Garry asked the question ‘are you under the influence?’ this morning, a phrase usually associated with driving offences committed under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Christianity has influenced the UK since its arrival on our shores in 200 A.D. and has an embedded influence in our culture, having shaped our legislation, morality and education over many years. However, despite the fact that 43% of the population claims to be Christian, church attendance is only 5% and it is clear that we are influenced by many different factors, not simply what the Bible teaches.
All of us soak up our culture like a sponge, often unconsciously. We need to be able to ‘step back’ a little and see the bigger picture (so that we can assess how our culture is influencing us) and to examine our beliefs and attitudes afresh. We need to learn from history (for example, Hitler’s rise to power was largely endorsed by the majority of Germans, including the church there, because he appealed to the nation’s pride and desire to be great again) and allow God to be the main ‘influencer’ of our lives.
Eph 4:20-24 talks of putting off our old self and being renewed in our attitudes so that we can put on the new self, created to be like God. That renewal is like the renovation of an old house, where everything has to be stripped right back before progress can be made. Our inner mechanisms have to be ‘radically altered’, because what God is looking for is people who will be perfect as He is perfect. (Matt 5:43-48) This means being completed, lacking nothing; ‘to do less than what God would do in a given situations means a shortfall, which is not what God wants.’ Matt 19:16-22 tells the story of the rich young ruler who had kept God’s law but who still lacked one thing, as Jesus pointed out when the command to sell his possessions and give to the poor was met by sorrow and reluctance. God, the most liberal of all givers, wants us to reflect His generous nature. The challenge we all face is to respond to every situation as God would respond.
God’s attitudes are laid out for us in Rom 5:6-8. He gives love to the unlovable, grace to the undeserving, mercy to those who do not deserve it. He works for His enemies and reaches out in healing even when the response is ingratitude (as the nine lepers demonstrated.) In other words, God gives freely and without expecting anything in return; the ‘quid pro quo’ mentality of so many of us (epitomised in the proverb ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’) is foreign and alien to God.
We have to step back and evaluate our attitudes and responses, our behaviour and our giving, for God wants our attitudes and thinking to be renewed, renovated, completed in Him. What influence are we under? God’s people need to be under His influence!