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One of the most important issues facing Christians at any time in history, and certainly facing us who are Christians in an increasingly non-Christian and post-modern America, has to do with the question of what is the Christian person’s relation to the surrounding culture. I think this is an area of application where we all have a lot to offer one another in terms of perspective and outlook. We have enough diversity of perspective and approach to make dialogue useful and beneficial, but enough unity of perspective that we continue to help one another in the same direction. Since I think this is so important I want to give a good bit of newsletter space to it here, and may well pick up on it later. In what is commonly called Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” in John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples and for us, those who would hear of him through the message of the disciples. He prays many things, including the following: I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified (John 17:13-17). Wow. Take some time to try to unpack this passage. Those of us who are in the world are to have the full measure of His joy in us. The world will hate us because we have His word. We are not “of the world.” But Jesus prays that the Father would not take us out of this world that we are not of, but that he would protect us from the evil one while we are in it. Our origin and identity is not of this world any more than is Jesus’. We have been sent into the world, and while in the world, are to be sanctified. As we read on to the next section we find that the world will be watching us and making judgments about Jesus from how we are one to another. We sense from this passage and from His prayer that Jesus has identified the primary wrong tendencies His people may have with respect to the world at large – refusing to go forth into the world, and, in going forth, becoming like the world. Both are wrong. We are at the same time to be “in the world” but not “of the world.” We are neither to separate nor accommodate. Either of these – separating or accommodating -- is an easier path than that which we are called to walk, and the temptation is great to follow one or the other. I will be honest, and I say this with some sadness and I believe without a critical spirit, that modern American evangelicalism has somehow managed to fall prey to both of these wrong tendencies at the same time. It has separated itself out into its own subculture, and thus has refused to be in the world, but within this subculture has become just as worldly and consumeristic as the surrounding culture, and thus has become of the world. Thus we are always to be going forth into a world that is with “devils filled” and yet remaining holy, as the One who has sent us is holy. In this way we follow in the footsteps of Jesus Himself, who emptied Himself of divine prerogative and became incarnate in this world, who was tempted by the devil, who dined with tax collectors and whores and reprobates, yet who maintained ongoing dependent fellowship with the Father, who walked in perfect holiness and righteousness, who loved all sorts of people and spent time with them, who was always holy as his Father is holy. This is the way of Jesus; this is to be our way. This way was not easy for Jesus; this way is not easy for us. Jesus said “no!” to the way of the Essenes, to the way of the Zealots, to the way of the Pharisees, to the way of the Sadducees, just as we are to say “no!” to the way of the Amish, the way of the political Christian militants, to the way of the fortressed evangelical subculture, to the way of the worldly accommodators. And how are we to view the culture we are to be in but not of? The tension is there intellectually and theologically as we approach the issue of the Christian and Culture, and as we face all the practical challenges day to day. We sing for example, “This is my Father’s world,” and we read, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” But we also sing “And though the world with devil’s filled” and we also read “My kingdom is not of this world.” The “tension” is there. We walk as on knife edge ridge line. Miss to the right and we tumble down the mountain. Miss to the left and we tumble into a river. We are pulled from the right and pulled from the left. We groan trying to stay upright. It is never a question of “balance.” The word “balance” implies a static posture, as if we can find a moment of calm equipoise. No, it is tension, not balance, a tension which is dynamic and active and ever challenging. We can look at this tension from God’s perspective, because, interestingly, God Himself has a similar dilemma, if we can say that anything to God is a dilemma. God who created the world, even though it is now fallen, continues as a kind and benevolent Creator, upholding His creation, and blessing his creatures in many ways. He causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. They are alike His creatures. He blesses His creatures with many advantages and good things, which include not just “natural” phenomena like rain but also “man-made” things like art and music and literature. He meets creaturely needs and allows for human expression and creativity through the making and manufacturing of things, through dissemination of information, through the structuring of governments and economies. In His providence, for example, He uses human beings (which includes structures like businesses and corporations) to make drugs and medicines which benefit all of his creatures, the just and the unjust alike. These are not “bad” things in and of themselves. Through all of this – i.e., through human culture and its many aspects, God brings blessing to His creatures. But these things do not deliver people from their sins, they do not save; they are not gospel. In fact, the very same people and structures and cultural phenomenon that God uses in His kind providence to bless his creatures – these are fallen and sinful and may well increase, entrap, or harden people in their sin! But God is also working to redeem a people for Himself, to deliver a people form sin and death to be his very own people, holy and blameless, people who will as creatures benefit from his providential goodness, who will live in the world and be a part of its culture, but whose identity is not found there. Most of the blessings of His grace which He bestows upon all of His creatures do not “save.” They are not “means of grace.” Generally people are not saved by food or music or rain or literature. That through which God works salvation and brings deliverance from spiritual death and sin-- the word of God, the sacraments, the corporate worship of the church, evangelism -- these are “special grace” not “common grace” phenomenon. A piece of literature may possibly have some redemptive element, and God may use it to draw me to Himself, but generally the Spirit of God works through the word of God to transform and deliver. The word of God as it is ingested and studied and applied by the Spirit to the heart may be used by the Spirit to deliver me from aspects of the culture which are working death and ungodliness in me. It also may be used to make me a better worker, a better husband, a wiser citizen, a better participant in culture. And yet it teaches me that this present culture is not my home really, not my destiny, not my resting place. I am looking instead for a city whose architect and builder is God Himself. His kingdom is not of this world. We who are his redeemed creatures in Christ work under the dual calling of the creation mandate to exercise loving dominion over the earth, and the redemption mandate to go forth and spread the gospel of Christ. We don’t have the freedom to abandon either mandate. We are called to both, we are responsible for both, which ends up giving us a kind of ambivalence about culture itself. We are to accept its blessings as blessings from our kind Creator, we are to work to make it better and more godly, we are to be salt and light in it, we are to participate with God in bringing blessing to His creatures, but it is not ultimately our home, it is not ultimately “safe,” we cannot finally rest in it, and we are called to a heavenly perspective that transcends the merits and demerits of human culture. The tension we experience as we consider how to approach our culture is compounded in some ways by the different ways the Bible itself pictures the Christian life. We as Christians are variously described as runners in a race, soldiers in a battle, children in a family, subjects in a kingdom, servants to a master, stewards of a business, etc. Each of these gives a different sense or approach to our calling, and to our outlook. Here intellectual balance is necessary. If we see the Christian life overmuch as a battle between good and evil, God and Satan, we will look at culture overmuch as the enemy’s territory. If we look at our Christian lives overmuch in terms of being children of a loving Father in heaven, in whose world we live, we may fail to see the dangers that lie in wait for us out there. All of these questions come to bear upon very real day to day decisions and attitudes we make. But not only do we face the objectively real tension of being in the world while not being of it, not only do we face the difficult question of what is to be our relationship to culture, not only do we face the tension of calling, and not only must we sort out the different ways the Bible pictures the Christian life, but we bring our own experience, history, weaknesses, and temperaments into the whole discussion. I think these things predispose us to take different angles on these issues, to come out on one side or the other as we try to live within the biblical tensions. Many of us are reacting to past experiences which may have been either lax or legalistic. Sometimes we swing too far the other way. Many have very positive everything-will-be-fine temperaments and the world is only opportunity and possibility. Others are more wary and cautious. Some are melancholy, some are sanguine. You get the idea. And of course, we all together, even in the diversity of perspective we within our own little fellowship bring to these questions, we all to some degree wear the glasses of our present culture. It strikes me as interesting for example that often the way we are inclined to frame the discussion has to do with how we spend our leisure time, that is, what TV we will watch or let our kids watch, what music we will listen to, what movies we will go see, what literature we will read, all of which makes me realize that we approach the question from the standpoint of an affluent leisure culture. I wonder how the 12th century Christian serfs would have approached the issue, or Christian slaves, or Christian farmers of a century ago. Interesting…. Perhaps all of us are unbalanced in just this sense, that we think of our lives too much in terms of what we consume in our leisure time, and too little in terms of our calling and mission in the world, too much of what we are to get out of or consume in life, and too little of what we are to put into it. That being said, it is still the case that all of these questions come to bear upon very real day to day decisions and attitudes we make about what w do and how we spend our time and what we allow our kids to do. Take literature for example. Surely good literature is a gift of God’s providential goodness to His creatures. A good book allows us to be self forgetful, which is a blessing of considerable value. A great book is a window to the world, allowing us to see things and go places which we never would have seen, to which we never would have gone. A good book opens up our vista to other people – how they lived and thought and responded to life – and challenges us to see beyond our limited experience. A good book helps us to understand the human condition – to laugh and to cry with others. And then there is simply the joy and delight that can be derived from reading a really good sentence, a beautiful description, an apt turn of phrase. These are all blessings, blessings open to all people who can read, to the just and the unjust alike. Generally however people are not delivered out of their sins by a good book (though they may be), by a great piece of literature. Sometimes people are led away from God by books, even by one of the great books. So even though one should not scoff at the value of reading great books and even though these books are part of the common grace of God to His creatures made in His image, a Christian must approach reading with wisdom and care. A book can feed lust or pride or greed or hatred or fear. Books by some authors can undermine faith, can create a dark or depressed view of the world, can allow a non-biblical worldview to creep in. So a Christian cannot read without care. The calling to be holy as God is holy is more important than any book. If reading the works of a certain author truly undermines my holiness, then I must not read books by that author. As a parent I have to consider what my kids are reading as well. I want to make sure that what they read is worthwhile either as a source of entertainment as well as a way of education. I want them to know the joy of reading good books, and want to help them develop a “safe” repertoire of authors so they can read for enjoyment without always being on guard. But I also want them to have their vision of the world enlarged, their understanding of the human condition deepened. I want them to read some of the great books, classics in literature, not just cheap Christian bookstore fiction. So as they get older I let them read things which may not contain only nice and godly ideas and language and “good-always-wins” happy endings. But I have to help them sort through issues, evaluate a book’s message from a Christian worldview, grow up in their ability to make wise judgments, grow up in their understanding of human history and the human plight and how people of all types deal with that plight. At the same time I don’t want them reading trash, being sucked into darkness and evil, having their young faith undermined. So I can’t just let them have unlimited freedom. Nor do I want them spending all of their time reading, even good and safe books. There are other things in life! Even if there is a legitimate case for enjoying great books, I have to evaluate the amount of time spent doing that in light of other callings that I have. This gets me back to the way I think we generally should seek to work out the tensions of living as God’s people in this present age. That is, I think we should as biblical Christians allow the Bible to frame for us as much as possible what our purpose for being is, and then we try to evaluate and look at the questions of how we should live and what we should do with our time in light of this purpose. We are responsible for doing just this, as it says, “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.” The failure to do this rightly was I think the basic failure of the Essenes, the Pharisees, the Zealots, and the Sadducees. This is why I advocate working down from the big picture of what the Scripture is calling us to be as the people of God, and seeing our decisions in light of that big picture purpose. In other words, we go to Scripture to see where who we are as God’s people and where we are headed as His people, and then try to see the purpose of the short little life we have in light of that. So, for example, this approach helps me look at my reading of books in a new light. First of all I have to analyze the amount of time I spend reading, comparing that with the amount of time I spend praying, reading the Scripture, doing good works, going to baseball games, spending time with my kids, etc. There is merit in simply enjoying a thing, but one has to decide how much time one spends doing so. Second I may want to ask whether my reading helps me fulfill my dual calling to take care of the earth and to make disciples of the nations. As a matter of fact, reading may very well help me understand life better, understand people better, understand people I am trying to minister to better, how they think, what is their worldview, etc. In fact, my reading may also simply give something to talk about with my neighbor, a point of connection if you will. Third, as I have already said, I have to decide whether reading good books works to foster sin patterns or wrong attitudes I may have. I have to be wise and may have to put “do not enter” boundaries around certain types of books or books by certain authors, and I have to be careful not to rationalize such ungodliness by saying that I am trying to understand the culture of suicide or pornography or drugs or whatever. I hope that you can make application from this specific example of reading literature to other areas of life where you are face to face with the realities of the larger and greater surrounding culture. |
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