Biblical Wisdom in Engaging Culture

 

Are you a dolphin or a jellyfish?

Even the most casual observation of our culture today reveals lies repeated until the majority accepts them as truth. Right and wrong have become relevant terms dependent on individual preferences.

We hear statements such as:

• It’s not a baby, it’s just a blob of cells.
• My sexual identity is determined by how I feel.
• The Bible is an irrelevant book, believed only by uneducated people.

How do we use biblical wisdom to respond to a hostile culture? We can be jellyfish or we can be dolphins.

Theologian and pastor John Piper has said, “We swim in the cultural oceans of this planet…So if you’re going to swim in the cultural oceans & be a Christian, be a dolphin, not a jellyfish, because a [Christian] jellyfish goes with the flow and dolphins cut through tidal currents & swim toward the truth & swim toward holiness in spite of cultural tides.”

 

Approaching the culture:

 

1. Argue with the culture to prove them wrong.

Many of us know Christians who wield their Bibles like shotguns. They jump into attack mode the moment they identify sin in the culture.

It seems biblical. After all, didn’t John the Baptist & Jesus both call the leaders of their day a “brood of vipers”? Didn’t Paul list the Sword of the Spirit—God’s Word—as part of the Armor of God? And the writer of Hebrews (4:12) referred to God’s Word as “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.”

But John the Baptist and Jesus were not addressing pagan unbelievers, they were addressing religious people who claimed to believe. Jesus was compassionate with the “sinners” He encountered. And Paul preceded his reference to the sword of the spirit by saying our struggle is really a spiritual one, not physical (Eph. 6:12 NIV). He was talking about taking a stand against our spiritual enemy.

Beating people over the head with a ten-pound hardcover study Bible will send them running for the nearest exit. We may win the battle, but lose the soul: a hollow victory at best.

 

2. Ignore the culture since it doesn’t believe what we believe.

Sometimes we need to walk away; to refuse to be drawn into battle for the sake of argument. Still, walking away from an argument is not the same as walking away from the culture. Jesus said we’re to be salt & light to influence the world, not hide from it.

 

3. Compromise with the culture to stay relevant.

There are times, as leaders, when we must take a stand for truth, even if it’s unpopular. A few years ago in a radio interview, a famous pastor was asked if Jews, Muslims, or others who don’t accept Christ, go to heaven. He said he didn’t know.

But before we point fingers at that pastor, in these types of situations it’s tempting for all of us to become jellyfish. Many of us have been in situations where, after the fact, we wished we had spoken up.

 

Or we can be dolphins:

4. Engage the culture with an alternative that identifies and meets their needs.

In Daniel 1:8, Daniel asked to be allowed not to defile himself with the king’s food, or wine. He did not go on a hunger strike or start a revolution. Instead he was salt and light in his culture by asking for a ten-day test with the food he requested. And he was willing to accept the results & consequences of his choice.

First Peter 3:15 tells us “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that’s in you; yet do it with gentleness & respect.” Sounds a lot like what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:15: “speak the truth in love.”

 

We can argue with the culture, citing umpteen Bible verses. We can ignore it, abdicating our role as salt and light. We can compromise with the culture. Or we can engage our culture, speaking the truth in love through the lens of Scripture.

But we can’t apply biblical principles in our culture if we don’t know what the Bible says. Without that knowledge, we are adrift in a spiritually hostile culture: Christian jellyfish who don’t know any better. Choose a better option. Be a dolphin!