WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.020 Let me pray. Let's ask the Lord's help as we come to this last session on culture. Let's pray. 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:16.059 Father, we do thank you that you are not only interested in us, you're interested in this world around us too, and in helping us relate the gospel clearly to the world in which we live. 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:21.120 And you want us, as we were thinking together, to grow in Christlikeness. 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:25.980 And so we pray that we do that and that you would help us as we think on these things together. 00:00:25.980 --> 00:00:30.699 Help us to have understanding, but also wisdom to apply it, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:45.159 So we've been working our way through the last few weeks through this book called Plugged In by Dan Strange on how we relate to the world around us, connecting your faith with what you watch, read and play. 00:00:45.980 --> 00:00:49.320 And we've been thinking about culture. Do you remember our definition of culture? 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:58.299 Culture? No. Okay. Culture are the stories that we tell which express meaning about the world. 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:04.219 Okay. So culture is not just high culture, you know, going and watching the opera or whatever it is. 00:01:04.299 --> 00:01:11.019 But culture is just the everyday stories we tell which express what we think the world is really about. 00:01:11.019 --> 00:01:25.319 And so that might be a story that we tell in music, in film, in a book that we read, in a way of watching sport or whatever it is, which expresses what we think the world is really about. 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:39.420 And we've been thinking about how Jesus, who really is the big story of the universe, how he is the subversive fulfillment of the stories of our culture, subverting what is false and fulfilling what is true. 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:43.480 Now, I know that's the main idea of Dan Strange's book. 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:47.920 And Dan travels around the world trying to explain it to people. 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:50.500 And so I know that some of us have struggled to grasp it. 00:01:50.579 --> 00:01:53.560 So I'm going to try and explain it with some pictures. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:57.520 And so let me see whether this helps us understand it. 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:01.820 So the premise is that we all tell cultural stories, right? 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:09.979 So maybe you're into a certain genre of book or music or you're from a particular place. 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:20.359 And there's cultural stories that go around that, like how you celebrate birthdays or what you enjoy doing with your free time or the kind of things that you will conceive. 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:23.580 And in each of those cultural stories, there are good things. 00:02:23.660 --> 00:02:27.060 There are things which are true and right and brilliant that we should celebrate. 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:32.700 And also things which are not so good, not so true and should not be celebrated. 00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:36.920 Now, there are obviously lots of different cultural stories. 00:02:37.220 --> 00:02:44.460 So there's like maybe an urban culture, and you can't read this because it's too small, where things like community and friendship and loyalty are highly valued. 00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:49.140 And those are good things, but it may also be quite violent and even sexualized at times. 00:02:49.780 --> 00:02:54.260 There's a social media culture, perhaps, that some of us are engaged with, which is a good thing. 00:02:54.379 --> 00:03:00.780 And it gives voices to everybody and gives positive news and opportunity to circulate. 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:02.379 But it also is very curated. 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:03.319 It's very tribal. 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:06.840 It makes you just associate with people who watch the same things as you. 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:14.500 There's a political culture, isn't there, which in a good sense can be trying to achieve a common good, where we try to bless as many different people. 00:03:14.920 --> 00:03:20.159 Or it can be, at its worst, very populist or partisan, again, dividing people up. 00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:30.379 There's a religious culture, which might be good in the sense of its commitment to morality and commitment to community, but it could also be very self-righteous and proud. 00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:36.140 Or national identity, which values history and family, but can be really hostile to outsiders. 00:03:36.139 --> 00:03:37.199 So you get the idea, right? 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:38.079 There's lots of cultures. 00:03:38.459 --> 00:03:39.659 There's lots of different cultural stories. 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:42.299 Now, of course, there's not just five, are there? 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.079 There are loads of different cultures, right? 00:03:45.519 --> 00:03:47.000 A huge range. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:50.519 And also that those cultures overlap with one another. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:53.459 So you might not just find yourself in one culture. 00:03:53.459 --> 00:03:57.779 You might find yourself in several at the same time, depending on what you're into. 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:06.420 Now, here's the thing, is that God's story about Jesus is really the big story of the universe, right? 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:08.599 And because we all live in the universe, right? 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:10.780 We can't avoid that big story. 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:13.740 That is the story behind all stories. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:16.920 It echoes in all the stories and cultures of the world. 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:23.560 But it does so in such a way that it both fulfills them and subverts them or contradicts them. 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:29.740 So it subverts them where they are outside of what God calls good and righteous and right and true. 00:04:30.060 --> 00:04:34.180 And it fulfills them where their expectations are right and true and good. 00:04:34.420 --> 00:04:41.319 So if a culture values community, we find that actually true community is found in the people and kingdom of God. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:48.240 If a culture is particularly violent or sexualized, actually Jesus subverts that, doesn't he? 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:53.400 Because it says actually the place for sexual fulfillment is in the marriage of a man and a woman. 00:04:54.740 --> 00:05:04.300 Now, it's worth noting that the idea is that in eternity, we're not all just in one kind of homogenous cultural bubble, 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:09.699 but rather that all those cultures become inside of God's great story. 00:05:10.180 --> 00:05:10.960 It's interesting, isn't it? 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:14.780 In Revelation 7, every tribe and language and nation are gathered before the throne. 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:19.099 It's not that they're all speaking the same language or look the same as one another. 00:05:19.539 --> 00:05:25.099 Everybody is visibly different in eternity because the difference is not wrong. 00:05:25.219 --> 00:05:30.199 The difference is a reflection of who God is and how gloriously brilliant he is. 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:39.679 There's a right sense, isn't there, that it is impossible for any one culture to represent a God who is so varied and glorious and wonderful. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:46.759 It's impossible to express that in just one language or one skin color or one national background. 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:54.560 But actually that the glory of God is best reflected in all of those things together, telling the story about who God is and what he's done. 00:05:55.100 --> 00:05:59.259 And so eternity will be something like that, which looks a bit weird, doesn't it? 00:05:59.740 --> 00:06:01.540 But does that make sense? 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:02.340 Does that help? 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:04.379 Do we know what we're saying? 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:06.439 So a few of you nodding, which is encouraging. 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:09.540 I might recommend my pictures to Dan Strange next time I speak to him. 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:18.040 OK, so the question for us this evening then is having dealt with that sort of idea, which is the big idea of the book. 00:06:19.579 --> 00:06:26.379 What then should we consume and watch and listen to and look at and join in with? 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:31.339 Now, Dan in the book gives a really thoughtful two word answer. 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:35.720 Do you want to know, do you want to guess what his two word answer is to what you should watch? 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:41.180 The first the first word is it. 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:46.060 And it depends is his very thoughtful answer. 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:47.480 It depends. 00:06:48.219 --> 00:06:51.240 And he says that this is really a very difficult question. 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:53.459 And it's not really the main idea of his book. 00:06:53.459 --> 00:07:03.819 But I think it's one of the most helpful chapters as well in his book, particularly if you're trying to read it through with a young Christian who is trying to get to grips with these sorts of things for the first time. 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:09.920 He says that when we when we come to think about what we should consume, what we should watch, what we should listen to. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.980 There are at least four ideas that we need to keep in tension. 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:14.980 The first one is this. 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:18.640 Number one, that removing ourselves from the world is impossible. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:27.419 Our response cannot be to not watch anything or not hear anything or not consume anything. 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:29.899 Christians down the years have tried to do that. 00:07:29.979 --> 00:07:31.219 But actually, it is impossible. 00:07:31.659 --> 00:07:32.579 We have to work. 00:07:32.939 --> 00:07:33.839 We have to buy food. 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:34.740 We have to pay rent. 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:37.419 We have to engage with the place in which we live. 00:07:37.420 --> 00:07:41.900 So the answer can't be watch nothing, consume nothing, no culture, because that is impossible. 00:07:42.020 --> 00:07:48.420 That would involve leaving the world behind in some kind of really odd, unhelpful way. 00:07:49.020 --> 00:07:51.020 So number one, removing ourselves from the world is impossible. 00:07:51.540 --> 00:07:54.620 Number two, we care about discipleship. 00:07:54.960 --> 00:07:56.580 We care about our discipleship. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:58.700 We care about other people's discipleship. 00:07:58.819 --> 00:08:00.240 We want to honor Christ. 00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:06.080 In other words, we know and have to acknowledge that some things in the world are unhelpful for us. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:07.899 That it's addictive, even. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:10.139 That God is not honored by them. 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:15.639 That to consume them is to waste our time will lead us to being unhelpfully affected by it. 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:16.659 And that matters. 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:24.539 So number two is that we know that things exist in a category that is unhelpful for me to go there category. 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:30.620 But number three, we also care not just about discipleship, which is number two. 00:08:30.719 --> 00:08:32.460 We care, number three, about the lost. 00:08:32.460 --> 00:08:40.280 We actually want to make sure that we engage and communicate the gospel clearly into the world in which we live. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:44.000 It's easy, isn't it, for people to lose sight of this. 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:47.060 It's particularly, I think, easy for churches to lose sight of this. 00:08:47.059 --> 00:08:58.159 Our responsibility is to clearly communicate the gospel to people living in 2025, not 1925 or 1825. 00:08:58.539 --> 00:09:03.459 So we have a responsibility to understand the culture in which we live. 00:09:04.479 --> 00:09:13.000 The truth is that the lost are unlikely to be converted through a single gospel tract or a two-minute conversation from zero to 100 miles an hour. 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:16.059 They might be, but that would be extraordinary. 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:23.819 Normally, it takes consistent, consecutive exposure to the gospel, which comes only through relationship. 00:09:24.719 --> 00:09:32.059 And relationship involves moving into people's lives and communicating with them and sharing with them. 00:09:32.779 --> 00:09:39.679 So it's not just, is it, you know, caring about the lost is not just going and blurting the gospel out in two ways to live or four spiritual laws, 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:46.759 but it's caring about people, caring about the cultures in which they inhabit, asking them questions so we know the stories that they tell, 00:09:47.179 --> 00:09:50.939 so we can build relationships that the Lord might use to expose them to the gospel. 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:58.039 Dan puts it like this in his book, actually in another chapter, but it's really helpful, so I'll read it to you. 00:09:58.699 --> 00:10:00.620 He says, you don't need to be an academic to get this. 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:01.379 That's brilliant, isn't it? 00:10:01.379 --> 00:10:02.219 That's good news for all of us. 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:04.560 So we experience it every single day. 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:09.120 The good news of Jesus Christ is deeply implausible in our culture at the moment. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:15.200 It's not that most people have spent endless hours studying Christianity and then decided it's not for them. 00:10:15.700 --> 00:10:20.820 It's not that they've necessarily had a bad experience of Christians in the past, which has turned them off, although some have. 00:10:20.820 --> 00:10:30.100 Rather, it is that the cultural air that they've breathed in all their lives has shaped them to assume that Christianity is irrelevant, untrue and intolerant. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:38.200 And that's why we often hit a brick wall in our evangelistic efforts and are left scratching our heads as to how we can ever get past first base with people. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:47.060 Our culture is such that Jesus is so far down people's agenda that he is not even an option to consider, much less one to accept. 00:10:47.059 --> 00:10:54.279 This cultural change in air temperature affects the way we do evangelism. 00:10:55.419 --> 00:11:05.579 In 1989, with 29,000 others, I sat in the Crystal Palace football stadium on the front row to hear Billy Graham preach on the wealth of Solomon. 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:11.259 Do I think I'll be engaged in this kind of evangelistic opportunity again in my lifetime? 00:11:11.659 --> 00:11:13.379 Sadly, the answer is no. 00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:22.220 At every West Ham home game, as thousands approach the London Stadium, we pass a man standing on a box shouting out Bible verses through a megaphone. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:25.279 Have I ever seen anyone engage with this man in any way? 00:11:25.500 --> 00:11:26.580 Sadly, the answer is no. 00:11:27.019 --> 00:11:31.960 Am I denying this man's faith or the power of the Spirit if I think there is a more effective ways to proclaim the gospel? 00:11:32.939 --> 00:11:38.259 To put it another way, and a little flippantly, we want to help people meet the VIP Jesus Christ. 00:11:38.259 --> 00:11:43.500 But there are these big scary bouncers getting in the way, all bald heads and neck tattoos. 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:45.580 Nothing wrong with having a bald head, by the way. 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:50.259 Until we can get past them, our introductions to Jesus can't be made. 00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:54.000 And precisely what these bouncers are depends on a person's culture. 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:59.580 So to effectively engage our friends with the gospel, to give them a reason they'll find reasonable, 00:12:00.139 --> 00:12:05.220 we need to understand exactly what their unspoken assumptions are and how we can get around them. 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:08.960 And to identify their assumptions, we have to understand their worldview. 00:12:09.800 --> 00:12:12.440 And how can we figure out what a person's worldview is? 00:12:12.620 --> 00:12:16.200 By looking at the cultural stories they consume and create. 00:12:17.259 --> 00:12:20.460 This is really the sort of central idea in some ways in the book, 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:25.800 is that we need to understand the world in which we live if we're going to communicate the gospel in the world in which we live. 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:29.259 And it's interesting, I think even since this book was written, 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:32.200 I think some of these cultural things have changed, haven't they? 00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:36.080 So I think this cultural air is starting to blow in a slightly different direction. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:40.820 Whereas perhaps people thought that Jesus is a long way down their agenda. 00:12:41.020 --> 00:12:46.060 He's perhaps moved up a little in recent weeks, months, and perhaps the last few years. 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:48.440 So yeah, we care about the lost. 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:53.040 Number four, we care about Jesus' lordship over all things. 00:12:54.420 --> 00:12:56.440 Now this, I guess, is perhaps slightly more complicated, 00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:58.300 but the point is that this is Jesus' world. 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:01.099 All of the world belongs to Jesus. 00:13:01.419 --> 00:13:06.979 He is lord over all, even that which opposes him and contradicts him. 00:13:07.459 --> 00:13:11.579 And in order to make the gospel clear, we need to know, don't we, the world in which we live, 00:13:11.620 --> 00:13:17.519 and we need to engage with it and demonstrate how Christ speaks in all the world to all things, 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:23.399 showing Christians and non-Christians what Jesus says about the patterns of thought and the stories that we tell. 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:30.059 Now, Dan points out in his book that those four things should be good friends, right? 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:31.620 These guys should hang out in the playground. 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:34.039 They should play nicely with one another, is how he puts it. 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:39.159 But oftentimes they fall out and they fight and wrestle against one another. 00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:43.159 So we can be all one of them and not another one. 00:13:43.579 --> 00:13:48.840 And so I just want you to talk with the person next to you just about which of those four friends you find it easier to get along with. 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:50.820 Does that make sense as a question? 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.560 Which one of those things, those four things, do you find easiest? 00:13:55.040 --> 00:14:01.200 So Jesus' lordship over all things, this desire to engage culturally, carefully with the lost, 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:07.759 our discipleship, stepping away, or removing ourselves from the world. 00:14:08.060 --> 00:14:08.519 Which one? 00:14:08.620 --> 00:14:10.780 Or not removing ourselves from the world, because that's impossible. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:12.980 Which of those do we find the most difficult? 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:16.100 Talk to the person next to you, and we'll get back together in a moment. 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:23.920 Oh, okay. 00:14:24.780 --> 00:14:25.220 Easier. 00:14:25.560 --> 00:14:26.200 Sorry, yeah. 00:14:26.340 --> 00:14:27.100 Sorry, I said easier. 00:14:27.540 --> 00:14:27.660 Yeah. 00:14:30.180 --> 00:14:31.540 Okay, sorry to interrupt. 00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:32.960 We need to move on. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:40.379 I struggle to know exactly how to do this evening's talk, because I sort of wondered that there might just be, 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.240 it might just be worth photocopying the chapter and just reading it out to you, 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:47.600 because there's so much good stuff in it, and we don't have time to go through all of it in detail. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:54.480 One of the things that he does in the chapter really helpfully, which I'm going to just kind of skirt through super quickly, 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.720 is he goes through the solas of the Reformation. 00:14:56.980 --> 00:15:01.440 So scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, to God's glory alone. 00:15:01.940 --> 00:15:06.240 And just sort of relates those to how we ask this cultural question about what we should consume, 00:15:06.580 --> 00:15:07.740 and what we should not consume. 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:13.320 So scripture alone means that we need to be good at seeing how the big, deep story of the Bible applies to what we're watching. 00:15:15.580 --> 00:15:20.340 Scripture is the explanation and exposure of God's mind, isn't it? 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:25.440 It is in scripture that we get to see this big story of what God is doing. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:33.200 So it's not just that we need to read a lot of the Bible, it's that we need to see everything through the eyes of the Bible. 00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:33.960 Does that make sense? 00:15:34.680 --> 00:15:40.720 He quotes C.S. Lewis there to say that it's not, what does C.S. Lewis say? 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:44.820 That the Bible or the gospel is the light by which I see all things. 00:15:45.280 --> 00:15:51.040 So it's not just that it's the Bible that he's reading, but it's actually through that that he's understanding everything around him. 00:15:51.819 --> 00:15:56.740 Grace alone means that we need to remember, and perhaps some of us need to remember this particularly carefully, 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:01.099 if we are tempted towards sort of pride or self-righteousness, 00:16:01.139 --> 00:16:06.120 is that we are not saved by only watching the right things, right? 00:16:08.539 --> 00:16:09.959 Sinclair Ferguson puts it like this. 00:16:09.959 --> 00:16:12.539 He talks about the grammar of the gospel, okay? 00:16:13.179 --> 00:16:17.539 Do you know the difference between an indicative and an imperative, right? 00:16:17.959 --> 00:16:19.519 An indicative is a statement of truth. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:22.740 An imperative is a statement of action, something that we need to do, right? 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.779 So an imperative is like put your shoes on. 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:32.799 An indicative is a description of a truth about why shoes are good for your feet or something, right? 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:37.159 Okay, so, and Sinclair Ferguson talks to actually get in the gospel, it's about grammar. 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:42.679 What we want to do is get in our minds, we want to put the imperatives before the indicative. 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:48.059 So we want to say, oh, I obey Jesus, and then I experience salvation. 00:16:48.439 --> 00:16:50.139 But actually, it's the other way around, isn't it? 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.519 I experience salvation, so therefore I want to obey, right? 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:57.859 And so grace alone means I'm saved by grace. 00:16:58.339 --> 00:17:03.579 Therefore, I want in my cultural consumption to obey Jesus and bring glory to him. 00:17:03.719 --> 00:17:06.399 Not so that he might save me, because I've already been saved. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:08.500 The grammar of the gospel means that one comes first, right? 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:16.960 So I am saved already, and I want to express my delight in Jesus by pleasing him in the way that I consume culture. 00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:19.140 And so we need to remember grace alone. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:26.320 Faith alone means that we should be spurred on to good works that include cultural endeavors. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:41.659 So God has given us works to do, good works that flow from this faith, which means that one of the things about culture is that we shouldn't just be people who consume culture, but we should be people who create culture too. 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:46.000 So we shouldn't just be listening to music, but some of us should be writing music. 00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:49.919 We shouldn't just be listening to other stories, but we should be telling stories. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:18:02.400 One of the things he says is that the reason that we get so hung up on this is because actually we live in a moment where Christians are so disengaged from culture that the cupboards are like meager and bare of things to consume. 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:11.539 Where's Tolkien writing Lord of the Rings anymore, or C.S. Lewis writing books anymore, or Handel's Messiah being written anymore? 00:18:11.820 --> 00:18:12.620 It's those kind of things. 00:18:12.620 --> 00:18:17.980 So there was a time where the rich cultural products were being produced by Christians. 00:18:17.980 --> 00:18:33.220 And so faith alone means that God is calling us to live in this world and to express who he's made us to be culturally so that we can write music and produce cultural artifacts which are good and good for others to consume. 00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:44.680 Yeah, Christ alone means that while every story will point to him, still stories lead away from him, and that's dangerous. 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:58.420 So we need to recognize that because the gospel is about Christ alone, there is a temptation to be pulled away from Christ alone, and we need to recognize that those things are dangerous and idolatrous. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.880 Essentially, cultures without Christ are promoting other gods, aren't they? 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:04.000 Whatever they might be. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:18.279 And God's glory alone, which is the final solar, means that you need to ask this very difficult question about whatever you watch, which is not should I or shouldn't I, which is that sort of looking for a law. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:26.160 The better question to ask is will watching, consuming, listening to this bring glory to God? 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:33.420 And if the answer is no, then you shouldn't do it because the world is about God's glory alone. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:34.920 The gospel is about God's glory alone. 00:19:35.019 --> 00:19:38.000 So will watching bring glory to God? 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:50.160 What he then goes on to suggest, which we're going to spend just a little bit of time on as we finish, are three C's to think about how we engage with culture. 00:19:50.259 --> 00:19:51.480 The first one is character. 00:19:51.480 --> 00:20:00.640 When you're answering the question, what should I watch, what shouldn't I watch, you need to understand that your character is different to another person's character. 00:20:01.160 --> 00:20:05.620 The answer to that question might be different for one person than it is for another person. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:08.940 And Christians love to make up rules and judge each other, don't they? 00:20:09.819 --> 00:20:16.779 So you make a decision, I am not going to watch this because I think that will be unhelpful for me. 00:20:16.779 --> 00:20:19.359 And then you find that Christian B is watching that. 00:20:19.980 --> 00:20:25.480 And so therefore you conclude that Christian B is not a good Christian because they're watching something that you would have decided not to watch. 00:20:25.879 --> 00:20:28.200 That's not necessarily the case. 00:20:28.339 --> 00:20:30.019 We're all slightly different characters. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:32.819 Men and women are affected differently by what they watch. 00:20:32.879 --> 00:20:35.619 For example, young people and older people are slightly different. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.440 We're also prone to wander in different directions. 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:43.820 Now, I think we are prone to deceive ourselves, aren't we? 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:51.259 Telling ourselves that we are unaffected when really you are being unhelpfully shaped by the cultural stories that we are watching or listening to. 00:20:51.340 --> 00:20:52.240 So what is our character? 00:20:52.580 --> 00:20:53.840 How easily led are we? 00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:55.620 Where are our temptations? 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:58.100 So that's one character. 00:20:58.460 --> 00:20:59.420 The other is conscience. 00:20:59.779 --> 00:21:00.920 We're all wired differently. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.880 We all have different levels of sensitivity as well. 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:05.940 Notice this is what he says. 00:21:05.940 --> 00:21:08.039 I've put this quote on your handout. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:13.759 For Christians, conscience is our inner God-given witness and warning system. 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:19.380 Scripture says that we are always to obey it and should not go against it. 00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:21.779 You should not go against your conscience. 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:26.620 So as a general rule, if watching something feels wrong, don't do it. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:33.039 Remember, too, that our freedom in Christ should not become a stumbling block for those whose conscience says differently. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:41.579 So even if you can watch something with a clear conscience, don't start raving about it in front of a Christian whose conscience might be grieved by it. 00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:46.599 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 00:21:46.859 --> 00:21:50.019 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good to build them up. 00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:51.480 Romans 15. 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:55.859 Importantly, our conscience certainly is not an infallible guide. 00:21:55.859 --> 00:21:59.979 It can be overly sensitive and it can go rogue and be seared. 00:22:01.159 --> 00:22:05.159 I guess that means, doesn't it, when he says that, you know, what should we watch, what should we consume? 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.159 It depends. 00:22:07.179 --> 00:22:11.359 The answer also is, you know already, right? 00:22:11.859 --> 00:22:12.419 In a way. 00:22:12.420 --> 00:22:16.460 You just need to listen to what your conscience is telling you. 00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:23.940 If there's a part of you who knows that you shouldn't be doing it, you shouldn't be joining in, you shouldn't be going along, then, well, that's not always the final answer. 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:27.060 It's always wrong to go against that pricked conscience, isn't it? 00:22:28.360 --> 00:22:30.400 And then, finally, common sense. 00:22:31.360 --> 00:22:33.779 Dan points out that some judgment calls are quite easy, right? 00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:37.580 Money, sex and power are areas for constant vigilance. 00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:45.579 We need to watch out that we don't get sucked into the world's way of thinking in those areas, areas which are so often corrupted by our culture, by every culture. 00:22:46.859 --> 00:22:54.000 But common sense doesn't just mean that we should look away or hit the fast forward button or walk out of the cinema at the obvious points, right? 00:22:54.079 --> 00:23:02.579 So he talks a little bit about particularly the sexualized cultures in which we live and that we should avoid the unhelpful parts of those where possible. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:04.960 And you can read his book to find out more about that. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.799 But he tells us something which is much more subtle as well, which I thought was really helpful. 00:23:09.420 --> 00:23:12.100 And so, again, I've got this on your handout and I'll read it to you. 00:23:12.860 --> 00:23:17.079 Most Christians are rightly concerned about the increasing sexualization of our culture. 00:23:17.660 --> 00:23:21.059 But what about the sentimentalization of our culture? 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:26.079 Sentimentality is emotional self-indulgence. 00:23:26.660 --> 00:23:29.559 So that what you feel becomes most important. 00:23:29.559 --> 00:23:33.559 We often see it in the public reaction to the death of a celebrity. 00:23:34.179 --> 00:23:38.159 While apparently well-meaning, sentimentality is actually selfish. 00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:41.899 It directs our emotions to our own emotions. 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:45.519 So we are always the main character of our story. 00:23:46.119 --> 00:23:50.159 Although it pretends to care for the other, it really only cares for the self. 00:23:50.619 --> 00:23:54.700 The other merely becomes a means to an end, feeling something. 00:23:54.700 --> 00:24:04.500 Sentimentality allows us to experience shared public emotional expression without the commitment of real life relationships. 00:24:05.059 --> 00:24:07.740 As such, sentimentality is simplistic. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.740 It leaves little room for nuance, complexity and fortitude. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:17.580 The sentimental world consists of clear cuts of goodies and baddies, victims and perpetrators. 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:21.120 Every situation demands an immediate answer. 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:22.420 That's interesting, isn't it? 00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:27.860 Haven't we seen that in the Charlie Kirk situation and the response to that sentimentality? 00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:35.080 Experiencing shared public emotion, which leaves little room for nuance, complexity and fortitude. 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:43.960 Now, doesn't this describe a myriad of reality TV shows and kids comedies on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon? 00:24:44.500 --> 00:24:51.039 We might think these types of shows are pretty innocent for us and our kids because they aren't full of sex, swearing and violence. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:25:00.220 But they are sickly sentimental and have a rotting effect because they present a fantastical fake world which encourages us to feel in cliches. 00:25:00.619 --> 00:25:02.720 Or consider the greatest showman. 00:25:03.299 --> 00:25:06.859 At one level, it's a family film with a feel-good message and a catchy soundtrack. 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:09.960 But its feel-goodness is part of the problem. 00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:11.519 It's all too easy. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:19.400 Things get patched up far too quickly with an emotional song as the characters go back to dancing with CGI tigers at the end. 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:22.160 Real life is messier. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:31.720 I hope it's a really helpful discussion in the book that he engages with, with this sentimentality and how it goes on in lots of different areas. 00:25:31.720 --> 00:25:38.160 And what he shouts at the TV in front of his children to make them aware of it so that they don't just get consumed by it. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:46.839 But we need to be conscious, don't we, that there are different areas of our culture which are particularly anti-God and difficult. 00:25:47.819 --> 00:25:51.279 Now, I've got a case study for you to talk about just as we finish. 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:59.259 Graham, or insert generic name of somebody not in the room or not somebody that we perhaps know, 00:26:00.019 --> 00:26:03.879 is a young Christian who is beginning to think through the music he listens to. 00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:10.720 He's begun to become conscious of the fact that much of the music he listens to has sexualized themes. 00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:14.779 How do you help him use what we thought through about tonight to help him? 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.279 Okay, talk to the person next to you. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:20.519 Think how you might help Graham. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:24.619 And then we'll share our answers. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:25.539 Pray. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:27.480 And we'll finish there. 00:26:28.220 --> 00:26:28.680 Go for it. 00:26:30.539 --> 00:26:32.059 Our time is gone, really. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:36.059 So we've probably not got enough time to help Graham in lots of detail. 00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:39.220 Does anyone want to share what they thought? 00:26:43.079 --> 00:26:44.180 What would you say to him? 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:48.500 Any thoughts? 00:26:48.500 --> 00:26:48.579 Any thoughts? 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:53.420 I mean, you're all so helpful. 00:26:53.539 --> 00:26:55.460 I know that I'm going to come to you with my troubles. 00:26:55.460 --> 00:26:56.460 Yes. 00:26:56.460 --> 00:26:56.460 00:26:56.460 --> 00:26:56.460 00:26:56.460 --> 00:27:10.660 So there is a sense in which the very asking of the question means that he has begun to, 00:27:10.660 --> 00:27:15.259 his conscience is being remoulded and reshaped, in a good way. 00:27:15.259 --> 00:27:19.599 Right. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:20.019 Right. 00:27:20.019 --> 00:27:23.960 According to the word, he just knows that he's just aware of the word. 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:24.319 Yes. 00:27:26.619 --> 00:27:27.059 Yes. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:31.779 It's easy to ask him perhaps some questions to draw out from him. 00:27:31.779 --> 00:27:38.240 yes yeah and why that might be wrong what is it saying about sex that's true 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:46.160 and good what's he saying about sex which is wrong and helpful yeah great 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:56.460 yes yes 00:28:01.779 --> 00:28:12.599 yes yeah that's great yeah the asking the why question is a really helpful why is it the 00:28:12.599 --> 00:28:16.279 unconscious that what is it about it that you think is unhelpful yeah 00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:22.160 do you want to say something that seth said 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:44.279 yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah what does give god glory yeah i think it is interesting is it if someone 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:51.740 becomes a christian um and their idols become very distasteful to them in a really helpful way don't 00:28:51.740 --> 00:28:57.700 they begin to see the sort of where i um say jeremiah describes sin doesn't it is turning to 00:28:57.700 --> 00:29:02.799 systems broken and dry you know that you go to things for satisfaction and they don't actually 00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:06.700 give it to you and the more as you grow as a christian the more you realize that the stuff 00:29:06.700 --> 00:29:12.000 that you were drinking and consuming for satisfaction is actually no longer providing it for you and 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:19.839 that's a good opportunity for discipleship and learning and growth yeah um yeah and i think you 00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:24.699 you might want to say right okay let's let's pull apart one of those songs let's have a look at what 00:29:24.699 --> 00:29:29.220 is it actually saying what's it saying it's true what's it saying that's not true what's it saying 00:29:29.220 --> 00:29:35.279 that jesus would say yes to or what is it saying that is desiring something which is actually only 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:41.839 ever found in the lord jesus i think particularly sometimes in like parenting or whatever you can 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:47.959 give her like a right you know no more kind of thing without actually ever asking the 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:52.319 you know the bigger question about what's the story that's being told and beginning to help people 00:29:52.319 --> 00:30:00.340 understand that and see through it yeah great i have one copy of the book left so if anybody wants 00:30:00.340 --> 00:30:04.319 a copy you can come and see me at the end and get a copy but i'm going to pray for us 00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:06.039 and we're going to close there so let's pray 00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:17.940 heavenly father we live in a confusing and complicated world 00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:29.420 where although we are sinful and the world is full of sinful people yet in your common grace there are 00:30:29.420 --> 00:30:35.019 your fingerprints all over this world still so lord we want to pray that you would help us 00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:38.619 to work our way navigating our lives through this place 00:30:38.619 --> 00:30:43.819 help us to take seriously our discipleship that we want to grow as christians 00:30:43.819 --> 00:30:49.079 but also help us to take seriously this responsibility that we have to communicate the gospel clearly 00:30:49.079 --> 00:30:56.920 to the day in which we live lord we we thank you for christian brothers and sisters who've come 00:30:56.920 --> 00:31:03.000 alongside us over the years and and helped us to see these things clearly and we pray ultimately 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:07.440 that living like this for your praise and your glory might lead to others beginning to hear and 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:13.000 understand the gospel that you might open their eyes to the glory of jesus as we were thinking about 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:17.000 in the beginning as we pray in his name amen amen 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:18.660 you 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:18.660 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