Preaching the Gospel to an Honor/Shame Generation
A shift is happening to a post-Christian West. We now have the ability to interact with people around the world at our fingertips. I have seen a shift from a Guilt/Innocence culture in previous generations to an Honor/Shame culture among Generation Z and Generation Alpha. It is time we learn from our brothers and sisters worldwide and use this ancient tool that our Asian brothers and sisters have been using for a while.
The Gospel in Guilt/Innocence
When teaching the gospel in the West, we often rely on Paul’s letters and follow this approach:
We have all sinned because we are all sinners, and because of that, we are not allowed to enter God’s presence (Romans 3:23). This started from the beginning of the Bible when Adam and Eve both ate from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17 and Genesis 3).
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The punishment of our sin is death. However, in steps, Jesus gives us eternal life.
Third, we ask how can someone be saved? The answer is found in Romans 5:8: Jesus came and died for our sins. He took our very place upon the cross. He took upon himself the same curse that will allow us to live with Jesus.
Finally, Jesus died upon the cross to save us from sin, a free gift that each of us now has (Ephesians 2:8).
The Gospel in Honor and Shame
However, the formula above was not standard in the ancient world. In their understanding of how sin works, it involves losing face or experiencing shame.
How does that work, one might ask? Let’s walk through the same four steps but from a different lens.
In the beginning, God created humankind, and God gave them one rule that rule was not to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). But the serpent in the garden tricked Eve into eating the fruit, and both ate of the fruit (Genesis 3:1-7). Both of them became aware that they were naked and hid from the Lord. God confronts Adam, and Adam admits his shame that he feared the Lord. Because of that, shame has entered the world and we realize that we cannot be around anyone who is holy.
In Acts 2:14-23, Peter gets up after preaching from Joel 2:28-32 about how the people of Israel sent Jesus to the cross and crucified him. Peter shames his people, and this would have shamed the crowd.
Peter shows that this was always God’s plan to accomplish His purposes (Acts 2:24-36). The claim was made that no one can get close to God through their works throughout the First Testament. Each of the patriarchs dealt with shame in their stories. But Jesus conquers shame through his death and His resurrection.
How does the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) apply to a culture of honor and shame? It means, just like the apostle Paul has declared in Ephesians 2:8, that nothing we have done gives us authority and honor. Additionally, it is through Jesus’ authority that we teach others and baptize them in the Trinity.
When we sin, what we are saying is that we know better than God and that we have authority to direct our own lives. But Jesus turns that around and says all the authority is His. Only Jesus can bring us to God. He takes our shame upon the cross and defeats it through His resurrection, but each person of the Triune God works together throughout the process.
A perfect example of this is found in Paul’s conversion (good article on his name change here). The Lord Jesus shames Paul, but Jesus changes his life after blinding him (Acts 9:1-10). Paul was shamed and unwelcome among Christians (for being a persecutor) and by the Jews (for becoming a Christian). But then God affirms him and removes his shame by telling Ananias, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15-16).
Honor and Shame in the 21st Century
I opened this article with an observation about a change in our culture with Generation Z and Generation Alpha. These two generations have something in common: cancel culture. This comes at us through the rise of social media and finding ways of shaming people who are considered a threat to their social group.
With this next generation, we must be able to preach and apply the gospel to those who identify with honor and shame culture as well as the guilt and innocence culture of previous generations. God calls us to understand the culture around us in order to proclaim His message revealed through His Scriptures.
We live in exciting times, and the world is now at our fingertips. The concept of honor and shame is ancient but has not been discussed much in the West.
Let me end this article with a personal story about myself, showing how this can affect people. When I was around 18-19 years old, before Christ opened my eyes to the gospel, I was arrested for Public Intoxication (P.I.). I knew that I was guilty and did the time that night for just a few hours in the holding cell, and had a court date scheduled. None of that bothered me because I realized I was guilty. But what bothered me was that everyone in the town knew I had this charge because my name was in the local newspaper. I did not care that I was guilty, but I felt shame that now people knew about my sin.
I had no idea that God would use this story until the Lord allowed me to work in youth ministry at a Korean church in Durham, NC, called Hanmaum church. I preached the gospel through the first lens mentioned in the first section of this article, but one of the students came up to me and said, “Pastor Sean JDSN, I have never sinned, and I do not understand what you mean by that we all are sinners. I honor my parents and do not sin.”
Such a remark took me back, but then, after talking to the student, I realized that he did not understand this concept because, in his understanding, the idea of sin came from shame. I told him the next week, “When we sin, we feel shame in our life, like, for example, when you talk to me about how you do not want your parents to know when you have made a bad grade on a test. You feel shame, do you not?” The reply was a simple yes, but then I walked through the gospel with him and he was able to understand the good news. We must teach our students that there is no shame in those who trust in Jesus. But it is through submitting to the one true King we can know true life and will want to honor Him.
Here are a few recommended resources to help you make this transition as we continue to transition into an honor and shame culture with Generation Z and Alpha