Sermon from January 24, 2010
"Isn't the Church Responsible for Injustice?"
Romans 5:9

Isn't the Church responsible for injustice? Tim Keller, Senior Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, identifies three kinds of injustice that people say the Church is responsible for: character flaws in Christians, fanaticism, and Church support of war and violence.

Before we go further, it will help to define justice. Justice means giving people the treatment they deserve. Character flaws in Christians are unjust, because they do not give God the honor He deserves. Jesus summed up this injustice when He said: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” – Mark 7:6.

Fanaticism is unjust, because it does not give people the treatment they deserve. 1 Peter 3:15-16 counters this injustice when it says: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.

Church support of war and violence is unjust, because it too does not give people the treatment they deserve. The Apostle Paul went to the heart of this injustice when he said: If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone – Romans 12:18.

These are serious charges. They tell us uncomfortable truth about ourselves. That’s why they sting. So, let’s acknowledge where they are right, try to understand our mistakes, and then in each case look at a bigger picture.

Character Flaws
First, character flaws in Christians are unjust, because they do not give God the honor that is due to Him. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Neither Isaiah who first said that (Isaiah 29:13) nor Jesus who said it again 800 years later were outsiders. They were themselves members of the community of faith they criticized. No one outside Christianity ever spoke sharper criticism of the character flaws of Christians than they did as insiders.

Right here we come to a parting of the ways. Isaiah, Jesus, and their imitators criticize the character flaws of Christians in order to bring about repentance. They want Christians to acknowledge their flaws, turn from them, and learn to do better in the future.

Outside Christianity criticism of our character flaws often means to intimidate and embarrass Christians. A young law student saw the character flaws of Christians like this: “There are so many people who are not religious at all who are more kind and even more moral than many of the Christians I know.” (Keller, The Reason for God, 51)

How would you respond if someone said that to you? One way is to agree. “I hate to say it, but you’re right.” A second way is to explain how Christianity works. “You know, Christianity is not for people who finally got good enough to get in. It’s for people who want God’s forgiveness and a better life, and it takes them a long time to learn new habits. So I’m not surprised when Christians don’t seem any better than some people who are not religious at all.” By the way, that might make a walk across the room moment that allows you to tell the person your story of why you are a Christian.

This first accusation of injustice gives us a chance to look more closely at the dilemma we find ourselves in and a dilemma we create for ourselves. I just said that Christianity is for people who want God’s forgiveness and a better life, and it takes them a long time to learn new habits. I am sometimes appalled at the capacity for evil I see in my own heart, even half a century after becoming a Christian. We truly bring along with us into the Church all manner of bad habits, bad friends, and bad motives.

Inside the Church we are confronted almost from the moment we become Christians with overwhelming moral expectations. For example, Jesus said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” – Matthew 5:48. The Apostle Paul said: Don’t repay anyone evil for evil. Do not take revenge – Romans 12:17 & 19. The Apostle Peter said: Be holy in all you do – 1 Peter 1:15.

It seems like a catch-22 situation in which imperfect people are being held to impossibly high standards. It is a recipe for failure, isn’t it? It is a recipe for disaster. Why try? It’s an impossible situation.

Not so fast! I agree that it can be very uncomfortable, even intimidating to be held to such high standards. I agree there will be failures. There will be times when we throw up our hands and lament that we can’t possibly do this. But I don’t think it’s our failure to live up to our high standards that makes people call us hypocrites. What does that is finding fault with other people in a way that makes them think we are better than they are, that we are not susceptible to moral failures like they are. No wonder people take pleasure in pointing out our failures!

Let’s stop judging people. Let’s repent of acting like moral policemen for American society. Let’s just help each other not to stray too far from Christ. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ, says Galatians 6:2. Spur one another on to love and good deeds, says Hebrews 10:24. And even in these actions Jesus said to take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye – Matthew 7:5.

Fanaticism
Now, let’s talk about fanaticism. Fanatics send people running for cover. My mom and dad had a dear friend, who ran a successful auto parts business. He was an elder in our church, a forceful man, and a straight shooter. He was also an ardent advocate of Reformed theology, especially its understanding of predestination.

I was present on several occasions, when he expressed his beliefs. He was the kind of man, who would give you the shirt off his back; but when it came to predestination, he took no prisoners.

His way of expressing his belief usually made people uncomfortable, and I never heard people challenge him, even if they disagreed with him. That would only fire him up even more. When he launched into one of his discourses on predestination, I remember having the feeling, which I know others shared, “Oh no! Here we go again. I wish he wouldn’t do that.”

In preparation for this sermon I tried to get into words why we felt that way. Here’s what I came up with. He made us feel intimidated and coerced. Soaked into what he said and how he said it, like grape juice on white linen cloth, was the message that there was something wrong with you if you disagreed with him.

But I did disagree, and the insinuation that something was wrong with me made me angry and conflicted: angry, because I didn’t like to be told that disagreement meant there was something wrong with me; conflicted, because I really liked him, and he was threatening our friendship by his implicit condemnation of me.

Now, I’m hoping my story has caused you to remember a similar experience in your life. If you do, it will help you feel the sting of an injustice we call fanaticism. All fanatics forget something very simple. The intense conviction and emotion that has taken hold of them needs to be mediated to ordinary people. For example, it is one thing for a fiery preacher to deliver his message to a thousand people; it is quite another for him to deliver it to a few unsuspecting people across a dinner table.

The large crowd mediates his intensity, gives people some breathing space to absorb his intensity without being put on the spot. There’s nowhere to hide, if his conviction and emotion come pouring at you across the dinner table.

When you hear someone say, “He’s a fanatic,” or “She’s a zealot,” you can be sure the person means, “That guy puts me on the spot, and I don’t like it.” We have to earn the right to get up close and personal with intense conviction and emotion.

Do we want Christians who are full of conviction and emotion? Yes. Do we want fanatics? No. The difference between them is a matter of justice. The fanatic forgets the cushion that ordinary people deserve to help them absorb his fiery demeanor.

So, when someone says, “That guy’s a fanatic,” I hope you say something like this: “Yes, he comes on much too strong, and that’s too bad. I think he’s saying something important.” Proverbs 12:18 says: Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. One of our American proverbs says: You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

War and Violence
Finally, war and violence. Christopher Hitchens, an atheist, has written a book called God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He entitled one of his chapters: “Religion Kills.” Before acknowledging the merits of his accusation, I’d like to point out an injustice in his accusation. Do you think Mr. Hitchens could have published his book in Iran or Malaysia? Not a chance! It is in the Christian nations of Western Civilization that he is free to publish such a book.

Muslims from Copenhagen to Cairo rioted and burned and threatened because of Danish cartoons unfavorable to Mohammed. Christians bear with longsuffering the blasphemy of films like The Last Temptation and The Da Vinci Code and of Hitchen’s book itself. At the heart of our faith we believe that God made the unspeakable obscenity of Jesus on the cross the turning point in the salvation of the world. That’s why we can trust God to defend Himself against these lesser blasphemies. Hitchens fails to acknowledge Christianity’s share in his freedom to write his book. It is an injustice to Christians everywhere.

Having said that, we must say that all religions, including Christianity, have been implicated in war and violence. I will always challenge what I think exaggerates the official participation of Christians in war and violence. But, frankly, it is hard to exaggerate some of the terrible things that have been done in the name of Christ. Let’s own it; it’s part of our history. Let’s pray that we do better. That’s easier said than done.

It is my opinion that the Church sullies its hands with war and violence every time it fails to keep a proper distance from the State, especially when it asks the State to enforce the Church’s way of life. To have the power of the State in support of the Church is a temptation so seductive that the devil used it in his effort to undermine Jesus’ mission in the world. The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me” – Matthew 4:9.

Before we yearn for Washington to restore the America we think we have lost, we should first thank God that the Church had no say in the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, or to invade Vietnam, or to pass Roe v. Wade. The blood of millions may be on our hands as citizens, but it is not on the Church’s conscience. Thank God for the separation of Church and State! It protects the Church from the war and violence that some of our Christian forefathers condoned and even participated in.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
I believe there is something deeper at stake than our injustice and its damage to our reputation and even more importantly to the reputation of Christ. I think that we are in danger of treating the wrong disease. C. S. Lewis said what I mean. “Man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 49)

We love self-help programs. We love rehabilitation programs. We love drug therapies and counseling and social services. And of course they really do provide help for people in need. We can rejoice in all the good they do. We can participate in their efforts. We can thank God for the good they achieve.

But if improving imperfect people is as far as it goes, then we are treating the wrong disease. We are pouring water into a bucket that is riddled with holes. As a result, we are appalled at Columbine and Abu Graib. That’s why we shake our heads in dismay at the lust of people to get something for nothing in the lottery or a sub-prime mortgage. We are shocked at Tiger Woods and Governor Spitzer and Governor Sanford. We fear and weep to see President Johnson’s War on Poverty disintegrate into urban areas that have become killing fields of the young. We thought we had made the world a better place, but in spite of our good intentions and expensive programs, “The world is as it used to be.”

I am a Christian, because I believe Christianity has correctly diagnosed human beings as rebels against God, who need to lay down their arms. The Apostle Paul put it like this: When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son – Romans 5:10.

By all means let’s help our fellow man. Knock yourself out! At the same time let’s not be so naïve as to be surprised at the mystery of iniquity that passes right through the heart of every human being. And let us remember that the Church stands as the indestructible but imperfect sign that reconciliation to God is the fundamental need of mankind and that Christ has made that reconciliation a real possibility.

The two greatest cries of the human heart are to say to Jesus Christ, “My Lord and my God!” and “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” I hope every one of us has said them to Christ. Have you? Why not say them right here, right now? I hope we say them over and over for as long as we live, as confessions of hope that reconciliation with God will reach its fulfillment, and the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then and only then all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.