Romans Chapter 12 cont'd
Don't let the value system of fallen humanity [lit. "the world"] mold or dictate your life or lifestyle. Rather, cooperate with God's agenda to transform you through the spiritual renewal of your thinking, so that you may be able to discern the will of God which is truly good, always acceptable and entirely perfect.
Comments:
I believe, in that we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus...the Prince of Life..., we are to model his example of detachment/engagement with the broken and sin-laden cultures around us without becoming entangled by the evil one and his ancient evil ways. We can all plainly see that Satan is having his way in this world quite significantly. Jesus came, as a human being, to face this enemy...of all that is whole and right and good...head on. In his incarnation, Jesus left the perfection of highest heaven and willingly entered this fallen age that is so full of lust, pride and greed...and unbelief. He came because of love...and to bring full renewal to his Father's good (yes, his very good original creation)...to swallow it up into the New Creation that his coming inaugurated and brought to birth. All of the sin, guilt, fear, shame, hatred, injustice, racism, tragedy, brokenness, relational breakdown, despair, sickness, doubt, hardness, disappointment of this old creation are..."digestible"...in the iron stomach of the Risen Lord of the New Creation. In his resurrection, he overcame death itself...a foretaste of the final eschatological meal yet to come!
Jesus certainly wasn't into sin, but neither was he intimidated by sin. He wasn't afraid of being spiritually "polluted" by befriending and touching folks. He saw beyond the sins and weaknesses of ordinary people and loved them where and as he found them. He saw what they might become by putting their faith in him. Besides...there are no sinless people for us to love in this world! He came to rescue us all from the death that was already present and at work in our hearts. He gave us all sorts of reasons to trust in him and love him back. He was free in his spirit to be vulnerable with, make friends with, build bridges toward, show compassion and respect to, make promises to, forgive, touch and be touched by, heal, serve, affirm the good within and have parties with the people all about him...even, and maybe especially, the people of other cultures than his own. He blessed all sorts of people that the religious establishment of his day considered "unblessable" by God. This radical attitude also gave him the spiritual and moral authority to expose and stand up to the evil spirits and arrogant bullies (especially the religious ones) that were drunk on their power over people.
So also we are free in Christ to now live "incarnationally" and engage the cultures of our world in the same attitude and by the agency of the same Holy Spirit...who is also working through us. Those who have been born again can "see the kingdom of God" that is all around us and witness to it seeping and, sometimes suddenly breaking, into the imperfect cultures of our world. Though our conscious goal is not to be been "seen" as culturally relevant, we likewise must not be seen putting culturally ignorant and/or insensitive communication barriers in the way of people that automatically hinder their ability to hear and connect with the good and great news of our Lord Jesus. Rather, we should do all that we can to break down those communication barriers (obviously, without compromising the trans-cultural and eternal values and essentials of God's kingdom) so that the message can more effectively find its way into people's hearts. If people are to stumble, let it be over..."Jesus Christ and him crucified"...not our uptight, self-righteous, fear-based, religious and spiritually non-essential cultural preferences.
We must land on the things that made Jesus so winsome, compelling, appealing and attractive to ordinary folks and seek to walk as he did in relating to them. May the Holy Spirit grant us a grand measure of the "magnetic personality" of Jesus as we live in his light today and for all our days in this world.
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