Ask the Pastor with J.D. Greear

Pastor J.D. talks about the celebration of post-Christian culture within the church and whether or not that’s a good thing. A glimpse inside this episode: Distinction is good–but only those who have lived in a privileged Western lifestyle would ever say something like that. The loss of human dignity that comes from a crumbling Christian worldview is devastating. Sin corrupts. Rebecca McLaughlin who we just spent a few weeks hearing from: Many of the reasons secularists claim to oppose Christianity are actually rooted in Christian soil. The idea that human beings are equally, morally valuable, the idea that the oppressed should be cared for, the idea that men and women are equal, the idea that unborn babies should matter, the idea of racial justice an unity… all of these things come to us out of the Bible. There’s an Israeli atheist historian named Yuval Noah Harari who wrote Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. One of the things he’s clear about in that book is that Christianity is the idea that we think that human beings are equally morally valuable. When you think of something like human rights, apart from Christianity, that’s a figment of our imagination. Just as chimpanzees and hyenas and spiders have no human rights, why would humans have rights apart from a biblical worldview where humans are made in the image of God? So, what is our attitude toward culture? Two extremes: Assimilation or separation? You have a third choice—transformation. Hard to think about this without pulling in a classic book by Richard Niebuhr: Christ and Culture. H. Richard Niebuhr’s classic book, Christ and Culture, has influenced or at least informed the discussion, notably among Western evangelicals, since it was published in 1951. Niebuhr proposed five models, which he labelled as: 1) Christ against culture; 2) Christ of culture; 3) Christ above culture; 4) Christ and culture in paradox; and 5) Christ the transformer of culture. Carson: Culture and Christ Revisited. First two aren’t even biblical. When it comes to engaging culture, Carson rightly argues that one size doesn’t fit all: Christians have different cultural concerns in 21st-century North America than in 19th-century Northern Europe or the killing fields of Cambodia or present-day South Sudan. How can we impact our culture? One of the things I told our church was that you can’t make a difference unless you are different. One of the ironies of Christian history in our country — around the mid 20th century, as our culture began to change its opinion on orthodox Christian teaching and Christian morality, changed right along with them. They said things like, “If we don’t change our old-fashioned, outdated views on these things, we’ll be so offensive to our culture we’ll lose all influence.” And yet, those churches and denominations that did that–they’ve been the ones that shrunk the fastest. Today, their numbers are incredibly small and they’ve become altogether irrelevant.   Episode Sponsor: No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can. So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’ Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

Pastor J.D. and Rebecca McLaughlin discuss Rebecca’s new book, The Secular Creed, as she helps to disentangle the beliefs Christians gladly affirm from those they cannot embrace.  A glimpse inside this episode: Today we come to the end of our special series with Rebecca McLaughlin. Rebecca is the author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion. If you haven’t read this book or have it on your shelf as a reference, you’re really missing out. She also recently released 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity. So get it for your middle or high schoolers. And lastly, her newest book that was released last week: The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims. This was originally recorded as a long-form conversation, but we’ve split it up into four question and answer segments. Today, Pastor J.D. and Rebecca spend a few minutes talking about the topics of her newest book: This so-called “Secular Creed”. We’ve all seen the yard signs our neighbors have that make broad sweeping statements that leave us with only all-or-nothing belief options. Things like: Love is Love and Gay Rights are Civil Rights… when the real truth is a bit more complicated. Rebecca helps us disentangle the beliefs Christians gladly affirm from those they cannot embrace.  But that’s not all, they will also turn the table completely to end their conversation by talking about personal suffering because when we’re talking about defending and understanding our faith, suffering is still the primary objection people have to Christianity.    Episode Sponsor: No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can. So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’ Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

Pastor J.D. and Rebecca McLaughlin discuss several complex questions on topics like same-sex attraction, race, and politics. A glimpse inside this episode: We are in the middle of a very special series of episodes for you. For the past few weeks here on Ask Me Anything, we have guest Rebecca McLaughlin joining Pastor J.D.  Rebecca is the author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion. If you haven’t read this book or have it on your shelf as a reference, you’re really missing out. She also recently released 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity. So get it for your middle or high schoolers. And lastly, her newest book that was released last week: The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims. This was originally recorded as a long-form conversation, but we’ve split it up into four question and answer segments. Today, Pastor J.D. hits Rebecca with several tough questions. Rebecca will spend a few minutes answering: How can evangelical churches be safe places for people who find themselves attracted to the same sex? And also, how do we use this racially polarized moment as an opportunity for the gospel? And lastly, what does a faithful christian witness look like in a politically polarized time?    Episode Sponsor: No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can. So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’ Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

Pastor J.D. and Rebecca McLaughlin discuss some areas of life where Christians have been more shaped by culture than Scripture. A glimpse inside this episode: We are in the middle of a really special series of episodes for you. Starting last week (so go back and listen to last week’s episode if you haven’t already), and for three more weeks, we have guest Rebecca McLaughlin joining Pastor J.D. Rebecca is the author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion. If you haven’t read this book or have it on your shelf as a reference, you’re really missing out. She also recently released 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity. So get it for your middle or high schoolers. And lastly, her newest book that was released last week: The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims. This was originally recorded as a long-form conversation, but we’ve split it up into four questions and answers. Today, Pastor J.D. and Rebecca will spend a few minutes talking about some of the areas where we may have been more shaped by our culture than by Scripture — specifically diving into racism and homosexuality. Rebecca has a lot of wisdom to share with us today as well as pieces of her own story that you don’t want to miss towards the end.   Episode Sponsor: No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can. So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’ Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

We have a really special series of episodes for you. For the next four weeks, we have guest Rebecca McLaughlin joining Pastor J.D. Rebecca is the author of Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion. If you haven’t read this book or have it on your shelf as a reference, you’re really missing out. She also recently released 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity. So get it for your middle or high schoolers. And lastly, her newest book that was released last week: The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims. This was originally recorded as a long-form conversation, but we’ve split it up into four questions and answers. Today, Pastor J.D. and Rebecca will spend a few minutes talking about the traditional approach to defending our faith versus current questions people are asking. What’s the solution to thinking differently?  I will warn you, though, that there are significant Harry Potter spoilers here. So if you haven’t read the books or watched the movies over the past 20 or so years, it’s about time you know how it all ends.   Episode Sponsor: No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can. So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’ Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

Pastor J.D. shares the valuable wisdom he’s learned from three of the women who have influenced him most.  Spoiler alert: Elisabeth Elliot Elyse Fitzpatrick Jen Wilkin   Episode Sponsor: No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can. So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’  Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

Pastor J.D. discusses the role of women within the church, especially as it relates to positions of leadership. Resource: One in Christ Jesus: The Role of Women at The Summit Church   Episode Sponsor: No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can. So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’  Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

Pastor J.D. and Matt Love sit down with Will Mancini to talk about his new book and answer an important question about the future of the church. Resources from this episode: https://www.willmancini.com/ https://www.willmancini.com/books/future-church

Pastor J.D. discusses God’s design for men according to Genesis 2 and 3. A glimpse inside this episode: It goes back to Genesis 2–3. Spiritual Leadership:  Woman brought into a situation where he already has a walk with God. He is supposed to explain the commands of God to her.  He names the animals, even names her!  He’s given the responsibility to lead the family. Not only spiritually: She’s brought into a home where he is providing. He takes initiative in romance: Adam’s first words were a love poem. He takes responsibility to love and protect: “This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” When you look at Genesis 3 you can see that humanity’s fall happened, in part, through a failure of the man to lead. He was “with” the woman when she ate. He was standing there, wondering if Genesis 2:17 was true. How I know: Genesis 3:9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” “Where were you?”  The first sin was not one of commission, but omission.  Just sitting back. It’s no secret: Women are more faithful to volunteer in the church than men. More initiative with the kids. More initiative with the relationship. They show more initiative in mission. (IMB: 4 to 1)  They show more initiative to grow: my publisher advised me that women are reading more and you can’t write just to men.  Genesis 3:9 is still his question. Where are you, men? We’ve got a generation of males that never grow up to be men who take up their role as leaders. Dr. Anthony Bradley, sociologist:  85% of youths in prison come from fatherless homes 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes 90% of all homeless & runaway children are from fatherless homes 60% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes Just as the fall of humanity came through the failure of a man to lead, so salvation comes when a man takes up his leadership role.  Jesus is the Second Adam And so with us… (no disrespect to the ladies) Tony Evans: “As goes the man, so goes the family. As goes the family; so goes the church. As goes the church; so goes the community. As goes the community; so goes the nation. So if you want to change the nation; change the community; if you want to change the community change the church; if you want to change the church; change the family; if you want to change the family, change the man.” Tony Evans: If the child is first to come to Christ, there is a 3.5% chance everyone else in the household will follow; if the mother, a 17% chance; if the father, a 93%. What to do:  Commit to growing as a disciple (which you can hear about in last week’s episode) Commit to re-order your relationships:  Anthony Bradley, like we said before: Wife before children Children before work  Friendships before solitude God before all of it.

Pastor J.D. shares five identities of a disciple—worshiper, family member, servant, steward, witness. A glimpse inside this episode: At our church, we’ve really made this a big emphasis this year. Jesus called us to make disciples, and that means teaching people how to follow Jesus and live the life of a Jesus follower. We’ve been walking through 5 identities of a disciple: Worshiper Daily time with God. Quiet time.  Regular church attendance.  Servant How do you approach your life, job, relationships, etc? What’s your attitude? Volunteer/serve in church and/or community.  Family Member Belonging in membership and community, specifically.  Steward  How do you treat your money? Is generosity part of your life? Witness Who’s your one?  Go on a mission trip.