To the Ends of the Earth: Reaching the Unreached — Wednesday
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (NIV)
One of the big questions I had before arriving in Japan was, “What are the common sin struggles for Japanese people?” Before I got there, I knew Japan was extremely technologically advanced and more densely populated than any other country. I had heard of anime and Hello Kitty ruling the culture, but I soon learned those stereotypes were just scratching the surface.
This may not shock you, but the Japanese people struggle with the same things we do in America, which also happen to be the same things the people in the early church struggled with. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul lists sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, theft, greed, drunkenness, slander, and deception as some of the pervasive sins in Corinth. Take any community in the United States, and any community in Japan, and you’ll see this same list of sins.
The book of Ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun. While the advancement of technology has made sexual sin seem more prominent than ever, the reality is that it’s been relevant ever since sin entered the world. While in Japan, my heart was especially broken by the sex culture. It’s very common to be walking the streets of Tokyo and pass several women looking for sex work, and the cultural acceptance of it is jarring. I even heard a woman say, “I would rather have my husband sleep with a prostitute than cheat on me with a normal woman.”
Your heart may break for certain sins that Paul mentions more than others. It can be overwhelming to try and pray for the deliverance of a group of people you have never met, so start with one that stands out to you in today’s verse.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Spend some time praying that the Lord would intervene in the lives of the Japanese people. Use our scripture today from 1 Corinthians to act as a guide for specific things to pray against.