In Nepal the caste system is how society is structured.
Villages hidden deep in the mountains, unseen by foreigners, know nothing, or very little, of western culture, or even of a life different from the one they have known for generations.
These people believe that they have been cursed in a previous life and that is why they were born into this group of people, into poverty.
We visited a village like this in the AnnaPurna mountain range of Nepal. We hiked for 4 days and 30 miles to meet these people and share something with them.
We were walking down the trail and our Nepali guide, Deepak, brought us to a simple home on the side of the mountain. He explained to us that the village we were in was a village of blacksmiths. In the caste system these people are the untouchables.
When they visit homes of caste members higher than them, they cannot touch anything and cannot enter the home. Other castes will not touch anything of the blacksmiths and they will not associate with them.
So here comes a group of 12 white foreigners who sit down on the family’s mats and drink their tea, with no hesitation. Some of us chased around their animals and played with the baby goats and chickens.
Not only did we defy all of their conceptions of the caste system that they have adhered to for generations, but we told them about our God who loves them so much, no matter what, and did not condemn them and did not create a caste system, but a God that loves them as much as He loves us, a God who wants to give them freedom.
A simple gospel.
God loves you and me equally. God does not condemn, He loves. He sent His only Son to die for us because He loves us so much.
A simple gospel.
I never realized how powerful and life changing the simplicity of the gospel could be until I saw these people who had never heard it, hear it for the first time.
Can you imagine a group of people who believe they have been condemned and cursed by their gods to be an untouchable, unworthy member of society? And then can you imagine what must go through their minds when a group of foreigners comes in and for the first time, shares with them about a God who loves and redeems and counters everything they have been brought to believe about themselves.
The simple gospel brings a renewed lease on life.
The simple gospel brings hope.
In western culture we get so caught up on such legalistic things, and they get focused on so much, that the power of the simple gospel is forgotten and never truly experienced.
We all known John 3:16, but do we know what comes after it, and do we truly comprehend the power of these few verses?
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,but in order that the world might be saved through him.
He sent His son to set us free.
There is no condemnation in the Lord.
There is only love.
Abounding, everlasting love.
How cool would it be if the western church fell back on this simple gospel?
How cool would it be if the western church put all of its politics and judgments up to the test of the simple gospel?
If the church looked at criminals, prostitutes, divorcees, homosexuals, homeless, war criminals, politicians, and whoever else, with the love our Father has poured out through His Son, how different would the world look?
How would the world define Christians if western Christians and Christians around the world walked out the simple gospel?
Today Christianity is very often seen as judgmental and hypocritical and Christians can be quick to throw stones, even when no person is clean of sins.
If the simple gospel was what we practiced, if loving was our main purpose, how would your church look different?
How would you look different?
How many more people would come to know Jesus and walk in the freedom of His name?
