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One of the most important questions facing Christians in every age and
every place is,
what values or standards will dominate our national cultures? Most
countries today are
increasingly pluralistic, both racially and religiously. Christianity,
secularism, hedonism,
materialism, Marxism, ancient religions, modern cults and New Age are
all competing for
the soul of our countries. Which is going to win? For Christians this
is first and foremost an
evangelistic question. Will Jesus Christ be given the honour and the
glory which are due to
his name? But it is also a social or cultural question. Will Christians
be able to influence
their country so that the values and standards of Jesus permeate the
national culture?
"Christianity,
secularism, hedonism, materialism, Marxism, ancient
religions,
modern cults and the New Age are all competing for the souls
of our countries.
Which is going to win? Will Christians be able to
influence their country? ..."
The national culture includes such things as: its consensus on moral
questions; the equal
regard that it pays to men, women and children; its defence of marriage
and the family; its
respect for the sanctity of human life including that of the unborn,
the handicapped and the
senile; its administration of justice and conduct of business; the
education of youth;
recognition of human rights; its concern for the homeless, the
unemployed and for people
trapped in a cycle of deprivation and poverty; its attitude to
dissidents and its treatment of
criminals; its stewardship of the natural environment and its use of
power. All of these are
part of what we call the national culture.
Jesus Christ desires his values, his standards, his ideals to prevail.
Because he loves
righteousness, he hates evil wherever it may be found. So he sends his
people out into the
world, into secular society, not only to preach the gospel and make
disciples, but also to
sweeten the whole community and make it more pleasing in the sight of
God.
What is the biblical basis for that? What are the implications of it?
In the Sermon on the
Mount, in Matthew 5, verses 13 to 16, we read about the metaphors of
salt and light, two of
the most common of all household commodities. They are found in every
home in every
culture throughout the world. Certainly everybody used them in the
Palestine of Jesus´ day.
Before refrigeration was invented, salt was used mainly for
preservative and antiseptic,
rather than flavouring purposes. So Mary will have rubbed the salt into
the meat and into
the fish, or left them to soak in salty water, and she will have lit
the lamps when the sun
went down. So Jesus was familiar with salt and light from birth onwards.
These are the images or the models he deliberately employed to indicate
the impact his
followers should make on society. There were only a dozen of them at
the time but they
were the nucleus of his new community. They were to be the salt and the
light of the world.
What can we legitimately deduce from his deliberate choice of salt and
light as models of
his new society? I suggest that he intended four truths about his
followers.
Download at:
http://www.hfe.org/cms_images/docs/christianImpact.pdf
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