Counter-cultural. Ephesians 4.

On Sunday, we talked about Paul's greeting in chapter 1 -- "... to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 1:1b NET) Our understanding of who the saints are is colored by the history of the church, where this word came to take on a particular meaning. Today, many of us think of saints as only those who have led exemplary lives, like Mother Teresa, who is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church. But Paul meant all the believers -- those who were "holy" or set apart for God's work. As believers, our holiness stems from the work of Christ on the cross.

It's this idea of set apartness I want to look at today. In chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul describes a number of behaviors or characteristics that the saints should have, and some that they shouldn't. For example, he says in verse 29 that as saints, we shouldn't let any unwholesome talk out of our mouths, and instead speak words that build up others. Many, if not all, of these behaviors and characteristics ran counter to the culture of Paul's day -- and do to ours as well. Christians are to be counter-cultural!

In chapter 12 of Romans, we just read that we are to no longer conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed. Again, we are to be counter-cultural. It's not so much that we are defined by opposition to the culture, rather it's that we are called to be set apart from the culture -- because our priorities, our tasks, and our very being are rooted in the One we follow, Jesus. Not in the culture.

In Paul's day, and in the Gentile world, there were very distinct occasions where what the culture required ran counter to what a faith in Jesus required. The most obvious example is that the Caesar was to be considered a god, or a son of god. If you were a Christian, you couldn't consider that to be true. Likewise, there were gods all over the place -- in the market, in education, in the civic arena -- and sacrifices were to be made to one or more of these gods. Whoa, can't do that as a Christian, either. And much like today, the Christ was perfectly welcomed in the culture as yet another god, yet another truth if you will. That idea too was and is antithetical to what it means to worship the One God in three persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Aside from these obvious places where a faith in Jesus bumps into the practice of the culture, there is a whole set of values that run counter to the values of the culture. We've talked about many of them over the course of the year: to be first one must be last, Jesus came to serve, not to be served, blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, the peacemakers. In this chapter we see some of those values reiterated by Paul, and some of those values extended by Paul. In verse 2, for example, Paul says to live "... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." While gentleness was considered a virtue in the Greek world, humility, or meekness, was not. Unless you were someone who supposed to be servile because of your position in life.

The climax of Paul's instruction on living in holiness, comes in verses 17-24, with further instruction as to what "set apart" living looks like in the verses that follow. As he says, don't be like the others around you, living dark lives given to the fulfillment of appetites of indecency, and hardened to God's truths. Instead live as new creations in God's image, with righteousness and holiness that comes from the truth. Counter-cultural.

While the idea of the canonization of individuals as saints because of their exemplary lives and the inspiration they provide to others is a change from Paul's meaning, it's an understandable one. If we live as Christians in the culture, meeting the standards that Christ calls us to, the standards Paul reminds us of, then we might well look like saints -- extremely virtuous people -- to the rest of the culture. And it truly does set us apart.