Despite what we tell others, I believe this is a universal truth: everyone wants to fit in.
Yes, who we want to fit in with may vary, but no one actually wants to live on an island all their own. I am confident about this idea not merely because of anecdotal evidence—I’ve never met anyone who breaks this principle—but because of the Bible itself.
On the second page, God puts Adam into a place of belonging. It’s a garden designed for human habitation alongside God. But there’s one problem with the garden. God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone,” and so God gives him a partner: Eve. We were made for community. We were made to belong.
This is why we all fear missing out. Of course, there are plenty of things you don’t fear missing. But there is a room of people somewhere that even the most reclusive person doesn’t want to be excluded from. It might be your family. It might be the decision-makers at work. It might be a group of friends.
This is why most Christians turn a blind eye to one key component of our Christian identity: we are outsiders.
While we embrace our identity as children of God, as redeemed sinners, and as inheritors of eternal life, we ignore our calling to be foreigners, exiles, and outsiders in this world.
The reason is simple and profound: Jesus was an outsider. The author of Hebrews wrote, “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured” (emphasis added).
Jesus did not die as an insider. He died outside the city as an outcast criminal whose friends abandoned him. In doing so, he followed a long line of Biblical outsiders:
Jesus’s disciples came to understand this calling. That’s why they were willingly ostracized by their neighbors. This led the apostle Peter to call lifelong natives of the Roman empire “elect exiles” (1 Peter 1:1). Like them, we may be lifelong natives of our country and yet, nonetheless, recognize that we are citizens of a different kingdom.
Whether or not you want to be an outsider, you are. This reality creates a temptation in every Christian’s life to reduce the tension they feel with the outside world. Sometimes, we avoid the tension by conforming to the world around us rather than living as outsiders. Sometimes, we avoid it by combatting the world around us, thinking that if we force everyone to be like us, we won’t have to be outsiders. Sometimes, we avoid it by separating from the world around us. We avoid conflict and the places that make us feel like outsiders.
But Jesus wants something better for you. He wants you to embrace the tension because, when you do, there is joy. Indeed, his own decision to become an outsider on the cross wasn’t an accident; it was a choice. It was Jesus’s way of choosing joy. The author Hebrews explains, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2, emphasis added).
Now, he’s inviting you to choose joy by choosing to be an outsider.
So, let’s get practical. How do we engage our local community and culture as joyful outsiders?
Unfortunately, we often settle for one-size-fits-all approaches. Leaders tell us there is one true way: be against culture, for culture, over culture, or try to transform culture.
But the Bible and Christian history do not settle for one way. They give us many ways. Consider the way three well-known Christians from history engaged their culture. Dietrich Bonhoeffer founded an underground seminary and joined a failed assassination plot against Adolph Hitler. Martin Luther King Jr. led a nonviolent movement protesting racial discrimination. Saint Teresa cared for the least of these by founding orphanages, hospices, and leprosariums.
These three believers had very different emphases, and yet each could appeal to the Bible to support their approach to representing Jesus in a hostile culture. Who is right? One of them? All of them? None of them?
The question becomes even more complex when we consider the biblical outsiders. Daniel advised pagan kings. Esther outmaneuvered a pagan king. Nehemiah built a wall to keep Samaritans out. Jesus spilled his blood to tear down the dividing wall between Jews and Samaritans. Our cultural engagement must be faithful to the entire biblical witness. We need Bonhoeffer and King, Daniel and Esther, Nehemiah and Jesus.
So, how do we do this as a church? To answer that question, we wrote Joyful Outsiders: Six Ways to Live Like Jesus in a Disorienting Culture. It explains six unique ways to be a culture changer in your community:
We also created an online assessment to help you find the way that is best suited to your personality type. Jesus has invited you to change culture without being changed by it. Take a first step by finding your way and then actively seeking to live it out. Let’s accept the invitation of Hebrews, become outsiders, and share in Christ’s reproach so we can share in his joy.
Take Joyful Outsider’s Archetype Assessment to discover how you can be a culture changer in your community. And order a copy of Joyful Outsiders: Six Ways to Live Like Jesus in a Disorienting Culture, available now wherever books are sold!