When the church says to the world, “Hey, come up to God's high ground...,” we do this for the purpose of keeping the line of the applications of God's standards clear in order to press home the very matter that God has standards.
We don't want to de-fang the witness of faithful worship. Biblical worship has the teeth that the world is spiritually hungry for. People are spiritually hungry, but the reason for their hunger is because they continue to refuse to eat the food God has prepared. We need to serve up God's meal that meets man's need.
We must not shrink back from saying that the church's call is to have her worship culture out in front and center. Every church has a culture. Is it a biblical one?
Worship cultures are inescapable. And also, every realm of society has one---education, entertainment, business, neighborhood support groups, the medical community, volunteer clubs, athletic groups, charitable organizations, etc, etc, ----everyone has a culture (language, dress, rituals, forms of protocols and rules, leaders and followers, mission statements, etc, etc.).
The church is chiefly the organism to set the standards of her own culture that informs and transforms others. Every other sphere of society---relative to the home and to the state must take their cues from the church. She is at the center of God's witness. She needs to be different for the very purpose of being God's city on a hill; and to be His salt in the earth.
G. Mark Sumpter
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