On my last trip to Hawaiʻi, I was surprised by how much reggae I heard. It was on the radio, in hotels, in restaurants, and in shopping areas. But after listening for a while, I realized it wasn’t exactly the reggae I associated with Jamaica. The rhythm was familiar, but the music had changed. Hawaiian words, local themes, and distinctly Hawaiian sounds were mixed in.
I later learned there is a name for it:
Jawaiian.
Jamaican and Hawaiian music blended together.
I found that fascinating. Two cultures, thousands of miles apart, somehow meeting through music. And it made me think about Christianity. Jesus was Jewish. His disciples were Jewish. The earliest church began in the Middle East. The events recorded in the New Testament took place in a culture very different from ours. And yet Christianity did not stay there.
Today people follow Christ in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, the Pacific Islands, and almost everywhere else in the world. Most of those people have never been to Israel. Many have never met a Jewish person. Yet somehow the message still becomes personal. That was never an accident. Jesus told His disciples to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
The gospel was meant to cross borders. But what is striking is that Christianity does not require every culture to become Jewish, Middle Eastern, European, or American. The gospel enters a culture without requiring that culture to become someone else. A Christian in Hawaiʻi can worship Christ in a way that sounds Hawaiian. A Christian in Korea can worship in Korean. A believer in Africa may sing with rhythms and instruments completely unfamiliar to someone in Europe. The expressions are different. The object of worship is the same.
That distinction is important, because sometimes we confuse Christianity with the particular form of Christianity we know best. Our music. Our church buildings. Our traditions. Our way of doing things. But those things are cultural. Christ is not.
John describes the final picture this way:
…a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages…
Revelation 7:9 (ESV)
That verse says something remarkable. The people are united, but they have not become identical. There are still nations. Still peoples. Still languages. They are different, yet they are gathered around the same Lord. That may be what struck me most about Jawaiian music. Something can travel a long distance, enter another culture, and be expressed in a new way without losing what made it recognizable in the first place.
The gospel has traveled much farther. It began in one small part of the world, but it was never meant for only one people. It was meant for everyone.
Including us.
Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.
#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #Jawaiian #Revelation7:9
Discover more from The Bereans Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jawaiian music surprised me because it showed how easily one culture’s music could be embraced by another culture thousands of miles away. That made me wonder about something much bigger: why has the message of Christ been received by people from so many different nations, languages, and cultures? Revelation 7:9 gives us a remarkable picture of the answer.
What do you think—why does the gospel seem able to cross cultural boundaries so powerfully?