Culturally Relevant

The term "culturally relevant" is a term that has been used and abused in today's church. I believe when properly understood it is seen in the life of Christ. Think about this. What culture did Christ leave? What culture did Christ come to? Did Christ continue to use the culture of heaven?

As you think about these questions, also think about how Christ leveraged the culture that he came to. His goal was Biblical Transformation (see last post) but He accomplished that within the culture of Israel. Let's model our lives after Christ, understand that we must go to, communicate with and serve the culture that is in front of us.

Biblically Transformational

One of the values that drive my life is seeing people biblically transformed. To some this may be an understood concept but for me it took years to grasp. I grew up in a religious environment which understood the transformation aspect. The emphasis was placed on the behavior. The person who was mature in Christ was the one who looked the part. It was behavior modification with a religous twist.
Then one day I realized that the one's who "looked" the part often struggled with the same heart issues as those who did not "look" the part. Ephesians 4 tells of this process.
It says "to my initial suprise" that believers can live just as those who are far from God. It didn't say in their actions, but in their thinking. It was at this point that I realized that biblical transformation is a changing of the heart and mind.
The verse then goes on to say that the completion of the transformation is the action.
Let's make sure we understand that a heart change produces a behavior change. We need to make sure we address the heart. That's where biblical transformation takes place.

Values

Each of us have driving factors that act us to cause the way we act. In the past I have been forced to be able to articulate those values that drive me. As I began to put these together some time ago, I came to the realization that these are based on one of two things, myself or the word of God. As I began to evaluate these in my life the conclusion I came to is this, if they are not drawn from and driven by the word of God, they should not drive me. I want to encourage you, what are the values that drive you in your daily life. Are they drawn from the word of God or are they merely self made? I will post over the next few weeks on the values the drive me personally and how I have drawn them from the bible.