One of the most memorable experiences of my first visit to Japan was a train trip I took with my hosts on my first day in Tokyo. I was not aware of the fact that I, like most Americans, was comfortable with social interaction only when there were at least 12 inches between my face and the other person's. I remember being swept into the train car along with uncountable other people. Then, when I thought that the car already had far more people in it than it should have held, professional people came and shoved dozens more in. What I remember most vividly, however, was how naturally my friends carried on a conversation with me with our faces only a few inches from one another. Throughout the entire trip, I could only think, "I need more space!"
I remembered this last week when I was in a hotel with a mixture of American and Japanese guests. Chris and I were on a packed elevator that stopped at several floors. As we stopped, the Americans all said, "It's too full. We'll wait for the next one." The Japanese guests all walked in without hesitation. I realized that this was simply a cultural difference. I began to think about how many other differences there are between these two cultures. And, I thought of how many different ethnic and national groups there are in our world. And, I went on to think about how many different cultures there are within each national and ethnic group. There are youth cultures, rural cultures, southern cultures, gang cultures... (Such a list could go on ad infinitum.)
I went from the elevator into my room and began to prepare for this week's sermon. I read again from the Book of Acts and how God began his work to bring people from all cultures into one family that will together bring glory to him. All of God's people—made up of individuals from every people group—will someday bow the knee before our one God and Father. The church is to be a place in this world in which people distinguished culturally from one another in countless ways become one in Christ. I began to pray, "How, Father? How can our local church become more and more the kind of people in which those divided from you and from one another invite all people to know you and enter into your eternal family?"
What I saw in Acts 17:16–34 was how a Jewish rabbi named Paul walked into a very different culture in Greece to tell people of the God who is sovereign over all cultures. I want us to learn this weekend from how Paul approached the task. My only hint to you is this: The key is to know that one Person has come into this divided and dying world and turned things around through a resurrection. What he did addresses the most basic need that people from all cultures have ever had.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
