Rightly does Os Guinness claim that we are living in a cultural moment. We’re watching uncertainty unfold daily–the enchantment of social media, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, India-Pakistan tensions, and the rise of Artificial Intelligence. We have numerous updates and current explanations, as early or as late as we want to check our feeds.
How can Christians live out their faith amid the chaos and confusion? How can Christians stay faithful while the world goes the way of Cain (Jude 1:11)?
Three biblical solutions guide us: rediscover the substance and significance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, understand the evils of our day and engage in biblical wisdom, source our strength in the gospel of Jesus Christ’s power alone.
Rediscovering the Gospel’s Substance and Significance
The Substance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
What is the gospel? How would you describe the gospel if you were to share this message with a friend?
The gospel of Jesus Christ is news, not advice. Unlike religions requiring followers to abide by rules or sacred guidelines that range from the Five Pillars of Islam to the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, Christianity offers news about God, who came to us to restore us to Himself. The gospel begins with God–Triune, holy, good, loving, and more, who created mankind for fellowship with Him. Mankind disobeyed, facing God’s divine judgment. Yet, God provided a way to restore that fellowship through sacrifice, leading to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, satisfying God’s wrath, paying the guilt-penalty for sin. His resurrection removes shame-riddled humanity, offering a new nature in Christ. Christ’s life, death, and resurrection are the first-fruits of God’s eternal promise for all those in Christ and guarantee that future fellowship with God is secure.
The Significance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
What fruits are produced by a rediscovery of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
First, understanding our identity in Christ removes the fear of failure and the pride of success. What does that mean? Fear of failure is removed because a secure identity in Christ does not identify with the failed actions or behavior. In other words, a Christian’s life alone is not tied to actions. Second, the pride of success is balanced by the significance of being in Christ. In other words, the life of Christ in Christianity is the most remarkable of all. Therefore, when success does come, it doesn’t puff up because it understands itself already to have experienced true success in Christ.
Finally, the gospel-centered life produces at least three fruits: (1) right thinking (Col. 3:2; Phil. 4:8), (2) reordered desires (Gal. 5:16-17; Phil. 2:13), and (3) realigned behavior (Rom. 12:2; Heb. 12:1-3).
Understanding the evils of our day and how to engage in biblical wisdom.
Mirkwood, Sociologists, & a Culture that has become a god.
There is a scene in The Hobbit where Bilbo, Thorin, and the dwarves find themselves walking through Mirkwood forest on their way to the Lonely Mountain. The forest is enchanted and causes its inhabitants to become disoriented and confused. The movie captures it well–as the company is making its way through, it quickly falls victim to its poisoned air. Disoriented, colorless, and walking in circles, they quickly become victim of Ungoliant’s spider webs and are trapped as food for her spiders. It’s not until Bilbo, seeking the sun, climbs to the top of the trees above the canopy and breathes clean fresh air, that he can free them from their predicament.
We are living in a modern-day Mirkwood. The enchantment of social media, pleasure, influencer status, and more has filled our minds with disorientation and re-form-ation. Unless we live under a rock, we are impacted by the poison daily, even if it’s in small doses.
How are we to live in such a time? The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus, surrounded by the same corrupt influences, offers us sage and godly counsel. In Ephesians 5:15-16, Paul states, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” Three points to note:
- What? Live wisely. What does it mean to live wisely? To live in wisdom from a biblical perspective means to fear the Lord (Prov. 9:10). Fear of the Lord is based on a trust rooted in the character of God. Since God is perfect, He alone is perfectly trustworthy. How far does this trust spread? To all things. Thus, to fear the Lord, one trusts that God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Recreator of all things. With that in mind, we can see Paul’s second point: to answer why we should live wisely.
- Why? We live in an evil day. When we live wisely in an evil day–trusting God–we shine as lights in a dark world. The New Testament provides point after point of what this means. In brief, living wisely in an evil day is concisely described in James 3:17-18, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” In other words, wise living in an evil day brings peace. Who doesn’t want or need peace? The final question is, how do we live wisely in an evil day? Paul provides two terms outlined below.
- How? Consider and redeem. To consider means to process information by giving thought (BDAG, 179). Put simply, to consider means to weigh things out. We always do this when we drive, choose clothes, or decide what to eat. Paul is saying that we need to do the same things with our lives–take inventory of the patterns our lives have been following. Second, redeem means to make the most of an opportunity (BDAG, 343). By redeeming, we exchange the lesser for the greater. Putting the two together means that living wisely in an evil day means we consider the paths our lives have taken and realign our decisions with the best according to God’s Word.
By understanding the evils of our day and how to engage in biblical wisdom, Christians are better witnesses, less concerned with the world’s noise, and more effective in their spheres of influence. But we will know this. We know that godly wisdom is better than worldly wisdom, and we can sometimes fail to deploy that type of wisdom when things go wrong or against our expectations. Traffic? Money situations? Difficult relationships? Being fired from work? Rejected by a friend? Assume success is all because of you? We need an alien strength to become our strength and grant us the power to walk in biblical wisdom. That type of strength comes from God alone. It is the strength of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sourcing strength in the gospel of Jesus Christ and its power alone.
Willpower varies from person to person. Some are endowed with extraordinary self-drive. The feats that mankind can accomplish are quite remarkable–breaking the 4-minute mile, summitting Mt. Everest, walking on the moon, inventing the iPhone, Artificial Intelligence, and more. However, at some point, someone surpasses even the most remarkable accomplishments. At some point, our resolve fades, bodies fail, minds forget, and ultimately, we all must face death.
This maps over directly to the Christian life. No matter how hard we try, we will make mistakes, frustrate even the nicest people, and hurt the darkest heart. Why? We’re sinners in need of grace. Our human spiritual strength has limits, as does our physical, emotional, and intellectual strength. Therefore, we need power outside of us to sustain us in living out this wisdom that God requires of His children.
How do we get this wisdom? Paul describes in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is powerful for salvation. What does that mean? It means that what Christ accomplished with His life, death, and resurrection enabled God to grant us grace with the power to save. What are we saved from? We are saved from the penalty of the original sin we inherited and the actual sin we committed. We are saved for God to use as instruments in His hands to accomplish His mission on earth as it is in heaven. This power comes only to those who are made new. While it may empower some for a season, it is availed permanently to those in Christ as Paul described as new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17). Thus, the power of the gospel is forever accessible to God’s children, i.e., Christians.
There’s a problem on at least two levels: (1) our sinful flesh (Rom. 6:13-24) and (2) our pride, bringing God’s opposition (James 4:6). These two challenges we live with each day has the potential to cause us to grieve (Eph. 4:30) and quench (1 Thess. 5:19) the Spirit. The bottom line is that when we live in our flesh and pride, we reject God’s grace and instead find our strength in something else. This happens practically every day. It could be sourcing strength in substances, opinions of others, positions at work, friend group, relationships, social status, and more. We know running close to or directly in self-reliance when our Bibles are closed and we’re not praying.
Andrew Murray rightly stated that as water flows to the lowest part of the room, God’s grace also flows to the lowest and most humble person. This is why Paul will say that God’s strength is given to the weak (2 Cor. 12:9) and James will agree that God’s grace is given to the humble (James 4:6).
Thus, to live wisely, the Christian needs strength from God, freely given because of Christ’s work, and extended to the humble who recognize and realize their need.
Conclusion
How are Christians to engage in such a time as this? How can we live out our faith amid the chaos and confusion? The Christian must rediscover the substance and significance of the gospel, understand our evil day, and live wisely in the power granted through the gospel of Jesus Christ.