Sermon from September 23, 2007
I have had a fascinating e-mail this month with Oksana Pivovar, a Christian woman in Ukraine. Ed Rowse of our congregation introduced me to her. She wrote something that leads right into what we need to talk about today. She wrote:
“I’ve met several Muslims this summer. I work with Michael Gott association as a main interpreter and ministry coordinator in Ukraine. After talking to the Muslims, I realized that all our arguments (about Islam) are so shallow and inefficient.
“In Ukraine many people are not familiar with the Baptists. They don’t know what we believe in and who we are. So many . . . Ukrainians who are (Ukrainian) Orthodox.... tell stories to each other about the Baptists who sacrifice their own children in the basements of their churches! It’s so stupid! But they don’t know better!! :)
“I felt exactly like that this summer.... like one of those Orthodox who believes the stories.... After talking to several Muslims... I realized I need to have a deeper understanding of their faith if I want to earn the right to share Jesus with them.
“The question is ..... what would make them want to accept Christ? And the common clichés like ‘Allah is angry, and he does not hear your prayer like Jesus does’ don't work... They believe in a merciful Allah, that's why they pray to him 5 times a day!
“Actually, I believe that we Christians need to learn from Muslims how to be faithful in prayers. If the people of God prayed like they do.... this world would be very different :)” (Personal e-mail, Oksana Pivovar, 9-17-07)
If we make the good ship Brandywine more seaworthy for her voyage into unknown waters, she will take us to places where we need to build bridges to other people, who are uncomfortably different from us. Pastor Mark Smith of our pastoral staff has put his finger on what kind of bridge we need to build. “We need to build a bridge of love strong enough to bear the weight of truth.” That’s what Oksana meant, when she said she needed a deeper understanding of Muslim faith, if she was to have the right to share Jesus with them.
Hindu temples and Muslim mosques now have a permanent place on the American landscape. Many of you work side by side with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Jews. We are beginning to experience a little of what Christian missionaries have experienced for two thousands years. We have entered unknown waters.
Last week, I talked about building bridges to people whose values and behaviors are different from ours. Today, we talk about building bridges to people whose religion is different from ours. Let’s drop anchor today in the deep waters of Acts 17:24-34.
Idols, Skeptics and the Apostle Paul
The scene Luke describes in this text presents the Apostle Paul alone in Athens. He had left behind his ministry partners, Silas and Timothy, in another city. He made waves all by himself. Verse 17 says that he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
He got their attention. Verse 20 says that they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, an ancient and once-powerful court for evaluating new ideas, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” Those Gentiles worshiped or at least tolerated idols. Many were skeptics. They were curious about Paul, the Jew, the newcomer, and his odd ideas.
He began his speech by finding common ground with his audience. Verse 23: As I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. Here were ideas new to Paul’s listeners, so he used a lot of sugar to help the medicine go down.
Verses 24-28: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. The Greeks had never put it that way, but it was okay. The gods always were aloof, and there was always one supreme god. In our world Jews and Muslims would agree strongly with Paul’s words.
“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Well, yes, why not? Nothing exceptional about that. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Sweet! Clever Jew to know our Greek poets! The poets may tell nothing but lies, but they tell it well.” Again, in our world Jews and Muslims would agree, but many Buddhists and Hindus would also resonate with the idea of a god in whom we live and move and have our being, and who is in some sense Father of us all.
Then, with common ground to stand on the apostle proceeded to push the envelop further in verses 29-30: “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man's design and skill. “Hmm, never thought about it that way. Only Jews think that way; but he makes a good point. We’ll have to debate it later.” Today, Jews, Muslims and many Buddhists would still say, “Amen,” but Hindus will balk at this criticism of their images.
In verses 30-31 Paul pushed the envelop much further. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
Well, that did it. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus (he would have been a prominent person), also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. That’s astounding!
Other world religions part company with Christianity about the resurrection of Jesus. Muslims believe in resurrection, but they differ in that they teach that Jesus did not really die by crucifixion, and they would not give Jesus supremacy over Mohammed.
Reflections
The book of Acts records more than a half dozen sermons that Peter and Paul preached. This one in Acts 17 is dramatically different from the others. It never mentions Jesus’ death or the forgiveness of sins or Israel or the Holy Spirit. It speaks about ignorance not sin. The apostle looked for common ground that would respect people, and at what he hoped was the right moment he spoke of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
We see the same strategy on a smaller scale back in Acts 14:15-17. Paul was again addressing a Gentile crowd that had been bowing down to him and Barnabas, as if they were gods. Here’s what he said to them.
“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way.
“Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
Once again, Paul speaks about the Creator of all things. He refers to idols as worthless things. He represents the Creator as patient, almost indulgent: “In the past, he let all nations go their own way.” Verse 16 is remarkable: “Yet he has not left himself without testimony.” In Athens he quoted Greek poets, who unwittingly testified to the Creator of all things. Here Paul pointed to the provisions of crops and food and common human joy.
Paul’s way of approach to people of a completely different religious background may not be the only way; but I commend it to you as one we do well to imitate. I’d like to share with you a similar experience I had earlier this year.
A Funeral
Last May, I had the honor of being asked to do a funeral service for Mrs. Amy Khine’s mother, Mrs. Cho. Mrs. Cho’s life, growing up in Burma, revealed a courageous and resourceful woman. She immigrated to the United States in her sixties and lived with Dr. and Mrs. Khine.
Mrs. Cho was a devout Buddhist. Two Buddhist monks from Baltimore performed a Buddhist funeral for her. But Mrs. Khine, who is a Christian, asked me also to perform a funeral for her. I joined the Khines and several dozen of their family and friends n Fraser, PA, for the service. Many were Christians, more were Buddhists. I was one of less than a half dozen Caucasians there.
When I spoke, I began by telling them how I had never met anyone from Asia until I went to college, where I got to know a number of Chinese students from Hong Kong. I told them how some of them taught me to say certain Chinese phrases and to write some Chinese characters. I reminisced about eating my first Chinese food with chopsticks in their rooms.
I acknowledged the presence at the funeral service of both Buddhists and Christians; and I said that I wanted to honor Mrs. Cho by reflecting on Buddhism and Christianity. I said that we should consider three matters: what they have in common, a surprising possibility for dialogue between Buddhist and Christian, and how they differ.
We have in common the call to honor our father and mother. I talked about how I admired the Khines for building rooms on their house to accommodate Mrs. Cho. I told them how my parents had made room in our home for my mother’s mother to live with us. Buddhist and Christian may be amazed to discover how much moral ground we have in common.
Then, I shared something from a Christian point of view that offered a surprising possibility for dialogue between Buddhist and Christian. I read 1 Corinthians 7:14:For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
I said that from a Christian perspective the fact that Mrs. Khine is a Christian sanctifies her entire household, including her mother. Then, I asked what sanctification of a household meant. I said that it did not mean that differences between Christians and Buddhists don’t matter. To say that would dishonor both Buddhist and Christian.
Instead, I explained its meaning by saying that the presence of a Christian wife in the household brought Jesus Christ into the household and opened up inescapable possibilities of conversations between Buddhists and Christians that might not otherwise have been possible. I said that I hoped those conversations could be continued, and could include all of us at the funeral service.
Finally, I acknowledged that Christianity differs from Buddhism most significantly, when it says that Jesus Christ rose from the dead with a new body that can never again die. We Christians believe He will judge the world with the justice our world longs for. I hoped we could keep that possibility in our future conversations.
The Pastoral Center of Gravity
The next time I have that kind of exchange, I hope I’ll do it better. In the years to come I suspect that many of us will have opportunities to build bridges to people of other religions. If we are willing to take the risks of doing so, Lesslie Newbigin, the missionary to India for 40 years, offered four guidelines for doing so. (The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, 180-182)
First, look for evidence of God’s grace in the lives of people of different religions. Remember last summer, when I talked about the moral structure of the universe? Every human being shares that moral structure. Having it makes us human. We should not be surprised that Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim say much about human morality with which we can agree.
Second, look for projects we can do together, which seek justice and freedom or new scientific knowledge that will help people, regardless of their religion or politics. I am surprised that evangelicals and Roman Catholics have not reached out to Muslims to make common cause on pro-life issues. In a state like Delaware there must be many opportunities to make common cause in business, banking, research and justice.
A third guideline builds on the previous two. As we find common values with people of other religions and work together on common projects, a context comes into existence in which we can have conversations about “the meaning and goal of the human story.” (ibid) Newbigin says, “If we are doing what we ought to be doing as Christians, the dialogue will be initiated by our partners, not by ourselves” (p. 181). He presumes of course that Jesus Christ has altered the way we interpret and live life.
The final guideline calls on Christians to tell the story of Jesus Christ, the story of the Bible. Our task is not to win an argument but to tell a story, which we believe to be the human story.
I heard last month that 35% of the people now living in the United States are non-Caucasian immigrants. Many of them come here as Christians. Many others become Christians while living here. Many bring with them the other great religions of the world. I see this vast people movement as an unprecedented opportunity for Christians to build bridges to them. I hope you see it that way.
© Copyright
, Brandywine Valley Baptist Church. All rights reserved.
