Culture flows down from the high hill of worship. Whatever services, rituals, and rites the worshippers perform in the mountain temple are mimicked down in their everyday activities. If human sacrifices are performed atop the jungle ziggurat, heartlessness will be found down in the huts & hovels. If the worshippers shout for hours on end, cutting themselves to attract Baal’s attention, murdering a rival to steal his vineyard shouldn’t be surprising.
Culture cannot escape the orbit of the god it worships. Weak gods make for a timid populace. Angsty gods make for an insecure people. Malicious gods result in vindictive citizens. But all false gods are deaf, dumb, and blind; they need a furniture dolly to move them here or there. Our culture is given over to gods of perversion, corruption, and deceit, and so it is marked by moral blindness and is deaf to truth. It has bound itself to the altar of gods that can’t move themselves, and as such it’s easily moved.
Our worship of the true and Triune God will inevitably shape our culture. When our culture doesn’t reflect the God of the Bible, we ought to search for the false worship which is the cause. Notice how fountain of our worship cascades into the rest of our week. Here we bless the God who blesses us, which leads us to live so as to bless our spouse, children, and neighbor. On the Lord’s Day we hear the living Word of Truth, so that our words in Tuesday meetings, Thursday classes, and Saturday game-days become truth-filled. Lastly, we culminate our worship with this feast of Christ, broken for you. And this is revealed not just in our own joyful mealtimes, but in sacrificial selflessness to feed this world with Christ our King.
So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…
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