Initially, the first thought that came to my mind was..... "Not that again, I'm sure the Church has already talked about this a million times, what more could I learn from it"
Well, to my surprise, the way in which Pastor Bobby preached this sermon totally renewed my mind about the Cultural Mandate. It was as if he was on fire as he spoke with such conviction that dare I say sounded like 'brimstone raining down'.
The key message, I believe, is that God loves the world. If He didn't , then why would He create it? The world is his masterpiece and everything in it is part of his master plan to create heaven on earth. Sadly, because of the fall, we had lost sight of God until 1 fine day, He sent His son Jesus to die for us such that we can be redeemed and are able to fellowship with God. The original plan in Gen 1:28 was that we were to use our gifts and talents to fill the earth and subdue it and to rule over every creature !
In the modern context, this would mean unleashing our unlimited creative power that God has given us such that we can make this earth beautiful and create what we know as 'culture'. Creating a society where dreams are realized and hope is birth forth! A world where we can celebrate the diversity of the 9 cultural spheres including family, religion, business, education, government, arts and media.
Come to think of it, the world does seem like a majestic place to be in. We're so culturally diverse with food, tourist attractions, cultural arts and successful business products that have made life better (all the Is). Last but not least we do also have a vibrant entertainment industry (I'm sure many of you who watched Batman will agree with me; what an awesome movie by the way)
However, creativity that was meant for good has actually become distorted because of the fall. We see the rise of corruption in business practices, pornography, pride, greed for money and not to mention negative reporting in the media. Worst of all, the dreams and visions we could actually achieve becomes dust as we let low-self esteem creep in due to constant condemnations of being 'not good enough'
However, God indeed loves us and because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we have direct access to God once again through the Holy Spirit. What was meant for evil can actually be turned back again and used to be made for Good. The creativity that was once God's original blue-print for good in the world can be restored back if we are willing to once again come back to God and use it to beautify the world and not corrupt it. The self esteem that was once lost can be restored if we believe through the blood of Jesus that we can once again 'do all things through Christ who strengthens us!'
To put in aptly; courtesy of Pastor Bobby, the $50 bill (our creativity from God) that was once used to buy weapons (fall) can now be used instead to change lives.
Our culture that was once lost in SIN can be restored back if choose to believe that we are IMAGO DEI (Images of God). This means going into the world as a 'restored vessel' (By the blood of Jesus) that is 'in the world but not of the world'. This really hit me hard as I used to just go through the motions while giving tuition. I constantly thought why border? I just need the money. I thought the preaching was only done at Church or if we talk about Jesus. Little did I know that what we do on this earth and how we impact culture with the same creativity but with God in it is what shall make the difference in this world.
Now, I have a renewed mindset to believe that all that I do is a representation of my God (IMAGO DEI) and that we must have big dreams and motivation to do things with a positive mindset as 'We are the message that we carry' To win back the world for Christ, we have to first show love to the world like how Jesus did. When people see the message that we carry through our daily lives and actions, that is when the Glory of God can be seen and that is when the world and it's culture can be impacted with the love of Christ! This is when, there can be Christ in Culture - just like how it was originally meant to be - creative, beautiful, majestic and filled with love, a true heaven on earth.
Hope this recap blesses all of you! Shalom!
Regards,
Daniel Foo
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