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Postmodern Evangelicals call it "the culture." Scripture calls it "the world" - and warns us that to embrace it is spiritual adultery.
The promoters of counterfeit worship tell us that bringing un-Biblical innovations into the church is necessary, because the church must "engage the culture." Another theory frequently heard is that the church must "exegete the culture" in order to become relevant to it.
However, Scripture plainly declares a singular truth that is suppressed and denied in large segments of postmodern Evangelicalism: Christianity, and Christian worship, are not a function of the culture, and indeed cannot be.
"The culture" is simply a postmodern euphemism for what Scripture calls "the world" - in the Greek of the New Testament, the kosmos - the system of thinking and behavior of unregenerate humanity under the sway of Satan, alienated from God and therefore not merely indifferent but openly hostile to Christ and His Word.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. (1 John 5:19)
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 1:3-5)
Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (1 John 3:1)
Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. (1 John 3:13)
Christianity in Relation to "The Culture"
The world's cultures are unstable, constantly changing according to the sinful will of unregenerate man. In complete contrast to this, God is absolutely unchanging (Numbers 23:19, Malachi 3:6, Romans 11:29, James 1:17). He is above and outside the world's doomed, debased cultures. He is not redeeming a people for Himself who are called to exegete present cultures and bring them into the church, as many of today's so-called missions experts claim is necessary. On the contrary, God is redeeming a people whose commission is to exegete His Word of truth to people who are immersed in cultures that are universally dying, so that they might be saved for the world to come.
We are not to bring those doomed cultures into the church. We are to worship God and be built up in His truth as citizens of the world to come. Our worship - in fact, every area of our lives - must reflect these Biblical facts. As Paul wrote to the Philippian church:
Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame - who set their mind on earthly things.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. (Philippians 3:17-4:1)
And to the church at Colosse he wrote thus of the non-cultural nature of Christianity:
[You] have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3:10-11)
The Alien Nature of the Church
The counterfeit, syncretistic worship of many nominal Evangelicals demonstrates that they do not understand this essential nature of Christianity: It is above and apart from the cursed cultures of this present world. The Biblical Gospel declares that God has broken into Satan's domain, the world's sinful cultures, and by the incarnation, death and resurrection of His Son and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit He is redeeming a people for Himself from every tribe, nation, tongue, and earthly culture, to be citizens of the world to come.
Scripture declares that when an individual becomes a Christian, he immediately becomes an alien in this present world. The church as the body of believers is thus also an alien entity within this present world. We are pilgrims and strangers in this kosmos and its cultures.
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed.
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul (1 Peter 2:4-11).
The book of Hebrews, in chapter eleven's great roll-call of faith and in the chapters that follow, is filled with statements concerning the true nature of the people of God:
By faith [Abraham] dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:9-10)
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. (Hebrews 13:14-15)
Christianity: The Culture of the World to Come
Can Christianity have an impact on the world's cultures? Clearly, the answer is yes. But that is a result of Christians and the church fulfilling their Christ-given mission to evangelize the world and edify the saints, not the church's mission itself. Christians did not set out to bring down the Roman Empire - on the contrary, they were commanded to obey their rulers as far as it did not mean denying Christ - but the Empire did indeed decay and fall as the church did its God-given work, a work that no other entity on earth can do.
Christianity is the culture of the world to come. Christian worship is the worship that is characteristic of the world to come.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10-13)
But there shall by no means enter it [the New Jerusalem] anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. (Revelation 21:27)
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Hebrews 13:12-16)
A Sanctuary From the World
The true church - the gathering of the true saints of God for the true worship of God - is to be a sanctuary from all that is in this world. We must never, ever allow the influences of the world and its false wisdom to gain a foothold in the church. Not in any area of doctrine. Not in any area of our practice. When we come together to worship our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we must come apart from the world, not bring the world's influences and trappings in with us.
Some time ago, I had a frank conversation with a pastor who had decided to bring the influences of the world into the worship of the church, and had brought staff members on board to help implement that agenda. The abandonment of Biblical worship began in the youth ministries of the church, but it soon invaded the main services as well.
This pastor was spending much of his time trying to put down the arguments of members of his congregation who were alarmed by the changes. Some of them had asked me to try to intercede with him, because we had had a respectful relationship, I had filled his pulpit a number of times, and I had long known many people in the congregation. When we spoke, this pastor insisted that the issue in controversy was simply a matter of "personal preference." He asserted that those who sought to preserve Biblical worship were merely holding onto the traditions they preferred, but that the preferences of others were just as valid.
I responded by stating to this pastor the Biblical principles which we have once again articulated in this article series, seeking to establish agreement on a foundation from which to proceed. To my great surprise he said that he could not fully accept some of those principles, and he returned to the "personal preference" theme. I endeavored to point out that the approach he was taking was in fact a surrender to "personal preference" - the preferences of those who were less mature in the faith, or perhaps were not believers at all.
I pointed out to him that some people who seek to preserve Biblical worship in their church may express themselves poorly. I have seen this often. They are not theologians, but often they are the people who have given of their lives and substance over many years to build up the local church as "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). They may talk about music and styles when in fact their true concerns are theological and doctrinal - as they should be - but they may have a more difficult time expressing their distress in those terms. Their concerns are spiritual, and they are rooted in the fact that they have a more mature understanding of the principles at stake in Biblical worship. Not a perfect understanding, to be sure - we all have much to learn - but certainly a more mature understanding. They understand the imperative of keeping the influences of the world out of the church.
The issue is not personal preference, but obedience to God's commands. On a number of occasions I have had the opportunity to articulate these principles in a sermon, seminar, or Bible study, and those who have perhaps had difficulty putting their concerns in such terms often have a marked change of countenance that seems to say, "That's what I've been trying to get across!" and they take copious notes.
On the other hand, I pointed out to this pastor, there are those in a congregation - and their numbers can be significant - who do not have that understanding. They have a less mature understanding of Biblical worship, and perhaps of many other aspects of Biblical truth. They are younger in the faith - and that is not a matter of age by the calendar, but of knowledge of the Word. They are not yet properly prepared to make Biblically-informed choices in the matter of worship. They will often mistakenly view Christian worship as a function of the culture, rather than understanding that we are not to bring doomed cultures into the church, but to worship God and be built up in His truth as citizens of the world to come.
The challenge for the pastor and staff is not to descend to the level of the less spiritually mature, but to instruct them in a way that will lift them to greater maturity in Christ. This, of course, requires spiritual maturity on the part of those who do the instructing.
Dear friend, how is your worship? How is the worship of your church? Is your church following the world's lies, or is it following God's truth? Every believer, every church, and every church leader, must answer that question honestly before God. We must answer according to the only standard that God has given us for doctrine and for life - His inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word.
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