A New Counter-culture

from Ray Ortlund, Jr:...

"And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to David.  And he became captain over them.  And there were with him about four hundred men."  1 Samuel 22:2

"Here in the South, we don’t mind God-talk.  We don’t even mind Jesus-talk.  But which Jesus are we talking about?  The majestic biblical Jesus, or a Jesus Jr. we’ve made up to suit ourselves?

"To break out of our diminished Christianity into powerful, vibrant, thrilling Christianity, which is the only real Christianity, we need a counterculture to replace our present culture.  We need a spiritual revolt and realignment.  We need the people in distress, those in debt, those embittered and fed up and longing for something better, to rally around Jesus our true Captain with an obvious new loyalty.  That is what happened so long ago, with those 400 men.  And they changed the course of history.

"When one culture has served its purpose but is no longer useful as a vehicle for communicating the grandeur of Jesus, that is when we need a new counterculture to challenge the status quo and replace it with a rediscovery of the Lord of glory, as he is defined by the Bible alone.  Such a movement will be spoken against.  It will need to keep itself too under the judgment of God’s Word, to stay fresh.  But a deliberate rejection of everything unworthy of the real Jesus, with an obedient reaching for everything consistent with his true stature, might just stand a chance of changing the course of our history."

-- Ray Ortlund, Jr.