Every nation has its culture. The book of Colossians deals with the problems that arose in the church at Colosse over the matter of culture. The believers there in Asia Minor were part Jews and part Greeks. Instead of living by Christ, they were living according to their religious ordinances or their Greek philosophy. Paul admonished them, “As therefore you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him” (Col. 2:6). Walk in Him. Do not follow the elements of the world and the tradition of men (v. 8). Do not have regard for philosophy; that is simply part of the elements of the world. Philosophy does not deserve your admiration; it is small and rudimentary. These intrusions of philosophy and tradition into the church at Colosse even in the early days caused damage to the church because such aspects of culture were replacing Christ.
We have a wide assortment of people in the church. There are Chinese, Japanese, Indonesians, Filipinos, and Malaysians. We also have some here from Singapore and Thailand. I would ask you, do you live by Christ or by the culture in which you have been raised? Many of you are overseas Chinese. Do you live by the Chinese culture, or by the culture of the country where you are? You may be a Chinese living by the Filipino culture, or by the Indonesian, Malaysian, or Thai cultures. Your overseas Chinese culture has been influenced by the native cultures. What you live by is this mixed culture, not by Christ.
Yes, occasionally Christ within directs you, but most hours of the day you are governed by something else. You are saved and have Christ within, but in actuality you are a Filipino Chinese, or a Japanese, or an Indonesian. You live according to science, philosophy, local church custom, and the ethics of your culture. You may protest that you love the Lord and are living the church life; why do I use the term local church custom? If you consider quietly, however, you will realize that you are not living by Christ. You are living something else, whether you call it the church life or local church custom. Unconsciously, you are living your culture.
The culture you live, moreover, is partly of your own creation. You have developed your own outlook on life. You have your own religion and philosophy. All these are distinct from everyone else’s. When you come to a crisis, you depend on this “superior” culture to carry you through. You Japanese brothers, for example, are all saved. You have the same Christ and the same Bible. You sing the same hymns and shout the same slogans. Yet not more than one hour of the day do you live Christ, forgetting yourself, forgetting Japanese culture, and forgetting each other. This may happen when you are praying or exercising your spirit in the meetings. The rest of the time you are living your self-imposed standards.
The same is true of those from the island of Mindanao or from Indonesia. Their life is ordered and controlled by the principles they have set up. They are critical of others who do not live up to their standard. They are pleased with how well they themselves abide by those standards.
The young sisters may have a high goal before them. They act properly and are grateful to the Lord for saving them and placing them in the church. But they feel they must do this and take care of that. This means they are setting up their own culture, instead of living Christ.
Some people are bothered by sin. To us sin may not be an issue. But the knowledge of science and philosophy, the practice of religion, and the influence of culture are still with us. It is by these that we live. We are not living Christ.
“As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” We are not to live in the self, or in religion, or in the law. We are in Christ, and we are to walk in Him. We must not let the traditions of men take us away from Him. Let religion go. Let the law go. Let culture go. Stay in Christ. He is above culture, philosophy, and religion. Live Him!
Who is this One? He is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Do not think of Him as far off on the throne above. As the Spirit He mingles with your spirit, making you one with Him. Stay in the Spirit. Let the Spirit be in control. When you are in spirit, you live Christ. Let Him be in charge, rather than your culture.
You have heard messages like this before, but have quickly forgotten. Before you know it, you will once again be back in your culture, living according to local church custom. You will be considering how to get along with others. You will try to think up pleasant words to say to smooth over a situation. Remember that whenever you are not in your spirit, you are not living Christ but something else.
Christ is the Spirit, giving life. Outside of Him there are countless things we take as substitutes. All such substitutes are other than He. Even the study of the Bible is not Christ. Only the Spirit is Christ. We must be in that Spirit, mingled with Him. To live Christ is to live in the Spirit. Care only for this one matter: be in spirit, live in spirit, walk in spirit, pray in spirit, and fellowship in spirit. Let other things go. Simply live Christ.
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