Jesus addressed a motley band of disciples as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And through them, God changed the world.
Today, Jesus gives his followers the same commission: to be salt and light in a dark and decaying world. But this immediately raises a huge tension for the Christian: how to be ‘light’ and maintain our loyalty to Christ in what Jesus assumes is a dark, broken and needy world. And how to be light in the world (i) without withdrawing from society into some cosy Christian club; (ii) without capitulating to the pressures of our society to be invisible Christians or modifying our doctrine to be acceptable Christians … and this is a challenge we have to live with every day: being in the world without being ‘of’ the world.
Here’s a few resources to point us in the right direction:
> Tim Challies 2005 review of Mark Driscoll’s Radical Reformission – there are 6 parts to the review, but just the first page introduces you to some of the ideas about the Bible and culture
> A series of MP3 talks from Don Carson given at Moore College in 2008 on the topic ‘Christ and culture’, to coincide with the (re)release of his book Christ and Culture – Revisited.
> And Carl Trueman’s article on why the whole discussion (& contemporary Christian obsession?) with being in touch with ‘culture’ may itself be an indication we’ve capitulated too much to our culture
‘You are the salt of the earth’
Dave
