TITLE: Faith: Going against the cultural currents.

2. TITLE: Faith: Going against the cultural currents. • TEXT: Hebrews 11:32-40 • THEME: The believer’s faith should direct him through the cultural currents of life.

4. Phil Stucky: Missionary to Brazil He saw their economic situation improved even as they become more devoted followers of Christ…On the whole just as it made a difference in their lives it changed the community itself for the good. Another friend, Jim Thorpe, also in Brazil as a missionary observed the same thing.

5. Study by Robert Woodberry “In essence, Woodberry was digging into one of the great enigmas of modern history: why some nations develop stable representative democracies—in which citizens enjoy the rights to vote, speak, and assemble freely—while neighboring countries suffer authoritarian rulers and internal conflict. Public health and economic growth can also differ dramatically from one country to another, even among countries that share similar geography, cultural background, and natural resources.” CT

6. Study by Robert Woodberry “Areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in nongovernmental associations. In short: Want a blossoming democracy today? The solution is simple—if you have a time machine: Send a 19th-century missionary.”

8. How does Moses story show us when faith may require us to go against the cultural currents?

9. I. Moses parents went against cultural currents to protect their son.

10. Hebrews11:23 23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

11. I. Moses parents went against cultural currents to protect their son. A. Corrupt Laws: His parent’s faith moved them to disobey an immoral edict.

12. Exodus 2:22 “22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

13. I. Moses parents went against cultural currents to protect their son. A. Corrupt Laws: His parent’s faith moved them to disobey an immoral edict. B. Compare Daniel (Daniel 6) and Peter (Acts 4).

14. Daniel 6: 7-10 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den…

15. Daniel 6: 7-10 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

16. Acts 4:19-20 “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

18. How does Moses story show us when faith may require us to go against the cultural currents?

19. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression.

20. Hebrew 11:24-28 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

21. Hebrew 11:24-28 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

22. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression. A. Superficial Prestige: His faith moved him to refuse his prestigious royal identity.

23. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression. A. Superficial Prestige: His faith moved him to refuse his prestigious royal identity. B. Judgemental Discrimination: His faith made him willing to be mistreated in order to associate with God’s people.

24. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression. A. Superficial Prestige: His faith moved him to refuse his prestigious royal identity. B. Judgemental Discrimination: His faith made him willing to be mistreated in order to associate with God’s people. C. Sinful Pleasure: His faith was more important than the enjoyment of sinful pleasure.

25. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression. A. Superficial Prestige: His faith moved him to refuse his prestigious royal identity. B. Judgemental Discrimination: His faith made him willing to be mistreated in order to associate with God’s people. C. Sinful Pleasure: His faith was more important than the enjoyment of sinful pleasure. D. Life’s Rewards: His faith saw for his reward in heaven- not earth.

26. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression. A. Superficial Prestige: His faith moved him to refuse his prestigious royal identity. B. Judgemental Discrimination: His faith made him willing to be mistreated in order to associate with God’s people. C. Sinful Pleasure: His faith was more important than the enjoyment of sinful pleasure. D. Life’s Rewards: His faith saw for his reward in heaven- not earth E. Emotional Manipulation: His faith enabled him persevere the Pharaoh’s anger.

27. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression. A. Superficial Prestige: His faith moved him to refuse his prestigious royal identity. B. Judgemental Discrimination: His faith made him willing to be mistreated in order to associate with God’s people. C. Sinful Pleasure: His faith was more important than the enjoyment of sinful pleasure. D. Life’s Rewards: His faith saw for his reward in heaven- not earth E. Emotional Manipulation: His faith enabled him persevere the Pharaoh’s anger. F. Cultural/Chronological Snobbery: His faith enabled him to see the invisible things of God.

28. C.S. Lewis, “Surprised by Joy” “…he made short work of what I have called my "chronological snobbery," the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on account discredited. You must find why it went out of date. Was it ever refuted (and if so by whom, where, and how conclusively) or did it merely die away as fashions do? If the latter, this tells us nothing about its truth or falsehood. “

29. C.S. Lewis, “Surprised by Joy” “From seeing this, one passes to the realization that our own age is also "a period," and certainly has, like all periods, its own characteristic illusions. They are likeliest to lurk in those widespread assumptions which are so ingrained in the age that no one dares to attack or feels it necessary to defend them.” (pg. 207-208)

30. II. Moses went against cultural currents to deliver God’s people from oppression. F. Divine Foresight: His faith prepared and protected him from the Passover killings.

32. How does Moses story show us when faith may require us to go against the cultural currents?

33. III. The people of Israel went against the cultural currents by acting on Gods supernatural power.

34. Naturalism: His faith moved him and the Hebrews to cross the Red Sea at God’s prompting.

35. Hebrews 11:29 29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

36. Boys response to the Rea Sea crossing. “Wow!” exclaimed the boy happily, “God is even greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, but He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in only 12 inches of water!”

38. APPLICATION 1. Let us not believe the common lie that conversionary Protestant missions made a mess of things. Books like Hawaii, and others portray missionaries as incompetent bulls in a China closet who disrupted healthy, productive cultures. The evidence shows otherwise.

39. APPLICATION 2. To change a culture you must change the individuals who live in that culture. People must change from the inside out. Living out our faith can make a difference in the lives of others.

40. APPLICATION 3. We have a mission field right here in our backyard. While we live in a post-Christian culture we need to be reminded again of how the gospel can change us from the inside out.