ARTIST: Create Culture
ME – Blue collar. Sports. Academics. Arts. Beauty. Personal creative w/studios.
God is both Creator and Beautifully Creative
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”
Merism – above & below
- “created” – artists, tradesmen,
- God made us to create culture
Beauty – overlooked attribute of God
Beauty reflects God like a painting reflects the painter, or music reflects the musician
God Created us to be Creators and Creative
Genesis 1:26–28 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image…male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…”
Cultural Mandate =God made a garden, commanded us to do the same to the earth
Lesslie Newbigin “by the word culture we have to understand the sum total ways of living developed by a group of human beings and handed on from generation to generation. Central to culture is language. The language of a people provides the means by which they express their way of perceiving things and of coping with them. Around that center one would have to group their visual and musical arts, their technologies, their law, and their social and political organization. And one must also include in culture, and as fundamental to any culture, a set of beliefs, experiences, and practices that seek to grasp and express the ultimate nature of things, that which gives shape and meaning to life, that which claims final loyalty. I am speaking, obviously, about religion. Religion–including the Christian religion–is thus part of culture.”
= culture is the total environment (mental, physical, spiritual, emotional) we live in (water/fish)
2 Ways to View Culture
- Traditional vs Progressive
Ecclesiastes 7:10 (NLT) Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise.
Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…learn to know God’s will for you…
- Kingdom Down vs Hell Up
Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
James 3:15,17 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic…the wisdom from above is first pure…
- God creates. Satan counterfeits
- Culture is never neutral
- Culture is deeply spiritual (NT powers, principalities, spirits, “god of this age”)
& demons working through culture makers (Egypt, Babylon, Rome)
Culture is Created Upstream, and Consumed Downstream
James Davison Hunter (Jewish & Gay communities small #’s, huge impact )
- Education
- Platforms
- Entertainment
- Politics
=CULTURAL CAPITAL (vs $ capital)
4 Culture Observations
- All culture is marred by human sin
- Youth culture is the worst culture Isaiah 3:12(NIV) Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.
- Culture-making is dominated by the left (started w/Existentialism in France)
- A). Traditional Theory – Build Culture VS B). Critical Theory – Break Culture
Bezalel is A Prototypical Masculine Spirit-Filled Creative (Exodus 31-40)
Exodus 31:1-11 The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel…and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft…I have appointed with him Oholiab…I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, and the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the Holy Place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do.”
- Master craftsman/artist worked under Moses
- 1st named “Spirit-filled”
- Oversee building tabernacle (God not worshipped outdoors like pagan Gods)
Pointing to Christ
- Met w/God 2. Cleanse 3. Sacrifice 4. Lampst 5. Table for bread 6. Veil 7. 10 Comm 8. Manna
= Heterosexual men create culture and art (cars, motorcycles, homes, woodworking, ironworking, music, architecture, design, literature etc.)
Monasteries and Missionaries
John 17:14-18 I [Jesus] have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
-All Christianity is contextualized/incarnated in a culture
-Tension – in but not of, like boat in water, but not water in the boat
- Sectarianism – conservative
- Syncretism – liberal
= Go out. Invite in.
- Missionary vs Monastery – counter-culture, sub culture
- We will be making culture forever
Receive – Reject – Redeem
- Receive – Pharoah & Herod bdays (vs JW’s)
- Reject – Halloween (harvest party, Reformation day)
- Redeem – Christmas
=Training your kids/grandkids discernment like Daniel or Joseph
A). Class is always in session B). You are the primary teacher C). Answer the “why”
Discussion questions
- What was most helpful to you personally in these talks?
- What most concerns you about where Western culture is trending?
- How can we pray for you?