282. The Discipleship Crisis of Constant Noise

[00:00:08] Good morning or good afternoon friends, depending on what time you're listening, warm welcome to Making Disciples. I hope that you are doing well, the Lord is treating you well and that life is good. We know it's not always like that, do we? We know it's not always straightforward, but warm, warm, warm welcome to you. I hope that you are doing okay.

[00:00:28] Thank you for listening to this podcast. We don't take it for granted. For all of our listeners who listen in, we're really appreciative that you choose to give, what, 30 minutes a week to explore your discipleship and think a little bit more about what Jesus might mean in your life. So, warm welcome to you. Thank you for joining us. Now, in today's episode, I've titled today's episode The Discipleship Crisis of Constant Noise.

[00:00:58] The Discipleship Crisis of Constant Noise. Why this topic? Well, somebody said to me recently, Chris, what do you think the biggest issues are in discipleship? And I was kind of reflecting on what some of those things are. And a lot of them may be issues in the church. We don't know what a disciple is, so we don't know what we're producing. Many of our churches are not making disciples. We're making followers of religion, which means we know a lot of religiosity, but we don't actually know Jesus as our close friend.

[00:01:27] And there's lots of issues around what is cultural Christianity and what is biblical Christianity. There's lots of things in terms of crisis in terms of our culture shaping our faith rather than our faith shaping our culture.

[00:01:43] But when I start to think about us as followers of Jesus, individuals, I think one of the things that I'm really aware of is that for the first time, really, for the first time, Christians are surrounded by constant noise. Now, every generation has had noise, cultural noise, political noise, debates, thinking, philosophy, we've had all of this.

[00:02:13] But at the end of the day, you would go home and it would be silent. Or you go to your room and it would be silent. You get on a train, historically, you might read a book or do a crossword. I recently saw a photograph of the tubes, the London tubes, 100 years ago. And everybody on the tube is sat there or stood there reading a book or doing a crossword or reading the paper or doing a crossword.

[00:02:42] And just reflecting on the difference now because of headphones, because of mobile phones, just a constant background noise to our life. You can't go anywhere now without there being some level of noise. Cars in the street, music playing, iPods going. It's just constantly on your mobile phones, pinging, pinging, pinging, pinging.

[00:03:10] So I think one of the biggest crises is that the newish crisis. And I do recognize that there's always been noise in people's lives. But the noise of technology, the crisis of constant attention seeking. So I thought that's what we would explore today. This idea of where do we go with our discipleship in a culture that is constantly communicating with us.

[00:03:40] That's what I thought we would do. Friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you do, don't forget to like and share. Don't forget to tell your friends about this podcast. You know, what is the vision? The vision is to talk about the issues and the topics that affect our discipleship and how we might make disciples. So hopefully this is helpful for anyone that wants to be a follower of Jesus. So I would love you to share any episodes with friends that you think would be helpful.

[00:04:10] Well, let's dive in as we explore the discipleship crisis at constant noise. Right then. Well, friends, we are being spiritually formed all the time. You might have heard the phrase spiritual formation. Things are forming you spiritually.

[00:04:38] If they are spiritual things or not. And you could argue that everything has a dynamic of spirituality attached to it. So we are being spiritually formed all the time. And I would argue for this episode that we're being spiritually formed by constant noise, distraction, the algorithms. And often they are forming as more than scripture does, more than prayer does, more than Christian community does. Partly because they are constant.

[00:05:07] It's never changing. And in the same way you are formed growing up by the class that you grow up in. Class is like a fishbowl. You learn to grow up in a working class fishbowl. And then you get took out of that fishbowl and put into a middle class fishbowl. It feels alien to you. In the same way the cultural fishbowl is forming you. So is noise, distraction, algorithms.

[00:05:34] And it's doing so more than scripture, prayer and Christian community part. Because we are against all of that stuff more often than what many of us are engaging with, scripture and prayer. And Jesus is inviting us to slow down, to quieten our lives. And be more attentive to the way that we are living. So therefore I would say there's a big question. What is shaping me most today?

[00:05:59] What is it within a normal 24 hour day that is shaping you more than maybe the spiritual practices are shaping you? Newspapers, radios, TV, mobile phones, algorithms, apps, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. All of this stuff.

[00:06:23] So I would say that we are the first generation that's actually carrying a machine designed to interrupt you constantly in your pocket. We're the first generation that's got a machine that is designed to interrupt you constantly. That's what the algorithm, that's what the notifications on your mobile phone are doing. And most of us are waking up to noise and we are falling asleep.

[00:06:53] To noise. Now I'm not talking here. I live in a household of a whole collection of neurodiversity. And I know in my household, some of my households are falling asleep listening to things like Paddington Bear to just settle their mind. I'm not talking specifically about that. But we are waking up and we are falling asleep surrounded by noise.

[00:07:22] And our attention spans, because of all that noise, are shrinking. And it's at the point now where silence is feeling uncomfortable. Now when I was a kid, you did exams. Often those exams were two hours long, if not two and a half hours long. And they were in silence. And now we have generations of young people that are struggling when it gets to exam season. Because they're not used to that level of silence.

[00:07:51] And it's not only about phones. It's actually about all of the devices that are crying out to us all the time. Our digital devices. I get in the car now. And my car doesn't just let me drive. It's pinging at me about the tire pressure. It's pinging at me about my phone attaching to the sound system.

[00:08:19] It's just pinging noises. And I want to argue that discipleship is whatever repeatedly captures your attention. Whatever repeatedly captures your attention. That is going to form you. So if there is a person, a device or an object that is constantly crying out to you for attention.

[00:08:46] It is likely that that thing is discipling you in some shape or form. It is programming you to not be settled and peaceful. But that constant ping is setting a level of anxiety in your life. That you are always on edge waiting for the next ping. So the problem. Friends, we are drowning with noise.

[00:09:13] The modern world has trained us to live in a certain level of distraction all of the time. And you watch this around a dinner table where people's mobile phones go off. And rather than ignoring them because it's dinner time, people will pick it up. We have a rule in our house that no mobile phones at the dinner table. Because there's always constant distractions all of the time. Endless notifications. Doom scrolling. There's low levels of anxiety.

[00:09:43] Particularly because you can't get to the bottom of your social media. You keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. You keep going to the level of anxiety. We end up with fragmented attention spans. We're always stimulated. We are never still. And we no longer therefore know how to sit quietly. The irony is my mobile phone's just zooked. I don't know if you just heard that. But they put it on and say do not disturb. Go away!

[00:10:11] But just then, these things are going off all the time. And we've learnt that we don't really know now how to sit quietly. And boredom used to lead us to reflection and creativity. I just think about the levels of creativity that was in my life when I was growing up. Because you'd just sit there. There wasn't anything to be on the bus. You would just sit there.

[00:10:40] And we don't do that anymore. And therefore, boredom is no longer leading to reflection and creativity. Now boredom leads towards stimulation. I need more stimulation. This is boring. And I suppose I've got a question I'd love to just riff off for a second. When was the last time you stood in a queue without reaching for your phone? I was at the supermarket yesterday and just noticed in the queue.

[00:11:07] Not a very long queue, but in the queue how many people just go to their mobiles. In the queue you can't stand without looking at your phone. You need to be stimulated all the time. And you know, you can connect this biblically to Mary and Martha. The one who sits at Jesus' feet. The one who's constantly busy. Martha is physically present with Jesus, but mentally scattered to somewhere else. She's busy doing something else.

[00:11:36] Although she's in the same house, she's not weird. And therefore noise is not just about sound. Noise is anything that stops us from being present. To being totally present in the room where you are right now. So there's a deeper problem. So that was the problem, drowning in noise. But there's a deeper problem. Our attention is therefore being discipled. You know, the algorithms are shaping your desire.

[00:12:06] Your attention is being discipled. It's something you don't need to pause and learn to wait and watch. You are being formed by constant beeps, blitz, noise. As somebody messes me, somebody texts me. So we've got to talk, I suppose, about how social media is forming us. Around comparison.

[00:12:36] Wanting to be like somebody else that we're seeing on the algorithm. Creating fear. I don't have what others have got. It's creating vanity. It is creating tribal thinking. I would say that it's really interesting when it comes to elections. How, I won't say who I vote for.

[00:13:01] But as you're watching your social media around a particular political party, you think, oh, everybody's on the same page as me. Because everybody I see on my social media is saying the similar kind of things. And then it goes to vote day and you realize nobody is thinking like me. The algorithm has tricked me into thinking that everybody thinks the same. They don't. So it creates tribal thinking. It also, therefore, creates something around outrage.

[00:13:27] So social media creates a space of outrage against what's happening in the world. And it creates this pocket of anger on there. And it also creates something about emotional addiction. Needing to know and tell the world everything that's happening in our lives.

[00:13:46] And I do notice that there are those who use social media as almost like a discussion friend where they're posting things because they're looking to get an emotional hit back from those who read their posts. So social media platforms, they're really designed to keep attention, not wisdom. They want to keep your attention. They don't want to teach you anything new. They just want to keep you hooked in. And I would say the ancient church had liturgies.

[00:14:17] We have feeds. I'll say that again. The ancient church had liturgies. We have feeds. Constantly being feeding. Liturgies help you go on a journey each day around a set of rhythms that pull you towards God. Modern society has feeds that are almost feeding you to be a consumer, a content. So your phone is not just a tool you use.

[00:14:47] It's also a tool friends that is using you. A tool that is using you. And what's it say in Romans 12.2? Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed. So social media and feeds. Constant noise. Are actually training to conform to the world. And what it is opinioned and posting. What's it say in Hebrews 12.2?

[00:15:14] It says fix your eyes on Jesus. A post of fixing your eyes on the constant noise feed. Pointing on mobile. So attention should be in scripture. And it will deeply spiritually feed you. Whereas devices, apps, are there really to feed you content.

[00:15:41] And you could say it's not even quality content for wisdom, training and equipping. It's feeding you garbage. It's McDonald's isn't it? Cheap food. So if you spend three hours a day consuming outrage, comparisons, vanity projects, tribal thinking. That is going to shape you. So friends there is a deeper problem.

[00:16:09] Our attention is being discipled. Very probably by things you don't want to disciple. So there's a spiritual consequence to this. We are now, because of all of us, struggling to hear the voice of God. Now it's not that all the previous generations have been okay in hearing God. Or so we are struggling. But we've got an added layer of attention issues that are being drained. Because of the world around us.

[00:16:39] The pop-ups, the pings that are constantly going on. So God often speaks in ways modern life trains us to ignore. And if you look in scripture. In fact, I think we looked at this in previous weeks about Elijah. And discernment. And a still small voice. 1 Kings 19 wasn't it? And Elijah is exhausted. And he's waiting on the Lord.

[00:17:08] And the Lord does not speak in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. He speaks in the whisper. And the problem is, our modern society is so full of so much noise. You can't hear the whisper. You cannot hear the whisper. And God was not present to Elijah in the power. But he met Elijah in the quietness. And many of us are not resistant to God.

[00:17:35] We're just distracted from God. But many Christians, they're not resistant to God. We want to hear. The problem is, we are distracted and we cannot hear. And what does God do with Elijah? He teaches him to calm. To slow down. And to listen. So, let's talk about Jesus. Jesus, what does he do? He withdraws to lonely places. He goes to the silence in the wilderness.

[00:18:06] He goes to pray before ministry. Why? Because he does not want to be distracted. But he wants to hear what God has to say. So, he withdraws. He is silent. And he prays before he does anything. I love the phrase, retreating to our backs. To retreat into the quiet. So that we can advance. That's exactly what Jesus does. The problem is not that God has stopped speaking.

[00:18:36] The problem is we have lost the ability to notice. And it's because of the drowning in noise. Our attention is being discipled by all of these other things. And therefore, the consequences are we are struggling to hear the voice of God. So, friends, that is the problem. And that is the consequence. The problem is not that God has stopped speaking. The problem is we have lost our ability to notice. So, there's a problem.

[00:19:05] Good news. There's always good news. Always good news. There's good news that there is an antidote. So, I want to talk about this antidote. And the antidote in some ways, it is completely and utterly counter-cultural. And therefore, still others may really struggle with it. But when you are sick, you need a medicine.

[00:19:34] And sometimes that medicine... Well, if you look in terms of cancer... Well, if you look in terms of cancer... Medicine is often very painful to receive. It's needed for life. There's an antidote. I think we need to re-learn how to disconnect and to be quiet.

[00:19:58] So, silence and stillness are spiritual practices, not personality traits. This is not about the introverts are better at this than the extroverts. So, we all need to learn to slow down, to disconnect and to be quiet. Silence and stillness are spiritual practices. They're not personality traits. So, an important thing to think about is...

[00:20:26] Do not make this sound like I'm saying. We also have to become monastics or do something that's really unrealistic for you. You've got to work out what is realistic for you. I know that some of us... To disconnect from the world does mean... Popping on a little bit of worship music. And being surrounded by scriptures as it's sang over us.

[00:20:53] This is not about silence in the sense of... Go find yourself a shed to lock yourself in when you can't hear the world. But it's about disconnecting from the digital noise of the world. So, some simple practices would be... You know, no mobile phone first thing in the morning. Or no mobile phone after 6 o'clock at night. I have a really good friend who has a LED box. That when he goes into his house, he puts his mobile phone in the LED box.

[00:21:23] And if I was to text him, I will not hear from him until probably the next day. When he takes his mobile phone out of the LED box. Because I say, what about family who needs a desk for you to get in touch with you? Well, they have ways of getting in touch with him that does not involve him using his mobile phone. It's worked out other ways. If a family would be able to get in contact with him. It's about scripture before scrolling. It could be walking without headphones and listening.

[00:21:53] I, you know, I was walking through a graveyard. There's a big graveyard near us. Beautiful graveyard. Totally overgrown. It's not really been used since the Second World War because it's so full. So, it's not used graveyard. It's very overgrown. It's beautiful. And I was walking through it and you could hear the birds. And I just did not want to have, I didn't want to have any, I just wanted to be silent. I found myself, I just don't want to have anything on. As I walked, I was listening to the birds. Oh, what an amazing experience.

[00:22:24] Walking without headphones. So, moments of silence before prayer or speaking. Having a, I don't know, one hour screen free turn in your day. Having a Sabbath rhythm or a seventh day in your week, whatever that is. It's Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Because it's Friday often just disconnecting. Leaving your mobile phone outside the bedroom or in a, you know, lead box.

[00:22:55] Playing silently through the Psalms. You know, all of these things are slowing you down. And I found a worship leader recently called Samuel Jackson Reed. R-E-E-D. Samuel Jackson Reed. And he, he's leading worship after his garden. And it's the worship mix with the birds. It's amazing. She's not found him on YouTube yet. Samuel Jackson Reed. There's two YouTube channels we have.

[00:23:24] But one is where he's just leading worship in the garden. Or out in a field early morning. Oh, it's amazing. Anybody here knows who this guy is? I would love to meet him. Love to meet him. Quietness creates space for awareness. Or alertness. Creates space for awareness or alertness.

[00:23:54] In Psalm 4610, be still and know. There's something about those words, aren't they? Be still. Really slug you down. Silence is not empty. It's one of the places God rebuilds our... Silence is not empty.

[00:24:22] One of the places where God rebuilds... You have silence or empty space in your life. But your soul... So, we've talked about the problem. The deeper problem. The spiritual consequence. And the antidote. Starting to put silence and quiet into your life. I just want to give you a better vision for life. A better vision for life.

[00:24:52] God... Sorry, Jesus. Jesus is God. But Jesus... What he offers us... Is... Is... His presence through the work of the Holy Spirit. Peace... And attentiveness. I love that Jesus sends the disciples to the other room to wait on him. Why did he send them to wait? He was teaching in a very difficult spiritual discipline.

[00:25:20] They'd spent the last year moving, moving, moving. Teaching. From one place after another. Yes, they were going up to the quiet mountain sites to pray. They were going to the garden. But somebody to pray. He sends them for 40 days just to go and wait. Jesus is offering them a place that in the waiting and quiet they can encounter his presence. His peace. Why? Because they were learning to be attentive to him.

[00:25:50] Attentive to him. Do you want to back up there for a second? And just talk about Spring Harvest. So, my vision for Spring Harvest for a couple of years has been about trying to help people encounter the Holy Spirit. And one of the ways I wanted them to do that is just by waiting on him. And often if your Holy Spirit response time is 60 seconds to 2 or 3 minutes at the end of a sermon, what you're saying is, God show up when I want you to show up. And what you're doing is you're not learning to be attentive to him. You're attentive to yourself.

[00:26:21] You're attentive to yourself. And actually learning to wait. So, I was getting them to wait sometimes 10, 15 minutes in silence. You know, their hands out and put them waiting on the Lord. I came out of the meeting one day. Very loud. One of the last people were coming out. Afternoon Am from Studio 36. And I've been leading from the stage this waiting on the Spirit. And then I came out there was a lady complaining to a steward about waiting. She said, I'm not paid to come here to stand in silence. I've come to worship.

[00:26:50] And she also heard this. It's really interesting, isn't it? And over the weekend just a number of people who responded to the waiting on the Spirit quite negatively. They were quite cross, frustrated. And they felt it was being forced on them. And really interesting. Because what Jesus does to the disciples is he sends them to the upper room. For 40 days they're there. And learning to be attentive to the still small voice of God.

[00:27:19] If we are not able to be attentive to his presence. Then friends, we are seriously going to miss and lack his presence in our life. Learning to be attentive. The world says, come, consume more. React faster. Stay distracted. The world says, never stop. Jesus says, abide. Remain. Watch. Pray.

[00:27:53] Really interesting, isn't it? What Jesus says is a total abuse of the world. I would say the goal is not escaping technology. It's here. It's a good thing. Our lives are made easier because of it. Do you know what Becky's bought me? He's a made. She's bought me a lawnmower that comes out and cuts the grass. I told you from Albie. Comes out and cuts the grass only once and he's heard out how to do it. Am I complaining about that use of technology? No way.

[00:28:22] I hate cutting the grass. It comes out and just trims it. In the middle of the night. Just trim the grass. You never see it doing it. I love it. I love it. Technology is a good thing. Not the devil. It's how we use it that's a problem and how it takes over it that is the problem. Technology is a good thing as long as it does not stop us from abiding, remaining, watching, praying and resting. The goal is not escaping technology. The goal is becoming people who are awake to God.

[00:28:52] Awake to God. So, my ending challenge. What is shaping you most right now? What voice, what noise is demanding something of you constantly that's shaping you right now? What gets your attention first each day? Are you really ever truly quiet? And I'd love to ask the question, could you hear the whisper of God speaking to you gently?

[00:29:22] Or is your life so full of noise? Actually, that's not possible anymore. So, you do not need to become less modern to follow Jesus faithfully. But you may need to become quieter, slower and more attentive again. Friends, until next time, grace and peace.

[00:29:45] And may you learn to be a disciple following the still so moral voice of God in the crisis of constant noise. Until next time, grace and peace.