Rev. David Holwick ZN Modern Controversies #6
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 2, 2012
Luke 2:1-5
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I. I am not very special.
A. White males are an endangered species.
1) Commentators on the last election tell me so.
2) It was comforting to imagine most of the world was like me.
a) It isn't. Never has been, never will be.
b) It is the same for you - for everyone.
c) A thumbnail sketch of the world's 7 billion humans:
If 100 people represent the world's population...
56 are Asian or Indian
40 of them are under age 25
18 are white
82 are non-white
4 are Americans
but we own 39% of the world's wealth
#5509, adapted
B. The world is not only diverse, but it focuses on it.
1) America used to exult in being a melting pot.
a) Today, we emphasize our diversity.
b) Your income, education level, ethnic background, and
age define who you are.
2) All the variety can be stimulating.
a) Just think of the range of ethnic restaurants in our
communities.
b) Exposure to different cultures and viewpoints can keep
us from staying narrow and provincial.
3) Diversity can also create tensions.
a) The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that
multicultural communities tend to be less trusting
and less happy.
b) If all you do is emphasize your differences, you may
never find a way to get along with each other.
C. Should differences really matter?
1) God did not make us out of the same cookie cutter, so he
apparently endorses diversity.
2) However, I think we focus on the wrong issues.
a) Our ethnicity, social class or nationality are secondary.
b) Our relationship to God should always be primary.
II. Jesus lived in a world much like ours.
A. Ancient Israel had a broad social mix.
1) Jesus encountered Romans, Lebanese, Syrians, religious
sects, and of course Jews of all stripes.
2) Many of these groups did not get along very well.
a) Riots were common, even atrocities.
B. For Jesus, it was also a pretty small world.
1) He probably never traveled more than 200 miles from home.
2) He limited his ministry to Jews.
a) Yet others kept elbowing their way in.
1> A Roman Centurion. Matthew 8:5-12
One time a Roman soldier asked for the healing of
a servant.
He didn't want Jesus to come, just to give the
command.
Jesus was astounded by the soldier's faith, and
said he had never seen it among Jews.
2> A Canaanite woman. Matthew 15:21-28
In another famous example, Jesus was in Lebanon.
A local woman wanted him to heal her daughter.
Jesus responded, "...it is not right to take the
children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
Ouch!
But the woman didn't give up.
Her shrewd response was, "Even dogs get crumbs."
It earned her a healing.
b) He accepted them and acknowledged their faith in him.
1> As a matter of fact, faith is the key to a saving
relationship with God.
2> The group you belong to doesn't matter.
III. Some distinctions still matter.
A. To Jesus, religion was more than a personal option.
1) Concerning salvation, he felt that Jews were right, and
Samaritans were wrong.
2) (He said this to a woman that most Jews would not have
had anything to do with, however.)
3) But he also taught that God's truth was bigger than Judaism.
B. We tend to we more wishy-washy.
1) There are so many religions around today that it seems
wrong to aim for just one.
a) America alone has 2,630 denominations in two dozen
broader groups.
b) Among the more obscure denominations:
The Nudist Christian Church of the Blessed Virgin Jesus.
The Church of God Anonymous.
The Church of the New Song, which offers porterhouse
steaks for communion.
We even have 22 religious groups that believe in UFOs.
#18590
2) The diversity of faith should make us humble.
a) It is presumptuous to think that they are all wrong and
we are all right.
b) We should be tolerant of others, and show them respect.
c) But this doesn't mean a single truth doesn't exist.
IV. The differences are real.
A. It is popular to think that all religions lead to the same God.
1) Do they?
a) Some believe in one God.
b) Others believe in many gods, or that everything is god.
c) In Eastern religions, God tends to be impersonal.
1> In Christianity, God is very personal.
2) Scholar Harold Netland states,
"Careful examination of the basic tenets of the various
religious traditions demonstrates that, far from
teaching the same thing,
the major religions have radically different perspectives
on the religious 'ultimate.'"
#22799
B. Where Christianity is distinct.
1) Most religions emphasize earning God's favor through good
deeds.
2) Christianity is different.
a) We cannot save ourselves by being good enough.
b) God saves us by doing it himself.
1> On Christmas, he became a human.
2> On Good Friday, he died to take our place.
c) Salvation is a gift, not a two-way contract.
1> He asks that we believe in him and submit to
his principles and lordship.
V. Christmas shows the world as it could be, and will be.
A. Diversity surrounded the manger.
1) High and low, local and foreign, even human and angelic,
all came to honor the baby Jesus.
2) After he established the church to carry on his mission,
they continued to aim at everyone.
a) On the day of Pentecost, many nationalities heard the
gospel and believed.
b) Jesus came to save world, not one ethnic group.
1> We want everyone to believe.
2> (100-year-old photo at Gala Day celebration - kids
dressed up as natives in lands of missionaries.)
B. The good news about Jesus has always been for everyone.
1) New Testament churches were diverse - and it caused problems.
2) Heaven will be diverse, with every nation, tribe, people
and language represented. Rev 7:9
3) There is one God, one truth, one Savior.
C. Hold it humbly.
When he was 8 years old, Carl Medearis knew what he wanted to be.
Not a baseball player or the President of the United States.
He wanted to be a missionary.
Specifically, to Muslim Arabs.
And that is exactly what he did.
He and his wife and two small children moved to Beirut, Lebanon.
He was zealous.
He tried to convert as many Muslims as he could to Christianity.
That was 20 years ago.
Today, he says he has no desire to convert Muslims, or anyone
else, to Christianity.
He is not an evangelist and is no longer a missionary.
He sees religion as something toxic and bad.
It's not because he doesn't think that religion can sometimes
do good (it can, in certain circumstances).
It is because he has discovered something (or, Someone) superior
to the religion he spent his life trying to convert others to...
That someone is Jesus.
A funny thing happened when he started to read the four gospels.
Really read them.
He discovered that Jesus was constantly angering the religious
leaders of his day by challenging them to recognize the
grace of God in the outsiders.
Jesus' friends were prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers,
demoniacs, and Samaritans -- people who were vile sinners.
Jesus was the uniter of humanity; not the divider of humanity.
Today Christianity means a lot of different things to a lot of
different people.
For some, Christianity means following the life and teachings
of Jesus.
But for others, it means the Inquisition, the Crusades,
colonialism, imperialism, witch hunts, sex abuse scandals,
and ultra-conservative politics.
Carl says he is still bothered that Jesus seems to be socially
inclusive, yet theologically exclusive.
But Jesus never emphasized exclusion - he liked to turn heretics
into heroes.
We can love him, follow him, obey him, strive to be like him,
share him with others the best that we know how.
But at the end of the day, we don't own him.
Jesus is bigger than any box a religion or philosophy tries to
place him in.
#63176
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 5509 “If the World Were 100 People,” unknown author,
<http://www.justsaywow.com/100people.htm>.
#18590 “Denominational Overload,” Associated Press, date unknown but
illustration entered on January 31, 2003.
#22799 “Do All Religions Lead To God?” Kenneth Richard Samples,
<http://www.reasons.org/resources/>.
#63176 “I Don’t Own Jesus,” Carl Medearis, Huffingtonpost.com,
June 29, 2011.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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