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Guest (Male): Pondering what the world is saying and what God is saying. Here's Pastor Thom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: The world says to gain in life, take. God says to gain in life, give. The world says money is a measure of a man's success in life. God says giving is the measure of a man's success in life. The world says knowing facts is the key to success in life. God says knowing Me is the key to success in life. The world says death is the end of life. Christians say that death is just the beginning of life.

Guest (Male): God says one thing and the world says the opposite. Logic says both can't be true. And what God says not only rings true, but it's filled with hope. With that said, the world's view has taken hold like never before. How do we respond? Well, we'll get some answers today on Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller.

And we'll find those answers in Philippians chapter two. We'll learn our response is not to be with complaints, but with love and truth. Here's Pastor Thom.

Pastor Thom Keller: Philippians chapter 2:14 to start us off. Do everything without complaining and arguing. Before we move on to verse 15, I'd like to make one more relevant application here about stay away from complaining and arguing. So a question for you: how have we as Christians been doing on that score, arguing and complaining during this pandemic? Have you been arguing and complaining?

Before we take a look specifically at how we have handled complaining during the pandemic, there's one definition and understanding that is critical as we dig deeper, and the word is postmodernism. Postmodernism is a reaction against the assumed certainty of scientific or objective efforts to explain reality. For this reason, postmodernists are highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, all cultures, all traditions, all races, and instead focuses on the relative truth for each person.

Again, listen. For this reason, postmodernists are highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truth of each person. You live, I live in a postmodern world where your unsaved friends and neighbors and family members and fellow students are skeptical of all claims that are said to be true for all people.

And so this means that simply by definition, by definition, they reject the exclusive claims of Christianity and in particular, God's moral law, which the Bible says does in fact apply to all cultures, all groups, all traditions, all races. Now, prior to succumbing to this current postmodern mindset, prior to this time, rational and calm debates between people holding to different views on a subject was possible back then because the ultimate purpose of the debate was about discovering the truth about that subject.

But not today. All truth is relative. In today, our postmodern world, because of the internet, which presents to us an unlimited plethora of contradictory facts, the function of the debate is no longer to discover the truth concerning the subject at hand, but rather to express our opinions and our feelings about that subject. And so once I've done my own fact-checking and I determine that my facts trump your facts based on my research on the subject, the result many times is hate-filled shouting matches and demonstrations.

Why? What is the machine that drives this? Twitter research shows that false stories get liked and spread through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter six times faster than true stories. False stories get liked and spread six times faster than true stories. In a story reported on PBS entitled "False news travels six times faster on Twitter than truthful news", they say that the motivator for disseminating false news is people trying to make a buck on social media advertising ecosystems.

Listen, that rewards stories for attracting the most eyeballs. Deb Roy, the director of the laboratory for social machines, says, "Listen closely. We're discovering that polarization is a great business model." We're discovering that polarization is a great business model. Separating, dividing people. So false stories will get read six times more than true stories.

Imagine a newspaper with six pages all representing just one side of the story and just one column representing another side of the story. The difference, however, is that on social media, you will never see that one page representing the other side. Why? Because once you click on that false story, these social media platforms will reward you by attaching to those stories more stories that confirm that story and even add fuel to the false story.

You say, "But my story is true." That may be true. Just hang with me. Once you start down that rabbit hole, do you ever come up and do your own due diligence by checking out counterclaims? Some of you do, but some of you maybe do not. Why? Why don't you search out the other side? Well, two reasons primarily. Number one, once you click on that story, Google will not show you websites presenting counterclaims because they will only send you to more of the same.

And secondly, because you like the story you're following and so they send you and you read more and more, all confirming your position. Adolf Hitler said something profound. He said, "If you tell a lie big enough and you tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." Big enough and frequently enough. And the social media platforms deliver on that concept. And you know where that ultimately leads us as a nation?

It leads us to tribalism. Listen to the definition of tribalism. Listen closely. The behaviors and attitudes that stem from strong loyalties to one's own tribe or social group. Isn't that where we are? The behaviors and attitudes that stem from strong loyalties to one's own tribe or social group. And isn't this really who we are increasingly becoming as a nation, a series of tribes?

So how should we as Christians in an effort, as Paul said, to avoid arguing, deal with the world around us who's arguing based upon multiple and conflicting facts? One suggestion. I would suggest being very slow to mentally commit to one of these multiple conflicting fact issues and be even slower to debate your position publicly. I've had so many pages sent to me that I do fact-checking and I discover it's not true. But the story continues on.

Be careful. Be slow to commit to one of these multiple conflicting fact stories and be even slower to debate your position publicly. There are echoes of Proverbs here. Proverbs 18:17: "The one who states his case first seems right." This was written for today. "Until the other comes and examines him." Wow. Proverbs 18:13: "One who gives an answer before he hears, it is to his folly and shame."

Proverbs 18:13 New Living says it this way: "Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish." You say, "But I have the facts." Are you sure? Maybe you do. Are you doing the due diligence to make sure you do? Are you sure? And do you really think you will convince them that your internet facts are right and their internet facts are wrong?

Listen again. When I determine that my facts trump your facts and I continue in that debate, if I keep at it long enough, the conversation will devolve into a hate-filled, many times, a hate-filled shouting match or grand frustration at the very least. And folks, that describes almost all of 2020. And I don't see anything that's going to slow that trend down, do you?

So be wise. Proverbs 17:14. Proverbs 17:14 says this: "Beginning a quarrel is like opening a floodgate. So drop the matter before the dispute breaks out." Moving on. Philippians 2:15 says this: "So that no one can speak a word against you of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them."

Verse 15. Live clean, innocent lives in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. In Greek, the word for crooked is skolios. It's where we get our word scoliosis. It simply means curvature of the spine. In Greek, it means crooked or curved. In Greek applied to people, it means perverse, wicked, unfair. We live in a crooked and perverse generation, it says. The word perverse in Greek is the word diastrepho, and it means to turn aside from the right path to a corrupt, perverse way.

So putting that together, we are to be blameless and innocent children of God, whereas the world around us is crooked and twisted living in darkness. And Paul said that if you live a blameless and innocent life, you will shine as a light in this world of darkness. So practically speaking, how is our view as Christians to be different from the world's view?

Well, I begin by prefacing this by sharing with you a nugget of wisdom that my father shared with me. He said, "Thom, always write things, always say things in the positive." Now I could have said, "Never write things in the negative", but that would go against his advice, wouldn't it? And I remember this discussion. It was in my dad's office. It took place very early in my career as I was getting some no parking signs made up.

My dad said, "Thom, try to say that in a positive way." I said, "How do you say no parking in a positive way?" He said, "Well, put up employee parking or parking reserved for unloading. Just take the negative out of it." Now you might ask, what does your father's advice have to do with a Christian view of life? Well, in very broad strokes, this postmodern world view of life is in large part a very negative view.

The unsaved today to a large extent, listen closely to this, think about this. The unsaved today for a large part identify themselves by what they are against and what they do not believe. They are becoming what they are against, what they do not believe. And this results in them taking a contrarian view on almost any claimed truth. Why? Again, it's due to our culture's postmodern view, which is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all people everywhere.

Instead, their view focuses on the freedom each person has to express and seek their own relative truth. And so they can't allow themselves to be boxed in and identified by what they do believe because they know just as they can challenge the relative truth of others, so can their position be challenged. So out of necessity, their worldview becomes all about what they don't believe. It's a negative message. It's a negative of denial. It's a message of no and no. It's shooting at no targets in life.

And now on the other side of the equation, the Christian worldview is all about what we do believe. It's a positive message, a message that affirms rather than denies. It's a message of yes and yes rather than no and no. My guess is that God saw this postmodern view coming when He gave us 2 Corinthians 1:20: "For all the promises of God find their yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory."

All His promises are yes and yes. And this reminds me of my mother. I had a wonderful mother. My mom's default was always yes and her exception was no. "Mom, can I go play in the creek?" "Yes." "Can I go half a mile away and into the woods and build a treehouse?" "Yes." "Can I put a motor in my bike?" "Yes." "Can I put buckets at the end of the driveway and race back and forth around them?" "Yes."

Now I know other mothers whose automatic default was no and their exception was yes. But I so loved and I so love my mother for her default being yes and yes, and the freedom that that afforded me within those clear boundaries. Do you get it? The freedom within those clear boundaries that the word of God provides to us. And following that concept, the truth is that God's default is yes, and the world's default is no.

And Proverbs backs this up. It backs up the reality of the outcome of living in those two opposing realities. Proverbs 10:24 says this: "What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted." For the wicked, dread overtakes their lives. For the righteous, their desires are granted. Let me give you some examples of the difference between the world's postmodernistic view and our view as Christians.

The world says you cannot disagree with my position. God says that we are to disagree with any position that does not agree with God's word. The world's view is all views are equal, all positions are valid. Our position is only those views and positions are valid that line up with God's word. The world's view is racism is wrong, again identifying themselves by what they are against.

The Christian's view is that God loves all His children equally. Again, we're identifying ourselves by what we believe to be true about them. The world's view, you can't question my truth. The church's view, how can there be conflicting truths? And I just love how this openness to truth allows a Christian who studies the sciences to work out of a bigger box, a bigger sandbox to dig in, if you will, than any secularist can ever dig in.

Why? Because all they believe in is rationality. An example, under a secularist world view which denies the paranormal, only rationality based upon observation is allowed. That's their box. And yet quantum physics blows the lid off of that box. If physicists limited themselves to that box, they never would have allowed, they never would believe, they never would postulate the ideas that are found in quantum physics.

Some more examples. The world says don't limit my sex. God says sexual purity is the only safe sex. The world says my moral limit is determined when I say no. God says your moral limit is determined by when I say no. The world says I'm a product of random chance with no real meaning or purpose to life. Our worldview is I have been fearfully and wonderfully made.

The world says I deny shame. The word says I have been set free from shame. The world says life is meaningless and brings despair. God says life has meaning and brings joy. The world says there are no miracles. How sad. There are no miracles. For a Christian, life is filled with miracles. The world says all prayer is pointless. Christians, all prayers are answered.

The world says that man who believes in God is a fool. The Bible says that man who doesn't believe in God is a fool. Psalm 53:1: "Only fools say in their heart, there is no God. They are corrupt and their actions are evil. Not one of them does good." Again, the world says to gain in life, take. God says to gain in life, give. The world says money is a measure of a man's success in life.

God says giving is the measure of a man's success in life. The world says knowing facts is the key to success in life. God says knowing Me is the key to success in life. The world says death is the end of life. Christians say that death is just the beginning of life. And so the world remains committed to living in this negative darkness, unaware of the unbearably high price we as a society are paying for living in this darkness.

We remain willfully blind to the clear answer that history shows us that those cultures who followed Judeo-Christian values flourished, those who ignore them perish. And this willful blindness is underscored in the account of a college student who when asked this question by his professor, "Which is worse, ignorance or apathy?", the student replied, "I don't know and I don't care."

Young people, please listen to me. There are some teachings, some instruction that you will receive during your lifetime that you will later discover were foundational to shaping who you are and what you will have achieved in life. And I believe this very well could be one of those teachings. Listen, the world is desperately looking for something to believe in, something that they can believe in with such absolute confidence that they would be willing to die for it.

This true story comes out of mainland China during the mid-1960s. Two Christian girls awaited in a Chinese prison yard for their announced execution. A fellow prisoner who watched the scene from his prison cell described their faces as pale but beautiful beyond belief, infinitely sad but sweet. Humanly speaking, they were fearful, but Chin-Su and Ho-Tu had decided to submit to death without renouncing their faith.

Flanked by renegade guards, the executioner came with a revolver in his hand. It was their pastor. He had been sentenced to die with the two girls, but as on so many occasions in church history, the persecutors worked on him and tempted him. They promised him release if he would shoot the girls. He accepted. The girls whispered to each other and then bowed respectfully before their pastor.

One of them said, "Before you shoot us, we wish to thank you heartily for what you have meant to us. You baptized us. You taught us the ways of eternal life. You gave us the holy communion with the same hand in which you now hold the gun. You also taught us that sometimes Christians are weak and commit terrible sins, but they can be forgiven. When you regret what you are about to do, do not despair like Judas, but repent like Peter. God bless you and remember our last thought was not one of anger against your failure. Everyone passes through hours of darkness. May God reward you for all the good you have done to us. We die in gratitude."

They bowed again. The pastor's heart was hardened. He shot the girls. Afterwards, he was shot by the Communists. True story. Listen again. The world is desperately looking for something to believe in, something that they can believe in with such absolute confidence that they would be willing to die for. Do you have that? Postmodern world cannot deliver on that.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Thom Keller on Study the Word and he's in a study of Philippians right now. Would you like to give this a second listen? Either go to our website at ccleb.com or visit our YouTube page. Simply subscribe to our channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. And there you can watch our services live or on demand. That includes this series in Philippians.

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