Interacting with our Culture

How are we as Christians to deal with the differences between God’s Word and the wisdom of our culture?

Good question.

Especially because the “wisdom” of the world is so often contrary to what the Bible teaches. It also comes backed up with “scientific” studies and an onslaught of public opinion.

And since we live in culture, it’s hard to know which influence is shaping our thinking more: the word of God or the words of our culture. This is one more reason to study the Bible and know well what it says.

I saw this worked out many times while I was a missionary in Russia. Many of the practices of worship or church organization that were being taught by missionaries were American in nature; many of the values promoted were more American than Christian. We were dealing with three cultures: Russian, American, and Christian. The challenge was to avoid teaching American culture as if it were Christian, to not favor one particular way of doing things because of our own cultural biases.

One bias in our culture is that of prosperity or materialism. We value hard work and success and the things that money can buy. Many of the cultural “hot potatoes” that our reading for the week covers have roots in materialism or the love of money, or as Paul wrote to the Philippians, “their god is their stomach.” We need to watch for how the influence of our culture that drives us to seek comfort and convenience affects our judgment.

Engaging with our own culture can be tricky and a bit scary at times. Standing up for values promoted in Scripture can result in family quarrels or scorn of coworkers. This should be no surprise, as Jesus told us that if the world hates us, it’s because it hated Him first.

Our reading tells us to interact with our culture but not accommodate it. Sounds good, but how does this play out in practice?

I have a friend who recently visited a church in which a lesbian couple sang during the service. This church takes the position that all are welcome, so that the church can extend the love of Christ to all. Eventually they will deal with the sin in people’s lives.

This raises an interesting and challenging question. How much do we tolerate in order to avoid pushing people away, to not offend them, so that they will stick around long enough to hear the Gospel of grace? But where is the line between tolerating a certain behavior and accepting it?

As we engage with our culture, we need to be ready to be more than critics. We need to be ready to offer some positive solutions. God is looking for us to be concerned with more than our own personal salvation. What He wants us to be is living sacrifices, not adapted to this world, living models of Christ on earth, putting their hope in Him.