Standing Firm in a Changing Cultural Landscape

But just R.C.'s constancy, and the way that he had kind of given that perspective of what it means to stand firm, allowed the ministry to take its next step into service without him at the helm. And, and so much of what Ligonier has been doing over the past several years, what we see at Reformation Bible College, and Dr. Godfrey, you stepping in to be chairman, we've really not sought to do anything innovative. We try and get the Word out in innovative ways, but we've not changed the message at all. [00:53:48]

And normally, I'm a lumper. I like to see continuities and how one thing prepares for another, one leads into another. But I really have a chopper moment, and that is that with the reaction to the Supreme Court decision about gay marriage in America, we had a moment where America moved from having a formal and dominating cultural commitment to certain Christian values, to a moment where we moved utterly away from that. And we really are in a pre-, in a post-Christendom moment. [00:193:20]

And we saw that illustrated powerfully with the reaction to the speech that this football kicker from the Kansas City Chiefs got. He's a conservative Catholic. He's asked to speak at a conservative Catholic university. He gets a standing ovation from the student body for the speech he gives. About 150,000 people signed a petition that he should be fired for expressing Roman Catholic views to Roman Catholic students at a Roman Catholic college! That shows how antagonistic the culture has become to Christian moral values. [00:286:52]

And that's why I think, in one sense, it's, it's all the more exciting to be talking about this, to be able to say that we have timeless truths that we need to stand on. We speak of the historic Christian faith. We speak of historic Christian orthodoxy. We speak of the Reformed faith. We speak of the Reformed classical tradition, that these are time-tested truths that we just need to hold on to. [00:458:72]

And so, what we see unraveling in the 1960s, what the culture realized in the 1960s, is that the greatest peer pressure tactic they could use to try to convince Christians and try to convince those who held to the traditions of our forefathers is the peer pressure tactic of love. Because they realize that if they can use the word "love," love according to the world's definition of love, well, then they can pressure us into becoming more like them. [00:616:08]

And so, all we have to do as Christians, to be faithful and to be unwavering is speak the truth and not be afraid of speaking the truth. Speak it gently, not harshly, but speak it boldly, ultimately, because God is the One listening and God is the One we're striving to honor. So, just do it. Just speak the truth and let the chips fall where they may. The Spirit will take care of the rest. God is sovereign. God will protect you. [00:772:48]

And I come back to Paul. I was thinking about this as Dr. Thomas was preaching from Colossians, and in Colossians 2, and Paul says that "You've been taken captive. This, this vain philosophy has deceived you," in Colossians 2:8. And then he turns immediately to say who Christ is, and that in Christ he is, "the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form." It's one of the most succinct Christological formulas in all of Scripture, the God man. [00:1020:08]

We have to begin saying to our kids in church, in the church, "Your identity is in Christ. You are complete in Christ. If you have Christ, you have everything you need." We cannot tell them that truth enough and then turn around also and speak that truth to culture. These other things are not freeing. Actually, it's just going to drive you further into bondage, further into shame, further into guilt, further into dysfunction. [00:1057:00]

And, yeah, people aren't going to like it. But, Jesus experienced that, as we see so clearly in John 6, which I call "Jesus' Great Church Shrinkage Seminar." Have you ever been to a church shrinkage seminar? Nobody puts on a church shrinkage seminar. But Jesus in John 6 starts with five thousand people, and ends up with eleven. And the point is not that smaller is better; the point is Jesus tells the whole truth and then says, "Do you believe it or not?" [00:1348:16]

And there's something about being American. We are so, our metrics is always results. And we, we don't like the idea that we no longer have a seat at the table, that, that politicians don't want to have us come and, and do the prayer breakfasts, and give the prayer at the inauguration. Like that really bothers us as American evangelicals, because our metrics is power and numbers. And, and that's never been the metrics. It's always been faithfulness. [00:1432:48]

And, as we're faithful, God bless us. [00:1459:80]