Living In The 3rd Culture: May 2015

Keep Beating the Drum!

For centuries the drum has played a vital role in African life as a highly effective means of communication. No, it was not quite as good as E-mail, texting or Instagram, but close. By the drum beat messages could be sent from village to village. It was beat in times of celebration and it was beat during times of mourning. To those who could recognize the beat of the drum it was a quick and effective way to get a message out to as many people as fast as possible. Thus the African proverb, "When you play the drum you never know how far the sound will travel."

If the wind was blowing the wrong way the sound of the drumbeat would not travel as far. If it was a still night, or the air was cooler, the sound would travel greater distances. But regardless of these outside influences the drummer still had a task to accomplish. If the conditions were poor he still had to beat his drum. If the wind was howling about him, he still had to beat the drum. It was his task to beat the beat, and simply trust that those in neighboring villages would hear. Though we do not live in Africa, and must of us don't even own a drum, this proverb has strong application for the Believer in Jesus Christ living in the United States. Though we are far more advanced in our communication methods, we still have much to learn from the faithful drummer.

The drumbeat that the believer in Jesus Christ plays is the good news of the Gospel. Every Believer is commanded to be a drummer who faithfully plays out the beat of the Gospel. And we are to do this regardless of perceived or visible results for you never know how far the sound will travel. It may be that ninety-nine percent of the time the Gospel seems to fall on deaf ears, yet, the results of our beating out the good news of the Gospel is up to the Holy Spirit. Remember the Holy Spirit works in mysterious way a we never know how, when, or where He is going to work. In other words the results are not in our hands, just the faithful obedient beating of the drums. The question is, "Are you beating your drum?" If not get busy, because "When you play the drum you never know how far the sound will travel."

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. . So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (Romans 1:16; 10:17 – ESV)

Amazing Love!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” - John 3:16.

“—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” – Ephesians 3:17b-19

My son is home from college for a couple of weeks before he heads off to the west coast to an internship for the summer. I can’t tell you how good it is to have him home! It seems like only yesterday when he was just little blonde headed boy, and now he is a strapping young man who has grown taller than his old man!

Seeing him, takes me back to those days. One routine that I recall was the nightly rounds before heading to bed. For me that involved letting the now deceased, Gizmo, the wonder dog out for her last patrol of the yard, checking to make sure all the doors were locked, the lights turned off, and making my stop outside my son's bedroom door. Most aspects of these rounds got routine and at times monotonous, but this became special to me.

It is was there where I lifted my only begotten son before the Father. It is there that I prayed for his salvation, protection and blessing. Though this may seem a strange place it became blessed because I not only loved the one I prayed for, but I knew I was loved by the one I am praying too.

One particular evening I had also been spending time in prayer for not only our church, but the nonbelievers in our community. I had been burdened by those needs, and praying for ways to get the saving knowledge of the Gospel to these people. How can an insignificant Presbyterian pastor begin to reach all those people?

As I stood outside that door I felt the Lord ask me just how much I loved these people. Up to that point I was pretty pious as to the extent of my love. Then I felt Him ask if I would be willing to give up my only son? My entire body went numb with the thought! Did I really love anyone in this world enough that I would give my up son's life? Honestly . . . No! He was a special little guy! He is my buddy! We laughed, we played ... I really loved that little guy! And he was the only child God let us to keep!

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son... Wow! God did that for me! God really DID love His ONLY Son! It was a great sacrifice for the Father to send His Son to a people who would reject Him and in the end kill Him. The very thought is unfathomable to me! Would I let my son die for those who hate me? For those who ridicule me and verbally lash me? I can't imagine it! But He did!

You see though I think I love my son, my love for Him is nothing compared to the love the Father has for His Son, and it is nothing compared to the love He has for the world! My experience that night outside my son's bedroom door will never be forgotten. It was a vivid reminder to me of the love of the Father. By God's grace I was not asked to act upon the test as Abraham was (Gen. 22), but by God's grace Isaac's life was spared, and by God's grace my son is alive, well and very active.

All of us find it very difficult to comprehend this love. It is truly unfathomable! The apostle Paul understood that and made it a matter of prayer for the Believers in Ephesus. Rather than giving a lengthy prayer list, He simply prayed that the Holy Spirit would give them the strength to “to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19 – ESV).

When it comes down to it, Paul is praying that the reality of John 3:16 would so permeate our hearts that it would be reflected in our lives! That means God loves me more than I love my son! It is a love that began before the foundation of time and will continue throughout eternity. God is not affected by “good days” or “bad days”, but always loves us the same! That is awesome and life changing if we could really get a hold of that! It changes everything! It really does! Will you make it a priority in your life to pray that God would graciously give you the strength to comprehend this love?

The Iridescent Wisdom of God

“So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known . . .”

I find these words both exhilarating and disheartening. They are disheartening because the truths rooted in them are often neglected by many Christians in the west. Over the last century there has been an explosion of Christian ministries that sprang up outside the church, often to address problems that the church was neglecting. Many of these specialized, or para-church organizations have had tremendous results in the proclamation of the Gospel, and addressing social concerns in our world. Whether intentional or not, the Church was often marginalized and at times considered impotent. These words are also disheartening because much of Christianity in the west became individualistic as it embraced the populist[i] ideals of our culture. In other words faith has become individualistic rather than community-centric. As that happened the church became a destination to address individual felt needs, rather than a place of worship, community and service.

I find these words exhilarating because despite her struggles God has an awesome plan for His Church, for it is through the Church that God has chosen to make known His manifold wisdom. Please don’t let the unfamiliarity of the word “manifold” cause you to miss what Paul is saying here. Most of us don’t use the word “manifold” unless in a technical sense when referring to something mechanical like a manifold on a car. The Greek adjective that Paul uses to describe God’s wisdom is “polypoikilos”. This word is somewhat difficult to translate into modern English and as a result, it is very easy to miss Paul’s emphasis here. Another word that could be used is “iridescent” which points to revealing brilliant colors when an object is seen from different perspectives or angles. An example of this would be an iridescent crystal. Commentator William Hendriksen describes it as “the infinite diversity and sparkling beauty of God’s wisdom”. Not only is God’s wisdom multi-perspectival, it is beautiful from each perspective and never stops revealing new beauty. It is no wonder that we have a hard time fully grasping this. Yes, it is true, when what Paul writes “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33-NIV).

In this same passage Paul writes that even though he is “the very least of all the saints” (3:8), God graciously called him to be a minister of the gospel of grace. Paul was keenly aware of his own sinfulness and therefore could truly rejoice in the grace that was given to him though Christ Jesus. Paul’s message was one of reconciliation. First it was the good news of reconciliation of God to His people, then His people to one another, rooted in the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8). Think about this for a minute, God’s wisdom is entirely up-side-down to human logic. He chose to love His children before the foundation of time despite their hostility toward him. And by grace through faith they have been made alive – saved through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. In doing this all the ceremonial laws were abolished and the moral law fulfilled. Christ not only paid the price for our sin, but He is our righteousness! That really doesn't make sense – but it is iridescently beautiful!

Basically God has chosen to take the spiritually dead, enslaved to sin and rebellious individual and adopt them into His family made up of people of every race, culture, gender and socioeconomic as one reconciled group. To most this seems like a mess! Yet it is a new community living out the gospel as they love each other as they have been loved by God. Where “there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11-NIV). A community of people that through the gospel of grace become a brilliant iridescent light that shines forth the wisdom of God. It is so brilliant, so beautiful, so glorious that it causes the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” to stop and take notice! Imagine that!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (3:20-21-NIV).

[i] In this case “populist” is defined as a belief system that propagates the rights and wisdom of the common people or the individual. This is not to be confused with a political party formed in the United States in 1891.

Third Culture Defined

The term “Third Culture” has been used in various ways. One “Third Culture” group “consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectuals in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are.”Another common use of “Third Culture” in fact describes my personal experience. The term was first coined by sociologist Ruth Hill Useem, professor emeritus of sociology and education at Michigan State University. She used the term to describe children growing up outside their citizenship countries because of a parent’s work abroad. A “TCK or Third Culture Kid has since been defined as, “someone who as a child has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture" Though I am a TCK, it is my desire to use the term in referring to the people who make up the true Christian Church (Theologically defined as the “Invisible Church”). In other words, the Church is a Third Culture. Scripture teaches us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law and the punishment of Hell, and through faith in Him we become citizens of His Kingdom, receiving not only the full benefits of citizenship in His Kingdom, but indeed the right to become sons and daughters of God. The moment, we step into this Kingdome we experience a new and different culture. We are no longer in the kingdom of darkness, but now live in the kingdom of light and that changes everything! At the same time we never went anywhere physically as we continue to work, live, and play with the same people as before, we see the world differently, we no longer truly fit – we are “in the world, but not of it” -- we have a new culture. For most of us this life changing experience occurs within our birth culture and our Christian experience is saturated by those influences. For those who grew up in non-Hispanic White North America, Christianity is uniquely different than those who grew up in an African American context. Our birth culture effects how we live out our faith in the Kingdom of Christ. Yet the Kingdom of Christ requires one more cultural shift and that is away from birth culture and into a culture made up of people of every ethnic and cultural group that has ever existed on the face of the earth. This Kingdom is no more North American than it is Tanzanian or Tibetan. It is a unique or shall we say a “Third Culture” that integrates elements of all cultures into one new and better one, where there is no Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male nor female“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:26-298). In fact Revelation 7:9-10 gives us a description what this will look like one day:“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." A Third Culture Perspective is one that understands and appreciates that God gathers people from every ethnic and cultural group and brings them into the new culture of His Son Jesus Christ. It is a perspective where birth cultures are appreciated and respected as coming from God, but none are superior. It seeks to have a deeper understanding of the Gospel, pays attention to culture, our own as well as others, and then attempts to bring them together. It is a perspective that “seeks first His Kingdom and His Righteousness” and lovingly and passionately enjoys and glorifies God in all we do. It is a perspective that welcomes immigrants….