Cultures

From time to time I will mention this thing called 'culture'. It has been a topic that has been growing in my mind. So, I thought that it would be good for me to spend a little time explaining it a bit. The goal here is not to explain some concept. The goal is for you to understand better what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus in twenty-first century America. Part of being able to do that involves understanding some things about culture.

Let's start with something of a definition. Culture is how a group of people look at and understand their lives and the lives of those around them. It is a way of thinking about and living in the world. Culture affects and is affected by things like language, customs, dress, social standards.  So, modern European culture is very different from traditional Chinese culture. The culture of inner-city poor is very different from that of Hollywood rich. Brooklyn working class folk are very different from Clymer Amish.

Now, we could separate people into lots of different cultures as I have just done. But the Bible takes a different approach. It has only two cultures. These two cultures have two different sets of expectations, points of view and ideas about what is important. The two cultures that you see in the Bible are the Church and the world. There are lots of ways in which people in the one are just like people in the other. You can be married with three kids and a mortgage and be in the Church or in the world. However, when it comes to things like how you look at and understand your life and the lives of those around you, you're in one or the other. According to the Bible, there is this fundamental difference between being in the Church and being in the world.

There is a reason for this most basic distinction. John explains.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

So, you're either from God or in the power of Satan. It's the Church or the world. All of history since Adam and Eve is tied up with this distinction between the Church and the world. And one thing that you will find in that history is the Church continually being tempted to adopt the attitudes of the world. Consider the problems of the people of Israel. All too often, they were acting like the nations around them, like pagans. They were acting like the world. This difference between the Church and the world is not just limited to what's recorded in the Bible. If the history we learned in school had been more than just political and economic issues we'd be able to see this difference more clearly in the history of western civilization down to today.

John understood all of this. So, he writes a warning.

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.

He calls the Church to be careful, not to love the world, not to set our affections on the things that the world sets its affections on. He gets specific and gives us a list. 

… the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life…

The first thing I want you to see is that this is not a list of behaviors. I stress that because in the days of my youth large portions of the Church didn't get this. Back then not loving the world had to do with whether you went to the movies or played cards or had a beer with dinner. John doesn't offer a list of behaviors. John zeros in on the heart. He writes about attitudes and affections.

So, there is 'the desires of the flesh'. Another translation has 'the cravings of sinful men'. This is the demand to enjoy the pleasures of life. John's point is not that we're to live bland, tasteless lives. The problem isn't that there is pleasure being enjoyed but that it is being craved, demanded. So, for example, there is the expectation that life go smoothly and when it doesn’t there are complaints.

Then, there is 'the desires of the eyes'. One person I read described this as being captivated by the outward show of things without inquiring into their real value. This is about the lust after what, after all, is superficial. How many fads have you seen come and go?

Then, there is 'the pride of life'. This has been translated as 'boasting of what he has and does'. This boils down to the theme of life being, 'Hey, look at me!' Here, think about what so many blogs and Facebook and Twitter area filled with.

I think that this gives you enough of an idea of this concept of 'world' as John was describing it. And I also think that I can say these attitudes are at the heart of modern American culture: the craving to feel good, the pursuit of things that are temporary, wanting people to be impressed by you. So, John's exhortation, 'Don't fall in love with any of that', is something we need to take very seriously. And yet, it needs to be said that so many churches in America are failing here. They have fallen in love with these things. And let's be honest. We need to admit that we at Faith Reformed have also been touched by this. The world is doing a good job of invading the Church. And that's why I talk about culture as much as I do.

John warns us not to love the world or the things in the world. Okay, but why is that? He tells us.

For all that is in the world … is not from the Father but is from the world.

If something's not from the Father that right off tells you that it's bad. The Father gives good gifts. These things aren't good gifts. But they are gifts. They are gifts from someone else.

… the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

These gifts of the world come from Satan. He has a history of this sort of thing. Think back to the Garden and how Satan misled Eve by his lies. Here Genesis describes the results.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food ('the desires of the flesh'), and that it was a delight to the eyes ('the desires of the eyes'), and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise ('the pride of life'), she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

These attitudes of the world come from your enemy who desires to do you ill whenever he can. So, why pursue them? Why love them? Does it make any sense to do that?

John adds this.

And the world is passing away along with its desires… 

All of the things associated with the world's culture have an end point. They will pass away, be destroyed, gone forever. They are simply passing fads. But the gifts of God that are pursued and developed in the life of a Christian - love, joy, honesty, kindness, confidence, faith and more - those things go on forever, growing and maturing even into eternity. Why go for things that won't last? It makes no sense to love the things of the world.

So, the world confronts us and tries to cause us all sorts of problems. What do we do? How do we respond? Here are a couple of options that have been popular in the history of the Church. The first is escape. Some have tried to run away from the world. They have thought that if they have no contact with the world they'll be safe. There are lots of problems with this, not the least of which is that it won't work. After all, the root problem isn't out there somewhere. The problem is in our hearts: the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life. But there is something more important than that. Jesus doesn't want us to escape the world. He wants us in the world. Listen to what He prayed for.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

We are not to try to get 'out of the world'. Jesus wants us there, very much in contact with the world but not fooled by Satan.

There is a reason why Jesus wants us in the world. That gets us to another option that some go for: peaceful co-existence. 'Can't we all just get along?' So, some in the Church will promise not bother the world as long as the world doesn't bother the Church. But it's not an option for us because of the reason Jesus wants us in the world. In the same prayer, He said,

 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

We have been sent into the world, sent with a mission just like Jesus was sent. We are to go into the world to make disciples. That is, we are to go into the world in order to conquer it and make the world into the Church. We are not interested in peaceful co-existence.

And it's just a fact that the world is not interested in peaceful co-existence either. Jesus warned us about that.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

The Church is to be in the world, working to change it, to conquer it. The world is also working to change the Church, to conquer it. Life is the Church against the world. That makes life dangerous for us. It's dangerous because it's violent. And this violence isn't about guns and bullets that can only affect the body. This violence affects the soul. This war is about eternal fates.

So, what are we to do? How are we to respond to all of this? John tells us.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

There is protection in obedience, in doing the will of God. We are not to do the will of Satan and the world that sides with him. We are to obey the Father so that after the world is long gone we will still remain. And bear in mind, obedience to the Father is not first about behavior. It's about attitudes of the heart, our affections, what we love and demand and give ourselves to.

We need to admit that, sadly, our culture has affected how we understand what it means to do the will of God. The culture around us has caused the Church to look at life differently now as opposed to not all that long ago. Just consider some aspects of family life. What does a good marriage look like? Or to say that differently, what does submission mean? What are the right goals for our children? How are we to get them there? What's a good job, and how important is it relative to the rest of your life? The answers offered today are so very different from those considered in the days of my youth. I'm not saying that there were better answers back then, but they certainly were different. What made the change? A large portion of the change is because the Church has been affected by the culture around us. So, as we work at doing the will of God in the details of life we need to ask a question. How much of our understanding of life is just like the world's? How much have we been fooled by Satan? I suspect that the damage is greater than what any of us imagine. And remember what is at stake: eternity. Those taken over into the world will not abide. It's about heaven and hell. So, we need to take these issues, these questions, seriously. How we respond to them will affect our souls, for good or for evil.

In light of that, I need to tell you that working at doing the will of God is a group project. We pursue that goal together. We have to. I know that I have been poisoned by the world. It affects how I think about certain things and thus how I live. And it does that in ways that I do not see. That is true of all of us. So, we need to help each other to identify remnants of worldly thinking that seem so right but aren't. We need to help each other so that we can do the will of God and not end up like the world that is passing away. We work at doing the will of God together. Without that we will fail.

There is one more thing. John also wrote,

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.

We need to work at doing the will of God and overcoming the world. But the only way that will happen is by faith. By faith we obey His commands. By faith we believe His promises. By faith we repent of our worldliness and come again to Jesus for forgiveness and change. That is how we will conquer.

The state of much of the Church in America is not good. There is too much of the love of the world. Let's be sure that that will not be said of us.