“The Cultural Christian”

What Kind of Christian Are You? Sermon Series

“The Cultural Christian” (Part #7)

KEY PASSAGE: John 4:19–24 (NASB)

Thank you [again], worship band, for leading us into a wonderful and dynamic time of praise and worship. Father God, we thank You this morning because You are the source and perfect example of goodness. We pray that You accept our praise and worship, and may it bring glory and honor to Your name. And everyone says Amen. You may be seated

TITHE and OFFERING

We will call on the ushers to pass around the plates so we can give our gifts to God. Please follow the instructions on the screen on how to give to the church. The worship team will lead us with a song as we collect our tithes and offerings.

WELCOME

Please stand up [everyone], , greet some folks around you, and welcome them to worship [Service]. We welcome you [all] again to our Sunday Worship Service and are glad to have you in God’s house. Our first-time visitors, please stand so we can see you. We also welcome all who join us online.

ANNOUNCEMENT

· Next week [Sunday], we will do a baby dedication. We will commit to raising the child [in accordance with] God’s will.

· Wednesday Night [Remember] is our Bible Study Connect at 7:00 p.m. Please join us on Wednesday night to STUDY [and NAVIGATE] THE WORD OF GOD. We are studying the Book of First Corinthians.

All the weekly activities for the church are posted online on the church’s website.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Let us pray.

In a harsh world that has lost its way, it is wonderful to come into Your presence, Father, having been introduced to this time with what has filled the godhead since eternity passed. That is the profound sound of silence – silence before You today. Silence softens us, makes us tender, and helps prepare our souls for the seed sowing. Silence allows us to forget the stuff of life that has drained our energy and often added to our worry list. Forgive us, Father, for all those wasted hours when we forgot to trust You and failed to rely on You. Please forgive us – Father. We come to You today as a group of sheep looking [To] a Shepherd. We [come] because we are inadequate in ourselves. We come before You because we are incompetent to manufacture the deity. We come to worship You and to adore You. And to let You know how worthy we believe You are. Worthy of our worship and deserving of our praise. We fall in love with Your Son, Jesus Christ, who has enraptured us, [Having] captured our hearts. We Thank You for Jesus. For releasing Him to us even though this harsh world didn’t want Him or esteem Him. Fill this place with Your presence so we might be lost in wonder, love, and praise. Our gifts are Yours, and You are the One who deserves to receive them because You are the One who made them possible. And we release them to You with a heart full of gratitude. And our Father, we pray where our hearts will be prepared as we prepare ourselves [for the sowing] of the seed of the good Word of God. In the soft and tender presence of our God, we worship You. In the name of Your Son Christ, we pray. And everyone said Amen.

DECLARATION of FAITH in GOD

Let us stand and say the Declaration of Faith in God together.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

[It is possible to be] part of the same race but a different culture. If you are black and you are from Jamaica, there is a major cultural difference than if you are black and you are from America [the United States] because these two cultures are different, although the races may be the same. And then there is the issue of class… the Haves and the Have-nots, [The wealthy and the poor], the affluent and the destitute, and the upper [class and the lower class], and how people relate to one another regarding class. These are all variations of the same reality. The issue of race continues to perpetuate itself, so I have included this in our sermon series.

Some of you may [raise the] question, “But I thought this sermon series was on ‘What Kind of Christian Are You?” And yes, the sermon series is titled “What Kind of Christian Are You?” But today, we will discover how your culture could keep you from Jesus Christ. Your culture can keep you from knowing Jesus and having an experience with Him. You can let your race or your culture block your faith. One of the problems I believe the church is facing today is that [Watch This] we have too many cultural Christians. Many white Christians wrap their race around the American flag, and sometimes, it is more important to be American than to be a Christian. And many black Christians, for example, wrap their race around the black culture.

So, it is more important to be a black Christian than to be Biblio-centric, which means centered on or derived from the Bible. When you watch some of the awards shows on television, you will hear artists come out and say something like this: “Well, I want to thank my God, or I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” for singing these dirty lyrics and songs. And then, you will see the folks in the audience applauding the artist for saying such a thing. We are living in a pluralistic period where it doesn’t matter what or who your God is as long you are sincere. And the [great] Hebrew word for that is called hogwash. [Nonsense]. If you are from a different culture or race, it does matter whom you believe in. It does matter that you are sincere in believing in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And it does matter who the object of your worship is. And so, we must be very clear about that and [don’t] let our time, culture, and race sweep us into that kind of heretical thinking.

[And so], [looking at] this confusion about the issue of culture or the issue of race against faith in Christ, it is essential for us that the central thing that was missing was our shared [common] commitment to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. The issue of culture can get in the way of our growth and our experience of God. And so, I want us to as a church to think seriously, individually and collectively, about this sermon. I don’t want you to [think] that so and so is here to hear this sermon because they need to. It may be [true], but that is beside the point; you need to listen to the sermon to see if your culture or your race is standing in the way of knowing Christ.

SERMON EXPOSITION

On any given Sunday, three teams take to the football field: the home team, the away [visiting] team, and the team of NFL officials. The team of NFL officials does not belong to the home team. The NFL officials’ commitment is to a higher order, [to a higher body], and that is the [Commissioner of the NFL]. The NFL Commissioner sits high on 345 Park Avenue in New York City, and no matter what NFL official you are or what NFL game you are officiating, you have been handed a book called “The Official Playing Rules.” The book contains all the current rules governing professional football and gives NFL officials guidelines on [how to operate] on the field of play. [And so], It doesn’t matter whether the home team likes you or the away [visiting] team hates you, and it doesn’t matter whether the crowd boos or cheers; [The NFL Official] commitment is to the book governing the NFL. Once the NFL Official leaves the book, they lose the Commissioner because the Commissioner judges the NFL official on the field by their loyalty to the governing book regardless of what the other teams on the field think about the official. If the official chooses a team, they discredit [disqualify] their presence.

Sadly, today, we have Christians [Christians] who have chosen teams. Some Christians have chosen the black teams; some have chosen the white team. Some Christians have chosen the Democratic team, and some have chosen the Republican team. And the Commissioner, the Lord Jesus Christ [Himself], is saying, “Well, if you are going to choose teams and not realize you are working for this bigger Kingdom [That is, the Kingdom of God] up here [in heaven], I am not going to be involved with you!”

SERMON EXPLANATION 1

So, while far too many Christians today [are choosing] teams, the Commissioner – Jesus Christ, our High Priest, is not involved. Because, as Christians, we are obligated to a higher kingdom, the Kingdom of God. In John Chapter 4, our Lord Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman, and this woman is racially different. In this context, [we have a Jewish man] talking to a Samaritan woman in Samaria. Two things are scandalous. First, a man would speak with a woman in the first century with any sense of dignity and honor, which He did. And second [That] a Jew will be found in Samaria of all places because no geographical location was more hated than Samaria by the Jews. There was a dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus said that the Jews hated the Samaritans, and [the] Samaritans were the Jews’ bitterest enemy. [But] Here, Jesus is standing alongside a woman who has brought her pot to Jacob’s well to draw water, and He, in the process, tells her of her life because she has made a mess of her life.

Jesus started a conversation with the woman, and He asked her for a drink of water. The woman is astonished and fascinated. Look at what she says in verse 9 of John Chapter 4, “Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Jesus, how is it that You being a Jew ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”

If we were to put this verse in our everyday lingo, it means – ‘We don’t get along. We don’t talk. We don’t hang out together, so I can’t believe You want to put your Jewish lips on my Samaritan cup.’ [You see] The Jews and the Samaritans don’t hang out together. The Jews live on one side of the tracks, and the Samaritans live on the other side of the tracks. She is shocked that Jesus would offer to do this. This leads Jesus to discuss the lady’s spiritual state [Her spiritual life]. His willingness to drink from her cup opens the door for Him to talk about faith, which leads to the subject of worship. Jesus addresses the subject of worship in the fourth chapter of John. [It is the] subject of [worship] that comes in the context of an issue of culture or race.

The woman says to Jesus in Verse 20 of John Chapter 4, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people …… You people say that [in] Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.” The woman makes a good religious argument. Where are you going to worship? In this mountain or [in] Jerusalem? The woman brings up a question about where you ought to go to church. She says, ‘My people, we worship in the Samaritan temple on this mountain. You people have your [own] church and [Your] worship in Jerusalem. [There is a saying in Israel], If you want to party, [you go to] Tel Aviv. If you want to do business, you can go to Haifa. And if you want to worship, you go to Jerusalem.

SERMON EXPLANATION 2

Let’s pay close attention to what she says in verse 20. The woman goes on to say some religious things in verse 20. The issue the woman raised about worship dates back to the first century. [Watch This] She says … ‘We worship [over] here because our fathers taught us that. I worship here because my daddy taught me this is where you go to church. And my daddy taught me (because the woman puts a plural on the word fathers in verse 20, so this goes back into her lineage; this goes back into her family generation) … and that is because my grandfather told my father, who told me this is where you go to church. And that is because my great-grandfather told my grandfather, told my daddy, who told me, this is where you go to church.”

I was raised this way in the church, and [this is how we are supposed] to worship God. The woman said to Jesus—I was raised this way. And in my neighborhood, in my race, [My culture], based on my background, this is how you do God’s business—You do GOD this way, and we worship God on this mountain.

But Jesus doesn’t let the issue of worship go unnoticed. Look at what Jesus says to her: He says to her in verse 22: “You worship what you do not know …” [Interpretation] You are worshipping the wrong way.… You are not connecting with the living God. “We worship what we know for, salvation is from the Jews …” That is not an arrogant statement. It is an accurate one. It traces [all the way] back to Abraham and fast forward to the days of Jesus. And you will find that the line of the Jews is the line of salvation. It came first to the Jews and through the Jews. Only by God’s grace, [That] salvation expanded to Gentiles like us. Salvation begins with the Jews, and Jesus speaks the truth. He tells this woman, “Your daddy was wrong – your granddaddy was wrong – your great granddaddy was wrong.” Your entire generation is wrong about how to worship God. Jesus told her your people were wrong—you worship what you do not know.” Just because your culture and race endorsed it, and your background affirmed it doesn’t make it alright in the eyes of God.”

The woman appealed to legitimate worship based on background history, race, culture, and family. And Jesus said, “It is all wrong.” So just because it is in your background doesn’t make it alright, “You worship what you know not.” When the woman brought up Jews and Samaritans don’t deal with each other [They don’t talk to each other]… Jesus never said a word. [Why] Because Jesus was not interested in the cultural dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans.

But when the woman brought [up] the name of God in the discussion and made it an issue of worship, Jesus said, “I can’t skip that.” Because what you have done is [you] have [Dishonor] God’s name with your illegitimate worship, based on your history, background, culture, and family.

And so, Jesus said, “Lady, you worship what you know not.” In other words, your culture and race are never to determine the authenticity [legitimacy] of your worship. And so, Jesus turned the subject of culture into a spiritual discussion!

SERMON EXPLANATION 3

What was important to this woman from Samaria was whether she should worship God on this mountain where the Samaritans worshiped God or [Worship God] in Jerusalem. And so, Jesus says when it comes to worship, in verse 23, “An hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers …” Now, if you have true worshippers, that means you can have false worshippers because the opposite of true is false. Jesus said, “When the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and [in] truth.” In other words, Jesus says, “When I go to a church, I am looking for two things: spirit and truth.” In verse 24, Jesus settled the issue of worship. He said: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus clarifies that worship is a [Clear] definitive, conscious connection with the living God. Now, worship is [important] for four reasons … four [important] reasons you need to know. Reason number one is that the Scripture demands worship. Worship is important because Scripture is filled with worship. Secondly, all of life is affected by worship. Thirdly, worship is the [major] theme of God’s redemption in history. Exodus 8:1, “Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” And fourthly, worship is a command. Exodus 34:14 says, “For you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

When Jesus comes to a church, He is not looking for black or white, or Jamaican or American; Jesus is looking for spirit and truth, and if that is missing, Jesus is missing,” and you become a false worshiper. The spirit has to do with the attitude of the heart. You can go to church on Sunday, and there is no spirit in the worship, no desire to connect with the living and true God. God wants to speak to the heart, and He wants to relate to the heart.

Jesus says, “You must worship Me in spirit—your worship must be true [genuine], not just fulfilling a job description or satisfying a scheduled program.” Truth is defined as an absolute standard by which reality is measured. [And when the] truth is at work, it doesn’t take you two hundred and fifty years to solve a problem that could be solved in one day. And whenever Christians allow race, culture, and class to get in the way of the truth of God, we are messing with the Gospel!

SERMON EXPLANATION 3

Our problem today is that we want the Cross to adjust to history, background, race, and culture, and the Commissioner doesn’t adjust to us on the field, so we keep this thing going. Truth must be a standard by which reality is measured! One of the reasons why things stay divided so long and God doesn’t show up is that the truth is missing. In other words … God’s viewpoint doesn’t have the last word. We want to know what my mother taught me, what my daddy taught me, and what people think.

And God says, “When the Commissioner speaks, He OVERRULES!” God doesn’t care what your background is; He doesn’t care what your race is. Don’t even care what your preferences are! He says, “And if you want to worship Me …” that is why this is a spiritual issue! He says, “If you expect ME to be involved, then I must have the last word, or you have your worship services where I don’t go to church.” So, Jesus hasn’t been to [a lot of] churches in a long time because the spirit and truth are missing. When truth shows up, problems get solved quicker because that is God’s truth, divine truth.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION

Let me explain something—whatever race you are now … you will be in heaven if you believe in Jesus. If you are black now, you will be black in heaven. And if you are white, you will be white in heaven. Now, I know what some of you are saying. Where did he get that [from]? It is in the Bible. In Revelation 7, verse 9, John says, “I looked up in heaven, and I saw a multitude of people, and when I looked close and looked at the multitude of people, I saw people from every nation, every tribe, every kindred, and every tongue.”

God is asking us to submit our culture and preferences to His authority so that He overrules! Then, you can solve things quickly. The truth of God must rule! Let’s get to the TRUTH! And if you get to the truth—as God calls it, the truth! Let’s get to The Truth—Apply the Truth! And then God will show up at our worship service. We are having church service where God won’t show up even though we open with prayer and worship.

In verse 31, “ Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat something.” Now, to appreciate this, let’s go back to verse 8. Verse 8 says, “For the disciples had gone into town to buy food.” So, the disciples had gone into town to buy food. They are coming back with lunch, and they say, “Rabbi, eat; here is your lunch.” Jesus said, “I have food to eat that you know not of …” Now, if you have walked ten miles to buy Jesus some lunch and somebody has already fed Him.……… You will be upset at the person who gave Jesus lunch to eat. Jesus says, “I have already eaten; I have food to eat.” They raised the question… so the disciples say in verse 33, “Who brought Him something to eat?”

Now, what is my point? Do you know why Jesus let His disciples go into town to buy food? Because He could have never talked to the Samaritan woman with His Jewish disciples hanging around. In other words, Jesus didn’t let His disciples stop Him from doing what the Father wanted. The disciples of Jesus were satisfied with bread, but Jesus was [satisfied] with accomplishing the will of God, the Father. May the will of God be a source of strength and satisfaction for everyone here today. Our Lord Jesus did not consider the Father’s will a heavy burden.

Don’t allow folks from your race or culture to stop you from doing what your Commissioner, the Lord Jesus Christ, tells you to do. Don’t let people from your own family … stop you from doing what God wants [you to do for His kingdom] to glorify His name. Because God only gets involved with spirit and truth, and that is what I am trying to say to our church. When people are divided along the lines of race, culture, and class, God does not show up!

1 Peter 3:7 says, when the husband and wife [are in conflict], it says, “Tell the husband don’t bother to pray, because God is not listening to the husband’s prayer.” That is why the devil wants to keep you fighting. The devil wants to keep us fighting because he knows that God keeps His distance, and God keeps His distance because He is a unified being. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are unified. It is like a pretzel with three holes, but they are all unified and connected to one source.

The devil keeps you in conflict so he can keep God away even though you are praying and fasting. So, the devil divides races, churches, and groups. He wants to keep us fighting because that keeps God away, and God will limit His involvement where His unified being cannot be comfortable. Have you ever been somewhere where you are just not comfortable? God is uncomfortable with division because His nature doesn’t allow it.

FAITH APPEAL, CALL to ACTION and ALTAR CALL

So, since Jesus deals with culture in our text for today, we must ask ourselves: What satisfies you? Making your people happy [Making your culture happy]? Making your race happy? Making the people who [look] like you happy, or is it doing the will of God that satisfies you, that feeds you, and that fulfills you? I want to conclude with what Jesus said in verse 35, “Do not say, ‘There are four months and then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift your eyes and look on the fields, for they are already white to harvest.” Jesus now then changed the image from that of food to that of the harvest in verse 35. The disciples of Jesus went into the village to get food for themselves and Jesus, and guess what? They did not do any evangelism because of the issues of race and culture. The image of the harvest is a familiar subject in the Bible and is often applied to the ministry of lost souls. Jesus told His disciples, “If you open your eyes and look on the field, you will see that they are ready to receive Jesus.”

Verse 39 says: “From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in Him …” So many of them got saved because of the word that the woman had testified, “He told me all the things I have done.” Now watch verse 40; this will blow your mind. “So, when the Samarians came to Jesus, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed with them for two days.” The Samaritans and the Jews had nothing to do with each other since 722 B.C.! That is how long they have been divided, 722 B.C., we now in 33 A.D. in the days of Jesus. Jesus has been talking to this woman for an hour! He has been talking to her for one hour, and now they say, “Why don’t you come and spend the weekend with us?” A problem that lasted for hundreds and hundreds of years, Jesus solved the problem in two days. Why? Because God got in the mix because truth was being exalted, and culture was submerged in that truth. When Jesus Christ gets in the mix, He can fix things in an hour that you have been working on for twenty-five years. It doesn’t take long when there is a standard by which culture must submit! May our church submit to God’s standard and the Holy Bible. God bless you.

Before we say our benediction, I want to extend the gift of salvation to anyone who has not accepted Jesus as their Savior today. You have to [accept] this provision personally; when you do, you are born again and start life all over again. So, I encourage you to respond by faith by receiving Christ into your life. If you are here today and need prayer because you are going through a lot [maybe you are dealing with a difficult situation that is weighing you down], please come forward so we can pray for you. Let’s stand on our feet, everyone.

BENEDICTION [CLOSING PRAYER]

Let us pray.

Our Father, we know that You are to be worshipped, and You are to be worshipped as a priority in our lives. This is not an option. This is not something we can pick and choose. You have called us to worship You. Jesus cast a vision of a new way to worship, and through Him, all sinful humanity, regardless of cultural differences, can worship God. And so, we are thankful for the new vision cast by our Lord, Redeemer, and Savior. And, Lord, we ask Your forgiveness for those so many times when we have come here and not worshipped or when we have not even come at all when we have been so indifferent. Those times when we have sought only that which would bless us, feed us, [fill us], and not seek that which would glorify You. When we have sought our joy and not Your glory. When we have sought our pleasure and not Your majesty … when we have worshipped ourselves rather than You in our little Christian way. Help us to know the importance of true, acceptable spiritual worship that You seek, and we pray that they might be life-changing for us. And if there is, Lord, here some who have not known Christ and cannot, therefore, worship You at all, those who have been worshipping false gods, or worshipping the right God in the wrong way or any other improper form of worship, we pray that today they would come to Jesus Christ and be cleansed and purged and made true worshippers such as the Father seeks to worship Him. In His name, we pray. And everyone says, “Amen.”

God bless you. We will see you next week at 10:30 a.m.