Lesson 05.5 - The Bible and Cultures Around the World

Introduction

1. Welcome back to us getting back into our normal schedule and swing of things after the missions conference.  Hopefully it was a good learning experience for all of us - we always want to be growing and hearing from y’all about what is working and what isn’t.
2. Tonight, we want to dig into a topic that’s related to the idea of missions and focus us back on some of the issues we’re dealing with together before we start digging into some more challenging topics in the next few weeks, like the environment, a Biblical basis for war, and how we know the Bible is accurate..
3. So this week, we want to dig into the topic of the Bible and culture.  Coming off the missions discussion we’ve had with discussions of lots of different cultures, this is a good thing for us to focus on.

The Nature of the Bible

1. To help us understand the area we want to discuss tonight, I want to give you a historical example that will help us understand where we’re headed.
2. Hudson Taylor is a very well-known missionary to China from over 100 years ago.  He came from England and traveled a long journey by ship all the way around Africa and up to China.  When he first arrived in China, he was a young guy, brand new to this world.
1. Now remember, this was in the 1800s - there was no phone communication, no telegraphs, no way for him to talk to Christians back home.  Obviously, there was no Facebook to communicate with other believers.
2. And when he got to China, there was a really well-established group of Christian missionaries there.  They acted like they still lived in England - they dressed as English citizens in their official formalwear with suits and ties.
3. The Chinese people they came into contact with were their Chinese servants who also dressed like they were from England as well.
3. What Hudson Taylor found as he began working there was that the missionaries were focused on one thing, and it really wasn’t the gospel.
1. What they were primarily trying to do was persuade the Chinese people to become Westerners.  Instead of preaching the gospel, they were convinced that the Western/English culture they came with was the most Biblical culture possible, and that the Chinese, if they were truly saved, would recognize that.
2. They would abandon their backward, native culture and instead embrace the enlightened, Western world - abandoning their traditional Chinese dress and hats and hair styles and instead, looking like the English.
4. Hudson Taylor absolutely blazed all of these missionaries away, though.
1. Instead of adopting their practices, he instead began dressing like he was Chinese.
2. So he adopted the Chinese robes, the Chinese hats, the Chinese braid of hair that the men had.  He walked everywhere instead of being driven like the other missionaries.
3. In short, he embraced the elements of the Chinese culture that allowed him to effectively minister to the people there in China.
5. The results were amazing - the other Western missionaries shunned him, but the Chinese people embraced him.
1. He was now free to share the gospel freely, and to minister effectively as if he was Chinese himself.
6. It was quite the change, but what he was doing was showing the Chinese people that the Bible, the gospel, the truth of God, goes beyond cultural boundaries.  God is not limited by cultural things that we put in the way.

Paul and All Things

1. What Hudson Taylor was doing was modeling what Paul tells us he did in his ministry in I Corinthians chapter 9.
1. Paul is talking about the necessity, the urgency pressing inside of him to preach the gospel.
1. The idea of the gospel and rescue is like what we saw this morning with the rescue of these miners in Chile.
2. These guys have been trapped underground for 69 days - over two months - and they’re being brought to the surface.  No one has ever survived underground for that long before, and yet one at a time, these guys have been pulled up through this rescue capsule and brought to the surface.
3. There is such celebration as each guy was brought up, being rescued from their terrible situation there.  They hugged their wives, their children, so thrilled to be rescued.
2. It’s so beautiful to see that, because it’s a reminder of the gospel - the necessity of getting the message to people because of the condition they’re in, and the unbelievable rescue that is possible in the Lord Jesus.
3. So when Paul talks about this, let’s look at how he deals with these cultural issues involved with sharing the gospel:
4. v. 19-23: “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more [that I might win more of them]. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake [I do this all for the sake of the gospel], that I might be partaker thereof with you [that I might share in its blessings].”
2. Then Paul goes on to share the verses we know so well about running the race, pushing that we can obtain.
3. So what is Paul saying here?
1. He’s saying to the Jews, I became like a Jew, in order to win the Jews.
1. So to the people under the law, Paul adopted the Jewish way of life to gain a hearing with the truth of the gospel.
1. This is what Pastor was explaining to us on Sundays - when Paul was sharing with Jews, he explained from the law how Jesus was the Messiah they were searching for.
2. But to those who were outside of the law, the Gentiles (that’s us), Paul was willing to forgo his Jewish heritage, to set it aside, so that he can share the gospel with Gentiles.
1. With Gentiles, Paul talked about conscience - the witness of God in the creative order around us, and the law of God written inside of us that points us to needing a Savior.
3. For people who are weak, he became weak - he was willing to forgo his knowledge and strength in order to share the gospel with people - to gain a hearing.
1. For prisoners, he talked about freedom.  For leaders, he talked about wisdom.
4. Paul focused his message so that the people he was talking to would understand.  He removed the roadblocks that would stand in the way so that he could share the gospel.
2. And why does he do all of this?  He becomes all things to all people so that he can gain a hearing to try to share the gospel with them.  And he does it all - his primary purpose - is for the sake of the gospel, so that everyone can share in the blessings of the gospel together.
4. So what was Hudson Taylor doing in China and what was Paul doing in the first century?  They were overcoming the cultural barriers that would keep them from getting a hearing with people so that they could share the gospel.
1. Paul wasn’t concerned about ensuring that Gentiles stopped eating pork and started watching the Jewish calendar.
2. Hudson Taylor wasn’t concerned about getting the Chinese to dress like Englishmen.
5. They were both concerned about getting the people to hear the gospel, not changing their culture.
1. Paul and Hudson Taylor were concerned about getting the gospel through, across the cultural boundaries.
2. Because the gospel crosses all cultural boundaries - there’s no limitation to culture.

Application to Today

1. So what in the world does that mean today?  Let’s unpack some truths.
1. First, we understand that the Bible applies to all cultures at all times in all of history.
1. As we’ll talk about in several weeks, God’s truth in the Bible applies for all of time.
2. God didn’t write the Bible for Christians in America in 2010.  I hate to break that to you, but God’s Word applies for Christians in China in 2010.  It applies for Christians under Roman rule in 40 AD.  It applies to Christians in England in 1492.
3. God’s Word applies to all people at all times.
1. Think of how many different ways people have dressed in the thousands of years that the Bible has been in force today.
2. Think of how many different ways people have eaten and what they have eaten over that period of time.
4. And God’s Word applies whether you’re Abraham wearing a robe and turban in 4000 BC, or whether you’re Paul wearing a toga in 40 AD in Rome or whether you’re a Christian wearing jeans to college in 2010.
5. The Bible is relevant, the Bible applies, and the Bible gives us our primary marching orders.
2. Second, when we think about sharing the gospel, are we more concerned about gaining a hearing with someone or are we more concerned about them looking like or acting like us?
1. Hudson Taylor and Paul weren’t concerned about whether Chinese people were eating rice or Gentiles were eating pork.
2. What they were concerned about was getting the gospel into the hearts and lives of people who had never heard it before.
3. So when we think about sharing, what are we most concerned about, especially in our circles?
4. Think about this - if you have a young man in the hood who wears his jeans loose, his hat turned sideways, and his hoodie on.
1. He comes to know the Lord, and goes to seminary.
2. What is our immediate tendency?  Our thought is get him cleaned up, put a suit on him, and send him out in ministry.
3. Then when he goes back to the hood, what will be the reception he gets?  Probably not a good one.
4. What’s the immediate thought - in order to become a Christian you have to abandon a culture and adopt a new one.
5. We have our own culture at Calvary too - are we attempting to make converts to our view of things or are we attempting to minister to people with the gospel?
1. I don’t mean to go off on this too much, but sometimes we consciously or unconsciously push this idea that you have to fit into our box to be saved.
2. You know, you don’t have to be homeschooled to be a Christian.  There’s no Scriptural command to be homeschooled, and we are foolish if we try to preach homeschooling instead of preaching the gospel.
6. Paul was willing to focus his methods on the people he was reaching.  He never changed his message, but instead focused the methods so that he could communicate the gospel.
3. Third, of course this has limits.  If a culture contradicts Scripture, the culture has to give way to Scripture.
1. So, let’s just go all out on this.  If you are a convert from a nudist group that wears no clothes at all - there’s a problem.
1. Scripturally, clothing has a purpose and a reason for existence.
2. So if a nudist comes to know Christ, they need to put on clothes.
3. There’s something about your culture that conflicts with Scripture, the culture has to give way.
2. So in the same way, a postmodern culture says that there is no such things as truth.  That is not a Scriptural position, as Pastor has been teaching.
1. So that’s a part of culture that violates a Scriptural view, and something that has to give way.
4. Fourth, the border between culture, Scripture, and ministry is a tough line that takes lots of prayer and wisdom to find.
1. If we’re going to effectively minister to people who are in cultures different than we are, or are even in different places than we are in their thinking, it’s going to take a lot of thought, prayer, and consideration of these cultural questions in order to be effective.
2. There aren’t easy answers, and we’re going to need to be constantly evaluating in the light of Scripture - is this what I want or is this what God wants?
1. Is this what matters to God or is this a cultural thing that doesn’t really matter?
3. Especially in a postmodern world - you’re going to have the challenge of wrestling through these things with the Lord.
4. And we may reach different conclusions about the best approach.  We all have to be seeking and praying and searching about how God wants us to act.
2. So all of that is background for some things post-missions conference for us to consider.
1. Let’s discuss this for a few minutes, though.
2. Do you tend to be more concerned about making converts to your way of life rather than the gospel?  Why is that?
3. What does becoming all things to all men look like for people in your neighborhood?
4. How do we gain a hearing with someone who’s culturally very different than we are?
5. Are you repulsed by different cultures?
6. What are some distinctives about our culture here at our church?
7. Why is it hard to find this boundary?