Engaging the Culture

Several times in his letters to Timothy, the apostle Paul warns his young protégé to avoid “worldliness” (Greek word bebēlos, translated “profane” in the King James Bible).  Worldly or profane is such an apt description of our culture’s view on these lifestyle issues and nowhere does it come through more clearly than in the entertainment industry.

Most of what is being delivered to us today as entertainment is best described as profane.  It cheapens and demeans the sacred, replacing it with the profane.  Gratuitous sex, graphic violence, and blasphemous language in music and movies takes the sacred – the beauty of sex within marriage, life created in God’s image, and calling on the name of the one true God in times of trouble – and cheapens them for thrills, drama, or laughs.  It is worldly.  It is ungodly.

And the red flag it raises for me is how much Christians swallow what is being offered.  We are encouraged to overlook those objectionable elements and explore the world’s movies and music as a way to engage our culture; a way to establish common ground with our unbelieving neighbors.  I believe this approach is the exact opposite of the New Testament approach to engaging our culture.  And if this appears to just be another legalistic railing against the entertainment industry, please read the following verses prayerfully and carefully.

“Therefore, since Christ has suffered death in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered death in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.  For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.  And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they malign you; but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (I Pet 4:1-5).  These characterizations of a pagan lifestyle clearly describe the current “flood of dissipation” coming out of Hollywood.  How do we respond?

We are called to a life of holiness that, as Peter points out, will actually lead to derision – “they malign you” – for not participating in the world’s lifestyle.  This criticism from the world is in God’s view a badge of honor.  There is no honor in legalism, self-righteousness, or pride.  There is no honor in looking down our noses at the lifestyle excesses of our unbelieving friends.  There is no honor in a lack of love toward any person.  But there is honor and great reward for a godly lifestyle that refuses participation in evil and accepts the demeaning and even abusive responses that may accompany a godly stand.

Will our holiness efforts separate us from the lost or will it surprise and raise curiosity among the lost?  It all depends on our attitude.  If the attitude that accompanies our desire to keep a godly lifestyle is in any way self-righteous or condescending, we are doing the gospel and our audience a great disservice and any ridicule we experience is of no spiritual value.  However, if we are winsome and humble and cheerful and loving in our efforts to develop a holy lifestyle, we will actually become a curiosity to outsiders.  In this way, we will engage the culture by seeking the good of our neighbor, rather than joining them in their sin.

Biblical accommodation and engagement is conversing and drinking coffee in a neighbor’s apartment when you hate the taste of coffee.  It is going to dinner with your obnoxious co-worker in order to build a bridge of friendship.  It is dying your hair yellow to become more approachable while attending a university that celebrates such nonconformity.  Nonbiblical accommodation is when our participation leads to sin.  The eye is the gate to the mind and the mind is the gate to the heart.  I can’t help but believe that the current fair coming out of our entertainment industry and entering the eyes of believers is at least dangerous if not outright sin for the follower of Christ.

Holy Temples

In the area of lifestyle issues, we must teach our children – and understand ourselves – the important distinction between the sacred and the profane, between the holy and the carnal, between godliness and worldliness.  By virtue of our relationship (children of God) and affinity (moral resemblance) to God, we now inhabit the world of the sacred, the holy, the godly.  Not because we keep a certain list of do’s and dont’s, but because God has placed us there by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Look at these New Testament labels for believers.  “As those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved…” (Col 3:12), or “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…” (I Pet 2:9).  Over and over, the apostle Paul calls believers “saints”, or literally, “holy ones.”  The import of this for Christian living is the idea that godliness is not only our destiny; it is our capacity as well.

Think about the word “holy” for a minute.  It is the ultimate attribute of God.  Holy, one-of-a-kind, unique, off-the-charts, and unlike any other are all attempts to describe God’s unique character.  And everywhere God dwells is holy.  In His interaction with man in the Old Testament, God’s presence was largely geographic.  He inhabited the Holy Mountain (Mt. Sinai), the Holy Land (Palestine), the Holy City (Jerusalem), and of course the Holy of Holies in the Holy Temple.

But under the New Covenant, the veil has been torn and the physical temple destroyed, and God now lives in the heart of every believer by the Holy Spirit.  The fact is we are made holy by the Holy Spirit living in us.  This is not an exclamation of pride or perfection or self-righteousness; it is a simple fact of the New Covenant.  We are living stones (I Pet 2:5) and our bodies are holy temples (I Cor 6:19).

Framing the discussion about lifestyle issues in terms of our bodies, God’s temple, takes the focus away from the Christian life as a legalistic set of rules to follow.  It turns our attention to a lifestyle that reflects who we already are; a lifestyle that reflects our relationship with the Father.  What this looks like in the specifics is a topic for next time.

Lifestyle Issues

We come now to the last of our topics related to people walking away from the faith:  “Lifestyle and perspective, including homosexuality, feminism, secularism, and pluralism.”  Confusion and doubts about these issues often contribute to drawing young people away from the faith.

The downward path might develop through questions like these.  First, how do I maintain a Christian lifestyle among the temptations that accompany leaving home, making new friends, and entering a new work or college environment.  Second, these thoughts may lead to a deeper consideration; why exactly is the Christian lifestyle worth following?  Faced with the rising crush of the world’s opinion, is the Christian lifestyle that I have been taught too narrow?  That seems to be the opinion of a lot of smart people I am getting to know.  Finally, can I broaden my view and adjust my standards on these issues and still be a Christian?  And if not, maybe I will embrace the world’s direction – it does appear to be the modern and enlightened way – and just drop the Christian identity altogether.  Is this what walking away from faith over lifestyle issues looks like?

A timely scripture that speaks to this exact topic is I Timothy 6:20-21.  “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’ – which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.”  For a letter written almost 2000 years ago, these verses are incredibly fresh and relevant to today’s discussion.  The world’s view on lifestyle matters is held up as the enlightened and knowledgeable opinion.  But Paul refers to the worldly approach, “knowledge falsely called”.  It is not true knowledge at all; it is better called profane.

Profane is not a word we hear much these days, but it is a powerful description of the world’s approach to lifestyle issues.  In I Timothy 6:20, the Greek word translated “worldly” in “avoiding worldly and empty chatter” is the word bebēlos (βεβηλóς).  It means, “primarily, permitted to be trodden; hence, unhallowed, profane, opposite of sacred.”  According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, “it is that which lacks all relationship or affinity to God”.

I love Vine’s description, because as believers we have just the opposite; a definite relationship and affinity to God.  And our lifestyle should reflect this.  The New Testament writers make clear that our lifestyle – which grows out of our relationship and affinity to God – will be in marked contrast to the world.  It is a case of the sacred vs. the profane; a comparison we will explore in upcoming posts.

One Year In

Happy Tuesday.  I would like to say a big thank you to our community of believers here in Northwest Houston.  Your friendship is a great source of encouragement to Rhonda and I.  We’ve finished one year on our blog and want to thank you for your participation with us in this ministry.  Our ministry goal is a balance between investigating the theology behind our New Covenant experience and searching the Scripture to find what this experience looks like in practice.  I believe a great need in today’s church is to understand the incredible resources and provisions that are ours through the New Covenant; the new arrangement between God and man brought by Jesus Christ.

Just this past week, a speaker referred to Jeremiah 17:10, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds,” and warned us that the thought of God rewarding us according to our deeds should give us some fear and trepidation.  I believe the New Testament shows us another way.  A way set free from the consequence model of the Old Testament to experience a life of love, acceptance, and forgiveness; a life set free from sin’s power by the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Does the idea of a “life set free” imply we should continue in sin?  Of course not!  The apostle Paul answered this exact question in Romans 6 with a NO, NO, NO, and NO.  He then goes on to explain the provisions of the New Covenant to live a life set free from the power of sin.  As we continue in this blog, we will be addressing point 5 – lifestyle issues – in our series about walking away from faith.  What we will find is that New Covenant living is a high calling to a holy life, not some lazy approach to the rules or a distorted freedom to live as we please.

Again, thank you for your interest and participation as we move forward.  We are always interested in your thoughts.  We will be taking a short break and return in a week or two with “lifestyle issues”.  See you then.

Love: One Strategy, One Message

I personally believe that one area where Satan has really muddied the waters in the American church is on the topic of love.  I believe Satan is quite content to see our message proclaimed basically without interference here in the States while he busies himself sowing seeds of discontent and strife among the body.  As we learned last time, this disharmony takes the power right out of our message and our witness.  I can think of at least two ways Satan delights in this current situation.

First, we have taken the life out of our message because we have reduced Christianity to an adherence to a moral code (see yesterday’s excellent post on this very thought by Mark Galli at Christianity Today online).  We have failed to emphasize the finished work of Christ for not only our justification, but for our sanctification as well.  We have diminished, in our teaching, the provisions of the New Covenant for living the Christian life.  In short, we have missed the “everything is new” message of the New Testament.

Second, we focus on content over love.  Think about the miracles of Christ, for example.  The message that I have heard over and over – and have myself taught – is that the miracles of Christ are recorded to demonstrate the deity of Christ.  Their main point was to show that Jesus is indeed God and operates in God’s power.  They are a debating point to support the claims of Christ.  And they clearly do serve that purpose.

But could it also be that the miracles of Christ are meant to show the heart of Christ, the love of God as well?  As Jesus went around healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and raising the dead, do we only see the power of a deity or the loving hands of God’s rescue.  When Jesus raised the dead son of the widow of Nain – a woman grieving the death of her only son – do we see only a demonstration of God’s power or do we also see an incredible heart of love that restored this son to his mother.

The apostle Peter summarized the ministry of Jesus in Acts chapter 10 while visiting the house of Cornelius.  “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).  Peter puts the power of God in Jesus and the goodness of God in Jesus together.  Because, in His essence, God IS love.  And as His children, love should be our essence as well.

“The early Christians had one strategy, one agenda, one message, one weapon, one force with which to overwhelm the empire of the Caesars:  love.  It was Christlike love that brought the empire to its knees, and erected the symbol of the cross over the ruins of the Roman capitol.  Love was an unstoppable force in the first century AD, and it is just as irresistible today!” (Ray Stedman in Body Life).