Culture is like the air we breathe; it’s all around us and so, it often times goes unnoticed. Take, for instance, a swear word. What makes one word “acceptable” and another word requires personal repentance? When it comes to English, would you believe that much of it goes back to a battle fought approximately one thousand years ago? When William the Conqueror and the Normans defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings, not only did it shape the political landscape but the cultural one as well, including language. So, the “F word”, which was used by the Anglo-Saxons, fell out of favour; whereas, the term, “fornicate”, describing the same act, became the proper speech. One term I can print and the other must go unnamed. Imagine if the battle had gone the other way. The Saxon word, “piss”, would be the proper term and the Norman word, “urinate”, would be deemed crude. As unseemly as it may be, we do require acceptable ways to speak about bodily and sexual function, however, God didn’t determine the standard, William the Conqueror did.

How many of us have been involved in a church community in which the clear instruction was to abstain from certain activities without any clear biblical grounding? I grew up thinking that movies, playing cards and alcohol were tools of the Devil. Upon further reflection and maturity, it became apparent to me that Christians in other places had a whole different perspective on these matters. A few years ago, while visiting my parent’s home for holidays, we all enjoyed a glass of wine over the meal, and then a robust game of cards, followed by the watching of a recent release video, prompting me to ask: What aliens have taken over my parent’s bodies? Clearly, what was once unacceptable in our home has changed but what part did God have in that?

The concept of acceptability is exactly what Jesus confronted in the Sermon on the Mount. Lawyers, bless their hearts, had worked it all out of us, what pleased and displeased God. You could call someone a “fool”, an acceptable term, but “Raca” was a sin. You could fantasise in your mind after another as long as you didn’t act on it. Jesus declares the hypocrisy of this system, pointing out that all unrighteousness finds its source in the human heart and thus, the heart is the very thing in need of cleansing and redemption.

So where are we going with this? Should you expect to hear cursing in my next sermon series?

1. We can be conscious of how our culture, both rightly and wrongly, imposes itself upon us often times with biblical conviction.
2. The Bible also challenges us to temper our freedom for the sake of others. In other words, certain words will offend people but just remember that even “acceptable” words said out of a wrong heart can offend our God.
3. When considering culture, let’s give each other a large dose of grace. Personal convictions are great but let them remain personal.

We can learn to deal with life from a heart perspective. We are challenged to avoid crude jesting, which may or may not invoke the use of “bad” words. The great idea is: What does God desire of His people? Let’s aspire to be people shaped, not by our culture, but by the Lord and His Word.