Now, it is not the word “lifestyle” that is dangerous, for that word is merely a way to describe “a particular way of living,” according to Merriam Webster. Lifestyle is a reference to choices we make that are not based on nutrition, or necessity, or engineering limitations, or laws of physics. It consists of choices based on the colors and textures and flavors we personally prefer, a way of living when we are affluent enough to choose between different ways to live. Lifestyle is the experience of the middle class and the rich. The poor can’t afford to pay attention to that word.

Here is where the danger lies. Lifestyle describes a way of living without identifying any moral qualities to those choices. In a crude way we could describe the famed life of “Bonnie and Clyde” with their string of robberies and murders as just a lifestyle. The Palestinian leadership that recruits and arms suicide bombers while living safely away from the destruction they foment are living a “particular way.” A serial murderer lives a particular way. Someone addicted to pornography lives a particular way. Someone who habitually lies or habitually gossips lives a particular way.

These are harsh and no doubt extreme examples of “lifestyle.” But they illustrate the point that a lifestyle is not necessarily harmless. Our “particular way of living” affects the people around us. When we have lifestyle choices that are harmful, we exhibit a “particular way of living” destructively.

Now the word “lifestyle” does not necessarily refer to living dangerously. Jesus lived courageously in the face of death threats, and hostility. He “loved righteousness, and hated iniquity” (Hebrews 1:9). His peace in the midst of war was a lifestyle, an honorable one. His decency in the face of antagonism and hatred was a lifestyle, a holy one.

Esther the queen had a particular way of living in her palace. She also had a particular way of living when she faced the danger approaching her fellow Jews by coming out of the closet rather than avoiding conflict while her people were killed.

Daniel had a particular way of life as an official statesman in Babylon. He also had a way of living that told the truth to Belshazzar and to Nebuchadnezzar when he could have been killed by both. He had a way of living a life of prayer when he was the highest official serving the king or the highest creature in the lion’s den.

Joseph had a particular way of life as the assistant of Pharaoh in Egypt. He also had a way of living that was kind to his brothers when they sold him as a slave and when he was powerful enough to make them all slaves.

Our way of living, our choice of lifestyle reveals character. When we are wealthy enough to buy a car, do we buy one that is focused only on demonstrating our own achievement or one that is pleasant to look at, safe to drive, and serves others as well as ourselves? When we can afford a house, have we purchased one with a consideration for how we can benefit others as well as meet our own needs? Or is our house a way to glorify and pamper our own egos and bodies? Do we dress ourselves as a courtesy to others or as a way of looking to gain other people’s attention and focus it on ourselves?

Character matters immensely. For the last six millennia at least, Satan has sought to compete with Jesus. He wants the power and influence of Jesus. And in this world he has had power and influence. But that power and influence have hurt us all. The devil has rejected the character of Jesus.

Jesus came to our world without political power and without worldly influence. People asked themselves whether any good could ever come from His family, from His hometown of Nazareth. Jesus had no army or administration. His only servants slowed Him down rather than helped Him. He did not have a house or car or prestige or trophies. Everything He achieved was achieved by character.

Two thousand years later we are still benefiting from His character. Even people that do not value Jesus as the face of God, value His words that we should love those that hurt us. Satan has to keep lying to us every day for us to keep following Him. Jesus spoke and two thousand years later we are still thankful for His character.

Our current civilization has abandoned the value of character. Many of those who have chosen to abandon the value of character have done so as a way to hide from their own defects of character. Changing the standard of character, changing the definition of morality is a way of lying to ourselves that we are all right, even though our conscience reminds us that we are at least mildly destructive to our relationships and our surroundings. (All of us are sinners and sin is destruction, therefore to be a sinner is to be destructive.)

But we cannot end this summary of the concept of “lifestyle” for the Christian without considering the opposite danger in the word “lifestyle.” This danger is the desire to control everyone else’s “lifestyle” and therefore their life. Realizing that lifestyle can be harmful, some people undertake to seek control of all lifestyle choices. To use extreme cases again, certain Anabaptist churches legislate that black-colored cars are not harmful but yellow and red colored cars are destructive. In their particular congregations one can only own a black-colored car or be thrown out of the church—which is not a great problem, unless your favorite color is yellow or red. Yet to these men and women, the lifestyle choice of purchasing a red car rather than a black one is of great moral significance.

Does God give to His church the responsibility and right to determine what is right and wrong in a lifestyle? Are His people to create the definition of morality? No. God has never given to any man (or woman) or group of men (or women) the duty or privilege of determining right and wrong. God is the only authority on morality.

“Human teaching is shut out. There is no place for tradition, for man’s theories and conclusions, or for church legislation. No laws ordained by ecclesiastical authority are included in the commission. None of these are Christ’s servants to teach. ‘The law and the prophets,’ with the record of His own words and deeds, are the treasure committed to the disciples to be given to the world. Christ’s name is their watchword, their badge of distinction, their bond of union, the authority for their course of action, and the source of their success. Nothing that does not bear His superscription is to be recognized in His kingdom.”1

But the church needs to express the truth of Christ as applied to our current circumstances.

In the 1800s certain styles of clothing were “fashionable.” It was customary to use strings and other methods to reduce the size of a woman’s waist. Seventh-day Adventists spoke out against this particular form of dress as nonsensical and oppressive. They were not opposed to the development of colors and increase in complexity of clothing made possible by the industrial revolution per se. Rather, they opposed a particular way of dressing that harmed the health of the particular women who used it. They opposed the mindset of a man who asked a lady to destroy her own health and usefulness to look “pretty.” This was not an attempt to govern all clothes. It was a principled opposition to clothing that weakened health and shortened life.

It was also an opposition to pretending to be richer than you were. These corsets were not the clothes of farm life but were being adopted in masse as farm families tried to appear “wealthier” and as small business families tried to show off their new wealth. The point was not only to be sensible and healthy while looking good. It was also to resist the pressures of conformity to richer people. It was a rejection of symbols of middle class affluence when those symbols interfered with health, decency, and ultimately heaven.

The church does not have the authority to ordain what is a good lifestyle in the place of God. But the church is required by God to speak out about what He calls a good lifestyle and to warn those who are practicing destructive lifestyles of the danger of their self-destruction.

The work of the church is not to force people into a good lifestyle, but to remind our world of the Lamb of God who loves each one of us. It is to declare that Jesus offers His power to change our desires from harmful lifestyles to healthy ones. It is to tell of that power of God to create in us a love for a lifestyle of obedience to Him that is available to anyone at any time that he or she honestly and persistently prays for it.