How Do We Engage Culture?

One of the current "crises" in our family and household these days is where to draw the line when it comes to celebrating various holidays.

Of course, Halloween is only a few days away and it has already sparked a fierce debate. You'd think it would be an open-and-shut case given what God's Word has to say about such things. I'll use the NIV to make it clear and straight-forward...

Deuteronomy 7:6 (NIV) For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 (NIV) When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

Ephesians 5:8 (NIV) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light

1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 (NIV) But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

However, if you're human (and married with kids) then you know that it's much easier said than done despite all the stored knowledge of Bible verses like those, despite all the lip service, and even despite all the prior victories in the Culture War.

Anyway, all of this got me thinking today about how we're supposed to engage the culture we're living in. Specifically, I thought about the negative consequences of doing so the wrong way. After all, wrongly engaging the culture leads to what? Us adjusting the Gospel.

I think that many of us would agree that there's this propensity of so many Christians today to "engage the culture" in ways that are not Biblical.

Actually, in that sense, a more appropriate title for this post would be "How Do Christians Engage Culture The Biblical Way?" because that helps to refine our focus here.

Let's briefly examine what "engaging the culture" should be, and let's briefly show how current culture engaging methods may actually be counter-productive to the message of the cross.

Fortunately, the Lord led me to a brilliant Sermon on this subject from Thabiti Anyabwile who recently spoke at the "Together For The Gospel 2010" conference. Here's the video as well as some important notes I took from it (including a few thoughts of my own)...

T4G 2010 -- Session 4 -- Thabiti Anyabwile from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

> Engage the culture? Change the culture? Transform the culture? Win the culture? Creating the culture? What is the role of the church in this context?

> There are obvious difficulties for sure. I mean, at what level are we attempting to do something? Should we be creating the "Christian Justin Beeber" for instance? Is that a good thing? Are we to be advocating certain political leaders, parties, and policies? Yes? No?

> If we do engage, then how do we know that we've "won" in our pursuits? What are the objectives and terms about engagement? After all, the Body of Christ seems extremely gung-ho about such things lately, which is why we must ask -- is this really what we're called to do?

> It's very important for us to think about what the Bible exhorts us to do. Consider Paul's letter to the Colossians (Colossians 1:24 - Colossians 2). If we set out to engage the culture -- whatever that means -- we will likely see in subtle and profound ways, the Gospel being "adjusted" if we're not careful. We may miss the deeper more important strategy of embodying the Gospel itself.

> Let's try to focus our thoughts on Paul's pastoral purpose -- what gets him up in the morning, what gets him going, what philosophy, wisdom, truth is animating his purpose? What practices flow from that view of life and the world?

> Paul's trying to make the Word of God fully known so that everyone might become mature in their faith. His purpose is that every Christian in the Body of Christ will embody Christ spiritually and conform to His image. He joyfully suffers for this purpose too. Is this our singular ambition and purpose too? Is this what we're consumed with? Because God is calling His people to become perfected in Christ!

> More on this truth about God calling His people to become perfected in Christ. Maybe we should focus on this first -- focus on ourselves; focus on becoming mature in Christ -- before we worry about trying to impact and change the world for Him.

> Religious leaders and teachers may sound right, but be entirely wrong! The Gospel is not about anything else than what Paul tells us it's about here in Colossians. Otherwise, all we're hearing from the pulpit these days is "goal displacement" and although it sounds plausible, although it sounds right, although it makes sense it's not what the Gospel is all about! "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2), right?

> Goal displacement. Are we about preaching the "Social Gospel" or the Salvation Gospel? Are we more concerned with preaching politics or preaching the cross?

> A lot of goal displacement is sold to us under the banner of God. Surely, it's right to engage the culture, to change the culture, right? I mean, that's what the Kingdom is bringing, right? Are you sure about that perspective?

> Paul writes to us and says "Wait a minute!" His point was that the Kingdom of God is focused on this minimum -- that individuals must repent and believe the Gospel message! If you're inclined to doubt such a view (or if you're ok with the way in which Christians are engaging the culture these days), history repeatedly tells us that when we "intensify" and/or "enlarge" the Gospel (expand it to include various cultural, political, and social concerns), that's when so many things are driven into the church that take us away from the Gospel, take us away from our maturing in Christ, and ultimately take us away from our calling.

> Paul writes to address the church -- not the culture -- despite the fact that those days were very similar to our own. He addresses his letters to Christians -- not to the electorate or the politicians. He wants God's people to understand this issue. We're either consistent with the Gospel, or inconsistent with the Gospel.

> So, how do we live appropriately in the midst of a fallen, sinful culture? Read Colossians 2:9 for the answer. In Christ!

> Verse 8 is pretty definitive. "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ" (Colossians 2:8/NIV) When it comes to our philosophy of Christian life (and even ministry) of cultural the question is -- "Are we captured by Christ?" or "Are we captured by worldly philosophy or tradition?" Is it the world we hear, or the Gospel (and Christ) we hear?

> Remember that Satan is always trying to camouflage his real intentions. In fact, it's the "fine sounding arguments" that we should always be wary of as Christians.

> We are Gospel men and women! We are stewards of the Gospel! We are appliers of the Gospel! We are preachers of the Gospel!

> We must be ruthless in marrying the mission of the church with the Word of God and the Gospel!

Now, I understand that his Sermon didn't specifically address Halloween. However, the annual debate over whether or not Christians should participate in the celebration of Halloween is part of the Culture War, and that's why I wanted to look into this today. I know the Lord's not done with me and this topic (Halloween) just yet so please stay tuned for more to come I'm sure.

I pray that this study today will make you rethink what you’ve been conditioned to believe about our role as believers in relation to how we are to engage the culture.

I know I'm fond of urging us to "practice what we preach" and to "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk", but I have to admit that I've been struggling with that in this particular area.

I know the truth. I know what we should do (or shouldn't be doing). The sad part is that I've succumbed to sinful behavior by doing what so many have done to rationalize sin -- I've caught myself saying "It's no big deal..." and that makes me sick!

I'm admitting this publicly in this forum to all of you because I think it's important for Christians to not hide their sins whenever they should fall and stumble from time to time. Plus, dragging sin out into the open and into the light should take away some of its power. Repenting of them quickly and sincerely before Jesus Christ will lead to grace, mercy, forgiveness, and restoration.

Lord, have mercy on me and forgive me! Continue to work on my heart and mind as well as the hearts and minds of my family members, friends, and anyone else who's reading this who happens to be struggling with the same things.

Help me to see that it is a big deal.

Help me to be obedient to you in the areas of my life where I should know better.

Help me to turn away from fables and tales that tickle sinful ears and instead look with rejoicing and humility unto Jesus Christ -– He, as described in the Bible, is unique and alone is sufficient for all things.

Help me to be an example to the world because that's the best way to engage the culture in this day and age.

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