WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.240 Welcome to the Awakening Church Podcast. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:06.959 We've prayed this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.000 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:29.039 Go ahead and grab your feet. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:30.079 Happy Sunday. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:30.960 How are we doing? 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:33.920 High schools are doing great. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:36.960 Welcome, welcome. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:38.880 If you don't know each other, my name is Ryan. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.880 We're thrilled to have you join us today. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:44.799 And today we're kicking off a brand new series called Still Wondering. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:46.719 I have my good friend Paul Taylor here. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:48.960 Thank you so much for being uh with us. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:55.039 I want to just set up where we're going in the series and why Paul's been here and why he's here. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.079 I'm so grateful that he said yes to our invitation. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:03.039 So we are doing a series over the next five, six weeks called Still Wondering. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:05.920 That's what some of Life's biggest questions. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:12.079 You took part in helping shape this series and responding what are the pressing questions of the day. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:18.799 Next week we're going to talk about what is truth and like how do you know what's real and is the Bible reliable? 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.480 Talk about how can Jesus be the only way? 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:24.159 What about a good God and suffering? 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:29.280 All these major big questions around purpose and identity. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:36.400 Today we have uh Paul Taylor who's gonna share on what does it mean to be human in the age of AI? 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:39.280 This has been the most pressing question of our time. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:55.599 A little background on Paul and actually we got to know each other um more so over COVID because we got to co-lead a prayer movement together for Bay Area churches online called uh If my people, which is really special. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.159 But Paul, he's a I don't know, are you a native here? 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.079 Uh no, but I moved here 30 years ago. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:03.040 Yeah, a long time ago. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.120 Stanford Stanford. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:08.560 Are you originally from Texas? 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:09.759 I didn't know that before. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:10.560 Houston. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:13.439 There we go. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:16.080 We're gonna know each other up too. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:17.599 Talk amongst yourselves. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:28.159 Um Stanford Grad started off in tech, uh Oracle, right, and then transitioned into ministry, teaching pastor. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:31.439 Uh you're working on your doctorate right now as well. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.840 Uh founded the Faith Tech Work. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:36.159 Yep. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:42.000 You're uh the president of that, you're currently on staff at Transforming the Bay with Christ. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:47.199 Got it, got it early at this time, which we partner with and are part of as well. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:47.599 Yeah. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:59.680 Now, the reason I paused here is we took our staff to a um a conference on AI and faith, and he gave a presentation that was awesome. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.680 And I was like, gosh, in our series, this is one of the main questions we've got. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:10.719 It was the best ever ever, ever, ever, ever mediocre. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.400 Um he gave, and you can get more time, don't worry about it. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:15.759 I'm taking up all your time. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.400 Um but he gave such a great one. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:21.120 I'm like, our church needs to hear this, would you come? 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.199 And he graciously said, yes. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:24.000 Thank you for that. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:24.960 It's so fun to be here. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:27.120 And so, would you give a warm awakening welcome? 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:27.680 Thanks, guys. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:28.080 Okay. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:32.400 Awesome. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:34.319 Well, it is so good to be with the Awakening. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:39.439 Um, I've heard of this church from a long time from Ryan, and it's so good to be here and experience this community. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:40.479 It's been really rich. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.800 I I love baptisms, and uh it's really good to hear the story. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:47.199 This service and last service are really fun. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:52.639 Uh as Ryan said, I was a pastor for 19 years in Palo Alto at Peninsula Bible Church. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:58.159 Now I work with Transforming the Bay with Christ, which is a unity movement in the Bay Area. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.400 We cultivate networks of pastors. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.439 So Ryan helps co-lead one in the San Jose area. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:09.280 We have about 40 networks of pastors all across the Bay Area, which is really fun to be a part of. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:10.319 I'm married. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:15.199 My wife Rachel is a pastor at Peninsula Covenant Church in Redwood City. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:21.519 And we have five kids, and they are, I say they are where they belong, which is out of my house. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.199 So it's uh wonderful. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:25.279 We love our kids, they're amazing people. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:29.279 And I've got one who's graduated college for in college. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:30.800 Uh I know. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:33.199 Take a moment to let that sink in. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:35.120 And uh yeah, they're wonderful people. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:43.040 It's really big, really fun seeing them grow into kind of the uh you know adults, like the government calls them adults, but the government hasn't met them. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:51.680 So um but we love our family, we love this kind of new season of life with being empty nest and uh doing all the things we get to do. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:05:01.360 So about 10 years ago, my kids were not adults at all yet, and we had this rhythm as a family of family movie night. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:12.480 Maybe some of you do this Friday night, we make pizza, watch movies, and we had just received, this was about 2015, our beta version of the Amazon Alexa. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.519 How many of you have like smart little things in your home? 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:16.319 Yeah, right? 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:25.519 So I had wired up uh smart light switches in my house, and so when we would sit down for family movie night, I would do something that felt magical. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:34.240 We'd all get our pizza, we'd sit on the couch, and I would say, Alexa, turn on family dark and the lights would go out. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:37.360 We'd watch the movie, you know, eat our pizza, all that stuff. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:45.519 And then in the movie, then I would say one more thing, Alexa, turn on family bright and the lights would come on. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:51.839 Now, when I started doing that, I realized something that scared me a little bit. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:59.600 I realized that what I had just done is the same thing as the first thing the Bible records God having done. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:06.319 That through the power of my voice, I had called forth light and darkness. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:12.000 And furthermore, I realized that I really liked it. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:21.759 That I kind of reveled in the power of being able to say, literally, let there be light, Alexa. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:23.839 And there was. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:45.279 What's really going on? 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:51.360 And that led to kind of a season for me of really thinking and praying and studying through these questions. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:07:01.839 Fast forward to today, we're three and a half years after the release of ChatGPT, and already artificial intelligence has changed the world. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:07.439 People are using it, they're scared of it, they're excited about it, there's all these things going on. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:16.000 But one of the really amazing things is that it has forced the kinds of questions I started asking 10 years ago to the surface. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:28.560 And so we live in the middle of this cultural moment that is very unique because I believe everyone, everywhere, all the time, is asking the same question. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:31.199 What does it mean to be human? 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:40.399 We have this new kind of technology that actually looks like it's human, and so it's causing us to ask this question. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:50.879 And my hope is that as a church, as the large community of people who follow Jesus, we would recognize this for the opportunity that it is. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:08:01.439 Because the church is at her best when she's able to engage with culture and to answer the questions that people are asking. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:03.600 See, sometimes we do the opposite thing. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.639 We tell them they should be asking questions that they don't care about, and then we give them answers to those questions. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:13.600 But we have the opportunity now to say, you're already asking this question. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:15.680 And here's a news flash. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:17.040 We have the answer. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:21.600 And the answer is the simplest Sunday school answer that you all know. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:23.439 What does it mean to be human? 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:25.360 It's Jesus. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:33.120 Literally the person that we celebrated last week who died and rose so that we could live. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.200 That's the answer to the question that everybody's asking. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:40.240 This is the opportunity for the church to shine. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:41.759 And we've done this before. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:48.320 You know, when culture changes, the church often steps into that culture and engages with the issues. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:53.840 So when the printing press was invented, that threw all sorts of chaos into the church. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:11.440 When uh the theory of evolution was first presented, when the civil rights movement happened, all of those things create the opportunity for Christians to think back to what it means to be human and to engage with culture in a way that points people ultimately to Jesus. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:24.399 So that's my hope is that as we think about this this morning, we'd be able to understand how God's created us and then be better equipped to represent that to the world. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:27.840 Okay, you probably already know that AI is a big deal. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:31.360 You're probably slightly concerned about it yourselves. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:43.840 And I have this idea that a lot of people use artificial intelligence, they use ChatGPT or Claude or Grok or Gemini or whatever, and they use it, but but but they're also a little bit scared of it as we're using it. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:52.159 And so what I'd like to do is really understand what it is that is going on and how we can be better equipped to handle it. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:10:02.159 One of the scary things about AI is that it seems to be human, it seems to be more sympathetic, more compassionate, more productive than we are. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:08.240 And so it forces us to ask this question of what is it about being human that is distinct? 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:10.960 How are we different? 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:14.000 How are we different from the things we're creating? 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.639 Now I have a confession to make. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:34.159 Because isn't driving like an essential part of our humanity? 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:42.080 But the theologian in me says, no, driving is not core to what it means to be human. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:46.879 150 years ago they rode horses, and I have no idea how to ride a horse. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.840 Doesn't mean I'm less of a human, I hope. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:53.440 A hundred years ago there were buggies, who knows what they'll be doing in 50 years. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:12:00.000 And so I can acknowledge that there's something I'm losing, but it doesn't have to do with my humanity. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.559 So then what is our humanity? 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:03.840 What does it mean to be human? 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:10.879 If it's not driving, if it's not writing code, if it's not writing good emails, what is humanity? 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:25.039 And what I want to suggest to you is a framework that I think helps us understand how God created us and ultimately helps us to understand God a little better as well, and to represent him to the world in a richer way. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.440 It turns out that the scriptures talk a lot about what it means to be human. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.600 From the first pages of Genesis, we get this idea of the Imago Day. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:40.799 In the Old Testament, we get the best and the worst stories of humanity. 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:47.759 In the Psalms, we have these rich, heartfelt cries from people's experience. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:56.240 Then we see the perfect human in Jesus Christ, we get to the book of Revelation, and we get to see redeemed humanity in all of its glory. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:01.600 And I want to suggest this framework that helps to capture all of that. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:06.720 I think being human involves four key relationships. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:08.559 I'm not the first to suggest this. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:10.799 Lots of theologians see it this way. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:19.759 Basically, it's a relationship with God, relationship with the rest of creation, relationship with other people, and relationship with ourselves. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:26.480 But I want to articulate those relationships in a way that resonates outside of a Christian context. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:35.519 Because if we're talking about what it means to be human, then if you're talking to another human and explain it to them, they should say, yeah, duh. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:36.879 That makes sense. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.679 Not just Christians, but anyone. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:50.720 So I want to abstract those relationships into four words, and it just so happens that those four words begin with either the letter A or the letter I. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.519 So I call it the four AI framework. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:14:00.000 I actually had been teaching this for a while before one of my friends was like, hey, all your words start with A or I. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:01.279 You should call it 4AI. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.440 And I was like, that's a great, great idea. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:05.360 So that's what we call it. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:13.039 And each of these postures, then, describes one part of what it means to be human. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.720 So I want to kind of walk you through that framework and then we're gonna apply just a little piece of it. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.679 The first one is relationship with God. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:25.600 Uh the book of Genesis opens with this story. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:30.639 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:35.039 The story of the Bible begins with God, not with us. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:37.279 We are inserted into the story. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:40.399 And yet we are created in a unique relationship. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.200 Nobody else is said to be created in the image of God. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:49.519 God interacts with us in a different way than he interacts with other parts of creation. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:53.120 We can categorize this as a posture of awe. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:54.320 Say that with me. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:54.960 Awe. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.279 It's kind of a weird word to say if you say it too much. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:58.320 Say it again. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:14:59.039 Awe. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.360 And I want to invite you to just experience it. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:11.200 This might be a little weird, but just kind of look up and think about that experience of wonder that you sometimes have. 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:24.399 My wife and I like to drive to the ocean, and when we go to the ocean, you stand on the sand and you see the ocean and you feel small and you like it. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:33.759 There's something pleasurable about recognizing our insignificance, about being in the presence of something vast. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:36.480 There's a sociologist by the name of Dr. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:48.639 Keltner who wrote a book about awe, and he says this awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.399 That's awe, and it's a core part of being human. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:57.679 The second one has to do with our relationship to the rest of creation. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:05.679 Psalm 8 says, You made them rulers over the works of your hands, you put everything under their feet. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:14.399 See, we're given this vocation in Scripture of being in charge of the world that God had made. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:18.720 And if you think about that, it's it's a little bit of a crazy thing that God did that. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:24.399 That He created this beautiful world and He said to you and I, you're in charge of it. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.360 I'm not sure I would make that decision. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.840 I don't know that I would trust this world to my stewardship. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:33.200 And that's what God did. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:42.000 And so we like to feel small, but we also like to do things and see how they change the world around us. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:43.919 That's agency. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:46.559 We can characterize that as a posture of agency. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:48.080 So say that with me. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:49.200 Agency. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.519 So we've got what's up here? 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.720 Awe, and we have agency. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:58.080 This is our ability to affect the world. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:07.680 And God wants us to be creative, to be innovative, to take the world that He's given us and make it better to do fun things with it. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:12.319 Third thing is that we're created in relationship with other people. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.720 And so we read the first matchmaking introduction in Genesis chapter 2. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:24.079 The Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:29.920 There's this close, intimate connectedness between people. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:47.200 And it's true for me, I'm sure it's probably true for you, that your relationships with people, your parents, your children, your siblings, your friends, your co-workers, your classmates, your colleagues, that defines a huge part of your experience. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:55.599 The best things of your day are probably interactions with people, and the hardest parts of your day are probably interactions with people. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:59.920 Our relationships are so core to what it means to be human. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:01.599 So I call that intimacy. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:04.480 So we've got what? 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:09.039 We've got agency, and we've got intimacy. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:14.160 Now we have to be careful with that word because we're not talking about sexual intimacy or romantic intimacy. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:20.880 We're just talking about the broad spectrum of engagement with another person, of relationship. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.079 And this is something that drives us. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:25.680 We long for this. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:33.680 Sometimes we experience close relationship, other times we experience broken relationship or abusive relationship. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:38.799 But all of that is part of being human, of how God created us. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:45.440 The fourth one has to do, and this is an interesting one, with knowing ourselves. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:54.720 Psalm 139 says this, verse 13 for you that speaking to God created my inmost being. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:57.920 You knit me together in my mother's womb. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:07.039 And this is an interesting statement because the psalmist is talking to God and saying that God created something within him. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:12.799 So there's the psalmist, but then there's like a core within him. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:15.920 And I call that identity. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:17.759 So we have what? 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:25.200 Awe, we have agency, intimacy, and identity. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:30.160 When we think about ourselves, there is a there there. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:41.359 There's something within us, there's some me, there's some you that exists and it's unique and it's special and it's powerful. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:50.559 We end up spending a lot of time shaping our identities, caring for it, cultivating, protecting our identities. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:58.079 I can act in a way that expresses my identity, I can also act in a way that violates my identity. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:04.640 My identity can shape and change and it can grow or it can shrink. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:10.799 And so this thing within me is actually a very key part of what it means to be me. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:22.319 Taken together those four postures of let's do it one more time together, of awe, agency, intimacy, and identity. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:31.519 These all kind of exist in this like dynamic system where they're all pulling on the same time and we experience all of them in different measure. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:40.319 But together, I'm convinced they are a helpful framework to say this is what the human experience is like. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:43.039 This is what God created us to be. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:53.039 And when they're all working together, it kind of hums like four guitar strings, all in tune with this energy of life. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:56.160 There's three particular ways I think this framework could be helpful. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:05.759 First of all, if that's what it means to be human, then a machine, anything we create, can never be human. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:14.319 AI can write words that express what it's like to stand at the ocean. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:19.759 But it can never experience the awe of being there. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:24.160 AI, you know, like Grok can act like your friend. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:29.119 Grok probably can't, but um Claude, you guys don't know AI, right? 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:37.599 I mean, Grok's kind of Claude can act like your friend, but it can never actually be intimate with you. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:43.279 It can never reciprocate being vulnerable and sharing deeply. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:51.279 And so these postures of humanity are things that AI and any technology can never recreate. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:52.480 That's the first way it's helpful. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:58.000 The second way it's helpful is it actually gives us an understanding of what we have to protect. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.759 It helps us to know this. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:08.319 This is what it means to be human, so I can protect these things, but I can, I don't have to worry about the other things. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:12.480 And notice that driving a car is not one of the postures. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:20.160 But if we know what it is that we want to protect, then we can be freed up to use technology more confidently. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:21.039 G.K. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:23.680 Chesterton is an old British preacher. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.160 Actually, he's passed, but he used to be old. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:34.000 And he has this idea of a playground on a cliff surrounded by a fence. 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:42.240 And he says that the children in that playground can play confidently because they know that the fence protects them. 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:43.759 Here's his language. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:53.519 He says they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries if they trust the fence. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:23:04.000 But if the fence falls down and there's a playground on the edge of a cliff, he says they would be huddled in terror in the center. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:22.240 My hope is that this understanding of what it means to be human can give us that fence so that we can live in our culture, so that we can engage with technology and the things that we create in a way that actually is enjoyable and productive without worrying that we're losing something. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:30.400 The third way I think it helps us is that it can actually help us to lean more fully into what it means to be human. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:38.400 I'm hopeful that this new age of artificial intelligence we're in can actually force us to ask deep questions. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:43.680 And because we have to wrestle with these things, we could actually become more human. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:53.119 It could actually force us to consider what it means to lean into and ask questions like Am I really experiencing awe? 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:57.359 Am I using my agency wisely? 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.359 Am I connecting with other people with genuine intimacy? 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.440 And do I know who I am, who God has created me? 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:16.559 And as we lean into that, we can experience what God intends for us, and we end up representing God's will to the world around us. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:23.119 Because we, as we live that out, start to hum with the kind of energy of a life well lived. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:25.599 That's my hope for the framework. 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:31.599 And as we do this, then I think we encounter God in deep ways. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:34.799 I think we encounter his purposes for us. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:38.559 And then we're able to live that out in the world. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:43.440 So we're gonna take one of those ideas and we're gonna dive a little bit deeper. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:50.319 I'm in the middle right now of a six-week cohort where I'm teaching in depth through all of this material. 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:58.319 So we're going to be taking one whole week on each of these postures, really diving into what the Bible says about each of these different ways of relating. 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:01.440 But I want to take one and just explore it for a minute. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:03.279 We're gonna take agency. 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:14.079 Because in this culture, where we're actually doing so much more than we used to be able to do, agency becomes a really important topic. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:20.319 We are creating actually agents, and we're giving them some of our agency. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:25.599 We're offloading some of what we do in the world to other types of technology. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.039 So, how do we understand the right way to think about that? 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:33.039 How do we understand what God thinks about all of that stuff? 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:34.880 How many of you are parents? 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:36.240 You have children? 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:37.920 Okay, keep your hands up. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.559 How many of you have ever been a child? 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.680 Okay, some of you aren't raising your hands, and I'm worried about what's going on in this church, but that's okay. 00:25:47.920 --> 00:26:00.160 Um if you're familiar with children, you know that sense, especially when they're really little, and they first do something that changes the world. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:04.480 And they get this like excited look on their faces. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:12.880 Now, usually what they've done is knock something over because that's the easiest way to affect the world around you, is to destroy it. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:21.440 And so, you know, like if you build a tower of something in a room with a three-year-old, like you know what that three-year-old's gonna do, right? 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:23.279 They're gonna go up and there and knock it over. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:30.079 But then they're gonna have this look of like, I did something and the world is different. 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:32.000 That's agency. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:38.720 That's this God-given desire to actually affect the world around us. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:44.559 And I want to give a little definition of what agency is so we can go a little deeper into what it means. 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:52.799 I believe that agency is the exercise of genuine authority within given limits. 00:26:54.160 --> 00:27:00.160 Agency is the exercise of genuine authority within given limits. 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:03.039 Let's unpack that for a minute. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:12.160 The best example of this is early on in the scriptures, when God has just created humankind, this is what we read in Genesis 1.26. 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:24.160 God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:29.839 Now, I want to invite you to put yourselves in the mind of that first human. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:34.240 And God has created, we'll call him Adam, that's what people like to call him. 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:35.599 So God's created Adam. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:45.759 Adam is there, and God says, I've created you in my image, and you are supposed to rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky. 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:49.599 What do you think Adam's thinking? 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:52.240 Like, well, what's a bird? 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:53.200 That's a good one, too. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:28:03.599 But after he solved that question, he's probably thinking something like, How am I supposed to rule over the fish and the birds? 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:05.759 How am I supposed to be in charge? 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:13.920 Notice that God points out the two kinds of creatures that live in realms that we can't get to. 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:25.440 And so wrapped up in that is this dual nature of agency being genuine authority, God has put humankind in charge within given limits. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.400 There are limits to what we can do. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:43.680 And if you think about us today, we've managed to get a little bit better than that first human at swimming and flying, but we're still not fish, and we're still not birds, and we're never going to be. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:48.720 We're never gonna conquer the oceans and the skies. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:55.839 And so there's this sense of power, but power within bounds, power within limits. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:08.160 So as we grow in our capabilities, what technology helps us to do is to extend those capabilities, but never to transcend our limitations. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:14.640 Technology helps us to become more powerful, but there's always an upper limit. 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:16.640 There's always a bound. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:31.920 What's going on today has been going on forever, and that's that some people are trying to use technology to transcend the limitation, to break the boundaries that God has given us. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:41.119 They're trying to build technology to make us live forever, to make us escape from our physical bodies, or to make us solve problems that are unsolvable. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:50.960 What's true for us then is to realize that God has given those limits as a gift, that it's something good for us. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:30:03.200 And I'm convinced that those limits that God has given can never be broken, but the consequences of them can be displaced, can be moved in the system. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:04.480 This is what C. 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:04.799 S. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:06.480 Lewis says on that note. 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:20.640 He says in his book, Abolition of Man, what we call man's power over nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men, with nature as its instrument. 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:30.480 And so as we use technology and develop it and build it, we need to be aware that we can't break those limits. 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:35.200 And if we try, we're just pushing them somewhere else. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:37.279 Let me show you what I mean. 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:39.039 I have a balloon here. 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:41.200 This didn't go so well in the first service. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:45.920 So if you know somebody that went to the first service, you can ask them how I failed miserably. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:47.200 But we're gonna try this again. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:49.119 So we're gonna blow up this balloon. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:56.960 Okay, a little more. 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:07.279 Okay, in the first service, I tried to tie it, and there was a hole in my balloon, which completely ruined my points. 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:09.519 But we're gonna see if I can tie it better. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:10.079 Okay. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:11.839 Okay, good. 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:12.640 So here we go. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:13.920 There's a balloon, right? 00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:22.079 Let's imagine that this air inside this balloon is the limits that God has placed on us, and I decide I want to destroy those limits, I want to break through them. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:23.680 So I try to squeeze it. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:28.240 See, in the first service, there was a hole, so that all the air left. 00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:30.400 And it was like my whole point was ruined. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:32.720 In this service, though, you guys got the better one. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:34.640 That's the point I was trying to make. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:37.279 You can't actually destroy it, right? 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:42.160 If you try to break the limits, it just moves somewhere else. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:49.920 Now you've probably experienced this in your life because you probably said at one point, I don't really need to sleep. 00:31:50.319 --> 00:32:01.440 I don't really need to eat healthy, I don't really need to exercise, I can just do all the things, I can just live all the time, and I can stay awake, and I can be really productive. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:04.960 And you realize that you haven't actually broken that limit. 00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:09.200 You've just pushed it aside until it all catches up to you. 00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:12.960 And you've moved it to some later time. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:15.519 Uh, credit cards are another example, right? 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:19.839 You can say, hey, I can buy anything I want and I'll pay for it later. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:23.599 But you haven't really broken the limit of your financial capability. 00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:26.160 You've just pushed it till later. 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:31.039 We're doing this with artificial intelligence in some significant ways. 00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:43.440 You know, we're building data centers and building technology that is affecting the globe, the planet, the earth in ways that are negative, and we're just pushing them away to where we can't see them. 00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:54.079 Or we're building technology and hiring people in developing countries to sort through all the terrible things that it does so that it's safe for us, but it affects them. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:33:05.839 My suggestion for us is that as we're using technology, we avoid that temptation to break our limits because we know that it's just going to push it somewhere else. 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:19.200 Instead, we can actually see those boundaries that God has given us as gifts that are meant to help us flourish, to help us live this rich kind of life. 00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:21.680 And we don't have to ignore them. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:23.759 In fact, we can embrace them. 00:33:24.400 --> 00:33:26.160 Embrace your limits. 00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:40.799 This means recognizing that you know we are physical beings, we have bodies that have uh requirements and that age and that change, and that those are good parts of what it means to be human. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:52.000 That we exist where we actually need other physical people, we need relationships, we need community, or something deep breaks within us. 00:33:52.720 --> 00:34:05.759 That we need oxygen and food and outside and we need to be physical, we need to stand by the ocean sometimes and feel small that that restores something to us. 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:13.519 So the encouragement then is to realize that these limits God has given us are actually things that we can embrace. 00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:20.159 And when we do so, I'm convinced that we encounter God in a powerful way. 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:25.519 That we sense the presence of God in our limitation. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:32.719 I know for me some of my deepest times of feeling close to God have been in the midst of the deepest pain. 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:36.320 When I thought my balloon was going away. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:41.440 When things have fallen away, when when when life gets hard. 00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:48.559 And so, how can we in those times understand that those limits are gifts? 00:34:49.039 --> 00:34:55.840 The cool thing is when we do that, we actually demonstrate to the world who Jesus is in a new way. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:12.159 We actually show the world around us by embracing our limits that we embrace the God who created them and we live out the person of Jesus in our schools, in our communities, in our workplaces, so that when people see us, they actually see Jesus. 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:26.719 They actually encounter God-made flesh because they can see what it's like to live as God intended, and to know that the limit of all limits that all of us face is death. 00:35:27.199 --> 00:35:29.679 Our lives on this earth will end. 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:35.920 And nothing we can do, no technology we can develop is ever going to change that. 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:40.800 But we know somebody who gave his life so that we could live. 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:43.119 That's what you celebrated last week. 00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:49.920 And as we trust in God to break that limit, we proclaim him to the world. 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:51.199 That's my hope here. 00:35:51.760 --> 00:36:03.440 This isn't about how to use technology well, it's not about how to protect yourself, it's not about how to build the right kind of tech, it's ultimately about how to live like Jesus and show Jesus to the world. 00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:05.199 That's the goal here. 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:10.159 This is the opportunity that we can take hold of as the church. 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:15.519 And I'm incredibly optimistic in this age of artificial intelligence. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:19.280 Not because I think the tech is amazing, although I do. 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:24.480 Not because I think the tech is gonna save us, I'm convinced it won't. 00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:28.960 And not because it's not gonna cause problems, because it will. 00:36:29.199 --> 00:36:35.840 It's already creating hurt, and it's already creating people that are suffering because of it. 00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:40.719 It's already hurting the globe, it's already doing a lot of bad stuff. 00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:50.559 That's our job as the church is to step into a hurting world to bring healing, to bring redemption, to bring peace. 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:55.119 And I believe in God and in his church. 00:36:55.679 --> 00:37:01.039 I believe that God has called us and equipped us and given us his spirit to do just that. 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:12.960 So I am confident in the church of Jesus Christ that we, through his power, will rise to this moment and lead in ways that really show the world what it means to be human. 00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:16.880 Let me pray for us and pray for you as we wrap up. 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:18.400 Father, thank you. 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:23.679 Thank you for this um gift of humanity that you've given us. 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:42.239 Thank you for creating us in your image, for giving us a sense of what it means to uh be big in our power and to be small under your glory, to be close with other people, to know ourselves and to know how you've created us to be. 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:47.679 God, I want to pray particularly for this community, for awakening church and for your work here. 00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:59.039 Thanks for the people that you're leading to faith, for the stories, for the families, for the individuals, for the way that you're using awakening to represent who you are to the world. 00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:02.000 And I pray you would do that more and more. 00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:07.760 That Jesus would be clear in this church and that you would equip them to do that. 00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:14.800 Thank you, thank you, thank you that you choose us to show the world who you are. 00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:18.559 And I pray that you would equip us to do that well. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:20.159 We love you, Jesus. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:21.840 We're grateful for you. 00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:25.119 We pray in the name of Jesus and by your Holy Spirit. 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:26.079 Amen. 00:38:28.079 --> 00:38:30.320 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:34.960 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:37.199 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:43.280 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.