Cultural Christianity

Acts 14:8-12

Here we see Paul challenging a man who was lame from birth to walk because he saw & knew he had the faith to be healed. Part of the reason why God puts a shepherd over you is because he can see certain things that you can’t see. Alongside your faith in God, you need to have faith in your pastor.

(v.11) When the man was healed and the people saw what happened, they referred to Paul & Barnabas as gods in the form of men. This came from what’s in their subconscious, the things they’d learnt over time from their various sources of learning.

These were people in the church who were supposedly saved, but not saved in their minds (souls) yet.

Man is a spirit, whose spirit is saved once he becomes born again (2Cor. 5:17). But the soul is not saved immediately; it is in the process of being saved through renewal by God’s word (Phil. 2:12; James 1:21, 1Pet. 1:22). Man’s body will only be redeemed/saved at the return of Christ (Rom. 8:23).

Once a person comes to Christ, a third of him – his spirit is ready for heaven (Col. 1:22), but the soul is being purified – that’s why man sins.

Notice that these “Christians” at Lystra were probably young in the faith, people whose souls were still trapped in the world. They were worshipers of God who still had the mindset of the world. This is the near total personification of cultural Christian.

Unfortunately, people of this kind seem to be more predominant in the church today. Jesus told to us to go make ‘Disciples’, not just ‘Converts’.

Some Characteristics of Cultural Christians:

1.   They are more conscious and afraid of the devil’s power than they are of God and His word. God’s word such as what He said in Isaiah 54:17 and Luke 10:19, pale in comparison to their fear of the devil.

2.   Their belief system is still what they received while they were in the world (such as a man believing it’s the wife’s responsibility to give him a male child or believing that the spouse they marry can be a source of good or bad “luck”). Unfortunately, we are all culpable in some form or the other. Practically every one of us are still held bound by our cultural mindsets than we either realise or want to accept.

What’s The Bible Definition Of A Christian?

A bible Christian is a believer in the Words of God, one who believes in the substitionary death, burial & resurrection (and also His ascension to heaven) of Jesus with a lifelong commitment to obedience & discipleship. In addition to this, such a person has received and committed himself to the Holy Spirit to dwell in, empower, guide him and to transform his thinking to enable him conform to the mind of Christ and empower him to fulfill Jesus’ words as well. (Rom. 10:9-10, John 1:12)

The challenge we have as Christians today is how to live in two worlds at the same time. How do we manage this? How do we live in this world and refuse to allow this world to shape or control our thinking, attitudes and lifestyles? How can we live in this world, but are not of the world?

(Rom. 12:2a) “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”

When your mind is renewed, you won’t attribute miracles you see performed by God in the Church to Zeus like the people in Lystra did, you’ll give the glory to Whom it belongs – God. When your mind is renewed, you won’t see every little thing that goes wrong as the result of bad luck or the work of your enemies or because you did something that wasn’t culturally acceptable like receiving something from someone who offered it to you with his/her left hand. Your mindset will be informed by Ps. 37:23 “the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord”.

Steps To Renewing Your Mind:

1.     Recognise the power in God’s word. You have to acknowledge and realise there’s creative power in God’s word that can change your life.

2.     Spend time with the word of God. Read it, study it and meditate on it. (Phil. 4:8). It’s by this process that you assimilate God’s word into your subconscious mind and can thus act “automatically or reflexively” based on the word in any situation you find yourself. The physical acts in line with what is abundant in the heart (Luke 6:45, Prov. 4:23). Believe the word of God because it’s not the word you “quote” that will save you, but the word you believe.

3.     The power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit turns the word in your heart into a sword in your hand. If you don’t renew your mind with God’s word when crises come your way you are going to act based on what is abundant in your heart. So, if God’s word isn’t abundant in your heart what are you going to act based on?

Let’s look at the case of Abraham. When God called him and promised him a son but it hadn’t come to pass for about 10 years, he and Sarah resorted to traditional means of him having a son.

When God’s sanctioned method (in your estimation) seems to not have worked in meeting your need, what will you fall back on? It’s most likely going to be what you learned in the world (from your culture & tradition).

(Gen. 16:15-16; Gen. 17:1) Here we see that when Abraham resorted to traditional means of meeting a need in his life instead of following God’s way, it resulted in God being silent for 13 years. If you have a means outside of God for meeting your needs then what do you need Him for?

If you want God to help you, you have to serve Him faithfully & live a blameless life. Then you’ll see Him step into your situation and turn things around for you. But if you’re going to resort to your traditional, man–made methods don’t expect Him to intervene or make things better in your situation.

Prayer: LORD, please heal our hearts and bring us back to You. Have Your way and make us Christians that You’re proud of. Help us fall in love with Your word again & shape us into being more of Your image & likeness. Break every resistance to You in our lives in Jesus’ name we pray.

Pastor I.S James