What’s the Bottom Line? Personal Profit or the Interest of Others? (Part 2)

Are we Tourists, Businessmen, or Ambassadors? (Part 2)

Last week I began a discussion about our role in the world and how we are to live as Christians in the midst of a foreign culture. Because Western Christians often engage other cultures as tourists, I began by talking about the dangers of the “Tourist” mentality and how it negatively affects others. This week I want to address a second way that our culture interacts with others…as businessmen and businesswomen. Our culture is one of commerce and English is the “official” language of international business. This shapes the way that we as Western Christians engage the world at home and abroad. It also shapes how we are perceived by others.

Despite the pervasive Old Testament teaching against charging interest from fellow Jews (13x), there are positive aspects of commerce found in the parables of Jesus. Conservative principles of investment, personal responsibility, and a strong work ethic are also found in the Scriptures. Yet the financial emphasis in the New Testament seems to be on kingdom-oriented stewardship and generosity rather than personal profit. But when we engage the world primarily as businessmen the bottom line is most often personal profit. Even corporate generosity (apart from accounting for maximum tax advantages) is spun endlessly for the greatest PR/marketing bang for the buck. Gifts come in the form of oversized checks, complete with photo-ops and hidden strings. When this business model is brought home to our families and churches it is a major hindrance to stable personal relationships not to mention relational ministry.

If you are motivated by your own personal interests in the corporate setting you are quick to use co-workers—objectifying them—to reach your own goals…usually an increase in power, pay, and prestige. The goal of profit in the wrong hands can result in poor quality products and poor customer service because individual businesspeople look to their own interests rather than to that of a larger constituency. Finding flaws in the business world doesn’t surprise anyone...it is low-hanging fruit. It should be very different in the Church that follows the example of Jesus Christ. However, in the church today we have too many people seeking their own interests to the place that certain types of ministries have become synonymous with selfishness and greed. This is not a new phenomenon. The Apostle Paul lamented that even he was hard-pressed because (apart from Timothy) many of the other ministers were motivated by their own interests.

“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. (Phil 2:19-21)

If we engage others primarily as businessmen it often introduces a layer of subtle deception and nagging doubt into the relational dynamic found in the phrase "in order to...". The subtle deception is on our part if we:

·       Pay attention to people… only in order to make a sale.

·       Build relationships… to gain trust in order to expand our influence into new markets.

·       Do good things…with an ulterior motive (in order to increase corporate goodwill, brand loyalty, and marketing).

·       Make our own plans…assuming we are in control of our own lives and others..

·       In the name of stewardship…we apply economics to human relationships in order to protect ourselves.

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com
on Unsplash

Those in a relationship with us will then have that terrible nagging doubt in the back of their minds, asking questions like, “Why is he doing this?”, “Is this about us or about him?” and finally,  “When will they cut their losses and reinvest somewhere else?” This is true of our co-workers, ministry partners, and even family members. They all are watching to see whether we are honestly committed to reconciliation, willing to stay at the table to work through differences, or getting ready to "cut and run." It seems all too common that we let a business mindset eat our family and consume the church.

Having thoroughly criticized business' effect on relationships, let's consider what happens when we let true family impact business? Business can be a powerful tool for good in the world when run ethically and used as a vehicle to care for the needs of others. Business can be a profoundly Kingdom mission if personal/corporate profit is not the focus. I have been encouraged by the many stories I have heard in recent years of creative and ethically sourced income streams being used to support kingdom ministry. However, the nature of business is most often to produce personal or corporate gain at the expense of the competition and the customer. We need to be good stewards, skillfully shepherding all the resources that God has entrusted to us. This includes those we would call the competition and the customer.  

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil. 2:3-4)

In the end, the business model of engagement is simply a more subtle and nuanced version of the tourist. Everything appears to make an effort at cultural sensitivity and even relational concern, but "the bottom line" is still self-determined and self-focused. As a business person, I may choose to go and live among those I do business with, but such an approach is usually neither relational nor incarnational enough. Jesus, in addressing the latent power-driven self-seeking attitude in his disciples said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45; Matthew 20:28). Further, Jesus’ half-brother James speaks to the self-determination we see so often in the businessman model of engagement.

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-14)

Can we learn to serve others first and submit to the Lord’s plan and timing before our lives are spent? Can our bottom line become "the interests of others"?

 

[This post will be continued next week..."Lord willing and the creek don't rise!"]

"Wo ist die Bäckerei bitte?" Are We Ambassadors (Part 1)

Are we Tourists, Businessmen, or Ambassadors? (Part 1)
 

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Have you ever noticed that tourists can be obnoxious and demanding, from their dress to their demeanor? Have we ever been that tourist? Traveling and experiencing new places is not the problem, the problem is how we treat people along the way. When we travel, we don’t have to act like stereotypical ugly tourists. I have traveled with study and mission groups that deliberately were trying to avoid fitting the description of the “Ugly American Tourist.” We cringed as we saw far too many bad stereotypes incarnate along the way. I remember one socially awkward man sitting at a nicely set table in the restaurant aboard a ship (as we crossed the channel from England to Belgium) who after not finding anything familiar on the menu loudly demanded of the waiter, “I want a cheeseburger…just give me my cheeseburger!” His outburst was embarrassingly inappropriate, but in his defense, the situation was overwhelming to him. One thing he didn’t understand was that Salisbury steak means hamburger (an interesting story in itself) in Britain. He could read English but didn’t know what was meant by the words.

Tourists have a bad reputation because they often launch out on their vacations as self-focused consumers. As consumers, they expect those with whom they come in contact to speak their language, to cater to their needs, and to do it NOW!

After I graduated from High School (in the pre-cellphone pre-GPS era) I participated in a European study tour (a lot of lectures in history & culture) led by professors from the college I was going to attend. One day we were in Germany and needed some picnic supplies for our boat trip down the Rhine. My job was to find bread. After a few minutes' walk, I came across a Konditorei. Despite what my high

school German teacher thought of me... I had been listening not only to her language lessons but to the cultural information as well. Because of her tireless efforts, I knew that the Konditorei was a bakery of cakes and dessert pastries, not bread (see pictures on either side). In those days, to buy bread you had to go to the Bäckerei. So I had two choices, to walk in and shout something like, “Give me a cheeseburger!” making a scene over why they don’t have any bread, or I could try, “Entschuldigen Sie mich Bitte, wo ist die Bäckerei?” [Excuse me please, where is the bakery?], I chose the latter.

I also knew that in Germany, if you make any attempt to speak German they love you for it. With my simple question, the woman behind the counter beamed radiantly and poured forth a stream of happy German directions that I had to say, “Langsam bitte” (slowly please). She smiled and came around the counter, walked me outside, and clearly (pointing was now in play) told me how to find the bread I needed. She knew I was a traveler that had made an effort to learn and understand and was encouraged by it, and I still remember it after more than 30 years. Later, on the river, cruising by quaint villages and looking up at the ruins of old castles, sharing a simple meal together, it was the best bread and cheese I ever ate…even without mayo.

“…The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body,

for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

Self-centered tourists may stumble across the Konditorei and see pretty things, maybe even have coffee and a treat, but may never experience the substance, nourishment, and fellowship of die Bäckerei. I don’t want to be so full of myself or to become so enamored with the sights and sounds that I end up objectifying God’s people. With even a small investment in learning about different cultures, our lives will be enriched as we become capable of encouraging others, and sincerely communicating that we value those among whom we walk and live.

Has God put us here to act like tourists? Or has he called us to be something more?  

“Give us this day our daily bread…”

(Matthew 6:11)

Note: In my next post I will continue this discussion by looking at the culture-bridging benefits and dangers facing the business person.

One Tribe—Are You Native?

Been There...Bought the T-shirt!

While on vacation, we were looking through the large swap meet (crafts, clothing, and food) on Maui, where you can buy all the handmade touristy stuff (for less money) and I saw a T-shirt with some interesting Polynesian-looking art down one side. The vendor said all their art was done by local artists and that it was a very popular tribal band on the front. In thinking of how the Hawaiians from the different islands used to war against each other, I asked, “Which tribe?” She said with incredulity, “There is only one tribe here!” I am not sure if her answer was culturally accurate or merely the view of the dominant culture being expressed. But it reminded me of a song…and a story.

I know there have been (and still are) intercultural tensions here in Hawaii. Whether it was rooted in the whites discarding the Hawaiian culture and language in the past, in the internment of Japanese 70 years ago, in the native Hawaiians' hate for the white person, or the demeaning of the Micronesian, or in the often insular communities of Korean and Japanese immigrants. No place is a perfect paradise. No people are untainted by pride. We have a strong ethnocentric cultural filter that is convinced that our cultural norms are the way things should be.

For years my wife has desired to take the whole family to Hawaii for a family vacation. She is one of those people that lives for a sunny day in the midst of all the grey Oregon winter weather we get. Hawaii has been her dream for weather relief as well as time away. So a couple of years ago in keeping with her Hawaiian focus, I bought her the CD of Hawaiian music Mele O Hawaii (Songs of Hawai'i) they had at the counter in Starbucks which has some very interesting songs. The last song is a rousing, upbeat, song called Are You Native? by Brother Noland. Its lyrics are a bit repetitive as is expected in a Hawaiian dance tune, but I have typed them up as best I can understand them…

One world, one race!

One world, one race!

Nananananana…native!

Nananananana…native!

 

Who are these creatures? Where do we come from?

Who are these strangers with different voodoo?

Who live for danger when we are near

You ask us “Are you native? Are you native?”

They come from outside, then they come inside

Then they make contact as they cross the border

They get a drink of water

Then they ask us, “Are you native? Are you native?”

Someone ask us, “Are you native? Are you native?”

Everybody sing it to me now!

Nananananana…native!

Nananananana…native!

Red, Yellow, Brown, White, Black…Native!

Red, Yellow, Brown, White, Black…Native!

 

I ask questions… will you give answers?

Are we invaders that come to visit or just the neighbors?

Maybe were tourists. Ask us…

“Are you native? Are you native?” Ask us…

“Are you native? Are you native?” Everybody is…

“Are you native? Are you native?” Everybody

Nananananana…native!

Nananananana…native!

Red, Yellow, Brown, White, Black…Native!

Red, Yellow, Brown, White, Black…Native!

“Are you native? Are you native?”

                          (Nananananana…native!)

Are you native? Are you native?

                          (Nananananana…native!)

Are you native? Are you native?

My momma always told me, (Are you native?)

She said,           (Nananananana…native!)

“Son, we are all native of the planet Earth.”

Are you native? (Nananananana…native!)

One world one race! One world one race!

                          (Nananananana…native!)

Are you native? Strut your stuff!

 

My kids in the waves.

It is a fun catchy tune, and the message is clear. On the one hand, there is the sense of being marginalized and treated as “other” in what was once their land. On the other hand, it sees beyond geographic and cultural boundaries to our common trait of being indigenous to the planet. Which leads me to ask, when we see people as “other” is it because our matrix for “native” is too small, too ethnocentric? We all spring from one family—Noah’s—which is brought to mind even more clearly on an island surrounded by the pounding waves of the entire Pacific Ocean. I am certainly glad the ark had more stability than I did on a paddle board!

On a somewhat related note, recent census statistics show that most resident Hawaiians marry someone of either a different race or ethnicity (55% in 2008). So the idea of “One world, one race” is not far from the truth. But as one of my mentors used to say, “What do the Scriptures say?”

·         We’re all created by God…in the image of God

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7)

·         We are all descended from one man so we are all one family (from Adam through Noah).

“From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.” (Acts 17:26 — HCSB) The KJV actually uses the phrase “from one blood…”

·         We are all loved by God

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

·         We are all redeemed by the same blood, the precious blood of Christ.

 “ And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  (Revelation 7:9-10)

·         We’re all of equal value in God’s eyes.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. (Acts 10:34-3)

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:27-29)

·         We’re all to be agents of God for reconciliation in the world today. “…in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:19-20)

Our human goal is to be able to live our lives in peace as a fully human family—parents and children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Our spiritual goal is to all be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. In Christ, everyone has an equal place at the table of God’s family. There every nation, every tribe, every culture, and every language will all be a part, joining together in that new song as one tribe—The Redeemed.

Polls, Sports Movies, and A Look in the Mirror

Earlier in the summer I posted a poll question on this blog that asked the question,

“In what aspect of reconciliation are you most interested?”

There were four answers from which to choose and you could choose more than one. The four choices are listed below with the % of those voting who selected each choice.

·         Between people & God                                           (100%)

·         Between husband & wife                                       (40%)

·         Between different races & ethnicities                  (80%)

·         Between rich/powerful & poor/marginalized       (40%)

With the amount of visitors to the blog, I was surprised that only five (5) people took the time to check one or more of the answers and one of them was me! What is the risk? Was the question really not that important to most readers or did they just not see it there in the right hand column? Perhaps it didn’t show up well when viewing this blog from a mobile device. Or maybe everyone is still in election overload from last fall. I don’t really know. Help me out here! I would love to get a conversation started on this topic. The poll has since closed and has been moved to the bottom of the right-hand margin of this blog; however, I have reopened it as they say in Beijing’s Silk Street Market “Just for you today my special friend”, in case some of you totally missed it and want your voice to be heard.

While I have you in a thoughtful frame of mind, please take a second to answer then new Cultural Intelligence poll question at the right margin regarding major league sports and their treatment of different ethnicities and cultures. It seems like so many of the great sports movies deal with this issue (Remember the Titans [football]; Glory Road [basketball]; The Jackie Robinson Story, and 42 [baseball]; Miracle [hockey]) but how do they stack up against each other and why?

Sports are often a reflection of how we relate to others whether we like it or not. So how are we doing? Have we learned anything from movies like these? Here are a three memorable scenes among many. Sometimes we can say yes to something we watch or read but it doesn't really change the way we live and look at others. The Bible says,

   “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

   But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:19-25 --ESV)

It would seem to me that there are times when God’s truth is powerfully communicated through moments like these that help us to remember what we look like in the mirror and spur us to be doers of the word.

 

Remember the Titans: Attitude Reflects Leadership

Watch Julius' eyes when Gary says, "I think you're nothing..." and then watch Gary's eyes when Julius makes his point towards the end of the clip. Do you see the lights of mutuality coming on?

 Glory Road - "What you Smokin?"

An interesting dialogue between Bobby Ray the talented but realistic player and the idealistic coach who didn't know how hard the road would be. Watch as he doesn't let Bobby Ray walk away from an opportunity. Honest and sincere.

 42 - "Maybe Tomorrow We'll All Wear # 42"

Back story is this was a bold and decisive gesture by the veteran star Pee-Wee Reese after he learned what it was costing Jackie to play. He stands up to the dominant culture of his hometown and send his family and fans a message. Jackie gave him the courage and the opportunity to do that. Note the change in the tone of the crowd from the beginning of the clip to the end.

Feel free to place your vote in these two polls and to add a comment below as well. Perhaps suggesting your favorite culturally intelligent sports movies for a future poll? We all have something to learn from one another...

"One of These Things is Not Like the Others" Isn't it?

The 4-Cs of “Other”

When we look at someone else and perceive them as “Other” as not the same as us, as not as valuable, not as smart, or as good as we are, it is usually because of one of what I call the 4-Cs of Other. See if you agree with me that when we evaluate people and place them in the “Other” bin it tends to be because of one or more of the following—

• their Color (race and ethnicity),
• their Culture (language, customs, etc),
• their Creed (what they believe or don’t believe, how they vote), or
• their Condition (socio-economic status, physical health, mental health, job or role, and other current circumstances).

Photo credit: Greg K Dueker
One of these things is not like the other...
But which one?

      When we judge groups of people based on these criteria, we have taken the first step in self-deception. Whenever we do this, we tend to think that we are better than they are, but sitting in judgment upon them, we continue down that path. The late John Howard Griffin indicted this process of seeing others as merely less developed versions of ourselves as the beginning of racism. “Racism begins when we draw up an indictment against a whole people merely by considering them as a whole [as] underdeveloped versions of ourselves, by perpetuating the blindness of the stereotype.”^[1]

Having escaped the Nazi death warrant placed on him for smuggling Jewish teens out of France, he joined the U.S. Army and was sent to a remote island in the South Pacific, where he was immersed in a very different culture than he had previously experienced. He had to overcome his prideful tendency to see the islanders as less than himself.

Initially, he viewed the natives as “primitives”—as Other. But after he was unable to navigate jungle trails, and had to rely on a five-year-old child as a guide, it became obvious “that within the context of that culture, I was clearly the inferior—an adult man who could not have survived without the guidance of a child. And from the point of view of the local inhabitants—a valid point of view—I was Other, inferior, and they were superior.”[2] 

The pernicious pride of Self can be manifested in any or all of the 4-Cs. Just because we are not prone to one type of prejudice does not mean that we are free of all of it. We may quickly recognize the common humanity and equality between races, but we show economic bigotry that is surprisingly harsh. Or perhaps we don't care about finances, but if someone disagrees in any way with our core beliefs and values, we are quick to vilify them. These attitudes need not be expressed in an antagonistic or bigoted way, for they often ooze out in a paternalism that assumes that they, the Other, need our intervention on their behalf.

Pride deceives us so subtly that we think we are not like them, and perhaps even thank God for it…like when we read about the Hollywood A-lister’s latest addiction or drive past the persistent panhandler at the freeway exit. Jesus Christ confronted this arrogant attitude of the Other in the parable of the Pharisee & Tax Collector in the Gospel of Luke.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

A second downward step follows, where we not only diminish the other by our stereotyped judgment, but we objectify him to use him for our own purposes. I suppose that I could call these selfish actions we take, based on the 4-Cs, the 5^th C... Control. “Objectification” is when we treat other people as objects, and we do it far too often. Though all humans are created in the image of God, we excuse our downgrading of them based on our internal and infernal 4-C evaluations. This never honors God, nor accurately reflects the love of Christ, but rather it grieves the Spirit.

Jesus has not called his followers to a place of control, but to love one another. The work of Christ removed the divisions that once were in place, so why do we keep acting like they still matter?

To the Galatians, Paul wrote,

 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27-28)

 

And to the Ephesians, he further wrote,

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Ephesians 2:11-16)

Griffin, in applying these teachings specifically to the issue of race might just as well have been addressing all of the 4-Cs (or 5) when he wrote, “I believe that before we can truly dialogue with one another”—says Griffin in “Beyond Otherness”—we must first perceive intellectually, and then at the profoundest emotional level, that there is no Other—that the Other is simply Oneself in all the significant essentials.”[3]

Let’s pitch our pitiful collection of Cs (Color, Culture, Creed, Condition, and Control) that we so often use to further our own kingdoms and pursue Christ (the “C” who makes us all one) and the furtherance of that Kingdom that will never be shaken.

Let the conversation begin!

---

[1] Griffin, John Howard; Bonazzi, Robert; Terkel, Studs (2006-04-01). Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition. Wings Press. Kindle Edition. Location 3484.

 

[2] Griffin, (2006-04-01). Kindle Edition. Location 3520.

 

[3] Griffin, (2006-04-01). Kindle Edition. Location 3734.