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Christ’s Commission in a Globalized Age: The Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reformed thinking. Imagine you were standing in the
• 0:04
  frontier city of Iquidos. Right way out in the far eastern
• 0:08
  jungles of Peru. Yeah, you are breathing in that
• 0:10
  heavy, humid air of the Amazon basin.
• 0:13
  It is a very specific atmosphere.
• 0:15
  It really is. And if you stand by the
• 0:17
  riverbanks, you can watch local pastors stepping off these
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  small, weathered wooden boats. Because some of them have
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  traveled for days. Right, they are navigating these
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  massive, winding tributaries, battling heat and exhaustion,
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  all for a single purpose. To study theology, yes.
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  But then you turn around. You step off the muddy riverbank
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  and walk into a small public Internet cabin right there in
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  the jungle. It is quite the contrast.
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  It is jarring. The attendant sitting at the
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  desk taking your money is wearing a brightly colored Pepsi
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  shirt. And the dusty computer monitor
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  in the corner is flashing banner ads from Yahoo.
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  Yeah, it is this sudden, massive collision of eras.
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  You have the ancient, slow, deliberate reality of the Jungle
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  River crashing head first into the instant branded speed of
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  global commerce. Specific image actually comes
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  from the missiologist Samuel Escobar.
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  Oh, really? Yeah.
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  And it captures the central tension of our current age
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  flawlessly. I mean, we are looking at a
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  world where digital messages cross oceans in milliseconds.
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  Right, and currencies just move across borders without
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  passwords. Yes, and the consumer habits of
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  one highly secularized culture are broadcast directly into the
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  rural, traditional villages of another.
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  So the ancient and the modern are not just existing side by
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  side. No, they are wrestling with one
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  another. And that wrestling match is the
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  entire mission of our deep dive today.
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  We are taking two very specific biblical texts, right?
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  Yes, Acts chapter 1 verses 6 through 11 and Revelation
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  chapter 5 verses 9 and 10. We are going to analyze how
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  global Christian missions operate in our post Cold War
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  era. Which is an era defined by a
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  unipolar economic market. Right.
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  Think back to 1989. The collapse of the Soviet
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  Empire. Yeah, the Berlin Wall comes
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  down, and since that moment, the organizing principle of the
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  globe has not been the military standoff of two rival empires
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  with massive nuclear arsenals. Right, it shifted completely.
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  It did. The ruling system of our world
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  now is the omnipresent, relentless, 24/7 economic reign
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  of the global market. So to set the analytical stage
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  for you, the text we are reviewing present a stark
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  contrast to that unipolar market.
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  How so? Well, the global market asks a
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  very specific utilitarian set of questions.
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  Like how fast information can move.
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  Yes. How quickly can physical goods
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  be distributed from a warehouse to a doorstep?
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  How efficiently can human desire be monetized?
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  But the biblical text asks a completely different question.
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  It asks whether witnesses will bear the truth of Christ's
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  incarnation, death, resurrection, reign and return
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  to the ends of the earth. That is a completely different
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  metric for success. It is, and when we look at
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  modern believers trying to live faithfully within this hyper
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  connected system, the source material highlights 2 massive
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  temptations. The first temptation being
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  accommodation to the spirit of the age.
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  Right, which means adopting the consumerism and the pragmatism
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  of the market as if they were neutral tools.
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  Which they are not. No, they are not.
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  And the second temptation is the total opposite of that.
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  Fearful withdrawal. Yes, this happens when believers
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  panic, despise the surrounding nations, cling desperately to
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  their cultural comforts, and retreat entirely from the public
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  square. Let us unpack the historical
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  context because to grasp the current global landscape you are
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  living in today, we really have to look backward.
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  We need to draw a straight line from 1st century Rome to the
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  modern digital market. The source text makes the
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  argument that since the 1989 collapse of the Soviet system,
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  globalization and the economic market have essentially become
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  the omnipresent organizing structures of the whole world.
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  But this is not the first time the church has faced A unipolar
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  organizing structure. Right.
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  To understand how early believers handled a massive
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  global structure, we have to look at the Apostle John's
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  context. He wrote the Book of Revelation
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  around 1895, during the reign of the Roman Emperor.
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  Admission. And at that time, Rome had
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  unified the known world. They did it through incredible
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  physical infrastructure. The same as Roman roads.
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  Yes, the roads and highly regulated standardized commerce.
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  And they maintained it through the Pax Romana, the Roman peace.
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  But that peace was enforced by the sword.
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  Right. And to participate in that
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  unified world, especially if you lived in the major commercial
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  hubs of Asia Minor, you had to participate in the Imperial
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  Cult. To legally buy and sell in the
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  massive trade guilds which controlled all the major
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  industries like textiles, metalworking and shipping.
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  You had to publicly declare Caesar is Lord.
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  You had to burn a pinch of incense to the Emperor.
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  So it was a totalitarian economy blended seamlessly with a
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  syncretic religious system. You could not separate your
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  grocery shopping or your business contracts from state
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  mandated idol worship. That is terrifying, Yeah.
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  And the texts argue that the mod modern global market mirrors
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  that ancient Roman system. The new imperial cult is not a
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  political dictator sitting on a hill demanding incense.
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  No, it is consumerism and pragmatism.
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  Right, the famous Cartesian philosophy.
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  I think therefore I am has. Been replaced by a new insidious
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  motto I buy therefore I am. Here is where it gets incredibly
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  fascinating for me. If we think about modern digital
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  ecosystems and subscription models, they act very much like
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  those ancient Roman trade guilds.
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  That is a great analogy. Let's think through the
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  mechanics of this You buy a new smartphone, or you sign up for
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  an essential software platform to run your small business.
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  And before you can do anything, you are presented with a massive
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  50 page terms of service agreement.
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  Yes, and if you do not click the box that says I agree, you are
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  entirely locked out of the. Ecosystem You cannot communicate
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  with your family. You cannot access your bank
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  account. You cannot run your digital
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  storefront. You do not agree to the terms
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  dictated by the system. You face total economic
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  exclusion. So how did early Christians
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  handle this kind of marginalization?
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  The historical reality is that early believers in Asia Minor
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  were the original global poor Wow because they absolutely
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  refused to blend their Orthodox faith with the pragmatic demands
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  of the Roman trade guilds. They were impoverished.
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  They were ostracized. They faced severe coordinated
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  economic boycotts. So a blacksmith who refused to
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  burn incense to demission suddenly found that no one would
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  buy his goods. And suppliers would not sell him
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  raw iron. That is brutal.
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  The sources assert that modern believers must look at that
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  ancient example and vehemently resist adopting secular metrics
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  of corporate efficiency today. Right, because when the modern
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  church imitates market logic, the entire structure shifts.
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  People sitting in the pews become consumers.
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  Pastors become middle managers holding clipboards.
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  And converts become mere statistics plotted on a growth
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  chart. Success is calculated by visible
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  numerical products and quarterly growth rates rather than steady,
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  unseen faithfulness. Which is a complete distortion
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  of the mission. I can completely understand why
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  a 1st century believer would panic though.
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  Oh, absolutely. A temptation to panic when you
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  are marginalized by a hostile, inescapable empire is so strong.
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  People naturally look for a way out.
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  They look for a secret timetable, A cosmic countdown
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  clock, so they can figure out when the pressure is going to.
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  This brings us directly to the disciples question in the book
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  of Acts chapter 1. Let's set the scene.
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  The disciples are standing on the Mount of Olives with the
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  risen Christ. And they ask him a very pointed
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  question. Will you at this time restore
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  the Kingdom to Israel? It is a question loaded with
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  intense theological and political weight.
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  You have to put yourself in their sandals.
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  Right, this question made complete logical sense
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  historically. They were living under brutal
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  Roman occupation. Jerusalem was not a free city.
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  It was an occupied territory swarming with Roman legions.
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  And the Romans had just shown their total willingness to
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  brutally crucify the innocent for political convenience.
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  Yeah, they had just crucified Jesus a few weeks prior.
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  On top of that, the disciples knew the Old Testament
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  prophecies of restoration. They knew the promises made to
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  David. And they had just watched Jesus
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  conquer death itself. So their internal logic is
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  solid. If the Messiah is risen from the
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  dead and death cannot hold him, why should Rome remain in power
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  for one more day? Why not restore Israel openly,
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  visibly and politically right now?
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  But Christ's response to them is a sharp, immediate redirection.
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  He does not give them the calendar they want.
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  He tells them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons
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  which the Father hath put in his own authority.
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  Looking at the theological weight of that boundary, the
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  text explains that this teaches 2 vital concepts.
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  What are they? Eschatological discipline and
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  hermeneutical humility. OK, let's pause right there.
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  Hermeneutical humility. That is a heavy academic phrase.
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  It is a bit of a mouthful. What does that actually look
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  like in practice for someone sitting on their couch scrolling
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  through the news on their phone? Well, hermeneutics is simply the
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  science of interpretation. OK, so hermeneutical humility
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  means recognizing that you do not possess the decoder ring for
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  world events. It is the humble admission that
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  you cannot perfectly interpret every headline.
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  Yes, this boundary protects believers from prophetic
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  sensationalism. It guards against date setting.
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  It stops the constant, exhausting urge to turn every
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  global crisis, every Middle Eastern war, or every new
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  technological shift into a precise geopolitical omen.
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  You do not get to map the Book of Revelation onto today's
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  newspaper with a red marker. That is a perfect way to put it.
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  But I see that happening constantly today.
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  In an age of 24/7 news cycles, an instant vibrating alarm
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  notifications on our devices, people absolutely crave mastery
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  over history's architecture. We want to know how the building
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  is going to fall so we can get out of the way.
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  We want the chart, the spreadsheet, the timeline.
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  It feels like control. But it is an illusion of
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  control. So giving up the timeline, how
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  does relinquishing that control actually free people to focus on
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  their assigned task? What is the mechanism of that
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  freedom? By recognizing that the Father
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  dictates history's calendar by his own sovereign,
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  unapproachable authority, the believer is freed from 2
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  paralyzing ditches on either side of the road.
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  What is the first ditch? Frantic activism.
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  This is the arrogant belief that if we do not act with frenzied
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  panic speed, God's plan will. Fail.
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  It turns believers into anxious managers of the universe.
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  Precisely. And the second ditch is passive
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  despair. Which is the belief that the
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  hostile empire has already won, the culture is too far gone and
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  all is lost, so we might as well retreat to the hills.
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  Right when you know the Father holds the time securely, you are
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  are freed from both the panic and the apathy.
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  You can work diligently in your present circumstances, tending
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  to the immediate task without carrying the crushing weight of
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  securing the future. So with the timeline securely
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  locked away in the Father's hands, the focus shifts entirely
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  to the equipment and the mandate Christ provides for the present
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  era. In Acts chapter one, verse 8,
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  Christ lays out this mandate clearly.
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  He says they will receive strength from the Holy Spirit.
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  And be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the
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  ends of the earth. Let us analyze the specific
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  Greek word used there for the capability they will receive.
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  It is dynamis. Dynamis.
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  What does that signify? It demotes effective strength,
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  inherent ability, and capability.
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  And the source text argues vigorously that this divine
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  ability is distinctly different from institutional dominance.
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  It is not a clever marketing strategy generated in a
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  boardroom. It is certainly not the coercive
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  military force that Rome used to build its empire.
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  Rome spread its influence through iron swords, brutal
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  taxation and enforced order. Christchurch spreads through
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  preaching, persistent prayer, enduring suffering and spirit
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  rock conversion. It is a completely inverted
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  paradigm of conquest. That means the mandate is
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  strictly testimonial. Think about a witness in a
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  courtroom. Right.
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  A witness is not called to the stand to invent a compelling
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  story or to market a new product.
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  They're called to testify strictly to what they have seen
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  and heard. The Church testifies to
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  historical realities. The Incarnation, the perfect
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  obedience, the atoning death, the resurrection and the
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  ascension of Jesus Christ. And the geographic progression
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  Christ lays out entirely destroys any kind of narrow
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  provincialism. Look at the expanding sequence
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  starting local in Jerusalem. That expanding to the
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  surrounding covenant land of Judea.
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  Then in this is massive crossing over severe cultural, racial and
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  historical hostilities into Samaria.
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  Finally reaching the farthest nations, the ends of the earth.
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  It is a constantly expanding circle.
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  But I want to push back on this tension between the local and
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  the global. Is it possible for a community
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  to become so globally focused, so obsessed with the ends of the
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  earth, that they completely ignore the neighbor living right
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  next door? That.
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  Is a very real danger if our. Goal is the farthest nations
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  shouldn't we bypass the familiar that.
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  Is a crucial tension, and the source text addresses it
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  directly. It demands both simultaneously,
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  so you. Cannot choose one over the
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  other, no. It argues that loving distant
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  nations cannot excuse neglecting the local city.
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  A. Congregation that sends money
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  across the ocean but will not evangelize its own physical
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  neighbors has severely misunderstood the Commission
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  you. Cannot use global missions as an
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  excuse for local apathy, conversely.
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  Local affection cannot justify despising outsiders.
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  You cannot. Become so inwardly focused on
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  your own community's comfort that you ignore the global
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  Mandate. Jerusalem.
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  Is the starting point, but it is not a permanent prison.
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  The gospel moves across boundaries, demanding that
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  believers care for the local city while maintaining painting
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  a massive vision that reaches across oceans if acts.
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  One provides the earthly map for the mission, moving outward
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  through physical geography. Then Revelation Chaters 4 and 5
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  pull back the curtain to reveal the cosmic reality that
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  guarantees the mission's success.
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  This is. Where we step out of the 1st
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  century and into the heavenly marketplace.
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  The scene. John describes in Revelation 5
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  is a crisis of cosmic proportions.
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  He is. Looking into the throne room of
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  heaven and he sees a sealed scroll in the right hand of the
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  creator that. Scroll represents the title deed
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  to the Earth, right? It is the divine decree
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  containing both the final judgment of evil and the
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  complete redemption of creation. But a severe.
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  Crisis emerges. A mighty Angel asks who is
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  worthy to open it, and no. One in heaven, on earth, or
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  under the earth, is found worthy to break the seals and open the
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  scroll. John.
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  Actually begins to weep bitterly because no one is worthy.
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  The universe is stuck. But.
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  Then one of the heavenly elders tells him to stop weeping
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  because the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered so John.
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  Looks up expecting to see a roaring, majestic, ferocious
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  lion. Yet when?
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  He looks he does not see a lion at all.
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  He. Sees a lamb standing as though
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  it had been slaughtered that. Striking visual juxtaposition is
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  the key to understanding the entire Christian mission we
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  have. Supreme cosmic authority
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  represented by the Lion of Judah, but.
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  That ultimate authority is achieved exclusively through the
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  sacrificial substitutionary death of the Lamb, the Greek.
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  Word used for slain or slaughtered here is S viges.
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  It does. Not mean a peaceful passing, no
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  it. Denotes a violent, bloody,
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  sacrificial slaughter directly reminiscent of the Passover lamb
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  in the Old Testament. The text.
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  Clarifies that Jesus was not a mere political martyr who got
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  caught in the Gears of Roman justice his death.
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  Was a deliberate, bloody sacrifice meant to propitiate
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  divine wrath propitiate? Right.
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  Explain. That word, because we definitely
• 15:59
  do not use that in casual conversation at the grocery
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  store. What's the actual mechanism
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  happening there? Propitiation.
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  Means to satisfy or turn away wrath by means of an acceptable
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  sacrifice, the biblical. Argument is that God is
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  perfectly just and human rebellion incurs a very real
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  holy wrath, the Lamb. Does not just give an inspiring
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  example of love. He absorbs and extinguishes that
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  divine wrath entirely on behalf of his people.
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  And then we get. To the song the 24 elders sing,
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  they fall. Down and say to the lamb, by
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  your blood you ransomed people for God, the.
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  Specific Greek word for purchased or ransomed is
• 16:36
  igorasus. And the root of that word is
• 16:38
  agora, which. Means the marketplace.
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  I find the irony here absolutely brilliant.
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  It is. Incredible.
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  We live in a. Modern consumer driven world
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  that constantly treats people as commodities, corporations,
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  traffic and human attention they buy.
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  And sell our data. They monetize our habits.
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  But Christ. Enters the ultimate cosmic slave
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  market of human sin and he. Does not use silver or gold or
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  corporate capital he uses. His own blood as the literal
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  currency to buy his people back out of the market breaking.
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  Down the theological precision of that transaction, the source
• 17:10
  details the doctrine of definite atonement.
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  The text. Points out the Greek preposition
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  eek, meaning out of Christ. Purchased a people out of every
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  tribe. Language, people and nation.
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  The source. Explicitly rejects the Armenian
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  framework here, yes. The Armenian view posits that
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  Christo's death only made salvation a broad possibility
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  for everyone, right. Creating a potential fund of
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  grace, but making the actual application entirely dependent
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  on autonomous human choice. The.
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  Source also fiercely rejects the concept of universalism, which.
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  Claims everyone will be saved regardless of faith or
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  repentance instead. According to the text, the
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  purchase was a specific triumphant, guaranteed success.
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  The blood. Of the Lamb did not just make
• 17:55
  salvation possible, no. It's secured an exact elect
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  people out from among the nations the.
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  Transaction in the agora was final because.
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  These biblical texts so clearly defined both the message, the
• 18:06
  slaughtered lamb who absorbs wrath, and the method
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  testimonial. Witness driven by divine
• 18:12
  strength rather than corporate might, the.
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  Sources rigorously critique alternative models specifically.
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  They critique modern church practices that try to hack the
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  market, trying to use the tools of globalization to achieve
• 18:23
  spiritual results. Let's.
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  Look at how churches try to adapt to this unipolar market.
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  The first model the source critiques is the prosperity
• 18:31
  gospel. The prosperity.
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  Gospel is perhaps the most direct accommodation to the
• 18:35
  consumer age, the. Text argues that this movement
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  turns the sovereign Christ into a cosmic slot machine
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  dispensing. Temporal wealth, physical
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  health, and personal success. You pull.
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  The lever of faith and outcomes a financial blessing, but as we.
• 18:51
  Just saw in Revelation 5, the biblical text centers on a slain
• 18:55
  bloodied lamb who actually calls his followers to take up their
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  own crosses to suffer. Marginalization and follow him
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  into hardship, not just financial victory.
• 19:04
  The next model the source text critiques is Seeker sensitive
• 19:07
  pragmatism, that is a. Big one I would.
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  Compare adopting these secular models for church growth to
• 19:13
  running a massive fast food franchise.
• 19:15
  Think about the mechanics of a fast food chain.
• 19:17
  If you are the CEO, your primary goal is volume and uniformity.
• 19:22
  You want the. Maximum number of cars through
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  the drive through per hour. And you want the burger to taste
• 19:26
  the same in Tokyo as it does in Texas, You achieve.
• 19:29
  That by removing anything challenging from the menu and
• 19:32
  focusing entirely on immediate frictionless consumption but
• 19:36
  you. Are not focused on genuine
• 19:38
  biological nourishment when a. Church adopts consumer metrics
• 19:42
  to become seeker sensitive. They treat the church as a
• 19:45
  corporate brand and attendees as consumers.
• 19:48
  Precisely. According to the source, this
• 19:50
  pragmatic approach systematically hides offensive
• 19:54
  truths it. Removes any mention of divine
• 19:56
  wrath, the strict demand for repentance, or the cost of
• 20:00
  discipleship all to. Reserve audience approval and
• 20:03
  maximize numerical growth, it. Relies heavily on carnal
• 20:06
  entertainment, market tested music and therapeutic life
• 20:09
  coaching rather than the unvarnished proclaimed word of
• 20:12
  the cross the third. Critique targets liberal
• 20:15
  theology and secular social activism.
• 20:18
  How does this model attempt to hack the system?
• 20:20
  The source. Argues that this approach
• 20:21
  completely replaces the supernatural elements of the
• 20:24
  faith it trades. The substitutionary atonement
• 20:27
  and the reality of God's wrath for mere moral influence or
• 20:30
  material uplift in this. Framework sin is treated
• 20:34
  primarily as a structural societal issue to be fixed by
• 20:37
  political lobbying and social programs rather.
• 20:40
  Than a catastrophic spiritual death that requires a
• 20:43
  supernatural resurrection by the Holy Spirit finally.
• 20:46
  Looking at the source text, there is a strict critique of
• 20:49
  critical race theory, or CRT. We're going to.
• 20:52
  Report what the author posits here to understand the landscape
• 20:55
  of their argument The author describes CRT as a fundamentally
• 21:00
  Marxist framework, according. To the text, this sociological
• 21:04
  framework divides people by intersecting hierarchies of
• 21:06
  systemic oppression and privilege.
• 21:08
  The argument. Presented in the source is that
• 21:10
  this framework runs entirely contrary to the biblical model
• 21:14
  of humanity, the author. Claims that Revelation 5
• 21:17
  presents a much different picture.
• 21:18
  It affirms. Diverse ethno linguistic groups,
• 21:21
  every tribe and tongue, but insists they are united
• 21:24
  covenantly under the blood of the Lamb, not.
• 21:26
  Permanently divided by sociological categories of
• 21:29
  oppressor and oppressed that. Is an accurate summation of the
• 21:32
  text position. The author is presenting this as
• 21:35
  an irreconcilable ideological clash.
• 21:38
  They are. Arguing that the analytical
• 21:40
  framework of intersecting hierarchies is incompatible with
• 21:43
  the covenantal unity described in Revelation 5 in the.
• 21:47
  Heavenly throne room people are indeed drawn from vastly
• 21:50
  different tribes and nations, but their.
• 21:52
  Fundamental identity and unity are defined entirely by the
• 21:55
  purchase of the Lamb In the cosmic marketplace.
• 21:58
  It is. Fascinating to see how the text
• 22:00
  draws a hard line in the sand regarding these modern
• 22:03
  sociological in corporate frameworks.
• 22:05
  But if we. Reject the prosperity gospel if
• 22:08
  we toss out the seeker sensitive fast food metrics and if we.
• 22:11
  Reject secular activism as the primary engine.
• 22:14
  We have to ask a very practical question.
• 22:16
  How does? The mission actually advance in
• 22:18
  this highly complex globalized age if we.
• 22:21
  Cannot use the master's tools. How do we build the house?
• 22:24
  The source. Points directly back to what
• 22:26
  historically have been called the ordinary means of grace.
• 22:28
  These are the. Simple, unglamorous practices
• 22:31
  instituted by Christ. Expository preaching of the
• 22:34
  Word. Fervent prayer, Baptism and the
• 22:36
  Lord's Supper. The texts.
• 22:38
  Explicitly reject mystical novelties, new private
• 22:41
  prophecies, or modern concepts like spiritual warfare, mapping
• 22:45
  which the. Author argues are actually
• 22:46
  derived from the logic of technological efficiency rather
• 22:50
  than biblical instruction. But wait, let.
• 22:52
  Me push back here. Sure, if we are told to just use
• 22:55
  these ordinary means like eating bread and drinking wine or
• 22:58
  listening to a man speak from a text, how does that even make a
• 23:02
  dent in a trillion dollar global consumer market it feels like.
• 23:06
  Fighting a military tank with a wooden spoon.
• 23:09
  What is? The actual mechanism that makes
• 23:11
  these ordinary means effective. They are effective specifically
• 23:14
  because they are anti scale and anti efficiency.
• 23:18
  They cannot. Be mass produced by an
• 23:19
  algorithm. Think about.
• 23:21
  The Lord's Supper or baptism, they require.
• 23:23
  Physical presence, They require. Slow, deliberate time.
• 23:27
  They require. A local community gathered in
• 23:29
  one place? You cannot.
• 23:30
  Digitize the water of baptism. You cannot download the bread
• 23:34
  and the wine the mission. Advances through these seemingly
• 23:37
  weak, physically grounded ordinary means precisely because
• 23:41
  they force reliance on the spirit.
• 23:43
  Supernatural action not on. Human marketing prowess or
• 23:46
  digital scalability that makes. Total sense.
• 23:49
  It forces us out of the digital ether and back into the physical
• 23:52
  reality God created now. There is a fascinating
• 23:55
  demographic shift mentioned in the text that connects directly
• 23:59
  to how this mission is advancing today.
• 24:01
  It is called the. Migration model historically.
• 24:03
  When we think of global missions, we tend to think of it
• 24:06
  as a purely Western endeavor. We.
• 24:09
  Picture wealthy people from affluent nations in North
• 24:12
  America or Europe going to poorer nations in the global S
• 24:15
  but the. Text points out that the vector
• 24:17
  has completely flipped. The gospel is now moving from
• 24:21
  everywhere to everyone. The.
• 24:23
  Demographic data backing this up is staggering.
• 24:25
  The Global. South regions encompassing Latin
• 24:27
  America, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia is experiencing
• 24:32
  immense explosive spiritual vitality.
• 24:35
  Meanwhile, the historical strongholds of the faith in the
• 24:37
  West are rapidly secularizing what we're.
• 24:40
  Seeing now is believers from these impoverished or
• 24:43
  politically marginalized areas immigrating to the highly
• 24:46
  secularized post Christian W they are.
• 24:49
  Moving to London, Paris and New York for economic or political
• 24:52
  reasons and they. Are bringing a robust Orthodox
• 24:56
  vibrant faith with them this. Demographic shift completely
• 25:00
  shatters the old paternalistic colonial mindset for.
• 25:03
  Centuries, the affluent W was viewed, and often viewed itself
• 25:08
  as the sole financial, intellectual and theological
• 25:11
  engine of global missions. The assumption.
• 25:13
  Was that the West was the teacher and the rest of the
• 25:16
  world was the student. Now the.
• 25:18
  Centers of spiritual gravity have undeniably shifted.
• 25:21
  We are seeing. Impoverished believers deriving
• 25:23
  in glittering Western cities not as charity cases but as the new
• 25:27
  missionary force sent to a decaying consumerist culture.
• 25:31
  It is a. Remarkable historical reversal,
• 25:34
  and it forces a very difficult question How should.
• 25:37
  Western believers react to this massive shift.
• 25:40
  The source. Instructs Western believers to
• 25:42
  repent, specifically to repent of their numerical pride, their
• 25:45
  reliance on massive budgets, and their addiction to pragmatism.
• 25:49
  Western. Christians are called to partner
• 25:50
  humbly with these robust, often suffering churches from the
• 25:54
  global S The key. Realization here is that
• 25:56
  material poverty often cultivates immense spiritual
• 25:59
  wealth while. Material abundance often breeds
• 26:02
  spiritual apathy. Partnership.
• 26:03
  Moving forward must be confessional and non
• 26:05
  paternalistic. The West must recognize that its
• 26:09
  financial backing is not and never has been the true engine
• 26:13
  of the Church's global mission. That.
• 26:15
  Requires a massive serving of that hermeneutical humility we
• 26:18
  discussed earlier. Now looking.
• 26:20
  At this whole picture, resisting the consumer market, relying on
• 26:24
  the slow, ordinary means of grace, and partnering across
• 26:27
  global lines, the mission requires immense, grueling
• 26:31
  endurance when you. Are confronting global
• 26:33
  hostility, economic marginalization, or just the
• 26:36
  slow, hidden reality of daily unglamorous faithfulness?
• 26:41
  What actually sustains the witness the.
• 26:43
  Answer is the promise of the returning king bringing the.
• 26:46
  Discussion back to the very end of Acts chapter 1, we see the
• 26:48
  essential Jesus is. Taken up in a cloud and two
• 26:51
  angels appear to the staring disciples and declare the same
• 26:54
  Jesus will come again we often. Misunderstand the ascension.
• 26:57
  It is not a story of Jesus disappearing into the clouds to
• 27:00
  become irrelevant. It is an.
• 27:02
  Enthronement scene Christ is reigning right now at the right
• 27:05
  hand of the Father, the Church. Is not an alumni association
• 27:08
  promoting the memory of a dead founder.
• 27:10
  It is an. Active embassy operating under
• 27:13
  the direct authority of a living ruling king, the.
• 27:16
  Text argues that this reality guarantees the eschatological
• 27:19
  destiny of the redeemed according.
• 27:21
  To revelation they are made a Kingdom and priests to reign on
• 27:24
  the earth and. That reality gives such
• 27:26
  incredible fire tested courage to the obscure persecuted
• 27:31
  workers all over the globe think about.
• 27:33
  The implications if you are translating scripture in a humid
• 27:36
  jungle in Peru, or if you are faithfully raising children in
• 27:40
  complete obscurity, or if. You are suffering economic
• 27:43
  exclusion because you will not bow to the modern digital trade
• 27:47
  deals your. Success is not measured by
• 27:49
  algorithms, statistics, platform size, or public applause.
• 27:53
  It is. Measured entirely by your
• 27:54
  faithfulness to the returning King, the.
• 27:57
  Text also brings out a very practical application regarding
• 27:59
  how we view others in light of this reign.
• 28:02
  The believers. Must have deep, active
• 28:04
  compassion for the poor and the marginalized.
• 28:06
  We must treat. Them as immortal image bearers
• 28:08
  of of God rather than statistics, voting blocs or
• 28:11
  social projects, however. We must simultaneously maintain
• 28:16
  the biblical assertion that the core human problem is spiritual
• 28:19
  alienation from God. Not just structural or economic
• 28:23
  inequality synthesizing. The main arguments we have
• 28:26
  covered today. The modern system of
• 28:27
  globalization is a marvel of human engineering.
• 28:31
  It can move. Massive amounts of data,
• 28:33
  billions in Fiat money, and millions of migrants across
• 28:36
  borders with incredible, unprecedented speed.
• 28:39
  But for all its. Capability.
• 28:41
  It cannot reconcile a single Sinner to a holy God.
• 28:44
  It cannot. Raise the spiritually dead the
• 28:46
  task. Of the believer living in this
• 28:48
  brave new unipolar world order is to rely entirely on divine
• 28:52
  strength testifying. To a specific historical
• 28:55
  message, the slain and risen Christ across all borders and
• 28:58
  flatly. Refusing to bow to the
• 29:00
  utilitarian metrics of the consumer market, I want to
• 29:03
  leave. You with a final thought to
• 29:04
  ponder based on everything we have covered today, think back
• 29:07
  to the 1st century, the early. Church utilized the physical
• 29:10
  Roman roads, the very infrastructure built by their
• 29:13
  oppressors to move legions and collect taxes to spread the
• 29:16
  message of the cross across the known world they use.
• 29:19
  Rome's tools to subvert Rome's gods.
• 29:21
  So what? If the massive digital networks,
• 29:24
  the fiber optic cables buried under the oceans and the
• 29:28
  economic infrastructures of our current global market.
• 29:31
  What if, despite all their consumers pitfalls and
• 29:34
  algorithmic traps, they are the providential roads being laid
• 29:37
  down today for the final global in gathering of the redeemed,
• 29:41
  that is. Something to consider.
• 29:43
  Thank you. For joining this deep dive on
• 29:45
  reformed thinking.