Of all the creators and cultivators who have ever lived, Jesus was the most capable of shaping culture through his own talents and power—and yet the most culture-shaping event of his life is the result of his choice to abandon his talents and power. The resurrection shows us the pattern for culture-making in the image of God. Not power, but trust. Not independence, but dependence.
—Culture Making, p.145
It is often observed that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus takes the commandments of the Law, which applied to external behavior, and applies them to the internal state of human hearts—but his prescription for changing the heart involves changes in culture. Prayer will no longer take place primarily on street corners, but in quiet rooms. Divorce and remarriage will no longer be blithely tolerated as long as the divorcing party follows the letter of the law. The cultural practice of swearing oaths will be eliminated. The language and the look of prayer and fasting will change. The followers of Jesus will begin to demonstrate a new set of horizons for human life to their neighbors and even to their enemies—the horizons of shalom, the horizons of true humanity living in dependence on God.
—Culture Making, p.139