Are the lines between living in our culture and living
for Jesus Christ blurred? This is not a new inquiry, clearly throughout the
Bible a struggle persists between faithfulness to God (Jesus) and the degree to
which one indulges the culture. For instance, Israel after experiencing other
cultures (nations) governed by a king demands that they too be led by a king:
“Give us a
king to judge us like all the other nations have.” Jesus replied, “Do everything
they say to you, for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me
to be their king any longer”.” (I Samuel 8:5, 7)
Luke 19:45 – 46 describes another instance: “Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the
people selling animals for sacrifices. He said to
them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a
house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
Lastly another example, Paul challenges us: “Don’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.” (Romans 12:2)
However, Christians and not yet
Christians continue to ask for a king; desecrate the sacred; and acquiesce to
the customs of this world. Exemplified
through how we have made sports and celebrities King of our lives; the manner in which we give priority to the
secular and subdue the sacred; and how we strive toward pursuits commended by
the standards of this world. We are relentless in our desire to have the
accoutrements of this world, we deify our athletes and worship the teams for
which they play.
One morning while my youngest son
and I were leaving Starbucks, we began a brief conversation with a few
gentlemen as we walked out the door. One of the men asked me, who is your team (as if I had to have one and that I knew the choices to which he referred)? Living in the belly of
the SEC, this is not a surprising question but when I replied, I don’t have a particular team – he looked
at me with such disdain: you would have
thought I confessed to being a murderer or an adulterer.
His reaction troubled me! I began
thinking, how often do I experience a Christian with such devotion and duty
approaching me with a similar question, wondering if I had a relationship with
Jesus Christ or was I entrusting my life to the devil? I concluded the answer
was rare if at all.
Unfortunately, we (Christians) are
more apt to privatize our faith
and publicize our idolatry.
What if we displayed such a zest and passionate love for Jesus as we do for football (and other priorities of our culture)? We might discover the following:
1. More people would have the opportunity to enter
into relationship with Jesus (because we would readily share
we are on Team Jesus).
2. There would be an increase in worship
attendance and servant ministry (because we would readily give of our time
and treasure).
3. Worship at our churches would be
Spirit-filled and vibrant (because Jesus would be the focal point and
object of worship).
4. No one
would have to guess if we were Christians (because we would
unashamedly demonstrate our allegiance to Jesus and the Gospel).
5. We would
strive toward faithfulness in all aspects of our lives (because
we would believe that Jesus can't be defeated).
As we continue through the season of advent, maybe
our preparation is to evaluate:
(1) who do I uphold as the King of my life, (2) what/who do I recognize and value as sacred and
(3) is my life conformed to the customs of this culture
or to that which Jesus asks
of me?
Much Love,
Pastor Singleton
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