Ethnocentrism

 Job 16; Acts 21-23

“’Then the Lord said to me, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”’ The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, ‘Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!’”

Acts 22:21, 22

For the thousands of Jews in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus (Acts 21:20), Paul’s testimony of being sent by Jesus to the Gentiles was more than they could bear. The Jews believed the Messiah was returning for them, not for the nations. They were unable to see the vast time period we now understand as the “Church age” that takes place between Christ’s first and second coming. These believing Jews were also threatened by a gospel that no longer required the law and the temple. Before casting judgment on these first century Jewish believers, we must consider our own ethnocentric church structures with temple-like rituals and practices resembling unwritten laws. Self-serving religion is what Jesus came to replace with his gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Our orientation must be toward Christ’s kingdom-coming, and his will being done on earth as it is in heaven; or we too, will miss God’s mission in our day.

“Lord Jesus, open my heart and eyes to see those you are reaching with your gospel today, for your glory.”