Live For His Cause, Part 5 Key #3

God has promised to give us the grace to live the Christian life if we will be diligent in using the means that He has appointed. This is what the Apostle Paul means in Philippians 4:1 when he says, “…stand fast in the Lord.” Diligence in the disciplines of grace brings joy into our lives, even through pain and conflict.  

As we embark on these Keys To Spiritual Joy, keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive. God has given his church many sources of joy in the Christian life. For starters, Christ died for us and we are saved in Him! Just these two eternal truths alone ought to be enough to change our whole outlook on life. But as we move through the remainder of this series of studies, be mindful that faithfulness in the disciplines of grace that God has given us, to these “keys to spiritual joy” preserves our joy in Christ through our pilgrimage through this world. 

The very first key that I commend to you is a break with the culture at large. We cannot live for Christ and the world simultaneously. John tells us to stop loving the world and the things in the world. James reminds us that to love the world is to be enmity with God. Paul calls us to stop being pressed into the world’s mold but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Such commandments are calling believers to abandon the philosophies, ideologies, passions, and patterns so loved by the culture around us. 

Here we must be clear and thoughtful about this. Often we so define “the world” in Christian theology as to be so abstract to be of no practical value to the average Christian seeking to honor Christ. Yes, there is an abstract part of how we understand the Bible’s use of the word “world.” I do not mean to ignore that. But, I do mean to define this abstraction into more concrete concepts so that believers might actually obey God’s Word. By “by the world” the Apostles of Christ are teaching us that we are a break from the fallen culture around us. We cannot simply join in and flow downstream with the current of the culture in which we live. True there may be many aspects of the culture that can be redeemed but much of it must be intentionally rejected as we renew our minds and lives through meditation on Scripture, prayer, and worship with the covenant community. 

So, how then do we begin this break with the popular culture around us so that we may begin to live in the joy of Christ?