How To Relate To Culture?

I resonate greatly with these thoughts.

Mark Lauterbach:

Here’s a newsflash: We live in the world. We live in a secular society where God is ignored, immorality is encouraged, greed is rampant, and the media is corrupt. But we cannot escape. Here is where we work and play, marry and raise children, attend school and learn.

In light of this, there’s a big question many Christians are asking today: How should a Christian relate to their culture?

Should we insulate ourselves in Christian ghettos? Or are we to study the culture–stay in touch with the best of TV and cinema, keep up with the bestsellers, and know some of the new music?

Personally, I am not sure I know exactly how to answer all these questions or where to draw all the lines I know we should ask these questions, carefully and biblically. And I know we will all answer them, in good conscience, in different ways.

But I want to suggest that this question–“How should a Christian relate to culture?”–may be the wrong question. This may be the wrong place for us, as Christians in the middle of culture, to start. Here’s why: I am not sure how I am to relate to the culture, but I am sure I am to relate to people outside of Christ for the sake of their salvation.
Before we ask how we as Christians should relate to our culture we must ask how and why Christ came into culture. Christ and his mission should define the questions we ask about culture.

When we talk about relating to those outside of Christ, here’s where I think we should begin start: Jesus came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. He came not be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners and called a friend of sinners. He invited the twelve to follow him and he would make them fishers of men.

I may not know every detail of how to relate to culture, but I know this – Jesus sent me into the world on the same mission as his. He has called me to be a fisher of men. He wants me to be a friend of sinners. So this is not about movies and books and music. It is about people. This is daily life.