Rebel

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”  - Albert Camus

Rebel.  For many, this is a pretty loaded word. It has been the inspiration for movies, songs, books as well as the mantra for numerous pubescent teenagers all around the world.  This short, five letter word moves people to feel the whole gambit of emotions.  For some, the word rebel brings a sense of uneasiness.  For others, the word rebel gets there blood pumping. And, yet, for others, rebel doesn’t move them at all.  But no matter how you react, no matter what kind of emotion the word rebel causes you to feel, you cannot ignore that rebellions and rebels (good or bad) have historically played an instrumental role in shaping our society. 

We have seen how rebels have shaped our world politically.  The United States rebelled against the tyranny of Great Britain to win their independence. Socialism rebels against capitalism and capitalism rebels against socialism. Democracy rebels against dictatorship. Martin Luther King rebelled against slavery and racism, Gandhi rebelled against Indian racial discrimination, and Nelson Mandela rebelled against apartheid.

If you have ever read the Bible you would see rebels permeating the pages.  Adam and Eve rebelled against the Lord by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Noah rebelled against the sinful, status quo of the day and lived righteously.  Moses rebelled against Pharaoh for the sake of the Israelites.  Jonah rebelled against God by running away from proclaiming repentance to the people of Nineveh.  Elijah rebelled against King Ahab and Queen Jezebel by standing up for God when everyone else was bowing to Baal. 

Rebels and rebellion have been a part of our society – good and bad – from the beginning of humanity and it is very evident in our society today.

If we were to define the word rebel it would be someone who resists or defies authority or a generally accepted behavior.  It does not differentiate who a rebel is or is not.  Rebels and, therefore, rebellions are led by all different kinds of people. Many rebels thrive on emotion and fuel the passions inside of their followers in desiring to move their agenda forward. But most successful rebellions are more than just emotion and passion.  Most successful rebellions are thought out and go far beyond  blazoned rallies and confrontational speeches.  Successful rebels have a point! They have the big picture in mind. 

I contend that there was no better example of a rebel than Jesus Christ!  He knew exactly who he was (the Son of God), he knew exactly what he stood for (salvation for all mankind), and he knew who he was rebelling against (Satan!).  He is the greatest rebel that ever lived and is leading the greatest rebellion that the world has ever and will ever see!

The problem is people don’t want to see Jesus as a rebel.  That is why they paint him as this sweet, quiet man who embraced everyone and everything (soft light, kind face, and a gentle smile – oh, and blond hair with blue eyes!).  Jesus was sweet at times and loved all mankind, but I believe we do a disservice to Christ and to those who follow him by painting him as this “softy”. I believe Jesus was one of the greatest rebels this world has ever seen!

Jesus words defied the generally accepted behavior of his time and his truths and teachings defies the generally accepted behavior of our day.  Just look at his teachings! He was consistently redefining a clarifying what it means to live.  He pulled no punches then and he pulls no punches today. 

But Jesus and his teachings not only rebelled against the accepted behaviors of the day, but it flew in the face of the organized religion of the day.  Jesus was always saying that you have heard it taught this way, but let me really tell you what it really means.  No commentary.  Forget the years of interpretations and extreme diagnostics.  This is what it means.  You may not like it.  It may not be popular.  It may cause people to look at you sideways.  It may even make people shun you and reject you, but it is what it is.

It was and is crazy talk by a crazy man with a crazy plan!  A very ambitious plan – to change the world! He knew who he was, he knew what he stood for, and he knew what he was rebelling against. And here is also part of his plan - He wants to change the world through you!  Check out this rebel verse: 

RO 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The word conform, in this passage, means to fashion together.  We all wake up in the morning and decide what clothes we are going wear. Some of us spend a lot of time putting together what we are going to look like for that particular day.  That is conforming, fashioning together our clothes and shoes and hair.

We do the same thing in our relationship to the world and its patterns. We wake up and decide if we are going to fall in line or not and, most of the time, we fall in line. We take great effort to make sure we fashion our lives like the world fashions their lives.  We live in fear, afraid that if we don’t line up accordingly, if we don’t fashion together our lives to the worlds pattern that we will get laughed at or rejected.  And we don’t want to be laughed at or rejected.

But the call of Jesus is to rebel against the norm – against the fashioning of your life to the pattern of this world!

There is a voice of rebellion screaming out to us, “Rebel against the things this world!

Rebel against sin.

Rebel against the status quo of religion.

But a word of caution – if you heed this call you will be ostracized.  The world wants you to conform, to comply, and behave like them. The world wants you to drink and dress and desire the same things they do. And when you don’t, they will cast you off quicker than anything you have ever seen.

The truth is - the world has no need for you. When you conform to the world you are just doing what everyone else is doing. There are a whole bunch of you already running around.  So if you stop doing what everyone else is doing then they don’t have a need for you.

So my question to you is:  Are you conforming or transforming? 

The word transform literally means to change form – it is where we get our word metamorphosis.  So are you changing form to be more like Christ or are you fashioning together your life to look more like the world?

Jesus is calling you to stop and to evaluate the situation.  If you are going to be a true rebel you need to be truly transformed and in order to be truly transformed you need to begin with thwe attitude of your mind and the purpose of your actions.

This is not an easy thing.   Alice Cooper (yes, that Alice Cooper!) once said,  “Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's rebellion.”

The Church is full of conformers.  They come to church and enjoy the benefits of how it makes them feel and what pleases them.  There is no visual, attitudinal or ethical difference between them and the world that thumbs its nose at God. It is time for followers of Christ to stand up and be followers of Christ!  To rebel against sin and against nominal Christianity and start living lives that transforms our culture!