James Duff 23rd March 2014 - "CYNICISM is nothing to Bragg about"

Last week I attended a concert performed by the British songwriter Billy Bragg. Many of you may not know who he is. He has been performing his political brand of music since the early 1980s and describes his music style as follows:"My theory is this: I'm not a political songwriter; I'm an honest songwriter.   I try and write honestly about what I see around me now."Politically, Bragg is affiliated with the left side of politics and is seen by many as a champion of the downtrodden and marginalized. I believe whatever political view you may hold, Billy Bragg is somebody worth listening to.I greatly enjoyed his singing performance but I was also very interested in what he said in between his songs. I remember him saying that he no longer feels that the problem of social inequality is caused by capitalism or communism but by cynicism –and that he is a chronic sufferer. When I reflected on this, I was again brought back to God’s word and what we were reminded of by Malcolm a few weeks ago:  it is not until we come to the end of ourselves that we really see how deep our need for Jesus is. It is not until we have an honest look at ourselves in the mirror (Jas. 1:23-24) and recognize that we all suffer from what Billy Bragg calls cynicism or what Jesus and the Bible call sin (Rom. 3:10). Bragg went on to say that he feels he has an unfair advantage over most people, in that he is frequently able to sing about the inequality of the world and his own cynicism. This gives him a feeling of airing and soothing his inner frustrations and turmoil. It was as if he was saying that he is briefly able to absolve or cleanse his conscience through his songs.As followers of Jesus, we also have an unfair advantage when it comes to dealing with our cynicism and sin. Most of us don’t sing to thousands as a way of feeling we have expunged sin, but brag (pardon the pun) about the work of Jesus, who has made us part of his family (1. Cor. 1:31), even though we have done nothing to deserve this privilege (Eph. 1:3-10). Jesus has dealt with our cynicism by absolving it on the cross of Calvary.  We don’t have to cleanse our conscience from cynicism through performance, which actually is impossible to do (Eph. 2:9), for it is the perfect performance of Jesus and him alone, that deals with our deep terminal illness of cynicism (1 Tim. 1:15). His work has set us free to want to pursue the formation of God’s characteristics in us (Gal. 5:22) and to have a full life (Jn. 10:10).Just this week I watched Q&A on ABC TV, where Bragg was among the panel guests along with a world-renowned Christian academic/theologian named Miroslav Volf.  It was the first time in a long while I have watched a television program where Jesus was so well represented. The subject of the ever-increasing cynicism in Australia against the Christian faith was raised.  Volf handled the hostility with great skill and humility.  If you have the time, I recommend that you watch this program on catch up (www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda).  We need regular reminders of the gospel message, which speaks into every part of our lives, including the joy of being freed from our tendency to sinful cynicism.Blessings James