17Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
God is calling us to live authentically. That means that we can express the reality of the risen Christ. It comes through recognizing that He is within our hearts and gives us the capacity to walk in a manner that pleases Him. We have to be careful that we are not merely giving lipservice, saying that we follow Christ, but our actions do not measure up to His standards. And, we know that there are those try and try to look like a Christian, but they're just going through the motions and are living relatively unfulfilled lives. True, authentic Christianity flows from the inner relationship that we have with God as we allow Jesus to express, to live, His life through us.
The presence of the indwelling Christ enables us to live with authenticity. If we call ourselves Christians, it is important that His reality is expressed in our lives. In Colossians 1, Paul describes the ability we have through Christ to radiate His glory:
27To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.28Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
In Los Angeles recently, a new coffee shop sprouted up in the corner of an otherwise uncelebrated strip mall. It bore a familiar logo featuring a mermaid surrounded by a circle containing the name of the shop. For much of opening weekend, a line from the store wound alongside the parking lot and up the block, according to a report from CBSNews.com.
We're told that some patrons snapped pictures in front of a green awning and the somewhat familiar Starbucks logo, except that a word was added to the words in the circle -- that the word "Dumb" is prominently featured.
Yes, Dumb Starbucks opened, and the interest it generated grew over the weekend with a boost from posts on Twitter and Facebook.
People apparently weren't coming for gourmet fare, at least some of which was being served up free of charge: Their descriptions of the coffee ranged from "horrible" to "bitter," and one parent said his daughter complained that the hot chocolate was like water.
Instead, they were just coming to say they came, and to score a white paper cup with a sticker bearing the curious logo.
Well, Dumb Starbucks caught the attention of the real Starbucks. Laurel Harper, a spokeswoman for Seattle-based Starbucks Corp., said in an email, "While we appreciate the humor, they cannot use our name, which is a protected trademark." She added that most trademark disputes are handled informally, suggesting the company might not need to take legal action.
At the front counter of Dumb Starbucks, a sheet of frequently asked questions said the store was shielded by "parody law."
"By adding the word 'dumb,' we are technically 'making fun' of Starbucks, which allows us to use their trademarks under a law known as 'fair use,'" the sheet said.
It continued: "In the eyes of the law, our 'coffee shop' is actually an art gallery and the 'coffee' you're buying is considered art. But that's for our lawyers to worry about."
OK. The "big reveal" came the following Monday, when Canadian comic Nathan Fielder told a crowd he was pursuing the "American dream" -- before acknowledging that he planned to use the bit on his Comedy Central show "Nathan for You." His production company had been filming at the site.
Soon after the announcement, Los Angeles County health inspectors shut it down for operating without a valid permit.
Then, you have a story out of Pittsburgh, where the sign on the restaurant said "Burger King", but customers were baffled. Local TV station WPXI reported that customers were claiming the food had tasted different and were posting questions about the restaurant on Reddit.com. A customer said, “The food was in a brown paper bag. The fries were in a Dixie cup. I said. ‘What is this?’”
A reporter said an assistant manager explained they’re in the process of transitioning to a new business called South Side Burgers. It’s even on the receipts. But the sign still read, "Burger King" during the transition.
A parody of Starbucks and a misrepresentation of Burger King - we have cases of 2 fake food operations. I thought about this wonderful concept of authenticity. In one case, the customers tolerated the faux coffee shop, but in the other, the customers were wise to the ruse. And, there are some applications for us as Christians.
The Dumb Starbucks people played off the well-known and reputable name. If the producers had not used the Starbucks name, there would have been zero attraction - so they intentionally used it as a drawing card for their parody sketch. In the Christian life, we have to make sure that when we use the name of Jesus, that by our actions, we do not do damage to what people think about Him. We never want to make a mockery of the Lord we love by acting in a manner that does not bring Him glory. I think it's important that we living authentic lives and reflect the presence of Christ within us. We certainly don't want to be known as fake Christians.
And as we learn from the case of the fake Burger King, we have to remember that our reputation is important, so if we're going to use a name, we need to make sure that we represent it well. We are building a reputation, and we can make sure that we are adding to the credibility of our own name, and especially to His name. While we should not be caught up in people pleasing, still it's important to contemplate the image that we are projecting to others - we have a high responsibility to live according to His standards.
Finally, people obviously knew that the Starbucks thing was a fake, but they came anyway; not the case with Burger King. We have to guard against the deception and schemes of the enemy that take us in and get us off track in our walk with Christ. Sometimes we will get distracted and follow something that is not real with the promise of some sort of instant gratification. We don't need to follow wild goose chases in the hopes that something beneficial can come out of them.
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