Page 89 - Christ and Culture Textbook

things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1–2). The world says, “Do not be so heavenly
minded that you are no earthly good.” However, Christians will not be any earthly good if they are not
heavenly minded (3:1–11).

When our relationship with the Lord cools down, we tend to warm up to the world and to commit
spiritual adultery against the Lord (James 4:4). So keep your heart’s desire in heaven, and your heart will
be less drawn to things on earth. The psalmist wrote, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides
Thee, I desire nothing on earth” (Ps. 73:25). Can you affirm these same words from your heart?

Find your joy in the Lord and not in the world. People naturally seek happiness. And when Christians
are not finding their true happiness or inner joy in the Lord, they tend to seek happiness in the world.
Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote with keen insight, “The world and ‘worldly’ Christians turn to so-called
‘worldly’ things because they discover in them an anesthetic to deaden the pain of an empty heart and
life.”3 If we are abiding in Christ and continually filled with the Spirit, we experience true joy in the Lord
and need not seek happiness in the world. The psalmist knew where true joy is found. “In Thy presence
is fullness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever” (Ps. 16:11). “The joy of the LORD is your
strength” (Neh. 8:10), but worldly pleasures will weaken your spiritual growth and service.

How should the Church respond to the people of the world?
We have discussed how to respond to the temptations of the world, but how do we respond to the
unbelievers of the world? From Christ’s perfect example we can draw some practical guidelines for
responding properly to unbelievers.

Maintain moral purity in all relationships to unbelievers (Ps. 1:1). Jesus is described as “holy, innocent,
undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). Though believers can still
sin, the New Testament uses the term “sinners” only of unbelievers.4 Jesus associated with sinners in a
social and physical sense, but He was spiritually and morally separated from sinful living. He was
“tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (4:15). So Jesus did not practice isolation from the
sinners of the world by being Pharisaic or monastic. Rather, He mingled with sinners to minister to
them, but He was not involved in their sin for He was sinless.

Paul also exemplified sanctified conduct in the world. He reminded the Corinthian Christians “that in
holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves
in the world, and especially toward you” (2 Cor. 1:12).

James taught that Christians should practice Christian social action in the world yet maintain spiritual
purity. “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in
their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). We should be in the world
serving Christ, without the world being in us. We can properly function in the world like a ship
functioning in the water. But when water leaks into the ship or the world enters us, then a serious
problem occurs.

Do not compromise biblical values by accommodating the sinful values of the world. Jesus lived for
eternal, spiritual values and not for the temporary, material values of this world, for “the world is
passing away, and also its lusts” (1 John 2:17).

Have compassion for people. Matthew wrote of Jesus, “Seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for
them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). Jesus’

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