Saturday, October 31, 2015

Tattoos, Yoga Pants, and the Cultural Relevance of the Modern Church.

     Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
     Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
     Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
     Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
                                                           Matthew 5: 13-16 KJV

     Jesus calls us to stand out, to be different. As Christians, we are called to "come out from among them and be separate" (2 Cor 6:17), and to noncomformity to the ways of this world (Romans 12:2).
     Could it be that in our rush to be culturally relevant, to engage the society around us, we have lost our saltiness? Has the professing Church become so much like the world, that it is hard to tell them apart? Has the fog of lukewarm compromise set in and hidden the city on a hill? Have we as the professing body of Christ, in our concern not to upset others; in our desire to be inclusive, actually put a basket over the candle?
     In our arguments and debates over liberty and freedom in Christ, let us ever be mindful of the fact that as Christians, we are Christ's representatives upon this earth. The world should not be able to look at us and see a reflection of itself, it should see us as radically different. After all, if we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness, and placed within the kingdom of the Son of God, shouldn't that change how we live and appear before others (Col 1:13)?

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