When we say that Christ is versus culture, we are not saying that we should drop our culture and live without any culture whatsoever; rather, we need to live according to Christ by enjoying the all-inclusive, extensive Christ and allowing Him to replace every part of our culture.
Culture is necessary, for it preserves us on this earth, and the more culture we have, the more we can live a proper human life on earth.
However, if we live our culture instead of living Christ, then culture replaces Christ, and God is hindered in us.
We are a constitution of what we have been eating, what we have been building up, and what we have picked up and accumulated over the years.
When we receive the Lord Jesus as life, He comes into us to not only save us from eternal perdition but even more, to spread from our spirit into all the parts of our inner being.
He wants to work Himself into us and even build Himself into our being so that He may reconstitute us with Himself.
Because we live according to what we are, the Lord wants to work Himself into us and build Himself into our being until what we live is not our culture but Christ.
We need God to build Himself in Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being would be constituted with Christ; when Christ is built into us and we are built into Christ, the result is a mutual dwelling place, even the expression of God in man, for we will express Him instead of expressing ourselves with our culture.
So God’s central work in the universe and throughout the ages is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself one with them.
He always wanted to become part not only of His people’s lives but even more, part of their very being; He wants to work Himself into us and live in us.
But we all live our own way, we express our culture, and the result is that Christ is not expressed.
How can Christ live in us if we don’t exercise to enjoy Christ, be filled with Christ, and have Christ wrought into our being?
God is not after a group of people who imitate Christ outwardly; He wants the Body of Christ, even the one new man, to express Christ by living Christ.
When we are filled and saturated with Christ when Christ is wrought into us and He is built into our being, we can live Christ, and the result is a corporate living – the one new man.
In such a new man we don’t see any Greek, Jew, barbarian, free man, Scythian, slave, or any other culture or nationality – we only see Christ, for Christ has become all and in all in the one new man.
May He become our all by His working Himself into us little by little, day by day, so that in our daily living there would be the one new man coming into being for the preparation of the bride so that the Lord may return.
Culture is Necessary until we Receive Christ; after Regeneration, we should Turn from Culture to Christ to Live Christ
In saying that Christ is versus culture, we are not saying that all Christians should “drop their culture” and live without any culture whatsoever.
We do realize that culture is evil, for it frustrates the growth of Christ in us and it distracts us from Christ; however, we shouldn’t just “drop our culture” and live without any culture – that would be a big mistake.
By dropping our culture and living without any culture we actually have another culture – it’s the “drop your culture” culture.
Culture is useful; children must be raised according to certain cultural standards.
Even though we are Christians, we need to raise up our children according to a certain culture, imparting into them the ethical and moral values of culture.
They need to live properly, respect the elders, obey their parents, tidy up, be diligent, work hard, and so many other things.
Actually, the more cultured people are, the less is there the need for law enforcement such as the police or the law court.
Culture includes such things as sitting properly at the table, eating properly, answering and asking properly, driving properly, studying properly, going to bed and rising up early properly, and many such things.
As we grow up in human society, we all have a certain kind of culture, and our culture develops and is refined as we gain more knowledge, acquire more skills, and are more educated.
Culture is preservation for our humanity so that we do not sin, we do not trespass, and we do not behave in a lawless and barbarian way.
However, once someone receives the Lord, he should not allow culture to replace Christ.
The danger is that, after we receive Christ, we still continue to live according to the good aspects of our culture and not by Christ.
Those who do not have Christ certainly need to live according to culture, for culture preserves, regulates, and improves people.
Prior to receiving the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, everyone needs culture. However, after receiving Christ, we shouldn’t allow culture to limit Christ or frustrate us from experiencing and enjoying Christ.
It’s not that we drop our culture and now we do everything the way we like; rather, we need to begin to learn to live according to Christ and not according to our culture (Col. 2:6-7).
Before children receive Christ, they must be trained according to culture and under law; they need culture and law to be proper human beings (Gal. 3:23-28).
The law functions as a child-conductor, having the function of preserving us until we come to Christ. Culture and law preserve us until we come to the Lord; after we receive Christ, however, we need to gradually be turned from culture to Christ.
We need to realize that, as children of God, we have the life and nature of God, and Christ lives in us; our living, therefore, should not be according to our culture but according to Christ. Amen!
As Christians, as genuine believers in Christ, we need to live according to Christ and not according to our culture.
This is a process, for by default we live according to our culture and not according to Christ.
So we need to turn to the Lord again and again and allow Him to shine on anything of our culture that replaces Him in our being and in our living, and we need to just live Christ and not our culture.
Lord Jesus, we love You. We turn to You. We want to live according to Christ and not according to our culture. Shine on us, dear Lord, and expose any element of our culture that replaces You in our being. May You be the One who lives in us, and may it be that we live Christ and not ourselves or our culture. Amen, Lord, thank You for Your divine life and nature in us. We want to live according to this life and nature, rejecting anything of ourselves and anything of our culture that replaces Christ. Oh, that Christ would live in us and we would live according to Christ and not according to our culture!
As Christians, we are Learning to Live According to Christ and Not According to our Culture
When some Christians hear and realize that Christ is versus religion, they drop any religion and even more, they hate religion and become anti-religion.
They may think that now it is OK to go to the bar and do all kinds of things, simply because they drop religion and go against anything of religion; this gives them the opportunity to indulge in the flesh, and they will be degraded and may even backslide.
Yes, Christ is versus religion, but we can forsake religion only as much as we enjoy Christ and live Christ.
We don’t want to become anti-religion persons; we want to live according to Christ and not according to anything religious.
Similarly, we can’t just “drop our culture” and live without any culture; that would be dangerous.
Culture keeps us proper in human society and gives us the ground to be proper citizens with the benefits and responsibilities given by the society we live in.
However, as believers in Christ, we need to gradually turn from culture to Christ; we need to be like the Lord Jesus who, even though dressed the same way the Jewish people did, ate the same food they did, and lived in the same way they did, yet He lived because of the Father because He ate the Father and was one with the Father (John 6:57).
As believers in Christ, we are learning to live according to Christ and not according to our culture; we do this by eating Jesus and living because of Him.
We are not anti-culture Christians; even though we realize that culture can replace Christ in our being and in our living, we simply want to enjoy Christ and live Christ, living not according to our culture but according to Christ.
Everything that we have apart from Christ is some form of culture; it is either self-made or self-imposed culture, our way of living.
Each one of us has our way of living; each family has its own way of living; each society has its way of living.
Living according to our own way of living and not living according to Christis a the greatest frustration to the enjoyment of Christ and the expression of Christ.
We should care more for our living Christ and for our experience of Christ than for maintaining our own way of living; we are here to enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and live Christ in a practical way day by day.
We need to care for Christ, enjoy Christ, and live by Christ; then, slowly and surely, we will drop our culture simply by living Christ.
We will still eat the food that we used to eat, we will still dress properly, and we will still take care of our human responsibilities, but we will live not according to our culture but according to Christ.
As we grow in Christ, we should make a turn from our culture to Christ, living according to Christ and not according to our old way of living.
The more we call on the Lord, contact Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him, the more we will live Christ and not ourselves.
May we not allow culture to limit Christ in us; may we not allow our way of living, our habits, and our way of doing things to frustrate us from experiencing and enjoying Christ. May we all learn to live according to Christ so that He may have a way to live in us.
Lord Jesus, we want to live according to Christ and not according to our old way of living or according to our culture. We want to cooperate with You so that our culture would not limit Christ or frustrate us from experiencing and enjoying Christ. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we all learn to live according to Christ by allowing Christ to live in us. Keep us contacting You, enjoying You, and experiencing You, so that we may gain Christ and live Christ. Turn us, Lord, from anything and anyone else unto Yourself; may we live not according to our culture but according to Christ by enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, gaining Christ, producing Christ, and allowing Christ to live in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 36, 40 (Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ Replacing Culture for the One New Man (2020 Thanksgiving Conference), week 2, Living the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ instead of Our Culture.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The Christian life is a life, / A life of living Christ / For the constitution and building up / Of the Body of Christ; / The Christian life is a life of living Christ. (Song on, The Christian life is a life).
– Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace! / The Christ who’s all within me lives. / With Him I have been crucified; / This glorious fact to me He gives. / Now it’s no longer I that live, / But Christ the Lord within me lives. (Hymns #499)
– Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. (Hymns #403)
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