Purpose & Philosophy Part 2: High on Culture & High in Biblical Content

We hold to missional practice for cultural relevancy. We, as a church seek to be the church that is extremely relevant to our culture, so that the lost may find salvation. In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul engages a pagan people at Mars Hill. Paul took the task of making the timeless truths of the gospel message relevant for his hearers. This is called “contextualization.”

The Apostle Paul serves as our example. He made the gospel culturally relevant for the people of Athens. He understood their position on reality, the spiritual interests,he looked for common ground in their worldview, and challenged them to understand Christ!

The goal than is to make the gospel as relevant as possible while at the same time keeping high biblical content as as the source of truth. Note the Hughes Scale above, one would want to be in Quad B, if they are committed to being a church that is strongly committed to missional practices, high on culture and high on biblical content.

Practically this means
- We preach through books of the Bible as well as topics that relate to culture
- We dig theology and believe theological education should be taught more in the churches
- The people in our church look like and dress like everyday people, church will not be place where we polish up and come in our Sunday Best, we come to worship as sinful people in need of worship.
- We value culture, arts, music, business, economics, etc.
- We don't look at culture as the enemy rather the context in which we declare and demonstrate the gospel.

Culture.Theology.Gospel: learn & live in culture

Many churches can be seen as a vendor, dispensing spiritual goods and services. Offering A better life, a better future, a better career path, and some really cool WWJD bracelets. For those of you who don't know our dorky jargon, WWJD means "What Would Jesus Do!"

A clearer picture of the church should be seen as a people not just a place where we dispense goods and services. This produces consumers not strong Christians. We are the sent people of God, people living on mission in our city within our culture, not above it or against it, but in it. With this paradigm, culture becomes critically important if Christians will have a lasting influence in our society.

This may surprise some of you, especially if you come from a fundamentalist church background. Culture is not evil. In fact, culture is made by God. By definition, Culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

Through out the scriptures we see Jesus himself authenticating his deity with his words and works within the culture he lived in. Remember Jesus himself left heaven and came down to earth. He embraced the culture without comprising his character. In the incarnation, He was born of the virgin Mary, 100% God and 100% man. He lived in our world and walked among us! He preached in public places. He went to weddings, parties and peoples homes. He was to say the least culturally connected.

For Christians to gain influence we must pursue cultural relevance w/o compromising character nor to the gospel message. We need to be a people who learn and live in our culture. Expressing the gospel in and through it, so that the gospel is better understood by our hearers.

Here is an exercise to test your abilities in understanding culture. More importantly this may serve as exercise that you can repeat on other songs, movies etc.

Brett Dennen, singer song writer recorded the hit song "Ain't no reason: on his album,"So Much More" which has been ranked the number-one folk download on iTunes.

Watch the video and take notes. Answer the following questions. According to the song...

1. What is the condition of man?
2. What is the state of our world?
3. Who or what sets us free?

Culture & Theology Series: Green Day Video:

A few years ago when I was working in the Dallas area as youth pastor my ministry partner and I discovered that most of the teenagers we were working with got their values, opinions and even theology from the music they listened to. It wasn't mom or dad it was MTV.

I am curious how many adults do the same thing? Maybe MTV isn't your deal. But I bet If you are like myself you might find yourself repeating phrases or regurgitating ideas from a popular song or movie. Right? We love it when a song or movie captures a feeling we have and puts into a musical masterpiece. It connects with us.

Music is powerful. What's sad but true is that many times people will allow music to form their worldview or theological framework without even knowing it. Check out the hit song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" from Green Day which was ranked as one of best singles of the decade according to Rolling Stone Magazine and was by far their most popular and successful song.



Here is what is true about this song. Our world has many broken dreams and life experiences. It is full of pain but not without promise. There is Hope. What's missing in the song, is hope and help that God offers. While there is pain Christians are promised by God that they will not escape it but be empowered to endure it. The Bible teaches that God is near to his children. God is present. God is active. He is intimately involved with his people in the person of the Holy Spirit, whom is said to be a counselor and constant helper.

While we constantly see the pain in our world we must remember that we are not alone. God is present. He is not dead. No matter the trial we face we must remember that GOD WALKS WITH US…IN THE MIDDLE OF PAIN.Rom. 8:38-39 Hebrews 2:18

Here are some principles for believers all over the world. There is assurance. We do not have to walk in this world alone.

• He is Present but doesn’t Pry - Psalms 139:7-12
• He is Available and He is Aware - Luke 12:7
• He is the Helper when we are Hurt - John 14

Recommended Resource: Inside Out by Larry Crabb

Coexist in Culture?

Jesus teaches us a powerful truth about how Christians are to co-exist in their culture with non-Christians when he teaches the Parable, "The Wheat and the Weeds

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared."- Mt 13:24-25

What's interesting is that Jesus asserts that the weeds shouldn't be pulled out, rather he urges that both the good seed (wheat) and the bad seed (weeds) be left to grow together. Why?
Well because they would both die if they were pulled to early. The roots are still tender, so He urges the farmer to leave them till harvest. Jesus further explains the parable:

"The one who sowed the seed is the son of Man (Jesus) The field is the world (culture) and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom(Christians). The weeds are the sons of the evil one, (UnChristians) and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels." - Mt 13:37-39, (Parenthesis mine).

The main point Jesus is making, is that we are in world but not of the world. (Jn 17: 15-17). We are to learn how to Coexist in our culture, yet remain strong and pure until he returns! We are Wheat in the weeds and our job is not to pull out the weeds but to live among them!

3 Points should be considered here for the believer

Pilgrim Principle: This idea is that we have are to confront cultures evils and speak out against worldly wrongs, based upon our Biblical convictions. This principle is supported in Rom 12:2, "Do not conform to the patterns of the world" and is right, one should not conform to the world, yet we remain in the world at Jesus requests (John 17:15-16).

Ingeniousness Principle: The idea here is that the gospel message comes through the listeners own cultural lens of understanding, therefore the task of the Christian is to adapt, the message to fit culture, using language, symbols, sign and customs of the culture, so that the Gospel is clearly understood. Jesus did this continually in his teachings and Paul said, "Be all things, to all people"

In but Not of Principle: Jesus said it best, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:15-16). We are in the world—that’s the indigenous principle, yet, we are not of the world—that’s the pilgrim principle. For a more exhaustive look at this look at John Piper's Article

Again we must learn how to Coexist in our culture, yet remain strong and pure in our convictions, not compromising the gospel, but living in and around those that most need it!
We are Wheat in the weeds and our job is not to pull out the weeds but to live among them!

Vision: Love One. Love All

Bob Marley echoes what Jesus pointed out as the most two important truths in all of scripture. I am so refreshed with Jesus teaching. In fact, I believe we we need not only look to the pastoral epistles to form our ecclesiology, but the gospels as well!

At Imago Dei Community Church our vision comes from Jesus' simple and profound statement to "Love one and to Love All." He is the Head of the Church.

LOVE ONE.When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, He replied that God is one, and is to be loved with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. We believe this is the ultimate priority of every person, to discover and foster an exclusive love relationship with God. (Deut 6:5, Joshua 22.5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27)

LOVE ALL. Jesus continued his answer by saying that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor. We interpret this to mean everyone; that dignity and worth transcend beliefs, lifestyles and demographics. (Matthew 22:38, Luke 10:25-37)