Servants Devoted to God - Part 6: The Identity of the Kingdom | Pastor Pablo Morales

We are going to continue the serious sermons

devoted to God. We have only two studies left

today and then next Sunday. Before we start,

let's pray. Let's pray together for these things.

Lord, the way you led Siri and Sang to know you,

how you brought them to Christ, and then called

them to engage in all these different opportunities.

Thank you for the heart you've given them. And

we ask you that you bless This initiative is

that people will come to know you because of

this. And empower us at ECB as we engage so that

we can show your love to the world. Thank you

also for your word that we get to study together

today. And I ask you, Lord, I really need you.

Empower me. Empower me with the power of your

spirit and your grace. In Jesus' name we pray,

amen. In this series, Servants Devoted to God,

we realize that when God saved us and we started

following Jesus, he did not just call us to die

and go to heaven one day. He called us actually

to follow him here and now. And when Jesus saved

us, he made us part of his kingdom. He's our

king. We belong to him now. And as we live for

him, the Bible calls us to see ourselves as servants

devoted to God that are driven by our love for

God, but also by this desire to serve him with

devotion. And that summarizes the whole thing.

If we're loving God, serving him with devotion,

we're servants devoted to God. That's what it

means to follow Jesus. And we discovered that

the first Christians, as they embraced this identity

and this calling, they had to overcome different

things from the very beginning. And we took time

each week to look at one of those different dimensions.

If you have not heard the previous studies, I

encourage you to go to the app or go to our website.

You will be able to access all the studies with

the PowerPoints, the notes, the audio, the video,

everything there for you. Today we're going to

be talking about the identity of the kingdom.

Because when God called us to belong to him and

to serve him, there's a core change that happens

from within that has to do with the way we see

ourselves and the way we see others. And the

challenge is that you have already been shaped.

The way you see yourselves or others has been

shaped by your upbringing. The culture you were

in, the family you were in, the social class

you were in, the political environment that you

were in, all of these different things already

shaped us growing up. And now that God calls

us to his kingdom, he wants us to change the

way we see ourselves. Now, for some people, their

source of identity is nationality. Oh, my country

and everybody else. Other people see themselves

more from the class they belong to. It's not

so much the country I am, but the social class

I belong to. It's my people group and then everybody

else. Other people see themselves based on the

color of their skin, what they look like. And

it's like my people group and then everybody

else. And no matter what source of identity we

have, if it's not the identity of the kingdom,

then it's a distorted identity. And it matters

that we pay attention to it because if we don't

adopt the identity of the kingdom, our ability

to love God and serve him with devotion will

be compromised. It doesn't matter what has shaped

your identity. The struggles that we go through

are the same. When I start seeing me and my people

as one group and then you and all the other groups,

It's me and them. And then that creates these

different dynamics that are the focus of studying

sociology and anthropology, cultural studies,

and you will come up with all of these different

tendencies. Ethnocentrism means that I believe

that my people group, my ethnicity, is better

than yours. Sorry, that's the way it is. And

that leads me to start thinking of your people

group as a people group that I just don't have

very good feelings about. I just have this internal

attitude that I'm not inclined very much to your

people. And therefore, that leads me to discrimination.

I start treating you differently than if I would

treat this other person, especially if the other

person is part of my group because we're better

than you. But then that can also lead me to xenophobia,

which means that I actually feel uncomfortable

around your kind. I'm afraid of your people,

or I hate your people. Especially if your country

is invading my country. And now I have this hatred

that every time I see you or hear your accent,

it's just like, ah. Which leads me to the next

thing, which is segregation. I just want to avoid

your people. I cannot hear your accent. It just

makes all these emotions in me. I just need to

stay away from you. And if you're walking on

the street and I see you, then I'm going to choose

to go across. Because I want to avoid you as

much as possible. Hey, we have to work together.

I have to work with you. But that doesn't mean

I have to be your friend. I'll just keep my separation

from you and we will live life that way. All

of these tendencies are tendencies that you and

I, to one degree or another, have experienced

or wrestled with. You have been the agent of

it or the receiver of it. And this happened not

just to you and to me, but this happened at the

very beginning also to the first Christians.

As you might remember, I am Chilean -American.

I have two passports. And when I was born in

my country, my birth certificate simply had my

name, the name of my parents, and my gender,

and that's it, and of course the date. But in

my second country, when my children were born

in America and the U .S., I had to also add what

was the race. And there were several options

to choose from. And they are not based on your

DNA. They are based on a social narrative that

we have. And perhaps your child was born in another

country than yours. And you have to figure out

some categories. Sometimes some countries ask

you to put their religion, what ethnic group

they belong to, etc. And I remember that I had

to learn that... In the U .S., we have this different

narrative. We have the desire, the tendency to

want to categorize people. When we see people,

we want to know, what are you? And some people,

you know, we can ask, and that's a normal question.

What are you? And if you're not used to that

question, you may realize, what are you talking

about? What am I? I'm a human. What else? But

we think in categories, and those categories

are influenced by history of science, our Darwinian

evolution, and all these theories that develop

in the 1800s. To the point that even we compose

Christian music like that. We say, Jesus loved

the little children, all the children of the

world. Red and yellow, black and white, they

are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little

children of the world. You know, we categorize

children in colors, red, yellow, black, white,

and that's normal for us. But that's just a distorted

form of identity, like the one you inherited

in your country, in your family. And when we

come to love God and serve Him with devotion,

identity has to change. And the first Christians

will experience that. The Apostle Paul will have

to start teaching about the identity of the kingdom

because it was especially in the ministry in

which he was involved that these things started

developing. You might remember that the first

Christians in Jerusalem were primarily Jews.

And when the persecution started right there

in Jerusalem, many of these Christians started

spreading throughout the Roman Empire. Some started

preaching the gospel only to Jews because they

thought Christianity is just for us, Jews. But

then some others had understood that it was for

everybody and they started preaching the gospel

also to Greeks and Gentiles. And in the city

of Antioch in the north, that was the first multicultural

church that was established. The city of Antioch

was what the third most important city of the

Roman Empire. You have Rome, you have Alexandria,

and then Antioch. And as a cosmopolitan city

with lots of business, there were people from

all over the area. So when you went to Antioch

and you showed up to the church of Antioch, You

will notice that as described in the book of

Acts, the leaders of that church were a representation

of all these different ethnic groups and backgrounds.

And as you looked around, it's like, okay, these

are not just Greeks or Jews. These are also people

from other places. And you have, wow, what is

this? And it wasn't just challenging for the

people that were part of the community. It was

challenging for those that were trying to identify

them from the outside. It's like, what are these

people? Why do they get together? It's like,

they are not Jews. They are not Greeks. They

are a mix of all these things. So you know what

they decided to call them? For the lack of a

better label? It says in the book of Acts, the

disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

That was the beginning of the word Christian.

Because they couldn't identify with anything

else. The only thing they had in common was these

people from all these backgrounds, they all follow

Jesus. So they call them Christians. And the

Apostle Paul will start teaching, not only Antioch,

but the other churches that were established

in that area of Asia Minor, like the Ephesians,

for instance. And he will start teaching them

about the identity of the kingdom. That this

identity of the kingdom is different from any

other identity that has shaped your upbringing.

He says, for instance, in Ephesians chapter 2,

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

consequently, you are no longer foreigners. but

fellow citizens with God's people and also members

of his household. You belong to Jesus? Hey, you're

a part of the family. Come in. You belong to

Jesus? It doesn't matter what passport you have.

You're not a foreigner. You're a family. Come

in. And he started teaching this to the first

Christians so that they would embrace the identity

of the kingdom. But there was a problem. People

already had other identities that shaped them.

And that is going to collide with following Jesus.

And the Apostle Paul has to address it. The first

one of those occasions was a struggle with the

Apostle Peter from all people. You see, the Apostle

Peter was the first one that preached the gospel

in Jerusalem. Did you remember how many people

came to know Christ that day? 3 ,000. Huge group

right there. but they were primarily Jews. And

then God used him to preach the gospel to the

first Gentile, Cornelius, and his family who

were Romans. And then he heard about what was

going on in Antioch, so he was excited, genuinely

excited. So he went to Antioch to visit Paul

and the friend Barnabas who had started this

place. And just to meet the new Christians that

were there and teach them and interact with them,

it was a good intent until, as he was there,

and some of these Christian leaders from Jerusalem

that didn't like Gentiles that much showed up.

And suddenly, Peter's attitude started changing

and Paul noticed. And to understand what happened,

we have to go to the book of Galatians. Because

there is written, when Cephas, that's another

name for the apostle Peter, came to Antioch,

I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

You can see that he was not conflict avoidance

culture. I opposed him to his face. That's pretty

much Chilean culture, by the way, too. It's like

we just call it for what it is. And that gets

me in trouble sometimes. He says, you know, I

oppose them to his face. For before certain men

came from James, one of the leaders in Jerusalem,

he used to eat with the Gentiles. He was fine.

But when they arrived here in Antioch, oh, he

began to draw back and separate himself from

the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who

belong to the circumcision group. Oh, do you

remember the struggles that I mentioned earlier?

He started feeling this attitude of just discrimination

towards these people. And he decided to start

practicing segregation. I'm going to separate.

I feel uncomfortable around you anymore. Why?

Well, because my friends feel uncomfortable with

you. Because, you know, we don't like your people.

That is, until Christ came. And now we have to

love you. So he starts experiencing all of these

things. And the problem is that it became contagious.

The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy so

that by their hypocrisy, even Barnabas, would

you believe it? Even Barnabas was led astray.

Barnabas was Paul's friend who actually invited

him to come to Antioch to start preaching the

gospel to these Gentiles. The church planter

now was affected by this attitude. And you can

understand why if you look at the background.

Because in first century culture, Judaism, people

like the apostle Peter, Barnabas, and any other

average Jew grew up in a context in which they

were told from very little how to think about

people. So it's us and them, we Jews and everybody

else. We are good, they are bad. And they are

the Gentiles. And we have even some instructions

even recorded today. Let me show you, for instance,

these instructions for the Jews. Like little

Peter in kindergarten. This is what you need

to know. Separate yourself from the Gentiles.

Do not eat with them. Do not perform deeds like

them. And do not become associates of theirs.

Never be their friend. This is what they grew

up with. That's why when the apostle Peter went

to Cornelius' home to preach the gospel for the

first time, I don't know if you've ever read

this story and you noticed, but the first thing

that Peter says to these people is, you know

that in our law, it goes against our law for

me to come into your home. It was really much

very ingrained in their system. But that was

not the only problem. Greeks also had their categorizations.

They thought we Greeks are the sophisticated

one. Everybody else is less civilized. And they

had words for that. They called them barbarians.

So if you were not Greek, you were barbarian.

And even worse, you could be a Scythian. Scythian

words is like the bottom. Many of them were just

only slaves. To the point that we even have some

of those writings describing what they thought

of those people. Us, we, good. Them, bad. And

this is what Josephus says about the Scythians,

for instance. Josephus was a Jewish historian.

And he says this is what people thought. They

differ little from brute beasts. In other words,

those people. Those non -Greeks, they are just

animals. And now, you have the Jew that thinks,

oh, you Gentiles should not associate with them,

those people. And you have the Greeks that say,

oh, those are animals. And now they come to know

Christ, and they attend the same church, and

now there's a little fellowship with food involved.

So Paul, as direct as he was, says, when I saw

that they were not acting in line with the truth

of the gospel, they were misaligned with the

gospel itself, I was not going to put up with

it. So, I said to Cephas, to the apostle Peter,

in front of them all, you're a Jew, yet you live

like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it

then? That you force Gentiles to follow Jewish

customs? Because Peter, are you telling me that

you are better than they are? That somehow they

are inferior to you? Is that the gospel that

you believe in? Because that's not the gospel

that I know. So he writes about this. He has

to teach people about these things. To tell them

these identities that you inherited and you're

trying to bring into God's kingdom are not compatible

with the message of the gospel. They are not

compatible with the kingdom. That categorization

that you inherited from your culture doesn't

work in the kingdom. You have to change the software

of your heart. Because if you are a... The follower

of Jesus, if you belong to his kingdom, then

our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly

await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who by the power that enables him to bring everything

under his control will transform our lowly bodies

so that they will be like his glorious body.

Peter, have you forgotten the gospel? Jesus is

our king. We are citizens of heaven. And if you

have the Holy Spirit, you belong to my family.

You are one of us. And therefore, I need to treat

you with the same love of the Father. Because

one day, Peter, we are going to reign with Christ,

don't you remember? The apostle John mentioned

it in the book of Revelation. He said that Jesus

purchased with his blood for God persons from

every tribe and language and people and nation.

All of this diversity now part of his. Why? Because

he paid for it with his own blood. And this community

of people, he says, Are not just anything. You

have made them to be a kingdom. And priests.

To serve our God. And they will reign on the

earth. Peter. Have you forgotten the truth of

the gospel? This is who we are. This is where

we are going. Why? Are you treating your fellow

believers. This way? You are not aligned with

the truth of the gospel. And thank God for truth

spoken in love, even if direct, because sometimes

we need to hear it as it is. And God used Paul

to reframe Peter and put him back in alignment

with the Holy Spirit. Later, Peter is going to

write about Paul saying, you know, He's such

a great guy, and God has given him so much wisdom,

so you need to pay attention to his writings.

That's how we know that they solved this problem

here. But it is true. If the Bible is going to

make any categorization, it's basically a dual

categorization. You belong to the kingdom of

darkness, or you belong to the kingdom of light.

If you belong to the kingdom of darkness, it

doesn't matter what religion you have or lack

of religion thereof. It doesn't matter. If you

have not repented of your sins and Jesus has

not saved you, then you do not belong to his

kingdom. But if Jesus is your savior and you

are following him, he gave you his Holy Spirit.

And if you have his spirit, Then, you and I belong

to the same family. You are my brother, my sister

in Christ. I remember that when I went to Cape

Town in South Africa, there was a tour guide

as we were going to see the prison where President

Mandela had been. And as he was helping me get

into the boat, the tour guide said to me, greets

me, and he says, Hi brother from a different

mother. And I found that so sweet, yet so profound.

He was right. That's the truth of the gospel

right there. You're my brother from a different

mother and you're my sister from a different

mother. But we have the same Father. Our Heavenly

Father and the same Holy Spirit. We are family

in the kingdom. Amen. They had to wrestle with

all of that. All the identities coming together

and suddenly realizing, oh, this is not compatible

with who we are now. Exactly. You have to change

the software of your heart. Invite the Holy Spirit

into that space so that you can start loving

people with the love of God, not with the prejudice

that shaped you. But that was not the only challenge

they faced. That was Peter. That was the first

one. The second one was Philemon. And it was

a whole different story. See, Philemon was a

guy that lived in a city called Colossae. And

that city was where the Church of the Colossians

was established. And the Church of the Colossians,

that was the letter the Apostle Paul wrote that

is in the New Testament, the Book of the Colossians.

So Philemon lived in that area. That was part

of the Roman Empire influenced by Roman law.

And like many of the Roman -influenced cities,

it was estimated that about 30 % of the people

were slaves. And Philemon was well -off, so he

actually had a few slaves himself. Well, one

of those slaves was called Onesimus. And we know

that the apostle Paul was the one that led Philemon

to know Christ. The apostle Paul had a good relationship.

But you know, Paul was persecuted, he ended up

being in prison, and now he's in Rome. Well,

Philemon's slave called Onesimus, he gets in

trouble, and he decides to flee. He escapes,

and he tries to go all the way to Rome to start

a new life. And God answered his prayer. He got

a whole new life. When he was there in Rome,

for some reason, we don't understand the details,

but he gets to meet the Apostle Paul. And we

believe that was in prison. So you can imagine

the Apostle Paul talking to this guy and says,

hey, what's your name? Onesimus, where are you

from? Colossa. Are you serious? Are you from

that city? I have a good friend from there. His

name is Philemon. What? Are you kidding? Philemon?

And then they start talking. And then Onesimus

says, you know, yeah, I know Philemon. And Paul

says, yeah, Philemon, I led him to Christ. Christ?

What's that? Oh, you do not know about Jesus?

No. Let me tell you. And now the apostle Paul

leads Onesimus. To believe in Jesus. And now

Onesimus becomes a follower of Jesus. Small world,

isn't it? But the story is not over yet. Now

Paul says to Onesimus, Onesimus, I think you

need to go back to Philemon. Go back to the church

there with the Colossians, you know, and just

serve the Lord. And Onesimus is like, yeah, but

how do I go back after I escaped? What do I tell

him? And Paul is thinking a little bit and he

says, you know, I have a solution for that. I'm

going to write a letter to Philemon. And he starts

writing. And that is the book of Philemon that

you find in your Bible. It's the letter that

the apostle Paul is writing to Philemon, the

slave owner of Onesimus. And you can imagine

how nervous Onesimus must have been, you know,

carrying the letter from Paul. He knocks on the

door. What is going to happen, you know? And

then Philemon opens the door. And Onesimus says,

letter from Paul. And he gives it to him. And

now he opens it. And this is what Paul says.

Hey Philemon, perhaps the reason he was separated

from you for a little while. Was that you might

have him back forever. No longer as a slave.

But better than a slave. As a dear brother. From

a different mother. He is very dear to me. But

even dearer to you. Both as a fellow man. And

as a brother in the Lord. So if you consider

me a partner. Welcome him. As you will welcome

me. What did you do. If you are a Philemon. You

have been shaped. By the Roman culture. To see

people in these two categories. Free and slave.

Good. Better. Bad. And now. As you are following

Jesus. This guy that left you. That repented.

Comes back. Is following Jesus. Now you are asking

me to see him. Through different eyes? Yes. Through

the eyes of Jesus who paid with his blood for

people of every tribe and ethnicity and social

class and language. Philemon, the categories

that shaped you to see yourself and to see others

are wrong. And if you are going to follow Jesus

and love him and serve him with devotion, you

will have to change the software of your heart.

And you will have to embrace the identity of

the kingdom. Because in this kingdom, something

changes completely. From now on, as you come

to believe in Christ, We regard no one from a

worldly point of view anymore. Though we once

regarded Christ in this way, we do no longer.

Because now, therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

including Onesimus the slave that escaped, if

anyone is in Christ, The new creation has come.

The old has gone. The new is here. This is the

identity of the kingdom. So yes Philemon. You

need to start seeing Onesimus. Not as a slave

anymore. But as a dear brother. Because in the

kingdom of Jesus. There's only those in the kingdom

of darkness. And in the kingdom of light. And

if you are in the kingdom of light. You have

the spirit in you. You belong to him. You are

one family. Learn to live and love like it. As

you can see. The message of the gospel was completely

revolutionary. Because it challenged all the

mindsets and the attitudes of the heart. And

it was not just the first Christians that were

struggling with that. That new identity is our

identity as well. And the struggle is going to

be yours and mine. Because it is true that citizens

of heaven is the identity of the kingdom. We

are heavenians. And that's the next passport

you carry in your soul. But if we are to live

like heavenians. here on earth, we will have

to overcome the same attitudes that the Apostle

Peter and Philemon and all the other Christians

had to overcome. Because you and I will experience

ethnocentrism and prejudice and discrimination

and xenophobia and segregation either as an agent

of it or as a receiver of it. It's part of the

reality. But if here at ECB we're going to have

The impact that we desire to have on making disciples

for global impact, we cannot do that if we do

not embrace the identity of the kingdom. We will

be held back. And just think about it, ECB, such

a blessing to be part of this community. There

are very few places on earth like ECB. We have

a community of around 70 different nations. We

haven't even counted how many languages. So many

different cultures. And we are part of one community

that loves Jesus and we are here to love him

and serve him with devotion. But man, we should

not be naive. I'm thinking that ECB is great.

We won't ever struggle with these things because

we will. The very day that Russia invaded Ukraine,

I was counseling a Ukrainian guy and a Russian

guy here in Bangkok. And all of these things

affect how we love each other. And embrace the

identity of the kingdom. There are political

tensions. There are things that make us now look

at certain people from a certain country negatively.

And now everything within me wants to avoid you

because I don't like you anymore. Because of

what your country did to mine. Understandable.

But do you remember that you're a citizen of

heaven? And so. Is this other person? And that

you have a new king and his name is Jesus? There

is something that we will have to understand

at the core of who we are. And that is that I

may be a Christian who was born in Chile and

then became American. But that doesn't mean I'm

an American Christian. No, I'm a Christian who

happens to be American. I'm a Christian who happens

to be Chilean. I'm a Christian first and foremost.

That is our primary source of identity. So we

will have to overcome certain obstacles and there

are three of them that are key. I want to take

you through them. The first one of these obstacles

that we have to overcome is the faulty The Apostle

Paul will write about this to many other churches,

and I want us to read it out loud. He's going

to tell us, remember, your older identities that

you inherited are not true. They are distorted

by history and politics and national identities.

But if you belong to Christ, this is your new

identity. And this is what he says. Would you

read it aloud with me? Put on the new self, which

is being renewed in knowledge, in the image of

its creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew,

circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,

slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

And that is what matters most. That's the kingdom.

You're in Christ. That's it. All the other identities,

secondary. But then he understands that this

diversity brings conflict. So then he continues.

Will you read the next section? Therefore, as

God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, close

yourself with compassion, kindness, humility,

gentleness, and patience. You're going to need

it. Clothe yourself with what? With compassion,

kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, because

once you are surrounded by people of all different

cultures and tendencies and you name it, it will

test your patience and your compassion. There

are times in which you will want not to be kind,

but clothe yourself with these things that come

from the Holy Spirit. But not only that, he continues.

Bear with each other and forgive one another.

If any of you have a grievance against someone,

forgive as the Lord forgave you. Because at moments

you're going to be hurt, disappointed. It's tough

to be in a multicultural community, multinational

community. But when those moments you feel hurt,

you need to learn to forgive as the Lord forgave

you. because you are a heavenian now. And you

will have to discover the true meaning of loving

like Christ loved the church, you know, because

he says at the end, let's read this part, over

all these virtues put on love, which binds them

all together in perfect unity. Perfect unity.

Not perfect uniformity. You don't have to be

like me for me to love you. I may not like you,

that's true, but I'm here to love you regardless.

But you know what? It is love that puts all these

things together. And the world cannot experience

that love because that love comes from the Holy

Spirit. That love that is able to see the other

and see ourselves from God's eyes comes from

being aligned with the kingdom of Jesus. If you

do not belong to Jesus, I'm encouraging you.

Ask Jesus to save you. He wants you in his kingdom.

And when you do, Become part of his kingdom.

Then you experience his life. There's a spiritual

reality that changes that allows you to love

the other differently than you ever could. That's

the power of God. That's the power of the gospel.

I remember that one of the first times that I

have to experience some of these tensions and

realize how complex cultural differences are.

was when my family moved to Mexico to start working

in church plant. I didn't realize that we were

that different. Still Latin America, they still

speak Spanish, but I remember the first time

I say, hi, how can I help you? This person looked

at me and said, where are you from? And I was

wondering, how can they tell them from somewhere

else just by saying something like a greeting?

That's when I realized, oh, I have a Chilean

accent when I speak. which now is all messed

up. And Chileans let me know that. You don't

sound like a Chilean. Okay, thank you. Thank

you for all that, what you called, prejudice

coming in. But I was in Mexico, and we started

sharing the gospel with people, and then we started

discipling people. And it's like, hey, let's

meet for discipleship. That's great. Let's meet

at 6 p .m. Perfect. Tuesday, 6 p .m. Tuesday,

6 p .m. 2 to 6 p .m. comes. I'm ready, waiting

for the person. 6, 6 .10, 6 .30, 7. And I'm thinking,

oh, something must have happened. The person

is not going to come. So I'm going to get ready,

you know, to move on. And suddenly, you know,

7, 7 .30 or 8. I'm here. And sometimes not even

with an apology. It's like, oh, I'm here. So

it's like, and I'm thinking, what? This late?

And I had to learn that that was just part of

the culture. Mexico City is a huge city. It's

like Bangkok. Lots of traffic everywhere. Many

people drive two hours to go to work. I had to

learn that time meant something different in

that context. And you know what it's like. Perhaps

you've had that frustration of making an appointment

with somebody and you realize, oh, they don't

think of time the same way. And it goes the other

way too. It's like, hey, come for dinner at 6

p .m. And they show up at 5 .30 and you're thinking,

why did you show up so early? It's like, yeah,

because in their culture, that's what they do.

They show up early. Others show up late. And

we drive each other crazy. Be patient. compassionate,

forgive one another. Paul says, that's the only

way we can be the kingdom of God. There's so

much about culture that I would like to tell

you, but I don't have time for it. So I will

just share some resources with you. The first

one is this book, The Cultural Map. I highly

recommend it. It's written about the cultural

differences and how they affect multicultural

teams or multicultural companies, international

companies. If you are working for a company and

you go to another country and you're working

with this other team, you need to realize how

cultural differences affect the teams from the

way that you criticize something or the way you

ask for opinions, how direct, how indirect, what

about time, et cetera. It's just fascinating.

So if you are part of a multicultural team, a

multinational team, This is a must -read. The

second one is Leading Across Cultures. It also

talks about cultural studies and differences

and things, but this was written by a leader

of a mission organization, and he brings part

of the theology of things as well. So it's a

fascinating, well -written book. If you are working

for a mission organization in any form of leadership,

this is a good book for you. There's another

book called The Way Tithes Lead. This was written

by our own ECB friend, Larry. Larry, what's your

last name? Persons, yeah. And he grew up here

in Thailand. He understands the Thai culture.

He speaks Thai. And then he did his studies and

dedicated these studies to write about how Thai

leadership works. And man, when I was reading

that, it's like so much I did not know. If you

are working and you have come to Thailand to

work and you're working with a Thai company or

Thai teams, this is a must read. And if you are

Thai and you've never studied your own culture,

this is a must read too. It will help you understand

blind spots that we have. But amazing resources.

One more resource I want to share with you is

that I spent three years writing this doctoral

dissertation, and in it, it talks about the theology

that we're discussing today, the New Testament

struggles that we're facing, all of these different

things, the history of understanding of the narrative

in American culture, but also there's a whole

chapter about synergy in multicultural teams.

This also will help you. But about two years

ago, I was invited to publish part of this dissertation

in a book that was published in Chile in Spanish

to address part of the immigration crisis that

the country was going through. And even though

I wasn't living there and there were many years

I was not there, the concepts that I had learned

in serving in the U .S. and then writing the

dissertation applied so much to it that... They

asked me to publish the book, and I remember

that when they interviewed me for the TV show

that they did in Santiago, and then the launching

of the book, I couldn't go, so I had to do it

from here, from my office. And I asked the people,

this was a group of Christians, I said, if any

of you has dual citizenship, would you please

stand up? And only one missionary stood up. And

then I said, you know the Bible says that you're

a citizen of heaven if you're a follower of Jesus.

So that means that you have your earthly citizenship

and your heavenly citizenship. So let me ask

you again. Is there anybody here that has at

least dual citizenship? Will you stand up? And

everybody stood up that day. If you are in a

Latin American context and Spanish is your language,

that book will be helpful. Take a look at it.

And by the way, I don't get anything from any

of those things, so this is not a commercial.

But how do you see yourself? Are you seeing yourself

through the right eyes of the gospel, of your

savior? Or are you seeing yourself through the

identities you inherited? It's us and them. Or

is it us? The second challenge is distorted perception.

How you see the other. And there is something

that is part of the human experience. We need

to be seen. Do you see me? Me? Not my accent,

not my looks. Do you see me? Do you see my pain?

Can you hear my cry? That aspect of seeing you

for who you are is a need that we all have. And

the gospel is meant to address that as we adopt

the identity of the kingdom. Several years ago,

I was reading this novel, The Kafir Book. Sorry,

the autobiography, The Kafir Boy. And this book

was the story of a famous South African tennis

player who grew up during apartheid and then

eventually, through tennis, was able to find

a way out of poverty and then moved to the U

.S. where he pursued his career. Famous, famous

book. But there was a moment in which he was

talking about his grandmother working for these

people that were Christians. And as she was talking

to them, she was saying, you guys are different

from all the people that I've worked for. And

what do you mean that they're different from

all the people? So he hears his grandmother say

to the boss, you treat us like human beings.

And when I was reading that, I just underlined

that in this book. And I thought, that's it.

As simple as that, that's the truth of the gospel.

It is calling us to see you as a human being.

Not as a category, a nationality, a skin color.

As a human being that has the same struggles

I have, the same pain I have, and that when you

suffer, I can see the suffering in you. I see

you. That is what the power of the gospel does,

and the apostle Paul writes to us, and he says,

that is how the body is supposed to work. The

body of Christ is meant to have this aspect of

empathy of how we see the other. Would you read

it out loud with me? If one part suffers, every

part suffers with it. If one part is honored,

every part rejoices with it. Now you are the

body of Christ and each one of you is a part

of it. Share the suffering. Share the joy. Because

I see you through the eyes of God. created in

his image and his likeness. You're a person.

And I will not treat you as a category, but as

a human being. So how do you see the other? Has

the gospel of Jesus redeemed that part of your

life? Or do you need to invite the Holy Spirit

to transform that part of your life? And the

final obstacle, earthly perspective. We're only

thinking about here and now by the categories

we inherited rather than letting the gospel give

us the eternal perspective. And this is the perspective

that Jesus gave us, captures by the words of

the Apostle John. And I'm going to ask you to

read it out loud with me because this is who

we are and this is where we're going. If you

belong to Jesus, you are worthy to take this

scroll. And to open its seals. Because you were

slain. And with your blood you purchased for

God. Persons from every tribe. And language.

And people. And nation. You have made them to

be a kingdom. And priests to serve our God. And

they will reign on the earth. Then I looked.

And I heard the voice of many angels. Numbering

thousands upon thousands. And ten thousand times

ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the

living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice

they were saying, Worthy is the lamb who was

slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom

and strength and honor and glory and praise to

him who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Be

praise and honor and glory and power forever

and ever. This is the kingdom. This is where

we belong to. This is who we are. This is our

identity. Worthy is the Lamb. That is how far

we need to see. Because if we fail to see that

far, We will not be able to see others through

God's eyes. And our ability to love God and serve

Him with devotion and our ability to make disciples

for global impact will be compromised. Powerful,

isn't it? The power of the gospel. The identity

of the kingdom. It's a complete different story.

And we have to invite the Holy Spirit to change

the software of our hearts. So I would like to

tell you finally, just this diagnosis a little

bit. You know if you have a faulty identity of

how you're seeing yourself for others? If you

are experiencing apathy towards the suffering

of other people? Are you just like... You cannot

see their pain because you see them as a category.

You are experiencing this negative attitude to

certain people. And you just can't help it. You

just feel it. Or you have decided to avoid certain

people altogether. These are symptoms that your

identity is misplaced. And I'm going to encourage

you as we close this time together saying worthy

is the lamb. Because we are not going to wait

until heaven to come as a group of redeemed people

of all languages, nations, and ethnic groups

as one body to say worthy is the lamb. We will

do that today. But as we do that today, would

you invite the Holy Spirit? To heal any of these

wounds that you carry. And to restore within

you the right perspective. That you will truly.

From within it will click. That you see yourself

as a citizen of heaven. And therefore you are

able to live like it. Have you embraced the identity

of the kingdom? We must. Lord, it was by your

blood that you purchased all of us out of your

love for us and you are calling us to become

a channel of that love. But Lord, we have been

clogged by all of these versions of what we are

and what other people are and we acknowledge

the struggle. But would you today Heal that within

us and give us eyes to see like you do. We cannot

love people with your love unless you give us

that. So I'm asking you in Jesus' name, increase

our capacity to love like you love. In Jesus'

name, amen. If God is calling you to support

our ministries, you will find giving options

on our website. And remember to join us next

week. God bless you.