Engaging the Culture, Part 1

Engaging the Culture, Part 1  by Rick StrangeWe are in a culture war.  Everywhere we turn, we seethe battle raging.  On every front, political, social,educational, judicial, economic, and spiritual, we seea clash of worldviews taking place.  As Christians first and as responsible citizenssecond, we are called by God to properly andeffectively engage our culture, and we must do itarmed with the truth claims of Jesus Christ.  However,in our current cultural climate, truth is in conflictwith another Christian attribute, and the mostimportant one of all, love.  If someone speaks thetruth in our pervasively relativistic culture, theyare considered "unloving," yet to be "loving" is toembrace everything and everyone, no matter what theybelieve, say, or do.  This attitude of so-called"tolerance" gives everyone a "warm and fuzzy" feeling,but does little else to effect change.  It just makeseveryone feel good.As Christians, we must not embrace such a philosophy,but instead we must look to the holy scriptures forguidance.  In a day and age where so many believersare simply fitting the Word of God into their lives,it is imperative that we who are serious aboutdiscipling the nations do otherwise.  We must submitthe whole of our lives to the authority of the Word ofGod and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Nothing lesswill bring Him glory and expand His kingdom in theworld.With this in mind, let's look to the apostle John forguidance.  If any of the apostles were "warm andfuzzy," it was John.  In John 13:23, we find thisstatement:  "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom oneof his disciples, whom Jesus loved."  By comparingchapter 21, verses 20 through 24, it appears that thiswas John:  Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whomJesus loved following, who also had leaned on Hisbreast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the onewho betrays You?" Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus,"But Lord, what about this man?"  Jesus said to him,"If I will that he remain till I come, what is that toyou? You follow Me."  Then this saying went out amongthe brethren that this disciple would not die. YetJesus did not say to him that he would not die, but,"If I will that he remain till I come, what is that toyou?"  This is the disciple who testifies of thesethings, and wrote these things; and we know that histestimony is true.  Jesus loved all His disciples, but John wasparticularly dear to Him.  What could be a greaterexpression of endearment than the description "leaning on Jesus' bosom"?  When I think of John, Ithink of the one who was always nuzzled up to Jesus,like in the famous portrait of the Last Supper (seeJohn 13:20 above).  And he is the author of thosegreat and compelling words found in the 16th verse ofthe third chapter:  "For God so loved the world thatHe gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believesin Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Wow, talk about warm and fuzzy!!Yet we must be careful to read on.  John has much moreto say to us in this passage.  Look at verses 17through 21 in the same passage:For God did not send His Son into the world to condemnthe world, but that the world through Him might besaved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; buthe who does not believe is condemned already, becausehe has not believed in the name of the only begottenSon of God.  And this is the condemnation, that thelight has come into the world, and men loved darknessrather than light, because their deeds were evil.  Foreveryone practicing evil hates the light and does notcome to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that hisdeeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done inGod."Notice what John is saying here.  Yes, God loveseveryone and desires to impart eternal life to all. But, and this is important, that love is not divorcedfrom obedience to God's truth.  In fact, those whotruly believe love the truth, and are thus practicingit in the light of God's glorious love. Therefore, as we have seen, and shall see even furtherin his epistle, John saw no conflict whatsoeverbetween love and truth.  In fact, he saw them as equaland necessary components of effective ministry.  Inthe great discourse known as the "love chapter" in ICorinthians 13, the apostle Paul also declares thatthere is an inseparable link between love and truth: "love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices inthe truth" (verse 6). In looking at John's first epistle, it can easily beseen that love and obedience to the truth areinseparable.  (As the line of the old song says, "youcan't have one without the other")  I will point outjust two examples here:"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laiddown His life for us: and we ought to lay down ourlives for the brethren.  But whoso has this world'sgood, and sees his brother has need, and shuts up hisbowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love ofGod in him?  My little children let us not love inword, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (1John 3:16-18) "By this we know that we love the children of God,when we love God, and keep His commandments.  For thisis the love of God, that we keep His commandments: andHis commandments are not grievous."   (1 John 5:2,3)As we address cultural issues, we must remember andembrace John's wise counsel.  We must not succumb tothe lie that all truth is relative, but we must alsobe careful not to go to the opposite extreme and viewtruth as a legalistic taskmaster and ourselves as itsguardian.  Balance is always in order.  Jesus referred to Himself as THE truth, so when weembrace truth we are embracing Him.  We are embracingthe One who was "moved with compassion" (see Matthew9:36, 14:14, 18:27; Mark 1:41, 6:34), the One wholamented over Jerusalem (see Matthew 23:37,38), andthe One who cried from the cross as He died for oursins, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know whatthey do." (Luke 23:34)  Christ who is the truth isalso the embodiment of the pure and holy love of God. We must never forget that fact!"Hate the sin, but love the sinner" has become aworn-out and misunderstood cliché to many, but itaccurately reflects the true nature of God as well asHis love for all mankind.  So as I engage the culture,I can hate abortion, but I must not hate  theabortionist.  I can hate pornography, but not thepornographer.  I can hate pedophilia, but not thepedophile.  Of course, only the Holy Spirit, who haspoured the love of God into our hearts (see Romans5:1-5), can accomplish this in us and through us, butHe requires and demands nothing less.  So may we, byHis holy transforming grace, walk in the Spirit andnot the flesh and transform our culture for the gloryof God.  In my next column, I will expand this concept ofengagement to include some principles we must abide byin this culture war.

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