{"id":465,"date":"2008-10-30T03:11:42","date_gmt":"2008-10-30T03:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/"},"modified":"2014-01-25T20:00:57","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T20:00:57","slug":"october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrims and Strangers: A Christian Cultural Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, R.C. Sproul wrote, \u201cAdjusting to the customs and worldview of one\u2019s environment is one of the strongest pressures people experience.\u00a0 To be \u2018out of it\u2019 culturally is often considered the nadir of social achievement.\u201d<\/span>1<\/sup> Unfortunately, this bothers most Christians and, because it does, they have spent over half a century defining and redefining the non-biblical word \u201cculture\u201d so that they can justify fitting comfortably into the world, a place that is at enmity with God.\u00a0 Oswald Chambers said, \u201cTo be a friend of the world means that we take the world as it is and are perfectly delighted with it\u2014the world is all right and we are very happy in it.\u201d<\/span>2<\/sup> Similarly, Os Guinness wrote, \u201cAt the end of the line, Christian assumptions are absorbed by the modern ones.\u00a0 The gospel has been assimilated to the shape of the culture, often without a remainder.\u201d<\/span>3<\/sup><\/p>\n

Older writers most often spoke of culture as something that needs to be lifted to a higher plane (i.e., to be \u201ccultured\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0 Almost sixty years ago, T.S. Eliot wrote,<\/p>\n

It is only when we imagine our culture as it ought to be, if our society were really a Christian society, that we can dare to speak of Christian culture as the highest culture; it is only by referring to all the phases of this culture, which has been the culture of Europe, that we can affirm that it is the highest culture that the world has ever known.4<\/sup><\/p>\n

Today, however, such a statement is taken as bigoted or even racist.\u00a0 Why? Because now culture is seen as the way things are; life as we have to take it.\u00a0 It has no moral right and wrong to it; it is all neutral.\u00a0 So even when we refer to \u201cpop culture\u201d with all of its obvious moral failures, we still are to accept it as an atmosphere that just is; something that was inherited perhaps, but certainly not made.<\/p>\n

Take the difference between nature and culture as an example of how things have changed.\u00a0 We used to speak of nature as something inviolate (because God created it) and culture as something we are to change and to make better.\u00a0 But now, these have been reversed: culture is considered inviolate (it just is; we can\u2019t do anything about it) and we are attempting to change nature and the environment all the time.\u00a0 This is another way in which God\u2019s work is profaned and man\u2019s work is exalted.<\/p>\n

The contemporary church today has surrendered to the culture and yet talks about transforming the culture.\u00a0 But while the largest part of culture (the sinful outworking of man\u2019s nature, i.e., the \u201cworld\u201d) controls the church, the church is seeking to transform the smaller parts of culture (social and political issues).\u00a0 The New Testament church is to be in the world but not of the world.\u00a0 The ship can be in the sea but when the sea gets in the ship it is in trouble.\u00a0 Yet the church has a spiritual job to do.\u00a0 Its job is the conversion of the individual through the gospel of Jesus Christ and sanctification of the individual believer through the local church.\u00a0 These converts become salt and light in culture.<\/p>\n

Many believers disagree about the local church\u2019s responsibility in the world.\u00a0 The theological liberal view of a social or political gospel grew out of poor hermeneutics that changed either theocratic or kingdom passages into New Testament church mandates.\u00a0 The social and political action views, however, are just not in the New Testament neither by precept nor practice.\u00a0 The church has a spiritual job to do which, if done biblically, will fill society with Spirit-filled believers who will affect the culture for good.\u00a0 This spiritual responsibility is taught through many analogies in the New Testament.\u00a0 Here are seven such analogies.<\/p>\n

\n

Pilgrims and Strangers –\u00a0 The positional element<\/h3>\n

The apostle Peter addressed his readers as pilgrims and strangers in his first epistle (1 Pet. 2:11).\u00a0 He called them sojourners also (1:17).\u00a0 In the words of the song, this world is not our home, we\u2019re just passing through.\u00a0 The Old Testament saints mentioned in Hebrews 11:13 were also strangers and pilgrims on the earth and looked for a permanent home in the next life, a better country, that is, a heavenly (11:16).\u00a0 Had they been like many today, they could have been mindful of that country from whence they came out (11:15) and become too attached to the old culture and way of life.<\/p>\n

Someone always complains about Christians who seem too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.\u00a0 But, of course, that would be to accuse God Himself Who tells us to be heavenly minded!\u00a0 No, as one said, they serve earth best who love heaven most.\u00a0 We are like Bunyan\u2019s pilgrim who was on a journey through the world in order to reach the heavenly kingdom.\u00a0 If John Bunyan himself had not understood this he could not have spent years in prison for preaching the gospel, and then, of course, he would not have written Pilgrim\u2019s Progress, a picture of his own spiritual journey.\u00a0 A pilgrim doesn\u2019t become too attached to the land through which he\u2019s passing.\u00a0 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).<\/p>\n

\n

Ambassadors\u00a0 –\u00a0 The technical element<\/h3>\n

Paul\u2019s well-known passage is 2 Cor. 5:19-21 in which he tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ\u2019s stead, be ye reconciled to God.\u00a0 An ambassador is one who lives in a foreign country in order to do business for the homeland.\u00a0 This business is technical and important.\u00a0 Paul continued the message of the ambassador, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (5:21).<\/p>\n

Peter describes the ambassador\u2019s job as an apologist.\u00a0 Be ready always to give an answer (apologia) to every man that asketh you a reason (logon) of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1 Pet. 3:15).\u00a0 For this reason, Paul also encouraged, God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7).<\/p>\n

\n

Heralders\u00a0 –\u00a0 The vulnerable element<\/h3>\n

A herald was a person who reported the words of the king to his subjects.\u00a0 It was a \u201cherald\u201d (Dan. 3:4) who cried aloud for Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s people to bow before the idol.\u00a0 Paul called himself a herald when he used the word \u201cpreacher\u201d in 1 and 2 Timothy.\u00a0 This word, kerux, refers to the man himself who does the heralding (2 Tim. 1:11, I am appointed a preacher).\u00a0 Paul told Timothy to do the work of a herald, a preacher, when he told him to preach the word (2 Tim. 4:2).\u00a0 The action of doing what a herald should do is kerruso, \u201cto preach.\u201d\u00a0 The message itself is a further word, kerygma, that by me the preaching might be fully known (2 Tim. 4:17).\u00a0 This English word is still defined in Webster\u2019s Dictionary as \u201cthe apostolic preaching that Jesus is the Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

I say this is the vulnerable element because a herald places himself in front of sometimes hostile people with\u00a0 his King\u2019s message which he has no right to change or barter.\u00a0 He must give it as the King wrote it and accept whatever repercussions come his way.\u00a0 Today\u2019s heralders have failed far too often to be loyal to the King and to the text.<\/p>\n

\n

Soldiers\u00a0 –\u00a0 The aggressive element<\/h3>\n

The New Testament is replete with soldiering analogies.\u00a0 That world was filled with soldiers marching up and down the streets, boarding sailing vessels at every port, and generally keeping the peace in every town.\u00a0 Paul charged Timothy (probably the pastor in Ephesus, an important port city for transporting Roman soldiers) to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier (2 Tim. 2:3-4).\u00a0 Similarly, Paul charged the Ephesian church to take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand (Eph. 6:13).<\/p>\n

The soldier\u2019s armor is described in Eph. 6:14-17 by relating the physical armor of a Roman soldier to the spiritual armor of a Christian.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As believers, we don\u2019t seek any physical fighting (though military enlistment is certainly not forbidden).\u00a0 The Christian is not to give in or give up or\u00a0 run from the spiritual fight that goes on against Satan and his demons.\u00a0 This includes the ongoing battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil.\u00a0 In the end, Paul himself said, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith (2 Tim. 4:7).<\/p>\n

\n

Peculiar People\u00a0 –\u00a0 The odd element<\/h3>\n

Peter called believers, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people (1 Pet. 2:9).\u00a0 The word \u201cpeculiar\u201d actually means \u201cpurchased,\u201d i.e., believers have been set apart as God\u2019s personal possession.\u00a0 This does not eliminate the meanings of our English word \u201cpeculiar\u201d which can mean both unique and odd.\u00a0 In chapter four, Peter told his readers that one\u2019s lost friends with whom he used to carouse, will think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you (1 Pet. 4:4).<\/p>\n

The New Testament plainly teaches that God\u2019s people stand out in this world and culture by outward and inward differences.\u00a0 We are not to be conformed (skema, the schematic or outward design) to the world and we\u2019re also to be transformed (morpho?, changed internally) from the inside out by the will of God.\u00a0 For all of the talk of contemporary Christians being transformers and infiltrators of today\u2019s culture, they have utterly failed to have the courage to be\u00a0 different.<\/p>\n

\n

Lambs\u00a0 –\u00a0 The passive element<\/h3>\n

We are sent out by Christ as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matt. 10:16).\u00a0 And though there are wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing, we are still to be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves (2 Tim. 2:24-25).\u00a0 It\u2019s not that Christians are total pacifists, but we are to be like Christ who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously (1 Pet. 2:23).\u00a0 Isaiah said of Him, a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth (Isa. 42:3).\u00a0 Surely the world has seen enough strikers and brawlers who feign to represent the\u00a0 gentle Son of God.\u00a0 Jesus said that if we will lift Him up, as a Savior crucified in seeming weakness, He would draw men to Himself through us.<\/p>\n

\n

Church\u00a0 –\u00a0 The secluded element<\/h3>\n

The local church is the place of retreat for the Christian.\u00a0 It is the place where believers can let down their guard and do, before God, what Christians do.\u00a0 They should not have to please the unsaved if they happen in to their service.\u00a0 Rather, the best place for a nonbeliever to be is among Christians doing what Christians do:\u00a0 praying, singing hymns, fellowshipping, teaching and preaching, and taking the Lord\u2019s Supper (see 1 Cor. 14:23-25 where such a person repents because of what he sees going on in church!).<\/p>\n

If our churches were more focused on building up the saints, affirming parents trying to raise godly children, letting God\u2019s house be a house of prayer rather than a den of thieves, God\u2019s people would be much better equipped to go out into the world as salt and light and affect their culture for godliness. They would also be better equipped to carry out effective Spirit-filled evangelism.<\/p>\n

\n

And So . . . .<\/h3>\n

New Testament Christians have clear directives as to how to affect their culture.\u00a0 The real battle is being fought in the minds of God\u2019s people.\u00a0 In effect, can we decrease that He may increase?<\/p>\n

Charles Spurgeon said,<\/p>\n

It is better to be the least in the kingdom of heaven, than the greatest out of it.\u00a0 The lowest degree of grace is superior to the noblest development of unregenerate nature.\u00a0 Where the Holy Ghost implants divine life in the soul, there is a precious deposit which none of the refinements of education can equal.5<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, R.C. Sproul wrote, \u201cAdjusting to the customs and worldview of one\u2019s environment is one of the strongest pressures people experience.\u00a0 To be \u2018out of it\u2019 culturally is often considered the nadir of social achievement.\u201d1 Unfortunately, this bothers most Christians and, because it does, they have spent over half a century defining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[135],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-culture-worldview"],"yoast_head":"\nPilgrims and Strangers: A Christian Cultural Perspective - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pilgrims and Strangers: A Christian Cultural Perspective - Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago, R.C. Sproul wrote, \u201cAdjusting to the customs and worldview of one\u2019s environment is one of the strongest pressures people experience.\u00a0 To be \u2018out of it\u2019 culturally is often considered the nadir of social achievement.\u201d1 Unfortunately, this bothers most Christians and, because it does, they have spent over half a century defining […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AletheiaBaptist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-30T03:11:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-25T20:00:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Book-Reviews-1024x1024.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rick Shrader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rick Shrader\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rick Shrader\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/588b75c574dc86d40cf5fb13774181b2\"},\"headline\":\"Pilgrims and Strangers: A Christian Cultural Perspective\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-10-30T03:11:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-25T20:00:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/\"},\"wordCount\":2118,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Culture \/ Worldview\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/october-qpilgrims-and-strangersq\/\",\"name\":\"Pilgrims and Strangers: A Christian Cultural Perspective - 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