Question 1

How does culture affect me?

Accepted Answer

Daniel 1:3-5, 7-8Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives. . . . “Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.” . . . They were to be trained for three years, and then they would enter the royal service. . . . The chief of staff renamed them with . . . Babylonian names. But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.King Nebuchadnezzar wanted Daniel and his friends to adapt to Babylonian culture. They were to be taught the language, literature, and customs of the land. They were instructed to eat what the Babylonians ate and be trained to act as Babylonians. They were even given Babylonian names in order to literally change their identities. Although you are not a captive in a foreign land, the influence of culture has not really changed much: what you learn in school or on the job, what you read, the movies you see, what you eat, how you dress, how you act, what you value and desire, and even your name, are mostly by-products of the culture in which you live. You may not even think about how thoroughly culture has affected your life, but it does. Its influence is subtle, yet powerful. Daniel and his friends carefully chose where they could conform and where they would not, what was worth fighting for and what was not. We must do the same. When culture asks you to compromise your faith or the way God commands Christians to live, then you must draw the line.Romans 12:2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.Culture affects your worldview, perhaps so much so that you don’t even think about it. As a result, you may be copying unbiblical lifestyle choices without even realizing it. To follow God’s will, you have to know it by becoming familiar with God’s Word. A Christian becomes a transformed person by allowing God to challenge their worldview and change the way they think about their culture.Numbers 36:7-8“None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted. The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property.”1 Chronicles 28:8“So now, with God as our witness, and in the sight of all Israel—the Lord’s assembly—I give you this charge. Be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, so that you may continue to possess this good land and leave it to your children as a permanent inheritance.”Psalm 78:7So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.Culture affects your identity on a group level and gives you a sense of belonging. The Israelites were instructed to be immersed in their culture so they could pass on their rich cultural heritage to their children. Cultural heritage helps you understand where you’ve come from and where you should go in the future. So don’t just conform to the culture around you, because you belong to it and you have a say in its future. Get involved and contribute so that the next generation can set its hope on God and remember his miracles from your generation.

Question 2

What does it look like to follow God in an immoral culture?

Accepted Answer

Romans 13:1-2Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.Acts 4:19; 5:29Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? . . . But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”The New Testament emphasizes the importance of obeying the government in authority over you. Only when those in authority order you to denounce God or deliberately disobey him should you disobey your culture’s authorities. God is the highest authority, and you must obey him above all else.Esther 4:16“Though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”Esther was only a young Jewish girl, but God brought her to a position of great influence in order to save her people. But she had to risk her life by violating the royal rules of her culture to have a chance at saving her people. Even if your position is not as high as Esther’s, persist in obeying God and doing right, and you will influence the culture you live in.Genesis 39:7-9Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”Refuse to give in to what God’s Word says is wrong.Exodus 20:4“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.”Today it’s hard to imagine bowing down to statues of wood or stone, but we have our own idols that lead us away from God. An idol is anything that takes God’s place in your heart. What kinds of idols do people worship today? Money, convenience, hobbies, the computer, reputation, beauty, celebrities, success—many of the things culture says should take top priority in our lives. If they become more important to you than God is, they have become an idol.You must get rid of those things that keep God from being the center of your life. How? You might have to quit a hobby or remove something from your home. The point is that you must remove that which has taken God’s place in our life. These are usually the things that culture says you must have. What idol are you in danger of bowing down to worship? Don’t let the culture convince you it is more important than your relationship with God.Numbers 25:1-2While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab.The strength of your faith can often be seen by how much you influence culture rather than being influenced by it. These Israelites were easily influenced and joined in some of the sinful practices of a neighboring culture. What kind of example have you been exhibiting lately to others? A good role model influences others for good rather than being easily influenced by evil.John 15:19-21“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.”Romans 12:14-21Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. . . . Never pay back evil with more evil. . . . never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. . . . Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.Jesus explains that if you are truly following him rather than the culture, you will at some point be misunderstood, and possibly even mocked and persecuted. God’s message is counter-cultural. When you follow it—for example, praying for your enemies or giving away your money to help others instead of spending it on yourself—it will not make any sense by your culture’s standards. As a result, you can expect some ridicule and opposition. But it won’t always be the norm. In God’s new and future culture of heaven, goodness and righteousness will be the norm.Genesis 6:5-9The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth.” . . . But Noah found favor with the Lord. . . . Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.Consistent obedience to God’s commandments will set you apart from an immoral culture. Sometimes, you might feel as though you are alone in your obedience to God. It might feel like everyone is laughing at you. However, the fact that no one else is doing what you are doing doesn’t mean you are wrong. Remain faithful as Noah did. Obey God’s commands and find confidence in your relationship with him.Deuteronomy 7:2-5When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy. You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you. This is what you must do. You must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols.This troubling passage from the Old Testament applied only to the nation of Israel at a unique time in ancient history when God wanted to cleanse the Promised Land for the Israelites and show them what a culture dedicated to him would look like. God knew the pagans living there would tempt his people away from him—and they did. With the coming of Jesus, God’s new plan is for his people to be beacons of light to influence culture.

Question 3

What does it mean to be “in” the world and not “of” it?

Accepted Answer

2 Kings 17:8They had followed the practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them, as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced.The people of Israel were given laws and rules to set them apart from the surrounding pagan cultures. They did not always obey. Instead of influencing the cultures around them for God, they were influenced by them to go against God. As a Christian, you should be aware of your culture and the practices that are not godly. Determine to stand upright and be a godly influence on your culture, rather than let it influence you.Romans 14:14-23I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. . . . For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. . . . Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. . . . if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.The rejection of ritually impure meat was a well-known requirement of the Old Testament covenant that had shaped Jewish culture. As Jews and god-fearing Gentiles came to faith in the Messiah, many continued with strong convictions about maintaining this observance of the law. Paul and other believers were convinced that under the new covenant, all food could be accepted with thanks to God (1 Tim 4:3-5). Being in the world, in the culture but not of it, means navigating the significance of actions that are not inherently wrong in and of themselves. Do your actions violate your conscience? Do your actions encourage another believer to violate their convictions? You must use your freedom to act with loving concern for fellow believers—sometimes within the expectations of your culture, and sometimes outside of them. Being in the world but not of it means to claim certain things for Christ and use them, not as the world would, but in a way that serves others and brings glory to God.Psalm 8:6-9You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!1 Corinthians 3:21-23So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you—whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.People in the world who don’t believe in Christ often become chained to the things their culture says offer security. They are of the world because they know no purpose and see no future after this life, so the culture is all they have. They live only off the messages and values taught by the culture because that is the highest authority they know. Believers in Christ live in culture like everyone else, but they are not enslaved by it because they are able to see that culture offers a false promise of security. That is why believers in Christ are not of the culture, for they know that life on earth is just a tiny part of eternal living. They are not enslaved by their culture because their belief in Christ gives eternal value to their actions and not their possessions. They are free to use all that God has given them to influence the culture and to invest their lives for the future, not the present.Matthew 5:14-16“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”John 17:15-16“I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth.”There are two equal but opposite dangers concerning the believer’s attitude toward the world: full acceptance of the culture and its ways, or complete rejection of the culture. Jesus teaches several principles about the culture: (1) God loves the world and sent his Son to redeem those who believe (John 3:16); (2) the world hates Jesus and therefore hates Jesus’s followers (John 15:18); (3) the world is a place of trouble and tribulation, not only because of the normal trials of life, but because of the intentional persecution of Jesus’ followers (John 16:33). So Jesus’s followers have a complex relationship with the culture as a place of mission and a place of danger. Either absorption by the culture or isolation from the culture would violate Jesus’s intention for you. You are to learn to live in the world and enjoy the good things of God’s creation (1 Tim 4:4) without being controlled by your desires or compromised by the world’s pressures (1 John 2:15-17). You also learn to see the world continually as your mission field.