Being a Disciple in a Secular Culture Pt. 2
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Last week we introduced this study on The culture. How it has changed over the years. Particularly in the last 150 years a lot of changes have occurred. Our nation was never a “Christian nation” but it did adopt Judeo-Christian values. Things like we live in a created world by God. That there is a natural law known to humans to value human life and that there is a moral standard beyond man. That man has inalienable rights given to us by our creator not by a government. But these values that people lived by started changing. Why? We mentioned three men and their influence on European Culture and then American Culture. We determined that Karl Marx proposed that government rather than God be man’s ultimate ruler and judge. That Charles Darwin attacked that God was not man’s Creator and Freud dismissed God as Lawgiver and suggested that the moral law be left up to man. We then observed that after these men made these declarations that the general public welcomed and embraced these theories with open arms. It gave people that really didn’t want to answer to or believe in a god so-called evidence and reason to abandon God and their faith as a Worldview. They say well look at these men, they are PhD’s and very educated and their theories really make sense. But do they really make sense? They do if you're looking for an excuse to remove God from your life and society. When people really look hard at what they wrote and believed, I don’t believe it corresponds to the reality of this world. They believed that this way of thinking would lead to a more civilized society. Last week we discussed what happened in the 20th Century after this great enlightenment period. What did we list that happened? 100 million people died or were killed under Marxists/Socialists who ran countries and two world wars. We didn’t think that sounded very civilized.
So one might ask where was the church in the 20th Century when this all took place. What do you think happened? There is a famous story of churches in Germany whose people knew of the trains full of Jews heading to the concentration camps. And when the trains rode by the church during service, the singing by the people would get louder in order to drown out the train noise going by. I think we have established that the church is at risk of being influenced by culture? How could we not? We are in the middle of it. We are sinners just like everyone else that are susceptible to the same things the culture is.
I mentioned last week that Paul spends a lot of time writing to the Church’s in the New Testament about not allowing negative aspects of the culture to affect the church. Whether it was Jewish influence or Greek.
So What can we do? How do we Promote a Biblical worldview in the church and our lives? Demonstrate to the world and each other, a better way to live and love others. These simple acts can attract people to our lifestyle and to our Worldview and to our faith in God. Churches in Europe and America started becoming affected by this changing culture. A culture that now didn’t see God as Ruler, Creator, or lawmaker. They didn’t want to believe in an objective moral truth that transcended this world. They didn’t believe The Bible to be the word of God. And If you’re a church, that’s a problem.
As is usually the case with cultural pressure, church leaders like politicians start giving the people what they want to hear and believe. What happens if they don’t? They’re out!! The people will find someone who will. So They give in and stop being leaders and stop following Jesus, Stop being formed by Jesus, and stop being on mission with Jesus. That Sound familiar? That’s Cornerstone’s roadmap. What Josh quizzes us on every week. God’s word gets watered down in what some describe as Progressive Christianity. It's hard to believe but there are Churches that claim to be Christian that don’t believe the Bible to be God’s Revelation, or Jesus to be God, or that we are subject to God’s Moral Truth given to us in the bible. That Jesus died and rose again. So Whats the point I wonder? Why do you think Church’s give in to the culture like this?
German Lutheran theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher was another influencer in Europe proclaiming that The bible was not The Revelation from God but a human book, interesting to historians but not a lifeline from God who rescues us from our sins. This is what contemporary spirituality sprouted from. Religion is not what you believe but how you feel. If it doesn’t feel right, then it must be wrong.
All you needed was a feeling of dependence to join our club called Church. This Brand of Christianity came a result of the Assault on God by men of reason and science. This was a new way of explaining reality. A new Worldview.
I read an account where an American Pastor led a tour just a few years ago to locations in Europe of the Reformation Movement. The Protestant movement that Martin Luther lead from the Catholic Church.
Their tour was at the Castle Church at Wittenberg Germany, the church where Luther nailed his Ninety-five thesis that started the revolt against the Catholic Church. Their tour group was asked to leave because service was starting soon. Since this Pastor knew some German he decided to stick around and listen for a few minutes. The pastor leading the service read from the Old Testament in honor of Judaism, The New Testament in honor of Christianity and read from the Quran in honor of Islam. Then he proclaimed “that in this church we honor all three of the world’s religions.” The Pastor leading the tour found it ironic that this pastor was literally standing next to The Tomb of Martin Luther while saying this. Many of The Christian Churches in Europe have eroded away. The members lost their courage when the price of faithfulness became too high. I heard an interview recently from a believer raised in London, but now lives in the States. He said that if you talk about your faith here in the states it is taken seriously and not dismissed out of hand. He said if you talk about your faith in London, your looked at like an alien who just landed from Mars. I thought that was interesting. Most of the great Cathedrals in Europe are now libraries, nightclubs or Mosques. Many of the early churches found in Turkey have been mosques for centuries after the Muslims took over.
So what is God’s reaction to man when he declares God dead? That’s basically what The Enlightenment period concluded. Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, There is no God. Psalm 37:13 As for those kinds of fools, The Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. There is a T-shirt out there that reads, God is Dead—Nietzche on the front. On the back it says Nietzche is dead---God
Between the spread of communism and Islam the Christian Churches of Europe have been decimated. Thankfully America is not as bad as Europe yet, but There are still many churches in America that close each year. The number of Americans claiming to be Christians also drop every year. Why is that? I think we have to look at ourselves first. The Christians have to be responsible for keeping their congregations healthy and growing. Being Disciples and making Disciples. The younger generations are leaving the church. Why is that do you think? Do you think the cultural pressure is too great for them?
The church does not equip them with truth to withstand the pressures of the culture? Do they know why they believe the things the church promotes?
Christians that speak and live out the Truth of the Bible and The Gospel , have resources to blunt the influence of our culture. The Gospel message and The Holy Spirit for starters.
If a Church is not grounded in the word of God, they simply cant bear the barrage of a secular culture and they can be overtaken by it. I read that a pastor in The Czech Republic stated that under communism his congregation was strong. They prayed together, and relied on God and each other faithfully since they were under strong persecution and a terrible economy. But when The Berlin Wall fell and communism ended, the economy improved, and he said the next generation was overwhelmed by their freedom. They were then exposed to the secular values of materialism and pleasure, and he said his church became a shell of what is was during communism. Think about that. During an oppressive atheistic state, the church thrived. But when communism and persecution ended, and they gained their freedom, and their lives improved, that’s when their faith fell away. What do you think about that? Why did that happen? What do you think? Why didn’t they give God the credit for freeing them? Difficulty of making disciples in an affluent society? It reminds us of Jesus’ observation that it is easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than enter the kingdom of God.
So why are Christians and churches being negatively influenced by the Culture do you think? Because we are attracted to the same pleasures as the world. Our nature wants to be like God, knowing good and evil. We want our eyes to be opened just as the Serpent said to Eve. The Culture promotes Darkness but calls it light or good.
One thing Our culture has done is exchange the word thinking to feeling. Feelings seems to have more credibility than our thoughts and beliefs for some reason. Thoughts and beliefs have historically been based on evidence. Otherwise, we wouldn’t believe it. But now feelings seem to have the final say. You hear phrases like,”I need to trust my feelings and follow my heart.” Ever heard that on a TV show or movie or book? It doesn't sound that bad at first until you start thinking about it.
Does the bible reinforce this attitude to follow your heart? Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Now feelings were created by God and have their purpose. But What is it about feelings that can deceive us? Should we use our feelings to make important decisions? What is the problem with relying on your feelings? They change. They change often. They are very fickle. Feelings come and go. We are happy one minute and sad the next. That’s why love is not just a feeling. I always think about Paul’s description of love. What kinds of words does Paul use to describe love? Like The ones heard at weddings? Love is Patient, love is kind, Is his description of love about feelings? No. These are things you do. True Love requires action, not just a feeling. I like to say “Love is true by what you do.” Not just by what you say, or what you feel. You can say you love someone and that’s good, Of course ,you can feel love for someone and that’s a great feeling. In my opinion, love doesn’t become true until you prove your love with actions. What do you think? What do you think? Am I off base here?
So what does our culture believe? I want to take a minute and look at the tenants of The American Secular Culture. I heard these on a podcast and thought I would share them with you. This is what The World Believes according to author Allisa Childers:
- Feelings are your ultimate guide. God is not the ultimate authority, you and your feelings are your authority. If it feels good, then it must be right.
- Happiness is the ultimate goal. If it makes me happy then it must be morally ok. The end justifies the means. So an emotion is the ultimate goal. I think God has bigger priorities than our immediate happiness. What is happiness anyway? A feeling we get sometimes.
- Judging is the ultimate sin. Others can’t know what makes me happy so how can you judge me. If there is no objective moral standard then there is nothing to compare actions to. So if makes me happy then it's okay.
- God is a guess. Our Culture isn’t necessarily against the concept of God, in fact, 90% of Americans believe in “God or a higher power” But whats not ok is to believe in a specific God who has revealed himself and that we should now relate to Him in relationship and answer to Him with our lives.
No moral law, because this would threaten the authority of one's self. God should stay a comfortable distance away. Not personal, that’s too close.
Here is another phrase you hear a lot. “Love your authentic self.” What does that really mean anyway? What would you say is our authentic self is? How does the bible describe our authentic self? Sinner, a sinful nature. That’s who we are. So you're going to love the fact that we sin all of the time? I don’t think that is a good message. I don’t think that’s what they mean either. What do you think they mean by saying Love your authentic self?
But This is what the popular culture believes. This is what is trying to infiltrate the church and has in some cases. What do you think? Do you believe this? What comments do you have hearing this? Does this surprise you? Why do people believe these things? What kinds of problems do you see with this worldview?
You hear a lot about the Culture War. Were in a culture war here in America. We mentioned it last week its really not a war of culture war but a spiritual or theological war. You either believe there is a God with a moral code we try to live by or you don’t. Humans, we have a lot going against us. What or who are we battling every day? We against 1. The World/our Culture, 2. Our flesh/Our sinful nature, 3. Satan/His temptations. That’s a lot to deal with. But we have Jesus on our side thankfully and the Holy Spirit to help us make good decisions.
You do hear people talk about being Spiritual. It's actually seen as a positive in culture I think. I’m a very spiritual person you hear people say or write. And we are or can be.
I think this interest in Spirituality can be used as a way to tell people about The Gospel. God is spirit and he manifests into three persons. That could get the conversation going.
Unfortunately, I think Satan uses this interest in Spirituality to promote two big deceptions that can affect churches. 1. is a belief in the essential goodness of man and 2. a belief in the endless tolerance of God. This is a phrase you hear a lot in our culture. People are basically -----good. Does that bother anyone besides me when you hear that? It makes me cringe when I hear that. I want to say take a look at your life. How many of the 10 commandments have you broken today? Have you read the news lately? Humans are not good.
Were born sinners and we prove it every day. Look at our world. The 2nd. Well A loving God must be a tolerant God, right? And Yes, God does put up with a lot from us. But this belief in a very tolerant God, it can lead us to not hate sin and not change our life. I mean if were not all that bad to start and were basically good, then maybe God will put up with us so why can't we just live the way we want? He will give us grace, right? He loves us. Won't he give us a break? Is that what the bible says? N,o we are called to do what?
Another word for change begins with an R. Repent. Spirituality does not point us to God but to ourselves. Back to the self. Do you see a pattern here?
Look within yourself, and find god. Unfortunately, They are not talking about the Holy Spirit. (That looked funny on paper) They are equating God with man. Here is a quote: “Spirituality is religion without God; it is self-acceptance without confronting sin; it is self-redemption without any need for the blood Christ shed for sinners. So when you hear people talking about spirituality this is likely what they are talking about. I’m sure Satan is a big fan of this kind of Spirituality.
Another objection to faith by The Culture is, “What about this God of The Old Testament? Do we still believe in Him? How can we with how he has acted? The terrible things he has done. He has been described as The Smitey Almighty? The one who smote the Egyptians, Wiped out Sodom & Gomorrah, and commanded Joshua to wipe out the Canaanites? Can this be the same God we worship?
Do Christians today like to think about this God, The Old Testament God, as the God we worship in our current culture? No. Do we like to defend Him to others? Come on, We’re New Testament believers. We're in The Restoration Movement. We are restoring the church that Jesus set up. He loves us and would never do that. What do you think? Do People believe things like that you think?. Why? They don’t know the scriptures. It’s the same God. Regarding the Canaanites being wiped out. How were they living? They were doing horrible sins. And they were living on the wrong piece of ground. Do you think God wanted them the next-door neighbors of the Israelites? Why not? Could they have influenced The Israelites? Ironically, they were doing similar things that we do today. Sacrificing or killing of Children. Of course our culture doesn’t recognize abortion as a terrible sin.
But God doesn’t discriminate. He also did a similar thing to Israel by using The Assyrians and Babylonians to carry out his wrath when they were acting evil.
I think it's interesting when skeptics say, well how can a loving God allow all of this evil to happen today? Then they turn around and say look what God did in the Old Testament to these people. He is a terrible God. But when you point out that these people were evil, including child sacrifices, and that God was judging them and they were being punished for being evil, they still don’t see the problem with their arguments. On one hand say that how can a living God let all of this evil happen in the world today, and then criticize him for judging evil in the Old Testament.
But The God in The Old Testament has a lot of critics today including those in the church. A guy named Greg Boyd Pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St Paul Minnesota wrote a book called The Crucifixion of the Warrier God: Interpreting the Old Testament’s Violent Portraits of God in light of The Cross. He thinks “a distinction has to be made between the God who actually exists and the “textual” God as described in the Old Testament. The Old Testament God must be readjusted in light of the cross where God is portrayed as accepting and forgiving.” These descriptions are not from God but a biblical narrator or prophet. This textual God of The Old Testament simply doesn’t exist according to him. If Moses words are true then he(Moses) must have been demonically influenced. Weird. This appears just to be a Pastor who doesn’t believe the Bible to be a reliable document. Which is interesting based on all of the evidence. But like many I would guess it's closer to He just doesn’t want it to be true. Therefore its not true. Same type of thinking. If it doesn’t feel right or good then it must be wrong. Therefore I will dismiss it. This is our world. This is what happens when a pastor or church is influenced by the culture.
What about Slavery? That’s another Old Testament issue that people have problems with. Slavery is always mentioned as a negative about The God of The Old Testament. Like He is a different God. Slavery in the world at that time was different than what we think of slavery that happened in America. We think of blacks kidnapped and brought here in chains from Africa and mistreated by beating, raping and suffering murder by Whites here.
I believe the word used in Hebrew is actually translated as servant or bondservant. Back in Old Testament times almost everyone had servants. A servant or slaves of that time would basically sell themselves for their labor as an indentured servant. It was the way many people were able to survive by doing this. It was usually for a specific period of time. Under the Mosiac Law servants or slaves had protections. Things like kidnapping, rape or murder of a servant was punishable by death. They would also be given the option of leaving this arrangement after 6 years in The Jubilee year according to Exodus 21:2. In verse 16 of Exodus reads that “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnappers possession. There was slavery but these rules were much more humane than any surrounding culture of the time. Not to mention that slavery has been around since literally the beginning of time by every culture in the world. Today there are still hundreds of thousands of slaves in Africa. Africans enslaving Africans.
So obviously in modern times there was slavery in America and obvious racism in the church, particularly in the South and it still happens today in some cases. But racism of any kind clearly goes against the teachings of The Bible. Most of the slaveholders of The South claimed to be Christians. Christians have done plenty of evil sometimes in the name of Christ. But I think it is unfair that God is judged by The Culture for the acts of Christians doing wrong. Not following Jesus' example. Isn't it ironic that a perfect sinless God, is judged by the actions of sinners who claim to be his followers? But the world loves to point out our wrongs and Christians should be called out, but God’s reputation shouldn’t suffer. Talk about injustice. Should God’s reputation suffer because of our bad actions? Christians have made a lot of good decisions to in the name of Christ. Who lead the abolishment of slavery in England and America? In fact Christians in England are who eventually got the modern slave trade abolished. You don’t hear that repeated in our culture though.
Another Pastor Andy Stanley in his book Irresistible claims that the New Testament should be unhitched from the Old.
Why? Because of how the Old Testament portrays God. What is going on here do you think? What are these two pastors doing to God? What are they promoting? What do they want? A different God? Apparently they want to replace the Wrathful God of the Old Testament with an endlessly tolerant Jesus, sounds like they want to there to be two different Gods?) They just want to eliminate the Old Testament that they don’t like? Can we not search the scriptures for the books we like or the ones that make us feel good? Sure. What causes this do you think? What do people keep focusing on? Themselves, their feelings. How they feel when they read the bible. Is this a good practice you think? We have to be careful not to focus on ourselves and our feelings when reading and studying scripture. It's not always about us. What does it say about God’s character? What does God require of me after reading this verse? It sounds like these pastors are judging God?
If we are only focused on me, then its going to affect our interpretation. Its amazing that two popular pastors have just decided to dismiss a huge part of scripture. This is a pattern of our culture. I think this is an example of how the culture is influencing Christians and The church. If they just ignore a big chunk of the bible what are they losing or missing?