Being a Christian in a post-Christian culture

Hello readers!  I hope you are enjoying fall!  Richmond is beautiful right now and we are really enjoying 
wearing long sleeves and scarves! 

My title may have intrigued some of you; it was the title of the conference Robert and I attended this past weekend.  It was run by Ligonier Ministries, which is headed by R.C. Sproul.   It was an absolutely fantastic conference, and I have to say I wish that more conferences these days were like this one.  It seems to me that many conferences, or church gatherings for that matter, exist today in order to pump people up and get them feeling really great.  I remember going to youth conferences in college, and it seemed that many of them held that purpose.  How many Sunday Morning gatherings do exactly the same thing?  Teaching us how to have our best life now, making us feel great about life, have high self esteem, give our tithe and keep attendance numbers up.

Well this conference was quite different.  Now, any of you who receive Tabletalk magazine, (or have heard my father speak…ever) are familiar with Reformed Theology.  For those of you who are not familiar, it is basically a return to reformation and puritan theology, free from the influence of what is popular in our culture, and un-concerned with what the seeker wants to hear to feel good about themselves.  Its just truth.  That’s it

So, in this blog post, I am only going to talk about one of the 6 messages we heard. I will likely write more about it in another post because it was so incredibly influential on me.

The first speaker, Thabiti Anyabwile, spoke on the 11th Psalm.  Someone in the passage is asking David why he does not flee, and hide in the mountains.  The inquisitor notes that the ‘wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart’.  He then asks, ‘When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?’

Dr. Anyabwile responded that, when the ‘righteous’ (or the Church) look and act exactly like the culture (moving away from the righteousness it was founded on and toward sin (what is meant by the crumbling of the foundations)), they can do nothing.  When we, the Church, allow evil, culture-influenced, mindsets and sin to seep into our minds and hearts, we truly are powerless against the falling of this world’s culture. 

But, this is what David has to say..

‘The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne.  He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them.’
He reminds us that God is on the throne, and that the foundations of His Kingdom are not ever shaken.  If we remember this, church, we do not have to be disheartened at the falling of this world’s kingdoms.  There is no single verse in the Bible that justifies fear among God’s people, save the fear of God Himself.  Yes, this culture is deteriorating.  Yes, evil is the standard in most nations and hearts.  But Our hope is in the Heavenly Kingdom that can never fall.   And not one whom He has decided to save will fall either.
Amen

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