What do we mean by a "secular society"? The "secular" is frequently used in Christian circles as the opposite or counterpart of "sacred." Life is divided into two compartments, one of which is of interest to God and relevant to our Christian commitment, the other of which is considered to be of no interest to God and is therefore legitimately shaped by other commitments. But this view of the "secular" is unbiblical: nothing is outside of God’s concern or control, and nothing can be separated from our faith commitment. Secularism as used in these seminars will mean "seeking to divorce ourselves from God, to throw off his rule and claims on our lives."

The true opposite of the "sacred" is not the "secular" but the "profane" or the "polluted." The sacred for Israel meant that which was offered to God. The profane was that which was contaminated by sin or idolatry, and hence could not be offered to God. But in the "sacred/secular" dualism used by Christians, the "secular" means activities or areas of life which are legitimate but are independent of God. In this sense, there is no secular world. Everything is created by God and is of interest to him. Thus I will be using the term "secular" to mean the desire to shut God out, to exclude him from our activities, from our perception of reality, from our decision-making and our planning. This is an illegitimate approach to life, one which arises from rebellion against God, and one which has deeply infected the Christian church.

We need to recapture the Biblical vision of the wholeness of life. Only if we see life as all of one piece can we hope to understand our task in God’s world, for the Scriptures do not divide human life up into compartments. We cannot expect to live in a "secular" way (that is, a life which is even in part divorced from God) and expect to call ourselves "Christian." To live in accordance with Christian faith means to allow that faith to shape and direct everything that we do, not superficially, but at the very heart and root of our life. Only a life intrinsically shaped in every way by Christian faith is sufficient to guide us through life in obedience to God. To separate Christian faith from the whole cut and thrust of ordinary daily life is sub-Christian, it is not able to bring us into obedience to Christ in everything.

Christian faith is in fact a way of being in the world, a vision of life and a vision for life, which comes not from ourselves but from God. We are called to be God’s people, and therefore to live as God would have us live in everything that we do. How can there possibly be any part of life which is not subject to God? There is no basis on which we can claim that part of life is God’s, and the rest belongs to us. But that is in fact how we live and work. The principles, perspectives, ideals and goals which shape our lives are often not Christian, but secular, that is, God is left right out! We find it hard to see how God can be interested in such things as agricultural practice, or voting systems, or mortgage rates, or housing policies, or a host of other things which affect our society today. But the reason we find it hard to see how these things can be of interest to God is that we start with the assumption that they are of no concern to God, then proceed to live on that basis, and develop systems and institutions and ways of doing things in which God is not considered. It then seems perfectly natural to us that Christian faith has nothing to do then with all the myriad details of ordinary life. By defining daily life as "secular," that is, lying outside of our commitment to Christ, then we live in a secular way, and fail to see that what we are doing is in fact rebelling against God. We have rejected his right to rule over us in everything that we do, right at the very start when we assume that we can go right ahead and live as if God had no interest in these things. How then, having excluded God from the beginning, can we then bring him back in later on? We can’t, but we often try. We have organised life in such a way that God just doesn’t fit.

The only solution to this problem is to admit that we were wrong right at the start. We cannot exclude God from our considerations and then expect him to give his blessing on our lives. The solutions we try for our problems just don’t seem to work. No matter how hard we try to fix society, it just doesn’t seem to make any difference. The reason for this is not that society is unable to be fixed, but that we have not diagnosed the real problem, and are not applying the right solution. The problem with our secular society is that it is secular, that is, it has illegitimately excluded God from all consideration. We do not give any credence to God’s norms or standards for our lives, and refuse to consider any "religious" ideas when discussing how we ought to live. No wonder then that we can’t find the solutions to our problems, since we refuse to address the one problem which lies at the root of all other problems: our rebellion against God and the attempt to live life without any regard for him.

What does it mean to live as a Christian?

Living as Christians in a secular society means that we are at odds with the world around us. What we believe about life, human nature, our place and task in the world, the source of direction and order for society, all these things and more, place us outside of the mainstream of contemporary society. The main difference between Christians and non-Christians in such a society is that Christians acknowledge the sovereignty of God over all things, while the rest of society does not. Christians also see their place and task in the world differently to the non-Christian, and as a result they lead a different life. What is that Christian life all about?

In order to recover a Biblical perspective on life, one which calls us to obedience in everything that we do, we must recognise that everything we do is equally important to God. We cannot undertake any activity in life lightly, for we will be held to account for it at the day of judgement. Everything we do is rooted in our basic heart commitment, either to God or to an idol, and we are serving one or the other in our tasks. Since we have failed to give recognition to God in most areas of life, excluding them from our Christian vision, we have by default been seduced into serving the idolatrous spirits of the world-system, and have been alienated from God in many of our tasks in life. It is only as we recognise our failure to submit to God in everything that we will find forgiveness and renewal. If we continue to deny that Christ has any Lordship over the so-called "secular" areas of life, then we will continue to serve false gods in addition to the true God.

We were created to serve God in the task of caring for the earth and developing it for his glory. If we will not serve the true God then we will serve false gods. But there is no escaping from the fact that human beings are created servants and must serve something. We are not in control of our lives, we are in subjection either to God or some illegitimate spiritual power, and our commitment to them shapes what we do. Everything in life arises from the heart, and takes its direction from the commitment of the heart to God or to an idol.

So it is a serious thing to fail to develop our insights into the service of God in every area of life. It not only leaves us without true Biblical insight into life, it leaves us vulnerable to the spiritual powers of darkness, and if we will not follow God in every area of life, then we will follow false gods. We have failed to see that our sacred/secular split of life into separate compartments is not only a denial of the wholeness of life, it is also idolatry and apostasy from God.

So what is it that we are called to do? The human task is to care for and develop the earth. These two facets are very important. We are not simply to care for the earth; it is also to be explored and developed. That means that trees are not only to be valued for their beauty and environmental functions; they are also to be cut down and made into houses, furniture, artworks, paper, chemicals, and many other things. But in developing the creation which God has given us, we are also to exercise care for His creation. We are not to exploit it, nor to treat it in an idolatrous fashion, or refuse to develop it. We are to carry out our tasks in obedience before the Lord and to heed the calling and the direction he has given us as his human stewards of the creation he brought into being.

So then, we are called to care for this earth and its creatures (Genesis 1:26-2:25, Psalm 8) and to develop its riches in the service of God (Deuteronomy 10:12-11:32). In all things we are to act as stewards of God (Psalm 24).

Because God has called us to obedience in every area of life, that means that every area of life is important to him. Whatever we do all day, every day, God is interested in it and has commitment to us as we are engaged in it. While we may not think that God cares about the way we earn a living, our struggles to get to grips with education, our employment, our housework and gardening, cooking meals, fixing the car, our sports and hobby activities, all these and more are of intense concern to God. We are his creatures, and he cares for us and about us. He cares for everything that we do, because everything we do is but the outworking of what he has created in us.

God is interested in what we do each day because what we do is what he made us for. We were created to be active in this world, seeking its secrets, exploring its hidden treasures, struggling to comprehend it and delighting in it. He made is to have fun with his world, to make it into something that will not only interest and please us but interest and please God. There are far more things of intrinsic interest in this world than we can hope to comprehend, because God made it for his interest. If it is still interesting to God then there is plenty there to interest us. God is not bored with his world. He is not bored with us, or bored with our activities. He finds what we do more interesting than we can comprehend. If he knows even the hairs which fall from our head, and the death of a sparrow, then he is obviously taking careful note of what is going on.

God is not aloof from his world. He does not have to stay at a distance from it in order to remain pure or holy. God made this world, and there is nothing intrinsic in it which requires God to distance himself from it. It is only our sin which keeps God at a distance, and that sin is a principle of rebellion which has been introduced into the good world that God has made. There is nothing in the world itself which means that God must keep his distance. God is however, rejected by the "world," the system of rebellion against his rule, and every effort to exclude God from our consideration is a symptom of this "worldliness." Christians as much as non-Christians have failed to submit to God in their life in society, choosing to adopt the mentality and vision which arises from rebellion instead of obedience.

A spirituality which needs to isolate itself from the world that God has made, in order to remain pure and holy, is a false and unbiblical spirituality which is alienated from God, because it is alienated from what God has made. This world is not the cause of spiritual death and destruction, sin is. And if we were more involved in God’s world, we would be less worried about sin. If we were to take pleasure in life, and enjoy the world God has made, then we will have fewer problems with sin, because the more we are involved in this world, the healthier we will be spiritually. Involvement in God’s world brings us into touch with God. Paul said that the unbelievers could have known God from the things that he has made. Is it not strange that believers find it so difficult to know God from his creation, or that people who are related to God are unable to comfortably relate to God’s world?

Perhaps it is because our spirituality is so removed from the Biblical message concerning God’s creation and our own creatureliness that we no longer find anything of God in his world. And by involvement in God’s world I do not mean a romantic flight to the countryside, into the bush and the mountains away from people and human culture. That approach to seeing God’s glory in creation is inadequate and constricted. God’s creation is not restricted to majestic mountains and clear streams of water, birds in the forest and clouds in a clear blue sky. God’s creation is also seen in the bridges of steel which support constant heavy traffic, in the towering buildings which are held together by forces we barely understand, the intricacies of computer technology, the sophistication of telecommunications and complex transport networks. All these things and more are evidences of the way God has ordered his world, and are possible only because of the way God has made us.

The marvels of modern medicine, the wonders of research into chemistry and physics, the subtleties and colour of art and the richness of symphony music, the vigour and expression of rock music, the humour of comedians and the sensitivity of poetry, the excitement of the theatre and the pleasure of a quiet cup of coffee with friends, all these things are created by God and given shape and colour by human beings.

Yes it is true that these things are affected by sin. Yes, we do find corruption and vice, demonic powers and depraved humanity at work here. But it is the deceitfulness of sin and the rebellion of our own human hearts which leads us to reject these things as a result. God created all things, including these products of human culture. And what he created he loves and is concerned for. Because of the devastating work of sin in every area of human life, he sent his only son to die so that all these things might be returned to obedience to the Father, and that we might live in newness of life, turning away from following idols.

We have failed to see that the problem which affects all of human life is sin. Instead we have avoided those activities which have seemed to be most affected by sin. Sin however is not located in activities of one kind or another. Sin is rooted in the human heart, and whatever a human being decides to do will be infected by sin. There is no escape: sin follows us everywhere. We cannot get away from sin by avoiding some activities in life, by isolating ourselves from other people and what they do.

The world is the system of this age which is opposed to God. It cannot be identified with cultural activities. It comes to expression in anything which isolates human life from God, and in that the church has been thoroughly worldly. It has failed to see all of human life as God’s creation, and failed to uphold the Christian community in its many activities in God’s world.

Christ came to set us free from sin. He did not come to isolate us from activities of various kinds. Sin is not an intrinsic part of the creation or of activities within it. Sin is rebellion against God in whatever we do. Consequently, we can be involved in any human activity and see the redemption of Christ set it free from sin, and restore it in obedience to the Father. Christ came because the creation he had brought into being was being destroyed by sin, and he came to break the power of sin and set all things free. If that is so, then we cannot believe that to be a Christian means to be isolated from any of life’s activities. That is simply to hand the creation over to the power of sin and deny that Christ loves all that he has made.

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