Godly Fellowship: Part 9: A Barkada, Pan-National: The Greatest of These Is Love.

"Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace."

- Charles Spurgeon.

The cross of Christ levels the playing field by truly eliminating all boasts of man before God. The Lord saves poor and rich, educated and uneducated, criminal and self-righteous. He created us equal, and as Christians we really cannot name any factor that sets us in a "better-than-equal" position before Him. He does this to show his all-surpassing power to save even the most unlikely man and, ultimately, to glorify His name. God glorifies Himself as much when He saves an uneducated serial killer from a poor background as He does when He saves a suburban church kid who has dotted every "i" and crossed every "t" for twenty years. Both have repented, and thus both cause a remarkable amount of joy among the angels in heaven, who have no need for the gospel for themselves because they lack the sin nature of fallen man.

About “race”: The construct of "race" to mean anything other than the human race is largely societal. If anyone could lay claim before God to be closer to God because of their race or ethnicity, it was the Jews in the Old Testament. Yet in Christ, there is no distinction between Greek and Jew. In surrendering this part of our identity, we can see more of how God has glorified Himself by saving people from many different backgrounds from, for, and by Himself. To put it another way, most of my Christian friends do not look like me. Some of them do not speak my native language most of the time. Yet, by taking the time to know them and look at their lives, I have seen God's hand working in and through them - in different ways than I have seen in my own life. Doing this has encouraged my walk with the Lord and enhanced my worship of Him.

About "face": I am currently reading through 1 Chronicles after completing 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. King Saul - the ruler that the people picked - was famous for his dashing outward appearance. God, by His sovereign hand, ordained that he be the first human ruler of Israel. Yet He was not pleased with Saul. A shepherd boy who killed a lion, a bear, and a nine-foot-tall Philistine giant spent his life with his heart overjoyed in God's presence and enthralled with the Word and the will of God. He did not look like much when he was called to succeed Saul as king. And Christ did not look like much when He came to Earth. He laid aside His glory and took on a physical frame with physical needs. Rejected by religious and civil authorities and possessing no good looks or noble birth to cause men to esteem Him, Christ lived the truth that "God looks at the heart". It shows me the importance of not allowing human culture's preoccupation with the outward appearance to dictate my thoughts about a brother or sister in Christ. Outwardly, they may look like a fringe figure in society. But if I dig deep in examining their life inwardly, I may be able to see how much they love God more than I do.

About "place": We use "place" to mean several things, such as a place in society or a geographic area. How many times have I thought that God could not save someone just because they work in Hollywood? How many times since September 11, 2001, have my fellow Americans thought that Muslims were beyond saving? "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save", as Isaiah, inspired by God, gloriously wrote.

And about "grace": I have seen several definitions for this: "God's Riches At Christ's Expense", if you like a memorable acrostic... "God's unmerited favor towards us"... either way, it is driven by God's desire to magnify His own name in us. My church has a very faithful servant who cooks very well for us and participates in many ministries. One of our pastors said that if we were justified by works, this man would be at the front of the line going into heaven. But not even he trusts in his own works. He leans fully on Christ.

Our effort to please God is driven by grace and a heart that He has caused to love Him. Matt Chandler said, "The law was given to show me I can't be perfect, that I'm going to fall short, that I am in desperate need of a Savior (Romans 1-7). When we stumble and fall, the Spirit reminds us of the Scriptures that promise that there has been a death for those failures and that there is a new covenant resting on Christ now and not on my ability to obey the law. This allows me to pursue Christ without fear and by 'beholding His glory I am transformed'." There is no right, biblical way to be proud of ourselves for that. Oh, may I boast in God!

"When you do talk about race, root the conversation in the Gospel."

- Thabiti Anyabwile, “Thabiti’s Top Ten Tips for Talking About Race”.

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“Thou our Father, Christ our brother,

all who live in love are Thine;

teach us how to love each other,

lift us to the joy divine.”

- Henry Van Dyke, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”

I take issue with how many larger churches handle the matter of cross-generational fellowship among the brethren. In many large church settings, children grow up in Sunday school, where they change classes from year to year and rarely spend time with anyone outside their own grade. When they become junior high or high school students, they attend their respective youth groups and, again, try to figure out matters of maturity with each other or with young adults leading them who usually are telling them that their parents are not cool.

And there are groups within the youth group of kids with common interests and/or common dislikes who often only spend time with each other. When I was growing up there were cliques in my youth group of kids that either were preps, were jocks, or hated both. (Being hated by both, I hated both and started a group of “freaks” that I called the “freakish brotherhood”… separate rabbit trail.) Generally, there was exclusivity between the groups; and friendships were usually not lifelong – just the typical friendships in my area of the US with an attitude of, “This is where I am right now. I’m not staying. But I might as well have a few friends here, and then I’ll find some new friends after I leave.”

I think the Philippines, with its concept of the barkada, has a huge advantage over America in regards to how people in the two countries treat friendship. I had read about barkadas in several books about the Philippines, but there is no true English translation for the word. Basically, a barkada is a group of friends that feels like a family. Loyalty runs high, and they remain friends after they move away. Some of them have reunions. The friendships can legitimately be lifelong friendships.

And shouldn’t we think of our church family this way? Let us replace our surface, Facebook-level friendships with ties closer than blood brothers and sisters. Blood is thicker than water? Our identity in Christ is thicker than blood and stronger than steel.

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To me, a church like mine is sort of like a larger-scale barkada that is not constrained by age. Sure, there are groups-within-the-group of people who do things outside church together. But I can freely fellowship with almost anyone there, whether we are chopping up divine truth, praying together, discussing work, or playing with cute babies.

And the local church is “a microcosm or a small-scale example / but it is the Church, even though it’s just a sample / invisible, spiritual, physical, visible / not a brick temple, never that simple” (Lecrae, “The Bride”). In heaven we will see the full-scale barkada, comprised of untold numbers of people representing every tribe, language, and nation. This tells me that we have no reason for racism or xenophobia in dealing with our Christian brethren, even those who come from countries with which my country is at war. Here on this earth, we have no lasting city; we seek the Celestial City, which is eternal and far better (Hebrews 13:14).

Let me clear up something: Jesus and Allah are not the same God. Islam is a religion of works, where its adherents work their way to God by keeping the Five Pillars of Islam. Islam sees Jesus Christ as a prophet and has no savior or means of forgiveness. And it does not allow any kind of assurance of salvation. It’s just, “I think I’ve been good enough that I will probably go to paradise.” On the other hand, Christians become saved by repenting of their sins and trusting in Christ. God alone can give them the faith to do that and the assurance that they have been born again. And Christians are called to suffer for the cause of Christ as much as necessary, even to the point of death. These two gods are not the same god. The scandal of the Christian gospel is that the Bible says that Christ is the only way to be saved.

But if I met a brother in Christ who came from the Arab world, grew up in the Islamic faith, and left that faith in favor of Christ, should I not seek to have meaningful godly fellowship with him? And similarly, most of the people that have spoken God’s truth to me through song recently have been Christian rappers, most of whom are from the inner city, and many of whom have a lot of scars in their past. They still minister for God in their cities, and with the changes in their lives they can point to the power of God! Similarly, if I were to meet a man from, say, Venezuela who had converted from Santeria (a Catholicism/animism/Satanism hybrid) to Christianity and displayed a desire for God, should I not discuss the things of God with him as well?

Yes to all of those questions, even if they do not have all their facts about the faith correct – and even if you think there is little or nothing for you to gain from being friends with them. The Bible is a very rich book, and no one aside from God knows the correct answers to every question about theology, soteriology, Christology, eschatology, and so on. However, the biggest item that postmodern thinkers misunderstand or outright deny is the truth that we can know the truth. Jesus Christ Himself even said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). And the more of the truth you know – even by wrestling with it – the more that you can pour into other believers, so that they may use it in better imitating Christ.

“If your theology’s bangin’, I hate to offend you.

But where are the faithful men you’ve been pouring it into?”

- Json, “Run”

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To sum up, my favorite Christian bumper stickers out there (no, they are not all kitsch) says this:

Every Tribe, Tongue, and Nation – Or Bust.

And God’s Word says He’s going to do exactly that.

But you don’t just need to spread the gospel wide. Spread it deep.

Paul planted the seed. Apollos watered it. God made it grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6)

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“ ⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

- 1 Peter 4:7-11

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For further reading, please check out the prayer at the end of David Legge’s message, “Sins We Have Sanitized, Part 4: Cultural Sins”. Indeed, as he says well, “our love should mark us out”.