Culture

This morning we're going to take a look at the brief conversation that Jesus and Peter had when Jesus was about to wash Peter's feet. There are some things here to note, things that are going on beneath the surface. And these things have something important to say to you about how you are to relate to the world around you. Our text is John 13.6-8. Please listen as I read it.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

So, what happened? Jesus is about to wash Peter's feet and Peter refuses. Why does he refuse? What do you suppose Peter would say if you were to asking him that question? He would say something like, 'Masters don't wash the feet of their disciples. It just isn't done. If anything, it should be the other way around. And everyone knows this.' In a way, Peter gets it. He understands the point. Masters don't wash the feet of their disciples. It just isn't done. And that's exactly the thinking that Jesus is attacking by His outlandish act.

This same sort of thing pops up elsewhere.

A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.'

So, to drive home this lesson, Jesus washes Peter's feet. Do you see what Jesus is saying by this? 'No, Peter, you're wrong. Masters do wash their disciples' feet. Leaders serve.'

Now, where did Peter get his mistaken idea about the relationship between masters and disciples? If we asked him, he would probably tell us that that's just the way it's supposed to be and everyone knows it. To put that differently, Peter got it from the people around him, from how they all understood life. Peter got it from his culture. And what Jesus is telling him is that his culture is wrong, at least on that point. Jesus is critiquing the culture of His day.

This is one very fruitful way of thinking about all of Jesus' ministry. Consider the Sermon on the Mount. What is it? It's a wide-ranging critique of much of the culture of His day. What were some of the common assumptions about life among those folk? It's okay to get angry. It's okay to look and desire a woman. It's okay to retaliate. It's okay to condemn others. That was all a part of how people commonly thought about life. It was part of the culture. And Jesus responds to that with a very clear, 'No, it's not okay!' And all of those conflicts with the Pharisees - what were they about? Jesus was confronting them about some of their basic assumptions about life. Jesus was critiquing their culture. That was one of the things He came to do. How could it be otherwise when the holy God enters into a very sinful world?

Let's take a closer look at this idea of culture. How should we understand it? Every culture has certain assumptions and attitudes that are shared by all, or mostly all, of the people of that culture. It's their way of saying, 'This is how life works.' So, in some cultures you will have three generations living in the same house. In some cultures all the boys are trained in the trade of their fathers and all the girls are trained to work in the home like their mothers. In some cultures the king has absolute authority, even to deciding between life and death. But none of those things are part of your culture. In your culture each nuclear family has its own home. The boys - and the girls - grow up to pursue whatever vocation they feel like pursuing. And no one has authority over you like some king.

Culture includes other things. You drive on the right side of the road, regularly brush your teeth, speak a certain kind of English and use some sort of electronic device, even if it's just a TV. Why? You have been influenced by the people around you. These things are a part of your culture.

Peter was influenced by his culture. And so, he was a fisherman probably like his father, had a beard and believed that masters don't wash their disciples' feet. These were the values and habits of his culture. Some of them were good and right, and some of them weren't. They all needed to be evaluated. And that is exactly what Jesus was doing. He was helping Peter to evaluate one aspect of his culture. 'No, Peter, masters do wash their disciples' feet. And that is a lesson that you will need to learn if you're going to fit in the new culture that I am establishing.'

We are in the same boat as Peter. We live in a culture that has certain values and habits, and some of them are good and right, and others aren't. So, what we need to do is evaluate them so that we can fit into the new culture that Jesus has established. And that is actually quite difficult. Think about some of the cultural habits that you follow. Some of them have been with you for longer than you can remember. You have grown up with them. They feel so normal. In fact, you probably don't even see many of them. But you have to evaluate them. Refusing to have Jesus wash his feet felt so right to Peter. But it was wrong. He needed some help evaluating this attitude of his culture.

So, how does one go about evaluating his culture? If you're going to do that you'll need something to compare those habits and values to - a standard. That's the Bible. It describes the habits and values that Jesus approves - and doesn't. Jesus critiqued the culture of His day, approving some things and rejecting others. We need to do the same with the culture of our day. But understand what will result from that evaluation. There will be conflict, a conflict between cultures. There will be the culture that is being developed within the Church and the culture of the surrounding world. And these will strongly disagree at some very important points. Again, think Jesus and the Pharisees. It's the Church against the world.

It's here that I want to mention an old church word. It's not used very much these days, but I suspect that it's a word that needs to be resurrected. It's the word 'worldliness'. Worldliness is living according to the culture of the popular society around you instead of according to the culture that Jesus intends for His Church. You will find warnings about worldliness throughout the Bible. Israel was continually warned about adopting the habits and values of the nations around them. Here, think about the worship of the Baals, the gods of the Canaanites. Israel felt a steady pressure to adopt those habits and values, to blend in with that other culture - and too often gave in to that pressure. Worldliness.

You'll also find this warning in the New Testament. Here's John's warning about the dangers of that other culture.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

And then there's this from Paul.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This bit from Paul lays things out in a way that can be very helpful. He points to the pressure to conform to the culture around us. One popular paraphrase put his words like this: 'Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold.' And that is exactly what we all feel, in one way or other: the pressure to conform, to adopt the habits and values of the culture around us. Paul goes on to point the way to freedom from these things. So, first, we need to be changed, transformed. Paul is assuming that we have all conformed to the wider culture in some way. The key to that is what he calls, 'the renewal of your mind'. He's talking about how you think about life. You need to think about things like habits and values and do that in a way that is different from the culture out there. Then, Paul tells us that the goal of this is to 'discern what is the will of God', and in this way to come to see 'what is good and acceptable and perfect'. And you do that by testing the habits and values that you've grown up with. Do they fit in the new culture that Jesus has established? You answer that question by applying principles found in Scripture.

That's a quick overview, and I think that you can tell that doing that sort of thing isn't easy. But bear in mind that there really isn't any alternative. A refusal to do the hard work of evaluating our culture and being transformed - to refuse is to conform to the world, to love the world, to turn away from Jesus.

My primary goal for today's sermon is simply to make you aware of the problem. A big part of who you are is the result of a lifetime in a culture that is not based on the Bible. In fact, it is a culture that is very much opposed to Jesus and the culture He is establishing. It really is like those ancient Canaanites and their pressure for the saints to conform. And it has been like this for many, many long years. In some ways, you are just like Peter in his conversation with Jesus. There are attitudes and habits that you think are just the way it's supposed to be. But they are not the way it's supposed to be. Jesus has a different idea. You have been affected by the world in ways that you need to first, discover and then, get rid of. Loyalty to Jesus is at stake. Building His kingdom is at stake.

The culture continues to affect you. It does this at your jobs, the community organizations that you belong to, the neighborhoods that you live in, the families that you are a part of. The pressure to conform continues every day. Be aware of that. And be aware of that especially when it comes to your children. They are also affected. In their case, it's their friends, the clubs and activities they are a part of and their schools. They feel the pressure but are not usually aware of it, especially if they are younger. But you need to be aware of it so that you can see what's happening and help them. The greatest pressures won’t be about drugs and sex. The greatest dangers will be about life goals and how to achieve them. The first step is for you to be aware. The pressure to conform is there. Look for it. Deal with it, and help your children deal with it. So, here’s a question that might help. What qualifies as worldliness today? In what ways are you being pressured to live like people who aren’t Christians, who aren’t part of the culture of Jesus?

The solution to the problem of worldliness is not about becoming a little reclusive community. You don't escape the world by trying to hide from it. That won't work. There are several things to do but let me mention just one: prayer. And the kind of prayer that I have in mind is something like this from Psalm 139.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

That's a plea for God to uncover the hidden influences of culture as they affect our hearts. It's a plea for God to identify them and replace them with what is good and right and Godly - habits and values according to Jesus. Maybe that's a prayer that you should repeat from time to time.