Engaging our Culture
The latest edition of Truth & Consequences, a product of Summit Ministries, is a piece by Chuck Edwards encouraging Christians to engage the culture. After discussing the impact of popular culture on society, Edwards turns to the mandate Christians have to shape that culture. He does so by appealing to Genesis 1:28 in which God gives man the responsibility to care for creation, and then to Matthew 5:13-16 in which Jesus refers to his followers as “salt” and “light” in the world.
Edwards then challenges Christians to impact culture from the perspective of a Christian worldview. Here are his closing remarks:
Learning to be discerning enables the Christian to avoid two undesirable extremes: what Brian Godawa describes as cultural anorexia and cultural gluttony. Anorexia is avoiding the culture altogether. On the other hand, cultural gluttony ignores how popular culture affects us, for good and evil, and takes it all in indiscriminately, consuming everything in front of us.
A third alternative for the Christian is to engage the culture: “interacting redemptively” with non-believers by understanding the good things in our popular culture and using those as a bridge to God’s truth.
Again, Paul models for us how to engage the culture when he spoke before the religious and civic leaders of Athens (recorded in Acts 17). Here we see Paul as a student of his culture; he did not try to isolate himself from it. He had studied the religious worldviews of his day, even looking “carefully” at their idols. In his speech before the Athenian leaders, he quoted from their own pagan poets and philosophers (apparently from memory). He discerned what was true in their pagan worldview and used that as a starting point to present what they had missing concerning God’s true nature, man’s true nature, and God’s redemptive plan through Jesus Christ.
Based on a biblical worldview, if our culture is tasteless and wicked it is because Christians are not doing their job! We cannot point fingers of blame at non-believers if our society is deteriorating. Non-Christians are simply living according to their view of life. Therefore, those of us who understand the truth must live it out on every level of society, from the boardroom to the classroom and the courtroom, and yes, even the sound stage. There is no area of society that is outside God’s concern. Cultural discernment and engagement are part of our Christian calling.