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Church Family, Compassion, and Culture · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Relish pleasing or zestful flavor a quantity
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  just sufficient to flavor to be pleased or
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  gratified by enjoy we are hoping that what we bring to your table today might
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  add some spice to your life welcome to another episode of relish i am rowan
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  miller and this is don patterson as always don how are you doing i think we're
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  doing all right but i haven't asked a crowd yet you You know,
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  maybe I'll ask, is Don doing all right?
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  Kind of thing. You could do that. Let us know if he looks a little different,
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  acts a little different. He could on the sides, you know.
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  Yeah. It could happen. Yeah.
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  It's always nice to have opinions of others because, you know, we have our own opinion.
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  We look in the mirror and, oh, I think it's all right.
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  And, you know, it's nice to have the opinion of others.
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  I found that with glasses lately. You know, some people did not like my glasses
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  at one time. And, and, you know, so getting crowd opinion on glassware eyewear,
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  you might want to try that once in a while. Yeah. Yeah.
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  So I'd like to flip it up just a little bit because, you know,
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  you always ask the questions and I know you're already ready with lots of questions.
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  In fact, I think you had extra questions. Yeah.
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  And so I, I thought, well, let's flip it. Let's ask Rowan a question.
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  All right. Okay. So I've got these, these are Christian cards and they're put
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  out by a company that wants to help discussion starters happen.
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  And so this is one that I thought I'd ask Rowan.
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  Okay. Do you feel like you're a part of a church community?
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  And if so, what draws you to it?
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  Yeah, I definitely say I'm part of a church community. What draws me to it is...
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  I just like that sharing time at church. You'll hear like what,
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  how people have helped each other out.
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  Like when mother gives birth, people are at their door, giving them meals and
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  people are injured. They'll take them to their doctor's appointments,
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  you know, drive them around for them.
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  It isn't necessarily like your blood family. It's like your, your church family.
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  That's, that's also there for you. So kind of, Wanting, wanting to have that
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  in the future and even now as well.
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  Yeah. Yeah. That's definitely draws me towards that. And, and I like the fact
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  that when people are gone for a period of time, it's sort of like a reunion every week.
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  And, oh, you missed the last two reunions. We really missed you.
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  Yeah. And so it's nice to see you back.
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  It's good to see you. I'm glad you're there. And yeah.
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  Yeah. You took vacation and I thought, my goodness, where is he at? Yeah.
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  We're around forever. Like you're supposed to be back, but ended up missing
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  three Sundays in a row because flights and didn't actually come home between vacations.
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  Flights. That could be a common theme here lately. Yeah. Late flights.
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  We weren't the only ones in the church to have that happen.
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  There was one guy that it would have been a 27 hour car ride,
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  but it actually took him 46 hours to get home by air.
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  Yeah. So, yeah. We spent nothing near that, but two extra hours in the same
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  airport that he had that at.
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  Oh, same one. Yeah, same one. And we won't name that airport,
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  lest there's some kind of lawsuit or something in the Maitster.
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  Yeah. But it's in the Southeast.
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  Well, let's get on those questions that you've got. I'm already nervous and I'm sweating. Yeah.
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  All right. We'll jump right into this one. kind of a current day topic,
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  but what, like, should we as Christians, what should our opinion be of,
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  Like immigrants coming into the United States, both legal and illegal.
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  Like how should we treat them, welcome them?
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  Should we welcome them? Like, yeah.
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  Yeah, that's a hot topic. Yeah. It really is. Well,
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  if we go back to the biblical document, go back to the Bible,
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  and we know that Israel was very open to people being part of them.
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  There's sort of division.
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  You either were a Jew or not a Jew, and you could become a Jew.
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  There was rites of passage to get that done.
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  But they were pretty well tolerant of a few people being in their midst and welcome the stranger.
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  Now, part of that is not uniquely Jewish or Hebrew, but the people of the East
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  are very much welcoming people who come across the borders to a point.
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  And they don't want invasion. Yeah, they don't tolerate invasion.
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  But the one, like a family that's traveling and maybe find themselves alone, you take care of them.
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  Yeah. And that very much comes out of the Old Testament.
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  And Jesus was welcoming of the stranger and, you know, he treated Samaritans
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  a whole lot different than any other Jew would have treated Samaritans. Yeah.
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  So, although he was walking on their turf, but in John chapter four,
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  I was the one place I'm thinking he was walking on their turf and,
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  and she was wondering why he was even there.
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  Because Jews usually went around Samaria to get to the northern part of the country.
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  And for some reason, Jesus in chapter 4 of John says he needed to go through Samaria,
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  which means it wasn't an absolute need, because if you know that Jewish history, they went around.
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  But it was a spiritual need. I think Jesus sensed he needed to go through Samaria
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  for the sake of that woman and the people around her.
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  So historically, the Bible says you take care of people who are stranded in
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  your midst, who are in need in your midst, who have come a long distance and need to be cared for.
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  Invasion, that's a different story. And they didn't tolerate that at all.
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  So when you bring that into the modern context, then— People who are here because
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  of what's going on in their country, we need to minister to,
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  but I think we maybe get on the wrong end of it a bit.
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  So why aren't we helping their country? If there's a need in that country,
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  wouldn't they be much better served if you take care of them where they started
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  from rather than having them come up here and inherit our problems?
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  Because then they become part of our culture and And if they don't acculturate, then who are they?
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  I mean, I'm Irish and German, and I don't speak either because we're Americans.
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  We acculturate together as a group.
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  So we need to take care of people one at a time, but not an invasion.
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  I'm i'm being careful with that because we've
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  had a wonderful family next door to us that were actually not uh illegal immigrants
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  but they were actually being taken care of what is that other word i'm trying
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  to think of they were exiled they were refugees okay but more political refugees.
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  Okay. And they were here. They could not speak the language except for their children.
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  Dear people, wonderful people, but they needed ministered too.
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  They'd gone through a world of hurt.
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  And so I feel very much we need to take care of those who are political exiles,
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  if you will, and minister to them.
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  Did I get close to answering that question? I think so. I sort of popped all
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  already around it, including John chapter four, but care for people.
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  Yeah. Be a neighbor. Yeah. Be a neighbor.
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  All right. What keeps us from making disciples of all nations?
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  Language is the chief piece and the difference in language.
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  And so Wiley is working, the Wiley translators are working intently trying to
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  translate the Bible into every known dialect and language.
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  And we know from that passage in Matthew 24, that getting to all nations means
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  that's ethnic groups, that's pockets.
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  And what keeps us from actually getting that ever done is, well,
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  okay, so we've gotten the Bible into this language, and we've sent missionaries to that language.
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  And okay, we're done. That's good, right?
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  But we know from our very own culture in the United States that believers, I mean, what do we have?
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  40 to 60-year window for every believer between the time that they learn about
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  Christ and they croak, I mean, pass away.
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  And so in that process, then you've got a 40-year window where they can share the gospel.
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  And then they aren't sharing the gospel anymore, nor are they,
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  you know, represented believers.
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  So if they haven't brought their children to Christ and their grandchildren
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  to Christ, then all of a sudden, as that generation moves on,
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  that nation becomes less Christian.
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  And so, see, God doesn't have grandkids. He has children.
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  And so that means that that nation, within 40 to 60 years, can be out no longer Christian.
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  So by taking that passage in Matthew 24, getting it to all nations,
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  that's great. But does it stay there?
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  Not unless it remains active.
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  And so I see what's happening now is we're needing to go back and bring the
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  gospel in fresh ways to places that it's already been, but has lost sight of
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  what it means to be Christian.
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  So I'm almost believing that that passage about taking it to all nations is
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  beginning to be a way of saying, okay, we need to take it back to some of the
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  other places that it's been before because it's not working there anymore.
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  What do you think? I mean, yeah, I wasn't necessarily aware of that,
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  but it makes sense now that you say it.
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  The 60-40 window, we still have not gotten the gospel to every nation,
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  in spite of all the efforts of Wycliffe and their publishers and other groups
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  that are publishing and translating.
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  We're not getting it there. Yeah, what is it?
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  I think the Bible is in the language of more than 75% of the world or something
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  like that, but it's in nowhere near half of the languages.
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  Right, because the language groups are smaller than the ethnic groups. Yeah. Yeah.
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  24, still off. Yeah. And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole
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  world and as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
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  Is that the passage you're sort of nudging towards in that question?
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  I didn't have a passage in mind. Okay, yeah. So basically, we're using that
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  verse as a measure of when Christ will come again.
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  And having that gospel preached in all nations is one of the critical pieces of the end coming. Yeah.
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  In chapter 24 of Matthew. Yeah. All right. That was a good question too. Yeah.
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  What do we tell those that say Christians were the source of atrocities like
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  the Holocaust, religious warfare, crusades, and slavery, stuff like that?
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  There are plenty of historical instances where maybe something has been taken
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  to the extreme that has originated in a religion or a sect of our religion as Christians.
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  And yeah, that can be said.
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  But I'm not sure it's the purest of Christianity that went there.
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  And I think we always need to be.
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  Testing the practice of our faith in the cultural context in which we live against
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  what Christ said we should be as Christians.
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  And so how do we live out the gospel in the most purest form each and every day?
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  And I'm thinking, you know, if I could just get the Sermon on the Mount memorized
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  in my head in such a way that Matthew 5, 6, and 7 resonates in my conversation,
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  so that when I talk to you, I'm thinking about,
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  okay, how do I answer that the way Jesus would answer that?
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  Or how can I act in this situation the way Jesus would act in this situation
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  so that I can actually be seen as, oh, wow, there's something different about
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  that guy because of the way he reacted in that situation because of this Jesus he believes in.
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  That's what I want to have happen. That pure Christianity that allows us to
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  interact with the world around us differently, I think is what catches on and catches people's eye.
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  Yes, there's historical things that could be attributed to Christians that may
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  become a distraction to someone who's looking at our faith.
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  But I think we can alter that by living in the here and now with the purest
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  motives that Christ can give us that I believe come from Scripture and a transformed heart.
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  Yeah. So the answer to that question is pretty simple. Yeah. There could be.
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  Those things attributed to us that are not very pretty.
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  That's like in, at school, like Hillcrest Academy, they tell us,
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  like, if you're, if you're wearing like our stuff, you're representing the school. So. Yeah.
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  Exactly. Yeah. If people out in public see you, I don't know,
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  messing around, being stupid, then.
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  They're not going to think very highly of the school probably,
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  but at least that's the thought behind it.
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  And it's interesting when you go back in our church documents,
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  in our particular tradition, it was really, we used to dress differently than
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  the world around us. That used to be a big point of pride.
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  And then you don't want to give people the wrong impression of who we are while
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  you're wearing your bonnet, you know, and your barn door britches.
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  So now we look like everybody else. And I'm thinking that also taints the way we walk.
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  He mentioned every day.
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  So ready for barn door britches? I don't know. You've talked about them quite
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  a bit, but it's been a while.
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  And I've never owned a pair of barn door britches.
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  But it's just a way of thinking. How do we live Christ out in our lives each
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  and every day? Because that's what we are as Christians.
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  In Atioch, we were first identified as Christians because they were so Christ-like.
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  Can you imagine reflecting Jesus so well that the community, right?
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  They reflect Jesus.
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  Now, since we address the same, it's instead of just being able to look at us
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  and say, Oh, they're Christians, they're Mennonites, whatever.
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  You gotta, like, they have to watch us.
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  They have to watch us.
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  That would be a wonderful thing. Yeah. How literally can we take the Old Testament?
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  Actually, I'm going to be preaching on that in a couple weeks. Okay.
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  Literally, historically. I think the Old Testament can be taken historically quite literally.
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  And I think archaeology is learning the fact that the Bible is a really good
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  ancient text about history. historic events and things.
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  When we start talking spiritually then, we need to realize that the Old Testament
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  is actually begetting a people, and over the course of time,
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  God's desire was to create a people after his own heart.
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  He talks about that with David in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel.
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  He wants someone after his own heart, and God wants us all to be people after his own heart.
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  We find throughout the Old Testament then, sometimes that came about,
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  and a lot of times it didn't.
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  And so it illustrates, well, sort of where we're at right now.
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  Sometimes we reflect Christ well, and sometimes we don't.
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  I believe Christ is like His mission was to teach us how to live with a heart
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  for God, how to reflect God well, to be good disciples.
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  So the Old Testament was starting to polish this group of people to be after God's own heart.
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  Through Christ and that perfect example in flesh, then we get a better idea
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  of what God wants us to do and be.
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  And now that's how the New Testament teaches us. Yeah. To the point that in
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  Romans 8, he calls us sons.
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  We can be sons of God, recognized by him as sons. That's cool. Yeah.
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  Some people would say, since God does want us after his own heart,
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  He's like a greedier, jealous God or not jealous. Well, and he is.
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  He is a jealous God as far as, you know, Exodus chapter 20, I think it's the
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  first two verses, talks about him being a jealous God.
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  And we take that word and leverage it from our perspective.
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  Yeah. Yeah. If we're jealous or I'm jealous of you, that is a nice shirt.
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  If I'm jealous of you, then that's not a good thing because it's covetousness.
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  But God's creator, God's creator, this, everything that's out there that we're
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  enjoying right now at some point or another, God had a hand at creating.
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  Well, is it jealous if you want your own stuff?
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  If it's, is it jealousy if you want your own people? So it's,
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  it's a word in the Hebrew that comes across in the, in the English as being,
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  oh man, that's not a good thing. But when you attribute.
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  Yes, get the emphasis on the right symbol, when you attribute that of God,
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  that's a good thing. I mean, why wouldn't he?
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  Why wouldn't he want what is his own? Yeah. Yeah.
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  So I think the problem with that is the translation, but yeah,
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  he, he can be jealous for him. It's not a bad thing. It's all his anyway.
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  I think trying to point out, we're better at pointing out flaws and asking questions than we are.
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  Like, are we really providing answers or backing it up?
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  But yeah, you're right. You got that one. I'd say you're better at backing it up, but yeah.
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  But yeah, and if you want to study on that, look at Matthew chapter 7, verse 3 verses.
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  And we can do that another time, but it's a good corrective because we're really
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  good at pointing out the problems in others.
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  I'm just amazed at how many times pointing out the problems in others really
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  exposes the problems in my own life.
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  Yeah, we kind of touched on that. I don't know, three episodes ago,
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  maybe. Yeah. Something like that. but it's cool.
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  All right. Well, thank you guys for joining us. We, we had a great time.
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  Hope you did as well. Got something out of it.
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  Learn something, share it with somebody else. They can learn something.
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  Yeah. You know, we wouldn't be offended if these videos went viral. Yeah.
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  Insult us. I don't know. Whatever. Let us know. Give us comments, feedback.
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  What do you like? What you don't like. More spicy questions.
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  Yeah. That's always good. Yeah. Send those in to me, but.
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  Yeah, not to me. Yeah, not Don. He can't know about him. I can't know about
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  him ahead of time. I come in cold. Oh, it's rather warm. Anyway.
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  Thank you guys for joining us. We'll see you next time. Lord willing.
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  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
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  ministry by sharing with others.
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  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
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  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
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  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day.