 The way you think will affect your behavior. Your culture is revealed by your behavior. Did you know that your level of respect toward those in authority—your parents, teachers, law enforcement—will speak volumes about your culture? Our world is currently a culture of disrespect. That culture has no place in God’s Kingdom culture. For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. It is God’s Will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king. 1 Peter 2:13-17 NLT Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. Ephesians 6:1-3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. Philippians 2:3-4 NLT Your behavior reveals the content of your heart—mind, will, and emotions. Unhealthy behaviors are always a sign of an unhealthy culture. My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:20-23 We as citizens of His Kingdom must be very careful of how and what we say and how we behave. We always are to represent our King well! Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:25-32 This is Kingdom culture! In God’s Kingdom culture, we have His unchanging standards, written in God’s Constitution. Every culture on this earth has standards of conduct that determine how people treat one another. The world’s culture as a whole operates by a standard that is essentially selfish (self-focused). It puts one’s own welfare and desires ahead of all others. This is basically Hedonism--the pursuit of satisfying your wants and desires above all else. There are even many who say they are Christians, who concentrate on grabbing their “own piece of the pie”, using and discarding people in their attempt to get what they desire. They believe they “deserve” everything they can get. Their focus and motivation is more in line with the world than God’s Constitution. Yes, it may be a “dog-eat-dog” world, but not in the Kingdom of God! Keep in mind that the Kingdom culture operates by a completely different standard; and the Lord Jesus demonstrated that culture in both Word and by example. The night before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus shared a final Passover meal with His Disciples. He took off His outer garment and wrapped a towel around His waist, as a servant, and proceeded to wash their unclean feet. Keep in mind that this was a task normally relegated to the lowest of slaves. Then He explained what He had done: So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:12-17 On another occasion, when His disciples were arguing about which one of them was the greatest, Jesus taught them about His culture: Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” Mark 9:33-37 The standard of conduct for greatness in the Lord God’s Kingdom of Heaven isn’t self-promotion but servanthood. The world’s culture of self-promotion is the very opposite of God’s Kingdom culture. There is another feature of a culture that is found in the celebrations it observes. Remember this one thing: whatever you celebrate, you will elevate. Whatever you elevate, you worship. Whatever you ignore, you will destroy. For example, if your nation or state celebrates ‘Gay Pride day” every year, often with parades and special events, it says a great deal about that culture. The same applies to celebrating legalization of abortion. This culture has nothing to do with God’s Kingdom. You may always do as you want, believe what you want, but know you are operating in the kingdoms of this world—the kingdom of darkness—not the Kingdom of God. When your mind has a clear picture of what the Kingdom of God looks like and what the kingdoms of this world looks like, it is far easier to decide what your culture is. Kingdom citizens should always be celebrating the time when the Lord God delivered them from their sin. I celebrate the King for giving me my family, and especially my wife. She is such a great help to me! I celebrate and praise the King for delivering me from my past life and giving me my purpose and assignment! I have heard the phrase “What you feed grows. What you starve dies.” What cultural traditions do you feed? What ones do you starve? That will ultimately determine whether you have both feet firmly in God’s Kingdom or the kingdom of this world. Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 NLT Remember, your greatest asset in the Kingdom is your faith in His Word. All scriptures are NKJV unless noted W.R. Luchie www.kingdomcitizens.org |
