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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Dealing
With Different I
felt so bad for him, a pastor from a different country and different
culture. He was dancing around as he preached away with the utmost
of vigour and zeal, but all along wondering why we weren't joining him
with the same enthusiasm. We were quietly but intently listening to
every word. Some of us did try to utter a few extra amens but not to
the deafening degree he expected. It just wasn't us.
I
recall the Dickey Betts' band from Georgia (Betts the former lead
guitarist and co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band) rocking away on the
stage, but all along as I later learned, wondering why we, his eastern
Ontario fans weren't joining in with his rock and roll further.
"They don't like me up here in Canada," he told the theatre's owner who responded by saying, "They
love you Dickey. They're just intently focused on your performance.
It's who we are up here in this town."
In
1976, as an I
could go on with many examples of our various cultural differences.
More basic, though, are our individual personality differences. So,
how do we deal with different? 1 Corinthians 11:22 provides at least
one answer. "I [Paul] have become all things to all people so
that by all possible means I might save some." Paul
lived what he taught. He had Timothy circumcised so he wouldn't be a
stumbling block for Jews hearing the gospel (Acts 16:6). He
participated in a Mosaic Law vow to appease his Jewish brothers in Christ
(Acts 21:20 - 25). He spoke to Greek philosophers as if he was a
philosopher himself (Acts 17:22 - 31). To support a point, he
referenced a 300 year old Greek cultural custom stating that it was a
disgrace for a man to have long hair (1 Corinthians 11:14). Paul
would deal with different by setting aside secondary issues important to
him for the sake of the primary issue that is the gospel. Obviously
Paul didn't condone sin in the process of dealing with different. He
wrote, "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made
myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible" (1
Corinthians 9:19). Paul set aside self interests to serve as a slave
to Jesus, the gospel and others, something sadly missing in our
individualistic and often narcissistic culture. I
like Hebrews 10:24 in the CSB. "Let us consider one another in
order to provoke unto love and good works". This text doesn't
say "let us provoke one another". It says "let us
consider one another". That's setting aside self to serve as we
deal with different. This is fundamental for the success of any
expression of community. Whether marriage, family, city,
province/state, nation or culture, a mutual setting aside of self is
fundamental for its success. It's sacrificing in order to deal with
different. It's what Jesus did by leaving His heavenly home to deal
with us, who are completely different from Him.
I'd
like some people to be more like me, but I can't make them into my
likeness and image. It doesn't work and usually backfires.
We're all distinctly different. We just have to deal with it.
Concerning the gospel, we preach to the mind as Jesus preaches to the
heart, all done in a spirit of servitude. It's how we deal with
different.
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