WEBVTT

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 So again, let me say good morning to you all. Delighted to be back. Our family has been gone for the past couple of weeks. We took a trip to Greece. It was my first time there. It was fantastic. We had an amazing time. Highly recommend. I came back inspired. So we're taking a break from the lectionary for the next few weeks. Just going to own that up front.

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 But it was my first time, among other things, it was my first time going to Athens. And Athens is a wonderful city. And it's this beautiful blend of the old and the new. And everything in between.

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 But it was my first time getting to actually visit and stand on Mars Hill, on the Areopagus, which for me was deeply meaningful. To see the view of the Acropolis, to actually go up and see the Acropolis, to walk through the Agora, to see all of these ancient sites that I have so long read about and studied, to actually be there was a phenomenal experience.

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 experience. And, you know, this is the place where the Apostle Paul, in Acts chapter 17, debates with the Athenian intellectuals 2,000 years ago, the Areopagus.

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 And as I stood there, I thought a lot about our church. And I prayed for our church. And as I was doing that, I was thinking and dreaming about this next season of life that we're entering into together at Church of the Advent.

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 We're turning some major corners in the coming year, not the least of which is this move that we're anticipating into a permanent home in the Shaw neighborhood.

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 So I was thinking about all of that and praying. And one of my strongest desires for our church, as I think about that future, is that we would see more conversions.

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 One of my strongest desires for our church, for our community, what I hope is something that marks our next season of life together,

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 is that we see more people coming to faith in Jesus, and that we see more people coming back to faith if they have left or given up on the church,

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 that we have, that maybe our biggest logistical problem is figuring out how and where and when to do all the baptisms that we need to do.

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 And that just kind of rose up in me. And I was thinking a lot about the fact that Washington, D.C. is a lot like ancient Athens.

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 I mean, it's a place that was filled with highly intellectual people. It was very religiously, spiritually pluralistic.

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 It was a center of cultural and political influence during its heyday.

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 And just like Athens, D.C. is a city that is full of people who need Jesus.

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 The question is, how do we effectively introduce people to Jesus and the good news of the gospel in the culture that we live in today?

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 Because evangelism in 2025, in a major metro area, is not like it was 80, 100 years ago, right?

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 We're in a very different culture.

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 How do you deal with not only skepticism, but mockery and disdain?

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 How do you deal with people who believe that because they are so highly educated or successful or influential,

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 that they don't need God, or that we as a society have outgrown the concept of God?

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 You know, in some ways, the Apostle Paul faced all of these same challenges, or challenges that were very similar.

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 And so, here's the inspiration part.

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 For the next four weeks, we're going to look together at Acts chapter 17.

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 And we're going to learn everything we can about Paul's ministry in Athens,

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 which in many ways, I think, has more in common with where we are today than it would have had with things 100 years ago.

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 I think we have way more in common today with the kinds of challenges that Paul faced.

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 So, I think this is the best example we have in the Bible for how to effectively introduce people

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 in a place like D.C. in 2025 to the gospel and to Jesus.

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 And the first thing that we're going to see this morning is this,

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 is that in order to engage the culture with the gospel,

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 we have to first learn how to think theologically about the culture.

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 We have to learn how to think theologically about the culture.

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 And that means doing three things.

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 It means, first, we have to understand how culture works.

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 Then we have to go where culture is created.

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 And then finally, we have to remember who culture is for.

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 Let's pray.

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 Our Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you that you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow,

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 that you are the same God who was with Paul 2,000 years ago.

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 Nothing about you has changed.

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 You love your people.

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 You lead your church.

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 You empower us to bring your message and your ministry into the world, Lord.

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 And we know that we are a mixed group this morning.

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 Some of us are fully alive in our faith.

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 Some of us may feel stagnant or full of questions.

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 Some of us may be full of skepticism,

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 or maybe we have never even considered that any of this could be true.

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 Wherever we are this morning, Lord, I pray that you would use your word to do your work in us.

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 And we pray this, that you would be glorified.

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 In Jesus' name, amen.

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 So first of all, we need to be able to understand how culture works.

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 We see in verse 16, it says,

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 While Paul was waiting for his friends in Athens,

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 his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

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 As Paul walked the streets, everywhere he looked,

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 he would see statues and temples devoted to or representing various gods and goddesses

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 that were worshiped by the Athenians.

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 And of course, no matter where you are in the city,

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 one of the things that struck me is that almost anywhere in the city you are,

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 you can look up and see the Acropolis.

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 It's on this mountain that overlooks the city,

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 and they actually purposely don't build buildings very high

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 so that everyone everywhere can always see the Acropolis.

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 And of course, in the ancient world,

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 this was a sacred site where sacred rituals were performed.

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 So everywhere you were, you would see that,

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 and it was dominated by the Parthenon,

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 which is this grand temple devoted to the patron deity of the city, Athena.

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 In fact, you know, the Greek name of the city isn't Athens,

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 and it annoys some Athenians that we call it Athens.

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 The name of the city is actually Athena.

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 So it's named after the goddess.

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 And, you know, for tourists like us being there,

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 these are cool and fun and interesting and beautiful places,

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 and we take pictures in front of them,

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 and we came back with tons of selfies in front of temples and statues.

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 But here's the thing.

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 Paul had a very different reaction when he saw these things.

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 It says his spirit was provoked within him.

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 It's a very strong word.

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 He was deeply disturbed might be a way to understand that.

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 So why did he react so differently?

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 Well, Paul knows that these are more than mere statues.

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 This is more than just marble or something to take pictures of.

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 These things represent ideals and values that were worshipped and revered as gods by the Athenians.

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 These were the ultimate things in the Athenian culture.

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 So when you see a statue of Athena, what you're really seeing is a culture that worships human reason and nationalistic pride.

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 When you see a statue of Zeus, you are seeing a culture that worships power and dominance and control.

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 When you see a statue of Aphrodite, you see a culture that worships beauty and sex.

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 When you see a statue of Demeter, you see a culture that worships individualism and autonomy.

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 When you see a statue of Hephaestus, you see a culture that worships technology and workaholism, right?

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 So we don't have marble statues and temples quite the way you would find in a place like ancient Athens.

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 But the point we need to understand is those same idols are alive and well in a place like Washington, D.C.

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 And they hold every bit as much spiritual power over people here as they did there 2,000 years ago.

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 They're harder to spot.

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 But they're alive and well.

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 And they have just as much power.

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 And here's the thing.

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 If you listen to some of the things we talked about, you know, beauty, sex, you know, power, creativity, technology, work,

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 these are all more or less good things.

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 These are things that God created.

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 These are things that belong in our lives and in the world.

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 The problem, though, is that people tend to take things like that and turn them into ultimate things.

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 Take something that's good and make it so good, so important, so central to everything that you can't imagine life without it,

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 that you would do anything to have it.

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 And any time we do that, any time we take something and elevate it to that status where it's more important than anything,

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 including God, we're making that thing into an idol.

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 And we can do that in our personal lives with the way we live our lives and what we prioritize.

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 Different families have different idols that sometimes sit at the core of the family.

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 You can have local and regional expressions of this.

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 But what we need to understand in the focus this morning is some idols take on so much power.

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 They capture so many hearts and imaginations that they actually sit at the very center of culture itself.

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 They become cultural idols.

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 And this gives us a crucial insight into how culture works.

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 You know, the word culture comes from a couple of words.

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 Cultus, which implies religious worship.

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 And koler, which means to plow or to till, you know, what we make out of the world.

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 So you kind of hold those things together and you start to get an idea of how it works.

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 You have certain things, values or ideals, that sit at the very center that people love and they worship.

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 And then the culture is everything that grows up around whatever it is that sits at the center.

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 It's all the things that we make that reflect the things at the center.

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 So our values, our beliefs, our behaviors, our artistic expressions, our politics, our entire way of imagining the world, our way of life.

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 It all grows up around whatever's at the center.

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 So in the words of Henry Van Til, culture is religion externalized.

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 Culture is religion externalized.

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 So, you know, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that culture is spiritually neutral and religion is one compartment within culture.

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 Right?

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 You have the kind of religious people or the religious aspects of culture.

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 Other people think, well, you know, certain cultures are more religious, more prone to religion.

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 Other cultures are not.

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 Other cultures are secular.

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 Right?

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 What we see here is that both of those are actually distortions.

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 If we want to think theologically about culture, we need to recognize that culture itself is the externalization of religious devotion.

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 It reflects whatever sits at the center of people's hearts, minds, desires, and imaginations.

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 What that means is that all cultures, even ones that externally, that outwardly look secular, all cultures are, in fact, spiritual.

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 They have a spiritual core.

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 And that's composed of the values and ideals that are most revered by the people in that society.

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 So these days, we don't have the statues and temples like Athens did, but we have just as many idols.

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 And the question we need to then ask is, how do we identify them?

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 And in order to do that, we have to go to the second piece of what we're looking at today.

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 The second point, which is this.

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 We not only have to understand how culture works, but we have to go where culture is created.

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 Verse 17, so he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

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 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.

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 That's what eventually leads to the invitation for Paul to go to Mars Hill.

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 Two things I want you to see here about Paul's approach.

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 Number one, look where Paul goes.

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 First, he goes to the religious centers, the synagogues.

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 This is something he did in every city he visited.

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 And this is how we might have gone about evangelism in the 1950s.

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 You can safely assume that most people you're talking to in our society know about the Bible, care to some extent about the Bible.

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 People, to some extent, feel burdened about their sin, or at least think they should feel burdened about their sin.

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 And they generally think it's good to have a relationship with God.

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 So Paul would go into places like this, and he would use Scripture and the Old Testament.

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 He would try to show them how Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies,

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 and how Jesus made reconciliation with God possible, and how he had accomplished salvation.

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 So he's arguing from the Scriptures.

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 But Paul also goes to the marketplace.

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 He goes to the Agora.

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 And we have a very different scene in the Agora.

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 Very different.

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 You know, on our trip again, we got to walk through the ruins of the Agora.

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 We got to see all of the different buildings, the kind of ruins of the buildings.

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 And you start to learn about how these spaces functioned and how they were used.

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 And it's very clear that in ancient Athens, the Agora was the center of cultural activity for the city.

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 It was the center of cultural activity.

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 It was the center for the arts, for philosophy, for all different kinds of media.

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 Imagine today, imagine all of the peer-reviewed journals, all of the TED Talkers, all of the social media influencers,

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 all of the op-ed columnists, all of the artists, all of the retailers, all of the architects.

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 Imagine all of the social and community leaders, all of the politically influential people.

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 Imagine all of those people concentrated together in one place.

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 That's the Agora.

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 Here's the point.

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 In order to reach a culture, in order to be able to understand and identify the core idols of that culture,

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 you have to be willing to go where culture is created.

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 Not just the religious centers, but also all of the secular institutions that have a formative impact on life

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 and the way people imagine things ought to be.

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 I spoke briefly with a Greek woman in a shop.

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 It came up that I was a priest, and she made an interesting comment about the church.

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 She said, you know, in Greece, everywhere you look, you see little Greek Orthodox churches.

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 They build them everywhere.

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 And one of my favorite things about being there is just all of the beautiful churches.

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 You know, you're on a boat in the middle of the ocean, and you see a rock jutting up out of the water,

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 and on top of it will be a little church.

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 They're everywhere.

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 And she said, you know, their churches are everywhere, but her perception of the church

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 is that despite the fact that they're everywhere, she perceived the church as being almost entirely disconnected

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 and disengaged from her everyday life.

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 She said, you know, from her perspective, it seemed completely irrelevant, even though they are culturally religious.

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 And, you know, it got me thinking about the church in our culture.

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 You know, historically, some churches and denominations have had that kind of relationship with culture.

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 Their posture toward culture has been to sort of stand against culture, to build a separate Christian subculture.

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 Other churches have obviously, and denominations have gone in the other direction.

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 They have, instead of standing against culture, they have pretty much become like culture.

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 They've taken on the values and ideals of the surrounding culture, trying to blend in, trying to stay relevant.

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 So they've become indistinguishable, you know.

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 And what we see consistently throughout Scripture is God calling His people to the hardest way of all,

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 which is not to stand against culture, not to blend in and become like culture,

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 but to be in and for the culture.

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 To be in and for the culture.

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 And that means Christians are called to go into the agora.

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 We're called not just to hang out in the religious centers.

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 We're called to go and to be present and to live life and to build relationships in the agora,

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 which means we need Christians in every sector of society, everywhere that culture is created.

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 And that's why when people ask about our mission and our ministries and various things,

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 even though I'm super excited to be able to start something like Alpha and do programmatic evangelism and all of that,

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 even though I'm super excited about our mercy ministry and the community partnerships

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 that we're going to be able to form to advance the social vision of the church on the ground in meaningful ways,

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 I'm super excited about all of that.

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 But forever and always, the front line of mission for our church will be you in the places that you live and work.

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 It will be you in the agora, because this is where most all of you hang out and spend almost all of your time.

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 So you will always be the front lines, the cutting edge of the ministry of the church.

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 So this is where Paul goes.

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 This is where we're called to go.

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 Number two, look at Paul's approach that he takes.

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 Like I said, the agora is not like the religious centers.

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 It's a place where no one cares what the Bible, if you pull out the Old Testament and start to show,

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 they're like, what are you even talking about?

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 We see from their response that they don't even, they misunderstand the concepts that Paul is using.

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 When he's preaching Jesus in the resurrection, commentators say they actually misunderstand him,

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 and they think that he's talking about two gods.

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 There's some God named Jesus, and there's some God named resurrection.

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 So they completely, they don't even have the scaffolding to make sense of what he's saying, right?

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 So you don't just whip out the scripture and say, see, it says it right here, therefore.

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 Very different approach required, right?

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 No one cares about sin.

00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:57.059
 Everybody believes something different.

00:18:57.160 --> 00:18:57.980
 So where do you start?

00:18:58.100 --> 00:18:59.860
 Well, Paul takes a different approach.

00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:03.460
 We're going to look much more in depth next week at that, so please come back.

00:19:03.460 --> 00:19:09.559
 But for now, I want to point something out, a shorter point, and that's simply this.

00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:13.600
 Notice that Paul is not simply belting out the gospel from a street corner.

00:19:14.420 --> 00:19:17.660
 He doesn't just go and set up on a corner in the aggro.

00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:22.100
 Now, I have known people who came to faith from street corner preachers, so I'm not denigrating that.

00:19:22.620 --> 00:19:24.220
 But what we need to understand is this.

00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:29.860
 Paul is engaging in a back-and-forth discourse with people.

00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:33.439
 It says he's reasoning and conversing.

00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:37.279
 Those words actually convey a back-and-forth discourse.

00:19:37.459 --> 00:19:41.419
 The word translated reason is actually the word from which we get the word dialogue.

00:19:42.059 --> 00:19:43.579
 He is dialoguing with people.

00:19:44.959 --> 00:19:49.479
 In order to do that, he has to be willing to deal with some mockery.

00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:54.179
 He has to be willing to make himself vulnerable to being critiqued and accused.

00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:57.440
 Some people just, they call him a babbler.

00:19:57.620 --> 00:19:58.500
 They write him off immediately.

00:19:59.220 --> 00:19:59.920
 He's a babbler.

00:20:01.060 --> 00:20:09.600
 The point, though, is this, that before Paul can share the gospel with these people in a way that's actually going to be meaningful and relevant for them,

00:20:10.140 --> 00:20:18.460
 he has to understand how they think, what they feel, what is their worldview, what are their assumptions about life.

00:20:18.460 --> 00:20:22.819
 And the only way to do that is to be willing to listen.

00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:24.640
 Right?

00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:33.360
 So the point is that we need to be willing to learn how to listen, to learn how to understand the view of people who disagree with us.

00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:41.680
 And that is arguably far more important than anything that we have to say that we have read in a book or memorized.

00:20:42.980 --> 00:20:45.420
 Learning how to listen is vitally important.

00:20:45.420 --> 00:20:51.560
 There's a vast difference between true communication and simply hurling words at one another.

00:20:52.460 --> 00:20:55.720
 Between talking with someone and talking at someone.

00:20:57.220 --> 00:21:04.200
 Regrettably, I think that many of us think that we're doing the former and we actually sometimes are doing the latter.

00:21:04.980 --> 00:21:05.220
 Right?

00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:08.440
 This isn't just true in debates about religion and the gospel.

00:21:08.519 --> 00:21:10.160
 By the way, it's true in friendships.

00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:11.740
 It's true when you're dating people.

00:21:11.840 --> 00:21:12.880
 It's true in marriage.

00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:21.960
 We tend to focus, I do the same thing, on what we are planning to say next as soon as the other person is done talking.

00:21:23.620 --> 00:21:24.000
 Right?

00:21:24.080 --> 00:21:25.340
 They're like, meh, meh, meh, meh, meh.

00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:26.440
 And I'm formulating.

00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:30.400
 And that's human nature.

00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:32.800
 Because we think that that's the thing that matters most.

00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.539
 We tend to focus on that.

00:21:35.619 --> 00:21:39.539
 And what that means is that we don't actually listen to what the other person is saying.

00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.779
 And we assume we think we know what they're saying.

00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:44.740
 But in fact, we may be way off base.

00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:51.559
 When we talk about things like Jesus or the resurrection or grace or justice,

00:21:51.559 --> 00:22:00.179
 how can we be sure that we are all on the same page and that we are using these words in the same way?

00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:04.099
 Because those are all words that have lots of different definitions in our culture.

00:22:04.179 --> 00:22:05.659
 How do we know that we're all on the same page?

00:22:05.779 --> 00:22:07.240
 The only way is through discourse.

00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:08.419
 I hear you saying this.

00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:09.839
 By that, do you mean this?

00:22:09.899 --> 00:22:10.859
 Is this what you're saying?

00:22:11.019 --> 00:22:12.419
 I want to be clear on what you're saying.

00:22:12.500 --> 00:22:13.879
 No, in fact, that's not what I'm saying.

00:22:14.059 --> 00:22:14.799
 Let me say it again.

00:22:14.899 --> 00:22:16.019
 Oh, now I understand.

00:22:16.259 --> 00:22:16.960
 That's discourse.

00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.299
 It's hard, but it's necessary.

00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:28.720
 A great deal of unnecessary, exhausting conflict results from people talking past one another

00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:31.920
 without really understanding one another.

00:22:32.440 --> 00:22:38.220
 A great deal of unnecessary conflict, exhausting conflict, irreconcilable conflict

00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:41.480
 comes because people were never willing to have the conversation.

00:22:41.860 --> 00:22:44.000
 They simply assume they know what the other person thinks.

00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.599
 Right?

00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:47.359
 Now, let me be clear.

00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:51.000
 I'm not saying that discourse and dialogue should replace proclamation.

00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:58.160
 There is a time and a place where Christians must be willing to declare what God has revealed.

00:22:59.140 --> 00:23:05.839
 However, we are much more effective in our proclamation when we're able to understand and articulate

00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.000
 the views of people who disagree with us.

00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:14.200
 These days, honestly, most of what I read is stuff that I disagree with.

00:23:15.500 --> 00:23:16.519
 But it's for this reason.

00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:23.140
 I'm trying to understand the perspective of the other side, so to speak, on whatever the given issue might be.

00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:29.140
 So, in order to think theologically about culture, number one, we need to understand how culture works.

00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:32.119
 Number two, we need to go where culture is created.

00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:35.599
 The good news is you're already there, most of you.

00:23:35.659 --> 00:23:36.719
 You're already doing it.

00:23:36.779 --> 00:23:38.539
 You're already present in those places.

00:23:38.719 --> 00:23:44.619
 Now, as we are present in those places, as we are having these conversations, the third thing that we need to bear in mind is this.

00:23:44.719 --> 00:23:49.239
 It's crucial that we always remember who culture is ultimately for.

00:23:50.819 --> 00:23:53.239
 Luke summarizes Paul's message in verse 18.

00:23:53.439 --> 00:23:55.779
 Quote, he was preaching Jesus in the resurrection.

00:23:56.919 --> 00:23:59.079
 Now, I said some of the people misunderstood the meaning of that.

00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:00.679
 Let's talk about what it truly means.

00:24:01.899 --> 00:24:10.519
 Scripture says that everything in creation, everything, was made by and for Jesus Christ.

00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:13.159
 Colossians 1.16,

00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:21.879
 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:28.620
 All things were created through him and for him.

00:24:30.040 --> 00:24:35.000
 Culture is meant to be centered around and bring glory to Jesus Christ.

00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:38.020
 That is the entire point of culture.

00:24:38.760 --> 00:24:44.480
 Our original God-given purpose, in fact, was to create culture that glorifies him.

00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:52.039
 Everything that we make out of the world that God has made is meant to reflect and glorify him.

00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:57.500
 Long ago, human beings rejected that purpose.

00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:03.019
 We rejected that kind of relationship with God.

00:25:03.019 --> 00:25:08.519
 We chose to worship ourselves and other things in place of God.

00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:15.859
 And because that is true of human beings, it started to become true about the culture that we create.

00:25:17.619 --> 00:25:20.740
 So every culture is now a mixed bag.

00:25:21.299 --> 00:25:27.019
 There are some things in that culture that reflect still the goodness and the truth and the beauty of God.

00:25:27.019 --> 00:25:35.359
 And then there are other things in that culture that reflect the idols that have captured the hearts and imaginations of that society.

00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:37.839
 And so every culture is mixed.

00:25:38.579 --> 00:25:40.079
 It's all blended together.

00:25:41.220 --> 00:25:52.139
 And this is why Paul gets so disturbed when he sees the idols that have taken hold of the Athenian hearts, minds, and imaginations.

00:25:52.140 --> 00:25:57.300
 Imagine rounding a corner and seeing your toddler playing with a rattlesnake.

00:25:59.460 --> 00:26:01.640
 You know, we have a cabin in West Virginia.

00:26:01.900 --> 00:26:09.420
 And reportedly, the world's largest timber rattler nest is about a quarter mile from our cabin.

00:26:11.020 --> 00:26:16.460
 Never confirmed it, but apparently the croc hunter went there before he met his end.

00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:16.960
 Anyway.

00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:20.819
 So this is a scenario that I have sometimes thought about.

00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:23.299
 What would happen if I came outside and there was a rattlesnake, right?

00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:25.200
 Imagine your toddler playing with a rattlesnake.

00:26:26.200 --> 00:26:28.360
 They don't know the danger because, hey, it has a rattle.

00:26:28.440 --> 00:26:29.539
 And I have a rattle inside.

00:26:29.620 --> 00:26:30.640
 And it's just like my toy.

00:26:30.700 --> 00:26:31.600
 And this is so fun.

00:26:32.860 --> 00:26:33.680
 But you know better.

00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:36.940
 You know that steak is terrifying and dangerous.

00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:38.880
 And that that child is in mortal danger.

00:26:39.400 --> 00:26:40.980
 You would be deeply disturbed.

00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:42.259
 That's what Paul is feeling.

00:26:43.100 --> 00:26:45.079
 He's like, you don't know what you're messing around with.

00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:46.880
 You don't know the danger that you're in.

00:26:47.860 --> 00:26:54.460
 When you go and you worship at these temples and you eat food and you sacrifice to these gods and goddesses, you have no idea.

00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:56.120
 You are playing with your own demise.

00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:57.079
 You have no idea.

00:26:57.460 --> 00:26:58.319
 You think it's about fun.

00:26:58.380 --> 00:26:59.100
 You think it's about food.

00:26:59.180 --> 00:26:59.900
 You think it's about sex.

00:27:00.140 --> 00:27:01.120
 You think it's about celebration.

00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:03.840
 You have no idea the danger that you're in.

00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:04.940
 He's deeply disturbed.

00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:07.519
 Idols are dangerous.

00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:10.360
 And they lead to disaster.

00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:12.360
 And Paul knows this.

00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:13.019
 And he's not.

00:27:13.139 --> 00:27:15.819
 So he's not burdened because he just wants his religion to spread.

00:27:16.039 --> 00:27:17.979
 He's burdened because he loves these people.

00:27:19.399 --> 00:27:22.599
 And he sees these things through God's eyes.

00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:37.359
 In a culture built around idols, you will find fallenness and brokenness and disaster.

00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:53.359
 In a culture built around the idols of honor and family, you're going to find honor killings, stonings, shunning, people becoming outcasts.

00:27:53.359 --> 00:28:05.019
 In a culture built around the idols of greed and wealth, you're also going to find vast economic disparities, wealth gaps, injustice.

00:28:05.939 --> 00:28:13.839
 In a culture built around the idol of radical individualism, you're going to see people living disconnected, isolated lives.

00:28:13.919 --> 00:28:21.819
 There's going to be no social fabric that calls people to be part of something bigger than themselves, that calls people to think beyond their own needs or preferences.

00:28:21.819 --> 00:28:29.159
 You build a culture around idols and you will always find brokenness and disaster in its wake.

00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:33.619
 And so our job as Christians is to go into the agora.

00:28:34.700 --> 00:28:39.200
 But it's not just to go and to be present and to learn like amateur anthropologists.

00:28:40.059 --> 00:28:51.799
 Our goal is to go into the agora to understand the idols at the heart of that culture so that we can expose them and so that we can confront them for the empty promises that they represent.

00:28:51.819 --> 00:28:57.519
 And we are called to create and to build culture that reflects and glorifies Christ.

00:28:58.279 --> 00:29:09.179
 We are called to do those things, expose the idols for what they are, and to build and create culture that reflects and glorifies the goodness, the truth, and the beauty of Jesus Christ.

00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:13.639
 The idols are different, however, depending on where you live and work.

00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:20.060
 The challenges are different depending on where you are, depending on what corner of the agora you find yourself in.

00:29:21.100 --> 00:29:25.180
 There will be different temples, different idols, different challenges, different dynamics.

00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:34.540
 And so everybody, it takes everybody in the church, it takes all of us doing this work wherever God has put us.

00:29:34.539 --> 00:29:48.460
 And chances are, wherever you live and work, you are probably uniquely equipped because you know the world there to expose the idols, to imagine what a Christ-centered culture might look like.

00:29:48.519 --> 00:29:49.980
 You're uniquely equipped to do that.

00:29:50.899 --> 00:29:57.099
 You simply have to begin thinking theologically about the culture and understanding why God has put you there.

00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:00.680
 I'll give you one example of the kind of thing I'm talking about.

00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:06.320
 There's a wonderful woman named Sheba Phillips who is a leader in business and entrepreneurship.

00:30:07.259 --> 00:30:13.480
 And she has been incredibly successful at building successful companies, large and small, Fortune 50 companies.

00:30:14.600 --> 00:30:21.500
 And she devotes a lot of her time to discipling entrepreneurs, people who want to start businesses.

00:30:21.500 --> 00:30:32.079
 And she is burdened by the fact that very few people who would identify as entrepreneurs ever actually get discipled around what it means to be a Christian entrepreneur.

00:30:32.819 --> 00:30:41.519
 And I recently heard her speak about her work, and she has found that there is a unique challenge faced by entrepreneurs when it comes to their vision.

00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:52.079
 She says a lot of entrepreneurs, apart from Christ, if they don't know the Lord, if they're not following Jesus, what often happens is that their vision becomes their God.

00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:54.319
 Right?

00:30:54.420 --> 00:30:58.519
 And maybe in some cases that makes them more successful for a time.

00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:02.200
 But she says what happens is their vision becomes their God.

00:31:02.440 --> 00:31:08.960
 And what that means is they're willing to give anything, sacrifice anything, do anything that's necessary in service of that vision.

00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:09.920
 It becomes the God.

00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:17.360
 And so as a result, they can sometimes take reckless risks that lead to disaster.

00:31:18.519 --> 00:31:20.700
 You know, they can burn themselves out.

00:31:20.840 --> 00:31:26.880
 They can destroy the relationships that they have with the people around them because it's all in service of the vision.

00:31:28.320 --> 00:31:37.800
 And she says, apart from Christ, the outcomes that entrepreneurs experience become spiritually, emotionally destructive to them.

00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:42.319
 Not just when they fail, but also if and when they succeed.

00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:45.500
 Because it's everything to them.

00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:47.139
 It's become of ultimate importance.

00:31:48.139 --> 00:31:55.359
 And so success and failure, either one, can destroy, can lead to disaster.

00:31:55.359 --> 00:32:01.939
 So here's what she does to help entrepreneurs see these realities.

00:32:02.359 --> 00:32:09.639
 She helps them understand that Jesus isn't just here to enable our vision.

00:32:11.059 --> 00:32:12.299
 Jesus is the vision.

00:32:13.339 --> 00:32:14.579
 Jesus is the point.

00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:16.439
 Jesus is the aim.

00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:21.480
 And she says, whatever your company you're trying to build, your ultimate aim should not be your own vision.

00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:27.080
 It should be asking the question, how is what I'm doing or how is what I'm building ultimately serving and glorifying him?

00:32:29.180 --> 00:32:30.420
 Ultimately, that should be our aim.

00:32:30.580 --> 00:32:34.100
 And she talks about how that sort of transforms the culture of entrepreneurship.

00:32:34.340 --> 00:32:37.880
 It helps people better discern how and when they should take risks.

00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:47.280
 It helps people keep things in priority and not abandon their spouses and their children seeking the God of their vision, right?

00:32:47.800 --> 00:32:53.040
 It insulates and protects them from the danger both of their failures and their successes.

00:32:54.020 --> 00:32:56.780
 Because Jesus is the center, not their vision.

00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:03.820
 Now, that's just one example of what it might look like to go into a specific subculture,

00:33:03.819 --> 00:33:13.259
 confront some of the idols in that culture, and then build a new culture in that space around the goodness, truth, and beauty of Jesus.

00:33:13.259 --> 00:33:16.639
 The question is, what does this look like in your world?

00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.179
 What does this look like in your family?

00:33:19.339 --> 00:33:20.939
 What does this look like in your neighborhood?

00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:25.159
 What does this look like in your place of work, in your field, in your career?

00:33:25.160 --> 00:33:33.880
 What are the core idols being glorified in the culture that you operate in?

00:33:36.220 --> 00:33:44.740
 What would it look like for you to reimagine that culture centered around and bringing glory to Christ instead of those idols?

00:33:46.259 --> 00:33:48.220
 How would you operate differently?

00:33:49.860 --> 00:33:52.500
 How would that change the choices that you make?

00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:55.579
 How would that reshuffle your priorities?

00:33:57.940 --> 00:33:59.480
 That is your homework for this week.

00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:02.920
 And we're going to pick this up again next week.

00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:04.720
 Let's pray.

00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:11.420
 Lord, we thank you for the fact that you are always and forever at work.

00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:14.599
 Ultimately, this doesn't hinge on us.

00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:17.339
 And that is tremendously comforting.

00:34:17.460 --> 00:34:25.480
 But at the same time, Lord, I pray and ask that you would help us understand the role that we're invited to play in this.

00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:37.259
 Lord, and for those of us who may not know what we believe this morning, for those of us who maybe remain skeptical about you or these things that we've talked about, Lord, I pray that you would be working in their hearts.

00:34:37.260 --> 00:34:49.600
 Lord, even as we sit here in these moments, we pray ultimately for our church to be a place where people can come and experience and know the love and the truth of Jesus.

00:34:49.740 --> 00:34:50.720
 Lord, that is our desire.

00:34:50.900 --> 00:34:52.900
 It's one of the main reasons we believe that we're here.

00:34:53.420 --> 00:34:56.300
 And we pray that in the power of your spirit, it would be so.

00:34:56.860 --> 00:34:58.180
 We pray this in Jesus' name.

00:34:58.420 --> 00:34:58.620
 Amen.

00:34:58.620 --> 00:34:58.720
 Amen.

00:34:58.720 --> 00:34:58.720


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00:34:58.720 --> 00:34:58.720