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Friedrich Nietzsche was a

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philosopher who lived right at

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the tail end of the 19th

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century. In fact,

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he died in 1900.

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And Nietzsche is well known

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because he said God is dead and

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kind of irritates Christians,

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and they don't think

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much of Nietzsche.

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But Nietzsche actually was a

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very important philosopher

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because he realized that the

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press of the Enlightenment

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thinking was towards more

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and more individualism,

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where the individual becomes

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simply the arbiter of all truth.

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And then there really isn't

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anything beyond what we impose

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on it to bring meaning

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to something.

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So things have meaning only

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because we decide they

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have meaning.

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Things are significant only

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because we declare

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them significant.

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And what something is is nothing

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more than what we say it is.

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This is what Nietzsche

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was teaching.

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This comes down as the idea

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of what we call nihilism.

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That's N-I-H-I-L-I-S-M nihilism.

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Nothingness. Nothing there.

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There's nothing we

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can be sure of,

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nothing we can be certain of,

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nothing worth living for,

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nothing worth dying for besides

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what we assert and what

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we bring to that,

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which is where Nietzsche comes

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up with his will to power,

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the will of the individual

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is what matters.

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And I bring meaning and I bring

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interpretation to something.

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And because I have the

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courage to live that,

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that becomes meaningful because

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I've asserted it. Now,

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that was Nietzsche at the turn

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of the last century.

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And Nietzsche was kind of very

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prescient in his thinking,

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kind of a prophet in the sense

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of where things were going

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in the 20th century,

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saw things very clearly,

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where things ended up unraveling

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to the point where now we have a

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situation in the contemporary

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context.

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Here we are in the early

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21st century,

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where some have said that we are

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now in a point not only of

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just Nihilism as an idea,

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but Nihilism actually being

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entrenched in the society.

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Even if people don't

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know the name,

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even don't know that's

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what they're doing.

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But they are living in Nihilism

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to the point where some have

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even called it now

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normal Nihilism.

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And it was a guy named James

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Edwards who wrote a book called

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The Plain Sense of Things who

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articulated this very clearly.

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He argues that in the

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early 21st century,

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what we have actually arrived at

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is a situation where there is no

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longer the ability to prove a

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final fundamental truth beyond

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any doubt that everybody

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is going to agree on.

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And so nobody's really sure what

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is fundamentally true or real

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anymore besides what

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they choose.

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And Edward says it's not unlike

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going to the shopping mall where

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you can pick different worlds

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and different stores,

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and those become your reality.

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So you might.

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Become an IBM computer guy and

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you go to the Microsoft Store

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and that's your thing.

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You're all about that kind

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of computer world.

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Or maybe you're a Mac guy and

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you go to the Apple Store

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and that's your world.

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Or maybe your world is all about

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the great explorer and so you go

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to REI or Eddie Bauer and

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that becomes your world.

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Or maybe you're into the fashion

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world and so you shop at

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Nordstrom and that's what's

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important to you,

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and so you can inhabit worlds

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that matter to you.

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Or maybe your world

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is Christianity.

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So you go to the Christian

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bookstore and that's

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your reality.

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Edwards argues that the world

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we're living in now,

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this world of normal nihilism,

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there is nothing more than

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competing communities.

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And people are simply choosing

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the reality that they like.

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And when they get tired of one,

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they can leave that one and move

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into another one for a while.

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And when you stop to think about

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the world around us

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in these terms,

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you begin to realize there's a

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great deal of truth to

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what Edward says.

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And it simply resonates and

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coheres with the kinds of

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things we experience.

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Now,

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this can be at once really

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debilitating and kind of

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frightening for the Christian

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and in another sense kind of

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exhilarating and seen as a

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great opportunity. Now,

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the debilitating part and scary

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part is to realize that, wow,

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so we're not going to be able

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to assume that people simply

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believe in things like God

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or truth or justice.

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And that's kind of true,

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and that's a little

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disconcerting.

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But on the other hand,

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this is actually kind of

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exciting because in a world

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of normal nihilism,

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we can now come to people and

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say you're looking for meaning

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and you're not finding it.

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Because when you're simply

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choosing your reality and

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choosing your meaning,

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it's self chosen and therefore

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patently meaningless because

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it's only the meaning you're

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imposing on it.

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It really doesn't mean anything.

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And we get to tell people,

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guess what?

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There is a story that is more

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real than the one you're

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making up.

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There's a story that is

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fundamental and true,

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and it's not because

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you've chosen it.

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You don't get to pick your

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story. God gives you your story.

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You don't get to choose your

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reality. God declares it.

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He asserts it.

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That's attractive to people

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because people who are living

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meaningless lives want to know

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there is something that matters.

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And Christianity says,

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this is what matters.

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This is God's reality.

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This is God's truth.

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This is God's story.

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Learn what God's story

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tells you.

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Learn to live into the

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story and it matters.

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And so normal nihilism is

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kind of a scary thing,

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but also a tremendous

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opportunity for the church to be

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able to speak with confidence

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into this nihilistic world and

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say, it's not all nihilistic.

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It's not all nothing.

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Christ has come. God has spoken.

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God is at work.

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He is coming again.

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There is a purpose.

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There is a goal.

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His story is normative.

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Live your life in his story and

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things start to come together.

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It's a great opportunity.

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It's a great chance.

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We shouldn't be afraid of normal

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nihilism. We accept it,

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we recognize it.

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And then we rush out into that

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world and we speak God's truth

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with a great deal of confidence.