Challenging Changes
As you
begin to write the next chapter in your life, you may want to anticipate some of
the things that could lead to difficulties in that chapter. One of the
major obstacles you may encounter is change, or lack of change.
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You may have changed, but your passport country has not.
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Your passport country may have changed, but you have not.
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Both you and your passport country may have changed in
opposite ways.
As we saw
in Chapter 1, Paul and Barnabas had been commissioned and sent by their local
church in
Antioch
(Acts 13:1-3). After they had completed their first term of service, they
returned to their local church in
Antioch
, called the church together, and reported all that God had done—that he had
saved many Gentiles. They stayed on for some time at the church at
Antioch
, and apparently all was going well (Acts 14:26-28).
However,
some men from
Judea
, the area around headquarters in
Jerusalem
, came to
Antioch
and were teaching that people could not be saved without being circumcised.
Paul and Barnabas and these men debated the issue and got into a sharp dispute
(Acts 15:1-2).
This issue
must have surprised Paul and Barnabas because previously when uncircumcised
people were saved often the question was not even raised. First, in Acts
8, Philip went to
Samaria
, did miracles, healed people, and everyone was happy. Even Simon, the
sorcerer, believed and was baptized. When the administrators at
headquarters in
Jerusalem
heard about the revival, they sent Peter and John to investigate. Upon
their arrival, Peter and John prayed for the Samaritans and placed their hands
on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Peter and John preached the
gospel in many Samaritan villages on the way back to
Jerusalem
. In verses 26-40, Philip explained the Word to the Ethiopian and baptized
him. The question of circumcision did not even arise in these instances.
Second, in
Acts 10 when Peter was preaching to a group of Gentiles at
Caesarea
, the Holy Spirit came on them, much to Peter’s surprise. Realizing that
God did not discriminate, Peter ordered that they be baptized. When Peter
got to
Jerusalem
as recorded in Acts 11, the circumcised believers criticized him for having
fellowship with uncircumcised people. After he explained, there were no
further questions about circumcision.
Third, the gospel spread further, and people came to
Antioch
preaching to the Gentiles who were saved in large numbers. Again when
headquarters in
Jerusalem
heard about this, they sent Barnabas to
Antioch
to investigate. When he saw the evidence, he encouraged them to be true
to the Lord. Then he looked for Saul (Paul), brought him to
Antioch
, for a full year the two of them met with the church there, and many people
were saved. In fact, the church at
Antioch
sent famine relief to the people of
Judea
via Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11). Surely the questions about circumcision
were finally all laid to rest.
Unfortunately, when Paul and Barnabas arrived in
Antioch
on home assignment at the end of their first term, the question arose again.
When the local church in
Antioch
could not settle the matter, they sent Paul and Barnabas to headquarters in
Jerusalem
to again try to get it settled. Of course, after much debate, the
administrators at headquarters again “settled” the question and sent their
decision back to
Antioch
in writing. (Acts 15).
This was a
case of the missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, being changed because of their
extensive contact with the Gentiles, but people (the Judiazers) back near
headquarters not changing. The same kind of thing may well happen when
people back in the sending country change, but the missionaries do not.
List ways you have changed.
Theologically (broader view?)
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Socially (more or fewer family members?)
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Emotionally (more or less depressed?)
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Physically (cured of illness or have a new one?)
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World-view (broader or narrower?)
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With our rapidly changing cultures these days, we also often find that our
“home” culture has changed greatly while we were gone. List changes
you have noticed in your passport country.
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- Philosophically
(postmodernism)
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How important are these changes to you?
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Remember
that “home” is not so much a “place” as it is a situation in which you
are known and trusted, understood and accepted, have predictable rituals and
routine interactions with people among whom you feel secure, relaxed, and free
be yourself. If things have changed in your passport country, it will no
longer feel like “home.”
You may see many familiar faces, but few familiar people.
They have changed.
You may see familiar places, but they have been renovated
and have new functions. They have changed.
You may try familiar routines, but discover that you do
not even know how to complete a purchase.
Nothing may come “naturally” any more so that you feel like an alien in
your own country.
Feeling
out of place back “home” may be much more alarming than when you felt out of
place in a “foreign” country at the beginning of your term of service.
You have become temporarily “homeless,” a marginal person functioning at the
fringes of society, not at its core. The good news is that just as you
became a part of your host culture, you can once again become a part of your
passport culture if you wish to do so. As you write the next chapter of
your life you can again feel like you are at home.
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