Engaging the Culture for Christ

I just read an interesting post here by Larry Temple. He has an interesting question and I commented on it and I also want to take some time on my blog to address the issue.

Who is really engaging culture for Christ?

Is it the guy who stands on the street corner and shouts the Truth from the top of his lungs? You can’t get more bold than that right? 

It certainly isn’t the person who never mentions Truth to his friend but hopes that one day his friend will ask him what he believes. As if his life is so remarkable that the name of Jesus just seeps out of his pores and into other people’s lives.

It can’t be the one who simply does good deeds but never mentions the name of Jesus when he does them. Those good deeds are lost forever. They never made an impact for the Kingdom of God.

Is it the pastor who preaches boldly from the pulpit but never sets foot in a pool hall, or on a basketball court, or in the marketplace and actually gets in the lives of those who Jesus says are lost?

Is it the church member who goes faithfully to church each Sunday but never tells his neighbor where he is going every Sunday morning, much less invite them to go with him?

So how does one follow Christ and make Him known to the culture around them?

Larry does a good job in his post of highlighting some of the Biblical characters that it would be wise to learn from. Men like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, John, Paul, and someone else… oh yeah, Jesus! It seems like the Old Testament men were like the street preacher of today. Add John to that mix and you’ve got some pretty fiery men of God. However, Paul and certainly Jesus were much more relational. I would suggest that these are the sorts of men that we should really look to as we desire to engage culture. Paul is a great figure because he was reaching out to a pagan culture, much like we are today. All the others, even Jesus, were for the most part reaching the Jew. Their message was a message of repentance. Paul’s message, and our message today needs to be a message of love. 

To put “Repent” on a sign means nothing to our culture today. They can’t understand where we are coming from. Sometimes we need to start with what they already know (see Paul in action here) and then share stories of God’s love or examples from the life of Jesus to help them see Truth. It has to be on a personal level. The Truth is much more effective when it is on a personal level. The receiver of your message needs to know more about you than just the message, especially if the message is “Turn or Burn”. That will never be enough to convince someone that the Way of Jesus is intriguing or even worth mentioning. The person with the “Repent” sign is only displaying their message and not their motive (which I hope is love). They are only displaying what they are against (abortion, homosexuality, George W. Bush, etc.) rather than what they are for (peace, love, Jesus, etc.)

Instead, we need to be as bold as the street preacher, but with some understanding of our cultural context. Paul operated differently with his Jewish audience than with his Gentile audience. We live in an age today that is even different from Paul’s. Jesus is the only one that transcends cultures and eras and gives us a Way of life that we can follow. He ate with the tax collector’s and sinners. He walked with the lepers. He cared. He loved. His motive was love and that came out in His message in a way that didn’t confuse people. He was refreshingly consistent. Sure, He was an enigma, He was spectacular, but His harshest words were for the Pharisees who should’ve known better, not for the sinners who didn’t. In a study of Mark, I once counted up all the verses that found Jesus in the marketplace, in prayer, etc. I found that overwhelmingly, Jesus was in the marketplace with sinners. Secondly, He was discipling His leaders. Thirdly, He was in other people’s homes (sometimes sinners, sometimes not). Finally, He was in the temple. I try to keep a balance on where I spend my time, and every once in a while I look back at that study from Mark and see how I’m doing comparatively and try and make adjustments if I’m too far out of whack. 

That’s how we engage culture. We pattern our lives after Jesus. We speak when He tells us to speak. We walk where He tells us to walk. We listen to Him always. We honor Him with our lives. We don’t shy away from a tough discussion for fear we might get laughed at. Engaging the culture is spiritual work that demands a lot of prayer and walking with the Spirit. It isn’t something I do by casually heading out the door with my 45 pound Bible tucked under my arm and a megaphone over my shoulder. No one will ever know that I care for them and that Jesus cares for them if I hand them a Gospel tract and walk away. Engaging the culture is exactly that: intentionality and interaction and friendship with those who don’t know the Truth. Jesus was full of grace and truth. Let’s always try and keep it in that order as we engage the culture for Christ.