The First of Many (Lord willing)

Welcome to my first official blog in which I would like to chronicle the results of a Bible study that was started in our house on Thursday, November 29, 2007. For weeks, we had been have a number of young adults over to watch "the Office." Without doubt, it seems to me to be a very "culturally relevant" show. You such diverse yet mono-characteristic characters that are almost a joke unto themselves. You have the token black guy, the unhappy christian, the goofy-but-likable guy, the office drunk, the suck-up, the ditsy talker, the guy no one seems to like, and of course, the boss the tries so hard, tries too hard, and doesn't try hard enough in all the wrong places.

When a pastor called to talk about something unrelated, he mentioned that he heard there were a group of young people meeting to watch this show and was concerned because of its content. I informed him that it was happening at our house and it made me think that if we're going to watch such shows, perhaps we had better at least study God's word too. I struggled with whether I was watching the show to stay "relevant" or if I watched it because I simply find it funny and the characters really are caricatures of many that I know.

The idea of the Bible study was well received by the group and it was decided that we would study Christ, the apostles and how THEY related to culture. How were they able to present a "relevant" gospel?

The ground rules were these: there would be no ground rules. I didn't want to talk for 40 minutes to an hour, forcing people to see what I thought the Bible had to say about the topic. Instead I wanted us to read the Bible without a set agenda, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us and let God teach us what He wanted us to know. And then, more importantly (or at least just as importantly), I didn't want it to be a study where when we were done, we patted each other on the back and didn't do anything about it. The one thing that is absolutely essential to continued this study, IS TO ACT ON IT!!

Well, that's the history. Now to the first real night of study.

RELEVANT, NOT RELATIVE
The first four books of the new testament (the Gospels) are written by 4 different men. Matthew is primarily written to Jews by a Jew. Mark to the Romans. Luke to the Gentiles by a gentile and finally, John to the Greeks. They are relevant to the people they are written to. They have different emphasis, languages, and styles but the all have the same truth: CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY OF SALVATION.

So we start in the Gospels, it is God's love letter and open, tangible, visible, and incarnated example that He cares about culture because He sent His own Son into it to show His love and how broken hearts could be healed.

Jon M starts with the woman at the well (John 4:1ff). Jesus has just been baptised and received that incredible seal of approval when the Spirit of the Living God descends upon Him in the form of a dove and the Father testifies that this IS is Son.

Rather than following Jewish cultural norms of avoiding Samaritans, Jesus becomes a counter-cultural revolutionary and plops down right in the middle of them. What a way to start a ministry!

SAMARITANS TODAY
This leads us to ask ourselves: what is our personal cultural Samaritan? What groups or types of people do we avoid because they are culturally or sub-culturally irrelevant?

Our Samaritans: Homeless, Rich kids, Goths, People who live in sin, kids from high school, extremist (Pharisee-like) Christians, big sin people, Hispanics and homosexuals.

The biggest amount of time was spent on homosexuals. Why do we single them out? If sin is sin then why is special attention made to that particular one? Isn't ALL sex outside of marriage sin? It was a good discussion if not a little more specific than what our intent was for the study. But I think it's good to flesh some of these things out so when we come to scripture that deals with them, we will already be ready with our questions.

THE LESSON LEARNED
Christ didn't shy away from culture (His birth proves that). He didn't assume that one section of culture was untouchable or should be avoided. And he didn't go in condemning either. He talked to the woman first, and let her see her sin for herself. He also didn't shy away from telling her that she was sinful and that she needed something other than multiple husbands to fix her. He pointed her to Christ, to Himself.

We shouldn't be afraid either. Christ began His ministry AFTER the power of the Spirit descended upon Him. It is the same Spirit that we have. We are to be like Christ.