Choosing your culture

All of us have developed a culture that influences and impacts every area of our lives. But so often, we’re not even aware that this is the case.

As believers, how can we ensure that we have the culture of the Kingdom of God guiding and influencing our lives?

Key Points & Scriptures

For our purposes, I want to define culture as:

The combination and expression of Values, Attitudes and Behaviors.

The values, attitudes and behaviors (or habits) that are present in our lives make up our culture.
Our values influence our attitudes and our attitudes in turn influence our behaviors.
Culture is both individual and corporate.
- We’re influenced by the culture we’re surrounded by.
- We also influence those around us with the culture that exists in our lives.

Why is it important for us to think about the culture that’s present in our lives?

Philippians 2: 12-13

One moment Paul is saying we’re to work out our salvation. The next moment he’s saying that it’s God who works in us. Which is it?
- It’s both.
- The expression of our salvation is a process that we’re supposed to engage in.

But we can only work it out because he works it in.
It happens with us and not just to us.
If we’re going to work out our salvation, we need the culture of the Kingdom of God operating in us.
We’re talking about working OUT not ON our salvation

As believers, how can we ensure that we have the culture of the Kingdom of God guiding and influencing our lives?

We have a choice about the culture that is present in our lives.
3 aspects to choosing or building the correct culture:
- We need to: Create, Cultivate and then Curate the values, attitudes and behaviors of the Kingdom.

Create

We can only work it out because God works it in. So, this isn’t self-help. It’s working in partnership with the Holy Spirit to see God’s good purpose fulfilled in our lives.
- Culture happens either accidentally or purposefully.
- I don’t know about you but I want the culture in my life to be deliberate.
- In and of ourselves we can’t create or generate anything good. So this isn’t about us doing it ourselves, it’s about cooperating with the Holy Spirit so that he can do it.
- Part of that cooperation is intentionally pursuing the things of God. This puts us in a place where He can change us more and more into the image of Jesus.
God has provided everything we need to see His Kingdom principles operating in our lives:

Ezekiel 36: 26 -27
- When we get saved God performs a heart replacement. With that new heart come Kingdom values and attitudes that influence our behavior.
- That doesn’t mean that we don’t sin and get it wrong, or have wrong thoughts and motives. It’s an ongoing process.
- But as we respond to his prompting and leading, we’ll start expressing the values and attitudes of the Kingdom in greater and more powerful ways.

Cultivate

To cultivate is to prepare the ground, plant a crop and then develop it until it’s time for the harvest.
- Kingdom Culture should grow and touch every part of our lives.
- Like any type of culture, it develops over time. It doesn’t arrive in our lives fully formed.
- It needs to be planted, fed and watered.
It takes care and effort.
- The phrase “Make every effort…” appears quite a few times in the NT.
  - Jesus said “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door”
  - The writer of Hebrews encourages us to make every effort to enter the rest that God offers.
What areas of our lives remain uncultivated?

Hosea 1: 12

Curate

To curate something is to care for and look after it.
- We need to specifically and deliberately pick the things that contribute to the culture we want to see grow in our lives. And then guard them.
- If we think of our lives as an art gallery, then the different aspects of culture become the pieces that we hang on the walls.
- We can pick what goes on the walls. Our walls, our choice.
Some aspects of Kingdom culture that we should be curating:
- Service
- The fruit of the Spirit
- Generosity
- Being ready in season and out
- Walking according to the spirit not the flesh
- Prayer
- Tithing
- Reading and being read by the Word

Conclusion

My challenge to us all is this: Let’s choose our culture carefully, a culture that lines up with the word and the spirit. Then, in partnership with the Holy Spirit go create, cultivate and curate it.

Life application questions

Hosea 1: 12 – Which areas of my life are currently unploughed and need breaking up?
From the list above, which aspects of Kingdom culture should I be curating next?
What other aspects, that aren’t on the list, is the Holy Spirit highlighting?

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