Cultural - Post-Christian

Opening Discussion

Culture - a way of life made up of values, morals, beliefs, behavior, customs, stereotypes, and generalizations.

Who has travelled to a different culture?

What was different about other cultures? Same? Surprising?

What are examples of our culture here?

What does our culture value, believe, or do?

Nike Video - Find Your Greatness

What message does this send? Positive? Any Negative?

What does Nike want you to do at the end, really?

How do they connect greatness and product?

Know our Culture

The reason we don’t recognize culture easily is because we live it.

We usually don’t recognize our breathing until we are deprived or separated from it. Culture is Similar.

What do we find challenging about being a Christian in our culture?

Our Culture = Post - Christian

Pre - Christian - Europe / Rome/ Africa before missionary movements

Christianized - Church is a norm, kingdom talk is regular.

Post - Christian - not moved on from Christian culture. Deconstructionist of tearing down system that was built but still wants to carry forward the values.

The Kingdom without the King.

Post Christian - is an attempt to continue Christian values not remembering where the source comes from.

2 Tim 3:5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

Culture is haunted by religious values underneath the surface no matter how people will try to get rid of it

Not just moved on from Christian, but reaction against Christian, defining itself against and deconstruct.

Missional Failed Attempts To Fix

1) Use Culture to reach Culture:

An assumption that you did this and mission it would bring people alive.

People would go to the pub or park, and instead of influencing they eventually just became the pub.

"I went to the pub to make them more like Jesus and I just ended up looking more like the pub"

The culture is colonizing us, not the church colonizing the world.

Tim Keller - The Gospel Coalition “ How can Christians engage in a post-Christian culture without being colonized by it?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDqJkfhTuRY&ab_channel=TheGospelCoalition

“In a Post-Christian Western Society there is a great danger that in your interaction, trying to reach out, and engage your “non-Christian culture” that the culture colonizes you.

Post-Christian culture is different than non-Christian or pre-Christian culture. The post-Christian culture has adopted a lot of Christian ideas.

For example: taking care of the poor, human rights, justice

The West has taken Christian ideas but taken them to an extreme.

Extreme human rights and justice has turned into an extreme Individualism.

Many Christians can easily fall in co-opted into individualism

Liberal Individualism says “I need to do justice for the poor and I need to do racial justice but nobody should tell me what to do sexually”

Traditional Individualism says “I believe in traditional values but I can do anything I want with my money and please don’t talk to me about race because I didn’t own any slaves and I don’t think that’s a problem”

It is easy for Christian to think that they are being Christians but they’re actually getting co-opted (changed) by either what I would call blue-state or red-state individualism.

It is easy to fall into either liberal or conservative individualism thinking it’s Christianity

Importance is to Understand the Biblical Worldview and how it differs from other thinking.

It’s not easy to engage the culture, to reach out, to seek to know and convert people but we have to do that because we are commanded.”

Failed Missional Culture Attempt

2) Update Jesus for modern world

Believe that church needed to be relevant or cool was that is what would fix the church.

“Jesus not Religion”

Who is Jesus?

A Jewish Rabbi Teacher who was proudly Jewish and was working to correct a religious perspective and bringing them into right understanding about the Messiah, Himself.

Jesus makes me Rich – Prosperity Gospel, that Jesus feeds my greed vs Jesus words on money “"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24

Jesus is my lover – Romance Culture, Jesus is a my significant other vs Jesus love is the Church (Eph 5:25), His love for humanity is eternal and all-encompassing but he’s not a romantic partner for a lonely single. Jesus is not a significant other but he can be the source of significance.

Jesus is my homie – Friend Culture, Jesus will never judge me just love me, I can do bad stuff and Jesus has my back vs “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,” John 5:22 and Jesus does have friends, but these friends obey Him “"If “you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15

Jesus Right Political – Right Political “I believe in traditional values but I can do anything I want with my money and please don’t talk to me about race because I didn’t own any slaves and I don’t think that’s a problem” vs Jesus does care about life from the womb to the tomb including racial backgrounds,. Jesus sacrificed his own rights ie. Being GOD to die as man as servant. Jesus spoke on money more than any other subject including love, faith, or salvation.

Jesus Left Political – Left Political -“I need to do justice for the poor and I need to do racial justice but nobody should tell me what to do sexually” Jesus does care about poor and refugees, Jesus was a refugee himself to Egypt. He does speak against a corrupt Jewish and Roman System and was killed for it. Jesus does fight for the weak, but he doesn’t revolt and start a rebellion. Jesus definitely cared about sexual ethics he was Jewish teacher. Jesus goal wasn’t to be a social justice warrior but to be a Savior and Messiah.

Early Church belief because Jesus

Racial Justice - went out of his way to love Jewish racial enemies (Gentiles, Samaritans, refugees)

Pro-life - brought people literally to life, Psalm 22, Is 49:5

Deeply care for poor and marginalized - Luke 14:16-24, James 1:27

Man/Woman Marriage only and Sexual Ethics of marriage - Matt 19:4-6, Mark 7:21

Jesus doesn’t fit in something as little as a political party.

Jesus would have to step down from being “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, Through Him ALL things were made, In Him all Creation Held together” vs maybe he is a Republican or Democrat?

We used to make assumptions of culture, generally

Read Bible

Pray

Tithe

Believe and Practice following God, Spirituality, and Religion

Believe in Institutions: Education, Government, Law

All of those are gone as stereotypical culture belief.

A current worldview "give yourself to no external authority except yourself, on one side a sense of freedom but at the same time slavery"

Nobody can rule me, except me, and I am a terrible master because I am harsh, judgmental, cruel, indecisive, and I’m a slave to my desires whatever they happen to be today.

We give away our freedom, click here and take my freedom of time, thought, energy, attitude and I pay you for it.

People are distracted, they see the Bible as a bigger obstacle to faith than an aid because it brings questions, cultural dinosaurs, and a literary challenge. The Bible is not an easy book to understand or let shake your world.

We tell Christians: "Send them into the world" The world is already in their home, it’s on their phone in their hands.

If you are coming to a church service you are not cultural Christian those don't exist anymore really.

Cultural pressure is not to go to church its go get a mimosa, go to work, sleep off a hangover, or just sleep in.

What do we do, as a group of people trying to follow Jesus?

Video: What is Cultural Apologetics?

Milieu – a person’s social environment

Cultural Apologetics – Apologetics seek to understand milieu (social environment) that they are seeking to reach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Every culture has a set of assumptions or values or beliefs and an effective apologist will seek to come with the gospel with an understanding of what those values, beliefs, and assumptions are.

You come with what you thought were all the answers to unanswered questions these “secular” people had. But it didn’t take long for you to realize that the questions weren’t just unanswered; they were unasked. And they weren’t questions. That is, your “secular” neighbors aren’t looking for “Answers” – for some bit of information that is missing from mental maps

To the contrary, they have completely different maps. You’ve realized that instead of nagging questions about God or the afterlife, your neighbors are oriented by all sorts of longing and “projects” and quests for significance. There doesn’t’ seem to be anything “missing” from their lives – so you can’t just come proclaiming the good news of a Jesus who fills their “God-shaped hole”

- James K.A Smith How (Not) to be Secular

You have to show them first that their assumptions and what they are looking for meaning and value will eventually end up in a hole and you can then show them how Jesus Christ will effectively fill it.

What can we do?

Resurrect Connection – we work to connect not only with each other but the world around it. Not be like it with either Culture Rip Offs or Update Jesus, but relational connection.

Resurrect Hope – we carry with us a Hope, a hope that our world has lost a long time ago. We don’t have hope, not in each other, not in religion, not in government, science, laws, church, education, news, or anything. We though do have a hope beyond the failures of the church into the hope of a living God.

Resurrected Jesus - Know the Core of our Faith, know what we believe

GOSPEL Propaganda - Video

GOD created us to be with Him (Gen 1-2)

OUR sin separates (Gen 3)

SIN cannot be undone by good deeds (Gen 4 – Malachi 4)

PAYING the price, Jesus died and rose again (Matt - Luke)

EVERYONE who trusts in Jesus alone has eternal life (John)

LIFE with Jesus starts now and lasts forever. (Acts – Revelation)

Way of Jesus, Way of Life

The Way of Jesus is not a religious doctrine, or even a relationship, it is a way of Life.

A way of life is how to live which includes how we think, how we act, how we behave, how we react, how we love, how we value, and how we rest.

We like the life of Jesus but we don’t like the Lifestyle of Jesus.

To learn Scripture, to learn about Jesus, is to become an apprentice of Jesus.

An Apprentice - one who is trained to be like the Master.

Commitment to Spend time with Jesus

Commitment to Know Jesus

Commitment to Know Each Other

Commitment to live like Jesus in his Lifestyle of rest, obedience, prayer, and actions

Commitment to anchor yourself in Jesus and what he teaches about things like Sexual Ethics, Marriage, Relationship, Cultural Politics, Service, Attitude, Purpose, and many more.

Sources

GOSPEL - Propaganda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyYFxp7apl4&ab_channel=KindredSheppard

Tim Keller on Changing the Culture Without Being Colonized by It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDqJkfhTuRY&list=PLfj-hMTCndBy5JhQ2eYgbBoAha2Bdwy14&index=16&t=10s&ab_channel=TheGospelCoalition

This Cultural Moment Podcast - What is Secularism? John Mark Comer

644. What is Cultural Apologetics? One Minute Apologist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp8WNKnBI1k&list=PLfj-hMTCndBy5JhQ2eYgbBoAha2Bdwy14&index=15&ab_channel=oneminuteapologist

How (Not) to be Secular - James K.A Smith

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry - John Mark Comer