Page 24 - Christ and Culture Textbook

Study Section 4: Christ and Culture - continued

4.1 Connect

How should we as Christians interact with the culture in which God has placed us? The
general biblical formula is that we are to be “in” the world (John 17:11, 15, Tit. 2:12), but not
“of” the world (John 15:9, 17:14, 16). It would be wrong to identify “world” with “culture.”
“World” is the negative side of culture. The negative side Culture is inescapable, and this
biblical principle is crucial for Christians who are trying to live godly lives. Yet to say that we
should be “in the world” but not “of the world” is obvious in a way. Of course, we are in the
world: we are ourselves part of the world, and the world constitutes our whole environment. Escaping
the world is inconceivable. Similarly, it is obvious that we should not be “of” the world; for to be of the
world is to accept the world’ s values and its opposition to God. What does it mean to be "under grace"
and what are implications as they apply to obedience? Are morality and Christianity vitally related? How
does sanctification relate to morals? How can we live a truly godly life in the ungodly culture?

4.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to discuss what is happening in our culture today.

2. The student should be able to state biblical principles that can help us to respond to culture.

3. The student should be able to stand firm his faith.

4. The student should be compelled to live like Christ in ungodly environment.

4.3 We in the World, but not of World.

We live the age where it is almost impossible to make distinction between a Christian and non-
Christian. We have people who claim to be Christians, but they live like the people of world.
Christians today give support to the film industry. Christians watch movies with Graphic acts of
violence, Sexual scenes that excite impure lusts and films that promote non-Christian
philosophy of life. Should Christians give money to an industry that encourages immorality and
unbelief? Should Christians pursue culture awareness, to become knowledgeable about
cultural trends in art, music, literature, film, drama? Should Christian attend traditional ceremonies?
Should we bow to culture in order to win people to Christ? What does it mean to be in the world, but
not of World? Believers are called to live a different life.

Christians are called to live life that represents God well. We can only be useful in the kingdom of God if
we understand that we called to make a difference where God plants us. We called to live like Christ and
have deep influence on those around us. People may not always agree with our biblical stance on
different social issues, but it imperative that we are biblically right in our living. We should live God
would want us to.

In the Old Testament: God wanted Israel to be strictly separate from the pagan nations. God’ s people
were to be different from the pagan world, not only in their worship, but also in their diet, their clothing,
their calendar, their patterns of work and rest, their planting and resting the land, their laws. They were

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