Plugged in by Daniel Strange

PLUGGED IN

by Daniel Strange

INTRODUCTION

We live in a world of constant information.  How do we know what`s true?  We look for an authority we can rely on.  By and large, most people still seem to have a deep-seated desire to trust people and institutions.

For Christians, there`s an added question: how do we know what`s right?  As followers of Jesus, we want to think, speak and act in a way that honours him. We want to "set our minds on things above" (Colossians 3 verse 2) but in reality, most of the time our minds are submerged in a constant stream of stories.  The problem is not that these cultural stories are bad in and of themselves, it`s more that we`re ill-equipped to know quite what to make of them.  How does what I watch on a Saturday night link with what I hear at church on a Sunday morning?

If you`ve been a Christian for a while, then chances are that you`ve heard the old cliche that we need to be "in the world but not of the world".  But what does that even mean?  Or perhaps you`ve read the bit where Peter tells us to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Peter 3 verse 15) but you`re scared that someone might actually ask you, because you wouldn`t know what to say.

Some of us just want to "look in".  We stick our heads in the sand, get into our holy huddle and Christian bubble and hang on for dear life.  We put our fingers in our ears so that we can`t hear the noise outside, while at the same time singing loudly to one another about Jesus coming back soon when all the outside stuff will go away.  Until then, we keep ourselves safe from worldly influences by only ever reading Amish romance novels or the latest releases from our favourite celebrity pastor.

Some of us instinctively "lash out".   This is our sanctified "fight" response.  We get all huffy, red-faced and finger-pointy at the culture around us.  Or we just tut and roll our eyes at sex scenes in films or the bad language on TV.  At its worst, our healthy belief in judgment turns into an ugly judgmentalism.  Our proclamation of the good news of Jesus is heard as a rant on morality.  And then we wonder why people "out there" don`t want to come and be with us "in here".

Then, some of us end up "looking like".  Whatever the motivation, our lives - and our cultural diets - are indistinguishable from the neighbour`s next door and our churches end up looking not much different from the local sports club.  Maybe it`s a well-intentional drive to be "relevant".  Maybe it`s a reaction against judgmentalism.  Maybe it`s simply an indulgence of our sinful nature.  Whatever it is, we struggle to be recognised as "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God`s special possesson" (1 Peter 2 verse 9)  We have become experts at conforming "to the pattern of this world" when we`ve expressly been told not to (Romans 12 verse 2).

There is another way - because it is possible to be truly "in" the world instead of "looking in" - without being "of" the world and looking like it.

It`s possible to engage with culture in a way that`s truthful and gracious, not angry and self-righteous.

It`s possible to consume culture without either being bewitched by it - buying into everything it tells us - or bewildered by it.

It`s possible to watch TV and read novels and play video games in a way that actually feeds our faith rather than wither it.

It`s even possible for you to be that person who starts off talking to a friend about last night`s football and ends up talking about Jesus.

This book will help you to process the cultural stories you hear every day.  You can`t escape culture but you can engage culture.

CHAPTER 1 WHAT CULTURE IS (AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE)

Culture has 3 senses coming from its Latin roots:

Colere referring to agriculture - that`s about tilling the ground and growing things.
Colonus which is to do with the idea of inhabiting something.
Cultus which is to do with honour and worship.

Today we use the term culture in different ways, mainly as a reflection of the way it`s been passed around between various academic disciplines.

Arts Definition - still associated with the idea of refined taste and manners.  Culture has a definite sense of "oughtness" there are things that belong to culture and other things that definitely do not.

Social Sciences Definition - all human beings belong to a culture and every culture brings its own distinctive contribution.  It refers to every activity and artefact that humans create - both individually and as communities and societies which gives them order, identity and meaning.  It`s everything from music and stores to what you eat and what you wear (and when); from what happens at a wedding to whether it`s socially acceptable to whistle in the street or not.  It covers the ordinary and the every day.  In this social sciences view it was and still is possible to claim that some cultures have more to contribute to human existence than others.  Distinctions might be made between "primitive" or "advanced" cultures or between "high" culture and "pop" culture.

We appear to be far more reluctant today to make prescriptions about cultural practices - that is, judging whether something is right or wrong.  Instead we prefer to stick to descriptions of cultural practices which carry no value judgements.  However, this alleged neutrality does grate with our daily experience and natural instincts.  We say we "don`t want to judge" and "each to their own", but deep down we don`t find it easy to separate facts and values.

Cultural Studies Definition - the study of signs and symbols and how we interpret them.  Cultural studies is interested in the subjects of power and politics and how these relate to ethnicity, class, age and gender.  Culture and cultural studies are about identity - how it`s defined and more importantly by whom.  It`s all about our "glocal" world; recognising both global and local influences.  It`s all about "hybridity" recognising that we seem to be made up of a mix of cultural identities.  it`s all about "liminality"; the disorientation of living in the midst of cultural change - in the gap "in between" where we`ve been and where we are going.  The more identities we seem to collect, the less we are sure about who we are.

Stories Definition - we see elements of truth in all 3 of these definitions.  Rather than seeing culture as a "thing", we`ll be thinking of culture as the way we live in the world and interpret what`s around us.  The definition of culture for this book is: culture is the stories we tell that express meaning about the world.

Culture expresses meaning.  It`s the way we make meaning and sense of the world even if the conclusion is that there is no meaning.  Culture is the way we communicate and "live" our worldview - what`s important, what`s right and wrong, what is true and how we can know it, and how to be happy.

Culture is stories.  Some stories use words, others are wordless.  Some stories are fictional; others are factual.  Some stories are long; others are 140 characters.  All of these - in one way or another - are telling stories that express meaning about the world around us.

Why should Christians bother engaging with culture?  4 reasons:

We care because we`ve got no choice - it is inevitable because created humans are cultural beings.

You both consume and create culture every day.  But you also belong to a culture - and that`s an undeniable part of who you are.  As Christians our identity is first and foremost as people who are "in Christ".  But this spiritual reality doesn`t cancel out the earthly reality that we all come from somewhere.  We were all born at a certain time and in a certain place, into a certain family.  We all have our own identity that we express in the stories we create, and a set of cultural stories that we grew up with that have in turn formed our identity.  None of us escape our culture when we approach the bible - all of us look at it through a particular cultural filter, like coloured lenses in a pair of glasses.  God reveals himself truthfully and clearly.  He is not located in and limited by culture.  He is the unique Creator and distinct from everything else which is created.  So although no human can communicate gospel truth in a way that is unaffected by culture, that truth itself can be above and beyond culture.  We can`t escape our culture, so we need to be aware of it.  We can and should embrace it because we recognise and celebrate the wonderful combination of both Christian cultural unity, which is not a bland uniformity and Christian cultural diversity which is not ugly division.

We care about following Jesus.

We engage with culture because we want to follow Jesus faithfully as we live in his world.  And part of living in his world involves consuming culture and creating culture.  First we want to be faithful to Jesus as we consume culture.  When John wrote his first letter to Christians in Asia, the final thing he wanted his audience to hear as it was read aloud was this "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5 verse 21).  Idols are counterfeit god-substitutes which have captured our hearts, when our hearts should be captured by Jesus.  In order to keep ourselves from idols, we need to be able to recognise them and learn how they operate.  Keeping ourselves from idols requires us to put something else in their place, because our hearts are hardwired to worship something.

We care about telling others about Jesus.

No one becomes a Christian unless the Holy Spirit mraculously makes a dead heart alive.  And yet, the Holy Spirit works through means.  Paul fully relied on the person and work of the Holy Spirit and yet still he reasoned, argued and proved.  Reasoning doesn`t mean being "rationalistic" putting reason as our final judge or authority.  God speaking through his word is our final authority.  Arguing doesn`t mean being "argumentative" like characters on a day-time television talk show.

But every Christian is called to "give a reason" for hope (1 Peter 3 verse 15).  This is not merely an intellectual exercise as if we are just brains on sticks.  Nor is it a vague, airy fairy "maybe" hope.  It`s a confidence "living hope".  It`s the kind of hope that engages all of who we are: our emotions, intellect, will, desire and imagination.  We are whole people talking to other whole people and introducing them not to a philosophy or a worldview or even a message but a person.  Sin and unbelief manifest themselves differently cultures and sub-cultures.

The good news of Jesus Christ is deeply implausible in our culture at the moment.  It`s not that most people have spent endless hours studying Christianity and then decided that it`s not for them.  It`s not that they`ve necessarily had a bad experience of Christians in the past which has turned them off.  Rather it`s that the cultural air they`ve breathed in all their lives has shaped them to assume that Christianity is irrelevant, untrue and intolerant.  Our culture is such that Jesus is so far down people`s agenda that he`s not even an option to consider, much less one to accept.

To effectively engage our friends with the gospel - to give them a "reason" they`ll find reasonable - we need to understand exactly what their unspoken assumptions are and how we can get round them.  And to identify their assumptions we have to understand their worldview.  How?  By looking at the cultural stories they consume and create.  Our secular age is not so much about declining church attendance or even the question of whether religion should have a place in the public square and in politics. Our secular age is not about what people believe or don`t believe, but more about what is believable.  Christianity and religion in general is questioned and contested in a way that it just wasn`t hundreds of years ago.  One of the features of our secular culture is that people are disorientated and ill at ease.  We need to be honest and shift our thinking from seeing the "secular" as simply being "out there" to understanding it as the cultural context in which we follow Christ and tell others about him.  Many non-Christians have assumed their objections without ever questioning them in detail.  We do in fact have an evangelistic way in.  But we need to know where to look.

We care about Jesus.

Jesus Christ has the right to be Lord of all.  His is "the name that is above very name." (Philippians 2 verse 9)  He does not accommodate or adapt himself to any culture; rather he reclaims it all because it`s all legitimately his.  Christians have a duty to challenge areas where Jesus` rule is not respected.  Stories about anything in creation that do not relate that something to Christ are always incomplete and to that extent misleading.  For that reason "we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10 verse 5)  And that starts with working to make our own thoughts obedient to Christ for the sake of his glory.  Not just the obviously "wrong" thoughts on lust and love but all of them.  Our thoughts on money, family, government - all the assumptions our culture feeds us day by day that in reality are contrary to Christ, if only we could see it.

So we engage with culture because we`re compelled to contend for Christ`s honour - we want him to get the glory he deserves.

Engaging with culture concerns our view of who we are as human beings, our Christian discipleship, our witness and evangelism.  Most of all, it concerns the lordship of Jesus Christ.  Nothing is more important than that.  Engaging with culture is essential - so how do we go about actually doing it?

CHAPTER 2 THE STORY CULTURE

In the first chapter of Genesis we watch as out of nothing, God creates a vast array of good things.  The variety is amazing: light and dark, wet and dry, "great creatures" and "teeming" life forms.  God speaks and it all comes into existence.  But he saves the best till last - the real highlight of his creation is you and me.  Being made in God`s image is about revealing who God is, relating to God, to each other and to the rest of creation and representing God.  God reveals himself to be a speaker and maker, and as his image-bearers we too speak and make.
Adam and Eve are to fill and subdue the earth and to work and keep the garden.  At the heart of this is the notion of "rule" or "dominion", an idea which is later picked up on in Psalm 8.

Adam and Eve are charged with bringing out the potential of the creation (the "work" bit of 2 verse 15), but they are to do so in a way that respects and nurtures God`s original design (the "take care" bit).
Every human since is called to do the same thing: to rule over and develop creation by speaking and making, as we mirror our speaking and making God.  And this, ultimately is what we`re doing when we create culture.

Culture is a calling.  It isn`t something we do just to fill the time between clocking off from work and going to bed.  It`s something we do as part of being made in the image of God - and that`s true of every human being, whether they realise it or not.  And like everything else in creation, all of our culture-making has an ultimate purpose - to glorify God.  We show off his greatness by pointing to his creativity.  And living under God`s norms and doing his work are the way we are glorified too.  It`s the way we flourish as human beings.  It`s how we find the sense of identity and significance we`re all looking for.

Ruined: human beings as culture-destroyers

And yet most of us know that while everything God spoke and made in Genesis 1 was "good", there`s plenty that humans speak and make that is not good.  Genesis 3 - the fall - creation is put into reverse.

Adam and Eve choose to destroy God and eat the fruit he commanded them not to.  Instead of reflecting God, they want to be God.  As a consequence the order and relationship between God, humans and the rest of creation that we see in the first 2 chapters of Genesis are undone.

In Genesis 3 verse 5 God tells Satan who deceived Adam and Eve what he is about to do.  Despite Eve`s rebellion there is hope that one of her offspring - Jesus Christ - will destroy the devil (Galatians 4 verse 4).  The stage is set for an all-out war.  And like a war this goes beyond a one-0n-one combat.  The consequences are far-reaching: this verse hints at 2 streams of humanity diametrically opposed to one another.  We see the fallout immediately in Genesis 4 as Adam and Eve`s son Cain murders his own brother Abel.  Satan`s spiritual children are all those who live in rebellion against God.  Eve`s spiritual children are all those who live under God`s rule, in the way humanity was meant to live from the start.

The NT records this difference in a whole host of vivid descriptions; every one of us is either in darkness or in light; a goat or a sheep; of the evil one or children of God.  Ultimately Genesis 3 verse 15 points to the offspring of Eve who would crush Satan`s head at the cross - Jesus Christ.  You`re either in Christ or you`re not.

What is it that distinguishes Satan`s spiritual children from Eve`s spiritual children?  It`s not a matter of what we do.  It goes much deeper; right down to the human heart.  In biblical terms, the heart is the core of the human person and the thing which determines our outward actions.  Jesus states that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6 verse 21).  The problem is that ever since the fall, our hearts are on the wrong side.  We`re Satan`s spiritual children - until that is, God`s gracious intervention enables us to change sides.

If being made in the image of God means we are built for worship, then there is a "heart`s desire" intrinsic to being human which means we all worship - we were created to worship the living God but we end up worshipping something else.  It`s worshipping this "something else" that the Bible calls idolatry.  There are no alternatives to these 2 options - we worship God or we worship idols.

There are those who are "rooted and built up in Christ" and those who are captive to "hollow and deceptive philosopy which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces rather than on Christ."  2 options - in Christ and not in Christ.

So we can say that culture is the dynamic way human beings shape the world around us as we make and speak in the image of God.  But culture is also the "fruit" of our "root" heart relationship with God - and for most of humanity, that relationship is in a state of war.

Culture then is "religion externalised" - it`s how we show on the outside what we believe on the inside.  Culture is how we worship - it`s the way in which we show what is really valuable to our hearts.
How then does our religious root affect our cultural fruit?  We have to think of culture in 2 ways.

First culture is a description of what all human beings do simply by being human.  But second "true", "real" and "proper" culture is a prescription of what we should do under God`s original creation design and blueprint (even though it will never be perfect this side of the new heaven and new earth.  The key is holding these 2 ideas in tension.

The fact that we are deeply fallen and sinful human beings does not obliterate our image-of-God-ness.  We can deny and vandalise God`s image with our thoughts and actions, but ultimately, it`s still this truth that makes human beings human beings.  God in his goodness often holds us back from ourselves so that we`re not as bad as we could be.

We call this God`s common grace and there are many blessings in it for which we are to be thankful.  Therefore, however sinful we are, even after the fall, we are still human beings and human beings produce "culture".  God`s creatures create from the creation around them.  This is important because it means that however sinful or seemingly superficial a particular cultural form is, simply to dismiss or sneer at it without engaging with it in any way, shape or form, is implicitly to dismiss or sneer at one of God`s broken image-bearers, who is worthy of dignity and respect.

Our sin has destroyed "real culture".  All we`re left with are the fragments.  Yet at the same time, we are being destroyed by culture.  Dominion over creation quickly becomes a horrible domination by the things we make.  As we make and consume idolatrous culture, we breathe in a false story about who God is or isn`t; who we are or aren`t; what`s gone wrong and how it can be put right.  In our cultural creations, our false gods cunningly sell us "knocked off" false "gospel" stories and we follow their scripts.  Certainly they look appealing but they slowly kill us as we believe their lies and so lose our human identity.  Worse, we become more and more distant from, and lose sight of, the God who created us for himself.  It`s a vicious cycle that spirals further and further from the truth.

So as we Christians look at the people around us, we can see that they both make culture and are made by it.  Remember, culture is how our hearts worship idols.  On the one hand, the Bible testifies in numerous places that idols are "made by human hands" (Psalm 135 verse 15) and "nothing" (1 Corinthians 8 verse 4) when compared to the living God.  On the other hand though, they are "something"; they have the power to end up controlling the worshipper.  "Those who make them will be like them and so will all who trust in them" (Psalm 115 verse 8).

And when do idol-worshippers look most like their lifeless objects of worship?  When they`re dead. Because that`s where idol worship leads.  We are both influencers of culture and influenced by it.

Remember: we become what we worship.

When it comes to culture, we must recognise the reality of the radical difference and cosmic conflict that rages between Satan`s spiritual children and Eve`s spiritual children.  We need to be equipped to go into this cosmic culture clash - to make, shape and engage with culture for the sake of Christ.

Rescued, Restored and Renewed: Jesus Christ as the Lord of Culture

Jesus came to rescue us and the world from ruin.  His redemptive work in the gospel isn`t just about saving individual souls from hell - it is cosmic in scope. He`s bringing about a new creation that is intimately related to the "in the beginning" creation.  "Grace restores and perfects nature."

Adam woefully failed in his cultural task.  Instead of caring for creation and extending the garden, his disobedience got him kicked out of the garden and brought God`s curse upon the whole creation.  But one of the titles and descriptions sometimes given to Jesus is the second or last Adam (1 Corinthians 15 verse 45).  As the second Adam, Jesus succeeded in perfectly obeying his Father where the first man failed.  Jesus Christ was the true image of God, without any cracks or stains of sin.  He was the man of culture par excellence.  He was anointed by the Spirit.  He could still storms and raise the dead, demonstrating his perfect dominion over creation.  And ultimately, Jesus` sacrificial death on the cross dealt with God`s anger at our disobedience and reversed the curse.  His resurrection was the firstfruits of the new creation - a taste of what is to come.  His ascension into heaven means that today, he is our living and reigning Lord - Colossians 1 verse 15 - 20.

That in a nutshell is the gospel message.  But what`s that got to do with human culture and with us as Christians?

Christians are united to Jesus by faith and we get our old job back.  We are restored to our role as rulers over creation, because on our behalf, Jesus did what we couldn`t and now we are "in him".

In Christ, culture is our calling.  Our new identity of being "in Christ" encompasses everything.  "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10 verse 31)  The gospel of Jesus Christ confronts, reclaims and builds culture in a wonderful variety of ways, but which all conform to God`s norms and for his glory.

His story of relating to culture becomes ours.  It`s a wonderful story, because ultimately it`s about re-creation.  It`s about life and human flourishing and being part of a new world order, as Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!"

That re-creation starts with us, on a personal level.  We are being remade and conformed to the image of Christ in our daily lives.  "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." (Romans 8 verse 29)  And that`s wonderful news, because to be conformed to Christ is to be made complete "In Christ you have been brought to fulness" (Colossians 2 verse 10)  Everything is transformed and seen with new eyes.  Our pain and suffering, while still real, sad, and often mysterious, is never pointless but serves the purpose of making us more like Christ (Hebrews 12 verse 6).  Even human death, that last enemy, becomes "ours" (1 Corinthians 3 verse 22)

Christians are those who are filled by the Spirit of Christ and take up the cultural mandate originally given to Adam.  Only Christ can redeem creation but "in Christ" our good works become the means by which God extends his kingdom in the present.  As faithful ambassadors of Christ, we actively proclaim his lordship, not by just looking back to the first creation but by looking forward to the new heaven and new earth, where this creation will be renewed and restored fully and for all eternity.

We are living after the resurrection but before Jesus returns.  We`re in the gap between the now (what Christ has already done) and the not-yet (what he will do one day).

We live in a world groaning like a woman in labour (Romans 8 verse 22).  It`s a world where we still suffer frustration, still toil; a world in which we still die.  It`s a "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me" reality (Mark 8 verse 34).  It`s a world where our cultural endeavours, even our greatest ones, are tainted with sin.  This means a Christian cultural response should never be one that`s "sugar-coated", "hunky-dory" or "pie in the sky".  We must be careful we don`t overdo the "now" and dial down the "not yet."

We live in a reality of hope, joy and new life.  We recognise that in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the world has been both turned around 180-degrees and put the right way up.  Jesus is Lord of the universe now.  It`s a "receiving a hundred times as much in this present age" reality (Mark 10 verse 30).  It`s a world where individuals, families, communities and whole cultures can be transformed by the gospel.  We must be careful that we don`t overdo the "not yet" and dial down the "now".

We have been renewed, restored and retasked to take up the God-glorifying culture-building that we were created for.  This is definitely not a distraction from evangelism.  After all how will other people be part of the new creation except by hearing the gospel message?  Given the devastating effects of sin and the reality of hell, the call to repentance and faith in Christ remains at the centre of our mission but in a way which is connected with our cultural calling.  The way we "have dominion", "fill and subdue" and "tend and keep" in this new world order is for men, women and children to be converted.  We are to go and make disciples of all nations.

The church also remains the bullseye of God`s purposes, with its own distinctive role in cultural transformation.  Christians are engaged in a battle with the world.  Christians are engaged in a cosmic culture clash.  But the key to winning in any combat is to know your opposition and to have a strategy to tackle it.

CHAPTER 3 CULTURE AS STORY

Cultures is the stories we tell that express meaning about the world.  But here`s the thing: the world around us already has a meaning.  So what is it?

Our speaking and making can`t be the same as God` speaking and making, because he is God and we are not.  He is the Creator and we are mere creatures, part of the creation.  This is an obvious but crucial distinction.  God creates out of nothing.  Before creation there was only God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  There was not even a speck of other stuff.  But humans can`t create out of nothing.

So when we say that human beings "create" culture, we can only create out of existing materials.  So in one sense we don`t really "create" anything  We are simply culture builders, building out of stuff that`s already there.  We can never make culture that is truly original, because only God can do that.  Although creativity can be totally mind blowing, we are limited in our creativity because we are creatures and not the Creator.

Creation has God`s fingerprints all over it.  Creation means something even before we give it our own meaing.  Creation tells us something about God and his identity.  Creation is revelation - Psalm 19 verses 1 and 2.  What exactly is the "knowledge" that the world around us reveals?  It`s helpful to think about what God reveals about himself in terms of shadows and sunbeams.  Once we`re clear on God`s true meaning behind the world, that will help us make sense of the alternative "meanings" that human beings express through culture.

SHADOWS

The word "wrath" conjures up all kinds of images that have nothing to do with the Bible`s definition.  When the Bible talks about God`s wrath, it doesn`t mean an all too human arbitary, fly-off the handle rage.

Rather God`s wrath is his divine, personal, settled, righteous anger.  It`s our holy God`s revulsion and opposition to all evil.

Romans 1 verse 18 "the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlesness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness."  There is a final day of wrath, but all humanity experiences God`s wrath now too.

These "drops of wrath" are God telling us that something has gone terribly wrong and we need to do something about it.  We need to listen up and turn around before it`s too late.  The day of his wrath is a clear and present danger - the "threat level" is critical.  And God tells us about it in lots of ways.  It`s in the big things too.  He tells us about it in all the frustration and brokenness and dysfunction we see in the world, in all the ways we go against God`s design for humanity.  We see it in disaster and disease and dishonesty.  Supremely we see it in human death.  Psalm 90 verses 9 - 11  The simple fact that we all die is a warning sign of God`s wrath.  Like Adam and Eve we want to be "like God" but we quickly find out that our days are numbered.  The shadows we experience in this life warn us of God`s wrath and tell us to repent before it`s too late.

SUNBEAMS

Christians believe in the day of wrath and the reality of hell, but we also believe in an amazing new heaven and new earth - a place where there will be only blessing and joy.  There will be a total absence of evil, pain and mourning.  And these blessings and joys are not only a future experience.   In his "common grace" we see God`s lavish goodness shown to all creation now.  This common grace is all the wonderful things in creation including the wonderful things human beings are capable of, that we experience now.  It`s everything that speaks of order, love, desire, beauty, wisdom and "rightness".  These are sunbeams - dancing rays of light pointing upwarsd to the source of all goodness: God himself.

How do we respond?

Response 1: Suppression
So God speaks to us in his creation (and he speaks through us, as we ourselves are part of this creation).  In shadows God tells us that something is not right and we need to turn around.  In sunbeams God calls us to respond to him in thankfulness and praise.

The God-given meanings built into creation are given new meanings in the culture we build.  So the pain, terror and unnaturalness of the shadow of death, which is God telling us that something is wrong, is now reinterpreted as the smooth process of "crossing over" from one realm to another.  Death is perfectly natural, it`s to be embraced.

The other way we suppress the truth about death is to simply ignore the topic completely and not mention it in polite company.  What`s especially tragic is that people often decide to interpret human suffering as evidence that God either doesn`t care or doesn`t exist - the very opposite of God`s real meaning.  The presence of suffering in our world is a painful but ultimately loving warning that is intended to lead us to repentance and save us from far greater suffering beyond death.

The problem is not that God`s communication is ineffective; it`s that human beings are so rebelliously sinful that we are determined not to listen to it.  God speaks to us, but we end up speaking over God.  And this isn`t a one-off.  It`s not a static thing.  This relationship is very dynamic.

Another reason that the truth keeps bursting through is that we are made in God`s image and so we speak and make only as creatures.  We can`t even make stories out of nothing.  That`s why throughout history there seem to be perennial questions, themes and plots that storytellers are attracted to time and time again.  All these stories are mere echoes of the gospel story.

God keeps on revealing himself, and we keep on suppressing the message.  And so we are "without excuse" (Romans 1 verse 20) - we know the truth; we just don`t want to hear it.

Response 2: Substitution
Romans 1 verses 21 - 23
When we push truth down, we fill the gap with god-substitutes.  This is what the Bible calls idolatry.  Idolatry turns "good things" into "god things".  Being made in God`s image means we are instinctive worshippers.  So when we try to smother reality, we end up making new twisted realities which we are devoted to instead.  The idolatry complex takes a good thing in creation and inflates and distorts it to be a functional god.  Culture is what we make when lots of us are having the same twisted fantasy.  Idols spin and conjure a false gospel story and promise the world but ultimately only deliver disillusionment, despair and destruction.  Idolatry is always ultimately against God and against the way he has chosen to reveal himself to us.

God`s shadows and sunbeams are meant to be signs and pointers to eternal realities.  God`s shadows tells us there is something wrong in the world and wrong with humanity, and deep, deep down we know this but the stories and scripts our culture weaves in books, TV, films and social media are delusional fantasies.

In response to God`s messages, our idolatrous suppression and substitution result in cultures of broken, fragmented stories.  They create what appear to be highly plausible and ingenious imaginary worlds.  Idols are parasitic on the truth.  They are counterfeit stories.  They hint at and glimmer with the truth and reality of God`s revelation.

As Christians we believe it`s only the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ revealed in the Bible that can wake us up from our living nightmares and bring us back to reality.  It`s only the gospel that can bring sanity and turn the world the right way up.  It gives us a whole new way of seeing and interpreting the world as God himself sees it, founded on the new life that Jesus brings in his life, death and resurrection.  You and I have a role in amplifying God`s message to the world around us.

Most people I know don`t think about culture, or worship, or ways of viewing the world, or idolatry or felt wrath and felt grace.  They are just living their lives.  They`re just scrolling through Facebook.  They`re just watching TV.  They don`t stop to think.  And it`s part of our mission to get them to stop and think - to try and rouse them from their nightmare and bring them back to reality, back to their senses.  The idols we worship can`t and don`t deliver what they promise on any level, whether intellectually, emotionally or imaginatively.  They can`t give satisfying ultimate explanations of the world.

Our task is to make people "stop and think" about their self-deception.  To make them "stop and think" about the commitments they make, the authorities they listen to, the stories and scripts they follow.  And from here it`s only a short step to get to Jesus.

We spend our days submerged in these cultural stories - so we need to learn how to consume them intelligently.  We need to learn to identify where they are suppressing the truth and to spot where that truth keeps "popping up".  That is what it means to "engage with culture" - not to swallow its stories hook, line and sinker, but to let it point our own eyes over and over again to the gospel story.

We can both confront and connect the gospel to any and every broken story in our culture and every culture.  But how?

CHAPTER 4 "CAN I WATCH ...?"

As a Christian is it OK for me to watch ....  It`s the latest variation on the tension of being "in the world but not of the world."  It`s that delicate balance that ensures our Christian liberty doesn`t become or sound like licence - permission to sin - or legalism - a focus on rule-keeping.
So why does it matter what we watch anywhere?  The apostle John, who says "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5 verse 21) and "Do not love the world or anything in the world" (1 John 2 verse 15) is the same John who writes about Jesus engaging the Samaritan women right where she is (John 4) and who then later records Jesus praying about his disciples being sent into the world (chapter 17 verse 18).

The apostle Paul writes about becoming "all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9 verses 19 - 23).  And yet he`s the same apostle who time after time after time calls disciples to be wise in how they walk (Ephesians 5 verse 15), to flee from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6 verse 18), to keep God`s commandments and the "law of Christ" (1 Corinthians 7 verse 19; Galatians 6 verse 2) and to "have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them.  It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret" (Ephesians 5 verses 11 and 12).
That means that knowing when legitimate cultural engagement and enjoyment is actually illegitimate cultural indulgence and idolatry is a matter of wisdom and discernment.  How do you know what is OK to watch and what is not OK?

First, everyone`s character is different - we all have our own individual wiring.

Second, everyone`s conscience is calibrated differently with varying levels of sensitivity.

Third, our contexts make a difference - both the wider culture we belong to and the unique web of relationships that make up our lives.

Finally, a healthy dose of sanctified common sense means that some judgment calls are easier than others.

Eg, most Christians are rightly concerned about the increasing sexualisation of our culture, but what about the sentimentalisation of our culture?  Sentimentality is emotional self-indulgence, so that what you feel becomes most important.  Sentimentality is actually selfish.  It directs our emotions to our own emotions, so we are always the main character of our story.  Although it pretends to care for the "other" it really only cares for the self - the "other" merely becomes a means to an end (feeling something).  Sentimentality allows us to experience shared public emotional expression, without the commitment of real-life relationships.  Sentimentality is simplistic.  It leaves little room for nuance, complexity and fortitude.  The sentimental world consists of clear-cuts; of goodies and baddies, victims and perpetrators.  Every situation demands an immediate answer.

Sentimentality`s pressure for simplicity and quick responses means that authorities can be bullied into quick fixes and not the hard grind of reflecting on long-term solutions which would be genuinely caring.
If those are all the things that "it depends" depends on, how can we possibly come up with an actual answer for this or that artist or novel or TV show?

2017 saw the 500th anniversary celebrations of the Reformation.  5 Solas - scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone and God`s glory alone.

Scripture alone - Bible is our ultimate authority and that we must interpret the world through the word.  Not just thinking about the Bible; it involves thinking through the Bible - thinking biblically about everything else.

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." C S Lewis

If we don`t discern, articulate and persuade others with the Bible`s blueprint for the flourishing of human life and culture, then others will ... and are.  And ultimately these alternative stories are all hope-less.  So when you`re watching something, or wondering whether to watch it, ask yourself this:

why does everyone else seem to think this is good or important?

What does that reveal about what they think is important or praiseworthy?

why do I enjoy this, or think I would enjoy it?  What does that reveal about what I think is important or praiseworthy?

How does this compare to the Bible`s pattern?  Does Scripture agree that these things are important or praiseworthy?  Or are these messages coming from an alternative "big story"?

Grace Alone - our acceptance before God is not based on anything we "do" but what God has "done" in Christ.  We contribute nothing.  We can`t earn our salvation - it`s a free gift.  Our reason for watching or not watching something needs to be grace focused.  If I`m saved by grace alone, then the motive behind my cultural choices is not to keep rules to somehow impress God or prove myself worthy but to love and honour God because of what he`s already done for me.

Second something doesn`t quite sit right when, in the tone of this culture debate, there`s an angst about the survival of the church, or the risk of losing one`s personal faith.  It`s almost as if we believe we need to take control of the wheel and do something urgently, because God has somehow drifted off.  But if we`re saved by grace, then it`s all of God.  He is sovereign and he`s got control.  This means we can ask the questions:

if, when considering this culture choice, my gut instinct is "no" - why is that?  Is that rooted in an imperative or an indicative?

Is it possible that I am being wrongly fearful, or am I seeking to enjoy living as my Father`s child?

Faith Alone - reminds me of the means through which I am united to Christ and receive all benefits - it is through faith alone.  First through our initial faith we are reconciled to God - Christ`s blameless record becomes our blameless record.  Second, through our ongoing faith we are "sanctified by Christ`s spirit (so that) we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life."  Our living faith spurs us to pursue good works that spilll out into our churches and communities, bringing blessings to individuals, families and society at large.  Our social-media habits will need to be carefully examined so we are less distracted and more disciplined in exercising our minds.  So as you consider a particular cultural choice, ask yourself:

What is the "pay-off" that you want to enjoy above this thing?  Is there a way you could create culture which celebrates that good thing, without the need to compromise?

How could you carve out time to do more cultural creation?  How might you encourage your brothers and sisters to do the same?

Christ Alone - declares that salvation is achieved only by Christ`s death and resurrection - he`s the mediator we need between ourselves and God.  Although the world around us suppresses this truth by arguing that life "under the sun" is all that there is, we can never eradicate our sense of the divine.  It will pop up in everything that humans make.  The secular is indeed haunted by this longing for a deeper meaning.  Despite the rhetoric, it`s never easy to consistenly speak and act as if this material world is all that there is.

Our culture will always be looking for something else.  But unless the search finds its fulfilment in the Jesus of the scriptures, then it remains stuck in a world of idolatry.  Yet for 2000 years those in the vanguard of creating culture have often been magnetically drawn back to Jesus and the questions he poses to humanity concerning who he is and what he has done.  In every cultural manifestation, there`s always a point of contact with the true Christ for us to use to lovingly point others to him.  Jesus Christ is relevant - yesterday, today and for ever.

Christ alone should act as a sobering reminder of our call to holiness.  1 Peter 1 verses 17 - 19 the apostle says that we are to live in "reverent fear" for we know that "it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."  We should be rightfully fearful of ever conducting ourselves in a way that suggests our new birth doesn`t matter - that Christ was wasting his time when he laid down his life and probably didn`t need to bother.  Which leaves us with these questions as we consider Can I watch?

In what way does this piece of culture communicate a longing for "something more"?  What`s the "point of contact" with Christ?

Does my attitude towards this piece of culture reflect a "reverent fear" towards God?  Would watching it lead me to endorse or embrace or enjoy or pursue impurity?  What does that say about my attitude towards Christ?

God`s Glory Alone - this is the glue which sticks all the solas together and sums them all up: there`s nothing we bring; it`s all about him.  Everything exists to display God`s excellencies and to increase his fame.  He glorifies himself in us and through us, his people.  It`s in living for his glory that we find our greatest joy and satisfaction.  So our last question is pretty simple one: would watching ... glorify God?

There are some practical guides that can help us faithfully consume culture too.

The internal check we call our conscience - our inner God-given witness and warning system.  Scriptures says that we are always to obey it and should not go against it (Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 8).  If watching something feels wrong, don`t do it!  Our freedom in Christ shoudl not become a stumbling block for those whose conscience says differently.

There`s the external check of Christian community - Christians who know us really well and with whom there can be mutual honesty and accountability.

Then there is the body of Christ, the church.

There`s circumvention - ways to evade and bypass obstacles that would not be good for us to encounter:

the hand over the eyes
the hand on the fast-forward button
the hand in the technology

Remember that if we decide we should not watch something, we are not completely disqualified from commenting on it as we try to engage non-Christian friends with the gospel through it.  We can still read about it and around it.  In fact, our direct disengagement could be a countercultural witness which engages people with the gospel.

CHAPTER 5  CONFRONT AND CONNECT: THE THEORY

Corinth - bustling city of commerce and multiculturalism.  Within its streets you`ll find several temples to Greek deities, a Jewish synagogue and more recently, a fledgling community of Christian believers.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1 verse 18)

The gospel of Jesus Christ confronts every culture.  There is nowhere in the world you can go where this won`t sound odd.  It`s utter foolishness.  It`s scandalous.  It`s deeply offensive.  But it`s through this message that God is pleased to "save those who believe" it (verse 21).

The countercultural strangeness of this message means that sharing it with "those who are perishing" will always be hard.  There will always be an element of confrontation - a clash between a nonbeliever`s way of seeing the world and God`s way of seeing the world.  We need the Holy Spirit to help us resist the temptation to avoid that confrontation by watering down the message or chopping off the unfashionable bits.  We are not to be ashamed of God and the gospel.

And when it comes to our own discipleship, we`re equally tempted to change what Jesus requires of his followers so that our lives can look more like those of the non-Christians around us - to make our values look more like the world`s.

There are some Christians who don`t mind the confrontation.  They welcome the offence.  So they`ll preach a one-size-fits-all-sinners message no matter who`s sitting in front of them.  Paul didn`t think like that.  Instead he makes the point of singling out 2 groups of people with 2 distinct cultures "Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom." (verse 22)

There are Jews - their worldview revolved around the idea of power.  They grew up hearing the Old Testament stories of God`s mighty power and miraculous signs (think of walking through Red Sea, Jericho`s walls crashing down)

Then there are the Greeks - their culture places a premium on wisdom.  Their history was filled with brilliant thinkers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.  It`s all about debate, rational arguments, rhetoric, philosophy, knowledge.  Wisdom is what`s important.

And yet if in our evangelism it doesn`t matter who the audience is - if cultural context is totally irrelevant - then why does Paul distinguish between them?  Paul distinguishes these groups merely to highlight the massive contrast between Christ and every culture.

"But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." (verse 24)

Jews have something they are looking for and now Paul is saying that Jesus is that something.  Greeks have something they are looking for and Paul is saying that Jesus is that something too.  Paul is connecting Christ crucified to the culture in front of him.  The message of the cross always confronts culture.  But the message of the cross always connects too.  Jewish Christians and Greek Christians can both look at the cross and see something which resonates deeply with their cultural background.

One helpful way of summarising this relationship between the gospel of Jesus and culture is the term "subversive fulfilment".  The gospel is the subversive fulfilment of culture.  It`s describing how compared to the idolatrous stories that the world tells, the gospel both subverts and fulfils, confronts and connects.

It subverts in that it confronts, unpicks and overthrows the world`s stories.  It calls for new ways of looking at the world because the old ways are so useless and harmful.  It`s an appeal for repentance and faith in the better story of Christ crucified.

However, the gospel fulfils in that it connects and is shown to be worthy of our hopes and desires.  The gospel is appealing in that it`s a call to exchange old hopes and desires for new ones, because these new ones are the originals from which our false stories are smudged and ripped fakes.

So the idolatrous cultural story of Jews and Greeks, "wisdom" and "power" are made to be baddies.  And yet when these things are reclaimed by Jesus and put into his true story, then they serve a glorious purpose.  They are transformed and become ways to understand the meaning of Christ crucified.

We need to think of the stories our cultures tells us and the themes it paddles.  Jews look for power; Greeks look for wisdom; your average 21st-century Westerner looks for ...?  What is it that you`re looking for?  How does the gospel both confront and connect?  How does the Christ crucified subversively fulfil these stories?

CHAPTER 6 CONFRONT AND CONNECT: IN PRACTICE

Paul`s sermon to the Areopagus in Athens shows us what "subversive fulfilment" looks like in practice.  Acts 17 is a textbook example of how cultural engagement can never be out of a textbook.  It shows us how cultural engagement affects our head, our hands and our heart.

A solitary Paul is on a stop-over in Athens having sent his friends off to collect Silas and Timothy who were still in Berea.  In verse 16 Paul "was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols".  Paul is provoked as he surveys the scene in front of him.  It`s confrontation.
In our "politically correct", "tolerant", "multicultural" context are we going to have the biblical eyes - and frankly the biblical nerve to see and feel all cultural encounters in the context of idolatry?  Are we going to be suitably provoked by that?  Will we have a serious, settled, deep-seated commitment which understands the real, sinister nature of all that which sets itself up as a rival to God - however it might look to the contrary on the surface?  Do we have that passion for God`s glory?  Are we grieved that idolatry tramples all over it?  Or have we become desensitised?  Should we be more distressed than we often are?  Would there be a renewed urgency to our mission if we shared Paul`s attitude?

Paul`s distress leads to a determination and drive to proclaim the truth and to work hard at communication.  "So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the market-place day by day with those who happened to be there."  Paul gets straight into strategic and thought-through evangelism.  His motivation is fuelled by a deep compassion and love for those who are lost because they do not know the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul himself was a living testimony of someone who had been lost and distant from God, but who had been wonderfully and graciously "found" by the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel is really one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

We are to have a passion for God`s glory and a passion for lost souls.

We`re to be distressed over idolatry and distressed for those who worship them.  And this must lead us to speak up in confronting and connecting with culture.

Paul`s reasoning catches the attention of some of Athens` finest philosophers, who invite him to speak at the Areopagus the Supreme Court of sorts - to explain himself.

Paul is preaching Christ crucified (Acts 17 verse 18).

But the reaction is one of confusion.  The philosophers who hear him in the market-place literally call him a "seed-picker": one who scavenges and pecks at various ideas without really understanding any of them.  Therefore when Paul stands up and starts to speak in front of the council, his purpose is to give a defence of this good news - to put it in the context of life, the universe and everything - verses 22 and 23.

Paul has spent time carefully looking at the culture around him, looking for ways in - that chink in the armour that he can exploit.  He`s listening.  He`s watching.  He`s connecting.  He sees that the Athenians are very religious.  So much so that they don`t want to risk leaving any gods out - they`ve got an altar "to an unknown god" to cover their backs just in case.  So Paul appeals to their apparent open-mindedness.  He connects with their culture`s desire to know the divine and worship appropriately.

He is not affirming them in their idolatry.  Rather he calls them ignorant!  He`s confronting!

Connecting, confronting, subversive fulfilment.

When it comes to our secular culture what are the "unknown gods"?

Where can they be found?  How are those who are seemingly uninterested in Christianity actually very religious?  What`s our way in?

Paul`s speech - verses 24 - 31.  Paul is giving a run-up and then a run-through.  For the good news of Jesus to make sense in Athens, Paul needs the longer run-up, which connects with what the Athenians do know and fills in the gaps.  He gets some basic stuff in place - stuff which the Athenians just don`t have.  And then he jumps off into a run-through of a Christian way of viewing the world.  Paul is saying, OK let`s get back to basics.  You Athenians may have all kinds of views about the nature of ultimate reality, creation, time, the end of it all, but I`m going to lay out how I see it.  And here`s the crucial point: without these basic building blocks in place, Jesus and his resurrection do not make sense.

In our increasingly "post-Christian" biblically illiterate culture, we need to be starting further back with those who aren`t Christians.  We need to spend more time going through these basics, putting together a picture into which Jesus and his resurrection make sense.  We need to deal with those cultural "blocks" and "bouncers" which get in the way of people giving the good news a hearing.

This running up and running through is not a substitute for gospel proclamation but rather, a support for such proclamation.  And it will take more time and patience and prayer than maybe we`ve needed in the past.

It`s essental that we distinguish the living God of the Bible from what other people think God is like.  And so, as we speak and listen, we need to make sure that we are clearing the ground by dealing with the misunderstandings that people have.

Paul lays out the fundamentals of a Christian view of the world.  Paul describes the Creator God who has made everything, sustains everything and is sovereign over everything and who is in no way dependent on this creation.  At the same time he is a personal God who can be spoken of in personal terms and who engages with his creation personally.  He`s a God who is not so far off that we can`t know him, but nor is he so near that he is indistinguishable from his creation.

Paul describes a linear view of human history, which can talk about both origins and endings.  He hints at an understanding of providence which has a purpose; at something that`s gone horribly wrong so that we are left "groping after" the truth; and at a time during which God is patient, but also at an end to history with a judgment coming.

Paul`s speech comes to a crescendo with this impassioned appeal in verses 30 and 31.

When we think of the resurrection we often tend to think of new life, new beginnings, hope and joy.  These are all wonderfully true of course.  But that is not how the resurrection is used by Paul.  Here the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof that a just judgment is coming.  The resurrection is the greatest public proclamation to the whole world that Jesus has been vindicated and given all authority.  He is both just Judge and Saviour.  This truth ought to form an integral part of our gospel presentations, no matter what "sneering" may ensue (verse 32).

Paul is not shy about calling for repentance - verse 30.  Idols are not a "stepping stone" on the way to Jesus.  Christianity is not an extra that you can tack onto your existing lifestyle.  Repentance is a 180-degree turn from idolatry to Jesus.

We must not forget to talk about judgment, together with the command for repentance and faith.  In our cultural context there is an ongoing and sometimes legitimate suspicion of authority which means that when it comes to God, many people imagine him as a divine dictator.  And yet, as beings created for worship we are all under authorities all the time.

Jesus Christ is the Servant King who has both the might and the right to rule his creation.  For those who bow the knee, his yoke is easy and his burden light.  Obedience and love are a happy marriage.  The idea that every human being is accountable for their actions and that there will be a judgment in which all wrongs will be righted is actually attractive and so much more attractive than "imagining" a world where "above us" there is "only sky".  That history is heading somewhere and means something does resonate with us deep down.
There is a warning here.  Now is the time to turn, before it is too late.  God`s incredible tolerance and patience, which we live under now, will one day come to an end.  Sin is bad, mad and deeply sad.

When we do appeal to people to repent then, like Paul we can expect a mixed response - verses 32 - 34.  When we connect and confront culture with the gospel, however lovingly we do it, some people will "sneer" - they`ll think we`re stupid or bigoted or both.  And that is normal.  Others will have had their interest piqued and will be open to hearing more another time.  That`s why evangelism is usually best done in the context of ongoing personal relationships and we need to be ready to talk about Jesus more than once with people.  Sometimes a "little and often" approach is more appropriate.

But don`t set your expectations too low.  If we prayerfully and faithfully share the gospel with lots of people - connecting with and confronting their worldview with the good news of Jesus - we can expect some people to respond in belief.  And sometimes as with Dionysius in verse 34 it`s the people we`d least expect

CHAPTER 7 YOUR TURN; CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT FOR DISCIPLES

How can I ever engage in the way Paul does?  If you care about Jesus, then you care about following Jesus, and you care about telling others about Jesus.  If you`re a human, you are a cultural creature.  So with whatever gifts God has given us and in whatever context he has placed us, we are called to be faithful to this calling.  This is cultural engagement not for dummies but for disciples.

The Subversive Fulfilment Approach - 4 steps to cultural engagement from Acts 17

Entering: "For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship ..." (verse 23)  Stepping into the world and listening to the story.  We need to listen - entering is about patient observing, watching and listening.  It`s about careful description without jumping to conclusions or caricaturing.  It`s about being empathetic, asking lots of questions and gathering lots of information.  We need to know precisely what we are confronting and connecting with.  We need to be on "receive" mode, describing what`s there without prescribing what we think should or shouldn`t be there.  We need to try and be charitable.  It can be helpful to ask some basic questions of the cultural "text" or artefact.

What does it say? - use all 5 senses, what does it look like, sound like, feel like, taste like, even smell like?

Who wrote it?  What`s the context of the artefact you are looking at?  Do some digging, get behind the scenes and look at the history.  What do we know about the creator of this text?

Who reads it?  Who is the audience and how are they being affected?  Use your imagination.  What would the world look like if this cultural text had its way?  What would we be like?  What`s the impact and influence of the text - have people bought into it or not?

Culture is always evolving and moving on.  You might at this stage be able to suggest the false gospel story this text is telling.  How does it answer questions like: Who are we as human beings?  What`s our place in the universe?  What`s gone wrong?  What`s the solution?  What happens when we die?

Exploring: "People of Athens I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscripton: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD." (verse 23)  Searching for elements of grace and the idols attached to them.  Having listened carefully and charitably we can afford to be a little more suspicious at this stage.

Think about human beings as culture-builders whose cultural products reflect their heart worship: either worship of God or worship of idols.

Think about the connection between the "root" of our hearts and the "fruit" of the culture we create.

Think about the nature of idols and idolatry, which takes a good thing in creation and makes it into a god-thing.

Think about the connections between the idolatrous counterfeit and the genuine original.  Remember how our idols are always parasites on the truth and glimmer with elements of truth.

Think about God messaging us in creation: how he gives a particular meaning to our reality and reveals his story of where this world is heading.

Think about our sinful response: how we suppress God`s story and substitute for it false stories which are twisted and distorted caricatures of the original.

This allows us to ask questions like:

How is the text interpreting and reinterpreting God`s messages of shadows and sunbeams?

What`s true, good, helpful and beautiful about it?  And how is this being suppressed and distorted in an unhelpful and destructive way?  Is the text positively amplifying God`s messages and leading us back to him?  Or is it negatively suppressing, muting and graffiti-ing over God`s messages and so leading us to an idol that humans have created?

Exposing: "Therefore since we are God`s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone - an image made by human design and skill." (verse 29)   Showing up the idols as destructive frauds.  Getting people to "stop and think" about the cultural stories told by our texts.  These are stories that our friends are enchanted by, but that are slowly killing them as they drink from those cracked cisterns.  How do we get them to sit up and listen?

Again we can do this by asking penetrating questions to try and show how these cultural artefacts can`t deliver on what they promise - they are not true or good or beautiful.  Questions like: How is that working for you? I`m really interested to know - why does this seem so compelling to you?  If you`ve got a moment, can I show you why that might not be the best way of looking at this?

Evangelising: "So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship - and this is what I am going to proclaim to you." (verse 23)  Showing off the gospel of Jesus Christ as "subversive fulfilment."  The gospel has something to say about anything and everything, because the gospel impacts anything and everything - both in the "not-yet" of eternity (in the realities of heaven and hell) and the "now of our lives, families, communities and the church.  Like Paul we preach Christ crucified, yes - but always within a particular cultural story, answering particular questions, hopes, fears, dreams and desire: always confronting, always connecting.

We go about doing this "subversive fulfilling" in many different ways.  Communication (people we talk to not just family and friends), community (in our practices, our daily routines and our weekly rituals).  It`s about our ways of being together - in our families, our churches as we gather together week by week, and as we are scattered into the world in all our callings and vocations.  It`s about how we model cross-shaped love, inclusion, tolerance and freedom in our hospitality around the kitchen table and around the communion table.

We need to be both proactive and reactive - deliberately intentional and able to spontaneously improvise.

The rest of this chapter was following through on an example given by the author.  It was based on the England football team being knocked out of the 2018 Football World Cup.  He used the 4 stages - Enter, Explore, Expose and Evangelise and worked through how people were captivated by the whole experience.  He asked the questions - what would you say to someone about this story?  How might you confront and connect with this story and with them?  How did you respond yourself during this time?  If you could go back in time how might what you`ve read so far have affected your evangelism to those around you?

The final pages of the book were taken up with 4 examples to show what`s possible in terms of Christian cultural analysis using the four stages of Enter, Explore, Expose and Evangelise.  The author wants us to start watching and listening closely to what`s going on around us, to look at the world through the word in order to connect and confront my own culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ.