HONOUR
CODE
In the previous blog I looked at the issue that if we are to impact our world we have to focus on changing the 'honour code'.
What is the West's current 'honour code'? What is Africa's 'honour code'? ie what are people focused on in relation to gaining honour?
Whatever it is - it may not be something that simply appears 'bad' that we need to throw away and preach judgement against (although it might be bad and under God's judgement)......rather it will be something that is 'mis-placed'. It will be something that is a twisted version of something good. Satan didn't 'invent' evil as something separate of good. Evil is often when good is twisted and mis-placed. Satan is not a creator. Satan is a destroyer. He takes something that God did Create as good and mis-uses and mis-directs it, so it is no longer the good that God intended. Evil is inherently the absence of the good that God intended and created.
So we need to find what a person honours, and realise it will be sinfully twisted, broken and mis-placed. Their search for honour in that area will not be irrelevant - rather it could be the key to the person's heart.
As I look at Africa - I see a desire for honour that is framed as 'honour within family/tribe' (the honour of relationships)- with unswerving allegience/respect to elders and ancestors.
As I look at the West in the 21st Century - I see a desire in the form of 'personal dignity' - with unswerving allegience/respect to self.
Now both of these at their core are actually the same - both are searching for identity honour. But both are looking to some aspect of the world to fulfill what only God can give.
But we need to 'tune in' to how honour is expressed and understood and in what form it is sought and from whom it is sought. In what forms a culture mis-places honour will signify the areas of honour that are priorities for that culture.
Recognising and speaking a person's 'heart language' is more than just learning to speak Setswana, Swahili, Xhosa, Hausa, Thai, Spanish, French or English. It's about how people express what their heart feels and seeks and honours.
We need to train our 'ears' to hear what honour 'dialect' a person or culture is speaking. And that dialect (like regular languages) is not static - new things are added and old bits fall away and new meanings are absorbed. What 'worked' with connecting the gospel to hearts a few decades ago may not 'work' the same way now.
In particular I am thinking of the West. Capturing the attention of hearts is no longer just about asking 'do you want to be happy?' or even 'do you fear the future?' The gospel is still about giving good news in Christ to the deep questions and yearnings of the human soul - but if we are going to bring answers, they have to be brought so that they are actually answers to the current questions people have.
and we then need to Connect to that honour code by replacing it with the truth.
Neither true 'dignity' or 'family honour' is the complete message of the gospel - but it is certainly an important part of it.
We have to identify the 'gate' of receptivity of any person or group and start the message of the gospel in a form that connects to a person's thinking. If it doesn't connect it will be seen as irrelevant.
We don't want people to reject the gospel because they have never seen it as relevant.
Neither do we want them to appear to accept it on the surface but reject it at heart and day-to-day level.
If they are going to reject it or accept it, we want them to reject it because they understand it and have made a conscious choice to reject or accept God and all that He wants to bring them in truth, in contrast to the mis-placed lies they have been living by.
We want to create 'Rich Young Ruler and Woman at the Well' encounters, where people come to the point through the process of relevant interaction, of being face to face with the reality of the gospel, and they either 'go away sorrowful' or are 'transformed and want to share it'.
The 'Good News' of the gospel is that God's Honour Code is more important and fulfilling than anything the world offers. But it demands a choice and change of allegiance to honour Jesus as King. A choice that we have the obligation to make sure is understood by the hearer in a form that connects with and convicts their hearts.
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