Christ and Culture

June 27, 2008 in Worth's Sermons by WNG

A first century Christian by the name of Diognetus was thinking of this when he wrote:

Every country is their Fatherland,
but every Fatherland is a foreign country.

Christians are “in the world”—-”every country is our fatherland.” But Christian are not, “of the world”—and “every fatherland is a foreign country,” for, as St. Paul has written, “Our commonwealth is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:20)

Christians around the world pay tribute to the America flag, or the Canadian, or the French, or to one of hundreds of other flags, but, as Christians, we have a higher loyalty—–the banner of Christ!

How then will we live? There are at least three answers to that question.

Romans 13

One of my favorite movies is Sgt. York, starring Gary Cooper. It is about a young man from Tennessee who is drafted into the US Army during the 1st World War. He is an immediate hit with his superiors, for, being a “Hillbilly,” he can shoot the eyes out of a gnat at 500 yards.

Because of his prowess with a rifle he is quickly promoted to NCO, and told that he will soon be leading troops in battle. Because he is a very religious man, York struggles with the moral issue of killing human beings, and openly doubts his fitness for continued service in the army.

Many of the officers and men who serve with York begin to think him a coward. But his captain is impressed with York’s character. He tells him that, in the present conflict, men of character are needed to oppose an enemy that threatens the freedom of all humankind.

Then the captain gives York the opportunity to go home on leave in order that he might decided whether he will fight or become a conscientious objector.

Returning to his home in the mountains of Tennessee, York struggles with his choice. He talks with his mother, his sweetheart, and his preacher. He examines both sides of the issue, but he can reach no conclusion. Then, one day he picks up his Bible and climbs a high mountain to think and pray. A storm comes up. The camera pans in as the wind ripples through the pages of the Bible, turning them as if by an invisible hand. Suddenly York puts out his hand, stopping the turning pages and marking a place. Immediately his eyes fix upon a verse from the 12th chapter of Mark’s gospel. There Jesus says:

Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and unto God the things that belong to God.

And you know the rest of the story. Sgt. Alvin York, determined to “render unto Caesar” goes back to the Army and tells his captain he will fight. He is sent to France. Then, at the battle of the Argonne Forest in the fall of 1918, York kills 25 Germans, knocks out 35 machine guns, and captures 132 prisoners almost single-handed. For his exploits he received the highest decorations the Allies could give, including our own Medal of Honor.

When he is asked, “You do not believe in killing. Why did you do it?”

He responds, “I killed in order to save life.”

Now I cannot tell you that Sgt. Alvin York did the one right thing. Under similar circumstances, each of us must decide that for him or herself. I can tell you that, sooner or later, the question of how one will relate to the culture in which he or she lives comes to all Christians. This question grows out of the basic Christian dilemma: “We are in the world, but not of the world.”

A first century Christian by the name of Diognetus was thinking of this when he wrote:

Every country is their fatherland,
but every father land is a foreign country.

How then will we live? There are at least three answers to that question.

Some say that we Christians ought always to embrace and further the culture in which we live. Their scriptural warrant is the one that Sgt. Alvin York used to make his decision to fight in the 1st World War, Mark 12:17: “Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar…” They would also call our attention to Romans 13. There St. Paul wrote, “Be subject to the governing authorities…..because those that exist have been instituted by God…..they are not a terror to good conduct but to bad.”

It is true that some governments—which make up a large part of our culture, further the cause of Christ. It was true the earliest days of the church when St. Paul used the Roman peace, and Roman roads, and, above all, his Roman citizenship to carry the gospel through much of the known world.

It was true, too, for those pilgrims who came to America in search of religious freedom. The New World, uncluttered by kings, and popes, and devoid of a state religion, gave people room enough to stretch their religious muscles. Catholics, Anglicans, Baptist and Deist were free to follow conscience and to practice the religion of their choice.

But sometimes it is impossible to merely serve Caesar, because Caesar is sometimes a tyrant. I have often wondered if Paul would have liked to call back the words of that Romans 13 passage on the day that a Roman guard came to take him from his prison cell to the place of his execution. On that day, the Roman government was not “a terror to bad conduct” but a terror to good conduct!

Our own Declaration of Independence declares that human beings are endowed with certain unalienable rights—the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It goes on to say that, when a government denies these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it!

Or, take the case of Dietrich Bonhoeffer the German Christian. Before the start of the 2nd World War he said it was better for a Christian to die, or to watch a brother die, than to take up arms. But, after living under years of the Nazi terror, Bonhoeffer took up arms in the plot against Hitler. When it failed, he lost his life.

That leads to a second choice. Some have concluded that we Christians ought always to stand in opposition to the culture in which we find ourselves. There scriptural warrant is 2nd Corinthians 6:17, “… come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord!”

If the culture in which one lives is bad enough—-this would certainly be true. I can’t imagine a Christian accepting the culture of Nazi Germany, or Stalinist Russia. And, for that matter, it astounds me how Christian men like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson could have fought for the right of the South to keep a 1/3 of her citizens in chains.

My great-great-grandfather, Thomas Green, enlisted in the 53rd NC regiment at the age of 44. Less than six months later, he was taken prisoner at Winchester, Virginia. He died of dysentery in a Union prison camp located in Columbus, Ohio. At Winchester, the 53rd broke and ran. I like to believe that my great-great-grandfather was captured because he did not break and run. I am proud of him. But not nearly so proud as I am of my wife’s great-great-grandfather McNeil who, though from the same state and the same county as my great-great-grandfather, fought as a General in the Union Army!

Some governments and some cultures ought to be opposed. This opposition is not always to war.

For instance, not only are Amish determined to avoid “taking up arms,” and to practice, “turning the other cheek,” they also reject the technological improvements of our culture. They refuse to have electricity in their houses, or to operate automobiles. Other Christians feel called upon to avoid attending the movies, and many refuse to have a television in their homes.

This is not for me. I would find it almost as hard to give up my automobile, my television, and my computer as to fight for the Confederacy! But I like to believe that if Christ called upon me to give up my car, or my television, or other modern conveniences, I would be willing to do so. As they hymn says:

New occasions teach new duties,
time makes ancient good uncouth,
we must onward still and upward,
who would keep abreast of truth!

III

That leads me to a third answer to the question of how we Christians must respond to the culture in which we live—-the idea that Christians can transform the culture in which they live. This position is rooted in 2nd Corinthians 5:17. There we read, “If anyone is in Christ s/he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold the new has come.” If Christ can change individuals, they say, then Christ can change a culture made up of individuals.

Consider the case of the individual and the corporation. I recently had occasion to discuss this relationship with Judge Bill Wood of the North Carolina Superior Court. Bill said that a corporation is “…an artificial person formed under law to protect the actual persons who make up the corporation from certain liabilities…”

Now this can be problematic. It has been widely held since the inception of the corporation that corporations have no conscience. They act purely from the motive of profit. And, as Christians, we know that Jesus warned his very first disciples that one cannot serve “.. both God and Mammon.”

Writing in the last century, Henry David Thoreau spoke to this problem. In his book, On Civil Disobedience, he said—and this is a quote from memory, “…it has been said that a corporation has no conscience, but the individuals who make up a corporation do, and they are responsible before God and man to act according to it.”

How then should we live as Christian individuals with the “mind” or conscience of Christ that has been given to us by the Holy Spirit?

We must do three things. We must: 1) Speak Out, 2) Act Out, and 3) Strike Out.

1. First, we must speak out. In a land of free speech this does make a difference. We cannot ignore injustice. If we are not a part of the solution, we are a part of the problem. The prophetic pen—and the prophetic voice is mightier than the sword. I like the poem which goes:

One man awake can waken another,
Two men awake can waken a brother,
Three man awake can cause such a fuss,
They finally awaken the rest of us!

2. Secondly, we must act out. We must live decently. The Declaration of Independence declares a Biblical truth when it says that “…all men (and women) are created equal.”

Jesus said that we ought to “love our neighbor as our selves.” When I was in the Marines we used to put it like this: You must realize that my life means as much to me as your life means to you. And I must realize that your life means as much to you as my life means to me. This is as true in the case of the weakest individual, living under the poorest conditions, at the margins of life, as it is of presidents and kings.

We must begin by acting decently toward one another.

3. Third, we must strike out. In some countries, this may mean “passive resistance.” Gandhi’s work in the cause of India’s freedom is a good example. In other countries this may mean “taking up the sword.” Bonhoeffer’s example serves well to make this point. Thankfully, in the United States, which I believe to be the greatest nation in the history of the world, it often means simply taking the time to vote.

Even when it comes to the vote, individuals can and do make a difference. Joe Jarvis recently faxed me this interesting report about the power of one vote.

In 1868 one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.
In 1875 one vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.
In 1876 one vote gave Rutherford B. Hayes the Presidency of the United States.
In 1923 one vote gave Adolph Hitler the leadership of the Nazi Party—and, in that party, the vote was never again a real factor.
In 1941 one vote saved the Selective Service System just weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

You see, a vote can make a difference.

On this 4th of July, let us give thanks that American Christians have the duty of those who belong to God and the right of the democratically governed to assist in the “transformation” of the culture in which we life. It is a duty that we can never discard, a right that we must never take for granted.

Finis