"As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. "
John 20:21
TRANSFORM, DON'T CONFORM
Read It: 2 Chronicles 15:3-6; Jeremiah 29:1-4
When Jesus Christ comes back, we won't have to worry about transforming forming culture, because He will set up His kingdom rule. But in the meantime, we've got a world to reach for Him and for our children and grandchildren who are coming along behind us. We've got to hand them some kind of a world. So what is the role of the Christian in society? Well, I believe the Bible has a lot to say about that. Jeremiah 29:4-11 illustrates this foundational principle: Society is transformed when God's people execute His strategy in history. The only way to make the world a better place is for Christians to get busy being people of the world. Now I don't mean worldly, but involved in history in a Bible-centered, Christ-centered way. The Prophet Jeremiah was writing to the Jews in exile in Babylon. The question was how they were supposed to function in such an environment. Well, the first thing they needed to-do was regain their spiritual clarity. Babylon was a pagan city. It had no fear of God-a lot like American culture today. But just as the pagans around us are not the real problem, so the Babylonians were not Israel's real problem. In verse 4 God says, "The reason you are in this mess is because I sent you there. And the reason son I sent you there is that you forgot Me."
See, God delivered Israel to the Babylonians in 597 B.c. because His people had become pagan. So God said, "Since you want to be pagan, I'll send you to live with the pagans." It was the failure of God's people to be His distinct, unique people that caused Him to judge them. This was an old problem, as 2 Chronicles 15 reveals. As I've said before, if God is your problem, then God is your only solution. tion. It doesn't matter whom you elect or what programs you start if we as God's people lose our spiritual perspective. We have to see that God has put us here for a reason. Earth is not just a place to wait for a ride to heaven. Think About It When the church fails to be the unique people of God, it leaves a hole in the spiritual "ozone layer," and the culture gets burned by the effects of sin.
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