Running Into The Brokenness Of Culture With Hope, Restoration, And Redemption

It is never ever correct for the follower of Jesus to say it's over.

We've lost family president John Weston this week we bring you an inspiring keynote address delivered by John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center for Christian worldview, which was delivered at NC families. Major speakers dinner and rowing with Carlotta on April 26, 2008. We hope you enjoy as Johnson, the president of the Colson Center that name Chuck Colson probably rings a bell to many of us. He was one of the great Christian leaders of this past generation. He was a fan of individuals in Christian history who believe that Christian faith was personal but not private. That Christian faith demanded engagement with the culture around the demanded action. It demanded that Christians not run away from the brokenness, but as Christians had done throughout history. Running into the brokenness with hope and rest restoration and redemption.

So we spent a lot of time talking about issues talking about what's going on in the culture is talking about any of those things tonight.

What I really want to address is to bring us back about 30,000 feet and just ask a question several years ago is as John mentioned, I co-authored a book on the issue of same-sex marriage. This was before the burger fell decision from the Supreme Court, but I remember by traveling around and interviewing different people on this book and I met a pastor and Alan out west of the state where it passed the marriage amendment, but an activist judge had overturned that he was in a really discouraging place and I remember him looking at me, and here's what he said.

He said John it's over. We've lost the look I I'm the dad and only since that from a lot of Christians.

As I travel around that the culture has moved so far so fast. Things went in such a short amount of time from being unthinkable to unquestionable is all a lot of people of faith. A lot of people of moral conviction on these issues feel like there's nothing that we can do but I want to remind us of something you see we live in a cultural moment and it's a cultural moment in which a lot of things are changing in a hurry so these changes in our moment of putting great pressure on people of faith do we belong in the public square. What can we do have we lost what I want to remind us about the cultural moment is just that it's a moment in his people of faith praise God we have access to something bigger this story when we open up the pages of Scripture. What God gives us is nothing less than the story of reality itself.

And so as people of faith, we can never rethink the story from the moment the only way to understand our moment is from the perspective of the story and I want to remind us just as we begin I think his people of faith in a time of great cultural change and upheaval. One of the things that we need to do over and over and over again is remind ourselves of truths that come from the story that help us understand the moment I want to give you three of them tonight. The first one is this is something that we say to each other as believers every single year on a Sunday morning and Easter. One of those words that we say to each other. Christ is risen he is risen indeed, and we say that and sometimes I think what we mean it is. I believe Christ is risen. I hope you believe Christ is risen when the first followers of Jesus the Christ is risen and weren't saying they believe Christ is risen, they were saying it is a fact that they were saying it in the same town in which the whole world had seen Jesus die just a few days earlier. So for them it wasn't a statement of personal conviction.

It was a statement of public truth.

Christ is risen, and why does that make a difference for us in this moment. I want to point us to a book in the New Testament written by the apostle Peter first Peter if you read through that. The thing that Peter comes back to over and over and over again is that people who are followers of Jesus are to be known to find by whole here's what's interesting the group of people that Peter is writing this book of hope to is a group of people that are about to walk into a season of intense persecution under Nero. But here's the kicker you see for Peter Hope is not a feeling. Hope is not an emotion.

He's very clear to be a person of hope is not to hope that something changes in your environment affect biblical hope is never a hope for something to change biblical hope is hope that is secure, not because of something that might happen because of something that has happened and gas repeater grounds are hope it's in that statement that we say to each other every Easter that we can be people of hope not because something might change on the horizon because Christ is risen, the most true thing about this cultural moment is the most true thing of any cultural moment throughout history the next election comes out the way that we wanted or doesn't come out the way that we wanted Christ is risen, the Supreme Court makes a decision that is a terrible decision like it has in the last couple years. Christ is risen now. The second truth about our moment is also something we get from the apostle Peter, the quirky Danish existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said that life has to be lived forward and it's only understood backwards. We've all had that experience right where we walk into a chaotic season of our life may be a tragedy or some great accomplishment and we don't quite understand it but you get to the other side you can turn around and you can kind of makes sense that we had that experience right but I love I just look at this again during Easter season is that we can actually watch that happen with the first followers of Jesus through the end of the Gospels into the early chapters of of of acts. If you walk through that last couple chapters of Luke.

For example, what you find is a group of followers of Jesus were walking into the first holy week, not even knowing it's holy week.

They have expectations of Jesus that he's going to do one thing he completely does something else they become dispersed they believe him, they abandon him there, scared that things are chaotic, but we get to watch the walking into the first couple chapters of acts is these disciples turn around and start identifying what just happened in the first place.

We come to get it in a in a package form is Peter's sermon at Pentecost and there's a punchline to that sermon God has made him both the Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified is the first truth, Christ is risen, here's the second truth, Christ is Lord see again for the earliest followers of Jesus.

This wasn't a personal statement of conviction. It wasn't me saying I think Christ is Lord of Christ as Lord for me.

Another what they were saying is no know whether you recognize it or not, this world belongs to God Christ is Lord Jesus Christ is Lord. He's not Lord over some of reality, he is Lord of reality Chuck Colson's favorite quote by a Dutch theologian named Abraham Kuyper. Here's what he said is that there's not a single square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign. Overall does not cry out mine and what that means. That means there's not a single square inch were those of us who have encountered the risen Lord who is Lord. Do not walk and say is that that's what it means to follow Jesus is the going to every square inch of reality and just say his his is is is it's his. It's his because of those first two truths Christ is risen, and Christ is Lord and I just say something definitively for all of us who are concerned about the direction in which our culture is going in many ways it is never ever correct for the follower of Jesus to say it's over. We've lost to give you the third truth, the apostle Paul in a sermon that he gave a really a speech that he gave to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers is recorded by by Luke and acts chapter 17 Paul was invited in Athens to go to the Areopagus, any this is a group of people that Luke says that love to do nothing more than to sit around and talk about the latest ideas.

Paul was invited to describe who God is and he says a lot of things about God, but somewhere around verse 24 is in chapter 17 is one of the things he says that the God who made everything determines the exact times that people live in the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Did you know that. Did you know that God intentionally determined that you and I and our children would live in this culture and not another culture. The apostle Paul says is that Christ has called us to this time in this place. He's put us here now for this season.

Why does he want us to do when he's called here what are we saved for what are we in Christ for what they the first thing that we can be sure of that Christians are not saved for escape. Christianity is not an escapist religion for two reasons. Number one is you can try to escape the culture.

It can't. The whole essence of Christianity is centered on the person of Jesus Christ and what John tells us is that Jesus is the God who became what flash and made his dwelling among us.

God's agenda has never been to snatch us out of here God's agenda has been to be with us in the suffering. Ultimately, in the struggle ultimately highlighted by what Jesus Christ himself did on the cross.

A man. Christianity is not an escapist me also say this though, just like were not safe to escape were not safe to accommodate there's a lot of voices right now that are tempting us to accommodate. And, of course, this is almost always coming out us in areas of sexuality and marriage that we have to accommodate because somehow what were told is if we don't accommodate. This is a temptation for people of faith and will lose our voice in the culture. If we lose our stand for truth, we will not need to have a voice in the culture because we will have nothing to say were told all the time that you got to choose between truth and love. If you want to stand for truth, you're not loving. If you want to love people.

You can't actually stand for truth as if truth in love, are in conflict, truth and love are both ultimately sourced in Jesus Christ.

There is no conflict, except in our own perception therefore not safe to escape were not safe to accommodate what we saved for is what the apostle Paul says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. That's for 70 verse 18 says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and has committed to us the gospel of reconciliation is verse 18 verse 19 is almost identical that his God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting men's sins against them is given to us the ministry of reconciliation is the punchline reconciled ones are called to be reconciler's were ever there is brokenness, that's were God's people are called one of the lies that we believed is the church over the last several decades as the culture took positions that we didn't agree with, and even force those positions on people of faith that we should hire professionals that would go to DC in Hollywood and fight the battles for us but you and I we may not be called to DC in Hollywood are all called to engage culture and to be a reconciler were ever God has placed us church.

We cannot outsource the job.

Every single follower of Jesus is called to engage the culture were ever thereat and tell you one story of a vote of a Catholic priest on the East Coast who had heard about a couple in his community that had gone for an amniocentesis.

They were in their second trimester of pregnancy. If you know at that that test man is in Jesus is the test that diagnosis down syndrome is not a very accurate test, but the test came back to this couple positive in this couple made the decision that nearly 90% of couples in the Western world make when they get that diagnosis, which is to abort and this priest heard about a not know all the details, but this was a PE dropped everything and he he called the that the couple and he said please please don't don't abort this child.

Give it life is were not ready to parent and he said Williston would you just bring it to life and and would you give it up for adoption which you just not kill it, would you bring it to life in the couple said yes but they had an appointment for an abortion scheduled the next week.

This was Friday. Essentially, he had the weekend to solve this problem. Going into week and services at his parish. He put everything aside. He went on a social media campaign to find adoptive parents for this comp for the for this baby. By the end of the weekend. By Monday morning 800 couples had stepped up and they come adoptive parent for this child.

That's what reconciliation looks like and that's how culture changes, not from the top down, but from all of us taking seriously our call to engage the culture were ever God has placed us, Christ is risen Christ as Lord Christ has called us to this time and place and then thank you.

It's been an honor to be with you tonight and is not a production to listen to our maintenance show my mind the resources and information about issues important to families in Carolina website family.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook