Culturally relevant, but not culturally ruined!

The mountains of Bashan are majestic. The mountains of Bashan are very rocky. You rocky mountains are jealous of Mount Zion, aren’t you? That’s where God chooses to rule. That’s where the Lord himself will live forever.(Psalm 68:15-16)

As believers, do we make folks jealous? Do they want what we have? Or rather, are we chasing after what the world offers? This is indeed a challenge for most of us. David here writes that the mountains of Bashan are jealous that God chose Mount Zion as His dwelling place. God chose us as His children. In return, do we make people jealous that God chose us? Do we act in such a way that people want to be like us or are we trying our best to fit in with those of the world? Our job is not to fit in, but to stand out! Listen to the words of Jesus:

You did not choose me. Instead, I chose you. I appointed you to go and bear fruit. It is fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. “Here is my command. Love each other. The World Hates the Disciples “Does the world hate you? Remember that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you like one of its own. But you do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:16-19)

For the world to be jealous of us we must be different. Yes, we must be culturally relevant, but not culturally ruined! We must understand the culture in order to relate the Word of God to those in our circles. However, we must be careful not to allow the culture to ruin us! We cannot be so deep into looking like the world that we get lost in the world. We need to be like magnets drawing people from the world to Christ. Like the coffee bean in a cup of hot water, we need to change the environment when we enter a room. As the bean turns the water into a warm tasty cup of java, we have the ability to turn our environment from a bitter and unforgiving scene into a warm and grace-filled room. Do not allow the heat of the world to turn us into a hard-boiled egg or a mushy vegetable. To cause others to want what we have in Christ, we must live as if we are already in heaven . . . because spiritually speaking we are!

Our world view comes from the pages of Scripture, not TMZ, MTV, BET, or even the nightly news!