Living in a Difficult World

Introduction

I was visiting a great saint of our church this week, Rev. Dr. Wally Shook. He is in the hospital with a bad cold. And a cold at the age of 98 is tough, but he is doing alright. While I was there I got to visit with his daughter and his neighbors were there. They were pleasant. Lovely people that look after Wally and are really servants. 30 years they lived there. And for 30 years Wally has been sharing the gospel with them. Which God bless him. The wife joked that “he preaches to me all the time but we have an understanding. I have just already tried all that stuff. I am a heathen and he loves me. I want to enjoy life and live in peace, and smoke my cigarettes.”

I joked that Jesus wouldnt take her cigarettes away on day 1.

I don’t want to disparage them because they really are a gift to God and disparaging people isnt great, haha.

But this is indicative of the secularist progressive narrative we are living in.

Defining Secularism

I will be drawing on the work of Australian pastor and writer, Mark Sayers. If you are interested in exploring some of these ideas, I recommend his book; Reappearing Church.

Sayers admits “The average Westener processes religion through a crude, street-level model of secularism that is assumed but rarely analyzed.”

Let me just ask the room, what is secularism?

The secular myth that many of us believe is that religion was likely at its heights very long ago in the world and since then it has simply shrunk. Faith once was the center of all things, and if you were into history, you might think the middle ages like 1400s and since then, with exceptions, society progresses and religion is less important.

In a purely progressive secularism that is combative with religion: the belief is that as we progress in time, we will also advance scientifically, technologically, politically, and morally… and religion is not needed.

“This model presumes that with the right conditions and influences, humans are perfectible and that a kind of human utopia is possible.” Mark Sayers, p. 21

Show image 1 (Secular narrative)

The left and right are guilty of this:

Left: they are aligned with this pursuit of human utopia, peace, justice, and human perfectibility. Progressives believe that more government intervention will improve our society.

Right: want to pump the brakes and conserve fruits of western culture, free economy, less government intervention

They both believe specific policies can lead us to a free, fair, and prosperous future.

They may argue over what utopia will look like but they are both encapsulated by the secular narrative.

(Show image 2 with religion decline)

Religion in many ways is seen as a superstition or an enemy to progress. Even within the church as we see the deterioration of anything offensive in the gospel to make it more palatable to the general world. Let me press even harder… how many of us would rather live quiet unassuming Christian lives so as to not create any tension in the world. In many ways we have been convinced that our own faith is kind of problematic.

Here is what is fascinating:

“What marks the Western secularist-progressive myth is a religious-like belief that human perfectibility and social progression will continue until we reach utopia.” Sayers, p. 22

“The world is getting more religious and less religious at the same time.”

And the narratives are very similar when you think about it. Explain the Christian narrative:

Show image 3 (Christian narrative)

Fall and then a messy rescue plan where God is seeking to restore the world to an end where God’s presence is the all in all.

Now look at them together, do you see the similarities?

Show image 4 (the two together)

What do you see? What is similar and what is different?

Sayers thesis and I think it is very prophetic:

The world wants the kingdom without the king.

and it’s failing. None of it is true. We are more educated, technology is more than it ever has been.

Secularism is Failing

I have shared anecdotally before about the two hardest stretches of ministry (and really they were on top of each other)

It is failing…

At a macro level:

some might argue that we have truly progressed towards the end of human perfectibility, but it is hard to imagine, right?

brokenness and corruption in Hollywood

financial sector

Silicon Valley

Militaries

big business

politics

sports

Tribalism

Socio-economic disparity

racial unrest

presidential cycle last time yall…

COVID revealed so much

and yes the church

Micro level:

everyone is anxious

mental unhealth is a norm in young generations

falling IQ levels

epidemic lonliness

addictions

More human slaves today than when it was legal, so addiction and greed

Technology

gaming

sex

obesity

Life expectancy is dropping in the west for consecutive years

Ok, by now your depressed.

But go back to these pictures..

What is the answer? The presence of God.

The Presence of God

What if the big bad wolf is not so scary? What if in it’s failure there is opportunity for the church?

“The secularist life script is dependent on crucial political, economic, and social factors being in place, elements that are becoming fragile, opening up a new potential for renewal and revival in the West.” Sayers, 32

Before we talk about renewal and revival, we must define these terms. Again Sayers is helpful here if we want to explore his model for renewal:

Renewal:

A) The refreshment, release, and advancement that individuals, groups, churches, and cultures experience when they are realigned with God’s presence.

B) The resumption of our God-given purpose to partner with God fully, participating in His plan to flood the world with his presence.

Revival:

When renewal occurs on a large scale. Revival is renewal gone viral.

Renewal Process

Show image

Holy Discontent: Deep dissatisfaction with the low state of faith, the church, and culture. Deep dissatisfaction with personal experience and pursuits. Discontent with the state of the world.

Story of neighbors and divorce

Preparation: The deep work of preparation that God undertakes in the hearts of those He wishes to fill with His presence. Holy discontent is too powerful to do nothing.

I have witnessed this in people on individual levels all throughout my ministry.

Contending: The act of moving from a life posture of consumption and passivity to one of contending for God’s presence to come with power.

Holy Patterns: Reorienting our life around patterns that enable us to live and operate in God’s presence. Patterns of formation begin to take shape.

The Remnant: A group of individuals being renewed by God come together to contend for God to move powerfully

Renewal: New life flows into the person or people of God. New vitality breaks out. His presence comes with power. Ministry is empowered and different.

Revival: Renewal going viral.

Questions so far?

Why on earth are you sharing this here today?

First Methodist Conroe and Renewal

Well because it just feels honest. To share this with you today. We will talk about the business of the church for the rest of the time and if the business of the church is not framed with the pursuit that is in front of us, then what are we doing.

Cary Nieuwhof (New-Hoff) every year describes trends disrupting the church.

The stable church has become an endangered species.

54% of churches in our country are in moderate or significant decline.

only 33% report some or significant growth.

We would be considered in that number. However, most of this growth in the statistics is not new conversions. They are people leaving dying churches and choosing to find a more healthy church.

Meaning, we actually have a danger here. To be satisfied and pat ourselves on the back because we are extending our life superficially… all while continuing to grow older.

or we can seek renewal.

The goals and objectives shared today, from the most mundane like phone lines, all the way to church planting, my hope is that they are to the focus of pursuing the presence of God individually and corporately.

And finally, why do I begin today here?

Because our responsibility in this room beyond budgets and job descriptions, is the mission and vision of the church.

Corporate Renewal always begins in the personal.

Orr, Graham and John Wesley

In 1940, Professor J. Edwin Orr of Wheaton University led a group of theology students to England, where they visited sites of great revivals. One of their stops was the Epworth rectory.  The rectory now serves as a Methodist museum, but it was formerly the home of John Wesley, the famous reformer who led a wave of spiritual renewal in the 1700s and founded the Methodist movement.

As a man of prayer, Wesley interceded for revival to sweep through England and spread to America. Dr. Orr pointed out two worn places on the carpet next to Wesley’s bed, where the man knelt for hours in prayer each day, crying out for revival. And, as history tells us, that’s exactly what happened. Heaven broke in and revival broke out.

As the tour concluded, the students loaded the bus. After counting them, Orr noticed one was missing. He returned to the house, and eventually located the lost student in John Wesley’s bedroom – kneeling on the worn impressions where Wesley had fervently prayed for revival. The student was repeatedly pleading, “Do it again, Lord! Do it again… And would you do it again with me.”

Placing his hand on the young man’s shoulder Orr said, “Son, it’s time to leave. Everyone’s on the bus.” The student slowly rose. Then that young man… Billy Graham… joined the rest of his class, and through him, God did it again!

Now, this story has taken a life of it’s own in the pastor/nerd historian world. But it’s message is clear and true for us today.