Rev. David Holwick ZD
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 12, 1999
Judges 12:1-6, John 8:1-11
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SERMON SUMMARY: Humans are divided into many groups, by birth or lifestyle,
and often do not get along. Discusses concept of "culture wars"
versus tolerance and points to the greater principle of Christian love
as a healing agent in society.
I. They're not like me, so I don't like them.
A. Roxbury community Covenant has strong emphasis on tolerance.
1) It's wrong to make people feel like outsiders.
2) We need to be sensitive and understanding of different
groups.
3) Reach out to those put down for being different.
4) Be inclusive in friendships.
B. Implications.
1) Our community is divided, and the divisions don't get along.
2) Groups can be bigger problem than a few bad individuals.
3) Everyone needs to get along for there to be peace.
a) Not a natural instinct.
II. How do you say "New Joisey"?
A. Ephraimites were proud.
1) Complained against Gideon; he complimented them. 8:1-3
2) Complained against Jephthah; he attacked them. 12:1-6
a) Both were generals of Manasseh, their neighbor.
1> Gilead is area of Manasseh on other side of Jordan.
b) Ephraimites insulted the Gileadite soldiers.
B. The clever test.
1) Accents distinguished them. "s" vs. "sh"
a) During WWII, the Nazis picked out Russian Jews by the
way they pronounced word for corn, "kookoorooza."
b) New Jerseyans would be dead ducks...
(In truth, almost no one in New Jersey says "Joisey")
2) Gilead soldiers extinguished them.
a) Practically all men in tribe exterminated.
b) "God's nation" was devouring itself, not external foes.
III. We still don't get along.
A. Distinctions are deeply ingrained.
Do you think of yourself as a racist?
Probably not... but then again...
Scientists have come up with some ingenious experiments to
uncover the truth.
One group of researchers asked participants to perform a
tedious task on a computer.
Unbeknownst to the participants, the computer not only
administered the task but also exposed them, subliminally,
to photographs of either black or white faces.
These photographs popped up so quickly the people never
realized they had seen something.
Then, after many trials, the computer presented them with a
bogus error message - "F11 error: failure saving data".
It informed them that they would have to start the task
again from the beginning.
How did the participants react?
Hidden videocameras captured it all.
Then other scientists rated the reactions - without knowing
which set of photographs the people had seen.
Results indicated that those exposed to faces of other races
did indeed respond in a more hostile, frustrated manner
than those exposed to faces of their own race.
#4819
B. Divisions remain among us.
1) Regional, racial, social groupings.
a) Evangelical or born-again Christians - 47% of population.
#4798
b) "Culture Wars" - other groups are out there, too.
c) We don't get along with many of them.
2) Can we bring others together, or are we tearing everyone
apart?
#2832
IV. Our tension.
A. Christianity grew because it was inclusive.
1) Today we are a symbol of intolerance and exclusion.
2) Religious wars in 1500's led to emphasis on tolerance.
a) Conservatives could not compromise.
b) One Hundred Years War, Thirty Years War, bled Europe
so badly some countries lost a third of their people.
c) In Treaty of Westphalia, nations agree to let their
people disagree.
"God will send you to hell, of course, but I will let
you live."
Might be said to be the beginning of the modern
tolerance movement.
B. Key points on tolerance.
1) You are not tolerant of something unless you object to it.
a) Test for a liberal's tolerance: what do they think
of Ken Starr or Pat Robertson?
b) We must distinguish between healthy tolerance and a
diseased moral indifference.
2) Tolerance also implies withheld power.
a) We choose not to force someone else to change.
b) Or, how far do we go in resisting what we feel is wrong?
C. Religion is seen as greatest source of intolerance.
1) Many Christians have truly been intolerant.
a) We raise funds through fear and hysteria.
b) We call names. (Mathew Shepard episode)
c) Mathew Shepard's death in Wyoming blamed on religious
conservatives, though unfairly.
(macho bar culture more to blame)
2) Some see all evangelism as intolerant.
a) Wrong to withhold life-saving medicine.
b) What about a life-saving message?
3) Is God tolerant?
a) Yes and no.
1> God hates sin, and is morally uncompromising.
2> He also tolerates sin, at least "for a season."
A> He is patient, forgiving, slow to anger.
b) If tolerance is withholding the power you have to force
people to conform, God is exceptionally tolerant.
1> Otherwise he would destroy us immediately.
V. Test case: Woman caught in adultery. John 8:1-11
A. Values clarification class.
1) Woman accused of a sexual sin.
2) Religious leaders insisting on strict application of
moral law.
3) Crowd represents society as a whole.
4) Jerry Springer is the mediator - actually, it's Jesus.
B. The trap.
1) Religious leaders care less about moral law than they
do about defeating an enemy, Jesus.
2) Dilemma - Jesus must deny law of Moses, or lose sympathy
of the people, who hate the arrogant legalism of leaders.
C. What we would do.
1) Liberals, or champions of tolerance.
a) She is a consenting adult.
b) Who is to say adultery is a sin?
c) Not our business, anyway.
d) Woman should be commended for her bold defiance of
outdated moral codes.
e) She should sue her accusers.
2) Conservatives, or protectors of morality.
a) Do same thing as Pharisees - use her as example.
b) Show little regard for her as a person, call for
her public shaming.
c) Call for a return to traditional morality.
D. What Jesus does.
1) He affirms the moral law and refuses to humiliate the sinner.
a) Sinless religious leaders should cast first stone.
(tolerant liberals cheer)
b) He tells the woman he does not condemn her.
(they cheer again)
c) But then, crucially, he says what no modern champion of
tolerance is likely to say: "Go and sin no more."
(they groan)
2) Jesus versus us.
a) Jesus is more tolerant than us, and less tolerant.
b) His leniency never compromises his holiness or justice.
1> He forgives where we attack and destroy.
2> He grieves and judges where we are lax or indifferent.
c) Attempt to be as tolerant as our Lord, no more, no less.
VI. God does not call us to be tolerant - he calls us to love.
A. It is a sobering standard.
1) Biblical love is sacrificial.
a) Doesn't say, "Do as I do or go to hell."
b) It says, "I would rather be crucified than have you
be harmed."
2) "Hate sin, love sinner."
a) Cliché or reality?
B. Loved people know it.
1) People whose behavior we believe is sinful do not report
that they feel loved. Far from it.
2) Learn to listen compassionately to them.
3) Seek common ground rather than figuring how to attack.
a) Abortion protest now includes concern for moms, not
just their unborn children.
C. Will you love?
1) Think of how Jesus has treated you.
a) He has tolerated your sin, giving you time to repent.
b) He loves you in spite of yourself.
2) We can (and should) extend that love to others.
a) Even our enemies!
b) Even God's enemies!
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#2832 "Are You Tolerant? (Should You Be?)," by Daniel Taylor, Christianity
Today magazine, January 1, 1999, page 42. This article is
heavily borrowed from for the last half of the sermon.
#4798 Princeton Religion Research Center, Emerging Trends, December 1998;
quoted in Rev. Brett Blair's www.sermonillustrations.com dated
September 12, 1999.
#4819 "What Every Skeptic Should Know About Subliminal Persuasion," by
Nicholas Epley, Kenneth Savitsky & Robert A. Kachelski,
Skeptical Enquirer magazine, September/October 1999, page 44.
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