Week 9 – Wednesday – In the Midst

Run a google search on bioethicist Peter Singer. As a professor at Princeton, Singer has recently made claims that children under the age of two years old have no self-awareness and therefore it is ethical to kill them and harvest them for organs. In an interview he stated that over the next few decades only the most backwards of religious fundamentalists would continue to believe that life is sacrosanct – sacred.

Go read Philippians 2:15.

Crooked and Depraved:
Paul is giving a very distinct contrast between the phrase he gave to describe Christians, “blameless and pure children of God without fault” and the environment that we live in, “a crooked and depraved generation.”

<> What marks our culture?
<> When you think about the actions and customs of our culture, what comes to mind?
<> What are the underlying values that define our culture’s actions and beliefs?

Go read Deuteronomy 32:5

<> Is this issue of being a crooked and depraved generation a new issue?

We need to go ahead and accept the fact that sinful people are addicted to this thing called sin. Outside of God changing our hearts and sending His Holy Spirit to live in us and give us a new mind and new desires, we are helpless against sin’s power over us. According to Romans 7:14 we are slaves to sin outside of Jesus’ work in our lives. When we expect culture to be holy and righteous, it exposes that we don’t understand what the gospel says in terms of how much sin we live in. Outside of Christ we are crooked. Outside of Jesus we are depraved.

Living In the Midst
Sunday night Dustin talked about the fact that we are supposed to live “IN A” crooked and depraved generation. Far too often, children of God believe that their roll in society is to flee from a crooked and depraved generation – to boycott and picket and protest. Once we remove ourselves from society, we are failing to obey Phil. 2:15. We are no longer IN the crooked and depraved generation.

<> In what ways have you removed yourself from the generation that you live in?
<> What benefit does seclusion give you in your walk with Christ?

The balance issue about living IN A crooked and depraved generation is that you are to do so while remaining absolutely pure and blameless and without fault. With absolute love and humility you are called to walk in the midst of a generation that is sinful to it’s core, and yet to remain absolutely holy as you do. This is a hard balance. BUT it is commanded. Jesus wants you to learn how to walk in communion with Him in the midst of a generation that knows nothing about Him.

<> In what ways have you fallen into the generation that you are supposed to be distinct from?
<> How are you allowing Jesus to teach you the balance of remaining holy and living in the context of a crooked and depraved generation?