Culture:

 The characteristic features of everyday existence

Why do Americans eat pizza with their hands but in Europe people use a fork and knife?

Why is it okay to slurp noodles in China but is considered rude in Canada?

Why is it okay to have a beach bathing suit Christmas party in Australia but it is not exactly comfortable in Germany?

Ever wonder about these things?

In Israel, roads are empty Friday Nights.  Meanwhile, very little work gets done in Sao Paulo Brazil in the month of February.

Such are examples of norms of a culture, a people’s group, a region or an entire country.  It is not a structure of “do’s and don'ts’” in an official government book taught to school children.  Rather, it is little things that are stitched together to make the quilt of a culture.  It is this quilt that then identifies or characterizes the people of a particular culture.  These things are learned by being in community and in fellowship with the people of that culture.

Just being in, living in, the culture, does not guarantee that the culture and its norms will be learned by those living in the culture.  Some things just have to be taught by those that are part of the culture.  Allow me to expand on this thought through a personal example. Despite having grown up in the southern culture of the USA most of my life, I had been ignorant of a small cultural norm and was quite stunned at the revelation that hit me one day.  The revelation?  The characteristic missed?  The significance of what being offered a drink meant.

What did I have to do after getting the revelation of what this cultural norm really meant?  Repent.  That is, I had to change and adjust my perspective and behavior.  I had to begin accepting the ice tea or drink offered, even if only for one sip!

I grew up in that culture but it was not MY culture.  In my family’s culture, the norm was that whatever you asked for in drink or food you were going to consume it.  Otherwise it was wasteful and you were considered ungrateful at the offering. In the south of the USA, the culture does not view the offering of a drink as just providing something to quench thirst.  Rather it is viewed as a gesture of hospitality and generosity.  The day this revelation hit me, I saw how MY culture and the culture of the region had been clashing most of my life!  By not accepting people's offering of a drink, I had been rejecting their hospitality and generosity.  I was insulting them and I didn't even know it!

This example is an illustration of the very culture clash that is occurring within the walls of the church.  The culture of the Kingdom is rising up as those calling themselves by His name are rising up in maturity and concecration.  As many mature, they are realizing that their ideals and their preferences do not match the culture of The Kingdom of God.  Rather, many are coming to the conclusion that what they have always viewed as “warfare” has actually been their own personal culture warring against The Kingdom of God.  As the call of holiness rises, what once was thought of as white is being revealed as dark gray.  The very fire of God is exposing what belongs and does not belong within the characteristics of everyday life of the mature sons and daughters of the Kingdom.

It is written, for the whole earth YEARNS for the manifestation of the Sons of God.  Can you imagine how this would sound if creation would be able to speak in the human tongue?:

For all creation is crying out, “when OH God, are Your sons and daughters going to mature and relieve us from the oppression of the enemy?  When oh GOD are they going to let go their childish ways, their infant ways, their adolescent fits, their teenage tantrums and embrace in full the maturity and character of Your Kingdom? Why must we suffer and watch them do nothing?  Do not they know they are Kingdom Citizens?”

As the termination of the age comes, and the establishment of The Kingdom of Jesus on earth comes ever closer, this clash of cultures will only become more obvious.  The sound of this clash of “Church” culture versus “The Kingdom” culture will just get louder.  As God exposes the immaturity within us and demands of us to put away things and walk in the maturity of a Son and a Daughter of the Kingdom, the intensity of the culture wars will increase.

Paul talked about this when he wrote down, “when I was a child, I spoke as a child.”  Many believe the Kingdom is the removal of their shackles from religion and traditions into allowances to do what was formerly forbidden.  A freedom of no longer walking in the do and don'ts of their former religion.  Their new found freedom allows them to drink that glass of wine.  They feel the liberty to eat that slice of bacon.  Suddenly they feel they can use “vernacular cultural language” expletives, to emphasize their intensity or emotions and be “relatable to the lost.”

When this new found freedom is viewed as escaping from a restrictive and controlling religious culture, a clash of their former culture associations and their new “found” freedoms occurs.  In their immaturity, many toss out the wisdom learned and earned from the healed scars of others.  A tension rises between norms and behavior.  This tension can quickly and often does become a battle of my freedom versus “their bondage.”  Many justify it, by declaring this tension as The Kingdom versus the world.  The truth is that it is a clash of maturity versus selfishness.

A child learning to walk has its parents watching each step.  Soon there are fences to keep the child from walking to or running into harm.  Eventually enough trust is developed that the parent lets the child lose in a park or playground. The progression of trust and maturity is often overlooked. Indeed it is often the journey itself that is the only thing that can brings on maturity in certain areas.  Some, just like in the natural world, stop this journey.  For whatever reason, they get “stuck” and stubbornly dig in while trying to fulfill their own selfish desires and wants.  The world, calls it the “terrible two’s”  or the stubborn teenage years, or the “me” state.  

Paul calls it out simply by saying:

 “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”

As children grow, their independence becomes very self centered.  Selfishness does not need to be taught, rather, sharing does.  If not tempered or corrected, this selfishness manifests itself into various things, what Paul called the works of the flesh in his letter to the Galatians:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are:

sexual immorality,

Impurity,

indecent behavior,

idolatry,

witchcraft,

hostilities,

strife,

jealousy,

outbursts of anger,

selfish ambition,

dissensions,

factions,

envy,

drunkenness,

carousing,

 and things like these,

of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God

So how does the culture of the Kingdom come into the midst of all these fruits of the flesh?  In a very simple way, its citizens learn the disciplined life of consecration and walking in honesty.  They learn that, though there is grace for mistakes, it is not an excuse to walk according to their own desires and flesh.  Jesus spoke of how to accomplish this, He said, “WHEN you fast.”

You see Jesus was not saying IF you feel “led to fast”.  IF you feel convicted to fast, IF you are trying to get something from God and therefore fast to “qualify” yourself.  No Jesus plainly stated, “WHEN you fast.”  You see the flesh wants what it wants.  Even when trying to find God’s will in a situation, the flesh can deceive us into witchcraft by masquerading selfish desires and wants, as prayer requests and seeking agreement from others.  This is why many will try to justify and use any reason why they DON’T fast.  In essence they want to KEEP what their selfishness and flesh desires.

In the attempt to keep control of things, many live in a perpetual season of arrested development.  One can see this pattern by watching for circular recurring patterns in one's own life and lives of others. The names, places and faces may change, but the pattern remains.  Why?  Because somewhere there is a refusal to let go of childish ways.  Fasting helps to uncover, or rather it exposes, the desires of the flesh, the root issues that are holding one in that circular pattern, never experiencing forward movement, breakthrough, in a situation. 

Jesus said “WHEN” cause it is just a norm of the Kingdom, an expected behavioral trait of someone IN The Kingdom.  Fasting is simply denying the flesh, the very thing it requires to survive, food.  Fasting is not stopping the use and watching of media consumption.  It is not going away from weekend social activities.  It is not the denial of certain foods and replacing it with other foods.  It is not stopping the consumption of steak but still ordering pizza.  One can survive without ever having a mobile phone, social media, or pizza night again.

No, fasting is simply denying the flesh the very thing it demands to exist, food.  It declares that greater is THE SPIRIT than the flesh and its desires.  That is why many fail to breakthrough the circular enslaving patterns in their life.  Many try to justify NOT facing their own desires and wants through twisting maneuvers and using their own definition of fasting.  Simply, many want to keep control and not surrender.  You see, fasting shows us just how weak we really are, and the desperate need of a Savior and that only through the strength of the Spirit of God could we overcome.

WHEN, indicates that it is a norm, a known expectation of the culture.  It is something that is practiced and expected from the culture.  Just as a great play performance is rewarded by its audience with clapping or standing ovations.  As children in The Kingdom grow in maturity, certain behaviors are no longer recognized as proper.  Rather the expectation is that those behaviors are replaced with behaviors of maturity.  The younger in the faith, learn of the expected behavior by the observation of the fruit produced in others they see as matured.

Maturity in The Kingdom, however, is not defined by longevity or length or years.  In the Kingdom, the age of a person is NOT a direct indication of maturity.  The culture of the Kingdom uses a different criteria.  The criteria?  The level of surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, the Fear of the Lord and quickness of Obedience.

The immature says, “I can drink this cocktail and show myself out dinning and dancing” because I can control myself, and I'm only ordering “virgin” drinks.  The mature say, “Though I can order these drinks and enjoy the one drink.  The younger people are watching, they are still learning, my liberty will cause them to have a way to justify their former behavior, they won't stop at one drink and fall back into their former circular behaviors.  Therefore, I CHOSE not to go to that club, and chose not to order that cocktail and post it on my media pages.  I understand the younger people are watching and learning and I CHOSE not to be a stumbling block for the littlest of ones.”

That is why the mature, fast. The mature try not to redefine what it is.  The mature fast because it kills the flesh and allows the Spirit of God to reveal all the hidden selfish motives and desires within them.  The mature have learned that fasting removes the selfish fleshy shades and filters obscuring the truth of a matter.  The mature say, “Search me OH LORD, and reveal ANY hidden thing inside of ME.”  It is only through fasting that some revelations and transformations can occur.  It is only through fasting that certain strongholds and patterns are broken and the heart can thus be transformed to a heart full of gratitude and joy.

These characteristics are  exactly what Paul wrote to the Romans about:

for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,

but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The culture of the kingdom is one of peace, not “your peace” but God’s peace.  Not our own self-righteousness, but God's righteousness.  Not our own definition of Joy, but Joy that comes from a life of surrender and being full of the Holy Spirit.

It is this Joy that gives a citizen of the Kingdom a heart of gratitude, and gladness.

David sang about it:

Enter His gates with thanksgiving 

Enter His courts with praise.

A life of gratitude is indeed a hallmark of a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Gladness and joy fill the hearts of those whose hearts are full with the oil of gladness coming from God's heart.  These attitudes permeate their actions, words, and deeds. This way of life has a rhythm, those that have surrendered to its beat, learn how to dance to it.

At first, the dancers might feel awkward and clumsy as they try to dance to its beat.  They might stumble a bit and even step on a few toes, as they learn how to dance in a room full of dancers.  As they mature and learn to dance, they learn to dance with others in unison and in their own unique style.  They do so as the rhythm of their own heartbeat synchronizes to the rhythm of God’s own heart beat.

It is through the learning of this dance, that people learn the culture of the Kingdom of God.  They learn what it is to surrender to the Lordship of the Lord of Lords.  For He said that His yoke is easy and His yoke is light.

It is light because His heart is a heart of generosity, lavishly giving with no strings attached.  He gives not rocks when His children ask for bread.  When He provides, He does not provide just the bare minimum.  And those in His Kingdom learn this characteristic of generosity and lavishly giving because they have experienced the lavish and unmerited favor of God themselves.  Having both experienced and learned this behavior, they themselves can’t help but extravagantly give and live a life of generosity. 

God’s character is shown throughout scriptures.

He GIVES seed to the sower.

He SENDS rain on the righteous and unrighteous.

He so loved, He GAVE is ONLY Son.

Yes, the culture of the Kingdom is one mark with lavish giving and expecting nothing in return.  It is something that the world knows not about.  Rather, the world gives to receive something back.  From the gambling halls of Vegas and Mote Carlo, to the “investment” funds of the stock market, the world expects to get something back from what they “Give.”  God’s kingdom however does not work this way.   The motivating factor of The Kingdom is to bless so that the one receiving the blessing may increase and their burdens may be made lighter.

The generosity of the kingdom is demonstrated in the very life and death of Jesus, who GAVE all he had, just so that we may have the opportunity to choose or reject Him.  With hope, that we would choose Him, He Gave.  He GAVE with no guarantee that we would choose Him.  This very example is then demonstrated in The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:

They Overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and did not love their own life even when faced with death.

They even choose death because of the Love they learned and received from the ONE that is love, who said:

Greater Love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Everything else will fade away, but Love will remain.  And His kingdom is a Kingdom that is everlasting.  That is why Kingdom Citizens learn and from their transformed hearts exhibit the culture of The Kingdom, whose central and core theme is to Love extravagantly, unselfishly, and generously.