More Than Just a Middle Class American

Title: More Than Just a Middle Class American

Text:

Introductory thoughts:

Pew Research Center Study on what the Middle Class is

Social Class in the US by Wiki

Newt Gingerich Article

(1). The Call of the Lord - -

Explanation:

The word “called” or “calling” is used 8 x’s in these 8 verses. It is most frequently used by Paul for the Lord’s summons in salvation. In using this in , Paul is expanding upon the fact that not only does God call a believer in an mixed marriage to live in the marriage; but the Lord calls all believers in whatever state to live in that state under the sovereign purpose of the Lord.

He also claims this to be the case in all the churches. It is not just common to the believers in Corinth.

Principle:

Believer’s should believe in God’s sovereign purpose regardless of what socio-economic status they may have.

We would do well to consider the calling of Jesus. The calling of Christ was manifested in:

A lowly manger

A poor carpenter’s home

Out of Egypt ()

In Nazareth

In Nazareth ()

All of these manifest to us the sovereign work of God in Christ in spite of socio-economic status.

Illustration:

Application:

Christian, you are not called to change your circumstances. You are called to serve the Lord in the circumstances within which you find yourself. Whatever your socio-economic status is did not make you more attractive to God, thereby eliciting the wisdom of the cross.

(1) This is the mindset of the non-Christian, “Well, if I am going to be around church people, then I need to have something to wear.” No, my friend, your status does not make you commendable to the Lord. You must see did not suffer, bleed and die upon a cross so you can make yourself to fit in with the religious crowd. He did so, in order that you might have true life.

(2) For the individual Christian, be careful of the sub-conscious pursuit of the American dream. You are not called to change your status. You are called to contentment in Christ. Note what Paul said in

Transition:

God had called many of these Corinthians believers from various socio-economic status and note....

(2). The Consequences of the Lord’s Call -

(a) What the Lord’s call means ethnically (the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition) -

Explanation:

Here Paul undertakes to address those who are saved, having been a Jew at the first. Philo’s writings indicate that circumcision was “ridiculed by many.” This was especially true if a Jewish individual was taking part in any of the athletic games. They would undergo a surgery known as “epispasm” to reverse the affects of circumcision. It was an effort to be perceived as part of a different ethnic status in society.

On the flip side was the extreme teachings of the Judeaizers who would add circumcision to Jesus Christ. Remember the wonderful passage in . Paul is showing that neither status before the Greeks or the Jews is anything to be strived for.

It should be noted that even in the Old Testament, membership in the covenant community was a matter of the heart and not the outward sign (Commentary of NT on OT) - See and .

A strong polemic is used in . To understand what he is saying here, we need to see him use this style of writing in other passages. In the other passages, there is a replacement implied. Note , Note:

Not circumcision which matters but faith working by love

Not circumcision which matters but a new creature

This helps us to understand our current passage. It is not circumcision that matters but the keeping of the commandments of God. In the immediate context, there are several things to consider:

They are commanded to see leaders through the lens of the gospel - as servants. ()

They are commanded to see sin through the lens of the gospel - as cause for grief. ()

They are commanded to see each other through the lens of the gospel - as brothers. ()

They are commanded to see their own bodies through the lens of the gospel - as belonging to the Lord. ()

In other words, we no longer keep commands (like circumcision) to get a status; but we keep commands now because of a status we have received. We don’t need to seek glory in our ethnic and cultural diversity. We should seek glory in the status we have in Christ.

Principle:

(i) We must see the Lord’s gospel-call as greater than all ethnic boundaries

Yes, God is glorified in bringing unity out of a tremendous amount of diversity; but if we are not careful we will begin to see ethnic boundaries in two idolatrous ways:

We will see it as something that we must pursue at all costs. This is typically seen this way by 2nd and 3rd generations who are raised in a culture that is different than the birth culture of their own parents. They attend schools that are predominantly American and they desire to eat, live, look like the dominant culture. They grow in contempt for the culture of their parents because it only causes them to feel strange in the midst of a predominantly American culture.

This is also seen in the lives of those who have immigrated and think that they need to have the clothes, houses, land, careers…etc that other believers have…They have a need to be recognized by the host culture as valid.

We will see it as something to maintain at all costs. This is typically held by those who feel their cultures to be superior to other cultures. You cannot speak with them without hearing about how their country makes the best food, the best clothing, the best people…etc.

When we understand and are rooted in the gospel, the gospel changes the way we see ethnic boundaries. Why? Because in Jesus Christ, we have a new identity. It is an identity that supersedes ethnic boundaries. Remember how Paul understood this - . Paul understood those things to be “mine own righteousness.”

Illustration:

Application:

(ii) You must decide if your national identity is worth more than the identity you have in Christ.

is here to magnify the greatness of God in redeeming out of various ethnic backgrounds.

So, while you may be proud to be an American, you must see that your identity in Christ rises above your national identity. What does this mean for you?

It means that our primary goal is not to attempt to Westernize Christianity.

It means that if we will overcome barriers with regards to ethnicity, we must gain a greater understanding of the cross of Christ.

It means that we don’t need to continually relive all of the ills done to our country by other countries. We should relive all of the good Christ did to us in spite of the ills we did to him.

It means that our commitment to worldwide missions will be reflective of our devotion to the Lord across all ethnic boundaries.

Transition:

Not only does he give the example ethnically; but he also does so socially....

(b) What the Lord’s call means socially -

I’d like to tell you how my grandparents thrived in their new environment, how they raised a successful family, and how they retired comfortably middle-class. But that is a partial truth. The full truth is that my grandparents struggled in their new life, and they continued to do so for decades.

For starters, a remarkable stigma attached to people who left the hills of Kentucky for a better life. Hillbillies have a phrase—“ too big for your britches”— to describe those who think they’re better than the stock they came from. For a long time after my grandparents came to Ohio, they heard exactly that phrase from people back home. The sense that they had abandoned their families was acute, and it was expected that, whatever their responsibilities, they would return home regularly. This pattern was common among Appalachian migrants: More than nine in ten would make visits “home” during the course of their lives, and more than one in ten visited about once a month. My grandparents returned to Jackson often, sometimes on consecutive weekends, despite the fact that the trip in the 1950s required about twenty hours of driving. Economic mobility came with a lot of pressures, and it came with a lot of new responsibilities.

That stigma came from both directions: Many of their new neighbors viewed them suspiciously. To the established middle class of white Ohioans, these hillbillies simply didn’t belong. They had too many children, and they welcomed their extended families into their homes for too long. On several occasions, Mamaw’s brothers and sisters lived with her and Papaw for months as they tried to find good work outside of the hills. In other words, many parts of their culture and customs met with roaring disapproval from native Middletonians. As one book, Appalachian Odyssey, notes about the influx of hill people to Detroit: “It was not simply that the Appalachian migrants, as rural strangers ‘out of place’ in the city, were upsetting to Midwestern, urban whites. Rather, these migrants disrupted a broad set of assumptions held by northern whites about how white people appeared, spoke, and behaved . . . the disturbing aspect of hillbillies was their racialness. Ostensibly, they were of the same racial order (whites) as those who dominated economic, political, and social power in local and national arenas.

Vance, J. D. (2016-06-28). Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (p. 31). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Vance, J. D. (2016-06-28). Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (pp. 30-31). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

[following ABC News Report on Mountain Dew Mouth] The angry reaction supports the academic literature on Appalachian Americans. In a December 2000 paper, sociologists Carol A. Markstrom, Sheila K. Marshall, and Robin J. Tryon found that avoidance and wishful-thinking forms of coping “significantly predicted resiliency” among Appalachian teens. Their paper suggests that hillbillies learn from an early age to deal with uncomfortable truths by avoiding them, or by pretending better truths exist. This tendency might make for psychological resilience, but it also makes it hard for Appalachians to look at themselves honestly.

We tend to overstate and to understate, to glorify the good and ignore the bad in ourselves. This is why the folks of Appalachia reacted strongly to an honest look at some of its most impoverished people. It’s why I worshipped the Blanton men, and it’s why I spent the first eighteen years of my life pretending that everything in the world was a problem except me.

Vance, J. D. (2016-06-28). Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (p. 20). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Explanation:

For our contextual understanding, please remember the breakdown in the Corinthian society. Approximately 1/3 were slaves, 1/3 were freed slaves, and 1/3 were born free. In total approximately 66% were or had been slaves.

Secondly, slaves in many cases were objects for sexual pleasure for their masters. As Glancy notes, “Sexual access to slave bodies was a pervasive dimension of ancient systems of slavery. Both female and male slaves were available for their owners’ pleasure.…” [Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010). The First Letter to the Corinthians (p. 317). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.]

As Glancy notes, “Sexual access to slave bodies was a pervasive dimension of ancient systems of slavery. Both female and male slaves were available for their owners’ pleasure.…”

Thirdly, slaves were not allowed to marry in a manner that was recognized by the state. If a slave-owner were to desire to marry a slave, he or she would have to purchase the out of slavery to marry them in recognition of the state.

Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010). The First Letter to the Corinthians (p. 317). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

This has all been upended by the gospel to these believers. Remember:

i. Mixed marriages are viewed as sacred covenants by God.

ii. Both slaves & slave owners are being saved and brought into this local body.

These social boundaries that existed in their society did not exist in the body of Christ. Notice how Paul uproots the social boundaries:

Called as a servant, you are free in Christ

Called as a freedman, you are a servant in Jesus Christ

It was Paul’s way of saying a few things:

Our citizenship is in heaven

Our identity is in Jesus Christ

Principle:

(i) We must see the Lord’s gospel-call as greater than all social boundaries

This is a good opportunity to show how Jesus crossed social boundaries. See

Illustration:

Illustration:

[following ABC News Report on Mountain Dew Mouth] The angry reaction supports the academic literature on Appalachian Americans. In a December 2000 paper, sociologists Carol A. Markstrom, Sheila K. Marshall, and Robin J. Tryon found that avoidance and wishful-thinking forms of coping “significantly predicted resiliency” among Appalachian teens. Their paper suggests that hillbillies learn from an early age to deal with uncomfortable truths by avoiding them, or by pretending better truths exist. This tendency might make for psychological resilience, but it also makes it hard for Appalachians to look at themselves honestly.

We tend to overstate and to understate, to glorify the good and ignore the bad in ourselves. This is why the folks of Appalachia reacted strongly to an honest look at some of its most impoverished people. It’s why I worshipped the Blanton men, and it’s why I spent the first eighteen years of my life pretending that everything in the world was a problem except me.....Indeed, Kentucky transplants and their children are so prominent in Middletown, Ohio (where I grew up), that as kids we derisively called it “Middletucky.”

Vance, J. D. (2016-06-28). Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (p. 21). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Vance, J. D. (2016-06-28). Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (p. 20). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Application:

(ii) You must decide if your social status in this world is worth more than the social status you’ve received in Christ.

If you’re flipping burgers at McDonald’s, serve the Lord the best you can there knowing that the world may disdain your status as an employee there; but that’s not your real status.

If you’re an executive at a well-reported company, serve the Lord the best you can there knowing that the world may exalt your status as an employee, but that’s not your real status.

If you lose your job at either, serve the Lord wherever you are knowing that your status is not based on some assessment the world makes.

A change in status does not change your real status.

Believe this, and live according to this truth!

If you’re an unbeliever, you have no other option but to endlessly pursue status in a finite world.

Concluding thoughts:

You are more than just a middle class American! By nature, your ethnicity is rooted in a rebellious, God-hating people. We were by nature the children of wrath; but God left His country. He came as the ultimate Ambassador of another country. He died at the hands of the human country He entered. He did not die so that you could be a better citizen of America. He died to give you His own identity and His own citizenship in the country He came to represent.

Illustration:

Imagine taking hoarding or using a tremendous investment in a way that is futile. Imagine:

Someone purchasing you a $500.00 iPad and only using it to keep the coffee table steady

Someone purchasing you a brand new $40,000 Honda Accord and only using it for spare parts for your Dune-Buggy.

Someone purchasing you a brand new $200,000 home and only using it as a house for your pets.

All of these seem irrational and they show us a usage that is far under the value of the purchase. In like manner, when believers have social and ethnic bias in their heart, when they don’t seek the lost, when they are more politically motivated than they are commission-motivated, they are using an invaluable citizenship as far under the value of purchase.

The call this morning is to:

(1) Examine your heart to see if you are subconsciously devoted to status-seeking.

Are your greatest concerns rooted in being a success?

Are your greatest concerns rooted in the pursuit of an American dream?

Are your greatest fears rooted in political turmoil?

(2) Don’t trivialize the sin of ethnic or social idolatry.

If you see glimpses of this in your decision-making, repent of it

Ask the Lord to help to you to understand how the wisdom of the cross should cause you to understand your social and ethnic boundaries.