{"id":21171,"date":"1999-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1999-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/1999\/10\/01\/foundations-in-times-like-these\/"},"modified":"1999-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1999-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"foundations-in-times-like-these","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/foundations-in-times-like-these\/","title":{"rendered":"Foundations In Times Like These"},"content":{"rendered":"

M<\/strong>inistry in the mid-seventeenth century was tough, particularly if you were an Anglican priest.<\/p>\n\n

The Cromwellian revolution, having toppled the reign of Charles I, proceeded \nto divest the monarchy of its power and influence. Since the king was the head of \nthe state church, Anglicanism got caught in the fury of the overthrow.<\/p>\n\n

In the midst of this turmoil, a tribute was written to the local pastor of\nthe Harold Church in the village of Staunton, England. It remains today on\nthe wall of the church and reads, “In the year 1653, when all things sacred\nwere throughout the nation destroyed or profaned, this church was built to\nthe glory of God by Sir Robert Shirley whose singular praise it was to have\ndone the best of things in the worst of times.”<\/p>\n\n

As bad as our times may seem, they are not the worst<\/em> of times. No\none is throwing us to lions or burning us on lampposts. But these are challenging\ndays for those committed to engaging this culture with the claims of Christ.\nIf we want it said of us that we have done the “best of things” in our times,\nwe must understand the nature of these times and know what to do.<\/p>\n\n

In the larger picture, only one thing has changed: God has been moved from\npublic prominence to the privacy of an individual’s conscience. This\nmarginalization of the Divine has left our culture void of a moral center\nand, as Francis Schaeffer said, with no “true truth” to provide the basis\nfor consensus and moral authority.<\/p>\n\n

With God out of view, relativism and pluralism filled the void and there\nare no longer absolutes to guide and define behavior. In his analysis of\nthis new world without limits, Carl Henry observes, “Our generation is lost\nto the truth of God, to the reality of divine revelation, to the content\nof God’s will, to the power of his redemption, and to the authority\nof His Word. For this loss it is paying dearly in a swift relapse to paganism.\nThe savages are stirring again; you can hear them rumbling and rustling in\nthe tempo of our times” (Twilight of a Great Civilization: The Drift Toward\nNeopaganism, p. 20<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n

We could try to ignore the shift if it weren’t so threatening to the\nchurch. Throughout history one of Satan’s successful ploys has been\nto enculturate God’s people. It was often the undoing of Israel and\nprovided grounds for God’s censure of the Corinthian and Laodicean churches.\nWhen the church becomes little more than an echo of the values of a fallen\nsociety, it loses the distinctiveness that gives it power (1 Peter 2:12).\nIn the terms of John 17, we have been called out of this world to go back\nin with the claims of Christ.<\/p>\n\n

A menu of seductions<\/strong>\n“Viva la difference” must be the church’s rally cry. Our challenge is\nto lead and teach in such a way that our distinctives are evident, balanced,\nand biblical.<\/p>\n\n

To live out the critical difference between the church and the world demands\nthat we understand our culture and that we can articulate the essentials\nof living Christianly in pagan times. We must strive for the honor credited\nto the men of Issachar: that they understood their times and knew what to\ndo (1 Chron. 12:32).<\/p>\n\n

While understanding our times, it is important that we don’t cower before\nthe culture. We are not victims of our times. Our times only offer a menu\nof seductions. Compelling as they are, we are still people of choice.<\/p>\n\n

Equal caution must be taken that we don’t paint all of culture as dark\nand dangerous. By God’s amazing grace, aspects of our fallen world still\nenrich and inspire the mind and heart. Music, literature, and other arts\nare often beautiful expressions of the creative richness of the image of\nGod within mankind.<\/p>\n\n

Given these cautions, what can we do to understand our times and protect\nand propel our ministries toward the best of things?<\/p>\n\n

Develop a Christ-centered worldview. Read those gifted in discerning cultural\ntrends in the light of biblical truth, such as Gene Vieth on postmodernism,\nRavi Zacharias, D.A. Carson, and from the last generation, Francis Schaeffer.\nBecoming a student of generational nuances is equally important as we seek\nto empower builders, boomers, busters, etc., to get past their own worlds\nand get a grip on Kingdom living.<\/p>\n\n

But the most effective tool in discerning our times is understanding what\nScripture teaches us about the fallenness of our world and the clear standards\nof scriptural righteousness by which we then measure all we observe, experience,\nand do.<\/p>\n\n

Spin doctors<\/strong>\nDiscernment begins by watching our world with healthy skepticism. Our environment\nis severely damaged by sin. John calls it the cosmos<\/em> and pictures\nit as being managed by Satan, the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31, 16:11).\nChrist told the Pharisees that when Satan is in charge, you can expect both\ndeceit and death to prevail because he was a murderer from the beginning\nand there is no truth in him (John 8:44).<\/p>\n\n

As students of fallen times, we become aware that much of what we hear trumpeted\nas good and right may very well be wrong, regardless how wonderful the spin\nmay be. We’re aware that the end game of the ruler is to create an\nenvironment where death is promoted and affirmed. Healthy skepticism is\nundergirded by the biblical warnings that there is a way that seems right,\nbut its end is the way of death. From God’s point of view, “My thoughts\nare not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways” (Prov. 14:12, Isa.\n55:8).<\/p>\n\n

Skepticism is not enough, however. If all we have is applied suspicion, we\nare likely to spend our lives looking for opportunities to curse the darkness.\nBut we are called to do more. We are called to understand the darkness in\na way that enables us to let the light of Christ shine through us into the\ndeepest darkness of the ruler’s<\/em> night (Matt. 5:14-16).<\/p>\n\n

Understanding the darkness means we recognize that our fallen world is\nfundamentally driven and defined not by sinful activity<\/em> but by non-truth\nvalues<\/em> that produce the wayward behavior. The believers in the Colossian\nchurch who had been “delivered from the domain of darkness into the kingdom\nof His beloved Son” were warned by Paul not to be taken captive by “the\ntraditions of men according to the elementary principles of this world” (Col.\n1:13, 2:8). The elementary principles are the false notions of the ruler—the\nunderlying values that shape the thought and behavior of the cosmos<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

Our task, then, is to resist the temptation to simply bemoan deviant behavior\nand instead identify the values that Satan uses to manage his system and\ncaptivate souls. Then after isolating the invalid values, identify the\ncontrasting kingdom values that lead individuals from darkness to light.<\/p>\n\n

In a pluralistic society, for instance, where everyone is entitled to his\nown truth claims and behavioral preferences, tolerance becomes the leading\nvalue. But measuring unconditional tolerance against Scripture invalidates\nits claim on life and liberty.<\/p>\n\n

God’s Word teaches that in his grace and mercy God is not only willing\nto tolerate the sinner but to pursue him for His glory. Yet in the process,\nGod cannot sacrifice His righteousness by tolerantly affirming the sin. Since\nHe is true, then inevitably there are some things that are right and others\nthat are wrong. His followers live to reflect the worth of the sinner and\nthe weight of the sin in clear, yet compassionate ways.<\/p>\n\n

Another unviable value in today’s world is living to bring selfish pleasure\nto ourselves. God, by contrast, has taught us that true personal pleasure\ncomes not by living to please ourselves, but rather from living to please\nGod and others. In a society that is driven by greed and personal gain, God\ncalls us to the priority of generosity and sacrifice. In a world that values\nself as the center of existence, God advances the value of servanthood. In\na world of unrestrained sensual pursuit, Scripture calls us to self-control.<\/p>\n\n

The discerner’s secret<\/strong>\nDiscerning our times grows not as much from the study of our culture, as\nimportant as that is, as from a deepening understanding of God. Getting a\ngrip on him—the values that emanate from his character, his teaching about\nwhat is true, and his warnings about the schemes of our adversary—will make\nus insightful students of our times.<\/p>\n\n

And as the values of the kingdom become the expression of our lifestyle,\nwe’ll catch the attention of a deceived and dying world.<\/p>\n\n

Douglas Coupland, author of the best-selling work Life After God<\/em>,\nmakes a startling confession: “Now here is my secret: I tell it to you with\nan openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that\nyou are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need\nGod—that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me\ngive, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind,\nas I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond\nbeing able to love” (p. 359).<\/p>\n\n

His plea mirrors the hollow despair that this fallen world produces.\nToday’s task for Christians is to demonstrate the wonderful difference\nso that the Couplands of this world might find the hope that only Christ\ncan give.<\/p>\n\n

Joe Stowell<\/strong>, heard daily on the radio program, “Proclaim,”\nis president of \nMoody Bible Institute\n820 N. LaSalle\nChicago IL 60610<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today\/Leadership<\/em> Journal.\nClick here<\/a> for reprint information on Leadership Journal.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ministry in the mid-seventeenth century was tough, particularly if you were an Anglican priest. The Cromwellian revolution, having toppled the reign of Charles I, proceeded to divest the monarchy of its power and influence. Since the king was the head of the state church, Anglicanism got caught in the fury of the overthrow. In the Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[1965],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[663,664,156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3726,4662,4667,5154,5190,5199],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-21171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-joe-stowell","tax_publications-1999-leadership-journal","tax_publications-fall_1999-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-pop-culture","tax_ctp_tags-postmodernism","tax_ctp_tags-theology","tax_ctp_tags-trends","tax_ctp_tags-truth"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nFoundations In Times Like These - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ministry in the mid-seventeenth century was tough, particularly if you were an Anglican priest. 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