Our "Got Questions?" series comes from our conviction that the gospel is not just something that we define. It is actually something that we live out. In other words, becoming a Christian is not only about believing the gospel but also about living out the gospel. Jesus lived, died, and was raised to new life in order to forgive our sins and to allow us to live new, re-created lives. Because of this, we need to learn how to apply the gospel to every area of our lives.
We are taking the topics that you brought up and applying the gospel to every area of our lives. It starts tonight with dancing. Picture this – you are at Wheaton North on Saturday night in October. Your date is either looking handsome or beautiful. The music is pounding. People are doing strange things, and you are starting to wonder, "What does it look like to live out the gospel right now?" If we are saved by Jesus, what does living for Jesus look like in this context?
I almost passed out diagrams of rules, rules about what you can and cannot do at a dance, where you can and where you cannot touch your dance partner. Here's why I almost did it – there's a part of us that just wants rules. There's a part of everyone that is a practical legalist, defining yourself by what you do or what you don't do.
But here's the thing – it's never about a list of rules. The complexities of your lives will never be solved by a list of rules because the Bible is not just a list of rules. When we force lists and rules that are not in scripture upon ourselves and others, we make ourselves legalists and spread human-made religion. In reality, we are saved by Christ to be in relationship to him, not just to keep certain rules.
But while it isn't about rules, there are certain things that are wrong, no matter what is in your heart. Guys, lust is wrong. Unchecked sexual feelings for someone to whom you are not married are wrong. There are certain things that no man can do on a dance floor without lusting. There are some absolutes. For girls, encouraging lust and encouraging guys to look at you in a sexually-charged ways outside of marriage is wrong. There are certain things you girls cannot do to guys without making them think in a lustful way and think of you sexually. Based on these two things, there are certain types of dancing that are lustful and sinful no matter what.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone. Behold, the new has come." If the old is gone and the new has come, then the old part, the sinful nature, should be gone from a Christian. The new part comes from the Holy Spirit indwelling you at this very moment.
Here's what it means – dancing, and every other issue to which we must apply life in Christ, becomes a matter of motives. Newly-created life in Christ makes us able, by the power of the Holy Spirit within us, to discern what we are doing and why we're doing it.
Augustine, a fourth-century church father, regularly told his people to love God and do whatever they want. How does this work? If you have the Holy Spirit within you, you will want what God wants more than anything else. When your actions are motivated by a deep love toward God and other people, then right living will naturally flow out of right motivation.
We have to get to a place where it is more about our motives than about our rules. For example, one of the questions that was submitted beforehand on the website asked, "Is there middle ground between grinding and line dancing, not that there is anything wrong with line-dancing?"
What is grinding? The girl rubs the guy's body, back to front or front to front, in a sexually charged way to music. That's grinding. Wheaton Academy decided to have line-dancing instead. Yet, is there a middle ground? I think this is a really good question. A lot of you are saying that you know what you see on the dance floor is wrong, but you still want to go to the dance. Middle ground is hard to find.
First of all, it is important to establish that line-dancing is a lot closer to what dancing was for many, many years. It was fun. It was a communal and cultural thing. Usually it was not for the specific turning-on element. I don't think grinding is actually really dancing. I almost want to say to some of these people that they are wimps to use the guise of dancing to do whatever they are doing because what they are doing is not dancing. If they want to do what they are doing, they should go somewhere else. That is my opinion.
Dancing can be and should be about fun and community. There is nothing wrong with dancing in that context or dancing with a partner if it is primarily for the purpose of fun and community. Since a great perversion has happened to dancing, it takes a lot of discernment for high school students, who have the Holy Spirit within them, to look at their motives and heart in what they are doing at a dance.
As I was shooting hoops years ago, my dad kept telling me to keep my elbow in. But one time he told me I must be able to self-diagnose what is going wrong in my basketball game. Likewise, we must be able to discern our own motives. Why am I doing what I am doing? Can I honestly look Jesus Christ in the face and say, "I'm doing this for you."?
An extremely important part of being in Christ is that we can self-diagnose. I have been saved by Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. Why am I doing this? Guys, is it because you want to be turned on? Girls, is it because you want to turn on that guy? Or, even if it means walking off the dance floor, is it because you believe the gospel and want to live out the gospel?
