Is Jesus on TikTok?: A Social Media Study (Pt. 1)

Lesson 1: Overview and agreeing on some basics

Questions to consider:

How do you apply Jesus’ declaration that the greatest commands are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and ‘‘Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22: 37-40) to our contemporary life? How can we do this living in our time and culture? Do we face any different “trials” than believers have in the past?

What is the funniest or most helpful thing you’ve seen lately on social media? Has anything you’ve encountered made you sad/angry/frustrated lately?

Like many of us, I have a love-hate relationship with social media. I’ve talked about some of my frustrations in “What Right Do You Have?” Even so, I love seeing pictures and updates from friends. Though I know better than to get all my news from social media, it’s handy for some news and rabbit trailing through travel tips, TedTalks, memes, and silly skits (or whatever mindless scrolling you enjoy). At its best, social media provides easy, low-effort connection, encouragement, information, and entertainment.

At its worst, usually coinciding with major national/global controversy or election season, it can be a den of dissension and vitriol. Disinformation and misinformation are so rampant that finding the truth is almost impossible. Scrolling in these seasons is to willingly walk through a minefield of hate and confusion.

I don’t recommend it.

As a whole, this isn’t too surprising. Social media gives a platform to people (and, well, bots and corporations, but we’ll deal with those later), and people as a whole are mercurial. We can be loving and giving one moment, and spiteful and mean the next. We have big feelings that can turn easily to empathy or judgment. Sadly, it’s often hard to see a difference in the posts of believers and unbelievers.

We are all imperfect. That’s why I’m so thankful for the mercy of Jesus.

The question, though, becomes how do we, followers of Jesus, interact with such a platform? Do we use it as a virtual street corner where we shout Bible verses into the void, hoping some passerby stops and listens? Do we ignore the evil present and focus only on the good? Do we consider it a courtroom in which we must defend our beliefs and rights and try to convince some cultural judge we are worthy? Or, do we duck our heads, scroll through silently, and just look to see what our high school friends are up to these days and if that one coworker got that promotion she asked for prayer for?

Questions to consider:

How do you primarily use social media? Entertainment, keeping up with friends/family, learning/information, current events, a platform for my opinions, or sharing inspiration?

How do you feel that’s working for you? Is it serving its purpose well? Is there anything you don’t like about your current relationship with social media?

To some extent, the question of how you approach social media is up to you. Shockingly, there was nothing in the Ten Commandments about Facebook, and Jesus didn’t leave us a single parable about TikTok.

That isn’t to say we are entirely without guidance. As our world and technology change, we have to continually think critically about how we apply Jesus’ teachings to our time. As we are told in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun” (1:9). In other words, though social media may be “new” (don’t roll your eyes, young people - I mean relative to, you know, Jesus’ time), people’s behavior and nature are the same. So, we can depend on Jesus and His Word to help us navigate the treacherous waters of scrolling, posting, and commenting.

There are several areas we need help sailing through, which we’ll be discussing at length in later blog posts:

• Commenting/interacting with and responding to others
  Choosing silence (not every “wrong” needs “righting”)

  Avoiding hyperbolic and harsh language (educating in love rather than condemning)

  Liking posts makes a statement – so consider that statement
  

• Scrolling/taking in Information

  Considering sources and credibility

  Acknowledging biases

  Stewarding our time

• Posting/creating or sharing content
  Presenting Jesus (sharing biblical messages)

  Being Jesus (recognizing we are representing Jesus in all messages)

  Preventing vanity (obsession over filtering photos, creating false narratives about your life, bragging excessively, etc.)
  
  

Before we get into each of these topics, I think we need to establish a baseline for our behavior on social media.

Our social media accounts are forums for our words. Ours. Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we seem to think if we aren’t directing comments directly to a person, if we are just shouting them to the world, we can get away with having a little less courtesy, with being a little harsher, with having a little less love.

But here is the thing: you have to decide if Christ is your Lord or not. If you follow him in name only, then I’d encourage you to dig more deeply into your Bible, talk with your pastor, or read some other posts on our site to see what it means to really follow Jesus (maybe “You Want Me to Do What?!!” by Erica or my articles on “Are We Doing Church Wrong?”).

If Jesus is your Lord, then He is Lord of all things. We don’t choose to follow him on Sunday mornings and at weekly Bible studies. We commit to following Him in every single aspect of our lives. There is no such thing as an area of your life He doesn’t care about. Grocery shopping, household chores, sitting in the carpool line, gabbing with friends over coffee, and yes, everything you post and read on social media is all subject to his Lordship.

In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul writes, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

So, what does that mean? It means in all things, and for this particular study, we will need to tackle some difficult questions and to do that, we go back to this baseline.

Is what I’m doing Christlike?

It’s pretty simple, really.

Questions to consider:

Have you been surprised by any posts made by fellow believers? In what way?

If someone knew you only through your social media posts/likes/comments/shares, what would they come away knowing about you? What values would they see? What would they say is most important in your life?

In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is in all the law (not just the big ten). In verses 37-40, “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”

It seems like even when Jesus walked the earth, people were trying to grapple with understanding how to be righteous in their time.

In some ways, theology can be complicated and even confusing, but I think if we weigh everything by these two commandments, it helps give us clarity and remind us of our center. That center is Jesus.

So, as we go forward and jump into the murkiness that is social media, let’s continue to hold fast to this as our ultimate litmus test: Am I (in doing this thing, whatever it is) loving God fully, and am I loving my neighbor (which means any other person - even your enemies) as myself?

These ARE the greatest commandments, after all, right?

Greater than your political passions. Greater than your desire for popularity. Greater than your disgust at the way “they” live. Greater than your perceived feelings of persecution. Greater than humor.

We can do this, friends. We can Be Greater.

Challenge Activity

Are you serious about this? Are you really interested in seeing if your social media presence meets our benchmarks of Loving God and Loving Others?

If so, great! Let’s dig in.

Choose your most used social media account, open it up, and fill out this information as honestly as you can.

If you are really brave, ask someone else to fill one out on what they see on your social media.