Micah's Musings: The Issue of "Church Culture"

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”― Brennan ManningI read this quote today, and suddenly, a lot of pent-up ideas and emotions I had about church culture all made sense. They were explained in this simple, truth-filled quote.In a world where churches strive to be “hip” with trendy clothes, catchy worship songs, and extravagant coffee bars; a world where youth groups try to reach kids through appearing like the world on the outside only to later reveal to them that they’ve signed up for something else; a culture where Christians emulate secular society without a second glance, is it any wonder that non-believers are turned off by the church? After all, on the outside, is there any difference?The sad thing is that the church has become a sort of “second-rate secular culture.” Rather than being set apart, it has mimicked society in a vast array of ways: clothing, music, media…the list continues. Church culture parallels society and pushes the boundaries of being "Christian enough," when society should want to emulate Christianity because of the love, truth, and grace they see believers experience in Jesus Christ. As a church, we need to be free of the desire to be seen as accepted by society in spite of our Christianity, rather than to be accepted because of it by our father in heaven.Instead of pushing the envelope of whether a movie is “Christian enough” to be acceptable, whether music “is not too bad to get away with,” Christians should be doing the thing that their title suggests: imitating Christ, However, this seems, to many members of the modern church, an acceptable (notable, even) way to carry through life: attend Sunday service, avoid any activities or media that may be frowned upon, and try to do enough good deeds to maintain the title “good Christian.”Sadly, this is so drastically different than the church Jesus spoke about, the church he calls us to be. We often hear and quote John 15:19 (“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are not longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you”). While we know that we are called to be set apart from the world, and we are clearly told that the world will hate us for the pursuit of truth, we have somehow drawn the conclusion that we can have both Jesus and the world. We can’t. Why do we let our identity become entangled with culture and its expectations when we as believers know where it truly lies?If we are truly following the call of Jesus on our lives, the truth is that we cannot, and will not, be accepted by the world. We have to lose the ideas of “status,” “wealth,” and “popularity” in order to take on the higher calling laid out in 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are not like that [the lost], for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” If we try to emulate the darkness, how can we show the lost the goodness of our God and the light that we have found?How do we live free of the need to conform to society and its norms? It’s simple, really. Often the hardest things to live are the simplest to understand. The Lord knew we would wrestle with this question. In 1 Peter, verse 21, believers are encouraged with this exhortation: “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.” The Christian life was never promised as a life free of suffering and hardship. Rather, we are guaranteed to face it.Jesus is the reward of our suffering, and it is only through him that we may set our minds on things above, rather than attaining earthly glory and comfort.I write these words not as someone who claims to be free of these societal constraints, but as a fellow believer who wants to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ that there is freedom in Jesus, and that in spite of trials, the pursuit of Jesus is always worth it. So, press on in seeking his face (Psalm 27:8) and let Jesus be your standard rather than society. Allow the world to see your light shine as a testimony to who you have become through grace. Don’t mask the truth and joy in your life, but instead use your sphere of influence to affect people for the kingdom of Jesus, not your own name.After all, if the “Christian culture life” encourages us to be as much like the world as possible and still remain under the umbrella of acceptable Christian behavior; if we are encouraged to have only a small amount of Christ in our Christianity so as not to be persecuted; if we are not willing to suffer for what we believe, then is it truly worth living for?