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Main idea: As Believers we must live the Gospel Life as we engage the present age with Gospel boldness and grace.
Living the Gospel Life?
Living for Christ out of the spiritual blessings given by Christ in the age in which we live.
Spiritual blessing - church - Lived & proclaimed
Ex: Robbie Knievil: 1999 - Jumping the grand canyon
Our study in 1 cor.
looks at the life of a church in Corinth in the first Century
Gospel bridge from KM NC & our American society to Corinth and its greco Roman society in the 1st century
Ex? 80 yr old and a 20 year old.
Howe much difference is there that exist in the way the see the world?
What has to be done to bridge the cultural and social gap?
Next week we want to take a wide angle look at what should characterized the church of Jesus Christ.
Let’s build the bridge!
Three introductory points:
Every Age after the fall is to some degree both Secular & Pluralistic
Define Secularism: Secularism is a system which seeks to interpret and order life on principles taken solely from this world, without an appeal to belief in God and a future life
That’s basically what happened in the garden...
Define Pluralism: Religious pluralism is the belief that every religion is true.
Each provides a genuine encounter with the Ultimate.
One may be better than the others, but all are adequate.
This is the reality in which we live
The gospel life is rooted in Love for God
Deut 6:4 -The Shema - monotheistic - personal God
John 14:15 - Love me - keep my commands
My love for Christ always grounds/roots my obedience to Christ
My love for Christ roots my love for my neighbor
To not obey God is idolatry it is to love something else as supremely valuable
Sin begins w/ a divided heart
This will bring suffering in this age
1 Peter 3: 13-14;17
Phil.
1:29 - Spiritual blessing = Believing and suffering for his sake
Living the gospel Life in a Greco-Roman Age
Acts 15:20
One worldview: Materialism
All life focused on the pursuit of three things
Health - Prosperity - Safety
Personally and nationally
Three culture realties about living in a greco-Roman age: Life, Worship & Politics
Everyday life
Patriarchal society - one male leader
Class system - wealthy ruling & poor serving class
Rome won the military battle with Greece but they lost the culture war.
Greek Sexuality
Male dominance - power & control & conquest not devotion, intimacy or faithfulness (at least for men)
Homosexuality among Greeks was ok as long as it was the dominate male.
Women were to be faithful to secure the family line whilemen could do as they pleased.
morality was not an issue
Everyday worship
No separation from life, worship and politics
Religious & immoral - Religion and morality did not connect
Polytheistic - Henotheistic (a family god worshipped more than the others) - Syncretistic = They synchronize all gods into the pantheon of their gods.
Greco -roman culture simply paid tribute to the pantheon of gods in hope for materials blessing personally and nationally - Safety - Health - Prosperity - the center of prayer and tribute to the gods.
Religion was ritual not relationship
Worship was not about heart felt devotion
House worship verses temple worship (personal health, prosperity, safety)
House Worship = Ancestor veneration & tribute to lesser gods to bring blessing to the home
This is about obligation, not a relationship.
No tribute no blessings.
Temple worship = Ruling class -Tribute to the more powerful gods - especially by the elite class
No corp worship or gathering but the temple was the “home” of the god and the place to bring tribute.
Elite classwould host feast in honor of the gods.
Gorge themselves & engage in whatever they pleased.
Everyday politics
Rome secured their materialistic needs.
No voting - Caesar/Emperor had a closer connection/in Favor to the gods and so veneration of the emperor was another way they secured themselves.
If the gods blessed him they would benefit.
What was it life to be Jewish in this age?
Ancient religions were respected as long as the didnot pose a threat to Rome
What was it like to be Christian in this age?
Greco -Roman culture considered Christianity to be a “new” religion and was skeptical and suspicious
This set up a collision of two belief that was a polar opposite.
Any religion that refused to pay tribute to the pantheon and the Emperor put the whole state in jeopardy and was the enemy of the people & rome.
Christianity was faith-based centering on a devoted relationship with their one God.
Christianity refused to worship or pay any tribute other than Jesus alone.
Christianity recognized no class system in its community.
Christ was the patriarch of this new family called Christians
Christian “temples” were places where the community gathered to sing, worship and here their God speak from his Word.
How was Corinthians doing navigating their pluralistic and materialistic age?
Not good!!
This is one side of the Contextual bank
Living the Gospel Life in our Age
Christendom in the center
Culture was pre-christian until:
The rise of Constantine - Life -worship -politics = Governed by the Church
Individualism in the center
The rise of secularism: Secularism?
The non-negotiable cultural conviction: individualism
Secularism three core non negotiable values: Individualism, freedom, & equality
I can believe or I can not believe
I can think for myself, live where I please, go to church where I want, when I want
Secular’s goal Individual human flourishing (positive and negative)
Protestant Reformation, Equality for women, civil rights....
Worship in our age
“We take part because we choose to do so, and we choose to do so because we like it, or it makes us feel good about ourselves, or because we enjoy praying and singing with others.
It gives us a quickly fading experience of togetherness, a passing thrill of religious excitement, but it doesn’t impose the constraints of discipline and commitment.
It merely satisfies some obscurely felt need for the time being but will have to be fresh and different and exciting every time if it is to keep drawing us back.”
(Every Day Church, 68)
Where does secularism lead?
Pluralism - privatizing of spirituality - this is true for me & thats true for you & no absolute truth for anyone
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