“Religion & Culture” - printable PDF

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Scripture on “Religion and Culture” 

 

Day 1 - John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

Today’s passage has become so familiar that many times we cannot hear what it is actually saying, “for God so loved the world” does not mean the Christian world, it means the entire world. It’s the Muslim world, the Communist world, the atheist world, all of humanity. He is not willing that any of them should perish. We cannot claim to have God’s heart until we are touched by His pain and committed to His call to the entire world. It is so easy to slip into “us” and “them” thinking, but there is no “them” in God’s perspective, there is only all of “us”. In the same way that we could not imagine disowning one of our children even if they had failed our expectations, or even out and out rejected our family and all of our values. We might be disappointed, wounded, and angry, but we could not stop loving them. To have God’s heart this is how we must feel about “the world”.

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Day 2 -Gen 12: 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

As we look today at the blessing God spoke to Abraham we see that it was not only a blessing for his household, or even for an entire nation that would be born to him, it was a blessing to every nation that would ever be, to all people. The same call is on every person who claims to have the heart of Christ. We are called to be a blessing to all people on the earth. Jesus’ example to us is that the most unlovable, broken, sinful, scorned, and rejected person is still precious to Him. The religious world in His day rejected Him because of His identification with this type of person, and we have to be on guard that we do not follow their example, but that we follow the example of Christ’s love. If we’ve chosen to follow Christ we are called not just to be “blessed” but also to “be a blessing to all people”.

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Day 3 -Gal 3: 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

In Paul’s powerful statement of Galatians 3:28 we see there is “no difference” no matter what the distinction humanity puts on individuals, we are all one in Christ. This means the promise that was given to Abraham in our passage yesterday becomes a promise directly to us. As we stated yesterday it is a blessing so that we can bless others and this passage clearly shows that “others” is every person on the earth. He calls us to examine our hearts because only a person who is truly transformed by the power of God can see all people as God sees them. It is our natural process as fallen human beings to accentuate our differences and add value based on human standards. Continue to pray for God to work this miracle into each one of us, that we would see the oneness that God sees when he looks at the world.

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Day 4 -1Co 9: 19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.  23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

 

In today’s passage Paul gives a personal statement of his commitment to walk out the call of Christ to meet every person where they are, and earn the right to speak to them the life-changing message that God delights to bring to all of his creation. He makes it clear that we will have to take on limitations to our freedom from time to time in order to reach those whose convictions call them to a strict code of conduct. At other times we must stretch ourselves beyond our own comfort zone to engage people who are far from Christ. Both require selflessness on our part and a passion to earn the right to share the Gospel with those God so dearly loves. When Paul says, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some”, we see a striving to reach what ever is necessary to meet people where they are, but not become what they are. We don’t become sinful to reach a person caught in sin, but we must go to where they are and engage them there.

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Day 5 -Joh 4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

 

The story of the Samaritan woman highlights all we have spoken about this week. Jesus being a Jew engages conversation with a woman that no other Jew would even speak to. He treats her as a woman of respect and value even though she sees neither of these traits in herself. And when he discloses that he is aware of every sin she has committed, the power of His respect and value for her radically transforms her life. This is the call God has placed on our life as well. All that we have discussed this week is to allow us to see we have this life- transforming power through the message that Christ has given us if we present it with His eyes, His heart, His words, and His spirit. We are called by him to be world-changers one person at a time.