Why I wear African attire to church.

Christmas, The Cross, and my Kinte apparel. 

The following was written on Christmas Eve night and published on Christmas Day.

I wore my African dress shirt today, it's called a "Kinte".  I am publicly thanking the dear family that brought this as a gift to me last year before my surgery. Earlier this year, starting at Easter, I have begun a personal "attire tradition". For every holiday that the local church I am a member of gathers together, I plan on wearing this colorful shirt.

Not in order to draw atteantion to myself, which it certainly does, but to tell people who ask me about it, the story of the kindess of the family that brought this to me from  Liberia. (side note: I really want to visit there one day!)

 That shirt reminds me of so much. For example, just for starters it brings to mind my blessed friendship with the family at my church that gave the shirt to me, the undeniable fact that the church is a dear gift in my life just as the shirt was a gift, it causes my brain to recall the fantastic work God is doing through Calvary Love Ministries International Inc. and in turn all foreign missionary work in this world that is full of sinners that have yet to have been told the good news, and thankful for the workers who go primarily for the zeal of God's glory. So yeah, it's a big deal :) 

For those who don't know I had a pretty intense surgery in Feb 2017, and so the first Sunday I was capable of attending a church service was of all days, Resurrection Sunday (also known as Easter)! Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ not just every single Sunday but, all seven days of the week, 365 days. 

Easter Sunday is a time where we specifically and elaborately magnify our risen Savior, the King of Glory Himself, Jesus the Christ through singing songs, preaching the Word of God to the people of God for the glory of God in all nations. 

But after my life-saving surgery (this was actually a critical procedure for me to have since my colon was killing me due to the intensity of the Crohn's Disease) this was the day, the day intentionally set aside to remember and recount this historical account of God raising Himself from the dead, defeating death, sin, and Satan once and for good, that I was blessed enough to attend my local body of believers! How appropriate. Well back to the Kinte shirt, this is what I wore that day as it was a gift from my Church family who has a ministry in Liberia. This gift was undeserved and unearned just as God's gift of Salvation. I was simply humbled and thankful to God first for real friends and more than that they are my eternal family through Christ Jesus our Lord.

So fast forward to today, I couldn't sleep last night so I went ahead and got ready to go to church this morning on Christmas Eve 2017. Observing the gift of Jesus' birth at church doesn't stop with the glorious historical account given in Luke 2 at the manger with Shepard's gathered round and a full Inn with a virgin given birth. No, we must see that even the Christmas story is about not only the birth but also the life, ministry, crucifixion, death and resurrection and finally the Ascension into Heaven where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father until the day where Christ returns to judge the just and the unjust and set up His kingdom of Heaven which will never end!

You see if we fast forward through the book of Luke to chapter 24 just right after the Resurrection of Jesus we find Him walking with two downtrodden disciples who do not know Jesus is back from the grave! We see a most remarkable truth here that the rest of Scripture rests upon and all sound doctrine and theology is needed for, from these words of God penned by Dr. Luke in Chapter 24 verses 25-27:

25 And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. - Luke 24:25-27

Did you catch that?? In verse 27, Jesus is explaining that all of the Bible is about Jesus and in the previous verses reminds them of the prophecy that was given in their own Old Testament Scriptures about the coming Messiah's necessity to suffer and then explained from their Scriptures how Jesus as in fact the very One promised to mankind, sinners, way back in Genesis 3:15.

[3 above pics are cross references from Luke 24 to just some of the many many foretellings of Jesus,-Screen Shots off my phone of the The ESV Bible App]

Just as all of the Bible is about Jesus, so should be our gatherings as churches, our jobs and career worlds, relationships with our families etc. All of our lives should be about knowing, loving, and obeying Jesus. For He is the God of all glory and deserving of eternal praise from every single person who has lived on this ol' Earth. He is not merely the reason for holiday seasons, He is the reason anything exists. That makes our lives being spent for His glory worth it. Jesus chose to become a human, to glorify God and because we are all sinners deserving God's eternal wrath in Hell forever. I pray  that this year we remember that Jesus was born, fulfilling all of the Old Testament prophesies, in order to die in the place of sinners. We have sinned against an infinite all-powerful, Triune God, and our offenses warrant infinite punishment as we are all children of wrath.

Yet Jesus' first words ("repent" Mark 1:15) during His 3 yrs of ministry on earth was a phrase of the hope of redemption, the hope of escaping the eternal Hell-fire of God, and most importantly even though in our sin nature we are born against this idea, He spoke words of Hope to reconcile us to a relationship of good standing with the most gracious God over the cosmos.

You see, the reality of the virgin birth, the sheperds seeing angels announcing the coming of the King, and the entire Christmas narrative should lead us all to see a glaring difference between who we are and who the perfect God incarnate, Jesus is. He is perfect. We are sinful. Yet He took the cross and worse on Him still the Wrath of God was poured out violently on His son to pay the wages (Romans 3:23) sinners have gained every day of our lives.

In Dr. Luke's second letter, Acts, he describes the Apostle Peter's sermon on this eternally important topic to a very large group of people and when the crowd saw the immense sin in their hearts, actions, and lives they replied,

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" - Acts 2:37

Maybe that's you right now. You know God is holy, you have seen in the Bible that He came to seek and to save that which is lost. Maybe you realize you are that "lost" person referred to.

Then I implore you to do exactly what Jesus said in His first words of ministry and what Peter replied in Acts 2. They both said to Repent!

So sincerely repent of your sins, die to your selfishness, humble yourself and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins! If you do this with true humility and in awe of God, confessing your sins and admitting your sin is unrepairable apart from Jesus, then according to Scripture you will be saved.

A prayer for my readers:

"Lord, I pray that you might use this post with the truth of the Bible preached to call, convict, and convert sinners to Yourself through the power of Your Holy Spirit, amen".

Solo Deo Gloria, 

Zack Anderson

⟹The picture is Zack captured in his natural habitat, moments before going to town and attending the 10:30am Christmas Eve Church service on 12/24/2017!⟸