Welcome into the Dean's List, a brief analysis of news, culture, and theological trends from a biblical worldview. I'm Paul Dean. It's Wednesday, June the 5th. Bill Cook has posted something interesting that I want to talk about for just a moment or two. He's talking to pastors. Essentially, he says when the first pastor took off a suit and decided to preach in jeans with the shirt tails out, he was original. But now that the majority of pastors in America seem to be doing the same thing, well, it's just not that innovative anymore. It's more like following the herd. He does mention a particular brand of t-shirt, the Affliction brand, the shirts with the elaborate crosses, the wings, the embroidery on them. He says they just need to get rid of those things and take them on over to Goodwill. He talks about attending pastors' conferences. He says it's like attending a cloning convention, all these pastors wearing the same outfits, the jeans, the pointy-toed shoes, the cool glasses. But here's the question, here's the interesting thing that he gets at. What does that say about following a God who introduced himself in the first verse of the Bible as a creator? The point is, according to Phil Cook, when you spend less time chasing cool and more time being truly original, spending too much time chasing relevance results in becoming hopelessly irrelevant. Originality isn't about following the herd, it's about charting new ground. I think he's onto something here. He's asking the question, where are the Christian innovators? talks about the Middle Ages, talks about the Renaissance and how the church believed in artistic talent so much that they became patrons of the arts. They went around and looked for artists, found the most talented artists, found the most original artists of their time. They funded their best projects. But today we're satisfied with ripping off popular culture and following the herd. What kind of impact would it make, now here's the question, what kind of impact would it make in the secular culture if we really embrace our God-given creativity. Well, as I said, Phil Cook is on to something here. I want to deal with it under two headings, if I may. First, vocation. Now, when we think of the word vocation, we tend to think of career or job, but we really don't need to think of it that way. I'm certainly talking in some sense about the particular job that you do, but the word vocation comes from the Latin word vocatio, which means calling. And the reality is that God has created each one of us with different gifts, with different talents. He's put us all in different spheres of influence. He's given each one of us a particular calling. You may be called to be a pastor. You may be called to be a letter carrier. You may be called to be a cook. Whatever the case may be, that calling is from the Lord based upon the desires of your heart as you're seeking to glorify Him, based upon the gifts, the talents, again, the spheres of influence in which God has placed you. The problem is that we in the church today too often make a distinction between the secular and the sacred. We compartmentalize things. We've got our religious activity, you know, over here on Sunday and then we've got our secular activity throughout the week and the Bible really doesn't present our lives that way. The Bible essentially says that all of life is worship. We're to present our bodies living sacrifices. We're to do all that we do for the glory of God. And so your calling, let's say you're called to be a cook, or you're called to be an engineer, or a construction worker, or a banker, or a stockbroker, your calling is no lower or no less relevant than that individual who has a calling to be a pastor or missionary. Those are just different callings. I think we tend to elevate pastors and missionaries because they're doing the real work of the ministry, we say. Well again, biblically speaking, God is the one who has called us to each one of our vocations, our callings. And what we want to do is think about our vocation in connection to the cultural mandate, for example. What does the Bible tell us in the book of Genesis? It says, well, be fruitful and multiply, subdue the earth, right? We're all given that command, subdue the earth. You come to Matthew 5, Jesus says we are salt and light. We're to be that preserving influence in culture. We're to be that enlightening influence in culture. Obviously, that ties in with the Great Commission. We're to make disciples of all the nations. What does it mean to make disciples? Well, certainly we're appointing people to the Lord Jesus Christ. We want people to be saved. But then we're teaching them how to obey the Lord Jesus. Well, part of that is doing the good works, not just spiritual works, but the good works, all kinds of good works that God has given us to do, that we might be salt and light in this world, that we might subdue the earth, as it were. We really need to see our callings in connection to God's kingdom, the advance of God's kingdom. anytime we do what we do for the glory of god we're bringing god's kingdom to bear in this world we give a cup of water in the name of jesus we're bringing the kingdom to bear that's what we're talking about so vocation calling now the second issue i want to talk about is a little term that uh... really i think andy crouch uh... has coined it's uh... the term culture making so when you take that cultural mandate you know so do the earth salt and light When you understand that we are to advance the kingdom, what we're trying to do is create kingdom culture. What we're trying to do in our vocations, what we're trying to do at work, in our neighborhoods, in our community meetings, when we interact with people, we are trying to create culture that reveals God. When we are kind, we're putting God's kindness on display. When we are creative, we are putting God's creativity on display. put God's creativity on display. Well, you do the same thing in different ways in the calling that God has placed upon your life. So we want to critique culture to be sure. We want to engage culture to be sure. But we want to create culture. We want to put God's glory on display. We want to lavish the gifts of Jesus on others in the particular ways that God has given each one of us to do that. So let me go back to Phil Cook one more time. What kind of impact would it make in the secular culture if we really embraced our God-given creativity? Well, let's turn to the Christian Post. Pastors Matt Chandler and David Platt are preaching that single men should search for a godly wife. Both pastors say that men of the church are often waiting when they should be taking the initiative to find a wife. Here's what David Platt says, quote, resist the ever-present trend and temptation in our day to prolong adolescence and consequence singleness in the twenties and thirties. Grow up! That's what David Platt says. Some of you need to stop playing video games and get a date. Well, of course, This is biblical advice. Much has been said about the infantilization of our culture, a failure to launch, as it were, boys not becoming men. And, of course, there's a sense in which there's an issue of liberty here, a liberty of conscience. Again, everyone is different and we're not trying to bind anyone's conscience. But the reality is, on the other hand, there is this biblical teaching this biblical principle that boys do need to grow up and they need to grow up well sooner rather than later biblically speaking and across time they have done that. What we're seeing is an anomaly in our culture. What we're seeing is something that's relatively new. Boys need to become men and they need to establish households for the glory of God. there's really a shirking of responsibility here we live in a culture of individualism we live in a culture that says well i just want to be entertained i really don't want to take responsibility for this that or the other i mean that's that's why we have uh... all of the well all of the sexual immorality all of the you know the free love that came out of the sixties that's why we have birth control that's why we have abortion because people want the the fun as it were they want the activities that they want but they don't want the responsibility that goes with engagement in those activities. They don't want the consequences. And so even here, boys remaining boys until they're 25, 30 years old, not taking responsibility, not really working a full-time job, not seeking a wife, not, you know, growing a family, assuming they're not called to singleness. It's just an issue of self-centeredness. And so we have to ask ourselves, all of us, every one of us, why are we here? Why did God create me? What is my purpose in life? Am I here for personal fulfillment or am I here for some bigger reason? Well, again, we need to get back to thinking big picture. We need to be thinking God's kingdom. The Lord Jesus came to establish His kingdom and He's calling people out of darkness into light, into the kingdom of light. He's calling people into His kingdom and so we get into His kingdom not just so that we can, well, avoid hell. We certainly do that. but we get into his kingdom because God wants us to be part of that that advancement force part of that force that's advancing his gospel, his glory, his will, his kingdom across the globe so singleness for example is not an arena for personal fulfillment singleness is a gift for some for God's glory while we're at it marriage is not an arena for personal fulfillment either rather we're to be fruitful We're to subdue the earth, as I mentioned a little bit earlier. That too is culture making. We are to do all that we do for the glory of God. That is not to say that we don't find personal fulfillment in the callings that God has placed upon our lives, whether it be singleness or marriage. There is personal fulfillment, but that's not the primary purpose. Again, not an arena. Marriage, not an arena for personal fulfillment, but rather an arena for glorifying God. But a lot of folks this week obviously are weighing in on the Boy Scouts' decision to change its moral stance toward homosexuality. Rick Phillips of Reformation 21 is one of them. He makes it clear that Christians must withdraw from the organization. He gives three big reasons. One, Boy Scouts take an oath to be morally straight and obviously Christians cannot concede that homosexuality is being morally straight. Obviously if you look at romans one uh... homosexuality is condemned to sin if you look at first corinthians six paul talks about the fact that before some of the believers there in corinth were saved they were homosexuals but they were they were uh... changed they were sanctified they were delivered out of that sinful lifestyle so obviously you can't be morally straight and affirm an openly gay lifestyle uh... the second issue is moral cowardice phillips points out that The Scout Law calls on boys to be brave, yet after many years of clearly upholding their values, well, the Boy Scouts have changed their policy in response to public pressure and it seems financial interest. And so we ask the question, is this the message that Boy Scouts exist to convey to America's youth? Be willing to change your values when they become unpopular or costly? There's little point to a leadership training organization that conveys this kind of message. The third big issue that Phillips mentions is safety. Bottom line, starting in 2014, Boy Scouts will send 11-year-old boys into the woods with 17-year-old boy leaders who are practicing homosexuals. This policy is made even more alarming when one realizes that teenage boys are those most likely to molest a younger child. So older teens now who are practicing homosexuals are going to be put in tents with younger boys? Are you kidding me? Well, according to Phillips, that's unconscionable, and I agree. Even if local troops think themselves unlikely to experience this problem, Christians really can't remain affiliated with an organization that, at the level of policy, would put young boys under its care, under this kind of safety risk. Now, here's a practical question that Phillips deals with. When do we disaffiliate if we're involved in the Boy Scouts? He says that Christians should wait a few months. I mean, part of the reason is it's going to take a little while for the new policy to take effect, and some are close to achieving their Eagle Scout status. So, it's critical that we get out, but not necessarily immediately. There are always other considerations. He also says that Christians in scouting leadership positions can make arrangements to start or be involved in new organizations into which Christian boys or troops can transfer more or less intact. Well, I think he's right, of course, and I think we can think a little bit further on this, as always. And, as always, the issue is worldview. here's an organization found that in a culture that was rooted in a christian world view our culture something everybody in our culture you know was a christian it's not that everybody believe the bible but because the vast majority of people uh... understood the bible believe the bible was a large christian influence uh... uh... and in our founding days and and thereafter we we really have been influenced by a Christian worldview. We look at the world through a Christian lens and so the issue is, well, here's an organization that was rooted in a Christian worldview and like so many other organizations in our culture has all of a sudden been swept away in the wake of our cultural mudslide. Why? Well, again, it is the erosion of the Christian worldview in our culture. And this is yet another reason that Christians need to take seriously the issue of gospel advance. And we need to take seriously the issue of gospel advance in terms of kingdom advance, in terms of culture making. That's been my theme this particular broadcast. Why? Well, because I think, again, too many Christians have compartmentalized their faith lives with their quote-unquote secular lives and we don't see that we are kingdom citizens 24-7. We don't see that it's all about advancing God's kingdom 24-7. It's all about offering our bodies as living sacrifices every moment of every day. Worship is every day. Worship is not Sunday morning. Worship is every day. Advancing God's kingdom, giving that cup of water, culture making, fulfilling our callings. Here's the reality. Ideas have consequences. Culture is shaped by ideas. Culture is shaped by what people believe. And it's not enough for us Christians to oppose homosexuality. We have to communicate the why. We have to communicate why homosexuality is wrong. Obviously God says so, but why does God say so? And who is God for that matter? Is God real? How do we know that God is real? These are the kinds of things that we need to be thinking about and talking about. We need to be living out the reality of God in the everyday of our lives. Listen to this. How many of us lament the removal of God talk from the public square and yet are guilty of being part of the problem because we don't talk about God ourselves in our public squares? Are you talking about God? Are you advancing His kingdom? Are you living for His glory? Do you see all of life as worship? Those are the issues before us. If you're committed to these things, God's just going to come out. And that's how we influence this culture in which God has placed us. If you've been listening to The Dean's List, a brief analysis of news and culture from a biblical worldview. For more resources, visit our website at pbcsc.org. I'm Paul Dean. Join me next time for The Dean's List.