{A sermon delivered by me on 12.03.2018 at Morning Worship Service, Serampore College (CLRC)}
Prayer:
Introduction:
When i was preparing a sermon for today, there are three important topics that occupied my mind; among those themes “Witnessing Christ in the context of Post-Modern Culture” is the theme that captured my inner thought and has remained in my mind. But the theme/phrase seems like too complicated for me, it is not simple as i believe to prepare a sermon for the concern is too vast and philosophical. But when I came to know the theme chosen by final year students in the first day of their creative worship which went along with mine, therefore, the chosen theme somehow encouraged me and then finally I also agreed and believed that God may also approve and may use it for his glory.
Therefore, “witnessing Christ in the context of postmodern culture” shall be our chosen theme for today.
However, to begin with this theme, I would like to mention a bit concept and understanding of post-modernism, including certain ideological concept and challenges posed by post-modernism. Then we will move on to the main focus by mentioning one area of concern through which one may find a suitable answer to become responsible Christian, for witnessing Christ in the context of post-modern world. However, the theme may require little further investigation of the present situation of our society; and this will also be done as we deal with certain ideological concepts and challenges posed by post modernism.
Therefore the area of concern I would like to bring forward to draw our attention and to take heed for this moment is/are;
- What challenges does post-modernism has brought to us?
- As a theological student / being a disciple of Jesus, what responsible are we going to take-up to witness Christ in this context?
So, in order to give an appropriate answer to these questions, I think, we need to have a little more insight to the concept and understanding of post-modernism and various challenges posed by post-modernism which is one of the appealing challenges confronted by churches today as well as individual Christians.
Post-modernism: By the late 1960’s the term post-modernism began to appear in journals and magazines, but this was first used as a description of a new movement in art, particularly painting and architecture. But as time went on, the term was applied to describe changes in many other areas of human endeavor. The term, however, literally means “after modernism”. And it is used to philosophically describe the current era which came after the age of modernism. Therefore the term ‘Postmodernism’ indicates ‘the end of the modern period, which began with the enlightenment in the eighteenth century and extended into the latter half of the twentieth century, reckonings (by some) into the 1980s.
Thomas C. Oden, who wrote “The Death of Modernity and Postmodern Evangelical Spirituality, ” (in The Challenge of Postmodernism), makes a definite statement - He said – “By postmodern, we mean the course of actual history following the death of modernity. By modernity we mean the period, the ideology, and the malaise of the time from 1789 (i.e the year of awakening and great revolution) to 1989, from the Bastille to the Berlin Wall.”
That means, by this time frame, the postmodern era has already begun. And a new way of viewing the world has emerged. The “modern” way of thinking that dominated the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has become obsolete. Or in another words - the modern ideas are no longer relevant for all.
Therefore, as a result of this drastic change; great numbers of new concepts, worldviews, affirmations and claims holds by modernists have come up and were developed. For example - Philosophy of Postmodernism affirms that there is no objective or absolute truth, especially in matters of religion and spirituality. Therefore, when confronted with ‘a truth claim’ regarding the reality of God and religious practice; postmodernist may response saying - “that may be true for you, but not for me.” Therefore, this kind of mind-set is very dangerous when it is applied to reality because it confuses matters of opinion with matters of truth. And moreover, this further culminated in a philosophy of religious pluralism that says no faith or religion is objectively true and therefore no one can claim his or her religion is true and another is false.
Apart from what have been mentioned, there are also good numbers of examples that may characterize postmodernism. But for sure, since my knowledge is limited in this regards, I would like to mention only certain areas that may characterize the main feature of postmodernism. For example; Along with this new phenomenon, certain ideologies or new concept of understanding have emerged and Simultaneously convinced and deeply penetrated many people of this contemporary world;
Therefore, according to postmodernists;
1. Fact and truth are created by assumption not by observation and logic.
2. They strongly hold spiritual pluralism – which says all religions require assumptive reasoning and are therefore equal.
3. For them- there is no right or wrong lifestyle except those agreed upon. That means everyone has right to choose for his/her lifestyle. It is probable that because of this new affirmation, one of the sayings “It’s my life” is very common among the youth today.
4. Biblical truths are no longer relevant, and they dismissed whatever doesn’t feel compatible with personal journey. In this regards – some postmodernist celebrated what they called it – the death of God (God has no place in their lives, God does not own their life, it is meaningless for them).
5. They also believed that - other gods and culture can also produce ultimate ‘peace and oneness’ to their believers.
6. For them - there can be no moral absolutes. Freedom in all aspects of human life and tolerance is strongly adhered/ supported.
7. They also believe that humans are free to choose their own sexuality and identity. As a result the issue of LGBT becomes a social issue which is compromised and accepted by many people and nations.
8. Judgement of right and wrong is made upon agreed standard.
As a result of these new ways of thinking and perceptions/viewpoints:
- Christianity, the scripture, doctrine, church tradition and practices, etc which in the past strongly held by the church as the best standard for individual moral and spiritual life are no longer used for the best standard to judge and to make decisions on what is right and wrong, good or bad. As a result the best standard of living is now in danger.
- Individualism is promoted extensively, therefore as a result, certain communitarian values (unity, cooperation, participation, tlawmngaihna, respect for others/elders, etc) are no longer put valued in their minds of many people; therefore the ‘values’ become declined and deteriorated.
- People begun to misuse their individual rights and freedom, by overlooking or forgetting the beauty and significance of the same communitarian values.
- Technological messiahnism is spreading and rampant everywhere, as a result; laziness, slothfulness, easiness, too broad-mindedness, permissiveness, and many other negative mind-sets, etc. become our new way of life.
- Our value system and the way we perceive things become totally changed.
- And moreover, changes in our lifestyle are another consequence of this new phenomenon.
- Liberalism and Religious pluralism which according to me is one of the greatest threats and enemies for evangelism and mission of the church is promoted.
- Lastly, the danger of postmodernism is that – as already pointed out; it denies the very existence of truth. This core principle of postmodernism has been called a philosophical earthquake that is causing a radical shift in thinking about the world and reality.
In addition, many people now have put up the lens of postmodernism; they also clothed themselves with the new concepts and worldviews which they considered it as ‘more intellectual thinking and perception’ than anything else. But frankly speaking, the consequent result, we see is - many people now are turning away and have been blown away from the truth, from the sound believed and the core teachings of the scripture, etc for human minds are being controlled and governed by the spirit of materialism, liberalism, individualism, spiritual nominalism, intellectual reasoning and thinking, and other principalities including diverse form of forces.
Paul has rightly said in II TIM 4:3-4: "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths."
Therefore, one of the undeniable facts, we can see now is - changes have been taken place not only in this temporal world, but in human minds, affecting our spiritual outlook. And this is the reality that the present society is facing or confronting.
Therefore, a part from what have been mentioned, another challenge which is more appealing for God’s people we still have is; - In what way we shall witness Christ in this scenario, in this context?
I would like to propose only one suggestion in and through which one may find the best quality of Christian life to help him/her strong and to witness Christ in this context. I.e FAITHFULNESS which is one of the key defining qualities of God's own character; which is so important to God as well as for man; for it is also listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit in the scripture (Galatians 5).
According to me, Faithfulness is the best quality by which we should measure our spirituality. In academic and Christian circles as a whole; and in our scripture as well – we have seen so many important biblical themes without which our doctrine, our faith, our spiritual growth, as we believed, cannot be completed – for eg: love, transformation, being crucified in Christ, faith, praise, worship, etc and many more. No doubt, and fairly speaking – the themes we mentioned have their own significant importance for our spiritual and temporal life.
But despite of the fact that without ‘faithfulness’, such biblical themes which we considered as prerequisite for Christian living have no meaning at all. We may talk about ‘Love’ – which is one of the core teachings of the scripture, but without faithfulness love does not have meaning.
Therefore, what i mean here is; above all other biblical themes– the imperative and greatest quality that a person need to acquire and ought to emphasize is faithfulness.
However, faithfulness, what I would like to emphasize is – Faithfulness;
- To God, to ourselves, to the scripture, to the call in which we engage ourselves, to the small/smallest thing, Faithfulness in the midst of trails and temptations, Faithfulness which has dependable quality that cannot be broken /shaken even within as well as after crossing the boundary of our comfort zone. And lastly, a faithfulness that will endure/withstand under different pressures and circumstances.
Whenever I think of the term –faithfulness; one biblical figure that often occupied my mind was DANIEL whose charter is outstanding and has convincing power.
As we most often remember Daniel as the one who is in the lions' den, and a lot more to his life – like how they thrown into a furnace of blazing fire . Throughout the first six chapters, we learn about how to remain faithful in all circumstances. He ran into several trying situations that may have caused him to lose faith or bend from his beliefs, but Daniel stayed strong.
- His new environment along with the new culture, he (Daniel) experienced including different forces
- Trails and temptations
- Danger, Prison and other life threatening situations
- The decree of the Persian court
- Principalities and power
- Philosophy and intellectual thinking of his time, etc
All these things could not enable him to shake his loyalty to God and to his standard. He was remaining faithful all the time.
In Dan. 3:16-18 we find very convincing and powerful commitment of expression which say, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king; that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
His honesty and loyalty to his masters never led him to compromise his faith in the one true God. He remained steadfast in his commitment to God.
As already mentioned to us, he faced far more pressures and problems than we are ever likely to face. There were also many temptations, and opportunities for him to become proud or corrupt or to compromise, but he never did. He was remarkably faithful to God, to the Kings he worked for, and to everybody he ever met. Therefore not even his enemies could find any fault in him, even though they wanted to.
Of course/though, there are many positive sides or things that the world has brought in, but the world we live in on the other hand is no longer the world as we imagine – it is full of confrontations, doubtfulness, uncertainties, misleading/deceitful concepts and thoughts, liberalism, ungodliness, slackness/negligence, rebellious attitude, diverse forms of traps, and many more.
Many people now have been trapped and are being deceived by these powers and forces and are turned away from the truth, from the scripture, and from the sound doctrine, from the core principles and values of the kingdom of God. They totally fail to glorify God, neither were thankful to him, but become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Rom 1:21).
2Chro. 16:9 says – “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Him-self strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
Friends, God is looking for people whose heart is fully His and are loyal to Him. If we are faithful to God, He will show Himself strong toward us in all we do. Let’s search our hearts and make sure it is loyal and faithful to God. Let us remain faithful in the midst of different circumstances as we live and engage ourselves within and in the context of postmodernism.
Let this song be our new spiritual song through which we may publicly confess and re-affirm our stand for the living and only true God.
1. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I'd rather b0e His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land,
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
2. I'd rather have Jesus than worldly applause,
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame,
I'd rather be true to His holy name.
3. Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today...
