Being in the world
This week's study is on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23:
Someone mentioned recently that Jesus was born in a specific time, in a specific place, and in a specific cultural context. It was in the context of how we need to be culturally accessible to the societies we live in, but all I could think of was the brilliance of God's plan. God placed Jesus in exactly the time and place he needed to be in order to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish during his ministry on Earth.
Jesus was born in Israel right around the time of the Roman occupation. Why then? And why was he born a Jew, and not a Roman? Or for that matter, why was he born in Israel and not in some foreign land? Why didn't he appear as a wise man from the east, or as an Aztec warrior showing up on the shore in a boat adorned with the skulls of his vanquished foes? None of the details of his placement were an accident. He was introduced into the perfect place and time for what he needed to do to heal "the church" and restore his position with mankind.
From that I started thinking about DNA splicing, and how we cure some disorders now by infecting people with the common cold, modified to splice in the DNA needed to correct the "flaw." Just one tiny organism introduced into the body and it is forever changed for the better. It requires such a high level of design and understanding to get it right. Who is to say that God doesn't approach ministry with the same scientific brilliance, splicing himself into the culture of the moment to make the needed changes?
Jesus was able to affect God's people at the time, the Jews, in ways that only a Jew would have been able to do. He wasn't wealthy or poor. When he did his ministry he wasn't particularly old or young. He was the sort of person who would have had lots of experiences that people would relate to. He didn't live in a special Christ colony and just mix with the Jews for tent meetings. He was a Jew. He spoke the language, wore the clothes, understood the jokes, sang the music, ate the food, etc. He understood what it was like to be a normal guy living under brutal occupation and trying to make a living for himself and those he loved.
He showed the Jews that it was possible to live as a good Jew without the experience being brokered by the parasitic Pharisees and Sadducees. He demonstrated God's kingdom on earth, the same as we're supposed to do. He channeled God's power and authority into situations around him. Would that have worked if he was a Roman Centurion riding up in a chariot to lay down the law and crack some heads? If he'd showed up as an eastern magi, would he have been able to make the same point? Even if he'd shown up all glowy and divine like an angel, what would it have accomplished in the church? We still have to live our lives. How could he have demonstrated to the Jews how to live as a righteous Jew if he wasn't clothed in Jewishness?
Even Paul's ministry is brilliantly placed. Fast forward a bit into the future after Jesus was gone. You've got a bigoted genocidal religious policeman out killing off Jesus' followers. God's plan is to reach the Gentiles more aggressively, but he picks that guy?! Aren't there any Christians in first century Israel who aren't murderers? But what better picture of God's grace? And who better to reach the Gentile community and still keep it united with the Jewish Christian community than a Jew who grew up in Turkey surrounded by various Gentile peoples? He knew what it was like to live as a Jew, but at the same time he was a Roman citizen and knew how to live discretely in Roman society, among Romans, not looking at them like they're zoo animals.
But what does that mean for us? And how do the verses mix in? Jesus, and Paul, and countless other representatives of God's kingdom over the years, all lived as the people they tried to reach. As a Church, and as churches, and as cell groups, and as individuals, we should follow their example in being among the people we're trying to reach too. Paul was a Jew among Jews and a Gentile among Gentiles. What does that mean? It means he's not walking up to the Jews eating a bacon cheeseburger and lecturing them on Jesus, and he's not going around trying to give Gentiles Torah lessons. When he was around Jews, he drew upon his Jewish traditions, and when he was around Gentiles, he kept the same sensibilities that allowed him to exist peacefully in Roman territory all his life.
Non-christians have mocked the church for being culturally irrelevant. They describe the church as a bunch of sixteenth century noblemen showing up in robes with their "thees" and "thous" and "shalts" and "verilys' lecturing them on how to live in the twenty first century. Who is going to listen to somebody like that? The Catholic church had the wisdom in the 1960s to phase out services in Latin. They recognized that by speaking a strange (but beautiful) language, they were living in a different world than the people they were trying to reach. Yet, if I had to place American protestant Christian culture, it would be like a southern 1950s businessman trying to reach northerners in the modern day, or a kid from the late 1980s trying to be cool now. It's almost there, but it still doesn't fit!
Why don't we see it? The problem comes from hanging mostly around other people from church. Even if your church isn't "churchy" like the Church, it still has its own culture and inside jokes. If it's big enough, sometimes it has its own dress and hairstyles too. If you're not living in the world, hanging out with family and coworkers and secular friends, how will you know if culture has passed you by? If they don't see you as one of them, how much weight can your testimony hold? Maybe Jesus is just another ill-fitting piece of your strange alien culture, not something they can accept? "Christianity is for 'those people'!" It's even more of an issue for missionaries, who waste a lot of time demonstrating American culture instead of finding how to present Jesus from inside of the world their converts live in.
The psychology of how people recognize someone as being part of their social group is a whole different subject, but it is very real. Paul didn't try to turn Gentiles into Jews. Neither did Jesus. What they did was demonstrate God's love and power inside of the culture they were part of. They were spliced into a particular group of people at a particular time for a particular purpose. They became part of that group, while at the same time being Christians. In the same sense that Jesus was simultaneously God and man, Paul was simultaneously Christian and Jew, or Christian and Roman. We might be Christian and American, Christian and Chinese, Christian and Irish, Christian and nerd, Christian and full time military, Christian and retired, Christian and a recovering addict, etc.
The point is that we don't live separately from the people around us. We don't have our own world. We share a world with other people who don't know our God. Much like an American ambassador to a country like Spain, we have to sort of exist in two cultures at the same time. He's American, and has American authority and is an expert in things American, and would be rescued by the American military if he was hurt, but he also speaks Spanish, eats Spanish food, hangs out with Spanish people, watches Spanish movies, and is up on the things Spanish people care about. If Spanish people have a question about America or want America's help with something, they know he's someone they can talk to, in Spanish, and get their answer. He's an American, but in a way he's one of them too.
If you're lucky enough to be called to a specific people group, start thinking about how you can meet some of them. You may need to move. Paul didn't start reaching Gentiles from inside of an impregnable Jew fortress. He went out to the places and hung out with them. He walked around and prayed. He studied their culture and debated with them. God has a plan to get you there, but sometimes he likes you to play along.
If you don't have a specific ministry calling, start looking at where God has put you. Who do you hang out with? What communities do you have ties to? Pray into it. If you keep running into Peruvians, ask yourself "Hey, how come I keep running into Peruvians, no matter where I go?" God doesn't do stuff by accident. He's not clumsy or disorganized. But he's also not going to live your life for you either. Maybe he's delivered you to a specific place and time like he did Jesus.
There's something very humbling and Christlike in putting aside your culture and living amongst a different people group. Jesus temporarily gave up the ecstasy of being in perfect communion with the Father and Holy Spirit to spend thirty-something years in hot primitive conditions trying to reach out to a bunch of stubborn stuck up self-righteous people in the midst of a smoldering conflict they were on the losing end of. What could you possibly give up to match that? He put aside his direct God-power and lived among the people he came to save.
It couldn't have been comfortable to Paul to be sitting around with Gentiles eating non-kosher food, wearing non-kosher clothes, being called a traitor by his Jewish friends for doing so, but his letter to the Corinthian church sums it up: "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. [...] I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Someone mentioned recently that Jesus was born in a specific time, in a specific place, and in a specific cultural context. It was in the context of how we need to be culturally accessible to the societies we live in, but all I could think of was the brilliance of God's plan. God placed Jesus in exactly the time and place he needed to be in order to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish during his ministry on Earth.
Jesus was born in Israel right around the time of the Roman occupation. Why then? And why was he born a Jew, and not a Roman? Or for that matter, why was he born in Israel and not in some foreign land? Why didn't he appear as a wise man from the east, or as an Aztec warrior showing up on the shore in a boat adorned with the skulls of his vanquished foes? None of the details of his placement were an accident. He was introduced into the perfect place and time for what he needed to do to heal "the church" and restore his position with mankind.
From that I started thinking about DNA splicing, and how we cure some disorders now by infecting people with the common cold, modified to splice in the DNA needed to correct the "flaw." Just one tiny organism introduced into the body and it is forever changed for the better. It requires such a high level of design and understanding to get it right. Who is to say that God doesn't approach ministry with the same scientific brilliance, splicing himself into the culture of the moment to make the needed changes?
Jesus was able to affect God's people at the time, the Jews, in ways that only a Jew would have been able to do. He wasn't wealthy or poor. When he did his ministry he wasn't particularly old or young. He was the sort of person who would have had lots of experiences that people would relate to. He didn't live in a special Christ colony and just mix with the Jews for tent meetings. He was a Jew. He spoke the language, wore the clothes, understood the jokes, sang the music, ate the food, etc. He understood what it was like to be a normal guy living under brutal occupation and trying to make a living for himself and those he loved.
He showed the Jews that it was possible to live as a good Jew without the experience being brokered by the parasitic Pharisees and Sadducees. He demonstrated God's kingdom on earth, the same as we're supposed to do. He channeled God's power and authority into situations around him. Would that have worked if he was a Roman Centurion riding up in a chariot to lay down the law and crack some heads? If he'd showed up as an eastern magi, would he have been able to make the same point? Even if he'd shown up all glowy and divine like an angel, what would it have accomplished in the church? We still have to live our lives. How could he have demonstrated to the Jews how to live as a righteous Jew if he wasn't clothed in Jewishness?
Even Paul's ministry is brilliantly placed. Fast forward a bit into the future after Jesus was gone. You've got a bigoted genocidal religious policeman out killing off Jesus' followers. God's plan is to reach the Gentiles more aggressively, but he picks that guy?! Aren't there any Christians in first century Israel who aren't murderers? But what better picture of God's grace? And who better to reach the Gentile community and still keep it united with the Jewish Christian community than a Jew who grew up in Turkey surrounded by various Gentile peoples? He knew what it was like to live as a Jew, but at the same time he was a Roman citizen and knew how to live discretely in Roman society, among Romans, not looking at them like they're zoo animals.
But what does that mean for us? And how do the verses mix in? Jesus, and Paul, and countless other representatives of God's kingdom over the years, all lived as the people they tried to reach. As a Church, and as churches, and as cell groups, and as individuals, we should follow their example in being among the people we're trying to reach too. Paul was a Jew among Jews and a Gentile among Gentiles. What does that mean? It means he's not walking up to the Jews eating a bacon cheeseburger and lecturing them on Jesus, and he's not going around trying to give Gentiles Torah lessons. When he was around Jews, he drew upon his Jewish traditions, and when he was around Gentiles, he kept the same sensibilities that allowed him to exist peacefully in Roman territory all his life.
Non-christians have mocked the church for being culturally irrelevant. They describe the church as a bunch of sixteenth century noblemen showing up in robes with their "thees" and "thous" and "shalts" and "verilys' lecturing them on how to live in the twenty first century. Who is going to listen to somebody like that? The Catholic church had the wisdom in the 1960s to phase out services in Latin. They recognized that by speaking a strange (but beautiful) language, they were living in a different world than the people they were trying to reach. Yet, if I had to place American protestant Christian culture, it would be like a southern 1950s businessman trying to reach northerners in the modern day, or a kid from the late 1980s trying to be cool now. It's almost there, but it still doesn't fit!
Why don't we see it? The problem comes from hanging mostly around other people from church. Even if your church isn't "churchy" like the Church, it still has its own culture and inside jokes. If it's big enough, sometimes it has its own dress and hairstyles too. If you're not living in the world, hanging out with family and coworkers and secular friends, how will you know if culture has passed you by? If they don't see you as one of them, how much weight can your testimony hold? Maybe Jesus is just another ill-fitting piece of your strange alien culture, not something they can accept? "Christianity is for 'those people'!" It's even more of an issue for missionaries, who waste a lot of time demonstrating American culture instead of finding how to present Jesus from inside of the world their converts live in.
The psychology of how people recognize someone as being part of their social group is a whole different subject, but it is very real. Paul didn't try to turn Gentiles into Jews. Neither did Jesus. What they did was demonstrate God's love and power inside of the culture they were part of. They were spliced into a particular group of people at a particular time for a particular purpose. They became part of that group, while at the same time being Christians. In the same sense that Jesus was simultaneously God and man, Paul was simultaneously Christian and Jew, or Christian and Roman. We might be Christian and American, Christian and Chinese, Christian and Irish, Christian and nerd, Christian and full time military, Christian and retired, Christian and a recovering addict, etc.
The point is that we don't live separately from the people around us. We don't have our own world. We share a world with other people who don't know our God. Much like an American ambassador to a country like Spain, we have to sort of exist in two cultures at the same time. He's American, and has American authority and is an expert in things American, and would be rescued by the American military if he was hurt, but he also speaks Spanish, eats Spanish food, hangs out with Spanish people, watches Spanish movies, and is up on the things Spanish people care about. If Spanish people have a question about America or want America's help with something, they know he's someone they can talk to, in Spanish, and get their answer. He's an American, but in a way he's one of them too.
If you're lucky enough to be called to a specific people group, start thinking about how you can meet some of them. You may need to move. Paul didn't start reaching Gentiles from inside of an impregnable Jew fortress. He went out to the places and hung out with them. He walked around and prayed. He studied their culture and debated with them. God has a plan to get you there, but sometimes he likes you to play along.
If you don't have a specific ministry calling, start looking at where God has put you. Who do you hang out with? What communities do you have ties to? Pray into it. If you keep running into Peruvians, ask yourself "Hey, how come I keep running into Peruvians, no matter where I go?" God doesn't do stuff by accident. He's not clumsy or disorganized. But he's also not going to live your life for you either. Maybe he's delivered you to a specific place and time like he did Jesus.
There's something very humbling and Christlike in putting aside your culture and living amongst a different people group. Jesus temporarily gave up the ecstasy of being in perfect communion with the Father and Holy Spirit to spend thirty-something years in hot primitive conditions trying to reach out to a bunch of stubborn stuck up self-righteous people in the midst of a smoldering conflict they were on the losing end of. What could you possibly give up to match that? He put aside his direct God-power and lived among the people he came to save.
It couldn't have been comfortable to Paul to be sitting around with Gentiles eating non-kosher food, wearing non-kosher clothes, being called a traitor by his Jewish friends for doing so, but his letter to the Corinthian church sums it up: "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. [...] I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."
Very nice teaching...blending into to group we serve is so important. I do so when working with the elderly ( I am one). Also motorcycle ministry
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