The 1950s | Johnny Be Good

The story you’re about to see is true. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I got him.

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All right, all right. This is. This is an oldie, but. Well, it’s an oldie where I come from. All right, guys, listen this to Blues Riff and be.

Watch me for the changes and try and keep up, okay? Way down in Louisiana down in New Orleans Way back up in the woods among the evergreens Just stood a log cabin made of earth wood where lived a country boy named Johnny Good who never ever learned to read or write so well he could play the guitar just like he’s ringing a bell Go, go go Johnny go, go Go Johnny. Go, go, go hey, yeah hey. All right. 1950s.

Welcome to 1950s, guys. So glad you’re here with us today. My name is Pastor Leon, if you don’t know me, and I’d love to meet you after service. I want to take you today through a trip in the 1950s, okay? And I want you to get into the 1950s as we start this new series.

So if you lived in the 1950s, you would have been experiencing economic prosperity. Things would been going well. People, economically, things were happening. Explosion, you could start a business. It was making money.

Everybody was making money. Everything they touched was working. Men in the family were the primary breadwinners. Mostly women stayed home with the children to raise the children and take care of the home. The baby boomer influx began.

A lot of babies were born during that time. One of our most famous presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was elected in 1953, would succeed President Truman. And his big accomplishment was the transportation industry, improving transportation infrastructure, which allowed people to travel a lot more, to get around a lot more, to get from point A to point B. As before, it was really difficult for people to go and visit places.

So everybody had cars. Everybody was going places and driving around and enjoying life. Good old days, right? Just good old days, enjoying things. And also television.

Television was A big staple in the 1950s. In fact, at the beginning of the 1950s, only 19% of people had televisions in their home. By the end of the 1950s, almost 90% of people had televisions. Everybody had a television. It was booming, it was popular.

People were enjoying tv. It was a place for the family to gather around. And sitcoms were real popular. You had Leave it to Beaver. You had the Honeymooners.

My parents loved the Honeymooners. They always talk about it. They were kids when it came out, but they remember it. Father Knows Best and of course, everybody’s beloved Lucy. I Love Lucy, right?

Everyone loved Lucy. That’s why everyone was getting television sets so they could see Lucy. Talk shows were huge in that day, as they are even today. Loren Welk would have been one of the people you watched along with Rhett Skelton, Jack Benny and of course the famous Ed Sullivan show, where big names would be introduced to the public for the first time. One of those, including the King himself, Elvis and later on the Beatles.

And Westerns were huge. People loved westerns, particularly men, because TVs were kind of geared and targeted towards the male population. So you had shows like Gunsmoke, Gunsmoke Marshall, Matt Dillon and of course Festus. We can’t leave out Festus. Right.

The Rifleman was Big Wagon Train. And everybody loved, even the kids loved the Long Ranger. The Long Ranger and Tonto. Now that brings back memories to me. I’d go to my grandparents house and for some reason my grandfather would always have the Long Ranger on.

They still had a black and white TV in their room too. This was way back in the 80s when I would go stay with them. It just brings back memories. And there was a number of rural variety shows and comic shows and things like that. And then there was the drive in movie.

Everybody wanted to go see movies. Movies was big. I mean they had 3D movies came out. There was things going on. And some of those popular movies.

One of them would have been the Ten Commandments. Charlton Heston. Can I get somebody in the house? One of the greatest actors of that time period and of all time, which ended up of all time being one of the highest grossing films. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

And then we also have the Duke himself, John Wayne. Take her easy there, pilgrim. Famous saying there. We had other sex icons like James Dean and of course Marilyn Monroe. The blonde bombshell.

Right. Everybody had their eyes on Marilyn during that period of time. And we also had Disney that was putting out some pretty famous films in that day. Cinderella being One of the number one grossing films of all time. I mean, the Disney World’s built around the Cinderella Castle, right?

And of all times, it was the highest grossing animated film. And over other films, it made more that year than any other film following Sleeping Beauty, lady and the Tramp and Peter Pan. All great movies, all memories for sure, for me, even in my childhood. And then something crazy happened. The rhythm and blues of the 40s began to become something called rock and roll.

Rock and Ro. Begin to take over the world. That bad rock and roll came in and you would have people like Chuck Berry, Johnny B. Goode. Y’ all just saw that up there.

The title of my message is Johnny Be Good. And so that’s kind of a theme there. And then you had Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire, Little Richard, Good Golly Miss Molly. You know, I just hear that song ringing in my head. Buddy Holly, that’ll Be the Day that I die.

Of course, we had the tragedy of the loss of him and the day that music died. And of course, the man who changed everything, Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley with Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, Don’t Be Cruel. He had 10 number one singles in that decade, coining him the King of Rock and Roll. Got the tagline, the King of Rock and Roll.

There’s also sports. If you were a Sport fan in 1950, you were a baseball fan, more than likely. Okay, we have baseball fans in the house here, alright? Sorry, football fans. You didn’t have the rule during this period.

Baseball sold over 15 million tickets. Famous athletes such as Yogi Berra, who coined the phrase it ain’t over till it’s over, and all kinds of different phrases he would use. We had Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Mickey Mantle and of course Jackie Robinson. The first African American to play the sport. Cross line in sports was a very big milestone in that period.

And then we had Rocky Marciano, who was boxing. Boxing was huge in that day. He had won five years straight the world heavyweight championship. That’s where we loosely based the movie Rocky, Rocky Balboa on this guy. Basketball, football, golf were all popular, but they had not taken the stage at, sorry, football fans, basketball fans and golf people.

But it was rising and it would soon be one of the most, some of the most popular sports. It was an age where sports were being invented and things were becoming what they were. Business suits, poodle skirts, hula hoops, greasers and socias. If you’re an outsider fan of that book, Good times, happy days. Right?

The good old days. It seemed the good old days, but it Wasn’t always the good old days, as any decade is. There’s always crisis. There’s always things happening. The Korean war launched the Cold war against the Soviet Union.

So there was fear of Soviet intervention in the United states. Senator Joseph McCarthy was elected in office and convinced the Truman administration that the state was riddled with communists. We called it the red scare, where there was anti communist paranoia throughout the state and out the government and throughout the country. Really. Everyone was fearful that they were either being targeted or their next door neighbor was a communist spy.

There was a lot of fear going on. Nuclear weapons were being developed by Soviets and other countries and there was a fear in the air. People were building bomb shelters in their backyards in fear of atomic and nuclear attacks. The suburban boom, which was happening at the time, caused dissatisfaction for women, which reignited the feminist movement, which you would see in later decades take root because of oppression of women and their role. Equal rights was a big part of the 1950s.

It was actually the birth of equal rights, the equal rights movement. Segregation was a challenge in Brown versus Board of education. The high court, of course, allowed, deemed it unconstitutional for blacks and whites to be in different schools or color to have different schools. And they overruled or they deemed it unconstitutional. And then you have Rosa Parks and everybody knows who she is.

I’m sure if you are not living under a rock. She was one of the first protesters to actually sit in the front of a bus where black people weren’t allowed against the authorities. She went through it and the effort was to challenge the rights of blacks in the world. And there was a lot of racial tension during that time. And that.

That frame, particularly in southern states, we saw a lot of things happening. All these things were going on. The decade ends with a lot of things to figure out. There was a lot that needed to be figured out. And into the next decade, it would result in a time of chaos, a time of rebellion, a lack of meaning, a lack of identity and division, and nobody knowing which way or where to go.

And. And for the people of the time of the 1950s, when we look back, we see a time of happy days and good old days, and we use those taglines. But in this particular period, it wasn’t so happy for a lot of people. Does that sound familiar? It sounds like us today.

We may look back in the 2000s and say, oh, what great of time it was, but today it doesn’t feel like it’s a great old time. What’s going on? Well, every decade has its problems. Every Decade has its crisis, but there’s always a way. Decades come and go, but guess what?

There is a truth that stands the test of time. There is a truth that is there. And if we follow that truth, God never changes. God never changes. Times change, difficulties change, situations change.

And they keep coming. And they keep coming. There’s nothing new under the sun, new day, old demons, old situations that are all happening, it’s all the same. But. But God never changes.

In every decade, we see human beings straying away from truth, finding their own truth. But God has the ultimate truth. And we follow his way. He leads us. He’s like a lighthouse.

God is a lighthouse that stands firm on the shore side when the ships are astray. And we always have something to come back to. We always have a way. There’s always a way. So what does God say about this?

Well, God spoke through the prophet Malachi when Israel was doing the same thing. He says, I, the Lord, do not change. I don’t change. I’m a lighthouse. I’m a light in everything.

So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. And ever since the time of our ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees that truth that’s always been there, it’s been available to you and have not kept them. Return to me and I will What? Return to you and what will happen?

Says the Lord Almighty Jeremiah. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah in 6:16. He says, this is what the Lord says. Stand at the crossroads and look. The 50s.

They were in a crossroads. When it ended, they were in a crossroads. They were trying to figure it out. We’re in a crossroads. Stand at the crossroads and look.

Where do we look? We look to the ancient paths, the old path, the God who never changes his ways. Ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your soul. If you want to find rest, we find it in Jesus. And throughout this series, we’re going to look at different decades.

We’re going to look at the dilemmas of that decade. We’re going to see a few of those overarching themes and dilemmas of those decades. And then we’re going to look at at God for perhaps the solution to the things that we face. Next week’s will be the 60s. So we’ll have a 60s theme next week.

So if you want to come and dress up like a hippie or something, maybe you can pull out your old clothes out of the closet, I don’t know. But if you want to Come and be a part of this. That’s great. We’re going to look at the 60s, but let’s look at the dilemma of the 50s. The seeds that would eventually lead to future crisis were planned, planted during that time.

And as I studied this, I pulled out three overarching themes, three overarching things in the 50s that perhaps led to what was going on at the end there. The number one, the first dilemma is independence over independence. Independence over independence on God. Independence on a God who is over us. We replace God with the American dream.

Who was in charge? Was I in charge? Was God in charge? I built my empire, remember? The economy was great.

Everything everyone did seemed to be successful. Things were working, things were great. And we begin to replace God with things, with our businesses, with our jobs, with our lifestyles. And we build it on our own. We picked ourselves up by our bootstraps, we started our own businesses.

We created and it cultivated a power hungry society. Eventually it would end up removing God from prominent places in the name of separation of church and state took away the ability for government to actually operate in a spiritual manner. The American dream became an idol. They set aside God for the name of liberty. Do we do that today?

Yes, I do believe we do. Sometimes we put God to the side because of America, because we want our political ideology, our philosophies and we say, you know God, I’m going to set you to the side. This is what I believe. This is going to work. Man made power is always a God.

Our country can be a God. And that’s what was happening this time. What does God say about that? He grieves when we put things before God or in the place of God, or above God. It’s called an idol and we place idols in place of God.

He grieves and this is what he says in Ezekiel. How I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, their cheating hearts. I think cheating hearts was in the 50s maybe, which have turned away from me and by their eyes which have lusted after other idols. We lusted after other idols. We looked at the American dream as our God.

We looked at our stuff as our God. We looked at our government as our God. We had this identity not in Jesus, but an identity in our power. The second dilemma was conformity over authenticity. Conformity over authenticity.

Conformity was the big thing. Everybody looked alike. Everybody wore the same type of clothes, wanted the same type of jobs. The suburban boom was happening. Everybody had to have those houses, everybody had cars.

Everybody wanted to look the part. And it created superficial relationships. People didn’t have real, authentic relationships. They weren’t authentic people. Does that sound familiar?

And it caused a stir in the work and the home. In fact, marriage, the spiritual roles that were given to men and women, were abused. Rules were more important than meaningful husband and wife, spouse relationships. A rigid model for what husbands were supposed to be and what wives were supposed to be in the name of. Everybody needs to do this because we want to look like everybody else, right?

And eventually a rigid model has cracks in it. Rules taken too far can have all kinds of problems. We put rules on top of rules and we create our own rules. And what it created was a superior and inferior complex in a lot of people. And there was confusion and there was a struggle for women’s independence, which would launch the resurgence of the feminist movement.

We will look at in other decades to come, which was also a big issue. And it set the tone for increased divorce rates and broken families, future decades. That’s why Peter dealt with this. He asked husbands, he says, husbands, in the same way, be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect, as the weaker partner and as heirs with you in the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. And he goes on in verse eight, finally, all of you, everybody, husbands, wives, friends, people in relationships, be all of you.

Be like minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. And in the 50s, everybody wanted to look like everybody else. So then that really mattered. I’ll do whatever it takes. And there was a fear of what other people think.

And people were buying things and wearing things and putting things together so that they could impress people that didn’t really like them anyway. That was what it was like. And God created us so uniquely, and he created for something, a purpose. He created us on purpose, for a purpose, and we have a purpose. Romans 12 says it like this.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Don’t be like everybody else. Be living sacrifices. Holy, Holy. What is it?

Set apart, you got to be different. You got to be authentic. You got to be real. You got to be a God person. This is the true and proper worship.

And it says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed. Rather than conforming. We allow God to transform us by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to rest. I can rest.

And then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. His good and pleasing and perfect will. And then the third dilemma is lifestyle over relationship. Church was a lifestyle in the 50s, but there was no personal connection to God. 69% of people went to church.

For many, though, it wasn’t a radical call to the cross of Jesus. It was just a shallow cultural Christianity. Instead of having a strong faith, it was a faith that was a mile wide, an inch deep, and religious. But no relationship with God rules. But there was no strong faith.

It was a Johnny be good culture. You got to be good. You got to be good. You got to look the part. You got to be right.

You got to do the right things. Rock and roll was bad. Stay away from rock and roll. They were actually telling their daughters, they wouldn’t let their daughters go to the rock and roll concerts because they were afraid the bad would get would get on them. Sex was bad because nobody talked about it, and they hid it behind closed doors.

But segregation was okay though, right? The separation of races was okay. So there was this moral confusion, both spiritually and secularly in all areas. They worshiped the lifestyle rather than God, who gave them the lifestyle. They forgot their God.

They built foundations of churches, but they didn’t build foundations in their families, in their lives, in their everyday living. And this would ultimately lead to terrible things, because religion without relationship is rebellion. Religion without relationship is rebellion. You can do the right things, you can preach the right things, you can talk about rules, but if there’s not a change in your heart, if there’s not a relationship, it is rebel. What does God say about rebellion?

He doesn’t like it. And this would ultimately turn people away from the church. They would go away from the church in future generations and send people searching for something spiritual besides God. They would search, they would look, and they would go to drugs, alcohol, sex, and anticultural things to find truth and search for community in all the wrong places. People were hurting.

And Jesus spoke harshly about this. In fact, he talked to the Pharisees who were venting rules on top of rules and trying to keep people in place. He called them broods of vipers. He called them hypocrites. He called them sons of hell.

That’s how serious he was about this. But here’s what 1st Samuel 16 says. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. You can conform all you want to. You can be like other people.

But God doesn’t look at those things. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The Lord looks at the heart. And pride got in the way. The American dream Got in the way of what God really had for our nation in that period of time.

And it left them at the end of a decade with a lot of questions, a lot of confused people. So what’s the answer? What’s the answer? I’ll answer with three things connecting those three different dilemmas. The first thing is you got to put God back on the throne.

We need to put God back on the throne. Put God back on the throne of your life, of your work, of your family, of your government, the area you live in, whatever it is, put him every day back on the throne, wake up every day and make Him Lord. Put Him Lord of your life. Because here’s the deal. We can have all the political discussions we want, we can debate, we can act, we can deal, we can do whatever, we can vote, we can argue.

But no human will save us. Only God can save us. Only God’s rule is the right rule. The only power that really works is the power that God has. Man made power has never worked.

History shows us that. It eventually cracks, it eventually fails, the foundations fail. But God is always God, and His power actually works. In fact, psalmist said it like this. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

And I will say to the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress. See, under his authority there is a fortress, there is a refuge in whom I trust. And it goes in verse 14, it says, because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him. I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. That’s how good our God is.

He’s a ruler that cares and loves us. And he will call on me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Real freedom, guys. Real freedom is when God is in control. When God is on the throne, that’s where real freedom is. Andy Stanley says it like this. Maximum freedom is found under the canopy of God’s authority.

If you want real freedom, government’s not going to do it. If you want real freedom, the person you’re married to is not going to do it. If you want real freedom, you’re friends and your job is not going to do that. If you want real freedom, the things that you have in your life aren’t going to do that. Only God will bring real freedom to your life.

So let’s put God back on the throne. Number two, Allow God to change you from the inside out. Allow God to change you from the inside out. Allow God to live inside of you. Not outside in, but inside out.

Allow God to change you from the inside out. How we live doesn’t change us. Our lifestyle doesn’t change us. Who lives in us changes us. Our lifestyle is a resort of who lives in us.

And for people in the 50s, they were living, they were going to church, they looked like they were playing the right parts, but inside, in the house, in the heart, it was awful, it was dirty and it produced so many seeds that would later be in other decades. But it starts with us individually. It starts individually with you. It starts individually with me. A change of heart, each individual.

It doesn’t start at a big government level. It doesn’t start at a world level. We’ve seen how that works. It starts with you and me. Allow God to come in.

Allow God into your life. Allow him to change your heart. He will change you. 2nd Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is the same old person. No, he’s not the same old person.

He is a new creation. A new creation has come. The old has gone. The new here. Praise God that we have a new creation.

We are different, we live differently, we act differently because of him who lives in us, not because we’re following rules. Rules don’t work. Religion doesn’t work. Only a relationship with God truly works. And finally, we need to develop a relationship with Jesus.

We need to develop a relationship with Jesus. It’s more than just a prayer. It’s more than just an experience on a Sunday morning. Developing a relationship is not man made rules and religious ways to live. Developing a relationship with with Jesus isn’t about the right lifestyle.

Developing a relationship with Jesus, it’s about spending time with him, knowing him as he knows you. The right lifestyle comes from a relationship with Jesus. The right way to live comes from a relationship with with Jesus. Knowing Him. Hope in times where there seems to be no hope comes with a relationship with Jesus.

When tragedy strikes and you’re walking through tragedy, what gets you through that tragedy? What gets you through that sadness? A relationship with Jesus. When the world seems to be falling apart, what gets you through that time? A relationship with Jesus.

A relationship with Jesus. Knowing Jesus, being with Jesus, not only does he save you, but he walks with you. He’s with you all the time. He’s with you when you wake up in the morning. He’s with you when you go to bed at night.

He’s with you when you go to work, when you go, when you’re with your kids, when you go to school, wherever you’re going, he is with you. He is always with you. And you need to develop relationship. Talk to him, be with him, listen to him. Let him encourage you, Let him bring you through anything that you may face in this world.

Revelation 3:20 says this. Here I am, I stand at the door and knock there again, that heart, right? He’s knocking at the heart. He’s not just up in heaven telling you, hey, Leon, you need to start acting this way or doing this. No, no, so that you can get close to me.

He says, no, I’m already standing at the door of your heart. No matter where you are, I’m right here with you. We have a personal God that’s with us, not way up there in heaven somewhere that we can’t connect with. He is right here and he says, I come to the door and knock on your heart. And if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they will be with me.

You know what eating at a table suggests that it’s more than just a prayer on Sunday morning that he actually will fellowship with you. It’s not a routine, it’s a relationship. It’s fellowship. The God of the universe wants to know Jesus you through his son, Jesus. He wants to know you.

What they went through in the 50s is nothing new. We are experiencing similar themes even today. Different situations, but similar themes. It’s nothing new. Same old problems, new days.

But perhaps, maybe, perhaps the answer is Jesus. Maybe of all the things that you face, of all the things you’ve went through, of all the things that you’ve tried, of all the religions, of all the philosophies of getting more and doing more, perhaps, maybe set those things aside and consider Jesus for a minute. Perhaps he’s the answer. Perhaps the God of the universe, through his Son, has the solution to your problem. The problem that you face every day, that place in your heart that’s messing something.

Would you consider Jesus? Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for this new message series, Lord, this powerful message series. It’s amazing how you can just take everyday things and connect it to our hearts and to our soul. Lord, help us to see that maybe you are the answer to our problems.

Help us open up our hearts to maybe you are the solution to our problems on a massive scale and on an individual scale. Be with us today, Lord. Speak to our hearts as we continue in this series. In your name we pray. Amen.