Corinthians and Creatives

Transcript

Good morning. Okay, okay. First of all, I just want to say what a privilege it is for me to be here with you this morning, to be with men and women who have sacrificed their very lives to love and care for the people of God. What an honor it is for me to be here with you. As Pastor Brian said, I spend about 50% of my time shepherding folks in Portland, Oregon, at a church called Trinity, and then about the other 50% of my time I spend engaging with creatives and traveling the country. I’m part of a hip-hop trio called Beautiful Eulogy. Okay, amen. Two, three people? All right. Basically, Beautiful Eulogy has awarded me this opportunity to travel the country and engage with creatives, whether that’s in clubs or bars or churches, doing music, preaching the gospel. So I’ve been able to have a

unique vantage point. I’m able to see what it looks like from the church as a pastor, but also to engage culture as a creative. And so this morning I want to talk to us about creativity and what that means for the church, and I want to be very honest with you this morning concerning creativity. So this morning we’re gonna talk about Corinthians and creatives, all right? That’s a creative title, right? Okay, amen. If you’d be so kind as to turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we’ll start at verse 17, and we’re gonna go through this process here. We’re gonna talk about creativity as a great influence in the culture. It is right now the greatest influence in the culture, and if you’re not hip to that, you should probably get pretty hip to it because it’s changing the culture. But I want us to talk about that today and

what that means for creatives, what that means for the church. So 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 17. I’ll read, we’ll pray, and then we’ll dive right in, okay? For the message of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, that is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believed. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has

called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many influential, not many of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God, that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Let’s pray.

Portland Meets Corinth

Father, we confess that without the help of your Holy Spirit, everything we say here today will just be words. They’ll just be words. We recognize, God, in order for this to be powerful, we need the help of your Holy Spirit to meet us this morning. There’s something that happens when your word is preached and the Holy Spirit is moving, where words become challenging, convicting, and life-changing. So we pray, O Lord and God, that you would give us the help that we need as we open up your word this morning. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Portland, Oregon, a city known by outsiders primarily for its openness to all things, anything goes. A city known for its sexual expression and carnal liberty. A place popularized by religious variety. A city with a booming economy filled with entrepreneurs, tech companies, and startup companies. A place filled with philosophers, free thinkers, and thought leaders.

A city with a reputation of being among the educated elite and the intellectually enlightened. A growing city. A city that is completely run under the influence of hyper-creatives. A city where all other progressive cities take their cultural cues from. Portland, Oregon, this is the city that I live in. A city like no other city, except for one. First century Corinth. Now you probably have never thought about the similarities of these two cities. These two cities have more than 2,000 years and 6,000 miles separating them, but somehow they look exactly the same. Now it’s true that Portland might have more hipsters than Corinth. Portland might have better coffee than Corinth. And Portland might have more creatives. But the similarities are striking. Both cities very secular and irreligious. Both cities filled with intellectuals and thought leaders. Both cities known for its broader influence on culture and its

humanistic conventional wisdom. These two cities look a lot alike. The only difference is that in the culture of Corinth in the first century, it was the philosophers that were influencing the church. Today, both in Portland and throughout the culture, it is artists and creatives that are influencing the church. My hope for us, as we unpack this passage, is that you would begin to see the correlation between old-school Corinth and new-school creatives. So that we can receive the same encouragement and the same insight for our context as the Apostle Paul brought to the Corinthians in the first century. Insight concerning God’s wisdom over and against conventional wisdom. The wisdom of the world. Now, just to set some context, the Apostle Paul, who I’m sure all of you know, was the author of this letter. He was the church planter for the church in Corinth. And after a few years, after he planted, he’s back on mission,

moves to another city to do ministry. After five years, only five years, after planting the church in Corinth, he had begun writing this letter because he realizes there’s all these issues that have come up in his congregation since he left. The Corinthians had huge issues with arrogance and pride. They were egotistical, self-absorbed, motivated by self-interest. Christians were focusing primarily on external methods to measure their spirituality. They were ranking themselves according to their gifts. The church in Corinth was filled with sexual immorality. Christians were suing other Christians. The reality is when Paul got the report about what was happening in Corinth, he was discouraged. It revealed that the church was a mess and it was completely divided. And so Paul, who established the church, who loved the church very much, needed to address their issues. Now Paul, who knew these people and the culture of Corinth,

he knew them very well. So he decides, I got to address it. Because he knows them so well, he sees right to the heart of the issue. He knows their problem exists ultimately because the people of Corinth were placing more stock in the wisdom of God, more stock in the wisdom of man than in the wisdom of God. They were leaning on and trusting in various different philosophies that were influencing the church. Philosophies concerning sexuality, purpose, meaning, ethics, spirituality, ultimate destiny. These philosophies were becoming popular within the church of Corinth because they were being pushed in by very popular people. Worldly wisdom was influencing the church because it was being pushed in by influencers. And so Paul, before he gets to addressing all their issues systematically throughout the letters of Corinthians, he first starts by addressing the issue of wisdom, which is their primary cause for their

The Wisdom War

problems. He starts with wisdom because it’s obvious the Corinthians had a huge, huge and gross misunderstanding of it. The application of wisdom, the origin of wisdom, the blessing of it, the safeguard of it, and ultimately they had a gross misunderstanding when it came to the wisdom of the cross. Wisdom or the lack of God’s wisdom was the primary reason for the divisions happening in the church. Now it’s important to know that Paul is not attacking wisdom in general. Paul wasn’t an anti-intellectual. His issue was their perception of wisdom, what they perceived to be wise. The Corinthian Christians were leaning on conventional wisdom that the thought leaders of their day were bringing into the church rather than the wisdom of God. The issue of wisdom in the Corinthian church years ago, in old-school Corinth, is the same issue we wrestle with in the church today. Christians believing that conventional wisdom is more relevant in

our time and in our culture than the wisdom of God. Christians believing that conventional wisdom is wiser than God’s wisdom. This is an undeniable reality. This is why liberalism is so prevalent in our church today. I mean, some people actually believe that God’s wisdom is dated and ineffective in our modern context and we need something new. So what man believes to be fair and just and right determines how they live or where they source their wisdom from. There are churches in every major city right now that have embraced same-sex marriage because in their mind they view it to be right and fair and modern. There are churches in every major city that have embraced universalism, which is this idea that all people are the children of God regardless of whether or not they reject Jesus, because in their mind that’s just fair. I read an article in a

Portland magazine not too long ago about the new face of Christianity in Portland called Jesus’s Favorite City. Dr. Marcus Borg, teacher of religious studies for over 41 years, makes this statement. He says that Oregon State University, around 50% of my students, had a tremendously negative view of Christianity. He says Christians were, and I’ll use their five favorite adjectives, literalistic, anti-intellectual, self-righteous, bigoted, and judgmental. That’s the public face for Christianity. And so because of this, Borg suggests a new, more creative, more modern Christianity, a postmodern religion, a movement where progressive theology means that the Bible is read as a metaphorical document. It’s only metaphor. A movement that affirms religious pluralism, all religion is all good. A movement that sees no fundamental conflict between Christianity and conventional wisdom. So Christianity and the wisdom of the world, there’s no conflict. This, I might add, is a perception that is popular among most

creatives. Can I tell you something, brothers and sisters, pastors? Human wisdom has become the new paradigm among professing Christians in our culture. And the Trojan horse that is ushering in this human wisdom is being led into the church mostly by uninformed creatives. This is a concern for me, as a creative. It’s a concern. Now you might be thinking to yourself, wow, Thomas, that seems excessive. What could be so bad about creatives? Creatives don’t have that much influence in my church. And just for a moment, I promise this will get somewhere, but just for a moment, listen to some of the ways that the church has described the creative in these days. The cultural prophet, the creative priests, truth-tellers, prophetic artists, storytellers, co-creators, thought leaders, spiritual activists, culture makers. I mean, these are lofty titles. Many of these descriptions exclusively reserved for leaders and pastors, now almost exclusively given to performers, poets, and painters. Listen to

some of the statements that I hear as I travel the country engaging with creative Christians. You know, the artist is now the mouthpiece for God. The prophetic artist is the closest we have to divine inspiration. God is using artists and creatives to usher in the new creation. God has ceased to speak in old-school methods. He’s now speaking exclusively through the arts and through creatives. God tends to use artists these days over and against everybody else because artists really know how to engage with people. And my favorite, creatives are the new pastors shepherding people with art. I’m not making this up. These are actual statements that I hear all the time as I travel the country. From my vantage point, one of the biggest problems in the church today is the exaltation of the artist, the creative being elevated to clergy. Now listen, I’m a creative. I love creatives. I have a ministry that is

created for creative people. See, the problem is not so much with creative people using their creative gifts to build up the church. That’s a very good thing. In fact, that’s why the Holy Spirit has given the church creative people to edify and beautify the church. The problem is the platforms and the pulpits that we give to creatives who are underdeveloped, spiritually immature, and who take all of their cues from the culture when it comes to wisdom. That’s the problem. The problem is when we treat creatives like pastors simply because of their giftedness and their influence. I mean, think about this. Pastors, you don’t share your pulpits with anyone. I’m serious. Think about the qualifications of a pastor. Before we even think about giving access to our most prized possession, the very people that God has entrusted to us to shepherd them, we make sure this person has character, this person walks in integrity, he knows how

to rightly divide the Word of God, he fits all the qualifications of 1st Timothy 3, he has a biblical world and life view. But for some reason, when it comes to creatives, many pastors willfully give up their pulpits and their platforms. They give their endorsements to unqualified, spiritually immature men and women because functionally, functionally, they believe that the power to engage culture and transform culture lies exclusively with the creative. We give them our pulpits, we give them our people, the only prerequisite is talent. This is all bad. Why is this an issue? Why are so many people in the church elevating the artist above all things? Why are people today believing that the creative Christian is the most valuable part in the body of Christ? Well, I think there’s two reasons, and I think these two reasons are connected. One is that we have been completely taken over by celebrity culture. We have

allowed celebrity culture to set the context for us in this regard. It’s no longer pastors and PhDs who we bend our ears to, it’s those with the bigger social platform. People will only bend their ears to the most gifted, to those with the most Twitter followers, to those with the most records sold. This is the consequence of celebrity culture invading the church today. And two, it’s the byproduct of postmodernism. This is huge. Today in our culture, we place more value and more stock in beauty and in creativity than we do truth. This is exceedingly dangerous. So think about what this means. Eloquent speech, artistic giftedness, social collateral platform has become the new means for measuring wisdom. Now, if you don’t believe me, this afternoon, take a quick moment and scroll through Twitter. Look at how many retweets and likes the pastors that you follow get, and then compare that to the amount of likes and retweets

that the creatives you follow get. It’s an ocean that separates the two. Listen to me, brothers and sisters. The creative is the philosopher of this age who uses his great influence to usher in conventional wisdom. In the reality, he’s probably doing it, she’s probably doing it unintentionally. This should cause us concern as a church. It seems to me that the Corinthians, just like the Corinthians, today we have a huge issue going on. It’s a war of wisdom. This war is between God’s wisdom versus conventional wisdom. So the question we need to ask as pastors and leaders in our congregations is how can we trust that the wisdom of God is greater than conventional wisdom? In our context, the culture is very postmodern, anti-orthodox, hyper progressive. We live in cultures where creativity runs everything. Truth is interpreted by beauty and platform. How can we trust that the wisdom of God is

Six Appeals to Truth

greater than conventional wisdom even when the allure of worldly wisdom seems right and relevant? We need to answer this question lest we fall into the same temptations of pragmatism that the Corinthian church did. The answer and our greatest encouragement is in this passage, is in what the Apostle Paul tells us. And he gives us six things to appeal to, to build our confidence, to build our trust that God’s wisdom is greater than the wisdom of the world as we shepherd people in this hyper creative context. The first thing the Apostle Paul appeals to, surprisingly, is personal experience. Now this seems rather odd to me that the Apostle Paul, Paul the Apologist, would appeal to personal experience. But he does. He says, for the message of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. What

Paul does here is he places the entirety of humanity into two groups. Those who reject the message of the cross and those who receive the message of the cross. For those who reject the message of the cross, the gospel, they are currently on a path of destruction and how they perceive wisdom is actually foolishness. Because the path that they’re on, they’re incapable of knowing and discerning true wisdom. But you, you who have embraced the message of the cross, you know it firsthand. Not only the wisdom of the cross, but also its power. You’ve experienced it. You felt the power of God when he first opened up your mind to know him and his wisdom. You felt the power of God when he revealed to you the folly of conventional wisdom. Prior to the power of the Holy Spirit bringing illumination, helping you see the depth and significance of the cross, you too

were just as foolish. Because to you the cross was contrary to human wisdom. You couldn’t know it. You couldn’t see it. You couldn’t trust it. You couldn’t comprehend it, but God intervened. Truth is, only an intervention from God can bring you revelation about God and move you from the path of rejecting him to the path of receiving him. In other words, those who are lost without intervention from God think that the message of the cross, his death on the cross, is nonsense. But we who are being saved, we know it experientially as the power of God. Paul reminds us that the power that we experienced personally was a divine power. He reminds us when he radically opened up our ears and our eyes to see and to hear. See, conventional wisdom can’t do that. No person can do that. It might convict you. It might inspire you. But conventional wisdom can’t give

you illumination. It can’t give you repentance. It can’t sanctify you. Can’t give you true peace or real hope. To do that requires power, saving power, divine power. Paul’s saying when you think about wisdom, remember what you’ve experienced. Okay, now Paul knows personal experience is good but can sometimes be subjective. So the next thing he appeals to is the Word of God. For the Christian to succeed, we must have both experience and truth. See, this here is one of the problems with creatives. The greatest strength of the creative is shaping experience. Oh yes, creatives can make you feel things in ways that normal people can’t. They can sway you with words and with melodies and with images. But without truth, all they have to offer is feelings. In other words, just because you feel something doesn’t mean you feel it for the right reasons. We need

experience, but we need the Word of God to interpret our experiences. And so Paul anchors his truth by quoting from Isaiah. He says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. God will disrupt the plans of those who embrace worldly wisdom and cause them not to prosper. Paul appeals to the testimony of Scripture to confirm that the Lord is over wisdom. He rules over conventional wisdom. God controls it, how it’s used, who gets it, how it’s applied, so that we don’t think that our experience alone governs our thinking. Now men and women in the church, they find themselves in all kinds of problems when they rely on experience alone. You’ve probably seen this to be true in your own churches. Experience is a good thing, but experience is never sufficient and should always be interpreted by the Word

of God. Creatives are really good at shaping experience. That’s why the church loves them. That’s why the church needs them. But many creatives choose not to anchor themselves in the Word of God because when they do it, it places boundaries on experience. But we as leaders and pastors, we see boundaries for what it is, beautiful and biblical. Creatives see boundaries as a bad thing, but we see it as beautiful. I mean this was the issue with the Corinthians. Instead of interpreting their experiences through the grid of God’s wisdom, they were led astray by human wisdom. They looked to people to interpret their experiences and that’s what we do today with creatives. But we need experience and truth, brothers and sisters. Then Paul appeals to human history. Verse 20 and 21, where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of

the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Paul here calls our attention to human history. He says, look at all the people that you’ve deemed intelligent. Then he goes through his list. Where is the PhD? Where is the philosopher of this age? Where’s the thought leader? Where’s the counselor? Where’s the influencer? Where is the verified Twitter personality? Where is the Kanye West? Where is the creative? Has God not made foolish these people? See, throughout human history, as smart as people are, as smart as they claim to be, they will never be able to speak with any insight or authority to the most significant questions concerning life. Is there a God? Why am I here? Is there life beyond the grave? How can I know him?

History has proven that these significant questions could never be known apart from divine revelation of God. Philosophers debate it. Religious people offer their opinions. Poets write songs about it. But in the end, they can only speculate. As smart as we claim to be, we are completely incapable of knowing God and understanding the gospel in our own wisdom. So God has decided to use the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. I don’t think I have to qualify this, but let me just say it. It’s not the message that is foolish. It’s that God, in his great wisdom, uses foolish people like you and me to preach a so-called foolish message of a crucified Savior to bring about the work of salvation. Look at human history, humanity, and see all the ways they fall short with their inadequacy, their insufficiency in human wisdom cannot help them see the message of the cross. Throughout human history, man’s wisdom

always fails. Fourth, the Apostle Paul appeals to his own ministry. He says, Jews demand signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Again, what Paul does is divide the entirety of humanity into two different groups, Jews and Greeks, religious and irreligious. First place Paul would go when he arrived in a city to do his work of ministry was what? Synagogues. Paul would first preach to Jewish leaders because in doing this, he felt like that was a great starting point. But what he always recognized was that the Jews, they always wanted to see signs. They wanted powerful,

convincing evidence. We know from the Gospels that Jewish leaders always asked them to perform signs and miracles, but Jesus refused. Jews were God’s chosen people. They were the ones who had a covenant with God. They were the ones who were given the law and the promises. Jews were entrusted with the Old Testament, which testified of Christ. But even when Jesus shows up on the scene, they still wouldn’t believe unless he performed signs. They had the Old Testament scriptures, everything right in front of their face, but these first century Jews could not comprehend a crucified Messiah. It was like an oxymoron to them. A king that would lay down his life for a kingdom, a Lord that would lay down his life for people. It didn’t make sense in the minds of a first century Jew. Plus, from a Jewish perspective, anyone who was crucified on a cross was considered

cursed by God. So rather than embracing the cornerstone that would be the foundation of their faith, Christ was for the Jews a stumbling block. The piece they took so much pride in knowing becomes the very thing they tripped over. And in the Greeks, I mean, the citizens of Corinth, influenced by Greek philosophy and Greek culture, these Greek philosophers were deep thinkers. They would probe the depths of human wisdom. They were very inquisitive people, but also very skeptical. They were the intellectuals and the enlightened ones of our time. From their vantage point, they thought the message of the cross was foolish, illogical, and irrational. See, the Jews and the Greeks, although two totally different types of people, shared the same issue, insufficient wisdom. A crucified Messiah defied all Jewish understanding, and a Greek dismissed the message of the cross as absurd. In doing so, they both rejected the peace and

enlightenment they professed to know and seek. Human wisdom was insufficient, but praise be to God that within these two groups, the religious people and the intellectual elite, God has chosen to make many people believe this message as a crucified message. Jews wanted signs. God reveals to people that Christ is the power of God demonstrated in the resurrection from the grave. Greeks wanted wisdom. God reveals to people that Christ is the wisdom of God demonstrated in the redeeming of people. See, the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. God is not foolish. God is not weak. That’s not at all what this passage is saying. It means that what man ascribes as foolish proves to be infinitely greater than what man can comprehend, and what man ascribes as weakness proves to be infinitely more powerful than what man can understand. I mean, think about these

things for a moment. God as a man, a crucified king who was pierced for our transgressions, who brought victory in death, who was raised from the grave. I mean, these things are literally unbelievable, unless God causes for you to believe it. Paul is saying, use my ministry and the people that I’ve ministered to as a reminder of how superficial conventional wisdom is and how great the wisdom of God is. And Paul appeals to our calling. He says, brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many influential, not many of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are,

so that no one may boast before him. Paul is asking us to take an honest evaluation of ourselves, to take an inventory of our intellectual abilities and our shortcomings, to look deeply into our realities. And when we do that honestly, there we will find that we were nothing. We were not wise. We had nothing to offer. We were insignificant. We were foolish. We were weak. We were lowly and despised. And in our heart of hearts, we know this to be our reality. When we examine our calling, we see clearly that conventional methods of wisdom are bankrupt. Because look at who we were. We know this intimately. We know our limitations intimately. In fact, we only know these things because of the wisdom of God. But God has demonstrated his wisdom by choosing to use those who are not wise, not influential, and insignificant to shame conventional

A New Paradigm

wisdom and conventional strength. So you don’t have to brag about it. In fact, your calling should cause you to humbly submit to the wisdom of God. This, pastors and leaders, should be your greatest encouragement as you faithfully preach the Word of God. This should be your encouragement to not rely on creativity and giftedness, to not rely on pragmatism or relevance or methods. None of these things have the necessary power to bring dead people to life. They just don’t. They don’t. You need the power of God to do that. You need the wisdom of God to do that. Finally, the Apostle Paul appeals to the sufficiency of Christ. He says it is because of him, because of him that you were in Christ Jesus, who has become for us the wisdom of God, that is, our righteousness, our holiness, our redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

If you are in Christ Jesus, that is, if you have been saved by Christ Jesus, you have come to understand the weightiness of this wisdom. Because you are in Christ, you understand that the greatest expression of God’s wisdom is found in the cross. Because of the cross, we see our righteousness. Because of the cross, we find our holiness. Because at the cross, we experience our redemption. What the world views as foolish, God demonstrates as the greatest act of wisdom. We were helpless and needed rescuing, so in the wisdom of God, Christ Jesus endures the cross. He satisfies the legal demands of our sin by giving us perfect life in exchange for our sin, giving us vicarious righteousness. We who were unholy now have access to God because his sacrifice makes us holy. We who were in bondage to sin now get emancipated from the slavery of sin

because of redemption. Man sees the cross as weak and foolish, but to those who are in Christ Jesus, we see it as the power of God and the wisdom of God. Conventional wisdom is insufficient to save. Creatives can only influence culture. They cannot save the culture. So God has deemed that the foolishness of preaching is the means by which we will see the power of the gospel raise dead people to life. So preach. Preach. And again, the Apostle Paul quotes from the Old Testament. He said, Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Pastors, we should never ever boast in our own wisdom. We should never look down on the culture. We did nothing to earn our wisdom. So don’t parade this free gift as if it were not a free gift. You do something that is

totally contrary to the gospel. God is the one who gives wisdom, so we give him the praise that he deserves for giving us wisdom. In this war of human wisdom, conventional wisdom, worldly wisdom, creative wisdom, humanly speaking, creatives are winning. Creatives are winning. They have more influence than you. They have more followers than you. Their philosophy of life is reaching more people than you. They tell a more compelling narrative than you do. Their giftedness attracts and reaches more people on an emotional and guttural level than you do. They relate better to people than you do. The truth is that the creative, with his conventional wisdom, is persuasive, very persuasive, but it is without saving power. It’s without saving power. So you want to see dead people come to life? Don’t trust in the wisdom of the age. Trust in the wisdom of God, the power of the gospel. Conventional wisdom will fall infinitely, infinitely

short of God’s wisdom. Paul nails it. He gives us this letter. He gives us this letter because he knows we’re prone to drift. He knows. He knows the allure of worldly wisdom. He knows that creatives can be a utility for us, but God’s wisdom always proves to be greater than conventional wisdom. And as it pertains to the creatives, the new philosophers of this age, those who have the greatest influence on both culture and our church, what if we rethink a new paradigm for them? What if we reimagine a new paradigm? And instead of using creativity and creatives in our churches as the catapult for our ministries, what if we use the power of the gospel to reform and refashion the creative? To disciple and mature the creative? To help creatives zealously love Jesus and faithfully serve in the context of our local churches? To change their drive and

desire from ushering in culture to ushering in the gospel? Change their passion for art and creativity to a deeper passion and dependence on the power of the gospel to usher in the kingdom of God? What would it look like if we discipled creatives? Think of how we could engage this culture with the power of the gospel with some of the most influential people of our age. I stand here this morning as a creative transformed into a pastor by the seemingly foolish but faithful preaching of the gospel. The culture thinks that the preaching of God’s Word is foolish, not relevant, not beautiful, but they are wrong. May we as pastors and leaders begin to love creatives, shepherd them, and disciple them so that creatives no longer lean on their gifts or on their platforms, but simply leverage them as a utility with the power of the gospel for the glory of God and to the good of his people. Let’s

pray. Father, we too were once foolish. We were not wise. When we read your Word, it unveils the biggest lie, that we were wise, that we were significant, that we were powerful. God, I pray that as we do ministry, we would be wholly dependent on the wisdom of God and the power of the gospel to transform lives, that creativity would be used in our churches but not exalted above your Word. We pray God that you would help us to orient our thinking around the true source of power, you, your Word. Help us to not fall to the allure of the culture and take our cues from them. May we be lovers of your Word, the most transformative power we have. In Jesus’ name, amen.