Following God when culture does not

Coming to a new year - normally I would look at John 15 - what to prune and how are you abiding with God.

This year, I want to share with you a chapter and a bit from David Rietveld’s book Being Christian After Christendom - he sets out to answer - Where are we? How did we get here? what went wrong? What is the solution?

Been a slow read - Guy and his book?

David has worked in local church ministry for almost 30 years. He has worked in Sydney, Tasmania, and Victoria. He is ordained as an Anglican and Baptist.

I am aware of some of his journey as he was at Wellspring Anglican (Hobart) in 2008 and then went on to Mornington Peninsula Baptist in Victoria. and David shares some of his Tassie stories in the book as He grew up in Kingston.

I shared some of the quotes from the book earlier in the year:

“We are experiencing not the end of Christianity in the West, but the end of the West as a Christian culture.”

“The Christian worldview contains a nucleus of ideas that has given rise to the best of Western culture. It is the CWV that births some combination of the following: Universal human rights, especially for women and children; justice; selfless heroism; optimism; compassion; education for the masses; capitalism; public healthcare; the scientific method; secular politics; and morality.”

What the book is addressing is the massive shift we are experiencing from 1600 years of building Christendom - a Christian world view and now it is being rejected or cherry-picked.

An analogy to describe it is flowers picked in a vase, they are cut from the roots, so look pretty for now but without the source will wilt. Mark Sayer also puts it well, wanting the Kingdom without the king.

So as we turn to the new year how can we be prepared to be people of Hope and follow God when our culture does not?

To answer this I want to share David Rietveld’s thoughts on 2 well-known OT stories that can encourage us in a post-Christendom western world.

But a warning first - to move forward we need to stop -

Living in the Past

There is a temptation to idealize the past, believing we had it right, and what is going on now is wrong. We can even read the bible this way. The Bible is a complex book, composed across diverse eras and circumstances, and has within it light and truth for every age.

this transition is no different. In fact, maybe we should start with laminations as we lament the loss of the Christian worldview from secular society. Lament and mourn so that we can pick ourselves up and move forward.

You may say, so you say stop living in the past so why are you now going to look at the OT? Well, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says - there is nothing new under the sun and the bible shares of people in this situation before.

The Old Testament is written across varied settings: In the Promised Land; in exile or slavery; amid centuries-long warfare; and of homelessness and wandering.

However, we are used to reading the Old Testament as a theocracy, where God’s commandments are enshrined in the national laws. We condense the essence of the Old Testament as being a story of God’s people, living under God’s rule, and when they do so, they are blessed, and when they do not, they are cursed.

But this is not always the case, let us take the well-known tale of Elijah.

Elijah lived through a season of national turning away from God and towards idolatry. Elijah imagined that God would judge Israel’s unfaithfulness but God’s judgement was more understated and reserved than Elijah might wish. This gave rise to depression and hopelessness in Elijah.

That is a summary of the epic tale that begins at Mount Carmel in 1 kings 18:16, Elijah vs 450 Baal prophets.

God lights His offering

Breaks a 3-year drought

Yet, the king and the nation still do not turn back to God, In Chapter 19 Ellijah is fleeing.

Now this brings the context to today's reading, this passage is often spoken about as a way that God guides us. Not in the wind, earthquake or fire. But with a still quiet voice. Now this is true, but when we take in the context there is greater significance for the troubled Elijah.

Take the:

Fire - Elijah just saw the offering at Mount Carmel consumed by fire. Fire is a symbol of God’s wrath and anger at sin, in this case, idolatry. God’s righteous anger rightly consumes those who do not acknowledge him as God and choose to worship another. Graciously God opts to consume an offering instead of the people. Here and elsewhere in the OT, fire is a symbol of God’s wrath and judgement.

Wind - In the judgement of Egypt, strong winds bring plagues of locusts (Exod. 10:13). In the wisdom books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, wind stands for the passing of time, outside of our control, but under God’s authority.

Earthquakes - In the judgement of the 250 Israelites who rebelled against Moses in the desert were swallowed up by the ground when it opened up (Num 16). Isaiah 13:13 also says:

Isaiah 13:13 NIV

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

So let us read again the experience of Elijah 1 Kings 19:11-13

1 Kings 19:11–13 NIV

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah repeats himself and misses the point and maybe we do too. In God’s wisdom, sometimes he intervenes and judges sin and rebellion in quick and decisive ways. This is also an obvious connection between sin and its judgment, and its consequences. That is how God reveals His Holiness

At other times, God does not speak through fire, earthquakes, or wind. Rather, at times he judges with a gentle whisper. His response is understated, subdued, and easy to miss. Sin is allowed to continue without much apparent consequence or response from God. Which is how the biblical narrative unfolds at Mount Carmel. This side of the cross this whisper is a function of the Holy Spirit that gently guides and convicts us when we are making bad and sinful decisions.

In 1 Kings we read that Idol-worshipping King Ahab remains king and his wicked wife Jezebel remains queen. Worse yet, the next chapter is about the victory the king has over his enemies.

Elijah is depressed by the whole situation and lack of judgement from God.

At various points in history, God chooses to restain the expression of his righteous holiness. Jesus on the cross might be a reason for it. but it still feels unfair or unjust.

Rietveld suggests we are living through a season of a culture-wide abandoning of the Christian worldview and replacing it with a more selfish post-Christian worldview. God does not appear to judge this as clearly and decisively as we might presume. This may leave us prone to dismay and depression, as it did for Elijah.

that’s the lament.

This is a possible glimpse into God’s response for this age, but what about our response? As God gave Elijah instructions on what to do next in such a time, what are ours?

To respond let us turn to my favourite book of the bible, Daniel.

The book of Daniel is often read as encouraging us to make a stand, as Daniel did. If we do, God will honour us, as he did Daniel and his three friends.

A closer reading reveals that Daniel and his friends at times made a stand, and at other times made a series of compromises. They did this in response to their modified context because God’s authority was not recognised in Babylon as it was in Israel.

Daniel and his friends did not stand up for the truth at every opportunity. We know they did abstain from unclean food from the king's table (chpt 1), from worshipping an idol (chpt 3) and against an edict to not pray (chpt 6).

If we look closer at Daniel 1 we see three compromises they had to make.

Daniel 1:4 NIV

young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

1. Compimise 1 was learning the Language and literature which included being educated in magic, chants and astrology.

Daniel 1:5 NIV

The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

2. Compimise 2, they were going to work for the foreign king, an enemy of God’s people, who at times believed himself to be a god. They were not only serving but assisting the enemy.

Daniel 1:6–7 NIV

Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

3. Compimise 3 was allowing to be known by these names - Daniel (God is my Judge - Marduk protects his life), Hananiah (The Lord shows grace - under the control of Aku), Mishael (Who is like God - who is what Aku is) and Azariah (the Lord is my helper - servant of Nebo)

We see from the start that Daniel and his friends were willing to make compromises because they knew God was with them into this exile and they were no longer in a theocracy as Isreal. He had Hope and instruction to devote himself to God and to serve others no matter who, even in this strange land.

In the book of Jeremiah, he prophecised that the exile in Babylon would last seventy years, and then things would return to some sort of normal. However, the dreams in the book of Daniel (chpt 7-12) suggest that following the downfall of the Babylonian Empire, other empires would rise, and there would be multiple forthcoming evil empires for God’s people to endure for centuries.

Rietveld suggests that living as a Christian in Christendom somewhat parallels how the people of God were called to live in a theocracy. Likewise, he suggests that there are some parallels between living as a Christian in a post-Christendom and Daniel who lived in exile in Babylon. If so, the book of Daniel may invite us to pick our battles, to be shrewd, to not die on every hill, and to endure.

Jesus picked His battles

Jesus directly opposed the Jewish leaders, namely the Pharisees, the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law. In turn, they directly opposed Him, leading to the cross.

Jesus was more coy and elusive in his comments about gentile leaders and their actions. The non-Jewish powers (Pilate, Herod, Rome) found Jesus politically annoying and dangerous, but they did not antagonize him.

Soon we will return to Acts, but we see a similar pattern in Jesus' disciples.

Rather than standing up confrontationally against the powers-that-be, the early Christians set about being different people who lived by a different code, following a different king, and establishing a different kingdom. And it worked. The rights of women, children, and slaves were enhanced, and thousands came to follow Jesus as their king.

After 1600 years of Christians and the church holding a privileged position of power and voice, we now find ourselves in a social setting more like that of Jesus, Paul, and the early church. Post-Christendom has similarities to pre-Christendom. It may be important for us to notice Jesus’ and Paul’s non-confrontational posture towards Rome, and adopt a similar posture in today's society.

So to summarise the point

A massive shift is happening in the Western world away from a Christian worldview which is sad but God is still at work and we have a part to play.

God will not allow sin and rebellion to continue but is choosing to give time for people to repent, look to Jesus and listen to the Holy Spirit to guide them to Him.

our responsibility is to be Hope carriers and live differently to culture by following God and in this we do not need to die on every hill or win every battle of truth, God will do that through our witness, not always our voice.

Prayer