QTalks | Rev. Rick Warren | “Thoughts on Influencing Culture”
http://www.qideas.org/talks/default.aspx?id=14
“You must be both relevant and Biblical”
Engaging Culture:
It’s not programatic, it’s personal.
It’s not a strategy, it’s a lifestyle.
It’s not about innovation, it’s about incarnation.
YOU are the message.
When it comes to engaging culture, it’s all about you.
It’s about you incarnating Jesus Christ in the world.
The people of the world vs. the value system.
Lust of the flesh – the temptation to feel. (passions)
Lust of the eyes – the temptation to have. (possessions)
Lust of the life – the temptation to be. (position)
It’s not culture it’s cultures
Geography is far-more important than age in labeling cultures.
It takes ALL kinds of churches to reach ALL kinds of people.
Purposes of God never change.
The way we fulfill those purposes MUST change in every generation.
If you’re serious about engaging culture, there must be some changes in you.
The key to engaging culture is humility. It’s integrity. It’s generosity. It’s civility. It’s clarity/simplicity.
HUMILITY:
The reason we haven’t engaged culture effectively is because of our arrogance.
Each of us has great strengths AND great weaknesses.
Humility = teachability.
If you can’t learn from other people, you have an ego problem.
If God can put a fish in salt water its entire life and it still need salt put on it when you eat it, don’t you think God can put you in this culture without you being tarnished by it?
Incarnation = insulation and infiltration
Study how many of the parables have to do with infiltration and penetration (leven to bread, light to darkness, key to the hole)
Problem with a lot of churches today:
They’d rather be cute than effective. Rather be known for being creative.
Be motivated by changed-lives!
All we know about the future – it will change. And it will change at a faster rate.
Instead of looking at the things that will change. Look at the things that will never change.
People will always need to feel loved.
People will always feel guily
People will still feel lonely
They will need meaning, purpose.
Simple means understandable.
“If you will incarnate the message and explain it in a simple way, you will be successful.”
