WEEK 2 THIRD CULTURE - THE ART OF ADAPTABILITY C3 NEWSONG LA

Third Culture Kingdom

Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1,2 and Luke 13:18-21

Opening Question
1. Have you ever felt that the values of your family or culture were in conflict with your
relationship with God or the Church? Explain your answer. Describe what you hope your
life will be like in ten years. What is the main thing you hope to accomplish?

Scriptural Study
Read Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1-2 and Acts 17, Luke 13:18-21 together and discuss the following.

1. In Matthew 28:18-20, why does Jesus preface His command with a statement about
authority? Based on the question that the disciples asked Jesus in Acts 1:6, what kind of
kingdom were they anticipating? What do you make of Jesus’ reply in Acts 1:8? (see also
Daniel 2:44,45; Luke 13:18-21 )

2. In Genesis 11:1-8 the world was united in rebellion against God. In response, God gave them
di!erent languages in order to separate them and get them to fill the earth. In Acts 2:1-12
God again interfered with human language. How does God’s intervention in Acts 2 relate to
Genesis 11? Why did God give the Church the ability to speak many languages, instead of
giving the crowd the same language? What’s the di!erence?

3. What’s the di!erence between the way Paul preaches in Acts 17:1-3 and the way he preaches
in Acts 17:22-31? Is the change in Paul’s preaching consistent with the pattern in Acts 2?

Application
1. How do you think God wants to use you to reach the nations for Christ? Describe some of
the ways you are cooperating with God to accomplish His mission. Are there any competing
needs or goals that are hindering you from seeking God’s Kingdom?

2. How can the group work together to advance God’s Third Culture Kingdom?

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 FACILITATOR’S GUIDE THIRD CULTURE - KINGDOM C3 NEWSONG LA

Big Idea: The Kingdom of God is bringing all nations together in Christ, reversing
what God did at the tower of Babel, by giving the Church the ability and
responsibility to adapt and reach the nations. We should still be doing this today,
adapting in order to reach people for Christ.

1. Keep the responses to this question brief. The purpose of question one is to get people to
think about their goals and motivations in life. This will help prepare the group for the
application question at the end. It will make a connection with the goals and motivations of
the disciples in question #2. As you facilitate, try to push people to briefly identify what
others expect of them, as well as their own goals.

2. Jesus mentions His authority over heaven and earth because he is the King of both. Satan
had become the prince of this world by influencing humanity to sin. Jesus’ sinless life, his
death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead reestablished the authority of
humanity over the earth, with Jesus as the King.

3. Jesus’ instruction to his disciples to make disciples of all nations is a command to expand the
Kingdom into all nations. Acts 1:6 reveals that the disciples were still most interested in the
reestablishment of the nation of Israel. Jesus responds by telling them that they will be his
witnesses all the way to the ends of the earth. Is it possible that our plans for our own lives
are too small as well? This will be important when we get to the application questions. The
support verses in Daniel and Luke reinforce the fact that Jesus came to establish an
international Kingdom. Feel free to skip these references if people get that right away.

4. This question gets to the central point of this session. Acts chapter to is God reversing what
He did at Babel. He scattered that nations because people were in rebellion against Him.
Now He is gathering the nations in Christ. By Giving the Church the ability to speak all of
the languages present, God is showing that it is the responsibility of the Church to adapt to
the cultures of the nations (by God’s power) in order to reach the nations.

5. In Acts 17, we see that Paul usually preached from the Torah, proving that Jesus is the
Christ. He tries this same method in the market place of Athens and the locals called him a
“Babbler.” Paul recognizes the problem and then preaches from what he observed, from
history, and from Athenian poetry (culture). This is an example of Paul preaching in the
“language” of the people in order to help them understand. This is an extension of the
pattern in Acts 2 of the disciples speaking the languages of the nations present. Although
Paul uses history and culture to make his point, he comes back to the person of Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection as the central message.

6. In this application question, encourage people to challenge their plans for their lives. Are
they really living for the Third Culture Kingdom of God, or for some other limited goal? Do
they need to expand their thinking like the disciples had to do in Acts 1:6-8? Encourage
people to make specific commitments with accountability from the group.
7. Challenge the group to make some commitments together to reach the nations for Christ.
This might involve being more inclusive, recruiting diverse people to participate in the
group, or it may be going on a mission together, etc.

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