No one wants to be one of those do they?
Perhaps you remember the person who said something like the following or maybe you have felt the same:-
“I feel like I’m a slave to everyone; I always try to fit in to the people I am alongside; I have looked like I belong to a variety of people, the “religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever” (the Message); that is me, blending in.”
It doesn’t feel nice does it. Except this was Paul. He is demonstrating how those who felt they were free to eat anything, even food sacrificed to idols, need to actually put cross-cultural mission at the forefront of their life. Paul changed. But not to please people. Far from it. He changed and disciplined his own life for the gospel that as many as possible would find Christ. See what he says:-
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 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. 21 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. 22 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. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9 v 19-23)
We too must become who we are trying to reach. We have to lay down our own culture. We have to learn, listen and have compassion for others.
Learn: their language, their culture which does change in every generation. Their food. Their beliefs and the bridges to the Trinity/the person of Christ in particular. Remember when Paul had Timothy circumcised not because of compliance but mission. That’s some sacrifice!
Listen: slow down and listen for their stories. Preaching from your soap-box isn’t the best approach. If no one is listening maybe it’s because you stopped listening a long time ago.
Compassion: without this there is nothing. Open your eyes.
I quoted from The Message above and let me end again with words from there:- “ I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view.” May that be true of us all whichever culture we are following Jesus in and whatever language we speak. For the mission. Food sacrificed to idols? What does the mission of Jesus say?
Missions Paul 