It is the desire of the Father that every culture be cherished, as He cherishes them. And there is something in every culture from which we can learn.
There is something we can learn from a culture we don’t often hear about: The Island Culture.
Some of the characteristics of island culture include:
- Generosity: They sometimes have so little, but they give so much.
- Hospitality: They welcome you into their home and do anything for you.
- Joy: Laughter is everywhere (food is everywhere too!)
- Flexible & Easy-Going: They're often not so much interested in ‘doing’ as much as ‘being’.
Both men and women. You see it in their dances, songs, and tattoos.They’re a people of the heart; they live from a deep place. They have something to offer to us. What can we learn from them?
They’re very polite & kind, but there is a deeper part that is not civilized. Not "tame". That is a deeply good thing and reflects the character of God. That can attract and touch us and awaken something in us.
It is a part of how God made all of us.
We don’t possess what the Islanders have, because it is for them. We don’t have to be like them. We get to be us -- but we can learn from them.
God has so placed His life in them that when it comes out there is a flame there that awakens something in us.
We do have a war dance, a war cry -- but it looks different, because we are different. There is a warrior in all of us. In a deep deep place, He has created us to be not quite civilized, not quite tame -- and that is good. Sometimes we can be so civilized and so tame we are unable to hear or respond to God’s voice when He says “let’s run over there”
God wants us (not to be weird) but to tap into that place, deep inside us coming alive, so that we are willing to go wherever He says -- to be so completely immersed in His intimacy and presence (wherever we are) that we listen to Him and respond.
Not “out of control”...but “alive like never before”
In Tahiti the word “hope” is tied to the word “victory” -- they are inseparable.
What hope/victory can we take from the Island culture?
We are not sure what strength and battle look like. David & Goliath? Elijah calling down fire on unbelievers? James & John wanted to do that and Jesus rebuked them.
Paul talks about it in Eph 6. But what we do is:
1) go about life
2) when evil comes
3) stand against it
4) evil goes away
5) we go back to just going about life
But God is calling us to more than that.
There’s all sorts of things we can fight for, but Dudley talked about just one:
Unity
If we can fight for that, we’ll see God’s kingdom come like never before.
Unity touches our understanding of God and relationship with others, and the world around us.
Relationship with God
Relationship with others
My impact on the world around me
We often see these as separate things, but they are all inter-related. Rather than polarize in one area, and neglect/pull-away from the others, there is a better way.
For Dudley, he realized he has to talk -- that God told him “it doesn’t do anyone any good if you don’t talk”
Unity isn’t clean and easy and pretty, it takes work.
Unity is not a state of being. Unity is much more -- it is a process of living out loud with one another in honesty and authenticity and transparency and courage and reality.
And the goal is not so we will be "good Christians" -- it is so God’s kingdom will come down in our midst! It is so His kingdom comes and His will is done on earth, just like in Heaven.
That is worth fighting for.
One of Jesus' final prayers was for us -- those who would come to believe and follow and give our lives to Him. What did He ask the Father for on our behalf? Listen to this:
“...that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;” John 17:21, 22, NASB.It isn't easy. It isn't nice and neat. But working through those details and working out relationships, the kingdom of God comes and changes us, at various levels. Personal. Family. Community. Nation. World.
We are warriors -- and we can fight -- not just when it bad stuff happens, but proactively; we can fight for unity.
It won’t be easy or pretty, but the Kingdom will come and it will be worth it.
And here's the kicker: we’re not fighting to get it, we already have it -- we are fighting to NOT lose who we are!
What are you willing to do to maintain unity? Are you willing to fight to maintain unity?
It is time for the warriors to come home.
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