NOW: We don’t like to choose one over another. Christians are forced to choose, Christ or the world. Yet, there is a trend in our generation to make the church attractive to unbelievers. We want to minimize the offense, we want make the “culture” of the church look the same, we’re all sinners so we can’t judge or expect the church to be all that different from the world.
THEN: In the first century, believers were viewed as killjoys who lived gloomy lives. Christians abstained from many of the practices and entertainment of their culture. “the theater with its risqué performances, the chariot races, and the gladiatorial fights with their blood and gore.” (Jobes) Furthermore, religious worship at times involved much sensuality. Immorality and drunkenness were common. To top it off, Christians refused to burn incense to the emperor — ergo, Christians were killjoy, hated life, and were fundamentally traitors of the Roman way of life. They were maligned and at times physically persecuted. What were they to do? They couldn’t blend in with the world; they had to follow Christ. Verse 4 says that the believers’ response surprised the world — their friends, work associates, etc. were surprised by the behavior of believers.
Several things mark the believer here. This is what surprised the world. In these verses, we can see the following:
1. He resolves to suffer rather than sin (vv. 1, 2).
2. He chooses God’s purpose over his passions (v. 2).
3. He discounts his past life and does not join the same crowd (vv. 3, 4).
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Dr. Mark Herzer has been the pastor of Christ Covenant Presbyterian Church (P.C.A.) in Warminster, PA since 1997. Before this, he was ordained to labor as an Assistant Pastor of Korean United Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (1992-1995). He received his M.A.R. and Ph. D....
