Do you reflect the culture of Christ?
Our world is filled with many diverse cultures that are hugely different. Whether it’s American culture vs. European culture, Chinese culture vs. Indian culture, or economically the rich vs the poor, the educated vs. the uneducated, or even southern culture vs. northern culture. Cultures can be as different as night vs. day. A critical key to our success with sharing the Gospel is how well we interact with various cultures.
Culture is often defined as follows: the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an organization. What culture do you reflect?
Apostle Paul was referring to diverse cultures when he wrote the following: “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:14-16). Paul was saying ‘I am obligated to people in my culture and to every other culture… obligated to share the Gospel to all peoples.’ The Gospel is universal, multicultural, is the same message for everyone, and it works to save everyone who believes!
There is a culture superior to all other cultures, a culture that transcends all other cultures, and it is the culture of Christ. The culture of Christ can and will flourish in any nation, any environment, any government, any economy, any educational class of people. The culture of Christ always works, is always effective, and unites people rather than dividing them. It is the power of Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the character of Jesus Christ. It is universal.
In short summary, the culture of Christ is reflected in four ways: first, it is a culture of prayer; second, a culture of soul-winning; third, a culture of worship; and finally, a culture of giving. The early church followed the example set by Jesus Christ and this culture transcended every other culture they encountered and was always effective.
The Book of Acts is proof positive of the astounding results of the culture of Christ. From city to city, nation to nation, people to people, language to language, the culture of Christ turned the world upside down. Thousands of people were converted because of the culture of Christ, and continue to be converted today! On the Day of Pentecost at least 17 different nations or culture groups are mentioned, and the culture of Christ cut across every color line, language barrier, and cultural difference! The culture of Christ was (and still is) extremely effective in reaching every culture group.
The great challenge of the church today is that we daily demonstrate and reflect the culture of Christ. Do our lives reflect prayer, soul-winning, worship and giving? If not, we must allow the culture of Christ be seen is us. The only way we can reach every culture is to adopt the culture of Christ. It alone will cut through cultural and language barriers in our multicultural world. We will experience Book of Acts results when we reflect the culture of Christ as the early church so powerfully demonstrated.
