John Wayne, James Dean, Mr. Rogers, Mickey Mouse, Oprah Winfrey… cultural icons. These people – more than just shape our culture – they are our culture. What about Jesus? Is Jesus also a cultural icon? What is His relationship to culture – the way we, as a people, live and think and relate to each other? Richard Niebuhr described several ways Christians relate to culture. First, Christ against Culture. Second, Christ of Culture. Christ and culture – or at least the highest expressions of culture – are in agreement. The Roman Emperor Constantine exemplified this model when, after he became a Christian, he tried to make the entire Roman civilization Christian. Some Americans (perhaps unknowingly) subscribe to this view when they insist that America is a “Christian nation.” Even well-meaning missionaries sometimes too closely align Christ with western culture. This view, however, ignores the universal effects of sin. Human sin has corrupted everything in this world. This is not to say that everything is totally evil, but it is to say that nothing is the way it’s supposed to be. Culture – even the highest expressions of culture – are corrupt. Culture is corrupt because it’s human culture, human ways of living, thinking, and relating. Jesus’ disciples, though they are sent into the world, “do not belong to the world” (John 17:14,18).