Counter Culture: Nonconformists



In Daniel 1:8-20, Daniel and his friends are settling into lives as exiles in Babylonia.  They've received Babylonian names, and King Nebuchadnezzar has enrolled him in his school to train them to serve in his court.  He wanted them to have the best, so he ordered that they be fed with food from his own personal supply.

But Daniel refused to eat the food.  The text says that he didn't want to "defile" himself.  We don't know what he found defiling about the food.  Books like Leviticus describe those laws.  But the precise reason why he didn't partake isn't important because the food represents more than food.  It represents Babylonian culture, particularly parts of that culture that opposes God's commands.

Daniel and his friends eat only "vegetables and water" for ten days.  At the end of that time, they look better than those who ate the king's food.  Not only that, the king examines them and admits them into his service. They exceed all the advisers, wise men, and magicians in his court.

This story encouraged both Israelites in exile and those who lived under foreign powers in their homeland.  It can also encourage us as we live out our faith in a culture that doesn't support it.

The New Testament talks about living in "the world."  It uses the word "world" in the sense of the physical world, but also of the spiritual world of human values that oppose God.  In John 17, Jesus prayed that his followers would stay in the world, but that God would protect them from the evil one.  He wants us to be in the physical world, doing the things he did, but not to adopt the values of the world of humanity in rebellion against God..

The apostle Paul said in Romans 12:2 that Christ followers should not be conformed to the world, but should be transformed by the renewing of their minds.  We counter the outer formational power of our culture with the inner spiritual power of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:42 says that those in the early church were distinctive in their culture because they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

We gain the power to be nonconformists to be a counter cultural force in the world by doing the same!

Comments

  1. colleenMay 28, 2017 at 6:54 AM

    I know you meant not conformed :) Thank you for your gospel messages. Blessings and prayers always!

    ReplyDelete

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