Living In The 3rd Culture: “No One, None, Nothing.”

My wife and I enjoy our walks. It is good exercise for my worn-out knees, a chance to enjoy the changing seasons, see the deer and turkey, get caught up on the day’s happenings, and to pray. Always along on our walks is our dog Simba who probably enjoys the walk more than we do. On most days, he strides between us as we make our circuit. Aggressive dogs, garbage trucks, speeding cars, and other potentially intimidating things don’t seem to bother him. If you were to join us on one of these walks you would notice that he regularly looks up at me and “checks in” by touching his nose to my hand or leg. As long as I am there and not concerned, neither is he.

Jesus was very specific when He said “Do not be anxious.” In fact, He said it 3 times in Matthew 6! The apostle Paul picks up the same theme in Philippians 4 where he writes “do not be anxious about anything.” Literally, that means the Believer should not “have an anxious concern” about “no one, none, nothing.”

Unfortunately, a command like this can cause our anxiety to spiral out of control as our inability to stop worrying or being anxious fuels a new anxiety that God will be mad at us if we cannot stop worrying! Please understand that this is a command, but it is one that is given by the One who said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt. 11;29-30). You see it is not a command to try harder, but a command to worship!

God’s people were designed and created for worship, but the sin the still surges in us causes us to make secondary things in our lives primary. When we do that, we stop worshiping God, and in essence start worshiping whatever we are worried about. Jesus is not calling us to a lackadaisical lifestyle as there are legitimate concerns in life, but a call to loosen our grip on what we worry about and spend time with the Savior who is only fully in control – there is “no one, none, nothing” that He does not have His hand on. And He loves and cares for you!

Worship is a gift that we take for granted. It is not simply another ritual “good” Christians do, but a time when we seek the LORD and find deliverance from all our fears, anxieties and worries. David understood this truth and wrote this Psalm,

I sought the Lord, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him

and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:4-8).

Make it your ambition to spend time in daily in personal worship, and weekly as God’s people worship together. It is a precious gift, that time in our walk with the Savior when we “check in” with Him, taste His grace, and are reminded that He is still walking with you in this journey of life, still carries His “rod and staff,” and you are safe! “Be anxious for nothing” and enjoy the walk!

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….

“No One, None, Nothing.”

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