Christian Culture

Culture.

Culture is a social construct. A set of norms, practices, traditions, and values, that a group of people follow. It is a shared system of who we are, how we act, and how we engage others. It is language, behaviors, beliefs, rituals, and celebrations.

It is almost too large to understand.

People within a certain culture don't necessarily talk about it or teach it, they just know it. They live it. It is passed on through generations and through the environment of the society around them.

For those of us who have traveled or lived abroad, we have had a cross-cultural experience. An experience of being an outsider in a foreign land where the culture is different. Where there is a different language, or customs, or rules, and where sometimes we may feel... out of place. Confused. Uncertain. Like, trying to sing along to a song when you don't know the words.

Religion is often tied to culture. For example, the Hindu religion is very linked to the Indian culture. Islam has its roots and the majority of its followers in the Middle East and surrounding areas. Judaism is linked to the Jewish culture.

Christianity is somewhat different.

Christianity was birthed out of Judaism. It began as a Jewish sect. The earliest believers, the disciples, the first churches, and Jesus Himself - were all Jewish. 

When the first Gentiles - or non-Jewish people - became believers, there was a debate within the early church. Did the Gentile believers need to convert to Jewish culture in order to be part of the church? In the past, that was the rule. Anyone who was not Jewish but wanted to worship God had to go through certain cleansing rituals and follow Jewish law in order to be allowed to participate in worship.

The early church brought the Council of leaders together to decide what to do.

Peter's response to the Council was this: "God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted [the Gentiles] by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:9-11)

In other words, Peter, one of Jesus' disciples and an early church leader, declared that since God had clearly accepted the faith of the Gentile believers, there was no reason to make it harder for them to follow Him. Therefore, the Council told the Gentile believers this: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things." (Acts 15:20-21)

It's an interesting list, isn't it? There is thoughtfulness, however, behind each of these requirements - they are all related to idol worship.

Remember the very first commandment, "I am the Lord thy God; thou shall have no other gods before me."

God wants to be first. First in our lives. First in our hearts. First in our worship. He is a jealous god and will not share our praise. Nor should He have to. The surrounding culture, the Greeks and the Romans, had many gods and many idols and plenty of temples to go and worship them. The Council's instructions to the Gentile believers were specifically regarding practices associated with idol worship. Even the prohibition of "sexual immorality" was likely linked to the temple prostitutes common in pagan temples.

It is interesting to note that these are the only four things the Council warns them about. You don't have to follow the rest of the law, they tell the new believers, just these four things. (How contrary to how difficult we often make it for people outside of the church to join us!)

Now, later, some of the letters in the New Testament are also written to Gentiles, and go on to explain more about what life lived for Jesus looks like. But the original four commands stand.

I suppose what is most interesting about all this to me is how in the early church, it was determined that Christians didn't have to leave their culture to be Christian - Christianity could cross over cultures.

Over time, we've seen this to be true. There are Christians in nearly every part of the world*. There are African Christians and Asian Christians and Jewish Christians and so on and so forth. Christianity bridges over cultures.

What is ironic about that, is Americans seem to think we've got the corner market on Christianity. 

This might surprise you, but only 11% of the world's Christians live in the United States. Eleven percent. We are hardly the heart of Christianity.

Yet we are convinced in our own superiority, that we have the right brand of Christianity, an American Christianity, a culture of beliefs and values that we think everyone must subscribe by.

Instead of trying to spread our beliefs and values through love and service, as Jesus did, we are trying to force this "American Christian" version of religion we've created onto others through laws and politics and hate speech for those who disagree with us.

We are trying to force our culture on everyone else.

My question is, though, should "Christian" even be a culture?

It certainly is. American Christianity is totally a culture. It has its own language ("Christian-ese"), its own television channels and programs, its own bookstores, its own jewelry and clothing lines, its own clubs. It has rituals and traditions, like church on holidays and the sinner's prayer and tithing. It has a belief system that tells us how to live and how to vote and what political affiliation to have.

But, should it be that way?

If Christianity supersedes culture, should it even be a culture in and of itself?

Ultimately, are we not Christian first - and anything else after? Are we not first Christ's followers, people who seek Him and His will, and then any other identities fall beneath that and submit to that higher authority?

We are called to bring God's Kingdom come. Not America's kingdom. Not the Republican Party's kingdom or the Democratic Party's kingdom. Not our own.

HIS. Only His.

We have a significant number of cultural Christians in our country. Pastor John Davis explains it like this: "When people consider themselves Christians because of family heritage, good old-fashioned morals, right-wing politics, and/or church attendance. Cultural Christianity is when a society gives lip-service to Jesus, church, and the Bible and yet have not truly given him control of their lives."

Cultural Christianity is like Jesus' example of a house built on sand. It will not stand. 

I am convinced that being a Christian is more than merely wearing a cross, attending church on Sundays, and voting red. Being a Christian is more than a culture. It's more than a set of norms, practices, traditions, and values.

It's a relationship with the Creator God who came down to Earth to walk with us. 

It's a commitment to daily choosing Him.

It's a setting aside of our own wants and desires in order to pursue His will.

It's loving God and loving others and living differently.

It seems we have lost our way here in America.

Perhaps it's time to find our way back.

Christians, remember whose you are.

*There are still areas of the world we call "unreached", where the Gospel of Jesus has never been preached.