Here are several key points from the recent sermon series, “Truth & Love:   Christian Cultural Engagement.” 

We asked what posture the church should have amidst today’s secular society?  No, we don’t run and hide in safe religious cloisters.   And no, we don’t charge in and take over, grabbing the levers of cultural power?  Answer:  we trust Jesus, encourage each other as his church-body, and proclaim gospel truth in love!

The cultural pressure of Jesus’ day was for Jews to despise Samaritans and Samaritans to despise Jews.  But Jesus’ concludes the Parable of the Good Samaritan by saying:  don’t follow the culture; defy the pressure of those who label others as enemies and withhold mercy from them!  So, who are our Samaritans (i.e., people we’re tempted to hate—but whom Jesus tells us to love)? 

The church is called to be in but not of the world.  Or, to say it differently, we are to be “present… but different… for good.”  Our stance in relation to today’s hurting world should be neither that of chameleons (who blend in) nor crusaders (who use the world’s weapons to try and enforce Christian moral standards). 

Christian love cares about the full spectrum of human needs, regardless of political associations.  There are needs often tied to “the right”—e.g., the need for protection of the lives of unborn children; or the need to link “gender” with the God-given biological sex of men and women as male and female.  These are real needs!  And there are human needs often tied to “the left”—e.g., the need for protection from harm resulting from damage to the environment; or the need to oppose racism that diminishes the dignity of people made in God’s image.  These are real needs! 

Don’t be thrown off by the political buzz-words, but recognize that our love for neighbors can and must be much bigger than any culture war agenda.  Think big—“Gospel-Big.”  First things first:  our top priority is to help people meet Jesus!