#ReimagineDISCIPLESHIP…as choosing Scripture over Culture
by Phil Miglioratti
@ The Reimagine.Network
The Biblical authors’ teaching constantly challenged their own cultures’ beliefs—they were not simply a product of ancient mores and practices…biblical teaching is the standard for every culture.
Authentic discipleship demands we apply biblical truth to culture. Truth changes culture. Culture does not dictate how we apply the Scriptures. Our preferences and lifestyles may not merely pick-and-choose which teachings we will obey.
Adopt the truths then adapt the culture.
And recognize how quick we are to reverse that precept. Never adopt culture then adapt doctrine to defend it.
Ask the Lord to reveal to you the ways does the Bible’s teachings critique and even discredit your dominant beliefs?
Ask the Spirit to help you receive the Bible’s teaching as the wise Word of God, even though our culture and our own inward feelings and sensibilities may resist it.
(My commentary is my own words based on a reading of Kathy and Tim Keller’s “The Meaning of Marriage”)
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From Brad Vaughn -
Here’s a sample of options suggested by evangelical authors.
*🔺DISTURBING THE CULTURE🔻*
*[20/07/2023]*
_*"See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."*_
*(📕 Ephesians 5:15-16)*
There never was a dull day for the first-century followers of Jesus. In fact, it seems that wherever Paul went, there was either a conversion or a riot.
The early church didn’t have modern technology at their disposal. Yet in a relatively short time, these believers changed their world. They permeated their culture.
Tertullian, a Christian leader and a contemporary of these early followers of Christ, said of the church, “We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you—cities, islands, fortresses, towns, marketplaces, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum—we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.”
He was pointing to the fact that the church had infiltrated everything. There were even Christians in the palace of Caesar. This is what we need today. We need Christians to go out and make a difference. We need Christians involved in the arts, making great films and creating graphic design. We need Christians in places of authority, because the Bible says that when the righteous rule, the people rejoice (Proverbs 29:2).
We need Christian doctors, lawyers, and businesspeople. We need believers to let their light shine in this culture today.
Religious leaders in Thessalonica had this to say about Paul and Silas: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6).
G. Campbell Morgan said, “Organized Christianity which fails to make a disturbance is dead.”
Believers in the first century made a disturbance because they understood that God had called them to do their part. They took risks. They left their comfort zones. In the Book of Acts, we see their fearless preaching, their expectant prayer, and their willingness to obey God.
Twenty-first-century believers should be living like these first-century believers, impacting our culture. We should be making a difference. We should be turning our world upside down.
Pastor Imran John
Denison Forum---
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Russell Moore is the editor in chief of Christianity Today and a cultural commentator I have long followed with gratitude. (You can hear Dr. Mark Turman’s recent podcast conversation with him here.) His new article for the Atlantic is adaptedfrom his forthcoming book, Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America.
In the article, he describes accurately and powerfully the divisions, distractions, and deceptions that have riddled evangelical Christianity in recent decades. From sexual abuse scandals to politically driven polarizations, culture war vehemence, and nostalgia for a past that never was, the evangelical movement is experiencing conflict and chaos."
Why we need to #ReimagineCHRISTIANITY...in America.