vimeo.com/.../146937565

in the introduction tied use the words a
modern 60 if you would kindly send those

to my family back home that would be
very helpful I'd like for them to

understand really my place in the world
I'm not sure they're quite get it

sometimes a number of years ago I
started to feel dissatisfied with what

felt like a dysfunctional relationship
between my fellow Christians and my

culture american culture and one ways
you know you're in a dysfunctional

relationship this might be helpful for a
few minutes and advice relationship

advice tools as well as you start
realizing both parties are seeing each

other at their worst when the ways you
know something has gone wrong is just

went constantly I'm seeing this other
person at their worst and they're seeing

me at my worst and I start to feel like
that was what was happening with the

Christian community that I loved him as
part of the culture that I loved and was

part of the culture often with seeing
Christians at our worst that are most

vindictive and are most fearful are most
judgmental and that when I was in

Christian settings often when people
talked about the culture that we lived

in that we all shared that what I heard
was the culture at its worst culture at

its most worldly its most damaging and
dangerous and it felt like neither side

was seeing one another at their best and
I started asking why in the world is

this happened why is this you know like
a kid who just grows up in a

dysfunctional family and you don't know
where all that came from a right things

are the way they are but you're in it
you belong to it and that's how I felt I

felt like I without wanting to was part
of the story where something had gone

wrong

and so I started trying to understand
the last and particularly the last

hundred years of how much lower
Christians had related to the culture

around us and i cant believe that we
embraced a series of postures in the

last hundred years that really did not
help us very much one of the things that

we became known for was condemning
culture protests judgments complaint

criticism and sometimes christians
became known especially during a

residence arafat mostly by what we were
against and they're all movements that

define themselves by the things they
didn't do if you didn't do this long

list of things that maybe you were
sufficiently holy and and you know

sufficiently detached from the world you
could call these folks fundamentalist I

don't think it's only fair the
fundamentalists but some of the

Fundamentalist were kinda known by what
they didn't do and their children found

this very constricting the fundamentals
would say don't go to the movies they're

showing that while there are no good
movies and for some of their children

said no we need to go to the movies and
what we need to do is not so much

condemn culture is analyzed it we need
to become students of culture and

examine the world view of the culture
around us and whole shelves of books

have been written analyzing and engaging
culture some of the great book something

very insightful but I start to feel
dissatisfied with this posture to I feel

like well is all we're gonna do all day
all of our lives just analyze what's

going on that's sort of like education
sometimes feels like it's just lots of

analysis and sometimes I think the
academic fallacies once you've analyzed

something you've changed it actually
that's just the first step in any kind

of constructive engagement and what if
we just got stuck in a kind of Christian

library where all we did was talk about
world view but we never added a thing or

contributed anything

and then I noticed the summer fellow
Christians were really good at imitating

culture or copying culture and we even
got pretty good with photoshop so you

know we take something interesting
happening in the culture around us

you know the staples easy button which
for those who are not familiar with it

is a red plastic but that does
absolutely nothing but you can push it

when your mad and initially it was just
an advertising campaign but people

started calling staples and saying I
need one of those easy but and so they

eventually gave in and they start
manufacturing them to you now can buy an

easy button and when you think about it
red plastic but that sits on your desk

and does nothing but you push it when
your mad that is so much like Jesus

that's actually there is the gospel is
nothing like this Jesus is nothing like

a red plastic but not solve your
problems like these problems one

solution is just that easy Jesus that's
not the gospel and I thought like in our

rush to imitate or copy culture even
with good intentions we ended up

borrowing all the wrong assumptions of
culture that life should be easy there

should be a button on it God answered my
but when I thought the gospels are much

deeper more difficult and beautiful
thing than anybody and then I realized

okay so we've got people condemning
culture we've got people critiquing it

we've got people copying and then we
have a lot of people who just simply

consumers we just gotta lay back and lie
on the counter alarm remote controller

like I wonder what's on and whatever you
know the fundamentalist said don't go to

movies and their children even Joel the
new evangelical said oh go to the movies

and investigate their world view and the
grandchildren of anomalous just go to

the movies like we don't ask any big
questions you know Harold and Kumar do

tell us whatever great that's what's on

we don't think about it we don't
interact with it we just let it wash

over us and shape and what struck me
about all of these postures was not just

that they all began with C condemning
critiquing copying consuming which

actually they didn't initially when I
just think about this but in a southern

this friend of mine got a hold of this
material insert teaching at his church

and when I got his notes back everything
began with the same letter and I was

like this is also dislike the southern
route to spiritual gift of alliteration

is it was great gift to the body of
Christ acts or so I use it I could

remember those points you might remember
them it all starts on scene it isn't all

beginning with CD the promise all of
these were reactive they all were

reacting to culture they were waiting
for the culture out there to do

something and then respond with his
criticism with analysis with imitation

with consumption but none of them were
about adding something and I wish this

were just 20th century history but last
year in a number of magazines this ad

ran for a book by a well-known pastor
who I respect and appreciate it and I

have nothing bad to say about the book
but the ad is amazing

these hands are folded in prayer but
their their sheets in heavy duty rubber

gloves and the prayer is deliver us from
culture and there's a lot to say about

this ad you could probably do a whole
class on analyzing the messages in this

very powerful memorable ad but two
things struck me about it one was we've

taken to Lawrence prayer in this little
advertising slogan and taking the phrase

deliver us from evil and just replaced
it as if you could just you know one of

the other culture evil evil culture just
get us out of here Jesus as its culture

and evil are the same thing and then I
had another thought which is okay

suppose god answer this prayer said I
have heard you a rubber glove protected

one with God deliver us to where would
we be if God answered this prayer cuz

culture is not just the bad stuff its
buildings its lights it's clothing

your clothes that you wear culture if
you've ever been to a nude beach I spent

a summer in Greece and got to spend some
time on you because I discovered what a

great gift clothing is to 98% of the
Americas I mean it is just it is a

beautiful thing that we had ourselves
this way and it is a terrifying thing

when it's all British tourists slowly
turning into lobsters in the altogether

on a Greek bTW just less safe please for
the love of God in prison culture it got

delivered us from cultured human beings
don't flourish without culture we're

nothing without all these things that
give us structure and meaning and

possibility and an ability to act in the
world so how could not answer this

prayer and I wondered why is our picture
this protection image when it's not

something more like this kid has just
been having so much fun digging in the

world

yes the world as dirt and yes there's
probably bacteria on his hands right now

but he can washers and she can come into
work and be cleansed renewed and

reoriented here's an immune system that
protects him from the world the worst

that the world could do to him and he
can go out and dig in the dirt and play

in the world and make something when
he's a kid he just makes mud pies and

sand castles but when he grows up he
could actually make something in the

world and why would that that joyful
eight-year-old want to turn into a

self-protective fearful forty
eight-year-old bring to take me out now

get me out of here rather than what can
I do I start to believe that somehow we

had been missing some chapters in our
Bible not literally these chapters are

in every bound bible but you know
everybody has sort of a Bible they

really know and then parts of the Bible
than ever read and I start to feel like

we're missing for especially important
chapters the first two and the last saw

the first two chapters Genesis one into
the story of the good beginning of the

world and the last revelation 21 and 22
this story

the remaking of the world kadri giving
the world its regimes people and if your

bible does not appear functional Bible
the Bible you actually left shape your

imagination doesn't include those book
and chapters in the Bible the first to

the last year what are you left with a
bottle it starts in just three and ends

in revelation twenty now sir what's
justice three this is your biospherians

what's in just three befall the word
fall isn't in there but that's what we

call it I like to call it the
Declaration of Independence

humanity declared their independence
from God they do fall from their

original dignified statuses image
barriers and become embroiled in census

in the arrivals in the world

revelation 20 I don't know if you know
this one but if you go to certain kinds

of charges might have heard it what's
the last thing we see in revelation

twenty the lake of fire

I wanna see that you're fast forward
through the movie skip all the dialogue

and all the dramatic person just watch
the judgment secrets right we're

thinking that always works are swept
into the lake of fire

what happens if you buy list starts with
sin and ends with judge

well it's a bad news too bad news but
it's the Bible that begins with that is

an answer that is which of course leaves
the question well what is the good I

thought about good news what's the good
news here and the way the story

sometimes is told from people who have
this Genesis 32 revelation 20 Bible is

well the good news is that's not your
story you're going to be lifted out of

that story entirely and you'll watch the
world go to hell and you'll cheer from a

heavenly sort of you know bench seats
and you'll watch as that story comes to

its conclusion but you will be taken out
of it while others are left behind

let the reader understand to suffer the
fate of the world the judgment of the

world so the good news is it's not your
story

but what if there's a better story in
the Bible that starts with a could just

this one just has to and ends with AK
horas remade world revelation 21 and 22

how would that change the way we see
culture now so this is going to be very

obvious to you because you have read
these chapters but let's just recall

what they say what they the orientation
they give us to the real story of the

world not a bad news to bed his story
but a good news too good news story so

justice wanted to just a couple themes
of course these are very familiar but so

good just to marinate in the that six
times in Genesis one as God is making

the World God saw that it was good good
good good

the world that culture happens in the
world that we human beings find

ourselves in is not world fundamentally
characterized by conflict and violence

as real as those things are but his but
deeper down and further back is a world

that conflict and said that's made by a
very good God into this world God

introduces these particular creatures
made in His image unlike all the other

creatures and that's what we're
surrounded by in a room like this right

now we're surrounded by image barriers
male and female he created them in the

image of God He created and he says it
and now I want you to be fruitful and

multiply the earth and subdue it go out
into this could wild world and start

culturing and do it everywhere before I
don't want just a few of you I want

teaming image bury all over the world
which means by the way I want cultural

diversity because there's these
image-makers multiply and spread out

through the incredibly diverse natural
world they would naturally develop all

kinds of different cultures that made
different things in the world in

different climates in different
geographies and different latitudes and

so the cultural diversity that we get
little glimpses of in rooms like this is

actually part of God's original good
intentions for the world

and it and one of them to do till it and
keep it that world is good take care of

it

cultivated and then once the image birds
are in the World God says now it's not

just good it's very good so the story of
genesis is from good to very good a good

natural world but once cultures in the
world it's very good couple of Surgeons

of this so the world has green and green
is good

grant is part of just the natural order
of plants but human beings take the

Grand that harvested they crush it they
millet they combine it with a little bit

of Houston salt and water and a little
bit of time and they put in and out

comes bread and so you could say grain
is good but bread is very good

the world has grapes and image various
come along they harvest the grapes they

may be trampled underfoot or crushed
them in some land put them in a vat give

it some time and an amazing thing
happens if you're baptists it turns into

groups use its extraordinary actually
how that works but I'm episcopalian and

for us it turns into wine actually I
just got a lot of trouble are a little

trouble and I would lead the group is
good but why is very good work riches is

also very good and the difference is
image barriers you don't ever get bread

without image peers you dredges there
are no bread trees and it's only through

cultivation that happens at that very
good disappears one appears in the world

it's only through human beings taking
the very good breaks and acting on them

culturing them that you get the very
good wine another example make use of

this so instructor just a major court to
see major chord

and you know the world is full of sound
from the moment that God creates but

it's not real human beings come along
when human beings go along somebody gets

the idea you know if you stretch out a
string of a certain kind of got your

medal until it's tight and tense and
then you pluck it or you strike it as a

piano what do you get a sound a note and
that's not just sound that's music

that's a musical harmonious no one
single note are all these overtime

that's physics have time to go into it
but trust me in that single resonating

string is not just this one of a kind of
here but also the fifth about that and

eventually another note up there which
we call the third above the 50 and all

these all these frequencies are in a
single struck or plucked string and they

make up what we call a major court

and then you can take a slightly more
complicated 24

any kind of lead you back back back to
the spot

or cords 14

you can now it's the relative minor it's
minor under 14 516 minor you are done

you're like set

often as you want

this most basic secrets and he's just
done 14

in the sport

so you start to explore all these other
possibilities with this one

visit here for a moment

what's coming up

we all those harmonies and overtones are
funding

you cannot just

and now it's been the scene

is very good and that's just the
simplest little piece and whenever you

see image barriers doing what they're
made to do this is what they're doing

taking the raw materials the good raw
materials of the road gonna they're

saying how can I cultivate this how can
I create with this what possibilities

are lying in there waiting to be
explored we mentioned my family at home

so here's a picture of my wife my wife
is a musician but she's also a physicist

my wife teaches cause students physics
and she works in a lab with all this

complicated equipment behind her I have
no idea what she does or what equipment

does please don't ask she also does math
right so I have no idea what these

equations are I'm told they're important
and that like they make the world work

and so forth and that's what my wife
does and in her own way she's doing what

doc was doing and what artists do and
what engineers do and what doctor says

she's taking a part of the world and
digging deeply into it until she finds

what's good in it and then using her
image bearing capacity she's adding to

the very goodness of the world that's
the story of genesis good to very good

natural world to cultured world now very
quickly what happens when you go over

the revelation 21 I saw a new heaven and
a new earth for the first seven in the

first year that passed away in the sea
was no more and I saw the holy garden

the restored Garden of Eden coming down
out of heaven from God with none of that

icky human culture to be found in it
anywhere

this is actually really from second
opinions 315 which is the most cited

book in the Bible god helps those who
help themselves

second opinions 15 know there's not what
travelers and 21 says the whole thing it

does not fair I saw in your garden it
says I saw a new heaven on earth yes the

first in the first are the passwords yes
there seems no marks but I saw the holy

city New Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven from God not a guard at a city

and what is a city it's a place where
the diversity and depth of culture has

reached critical mass where everywhere
you look you see culture in all of its

possibility of its variety and in this
work in the city

foundations the wall the city are
adorned with every Jul John list them so

that I'd never heard of it doesn't say
every mineral doesn't say you know there

is a mineral minerals are nature nature
natural our culture says the kings of

the earth will bring their glory and
people will bring into that city the

glory and the honor of the nation's the
work of culture making will not be lost

will not simply be swept into the lake
of fire

anything that was the fulfillment of
God's intention for his creation brings

glory to God will be in that city

this was on my Starbucks cup couple
years ago when they were putting quotes

on the sides of the cups from joel stein
is a columnist for the LA times here's

what he said how dan is totally
overrated it seems boring clouds

listening to people play the harp it
should be someone you can't wait to go

like a luxury hotel blue skies and soft
music were enough to keep people in line

in the 17th century kevin has to step it
up

they're basically getting my because
they only have to be better I reverse I

had three thoughts one was not what we
do not live up to some otherworldly

cloud hartsfield place nothing against
harps but you know there are other

instruments saxophones

milan's you know electric guitars we
believe heaven is coming to Earth we

believe that the best meal you've ever
had the funniest joke ever told the best

story you've ever read or just piece of
the kind of abundance of the world is

waiting for my second thought was who in
the world told Joel Stein this is what

we Christians and then I heard this
third awful we told him he thinks this

is no

go out into this world to take the good
World God is made that others have

already cultivated made very good and
you do your part to shape it to tell it

to keep it to cultivate to create
something that might be called the

quarry and the honor of the nation's
that will give God glory and his image

that's what we go out to do they have a
wonderful day you're dismissed Biola

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