Culture.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] I do want to by way of announcement tell you about coming up on Friday night November [0:05] 1st, just a few weeks away, we’re going to host really what I hope will become something [0:10] that we do maybe once a quarter. [0:12] It’s going to be called Friday Night Theology. [0:14] And what we’re going to do is we’re going to take one topic, because after we finished [0:17] our cow tipping series, there were just a lot of questions that we didn’t get to, as

[0:22] well as a lot of topics that because of some of the things that we covered, questions were [0:28] raised. [0:28] And I got a lot of questions after week one about divorce. [0:33] And so what we decided to do is on a Friday evening to take an hour longer to talk about [0:43] that topic. [0:44] And so the first Friday night on November the 1st, we’re going to be dealing with the

[0:47] issue of divorce. [0:48] What does God have to say about divorce in His word? [0:51] What does God have to say about marriage in His word? [0:55] And then, of course, remarriage, because opinions and presuppositions are great. [1:01] And many of us and some of us have been through divorces and remarriages. [1:06] And maybe you’re dealing with some issues inside about uncertainty about what you’ve

[1:12] done with your life. [1:13] And in that night, I want everybody, if you can, of course, to be there. [1:18] Because we’re going to cover pretty in depth. [1:19] It’s going to be different than on Sunday morning. [1:21] It’s going to be a little more laid back. [1:23] We are going to have Q&A after I finish talking about the issue, questions that you may have

[1:31] that night, questions that you have before I ask that you bring those questions, and [1:34] we’ll deal with them that night. [1:36] So please make the effort to be here on Friday night, November the 1st, from 7 to 8-something. [1:42] I decided that I wanted a lot of leeway, so that’s why it says 8-something. [1:46] It’ll probably be over by 8.59. [1:48] I mean, it really will.

[1:50] Or it could be over at 8.01. [1:51] I don’t know. [1:52] We’ll see where the Lord takes us that night, dealing with the issues. [1:56] So we’re going to have coffee, we’re going to have some dessert, and just have a good [2:00] time that night talking about God’s Word and this issue in it. [2:04] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Matthew chapter 5.

[2:07] Matthew chapter 5, we’re going to be from verses 13 through verse 16 this morning. [2:12] If you haven’t been with us for the past four weeks, just by kind of a way of introduction, [2:17] I want to tell you that we’re in a series called CORE. [2:20] What that is, is we’re going through what we believe as a church, our core values basically [2:25] of why we do what we do, how what we believe about God, about the Scriptures, shapes what [2:33] we do in the life of the church.

[2:35] We’ve talked about redemption, we’ve talked about mission, we’ve talked about community [2:39] last week, and this week we’re going to deal with the issue of culture. [2:43] This is the issue that I believe for me takes the most discernment and strategy really [2:52] to live out in our lives, as well as it is I think the core value that really leads [3:00] to I think the most discussion or conflict in our lives, as well as with each other, [3:06] that I think it could arise.

[3:08] And I think maybe even today you could have some conflict with some of the things that [3:11] I say, and that’s okay, that doesn’t make me wrong, but it could happen, and I’ll [3:19] talk to you afterwards and show you why I’m right. [3:22] But no, but yeah.

[3:27] But there is a reason that this is the fourth core value and not the first core value, and [3:34] let me unpack that for a moment. [3:36] When we started this series we talked about the reality that redemption according to Scripture [3:41] is the point A of living the Christian life. [3:44] It is where it all begins, because everything begins as well as ends with Jesus. [3:49] He’s our God, He’s our King, He’s our Savior.

[3:52] He’s the one who came to literally save us from our sin by His work and His work alone. [3:59] Lived a perfect life, died a death that was sacrificial on the cross for you as well as [4:06] for me. [4:06] I’m a sinner, He’s righteous on the cross. [4:09] He gives me His righteousness and exchanges it for my rebellion against Him, for my sin [4:15] against Him, and in His grace when I trust in His work on the cross, He’s forgiven me.

[4:21] But He doesn’t stop there. [4:23] He rose from the dead three days later proving that He has both authority as well as power [4:29] over sin and death. [4:31] And in that resurrection through my trust in Him He gives me a new life. [4:36] He doesn’t just give me a second chance. [4:39] Second chances are worthless when you’re a condemned sinner because you’re condemned

[4:43] to repeat what you did the first time. [4:45] But in God’s great grace towards us in faith He gives us a brand new life in which when [4:52] God the Father looks to you and to me what He sees, He sees the righteousness of His [4:56] Son Jesus Christ. [4:58] And through the journey of our lives we struggle with sin but we’re not condemned by it. [5:05] Our struggle is for obedience.

[5:07] Our struggle is not with condemnation. [5:09] Condemnation is completely outdone, completely undone on the cross of Christ and through [5:14] His resurrection. [5:15] And what He does then is He transforms us to live a life of mission. [5:20] And in that mission what we do is we live to take the good news of what Jesus has done [5:26] on the cross and through the resurrection to all people in the world.

[5:29] And so it transforms a mission that was once self-centered, once by default I was the main [5:36] beneficiary of all of the mission that I lived for my life. [5:39] No matter what it was, I was completely selfish. [5:42] I was the God of my life. [5:43] But now He’s transformed me to where I serve the real God, the true God. [5:47] And now I live so that others can come to faith in Him.

[5:51] That’s the mission. [5:52] Jesus said that He came to seek and to save that which was lost. [5:55] And through redemption He gives you and me that mission to live with our lives, taking [6:00] everything captive to live that. [6:02] But what that does when we’re living in the mission is it forms a community. [6:07] By very nature, if we are agents of change in this world, both for us as well as for

[6:13] other people, it’s going to give us a mission that’s going to go and see people redeemed. [6:18] But when we redeem people, we’re told to disciple them. [6:21] We’re told to teach them to obey and observe all that Jesus commanded. [6:26] So what that’s going to form out of the mission is a community of believers. [6:31] And we talked last week, that’s the church of Jesus Christ. [6:34] That we come together for the purpose of teaching each other what it is to follow Jesus, helping

[6:40] one another proclaim His greatness to the entire world, as well as worshiping Him through [6:45] our relationships with one another as we show what reconciliation with God looks like through [6:51] our relationships with one another. [6:53] But here’s the reality of what Christian life can do to some of us. [6:57] For some of us, and maybe you grew up like this, community is kind of a thing that terminates [7:01] on itself.

[7:03] Community is where the Christian life ends. [7:06] Community is where we find everything. [7:07] Community is just the point. [7:09] We come together, we form relationships, and that’s it. [7:14] We’re building a church, we’re just doing our thing, and community is the total end-all-be-all. [7:20] But I don’t believe that’s what we see in Scripture.

[7:22] I believe community forms something that goes outside of itself. [7:28] I believe that when we come together in an Ephesians 3 reality, that we’re living to [7:33] proclaim Jesus to one another, living as the display for all the heavenly beings to see [7:39] the gospel of Jesus Christ take root in this world, that we’re actually building a culture [7:45] within a culture. [7:47] I believe that we’re building a people within a people.

[7:51] And you’re like, what in the world does that mean? [7:54] That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard. [7:55] That sounds completely pointless. [7:58] What we’re talking about today is kind of hopefully going to flesh that out a little [8:02] bit, that we’re both building a community that builds a culture, as well as reaching [8:08] the culture around us.

[8:10] The core value of culture is something that takes a lot of discernment because it’s about [8:14] both being, building, and engaging. [8:19] That we’re going to build a culture here at Village Church that’s going to be completely [8:23] distinct from the culture of this world. [8:26] But we’re also going to engage a culture around us that does not believe the gospel. [8:32] We’re going to engage a culture that does not believe in the God that we believe in

[8:36] and will be completely different from us by nature. [8:40] And I think what we’re going to see today, and what you’re probably going to see in your [8:43] life, is you’re going to struggle on one of two sides of this. [8:47] You’re either going to struggle with the reality that you’re building through the gospel, [8:50] a distinct culture that’s different from the world around you. [8:55] Or you’re going to struggle with engaging the culture around you.

[8:59] And you’re really going to struggle with both, but some of you kind of err on one side or [9:03] the other. [9:04] You’re either afraid of being those really strange Christians that you see all over the [9:09] place. [9:09] All right, you know the ones that still wear jean jumpers? [9:13] You’re really afraid of being like that.

[9:16] Maybe you’ve seen some Quakers or some Amish people somewhere and you’re like, oh, they [9:20] just don’t get it. [9:22] They do not get the gospel. [9:24] Or you kind of lean a little bit over towards there and you’re like, well, jean jumpers [9:28] aren’t half bad. [9:30] All right?

[9:32] And you’re kind of maybe a little more, for lack of better terminology, a little more [9:36] sectarian in the way that you live. [9:38] And you know, you’re like, we don’t engage culture, so we’re going to go and buy a ranch. [9:45] We’re going to build big walls and they’re not going to bother us anymore. [9:49] All right? [9:50] And so really what I’ve experienced throughout the past number of years is most people are

[9:56] somewhere on either side and it’s hard to find what the center of that looks like. [10:01] It’s hard. [10:02] Because you either feel like you’re being disobedient to God or you feel like you’re [10:06] being disobedient to His mission. [10:09] And so what I want to talk about today is the reality of both. [10:12] And I want to start by looking at what Jesus has to say about the issue.

[10:15] Look in Matthew chapter 5. [10:17] Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through 16 read,

[10:22] You are the salt of the earth. [10:25] But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? [10:30] It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s [10:35] feet. [10:37] You are the light of the world. [10:38] A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a

[10:44] basket but on a stand. [10:46] And it gives light to all in the house. [10:49] In the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works [10:54] and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. [10:58] Number one this morning, I want to just get right into it. [11:01] The mission of Jesus forms a community that cultivates a distinct culture.

[11:09] I don’t really want to leave any doubt in your mind about the reality that we are called [11:14] to live differently for the gospel. [11:17] We are. [11:18] And I think the analogy that Jesus gives in Matthew chapter 5 can lead us to no other [11:24] conclusion than that. [11:26] When he uses the analogy of salt and light, he is giving us things that are very distinct

[11:34] in the way that they exist in this world. [11:36] If you have a steak that has not been salted, it has not had any type of flavor put on it [11:44] whatsoever, it is going to taste radically different than if it wasn’t. [11:52] Or if you are in a space that has absolutely no light, it is pitch black, it is going [11:58] to be absolutely distinct from a space that has light in it. [12:03] So Jesus is giving us very distinct realities as to what we are.

[12:10] Where we are at in Matthew chapter 5, if you know anything about the bible, is we are directly [12:15] after the most popular part of the sermon on the mount. [12:20] That Jesus has called and gives his righteousness in exchange for our sin, it changes our lives [12:26] to understand who we are in light of who God is. [12:29] And that is really what the sermon on the mount is all about. [12:32] He gives an absolutely revolutionary different type of life than those in Israel had been

[12:37] living. [12:38] He says blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who suffer. [12:43] And he is saying all these things and the Israelites are like no, no, no, no, we are [12:46] dominating, that is not who we are. [12:50] We are the dominant ones, you are going to lead a military insurrection. [12:53] And Jesus is giving something that is totally revolutionary than what they thought he was

[12:56] going to give. [12:58] And Jesus is actually giving them something that they can’t do. [13:01] Jesus is giving them something that they are going to fail at over and over again. [13:05] But he is giving them this in light of the redemption that he is about to accomplish [13:10] on their behalf. [13:12] He gives them these commands in light of the fact that he knows that they are sinful and

[13:16] that is what he has come to redeem them from. [13:19] And he has also come to revolutionize their lives through that redemption and change them [13:25] forever. [13:26] Verses 13-16 represent what that will be like when we are surrounded by a culture that [13:32] has not experienced that type of gospel change. [13:36] That when we are redeemed by the gospel, when our lives are changed by that truth that others

[13:43] do not have around us, then it is going to change not only who we are internally, but [13:50] it is going to change who we are seen as externally. [13:55] That the gospel changes our lives.

[14:00] Salt and light are extremely distinct things when you have meat that is unsalted and unpreserved [14:05] as well as dark space that has no light hitting it. [14:07] But the reality is that they both transform the spaces that they invade. [14:11] Just as the gospel is good news that invades bad space of the sin in our lives, we must [14:18] view ourselves within the culture as we form the culture with our lives in it. [14:24] Many of us may ask, how in the world can I be different than the culture that is around

[14:28] me and not be seen as a complete weirdo? [14:32] If we are redeemed and changed by God with a new relationship with God, deliver a mission [14:36] for God to take a redemption to the world and form community around the truth of God’s [14:41] work in the gospel, then my question would really go as, then how can you not be different [14:46] than the world around you? [14:49] This is the reality that you have to deal with in your life.

[14:52] If you have a relationship with the God of the universe, your life has been transformed [14:56] by him. [14:58] The question isn’t how can my life be different, the question must be, how can my life not [15:03] be different than those people around me that don’t have that going on in their lives? [15:08] The problem that we don’t deal with is that when our life is not different, then what [15:13] does that say about us?

[15:16] What does that say about our faith when there is no distinction between my values? [15:21] There’s no distinction between my goals. [15:24] There’s no distinction between the things that I dream about, the things that I live [15:28] for, the things that I hope for. [15:30] When there’s no distinction between me and those around me who don’t have the same reality [15:36] in my life, or in their lives, what does that say about us?

[15:43] Well, as agents of redemption in this culture, it is imperative that we understand that [15:49] those changes that God is bringing into our lives are toward his reign in our lives in [15:53] all things. [15:54] I want to talk about some very hard truths today. [15:58] I want to talk about some very tough things because I think that the danger that we have [16:03] as a people, and I know some of you, so I kind of hope to be able to speak into our

[16:08] lives this morning, is that we’re not afraid of living in the culture.

[16:14] We’re dangerously afraid of being different than the culture. [16:18] That’s what really the past four years of pasturing in this church have taught me, is [16:22] that our fear is not of those people who are different than us. [16:26] I think our fear is that we would be different than those people that don’t believe. [16:30] I think it puts our faith to great danger, that we’re more afraid of that than we are [16:36] afraid of God.

[16:37] This is the Lord Jesus saying this that also said in Luke chapter 12, don’t fear him who [16:42] after killing you cannot condemn your soul. [16:44] I’ll tell you who to fear. [16:46] The one who after he kills can condemn you to hell, speaking of God. [16:51] I think we have more fear of man than we do of God. [16:56] If I say hard things to you this morning, please do not take them as offensive for

[17:02] the sake of being offensive. [17:03] I’m not trying not to offend you. [17:07] That doesn’t worry me. [17:08] You probably know that if you’ve been here for any time. [17:11] I’m more afraid of God than I am of you. [17:14] The reality this morning is, I’m not doing it for the sake of the offense.

[17:19] I’m doing it for love. [17:22] I’m doing it because I love you and I’m doing it because I want your faith to be whole. [17:25] I want your faith to be great. [17:27] I want you to grow as a follower of Jesus Christ. [17:31] So when we’re dealing with this, I can really only go to one place in my mind and that is [17:37] the way that Israel was disobedient to God and what he called them to do.

[17:44] Because he called them to be absolutely distinct from the cultures that were surrounding them [17:48] and they failed at every point. [17:50] And that’s really the point of redemption in Jesus is that we have a long history of [17:55] absolute failure. [17:57] And in Jesus, he hopes to rebuild us in faith so that we would not just be a people marked [18:04] by failure but rather that we would be a people marked by faith through the strength of the

[18:09] Holy Spirit that’s in us. [18:11] Because that’s the advantage that we have that Israel did not necessarily have. [18:17] So when we’re dealing with this and God’s reign in our lives, I think Deuteronomy 6 [18:22] is very helpful. [18:23] Moses writes to God’s people right before they’re entering into the promised land and [18:28] that’s what Deuteronomy really is all about.

[18:30] It’s Moses’ address to the nation of Israel before they enter into a land in which they [18:35] are going to be distinct. [18:38] And here’s what he says in Deuteronomy 6 verses 4 through 9 as a way of reminder to them. [18:43] Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one. [18:46] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all [18:50] your might.

[18:51] Okay, pause just for a moment. [18:52] You better stop reading.

[18:56] Where else have you heard such a command? [18:59] From Jesus. [19:00] This is the great command. [19:01] Jesus says this is what the law and the prophets can be summed up as. [19:05] So Moses is giving this to Israel as Jesus will completely tell them again that you need [19:12] to go back here.

[19:14] You need to understand that I’m not here to undo what God’s already been doing. [19:19] I’m coming to restore the calling of God on your lives. [19:23] And the words that come after that I think are very important for us to understand. [19:28] He says in these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [19:33] You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your [19:37] house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.

[19:42] You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets before your [19:47] eyes. [19:47] You shall write them on your doorposts of your house and on your gates.

[19:54] So Moses and really God, Jesus, is giving the nation of Israel this command that your [20:01] life is to be defined by what God has revealed to you about himself. [20:09] Moses is speaking as the prophet of God at this point and he says God has shown you who [20:15] he is the Lord our God is one. [20:18] In other words you have one calling and that calling is to follow him. [20:22] That calling is to obey him.

[20:24] That calling is to fall in line with God’s vision for your life because the alternative [20:29] is that you are following after a different God. [20:33] And he says this God commands your mind. [20:36] He commands your heart. [20:37] He commands your affections and he commands your life. [20:41] So when he says with all of your mind, with all of your strength, with all of your soul,

[20:45] he is talking about the whole person. [20:48] He is saying everything that you do with your life needs to be brought into submission to [20:55] what God wants for your life. [20:57] That’s the first matter. [20:58] That’s the one of primary importance. [21:00] That’s what you are to ask yourself before you do anything and then Moses gets into it

[21:06] and he says here is how you do that.

[21:12] Saturate every corner of your life with him.

[21:20] He has given you his word. [21:23] He has given you his revelation. [21:25] Fast forward to where we are. [21:27] He has given you his son. [21:29] He has redeemed you from your sin. [21:31] He has filled you with the Holy Spirit.

[21:34] Remember we are not in the shadows, we are not in the foreshadows of the cross as Israel [21:39] was. [21:40] We are after the cross. [21:42] So we know where God was taking Israel. [21:45] He was taking it to the utmost of his glory. [21:48] To really the paramount point in all of history.

[21:51] The cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. [21:54] And that is what we live in is the reality that this is the God who is going to give [21:58] us his spirit. [21:59] He is going to live within us. [22:00] He is going to give us the strength, everything we need to fulfill what he is calling us to [22:05] there we have got it.

[22:08] And so Moses goes to Israel and he says you are going to form a different culture than [22:16] the one that you are going into. [22:20] That’s where it leads. [22:23] And he is saying it doesn’t end with you. [22:26] This is a faith of reproduction. [22:29] You take your children and the way that they are going to build a culture on this is when

[22:34] you build their culture on God and his word. [22:39] From the moment that they get up they get the word of God. [22:42] When they are walking by the way they get the word of God. [22:45] When they lie in their beds they get the word of God. [22:47] You put it on your door post, you put it on your walls, you put it on the frontlets of [22:51] your eyes.

[22:52] He is giving some analogies here that are kind of hyperbolic. [22:54] But he is saying this is a matter of extreme importance to where you need to saturate yourself [23:00] with God more than anything else because we are forming something new and we are going [23:05] to engage the world with a culture that they don’t know with something that they are not [23:10] aware of with a God that they do not worship. [23:13] And the only way that is going to happen is if you worship him.

[23:18] You cannot give the world something that they have never seen before without it being true [23:25] of you.

[23:28] You cannot follow God apart from this. [23:31] You cannot hope to reach your neighbors apart from this. [23:35] The gospel is good news that invades dark places. [23:39] And we are to form a culture on the good news to invade those dark places. [23:43] We are called to build a culture on our faith and redemption and mission. [23:49] This is not a cry for social abandonment or sectarian living.

[23:56] But instead an understanding of identity and gospel transformation. [24:02] There are only two things that are radically counter cultural that we are building our [24:08] culture on. [24:09] Two things, I am going to break them down. [24:11] First one is the life you live. [24:14] The second one are the words that you speak.

[24:16] Outside of that you can be completely like the culture.

[24:20] So I am just going to go ahead on those two. [24:22] Anything else up to you. [24:25] So the first one we are called to live lives that are counter cultural. [24:29] Romans 1 says that the world needs redemption because all people in all places and times [24:34] of history have exchanged the glory and worship of God for finding satisfaction and worship [24:39] in the created things of this world.

[24:40] The repentance brought by Jesus’ redemption is that we seek to flee from our idols and [24:47] embrace life lived for God’s glory. [24:51] So it is a radical change. [24:53] You go from someone who is committing idolatry. [24:56] You go from someone that is worshipping creation. [24:58] You go from someone I don’t know what it is in our culture.

[25:01] It’s not bail. [25:02] Maybe you live for money. [25:03] Maybe you live for sex. [25:04] Maybe you live for fame. [25:05] Maybe you live for power. [25:06] Maybe you just live so that your wife will be the utmost of your desires or the husband

[25:10] will be the utmost of your desires or you love your car. [25:13] I don’t know. [25:14] I mean it can be literally in some people. [25:16] I mean just whatever it is that you find your ultimate fulfillment in in this life is a [25:22] terrible idol that needs to be destroyed. [25:25] That’s what the gospel is and Jesus comes in to replace that idol.

[25:30] To redeem us from those idols. [25:31] So in our lives we’re seeking to transfer our affections from those things that have [25:38] our hearts. [25:40] Those things that have our souls. [25:42] Those things that have our minds. [25:43] Those things that have our strengths.

[25:46] Those commands that Jesus gives and that Moses gives. [25:48] We’re seeking to transfer those from those things over to God through the hope that we [25:53] have in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. [25:55] That’s what the gospel is. [25:58] And when we live in a culture that is still engaged in that our lives will be radically [26:07] different.

[26:09] We will be counter cultural because our affections are going to Jesus. [26:14] Their affections are not. [26:16] So we will by nature be different because by nature according to Ephesians 2 we are [26:23] no longer children of wrath. [26:25] We’re children of God. [26:28] So by nature there will be differences.

[26:31] When you’re living to kill your idols you’ll be different than those who love their idols.

[26:40] It’s just different. [26:42] Secondly we’re called to preach a message that is counter cultural. [26:47] Redemption from sin is completely different from a culture that is saturated with self [26:52] moral ambiguity and personal liberties in all things from religion to sexual and gender [26:58] identity. [26:59] The gospel is a message of a God who is authoritative that seeks to redeem us from sin that indwells

[27:05] and defines us to change our lives and gives us a direction to worship something other [27:10] than ourselves.

[27:13] The gospel is offensive.

[27:16] When you preach, teach, live, talk it’s different. [27:22] We don’t tell people you can get better if you just change the way you think about things. [27:27] You’re going to go to hell. [27:29] You need Jesus. [27:30] That’s just different in our culture. [27:33] We do not tell people you’re okay just the way you are.

[27:37] We tell people you’re condemned. [27:39] You need to change. [27:41] You need Jesus to change you. [27:43] That’s offensive. [27:44] That’s counter cultural. [27:47] So the life that we live and the message that we proclaim is counter cultural to this world.

[27:52] So we’re building a culture on things that are diametrically opposed to the direction [27:56] of this world.

[27:59] And here’s the reality of the future is that it’s becoming more counter cultural by the [28:04] day.

[28:06] I can’t paint that as pretty. [28:10] That’s a hard reality of the world that we live in. [28:12] This is not a world in which we are seen as people who just think a little bit differently. [28:18] We are seen as a people who are enemies of the culture that they are building. [28:23] We live in a culture obsessed with death and self authority.

[28:29] We live in a culture that says that babies are inconvenient truths. [28:34] And who has accepted that they are murdering a baby in the womb.

[28:41] And we say no.

[28:45] That’s a life that God has made. [28:47] That got conceived. [28:49] That got knit together in the womb the psalmist says.

[28:53] You’re murdering it.

[28:56] We have an authoritative God. [28:58] They have an authoritative identity in themselves.

[29:04] Point number two this morning. [29:06] Got to keep it out of control.

[29:12] God has called his people to build a culture within a culture. [29:20] And this is where I think it gets real tricky for us. [29:23] This is where it gets a little more strategic for us of understanding how are you a culture [29:29] within a culture. [29:30] I really think that what Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 5 is extremely helpful with [29:35] that especially when he gets to verses 15 and 16.

[29:38] Here’s what he says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 15. [29:42] He says he talks about excuse me I’m going to start in verse 14 rather. [29:45] He says you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. [29:49] Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand and it gives light [29:53] to all in the house. [29:55] In the same way let your light shine before others so that they may serve see your good

[30:00] works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. [30:03] We do not see a command in this that we are to seek sanctuary and we are to seek separation [30:10] from the culture around us. [30:12] It’s actually the opposite and I think this is the part of the text that we kind of shy [30:16] away from because we don’t exactly understand how it works out. [30:19] But what he’s saying is who in the world that wants to see truth would take a light and

[30:25] put a cover over it to make the room dark again. [30:29] Who would do that? [30:30] No one. [30:32] No one. [30:32] There is nothing scarier than walking through a house with no lights. [30:36] Alright you get up in the middle of the night there are burglars behind every couch.

[30:41] Alright so I’m like flicking switches I’m like get all the lights on.

[30:45] Alright. [30:47] And he also makes this great analogy he says a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. [30:54] He’s saying that the point of the change that God is bringing into your life is the point [30:59] of you are to get and infiltrate into the center of culture square and you are to turn [31:05] the lights on in very dark spaces. [31:08] Because that’s what the gospel does.

[31:10] It invades dark spaces so that it can shine on its shine its light. [31:15] A city that is not hidden must be front and center for the whole world to see no matter [31:22] what the cost.

[31:25] That’s the hard part. [31:26] No matter what the cost. [31:27] Throughout history some have responded to these truths by fleeing society to build a [31:31] new society for only Christians. [31:34] While some instances may have merit in history most of it has been based on flawed logic [31:40] and wrong understandings of the bible.

[31:42] That’s why Matthew chapter 5 is so helpful. [31:45] We must understand our lives and our community in light of culture. [31:50] We are to build a distinct community and culture for the gospel to be seen by the [31:56] world but we are to do it within the culture that already exists for the hope of that [32:01] culture. [32:01] For this to happen though we must realize that the good news of Jesus must invade every

[32:05] space in our lives and how we live in this world. [32:10] Here’s what you have to understand. [32:13] For you to invade culture with anything that will help culture you must seek to have the [32:18] gospel on every part of your life. [32:21] You must seek to have the stain of Jesus’ blood everywhere in your life. [32:26] You have to saturate yourself with it.

[32:28] You have to seek to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ or you will get derailed very quickly.

[32:35] When you are building a different culture with your life the old culture will respond [32:40] with venom, disdain and mockery.

[32:44] If your life does not come into conflict with a godless culture it is hard to say that [32:51] you are following Jesus. [32:54] It’s hard. [32:56] Jesus is irrelevant to a culture that is not following him. [33:03] We must not fear living differently but must embrace it as our gospel call.

[33:11] This is going to be a little different than I think what some and even our movement of [33:17] church planting and gospel centered, gospel centrality in churches may lead us but we [33:23] must understand that our mission is not relevant.

[33:27] It’s not. [33:29] We are by nature, by the transformation of the gospel in our lives, we are irrelevant [33:40] people. [33:42] We are. [33:43] And we will increasingly be irrelevant in this world as we go deeper into the truth [33:51] of the gospel in our lives.

[33:54] Because our mission is Jesus.

[33:59] That’s the key difference. [34:01] Our mission is our great God and King Jesus Christ and everything else must fall and be [34:08] sacrificed to that mission. [34:11] So others will have a different mission and you cannot assume that you are relevant to [34:17] them.

[34:19] But that’s the point. [34:21] That’s the point of the hope that’s in you. [34:25] When Peter writes, in season out of season, Paul wrote that. [34:29] But Peter wrote, always be ready to give a defense of the faith that is within you when [34:34] people ask of the hope that is in you. [34:37] It’s because that we are different that they ask.

[34:42] It’s because we have different hopes, we have different values, we have different dreams, [34:46] we have different actions, we have different lifestyles and they ask. [34:50] I said, what? [34:51] That’s it. [34:52] Alright. [34:53] Now, we have to understand why.

[34:56] If you were here last week, we talked about the economy of God in his community. [35:00] And what I want to talk about just for two minutes or longer is how that economy affects [35:08] us in culture. [35:10] Our economy must be different because it is based on God’s economy. [35:14] We talked about the oikos of God last week. [35:17] The family of God, the stewardship that God has for us with his mysteries.

[35:21] God pours his value into building his people, the church of Jesus, and then he says, join [35:28] me in that. [35:29] You build the church so he places his values and transforms our values so that we pour [35:35] our values into building his people, the church, into getting his mission to all parts of the [35:40] world for all time. [35:42] We have to understand that this is going to impact us in great ways.

[35:48] Missionary and culture writer Leslie Newbigin writes that in both India and Africa, it has [35:53] been noted that when the individual accepts the gospel as truth but does not view, but [35:59] does not change their view of how they live in culture, then you have a fragmented faith [36:07] in which discipleship is handicapped. [36:09] When a converted African would make life decisions, the African would make it based on culture [36:15] in Africa rather than the Bible.

[36:17] This has never led to a devoted follower of Jesus seeing faith reproduced because it was [36:22] a split personality that did not show real change.

[36:29] How does that impact us in 2013 America? [36:35] What it does is it shows us that we cannot any longer live as people with decision making [36:43] and lifestyle choices that are based on the same things as the culture at large. [36:52] It must be different if it is to be for the gospel and for the good of our discipleship. [36:57] It is often the untouched area of discipleship is our decision making and lifestyles and [37:02] what emerges is a life in which we both attempt to follow Jesus as well as have our lives

[37:08] within culture unchanged. [37:11] The culture around us will impact how we live out and understand our faith, but the basis [37:17] for the life of redemption must be the life, work and mission of Jesus to build his church. [37:22] Therefore the lives that we live within culture must be based on Jesus or there is no redemption [37:27] to point others to. [37:29] A city that is distinct will be based on God’s economy.

[37:35] So then are we to pour our value into a distinct and redemptive culture of following Jesus [37:41] in obedience to a lifestyle for his gospel to form lives around repentance or are we [37:47] to form our identity on what everyone else in society forms their identity on? [37:52] That’s the key difference between following Jesus and not following Jesus. [37:57] That’s what it looks like to form a culture within a culture. [38:00] That we are missionaries in a culture that does not know Jesus, but we form our lives

[38:05] around all that Jesus has called us to and we make very hard choices, very hard changes [38:09] in that through the power of the spirit because of faith in Jesus, not because of a religious [38:15] duty, not because of gaining any more credibility with God or people in the church, but because [38:20] that’s what faith looks like. [38:22] Faith changes your life. [38:24] Faith changes your hope.

[38:26] Faith changes who you are in a culture that does not have faith.

[38:31] So finally this morning a faithful biblical culture built on the gospel will engage the [38:39] culture around it. [38:41] By very nature that is what it’s going to do. [38:44] We live differently for the hope and benefit of others. [38:49] Now with that in mind we must see how this affects us. [38:52] For too long we’ve gone through life with a dichotomy between our faith and life of

[38:58] following Jesus and the things that we are socially preconditioned to base our lives [39:03] on in this world. [39:05] Everything is spiritual and that divide must come down in how we view all things. [39:10] Our identity is in the gospel and therefore how we exercise our identity and the choices [39:15] that we make in discipleship and the things that affect us like marriage, child rearing, [39:22] money, career, education, entertainment, politics, and all things lifestyle related must be directed

[39:30] towards being and making disciples of Jesus. [39:34] And you say that sounds like a lot of things. [39:37] Right it sounds like all the things in life.

[39:42] Because what we do often times is we have the Jesus section and then we have the everything [39:49] else section.

[39:51] And so we maybe get our Jesus on in the weekends, we get our church on, we get our encouragement, [39:57] we get filled up and then we go out and then we just do whatever we want to and hope that [40:01] Jesus somehow changes something without any intentionality in us whatsoever. [40:05] Without any gospel engagement from our minds and our volitional abilities whatsoever. [40:10] Without us seeking to make different changes, build different environments, live a different [40:14] life, engage with a different hope, without any of that and what the gospel of Jesus

[40:20] is saying to us, you are covering your light. [40:25] You are throwing the salt that is preserving this world away. [40:29] You are tearing down the city that is on a hill and you are just building a city below [40:33] sea level.

[40:36] What happens to cities below sea levels when the storms come?

[40:41] They get inundated and they get destroyed because they do not have the hope that is [40:47] needed by building it on a hill.

[40:50] The reality this morning is that many of our faith, many of us who have faith, it is being [40:57] not because our faith is deficient but because our faith is not built up.

[41:04] Because we are not seeking to engage faith in anything but just a few areas that are [41:10] made acceptable by the church community. [41:14] What the gospel is saying is that faith needs to invade all the spaces of life as well as [41:21] this world. [41:22] Now, how do we do this? [41:25] How do we do this?

[41:27] How do we not be the extremes, right? [41:30] Jeremiah chapter 29, God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the nation of Israel [41:36] who is actually not even in Jerusalem, they are living in Babylon at this point because [41:40] they have been taken captive. [41:42] This is what he says, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel to all the exiles [41:46] whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

[41:50] Did you catch that? [41:51] Whom I have sent. [41:52] Okay, so he is saying, I put you there.

[41:57] I didn’t keep you away. [41:58] I put you in the middle of that culture, a godless culture, a godless society. [42:03] I have put you there. [42:05] Build houses and live in them. [42:07] Plant gardens and eat their produce. [42:10] Take wives and have sons and daughters.

[42:13] Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage. [42:16] That they may bear sons and daughters. [42:18] Multiply there and do not decrease but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent [42:28] you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your [42:34] welfare.

[42:38] That is the call of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[42:44] He is looking at Israel saying, you will be distinct, you will be different. [42:50] Everything that I said still applies. [42:53] You don’t follow after their gods. [42:55] You don’t worship their kings. [42:57] You don’t do as they do. [42:59] You continue in faith in me but you live and you cultivate that faith and you live your

[43:05] life and you do those things for their sakes. [43:09] That they will know me. [43:12] Often times what we see in Jeremiah 29 shows a life in which we do ordinary things for [43:20] very unordinary reasons.

[43:25] As we build we stick out as distinct but as we build we will come into engagement with [43:32] the culture around us because we are distinctive yet we may look exactly like them. [43:39] That is the call of the gospel.

[43:42] I want to give the warning of God though when we do not engage this reality in our lives. [43:47] Back in Deuteronomy chapter 6 after verse 9 verses 10 through 15 this is what Moses [43:55] says to the nation of Israel. [43:57] When the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers to Abraham [44:01] to Isaac and to Jacob to give you with great and good cities that you did not build and [44:07] houses full of good things that you did not fill and cisterns that you did not dig and

[44:12] vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant and when you eat and are full then take [44:17] care lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house [44:23] of slavery. [44:24] It is the Lord your God you shall fear him you shall serve and by his name you shall [44:28] swear you shall not go after other gods. [44:34] The gods of who?

[44:35] The gods of the peoples who are around you. [44:40] For the Lord your God is in your midst is a jealous God. [44:44] Lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you and he destroy you from off the [44:49] face of the earth. [44:51] Some hard words but here is the point. [44:55] You are going to come into conflict with your faith and what the world looks like around

[44:59] you because you have been building a life maybe if you are anything like me and you [45:04] are a sinner which you are you have been building a life that you think is your own [45:10] and you are going to lay claim to some of it and you are going to say but God that [45:15] is mine that is for me that is the culture I am building and God is going to say no [45:23] I did that you did the work but I brought the produce.

[45:29] You planted the seed but I grew the tomatoes.

[45:33] You fed the cows but I created them. [45:37] You drove the car but that is my car.

[45:42] You went to the interview and got the job but who do you think made the guy hire you.

[45:48] There is no space in the world that God does not look at and say mine.

[45:54] There is just silly sinners who say it belongs to us. [45:59] The reality is that God wants to redeem every point of your life and call it his because [46:06] it is. [46:08] It is a reality that we just need to understand. [46:13] It is not something new it is something that has always been. [46:17] The fact is that we are in a culture that does not know God but in Acts 1.8 God says

[46:23] that we are to be his witnesses to all cultures at all times.

[46:30] The issue here is that we have good news that the world needs and we are to build our culture [46:37] on that good news. [46:39] It is not simply a word spoken that creates a future hope with no implications in today. [46:43] Instead it is a news of a future hope and a new life in which we follow Jesus and build [46:50] life on it. [46:51] We are a people with a new lifestyle of reconciled community with God in this world.

[46:57] Christianity as we have seen is about the economy and values of life that we are building [47:03] and ours will be different than the society that we are building. [47:07] The power of faith and being distinct is for the mission of Jesus to engage the world [47:14] around us. [47:14] Will that be difficult? [47:16] Yes.

[47:18] Will that call me to sacrifice things in my life? [47:20] Yes. [47:22] Will that call me to live differently than I am living today? [47:25] Yes. [47:27] All of us.

[47:29] Will it give us hope in God every time?

[47:37] Will it give us his joy? [47:38] Yes. [47:40] Will it build disciples? [47:42] Yes. [47:43] Will it redeem our neighbors? [47:45] Yes.

[47:48] But we must live it. [47:51] Why? [47:53] For the same reason I said that I go into community last week. [47:57] Because I believe God more than I believe myself.

[48:02] Because I trust him more than I trust me. [48:06] Because he has called me to be a city within a city for the hope of the city around me. [48:16] Friends we have a great God and a great King and we have not even begun to scratch the [48:24] surface of the culture that God wants us to build.

[48:29] But I want to start building it. [48:32] And we can do it together. [48:34] Not because there is anything special about us, because there is not. [48:38] But because we have the God who created the entire universe who has redeemed us and called [48:42] us his people.

[48:44] So let’s build a culture on the gospel of Jesus Christ. [48:49] As the band comes up the reality of biblical community is that by very nature it will build [48:57] a culture that emerges from the gospel and gives hope to the world around it. [49:05] And what we see in the Lord’s Supper is God’s call to the biblical community to come together [49:11] and build on the very basis of what the gospel has done in our lives.

[49:20] The Lord’s Supper is something that we do every single week. [49:23] It represents the body and blood of Jesus that was broken and shed for you and for me. [49:31] He gave his life, it left his body. [49:33] And when we take the cup and when we take the bread and we drink and when we eat what [49:38] it represents is a metaphor for the life of Jesus entering into your life. [49:44] What it represents is you proclaiming your belief and your trust in the gospel of Jesus

[49:50] to everyone in this room. [49:53] And it represents you saying by faith I will go and live life. [50:01] Not by me but by faith. [50:05] If you are not a follower of Jesus then frankly much of what I have said today may have seemed [50:10] very odd to you. [50:12] Because we are talking about different cultures, we are talking about building different lives,

[50:17] talking about God saturating every corner.

[50:22] I just want to ask you today and I want to tell you that God has given Jesus so that [50:28] you could know what his world is all about.

[50:32] Do you know that God? [50:34] If you do not, I am going to ask that you refrain from taking communion. [50:40] Not because I am better than you or anyone else is but because you don’t believe in the [50:43] God that built this table.

[50:47] But here is what I want to tell you and this is the good news of Jesus. [50:50] You can know him right now.

[50:53] You can enter into a relationship that will last for eternity with the God who spoke this [50:58] world into existence and who sent his son to redeem rebels like you and me who are dead [51:03] in our sin. [51:05] He wants to give you life today if you will trust him. [51:10] I will be right over here. [51:11] There will be some in the foyer.

[51:12] I would love to talk to you about that God.

[51:16] If you are a follower of Jesus, these tables, all six of them around the room are open [51:21] for you. [51:23] Regardless, when you are ready, come.