Contextualizing our Faith

Contextualization is not — as is often argued — “giving people what they want to hear.”4 Rather, it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular time and place are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them.

Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (p. 89). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Principles of Faith

Contextualization: Paul gives us a great example of how to do it here:

A Christian living in a hostile world

Understands his culture

doesn’t become a part of it - tolerance and pluralism

Pluralism

“pluralism is a faith that exists as a people are on their way from one orthodoxy to another. We are moving from a Christian West to something else, pluralism serves as the necessary faith bridge, if you will, to get us there.” - Milton, Cooperation without Compromise, p. 7

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Contrary to

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Tolerance

Not in the sense that the world uses the term

everyone’s truth is valid and should be valued as truth

Thus a true understanding of the gospel itself ought to enable Christians to be firm in their allegiance to Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, and also to be ready to enter into a genuinely listening dialogue with those who do not give this allegiance but from whom they know that they have to be ready to learn.

Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (p. 139). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

This is the foundation on which a true tolerance, not indifference to the truth, can be founded.

Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (p. 139). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

doesn’t avoid it - monasticism

Monks of the early church

Paul however, sought to understand the culture in which he lived

Acts 21:17–20 ESV

When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law,

Acts 21:17–21 ESV

He saw what God had done through him with the Gentiles

He saw his work as glorifying to God, even amidst adversity and potential death

He knew there were believers spread out in the culture

He knew their zeal and understood their theology

App: If we are going to regain our culture and influence, as individuals and a church, we must first understand the culture we live.

Not, becoming a part of it, nor running from it. We will live in it and allow God to be glorified through living as a Christian in it.

Speaking the truth in a world that is devoid of it.

When we contextualize faithfully and skillfully, we show people how the baseline “cultural narratives” of their society and the hopes of their hearts can only find resolution and fulfillment in Jesus.

Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (p. 90). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

A Christian living in a hostile world

Serves his culture

Often takes the form of what we do as the hands and feet to care for others

This is only one aspect

The other can be a more full orbed understanding of service

Acts 21:19 ESV

After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

Paul served - Ministry

διακονία - Service; ministry; table service

used mostly to denote service or ministry

rarely used to denote relief, distribution

What does it mean to serve?

The church is to demonstrate a new lifestyle before the world, one that breaks the cycle of anger, reaction, and revenge that characterizes the world’s practices. The core of this lifestyle is to be Christian service. Christians are to serve both fellow believers and unbelievers, even when they are hostile and mistreat us (12:14–21).

Gelder, Craig Van. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit (p. 152). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

He goes on to discus Corporate responsibility & Witness

Serving is the motivation that we see in Paul as he serves Jesus Christ

Illus: It is why Paul did not argue his innocence.

It is why Paul

Acts 21:20–21 ESV

And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

Acts 21:

Paul was being falsely accused of being anti-law

We as Christians will often be falsely accused. So, how should we respond?

Paul, like Christ, let God respond. We faithfully serve and let God do the witnessing through us.

Jesus:

Matthew 12:14–21 ESV

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

App: Our service, which comes from our understanding of our ministry to the world is to: understand our culture, and then serve in it . . .

A Christian living in a hostile world

immerses himself in that culture

We don’t serve in it as if we are somehow better than

Again, this is a pulling away from the world.

Rather, we take our faith and live in it and immerse ourselves in the culture.

Why does Paul go through this weird purification ritual

Paul believed in Christian liberty

Not binding the conscious with rituals and laws

He believed in the gospel and that these things were unnecessary for one’s salvation

So, why?

He did so because he had the liberty to do so and the intended outcome was to prove that the law was still useful for the believer in Jesus Christ

Paul was speaking to a culture using their own rituals and practices.

He did not violate any command of God

He essentially took a vow/oath that coincided with his theology and did not conflict with God’s Truth

App: We need to be very cautious in condemning everything the world does as if it is bad.

We need to be even more cautious in condemning everything that our Christian brothers and sisters do as always bad.

There are clearly some convictions we have that we believe are biblical and correct. Yet, at the same time we need to allow for Christian liberty and freedom in the larger church.

Conclusion

The hope we have in this culture by understanding it, serving it, and immersing ourselves in it is that our faith may be seen by it:

We seek to understand it that we may interject ourselves into it and see what God is doing in it. We cannot believe in a Sovereign God, yet think He has no involvement in what is happening around us. We want to carefully find ways to interact with the world in a way that is relevant and meaningful.

We seek to serve God, whose world this is, and others as a witness to who God is. Love God, Love our neighbor. Serving them is loving them. We should serve God and serve others. If this is our motivation we can walk into the world and have a voice.

We seek to serve God, whose world this is, and others as a witness to who God is. Love God, Love our neighbor. Serving them is loving them. We should serve God and serve others.

Great Princeton Seminary Theologian - Machen Gresham-

The modern world is dominated by ideas which ignore the gospel. Modern culture is not altogether opposed to the gospel. But it is out of all connection with it. It not only prevents the acceptance of Christianity. It prevents Christianity even from getting a hearing.

Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity and Culture . Titus Books. Kindle Edition.

We immerse ourselves in it also, so that we gain opportunities to dialogue with people so that we may show them Jesus Christ.

The World needs us. If not, God would not have us here. Thomson GA needs us. They need us to understand them, serve them, and immerse ourselves into them.

I do not mean from a distant, higher than though, lofty platform, but rather as a part of their world. We need to get out of our pews and comfortable homes and engage them. We need to be to them as Paul was to the Jews in Jerusalem and as Jesus is to us.