creation against us.
[00:37:00] We have to be wise, and we have to be discerning. We have to be intentional with our attention, because what has our attention has our hearts. Jesus said as much. In Matthew, chapter six, verses 21 through 23. He says, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
[00:37:24] What has our attention has our hearts.
[00:37:27] If there was ever a passage in the Bible that was written for 2023 for our day and age man psalm 1937. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways.
[00:37:40] When a person gives in to the temptation of lust, they're saying, God, I don't trust that you can bring fulfillment to my life in this way. When a person gives into the idea of being dishonest, they're saying, God, I don't trust that you're able to make things okay. So I have to create a truth on my own. I have to create a narrative on my own. I have to take control here.
[00:38:03] When we fill our eyes with things that don't form us into the image of Christ, we say, God, we got this. I know that you spoke the world into existence, but now I've got an app that can turn lights on. No big deal. I know that you spoke humanity into existence and gave us the breath of life. I get that. But we've got modern technology that can do that too.
[00:38:28] When we invest in just the technology that life affords us, and we put it in a non spiritual context, we say, God, I know that You've put me here for today, but I'm going to use all the things for me. I'm going to be a consumer. I'm going to be a person that leverages things for my benefit, for my comfort, for my convenience.
[00:38:47] That was never the life that Jesus said we're intended to live. The life we're intended to live is difficult. It's hard. It's a narrow gate. We're distracted by design, and we don't even realize it. I mentioned the Dopamine neural pathways. We have these hyper and these super stimulant distraction devices. How many of us sit at a stoplight or a red light? And we can't help it, but we look down at our phones.
[00:39:10] The rest of us in the room are the person behind you getting ready to honk at you because it's been green for 30 seconds. We're distracted everywhere we go. I was actually studying for this lesson a couple of days ago and had my phone right here and kept doing this and realized, this is ridiculous, but we're distracted by design. Tristan Harris refers to the time we live in as an attention economy. Companies are paying for your attention they want your eyesight, because when they have your eye, they have your heart. If Amazon can get your attention on multiple platforms, then they can push you to their platform. So you finally say, okay, I guess I need to buy it.
[00:39:44] The art of suggestion is very, very powerful, and it's used against us. Derek Sherman wrote this the digital revolution has plunged us into a continuous state of partial attention, and in this state, people no longer have time to reflect, to contemplate, or to make thoughtful decisions. Perhaps St. Augustine was right thousands of years ago when he said, habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity. Technology is not neutral. It profoundly shapes us in unexpected ways.
[00:40:16] Devices and platforms facilitate communication for us. I was talking to Barry Smith after early service just a few moments ago, and he said, there's a group of about 90 brothers and sisters in Africa that gather on Sundays in various places in Africa, and they watch and worship together with us.
[00:40:36] There's a gentleman by the name of Jake who lives in Saskatchewan, Canada, most likely with us today. Hey, Jake. Since 2020, he has been with the Madison congregation for every assembly we've ever streamed, for Bible class and for worship.
[00:40:50] We can connect in that sense like we've never been able to do before. We can take the gospel into every nook and cranny that starlink will allow us to today. We can teach and we can worship, but ultimately it's the relationship that builds community. I can talk to my parents when I'm not in the same place with them, but it's the relationship that has value. The technology facilitates the communication part of it. We have to make sure that we don't get that backwards. Technology is not a relationship for us to invest in. It is a tool for us to steward and to steward wisely for the gospel, for the Kingdom of God.
[00:41:29] This was an excerpt from Tony Rinky's book twelve Ways. Your phone is changing you. He said, we are not who we think we are. We are not even who others think we are. Especially online, especially on social platforms. We are who we think others think we are.
[00:41:44] I know that's sort of an inception type statement. It takes a while to chew on it for a second. But we are who we think other people think that we are. So the projection now that I have online is based at least somewhat on what I think other people want to see.
[00:42:03] We are called to be image bearers, not image projectors. And social media can help us be image bearers. But it's challenging. It's a lot easier to be an image projector, and we have to fight against that. In May of 2023, our acting not Attorney General, Surgeon General came out with a report. And in that report, he recommended the age of 16 be the beginning stages of social media for our young people. Specifically because he said social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in person time with family and friends. We're in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I'm concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis, one that we must urgently address. This is the US. Surgeon General.
[00:42:46] If our government is saying this is a negative thing, this is a dangerous thing, a harmful thing, can you imagine how long the spiritual harm has been going on? The government makes legislation for the whole group. And if we, especially as spiritually minded parents, are waiting on the government to legislate the guardrails for our next generation, we're always going to be at least a generation behind. Always.
[00:43:10] Something else very fascinating happened this past summer. US. Senator Richard Blumenthal.
[00:43:15] He took ownership.
[00:43:17] I don't remember ever really seeing many congressmen take ownership of something that we missed. Congress failed to meet the moment on social media. This is in a conversation with former CEO of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. They were talking about trying to create guardrails, create some restrictions for AI technology. And he said we missed the boat. On social media, that's a big deal.
[00:43:44] When our politicians are taking ownership, that means it's an even bigger deal below the surface. We're designed to be image bearers, not image projectors. Social media will let us do as we wish. I want to leave you with one final passage.
[00:43:58] I want us to read through this together, but then I want to read it slightly different. Deuteronomy, chapter six, verses four through nine. Hero Israel. The Lord our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit down in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates.
[00:44:32] This was a reminder to God's people, a reminder to teach in our homes, in our households, the words of God and the way of life that God has chosen for us.
[00:44:46] Too often we end up living out this particular passage, something like this hero modern day digital age Christians the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love your devices with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall look at them when you sit in your house and when you walk, by the way, when you lie down. The last thing at night you look at is your phone. And when you rise, the first thing in the morning, you see is your phone. They shall be bound to your hand.
[00:45:19] They shall be as frontlets between your eyes. It's almost literal. You walk into a family gathering, and it's this.
[00:45:27] Our eye contact has decreased over the years. I talked to a friend of mine who's an assistant principal at one of our local middle schools. She says handwriting doesn't exist for middle schoolers anymore because they've been doing this.
[00:45:39] There's always a consequence to the convenience and the coolness that comes with a new innovation. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates, and you shall mount them on your walls, and you shall mount them on your thermostat. You see, where I'm going with this?
[00:45:56] Technology in and of itself, is something we have to learn to live with. In the book of Jeremiah, god told his people, you're going to go, and you're going to be in the midst of this culture, and I want you to build homes. I want you to pray for the city.
[00:46:10] I want you to live in the midst of these people because I want you to create culture. I don't want you to even change culture or to blend into culture. I want you to create culture. And that's what we do here at Madison. That's what we do as members of the body of Christ. We create the culture of the kingdom of God.
[00:46:26] We use technology to leverage in a way that it develops spiritual fruit. It develops the fruit of the spirit, patience, kindness. It makes us be more informed of each other. Because when we see that someone has lost a loved one, we don't just look at it, and we don't just give it a like, we sit down and we write a note or we call them. Or better yet, we show up at their house, in their home, in their life. We find them in the hallways here. And we don't just say, how you doing? I'm fine. Okay, good. Me too. Bye. We allow each other into our world.
[00:46:59] We allow each other to know what's really going on so that when we do have the technology to help us communicate, when we're not in each other's presence, we're more effective. It's more meaningful. Paul wanted to be in two places at once. Most of his letters have something to the effect of, I long to be with you, but I can't. So I'm writing this letter. I'm using technology to connect with you in some way. That's how we steward this digital age. That's how we make sure that our devices are cultivating the image of God and not something that's counter to the image of Christ.
[00:47:32] This morning, if you're not a Christian, I want you to know you're in the right place. You come to a place where people love you. People love god. So much so that we're willing to choose a different lifestyle than the people around us. We're willing to be in each other's lives. We're not content with how you doing. I'm fine. We're only content with real relationship.
[00:47:53] We're content with actually being a part of each other's worlds. So today, what whatever you have going on in your life, whether it's a struggle, whether it's a sin struggle, whether it's just the struggle of life, you need prayers and support. This is family.
[00:48:06] And as Brandon said a couple weeks ago, we're nothing if not family. So this morning, if you have a need, won't you please come? As we stand and as we sing.
