MAKING A DIFFERENCE BY BEING DIFFERENT: The Church Confronting the Culture or Compromising with It

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 1:1-3)

When Jesus described what His Kingdom people were to be, He used the metaphors of salt and light—both of which have a disproportionate impact on their environment due to their distinctive qualities.  A little salt can season a lot, and a small light can illumine a room.  There is no question we live in a society that is rotting and needs the preservative nature of salt, and that we are in a time of spiritual darkness which desperately calls for the light of the Gospel.  That is our assignment as a church.  It is the duty of church leadership to direct the church to fulfill that holy calling.

Paul understood this.  That is why we find him writing the church at Corinth.  Three times in the first three verses, he mentions our call—that we are sanctified, set apart—for a sacred responsibility. The church will never be the church until she is confronted with her calling, and that is the calling of the preacher.  I do not do what I do because of a vocational choice I made, but because of the will of God thrust upon me.  I am not an apostle, but when I speak their words I am communicating with apostolic authority.

The church at Corinth was facing a daunting task.  They were to grow and bear fruit in a hostile environment.  It would be far easier to cave to the pressure to compromise with the pagans around them, than to convert them to faith.  It might even seem reasonable to “adapt” the message to better suit the culture with a view of reaching the culture.  Yet, the reality is that the church is always most effective when it is being different and thus making a difference.

The good news is that the seeming impossibility of the assignment is made possible by the supernatural resources God gives: grace and peace.  They are always in that sequence.  You can’t have peace with God until you experience the grace of God.  Grace means that God gives us all the tools to do what He wants in this world.  There is a peace in knowing I don’t have to accomplish anything on my own.  The God who called me will equip me!