Page 87 - Christ and Culture Textbook

 Spirit-filled believers can fulfill their biblical responsibilities in their personal, interpersonal,
marital, family, and vocational relationships (Eph. 5:18–6:9).
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 Spirit-filled believers have power for bold and effective evangelism (Acts 4:31).

Faith in Christ begins our victory over the world. “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—
our faith” (5:4). And the more we live by faith in Christ, the more we continue to overcome the world.
Faith is also crucial to meeting these other six requirements.

Believe that through crucifixion with Christ you are dead to the world, released from bondage to the
world, and free to live for God (Gal. 6:14). Christians must believe they are dead to the world before
they can behave as dead to the world. To behave as dead to the world means that we, like dead people,
refrain from loving the world and living for the things of the world.

The world is also dead to Christians, so the dead world should no longer be attractive to us but rather
disgusting and repulsive.

By faith follow Christ and not the ways of the world. Before our changed relationship to the world, we
“walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the
spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). Unbelievers are numb to the fact that
they are controlled by Satan’s spirit and the world’s spirit. However, Christians “have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God” (1 Cor. 2:12).

When we rely on God’s Spirit and God’s Word, we can resist “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Satan used these three sources of
temptation from the world to tempt Christ in the wilderness. Christ faced and overcame these
temptations because He was filled with the Spirit and knew the Scriptures (Luke 4:1, 4, 8, 12).
The Spirit gives us the power and Scripture gives us the principles to overcome Satan.

Walking by the Spirit and in the Word can make a practical difference in how Christians relate to the
people and the things of the world. Like Christ, Spirit-filled Christians can love the people of the world
and use the things of the world to serve God and people. This sharply contrasts with the way the world
uses people and loves things.

By faith avoid worldliness in your character. Worldliness is a person’s self-centered attitude of love for
the evil world system and earthly things rather than for God and heavenly things. Christians can pretend
to avoid worldliness by not living like the world in their outward conduct and yet still love the world and
the things of the world in their innermost character. Jesus called this practice hypocritical because it
looks like righteous conduct but is inwardly sinful (Matt. 23:28).

Worldliness is basically a character issue. Christians tend to be worldly to the extent that worldly values
influence their character. Therefore to overcome the world Christians must build their character with
biblical values and virtues and not with the world’s values. Again, when Jesus faced Satan’s three
temptations in the wilderness, He was completely committed to God’s values and God’s will because
Jesus was saturated with God’s Word. In Psalm 40:8 the preincarnate Christ expressed His relationship

38 Ibid.,999.

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