Dear Tabernacle Family,
Our Culture of Honor All-Church Study is underway and we are each benefiting from our individual and corporate study of Danny Silk’s insightful book. Last Sunday I had the joy of sharing with you about how the Church, as an Apostolic Center, is called to shape the culture in which we live. I spoke about four different types of churches.
First, the Church that is opposed to culture. This church violently condemns, by pointing the accusing finger at those outside its walls. There is a constant rebuking and shaming of those who, because they have yet come to Christ, promote unscriptural positions. This Church is culturally intolerant.
The next type of church is one that is separate from the culture. This is the congregation that gathers in a holy-huddle each Lord’s Day, seeking to run from or ignore the world around them. As a result of insulating and isolating themselves from the world, they become culturally irrelevant.
The third type of church is one that is integrated into the culture. This is a people who openly conform to the world, warmly embracing anything and everything the culture brings forward. This congregation is culturally acceptant to a fault, even if it means compromising Biblical values.
The final type of church, and one that I pray we are becoming, is a church that is trans-culture. That is, above and beyond culture. By this I mean, we become a people who positively counter the ways of the world, redeeming the culture around us by our winsome love and victorious spirit. In this way, we stand outside the culture being shaped by the world, and as salt and light, we have the joy of bringing heaven to earth, and thereby, being culturally dominant.
Beloved, let’s determine to give ourselves fully to Jesus in this hour, opening ourselves to His love for us and for the world around us. Let’s do more than simply rebuke the culture, let’s seek to redeem the culture, bringing the Good News of Jesus to everyone, everywhere.
With Kingdom joy,
Pastor Jim