The Ministry of Resistance

The last thing our culture needs is to get its way more often.
Make no mistake, the gospel is going to make God's people different and that's reason enough to be different, but our difference serves a crucial purpose, culturally. I know that, in regard to our culture, the best thing for the church to do is to point to Jesus. But to be effective in doing so we need to practice this ministry of resistance.
It's like this. Say there's a car on the highway and the driver of the car is exceeding the speed limit recklessly. The driver is content to stay on the highway indefinitely but you know that there is a specific exit that must be taken for the health and happiness of the car and its occupants. And you can alert the driver as his exit approaches, but because of his speed he has no time to reflect, consider, or change lanes. If you are intent on him having a chance to choose the off ramp you have to get him to slow down before you can even point out the exit.
When the church is practicing the ministry of resistance that is what we are doing for our culture. We are providing a little big of drag. We're mixing things up and slowing things down and creating opportunities for culture's headlong impulses to be checked, opportunities for Christ to present himself as the new and living way.
Over the next several days I'm going to be highlighting some of the specific ways in which the church can and should practice this ministry of resistance, both doggedly and winsomely.