Copycat Culture

1 Corinthians 5 -6

In this series studying the book of First Corinthians, we are looking at a messy church. Our goal is that we would be a church and would be part of churches that are healthy communities that honor Jesus.

It’s been said that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Sadly, mini church communities are flattering the world in the way that they reflect the culture around them.

The word that we translate Church in the New Testament literally means a called-out assembly. Unfortunately, for many churches today, we are not an influence on the world, but we are influenced by the world. Instead of setting the tone, we follow the lead of culture. Instead of standing on truth, we fold to the opinions of the day.

It’s important to understand that a healthy church will never fit in a box. There will be people on both sides of arguments often who disagree with what the church has to say. That we will live in an uncommon way is seen in 1 Peter 2:9. There should be a difference in the ways of the world and the ways of God’s people.

Here at the Corinthian church, they are living like and in some cases worse than the culture around them. Chapter 5 starts with the story of a man who is having an ongoing affair with his stepmother. Paul remarks that this sin is even looked down upon by the Gentiles around them.

We need to understand that the church gets messy when we copy the culture. If we want to become the church that God has called us to be, we have to be in a church that is not influenced by the world around us. We have to be a people that build our lives and our fellowship on the truth of God’s word. 

What are the ways that churches copy the culture, and how do we resist it? 

The first way we copy the culture is that we mirror their morals. Our culture doesn’t determine what is right and what is wrong. Truth is not relative. Truth is given to us by God.

We don’t live to the world standard of what is good or what is bad. As the church, we should never take our position based on the world. We take our position based on the word of God.

This mirroring of the world’s ethics presents itself in ways. The first is participation. This is when we, as followers of Jesus, are actively unrepentantly flipping from participating in sinful behavior. Yes, if your faith is in Jesus, you are saved; your foundation is secure in Jesus Christ, and that can’t be taken away from you. However, this is not a license or excuse to live in sin.

Consider Paul’s words to the church at Rome, Romans 6:1-2, “1. What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2. ​​Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” 

Just because “everyone”is doing it doesn’t mean that it’s right. “Everyone” didn’t die for our sins. “Everyone” isn’t the God of the universe. We don’t live down to the standard of what’s popular or normative; we live up to the standard of what God has called us to.

The second way this presents itself is toleration. We think “I’m not doing it, so it’s okay”. Don’t be deceived; unrepentant sin in the body of Christ hurts everyone. It hurts our unity. It hurts our witness to the world. It holds us back from all that God has for us.

We should be building one another up and encouraging each other away from our sinful behavior. (Galatians 6:1-2). Because we will never be perfect, as followers of Jesus, we should be growing in our elimination of sin in our lives. 

The other way that the church copies the culture is that we mirror mere mortals. In 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, Paul addresses a situation where two members of the church have taken a dispute before a judge. Paul is upset with these believers. They have a dispute between them, but instead of settling it as brothers in Christ, they’ve taken it to a lost judge to get their wisdom and input. 

Paul is emphasizing that as the church, we don’t treat others the way the world does. The church is called to live and operate differently than the culture.

The gospel of Jesus is so powerful, and it changes our relationships to one another into the lost. 

"I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. (John 13:34)

Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, (1 Peter 1:22) 

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-6) 

As followers of Jesus, we should be filled with and in common love for each other. As followers of Jesus, we should have a holy humility in our dealings with one another. The church should be a place of otherworldly unity. 

We are called to be countercultural, and we always will be. God‘s word will tell us to love those who culture says it’s OK to hate. God‘s word will call us to unity when the culture will promote division. God‘s world will tell us to be humble when the world would celebrate pride. We are not called to mirror the world or copy the culture.