Anytime you preach a sermon like the one I did Sunday, you're treading on dangerous territory, and not just because of the subject matter. To review: during our 'Happily Ever After' series in which we're discussing what we do now that we're Christians in a fallen world, we encountered the topic of a Christian's relationship to the government. Our conclusion was simple: regardless of our political affiliations or governmental views, the Kingdom of God MUST be our priority in our lives.

This message purposely leaves a ton of wiggle room in its application - after all, if there's freedom in Christ, then surely our political party and the way we vote is included. With that being said, though, every time I talk about religion and government, one question inevitably comes up, and this question makes the topic so troublesome, since it leads the discussion down a completely different path than I ever intended. The question is this:

'Since God has a moral standard, shouldn't we as Christians try to establish that moral standard in our laws?'

Now, let's pretend for a moment that this question is not what it usually is - a veiled attempt to explain why a certain point of view is actually divinely approved. Instead, let's just take the question at face value. Truth be told, it makes sense that if God has an objective moral standard, then it would behoove us, as Christians, to try to share that standard in a nation where we're allowed to affect legislation. It makes so much sense, in fact, that one of the more prevalent practices in the American Evangelical Church is attempting to get a thing or three made illegal, all the while pushing for more 'Christian' influence in Washington.

As it turns out, though, this attitude and strategy completely and utterly ignores what the Bible tells us God did about sin. In the New Testament, we're told that no person (other than Jesus) has ever been able to live up to God's perfect standard. We've all made mistakes, and that's why God lovingly and graciously offered salvation to us... apart from law or our own ability to follow the rules. Simply put, God's solution to the problem of sin was not to create more rules and make more laws, but instead, to offer forgiveness in spite of our mistakes.

Therefore, to attempt to legislate morality, even if it's God's, is to ignore the way our Savior saved us. And, not surprisingly, it typically makes Christians look legalistic and our faith unattractive to those who don't share it. So, regardless of what they decide on Capitol Hill, it seems to me that our responsibility is to show love and grace to other people, since that's what God showed to us.

This is, of course, my opinion, and you're invited to disagree. But, if the Kingdom of God is going to be more important than our political parties, then the way we think needs to be filtered through the mind of God instead of the mind of people - so I encourage your opinion to be based on Scripture. After all, Jesus didn't just tell us to give to Caesar what belongs to him. More importantly, we're to give to God what belongs to Him - our hearts and souls.

And that doesn't just go for those who voted just like you did!

If you've got pressing business to get taken care of today, I urge you: turn back now. After all, once my sister informed that there was a website that had hundreds of pictures just like the one above, I ate through more than one afternoon and evening looking and laughing. My guess is that if you have a sense of humor, you'll do the same - so consider yourself warned.

The website in question? Awkward Family Photos.

What is Awkward Family Photos, you ask? Well, it's page after page of hilarious pictures, shots from weddings, family gatherings, vacations, and family picture days. And they're truly fantastic. Don't believe me?



How about now?



Or now?



Ok, that one's just creepy. Regardless, I think the reason the website is so fantastic is that no matter who we are, we've all been the people in these photos - completely awkward.

I bring this up because we, as the Church, are basically one big family. We're a community that, if nothing else, shares one thing: faith and hope in Jesus Christ. And that's a bond that transcends everything else - all of our flaws, different opinions, and yes, awkwardness.

That's why what we talked about this past Sunday is so essential: we have to understand that other people are just as important as we are. After all, we're all in this together, and we can't be what God wants us to be without the influence of other Christians. So, it's vital that understand that we're all equally important, and when we do that, we can show grace, compassion and love in every situation.

After all, there's been a time when all of us looked just like this guy:

Eight years ago, if you had told me that I would be sitting in my office listening to Relient k, not only would I have not believed you, but I would have been personally offended. The reason is simple: eight years ago, listening to a band as awful as them was one of the more embarrassing things a person could admit to.

At that point in time, the band had released two records, and the Christian punk band had written,

* A song about Marilyn Manson eating the lead singer's girlfriend;
* A song about the Back to the Future trilogy;
* A song referencing the Nancy Drew mystery series;
* A song about getting staples put in your head, with sound effects;
* A song called 'Charles in Charge,' which, of course, referred to Tony Danza's claim to fame;
* A direct musical and structural ripoff of pop-punk band blink-182's most famous song;
* A song about a middle school dance (the song, consequently, is ten times more annoying than actually going to a dance);
* A song which made one of my childhood favorites, the Thundercats, infinitely more lame than they should have been;
* A cheeseball acoustic song about Jesus that made them way more popular than they ever should have been; and
* Around 20 more songs which were equally offensive to the ears of everyone who was unfortunate enough to have heard them.

Seriously, this band was truly awful in every sense of the word. Their genre was played out (and played better by others), their lyrics elicited cringes from everyone over the age of 11, and worst of all, they were terrible live (I know - I've sat through them three times). And yet, for all of their flaws, they were massively popular in the Christian world. To everyone else, they were a joke, sure - but to Christians, they may as well have been the Beatles.

Well, as it turns out, a funny thing happened over the last eight years: Relient k grew up. And they stopped writing awful songs, and slowly but surely, they wrote more and more solid tunes. Finally, on October 6, 2009, they did the unthinkable: they released a good album. It's called Forget and Not Slow Down, and it's not just good; it's kind of great. And now, suddenly, it's not just Christians who like these guys - they may actually have more credibility and popularity in the secular scene than the Christian one (this, of course, being due to them not writing cheesy songs about cartoons any longer). I have no idea what this means, other than maybe the end of the world is coming soon.

Amidst my shock, I got to thinking - if Relient k can grow up, then there's hope for all of us. I truly cannot adequately explain just how dramatic a transformation this truly is from joke-Christian-punk rock band to mature-pop-rock giant. And if they can do it, then you and I can too.

Our newest series, 'Happily Ever After,' deals with this type of growth. Over five weeks, we're learning what areas in our lives we need to cultivate to make the most of our relationship with God, and more than that, we're learning HOW we can do just that. But for so many people, they don't believe that they CAN do this. Transformation and maturation is a dirty word that exists for other people. This is patently untrue, and as we discussed Sunday, a direct contradiction of God's word. He's made you and I the way He wanted for a reason - and He can use you and I, as we are, for great things. And it's not just 'as we are;' through knowing Him, we can grow into much more than we ever dreamed.

After all right now I'm thoroughly enjoying listening to the new album by Relient k. And if they can grow up, surely we can too!