Colin Woodward, a reporter for the Portland Press Herald, says that North America can be divided into 11 separate regions. Here’s his map of North America.
Each region has its own culture that is different from the other regions. It’s not that everyone thinks the same as everyone else, he says, “rather that they are all embedded within a cultural framework of deep-seated preferences and attitudes – each of which a person may like or hate, but has to deal with nonetheless.”
Whether or not Woodward’s regions are accurate, my point is that all people are part of a specific culture. Culture is the massive, complex sociological set of beliefs, customs, and behaviors that influence your attitudes, values, priorities, and practices. You do what you do largely because of the culture you are embedded in.
In the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul talks about culture, although he doesn’t use that word. He shows us that we can live in a culture that’s made up of God’s “deep-seated preferences and attitudes.” Read that section here: Ephesians 2:11-22.
The first culture Paul described were the Gentiles. All peoples, nations, families, and individuals who were not Jews, not members of Israel, the nation God had chosen as his own. Their title was simply “Uncircumcision” because they did not have the physical sign of belonging to Israel. Since “Gentile” includes various nationalities and races, their culture is described by comparison to Israel. So, their way of life came from being separate from the Messiah (Christ), excluded from the Israelite nation, foreigners to the covenant God made with Israel, and thus without hope and without God. All their beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices came into being without any connection with the truths God had revealed and the promises God had made to Israel.
Most of us are Gentiles. So that is our heritage. If the course of history had run naturally, that’s where we would be today – separate from God and his will and blessing.
Another culture Paul described were the Jews – “the commonwealth of Israel.” 
In fact, his own natural culture. The Jews, the people of Israel, had what the Gentiles didn’t have. They did have the promise of the Messiah; they did have a covenant with God; they had the laws and rituals God commanded them to practice. And they had the sign they belonged to God’s people, so they were called “Circumcision.”
It would seem that the Jews were in pretty good shape. But wait. There’s a problem. The Jews were actually using their culture for a barrier. Their promises and covenant and laws and symbols were used as a dividing wall between them and the Gentiles. God had given all those things to them to set them apart, yes, but not to divide them from the rest of humanity. Israel was supposed to be a light to the world and a blessing to all nations. They tried to turn the light off and keep the blessing to themselves. They put up a barrier so the Gentiles, who they called dogs, could not come to God. They had taken the idea that they belonged to God to mean that God belonged to them. It really didn’t matter what was in their hearts – enmity, hostility to all other peoples – they felt they were inside the walls with God. They looked at the Gentiles as outsiders and themselves as insiders. The Temple in Jerusalem had an actual wall built around its court and no Gentile was allowed inside it (in spite of Isaiah 56:7). The heart of the Temple was the Holy of Holies, where God was supposed to live. In fact, at the time Paul wrote to the Ephesians, it had been centuries since the Lord had made himself known there (Ezekiel 10 and 11). He wasn’t inside with the Jews. The walls of hostility and division and national pride in their hearts actually separated them from God as much as the Gentiles were separated.
Two warring camps, two rival gangs, two clashing cultures. Outsiders and insiders. And both were enemies of God.
Then along came Jesus. He broke down the wall. It can’t keep anyone out and can’t keep anyone in. There are no outsiders or insiders. He made one way for everyone to be reconciled to God. Everyone can be “brought near by the blood of Christ.” His death destroyed the barrier, broke through the separation, and we can be at peace with God. 
Now there exists another culture. Pay close attention here: Jesus didn’t say, “We’re going to go with the Gentile culture.” Even more surprising, he didn’t say, “We’re all going to live in the Jewish culture.” And he didn’t even make a melting pot or combination of the two. See the end of verse 15: he made “the two into one new man.” A new humanity. A new culture. A new set of beliefs, customs, attitudes, values, goals, and practices. The Christ culture. In Scripture, most commonly called the Kingdom of God.
Whatever our human cultural background, all of us who are in Christ Jesus belong to this new culture. (I have written about this before; see “New regime, new culture.”) Paul takes us through a line of thinking to show what it means. We’re “fellow citizens” like belonging to a new nation together. Then he tweaks that and says we’re “of God’s household” like being in a new family together. Then he fine-tunes that and says we’re a “holy temple.” We replace the Jerusalem Temple, but remember, the walls that divide have been destroyed. Nobody is an insider or an outsider. Now we’re united and the Lord God lives in all of us together. Now our cultural characteristics come from that. Our beliefs and attitudes and goals come from the fact that God lives in us and he makes us into a new kind of people. Our customs, values, and behaviors are shaped more by God’s presence than by the human culture we grow up in or live in or choose to identify with.
There’s something else about this new culture we’re part of, this new society we live in. If you want, you can go ahead and take your socks off. This might knock them off. Look at verse 18: “through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” “We both” means Gentiles and Jews – all of us. “Him” is Jesus Christ. So what we have here is us and the Son, the Spirit, and the Father. Us and the Trinity! We have access into the culture that’s made up of the Son, the Spirit, and the Father. We’re admitted into the society of the Trinity. We’re allowed to join the community of the Trinity. Jesus prayed for this to happen in John 17:21 – “that they [all believers] may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in you, that they also may be in Us…” We are invited to enter into and live in the fellowship that the Father, Son, and Spirit live in with each other!
The new culture we are part of is centered in a real connection we have with God the Father, Son, and Spirit. God lives in us and we live in him. We’re able to live as the people of God getting our way of life from that connection.
Many people identify strongly with a particular culture. A word that is sometimes used as a synonym for “culture” is “community.” An individual may express something important about who they are (or be identified by others as such) by stating they are a member of the _____ community. The blank gets filled with any number of terms. Often it will be a nationality or ethnicity, such as the black community, the white community, the Hispanic community, the Greek community, etc. It may be a region or area: the southern community, the European community, the western community, etc. There are many communities based on certain lifestyles and philosophies, and so we hear of being a member of the LGBT community, of the intelligence community, of the legal community, of the religious community, of the school community and so on. These are cultures shaping the attitudes, values, priorities, and practices of their “members.”
The “community” that concerns me the most right now is what I would call American Christian Nationalism. This is an attempt to blend the Kingdom of God and the United States of America. It’s only an attempt because it cannot really be done, but the attempt itself generates a culture that is widespread and powerful. American Christian Nationalism places allegiance to the US and devotion to God on equal or near-equal footing. Distinguishing characteristics of loyalty to the nation are joined hand in hand with those of faithfulness to God. Patriotism becomes co-equal with faith. The success of the US is tantamount to the success of Christ’s Kingdom. The US flag is displayed in churches next to the “Christian flag.” The deaths of soldiers in war for America’s freedom gets partnered with the death of Jesus on the cross. American Christian Nationalism perpetrates a doctrine of exclusivity: keep non-christians out of political leadership and maybe even out of the country. It advocates a dogma that the US is God’s chosen nation above all others, hence we have rights other nations don’t have (example: they shouldn’t have nuclear weapons but it’s okay for us). Within American Christian Nationalism the abundant life in Christ (John 10:10) seems to be identified as the American dream for financial prosperity and physical health – “the pursuit of happiness.” Government legislation and executive orders and judicial verdicts are expected to be used to enforce so-called “Christian” ideals and values. American Christian Nationalism influences the attitudes, values, priorities, and practices of many people.
Jesus created “one new man.” A culture made of the Trinity’s character, will, love, and desires. Something different than ethnicity or lifestyle or career choice or philosophy or nationality. We may continue to live within one of those cultures, but our access to the Father and our place in his nation, household, and temple – his Kingdom – transcend all those other “communities.”
We can live in the new culture of Christ. You have to believe that it’s true, that it’s real. You have to set your heart and mind on it. You have to want God more than anything. You have to make adjustments to your lifestyle. You have to reject the motives and priorities and methods of the non-Jesus culture. You have to act by faith in God for his grace and provision and leadership. You have to engage with God in a real relationship.
The new culture is God’s Kingdom. God ruling in Jesus Christ the King. Jesus said that the Kingdom comes within us and among us. He said that life in the Kingdom is abundant. He said we need to be born again by faith in him and enter the Kingdom. He said we should pray for the Kingdom to come, for God’s will to be done. He said we should seek the Kingdom first, more than any other culture, more than any other way of life. He said we should show the Kingdom to the whole world.
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