When several people with the same circumstances or
orientations converge a culture emerges.
Cultures of sin can be ugly. On one end are the movers and shakers.
They thrive on the culture and know how to make it profitable in terms of money
and power. On the other end are the moved and shaken. To survive they must know
how to work the system. Most either enjoy it or endure it for what they get out
of it; but, in sane moments, some become uncomfortable.
This modus operandi is important if we are to learn
to look to Jesus. We can become so enamored with his miracles that we fail to
watch how he walked among the sin cultures of that day. It is here, as his
followers, we should be most informed...and amazed.
Throughout his mentoring ministry Jesus warned his disciples
against such culturification among
themselves. They were to be a culture of Truth, not special interests. The
apostles carried that warning forward. Since then, however, churches which have
sprung up through the centuries have not been especially exemplary in following
the pattern. Rather, church history became a record of sin cultures -
movers-and-shakers adjusting Truth to control the moved and shaken for their
own wicked purposes.
Throughout the gospels, Jesus’ disciples, and others,
puzzled over his response to members of the cultures through which he passed.
He who is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners did not identify
with those cultures or wink at their sin; but he did know how to pass through
them in search of lost ones he would rescue. He gave little credence to the masses; but conscience stricken individuals were on his radar.
With this in mind, I turn from the wonder of miracles to this
more important marvel of Jesus' character and ministry.
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