It’s
interesting to me how God uses all the different things in our lives by showing
us how they all fit together. A couple
weeks ago I finished reading the book Counter Culture by David Platt (an
excellent must-read for all serious Christians), and yesterday I finished
reading the book of Joshua from the
Old Testament (which I’ve read many times before). Last week I watched on television the second debate between Republican
candidates for President of the United States.
You might be surprised how these three different things relate to each
other.
When
the book of Joshua begins, Moses has died and the Israelites are about to enter
the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. God tells Joshua numerous times to be strong and courageous and reminds
Joshua that “the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Joshua, in turn, tells the people in chapter
3, verse 5, to sanctify/consecrate
themselves because the Lord will be doing amazing things among them. After several chapters related to the
settling of the Promised Land, it is Joshua’s turn to die at the end of the
book with his name. He calls all of the
Israelites together and tells them to be strong and to “choose for yourselves this day
whom you will serve” – the gods of their forefathers and the people in
the land, or the one true God. When the
people agree to serve the one true God, Joshua tells them that they were now
witnesses against themselves if they ever became untrue to God (Joshua 24).
The
Israelites were called by God to be
different than the people that lived around them – to serve a different God
and to separate themselves from the
practices of their neighbors. Christians
today are no different. Jesus’ teachings
and the writings of the apostle Paul make it clear that we are also called to
be different than the culture around us – to be counter-cultural:
“Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans
12:2
According
to David Platt, this involves actively taking a stand on issues like poverty, sex trafficking, marriage,
abortion, racism, and religious
liberty – which are the cultural and social issues of the 21st
century that we live in. Just as the
Israelites had to face different definitions of right and wrong when dealing
with their neighbors, we have to recognize that our culture has shifted to a
point where right and wrong are no
longer measured by universal truth but by popular opinion. The Israelites were called to approach life
differently than their neighbors; and, as Christians, we are also called to
stay true to God’s character and allow the gospel to inform our responses to
cultural and social issues – no matter how costly
or uncomfortable this is for
us. Indeed, the further our culture
drifts from God’s standards for living, the more difficult it will be for us to
answer God’s call to be separate and counter
the culture around us.
I
have never been a political person. I
have tried to vote responsibly over the years, but I have found that harder and
harder to do recently. The older I get,
the more I recognize how difficult it is to find a candidate to vote for who
truly stands for the truth of God’s Word
and is willing to bear the consequences of being counter-cultural.
Unfortunately, the same could be said of many Christian citizens in our
country as well. Intolerance for evil
and being different from others not only doesn’t sell politically, it also isn’t popular personally.
But
tolerance of anything that counters God’s Word is dangerous today just as it was for the Israelites. The Israelites did not destroy the evil in
their culture, and pretty soon they were not only tolerant but active participants (see the book of
Judges). The same danger awaits us in
the present day; and our silence and failure to counter our culture will result
(and already has in many areas) in the blurring
of truth and our participation
in the very evils we tolerate. And Romans 12:2 seems to make it clear that
it is not possible for us to know God’s will without first allowing a
transformed and renewed mind to keep us from conforming to the pattern of this
world. As with the Israelites, we must
first choose to follow God completely
– regardless of how this affects our comfort.
As
we in America face another presidential political season, this is what I am
choosing to focus on: “Choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my household,
we will serve the Lord” (Joshua
24:15) – no matter how hard that gets in the days ahead. And I’m praying for many more Christians to
continually make the difficult choice to stand
firm in being counter-cultural – regardless of comfort or cost.
