“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
“We’re Nelsons and we’re different.”
This was the “motto” my wife’s family claimed and lived by. They understood that as Christians, we are called to live differently than the rest of the world, and set forth to embrace and apply this truth.
From Genesis through Revelation God instructs His people to live a life that is unlike the culture around them. God gave the Nation of Israel dietary guidelines, Christ called us salt and light, Paul urges us to live holy lives, and Peter says we are strangers and aliens in this world. But what does this all mean? How are we to live differently and still win people to Christ?
First, we must remember that it’s not our lifestyle that sets us apart from the world, but rather our relationship with Christ. Hebrews 13:12. “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” We are made holy, sanctified or set apart not by our lifestyle but by the blood of Jesus. Regardless how good one is, their sin is never wiped away by they way they live, this only happens through faith in the shed blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:22-10:11).
However, since we are made holy, clean, sanctified, and set apart by Christ our lives should now mirror our standing. We are to conduct our lives in a way that matches our calling: our new positions in Christ. We are washed by the blood of the Lamb, given a new nature and inheritance, and adopted as sons and daughters of the King. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people belonging to God; thus we should conduct our lives in a way that honors this fact, not questions it.
Yet that doesn’t mean we live without modern conveniences of life, wear clothing out of a different decade, or gather together as believers and isolate ourselves from the world around us. No. We are called to let the Word of God govern our lives. If we truly let that serve as a guide for life, we will look different and be set apart from the world around us; for what the culture says is acceptable is not what God calls acceptable. Consider the sixth commandment (regarding adultery) for example. Living by this standard of purity will set you apart.
But what about Paul? Didn’t he say that he became all things to all men? Yes, but he was not talking about moral laws, but rather cultural customs. He never compromised God’s moral standard, but didn’t let cultural customs keep him away from share Christ. Moreover, that is why he lived this way, so that “by all possible means I might save some.” His purpose was not to find an excuse to live like the world, but rather to win men and women for Christ.
“I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
