Welcome to Mountain View Church Audio. Striving to introduce people to Jesus through scripture, biblical instruction, and prayer with authenticity and vibrancy. You don't need to know anything about the Bible. Just sit back, relax, and let God do the rest. Please consider subscribing to this podcast and leave a rating and review. And please consider supporting this ministry through a tax deductible donation at mountainview.church.gib. That's mountainview.church.gib. Now here's this week's message. Happy Canada Day and welcome to Mountain View Church. My name's Aaron and I'm your welcome host.
We'd love the chance to connect with you. For those who are attending online, you can click the Connect link or text Connect to the number on your screen. For those attending in-house, you can fill out a Connect card, which will be found under the seat in front of you, and just hand it into the welcome desk out front. Thank you for choosing to be a part of our gathering today. Now here's today's Basecamp Kids Minute. Hi everyone, I hope you are having a good week. Campers, we are starting a new series with Connect HQ called Emotions. God made us to have emotion, and God has them too. One of these emotions is sadness. Have you ever felt like that?
The story for today is about King David and his son Absalom. King David was so happy and loved his son so much. But one day, David did something that made Absalom so angry and left his father. This made David feel so sad. After many years, Absalom came back, but he had changed and decided to take David strong. This made David even sadder.
Sometimes, even our family can make us feel sad. But always remember that God is with us and comforts us. Campers, do you want to know more about this story? If so, join us this Sunday at Base Camp in one of our two gatherings at 9.30 or 11 a.m. And if you are not able to join us in person, be sure to ask your parents to download the lessons and activities from our website at mountainview.church.basecamp and learn together that when we feel sad, God comforts us. Thanks for listening, and I hope you have a great week.
I recently heard a story of a local church that redesigned their logo. They wanted to be known for their passion and zeal for serving God. They wanted to be a church that was led by the Holy Spirit. They were on fire for Jesus and wanted the world to know about it. They started researching a variety of options. Believe it or not, there are lots out there. Here's what I came up with on a first page of a Google search. My personal favorite is the logo where the actual church building is on fire. The people who go to that church must be really on fire for Jesus.
Coming back to our story, the church made their choice and brought the logo before the congregation. They all loved it. The staff and leadership began changing internal documents and signage while the large exterior sign was on order. It was an exciting Sunday when the new sign was installed on the front of the church building. Surely their community would know that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and on fire for God's mission to save the world. Unfortunately, the complete opposite took place. The community was utterly repelled by the new signage. The public perception was, get in here or you'll burn in hell. It turns out most unchurched people connect fire with judgment and eternal damnation, not a passion and zeal for God. The average person doesn't know anything about the Holy Spirit, so the metaphor was completely lost and the messaging was misunderstood.
After a few months of feedback, the old signage was put back up. The church went back to the drawing board to establish yet another new logo, but an important lesson was learned. One should never assume that our culture understands Christian symbols or imagery. Quite often, our culture finds anything related to the church confusing. Some people in our society might even be in direct opposition of Christianity because of past experiences or predetermined perspectives. Like, for example, if your church logo includes flames, they might just predetermine a message of judgment and hellfire. Don't make that mistake.
This week, we begin a new series titled Gospel Culture, a call to be different. Those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus are called to be different, but this call should have a positive impact on our culture. The truth is, at times, Christians have got it wrong. However, in this series, we'll unpack the vast evidence that the gospel of Jesus Christ has truly benefited culture throughout history and continues to do so. Hello, my name is Elena, and I'm reading from Philippians chapter 1, verses 27 to 30.
only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything but your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. Today, we'll be focusing on how the gospel impacts society. Specifically, we'll discover how the gospel has positively impacted Western society throughout history. We'll explore the connection between the gospel and the many benefits and freedoms we experience each and every day. By the end of today's message, here's what you'll come to realize, that living a life worthy of the gospel can infuse a society with the goodness of the gospel.
Our core scripture is found in the New Testament of the Bible in the first chapter of Philippians. If you're unsure where Philippians is, you can always check the table of contents and go to the New Testament and look for Philippians and then turn to the page number. If you don't have a print Bible, you can go to Bible.com. You can download a Bible app to your mobile device. And if you'd like a print copy, just text the number on the screen and we will mail you one. To give you some background, this letter was written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians living in the city of Philippi, which was under Roman occupation.
At the time of writing, there was a type of civic cult in the city that professed an ideology that was counter to the gospel. Tensions were rising as the ideology started to infiltrate the church. Paul addresses the problem by encouraging the Philippian Christians to fight this ideology using gospel-centered actions and behaviors. Now, with that background out of the way, let's look at Philippians chapter 1, verses 27 and 28. Here we go.
Notice how Paul words his statement. He says, If you have a study Bible or you're using a Bible app, you might see a translation notation pointing to the original Greek context. The rephrasing would be, quote, only behave as citizens worthy of the gospel of Christ. If you have any experience with the church, you know how important this is. Maybe you grew up in the church and you left due to the absence of this quality. You see, it's one thing to talk about Jesus and give biblical instruction over and over again. But if it's not lived out in society, what's the point? You see, if our lives don't represent the gospel, we've completely missed the mark. And so in a sense, Paul is saying to the Philippians, talk is cheap. What's your walk look like? He's calling them to be gospel citizens in their society.
You see, it's one thing to verbalize a belief in Jesus Christ, but how one's life displays that belief in day-to-day life is so important. This is why Paul adds to his statement by encouraging them to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel. We might automatically jump to a verbal defense of our faith, which is absolutely warranted at times. However, Christians should remain unified and strive forward living out the gospel of Christ, not just talking about it. I know what you're thinking. Maybe you know some Christians who talk a big game, but their lives are no different from yours. Maybe you're angry at the church and your perception is that Christianity is bad for society. I'll admit to you that there are lots of people who claim to be Christians, but don't live out the gospel the way they should. According to scripture, this will always be a reality for the church. There will always be people who claim to be followers of Christ, but in truth, they've never fully submitted their lives to him.
I can't make excuses for this reality. As a pastor, all I can do is apologize and ask for forgiveness on their behalf. I assure you they are not aligned with the heart and calling of Jesus Christ. That being said, we need to be careful that we don't take the actions of a single church or a group of Christians and mark the entire gospel of Christ as bad for society. Instead, the historical evidence would show that the vast majority of Christians have lived out the gospel over the past 2,000 years. If we're willing to take a wider perspective, the church has had a far more positive influence on society than negative.
I would like to lay out a few pieces of evidence to show how the gospel of Jesus Christ was the catalyst for a positive impact on Western society in particular throughout the centuries. Moreover, I would like to show you how many of the benefits and freedoms we experience in our modern time stem back to Christians who took the Apostle Paul's words seriously and who lived out a life worthy of the gospel and chose to be God-honoring citizens of society. We'll start with the goodness of the gospel that played out in the realm of literacy and education. There has always been a conviction among Christians to make literacy essential for every member of society. Over the centuries, the church has organized and funded innumerable projects, believing that literacy for all people is close to God's heart. Globally, Christians have been the driving force behind teaching people to read and write, both for earthly gain to improve their quality of life, and eternal gain, that everyone might have a copy of the scriptures in their own language and the ability to read it for themselves. It is now a common Christian ethic that anyone and everyone should have access to God's word.
Stemming from literacy, a deeper passion grew to educate, and it became the heartbeat of many Christians. The church soon established something called cathedral schools, in which broader areas of study were adopted. Cathedral schools eventually became universities, which initiated the scientific revolution. This was a time of extensive discovery in fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry, all of them intertwined with theology. You see, most universities started with a seminary as a core component of their education system.
The major push behind these educational institutions was the desire to understand the created world and better know and understand our creator. Feel free to research the origins of every well-known university. You'll find that almost all of them began with a group of people compelled by the gospel to have a positive impact on their society by educating them about the amazing world God has created. Very likely, if you dig deep enough into the founding documents, you will find references to God, the Bible, and even Jesus. You might even find them mentioning those three things in the original mission and vision statements used to establish those schools.
When we consider the goodness of the gospel infused into society, we have to include the topics of human rights and humanitarian ethics. Research the foundation for almost every human right and you'll find Christians at the forefront. A few examples include education, as we've already mentioned, but also healthcare, including extended care for the elderly and disabled, shelter for the poor, food for the hungry, clothes for the needy, the abolition of slavery, the adoption of children, and most recently, protection of the unborn and the abolition of global human trafficking. All of these philosophical views and subsequent activism have their origin in the gospel teachings of Jesus in the New Testament epistles. On the side of humanitarian ethics, Christians have been the leaders in providing aid and relief during times of war, famine, and natural disaster. Consider for a moment Jesus' single parable of the Good Samaritan. By taking that single parable seriously, Christians have established thousands of humanitarian projects and organizations all over the world. Millions of earthly lives and eternal lives have been saved over the past 2,000 years because the gospel of Jesus Christ called the church to love their neighbor as themselves.
To this day, the vast majority of non-government funded organizations that provide humanitarian aid and relief around the world are Christian. The gospel of Jesus Christ transforms people from the inside out, saving them from sin and redeeming them from a life of self, providing the conviction and guidance of the Holy Spirit, which creates innumerable plans and ideas on how to save people from earthly trials and destruction while passing on the hope of the gospel in the process. Finally, when we consider the goodness of the gospel, we must consider the freedom and charity that we currently live under in our modern Western society. I understand that this can be a touchy subject in certain circles, but the historical evidence shows that biblical principles brought about through Christians established many of the freedoms we enjoy today. You see, freedom is a gospel concept obtained through Christ that we are no longer slaves to sin. This eternal concept transformed how Christians viewed the world.
The end of slavery in every context throughout history has been initiated by Christians wanting to live out the gospel within a societal context. Every time we sing Amazing Grace, which is arguably the most well-known Christian song in history, its author William Wilberforce echoes his plight to end slavery during the almost global reign of the United Kingdom. He and many others like him received ridicule and persecution for their efforts, even from people inside the church who didn't want to face the financial hardship associated with an end to slavery. This abolition of slavery wasn't the end of the gospel freedom experienced in Western society. It became the right to work and earn an income, which transitioned into the right to own property. Christians have also been frontrunners in the right to elect our own leaders, which eventually led to establishing law enforcement to keep us safe and keep crime in check. Freedom is always good for a society because it often leads to charity. That's the second piece. You see, kindness and love is shown to those in need when people are free to do so.
Healthcare was formed as an organizational kindness brought about within Christianity. Every time you see that red cross, you must know that it's a historical pointer to the cross of Christ and a gospel-centered initiative to positively impact society. Every time you think about hospitals, clinics, ambulances, doctors, nurses, and every other medical benefit we have today, they all stem from Christians who believed that every human being was created in the image of God. And it was, therefore, their gospel mandate to establish systems to care for the sick and injured. I could go on, but instead I'll end with this concluding argument and encourage you to do your own research after this message is done. Christians have made a myriad of contributions to human progress in a broad and diverse range of fields, both historically and in modern times, including science and technology, medicine, fine arts, and architecture, politics, literatures, music, philanthropy, philosophy, ethics, humanism, theater, and business.
According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes, a review of Nobel Prizes awarded between 1901 and 2000 reveals that 65.4% of Nobel Prizes laureates have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. Now, I've been speaking about societal outcomes today, but I'm really talking about personal transformation that is lived out by individual citizens. There's another letter written by the Apostle Paul, sent to the Roman Church and included in our scriptures. In chapter 12 of this letter, he outlines a series of specific instructions on how to live out the gospel of Christ. At the very end of the chapter, he concludes his teaching with this single statement. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. You see, this is how the gospel of Christ should be lived out. This statement explains why Christians should be focused on bringing the goodness of the gospel into their societies. It needs to be done through helpful and tangible ways. The gospel of Christ calls us to overcome evil with good.
As I close, I want to speak to two groups. First, to the Christians who might be upset with the current state of our society. The easiest way you can impact our culture is to start sharing your faith and inviting people to church. Every single Christian who initiated all the stated societal benefits and freedoms started their journey with someone inviting them to hear the gospel and respond. The personal invitation remains the single most productive starting point for someone choosing to follow Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit does the rest.
Next, I would like to speak to the skeptic, challenging or exploring Christianity. Perhaps you're seeking a greater purpose in life, and you're feeling God's call to begin a relationship with him. Maybe you're starting to change your view of eternity, that this life is just the beginning, and that your soul will carry on into the next life. Whatever your motivation, I want to give you an opportunity to accept the gospel today. You, like everyone else, can't access a holy God on your own. Your sin is a barrier to righteousness. However, the good news of the gospel is that God loved you so much that he desires a restored relationship with you. He sent his son, Jesus, to die on a cross to take the punishment for your sin. He was the perfect sacrifice for humanity's sin. Thankfully, the story doesn't end there. Three days later, God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus overcame sin and death. Through him, there is forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life.
He has now ascended to heaven to prepare a place for those who would accept his gospel message. And scripture tells us that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we can be saved. So, if you would like to accept the gospel today, repent of your sin, and choose to follow Jesus, you can pray with me right now. Receive the Holy Spirit and start a transformed life that will impact you, your loved ones, your friends, neighbors, your community, and your society. Let's pray. Dear Father, we profess.
and confess that we are sinners. We can't work hard enough to access you, a holy and righteous God. There's no amount of praying or reading the Bible or doing good works, even great works, that gives us the right to access you. But we acknowledge and believe that you loved us enough to send your son Jesus, to make a way. Although he was perfect, he died on the cross for our sin, us imperfect people. He paid for our sin and died and was buried, but he rose again. And we believe that to be true.
And we believe that he's overcome the sin that we carried and still carry in our lives today. And he's made us pure. We thank you for loving us enough to send Jesus. And today we make a decision to believe that Jesus is King and Lord. We want to follow him. And we believe that you raised him from the dead and we would ask that you would send your Holy Spirit into our lives. Transform our minds and transform our actions and behaviors and words that we might positively impact the people around us. That we may positively impact our community and Western society.
May the gospel live on in us and through us by the power of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us at Mountain View Church. If you gave your life to Jesus today, or if you'd like to submit a prayer request, please click the Connect link, text Connect to the number on your screen, or fill out a Connect card. Before you go, we have a few updates, followed by this week's discussion question and prayer focus. Hey, senior youth. Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the sweet weather recently. This week, we are meeting on Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the church. We will be playing Ultimate Frisbee, so make sure you bring running shoes and clothes to be running around in.
Afterwards, Elijah will be leading us in a discussion. We will be exploring what it means by Jesus saying that he is the bread of life and what that means for us today. Do you think you fully know what that means? For our lesson, we will focus on that and consider some of the things we may be eating. Can't wait to see you all there. We want to extend a special thank you to those who continue to support our church. None of this happens without you.
To continue that support, or to make a one-time tax-deductible donation, simply click the GIVE link or text GIVE to the number on your screen. If you're in-house, feel free to use one of our giving envelopes found under the seat in front of you, and then just drop it into the donation box at the back of the auditorium. Now let's bring back Pastor Jeremy for this week's discussion question and prayer focus. Now we'll transition to our discussion and prayer focus. If you're sitting around with other people, I would encourage you to ask this question of each other and get some feedback, get some discussion going. We don't just want this to be about watching content or listening to content. We want you to get more out of it and connect with people. If you're in-house, then you can obviously break up into groups in the auditorium and you can chat that way. All right, today's question is, how will you live a life worthy of the gospel and infuse our society with the goodness of the gospel this week? All right, I'm gonna ask that again. How will you live a life worthy of the gospel?
and infuse our society with the goodness of the gospel this week or maybe this month. Unpack that together. Once you've had a good chat, I would ask that you pray. Pray together for an increase of opportunity to share the gospel and give personal invitations to church gatherings or other Christ-centered gatherings. Throughout this message, some of you might have been wanting to push back with questions like, what about the Crusades? What about colonialism and residential schools? What about prosperity gospel preachers? How do we deal with them? These are valid historical situations that need to be addressed, and that's why you need to come back next week. You see, we're going to outline the gospel as it relates to morality, and we're going to look at how many Christians and churches have missed the mark on what Jesus was actually calling them to.
will unpack the truth that Christians aren't perfect. But thankfully, Jesus is perfect. You're going to want to come back next week. You're not going to want to miss it. Mountain View Church Audio. If you've given your life to Jesus today or would like to join, serve, or support Mountain View Church, please let us know at mountainview.church.connect. That's mountainview.church.connect. Have a blessed week.