“Confronting the Controversies”
Sermon Transcript for September 18, 2005
By Rev. Mike Beck
Hardly a day goes by but what in our newspaper and on television we hear the following topics discussed: The relationship between Church and State; Evolution and Creation; Euthanasia; Capital Punishment; Abortion; Homosexuality. And we talk about them in church the fact that the Christian faith is to touch on all areas of our lives. But in terms of what the Scripture has to say about these issues, unfortunately our pulpits are often conspicuously silent. During the remainder of September and October, and we’ve done it in conjunction with the beginning of the ministry of our Church and Society Committee, we will be seeking to examine these controversial issues from the pulpit. Pastors don’t often preach on controversial issues. That’s because we are people-persons—we like others to like us. So more often than not we stick to “safe” topics. It’s a whole lot easier to preach a message about Abraham who lived 3500 years ago and what we can learn from his experiences. And that is certainly valid. And in those kinds of messages, we’re more likely to have people stroke our ego at the close of the service and tell us that was a great sermon. Friends, I’ll be honest, I’ve lost some sleep thinking about these messages. When I said we were going to preach through this series, there are times that I have said to myself, “You idiot! What in the world were you thinking?”, because these issues invoke strong emotions by good Christian people on both sides of the issue. But maybe you grow more in your faith when your response to the morning message leaves you somewhat troubled and uncertain and your comment to the Pastor at the close of the service is, “Pastor, I don’t know whether I agreed with everything you said, but you challenged me to think about this issue a little bit more.”
Let me backup for a second. The message that is at the heart of the gospel is extremely simple. I accepted Him into my life when I was about nine years old. That message is this—I am a sinner, and that sin separates me from a holy God. And there is absolutely nothing I can do to bridge that chasm between me and God. My good works, the Prophet Isaiah said, are like filthy rags in the arms of the holy God. I can’t save myself, but God in His infinite love and mercy reached down to save me through the life and the death and the resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. And I am made right with God, I’m saved, I’m born again or whatever term you want to use, when in simple repentance and faith I accept what God has done for me. That’s the heart of the gospel and it is simple. We call that “grace”. And when we can praise the sentence, “God loves me.” Instead of “God loves me but…” then we start to grasp how amazing grace is!
But how our faith then works itself out in the world in which we live--friends, that’s not always such a simple thing to do! Many of us, if we would be honest, our opinions on these kind of issues have not really been formed by Scripture. They’ve been formed by our personal experiences; and our personal experiences are valid. But they never represent the totality of any issue. Or our opinions have been shaped because we read an interesting article or we went to a movie and that shaped my opinion on this issue. Or we think, “Well, so and so thinks this and I’ve got a lot of respect for that person so I think that’s the way I think.” Or the opposite side of the coin, “I saw these folks out picketing. I didn’t like it then. That’s what I saw and so I decided if that’s what they feel, I don’t want anything to do with it.” And that forms our opinion.
But none of these ways is really adequate for we as Christians to determine what is right and wrong on these issues. A Christian is a person who said, “Jesus is Lord”. If Jesus is Lord, He is my ultimate authority for what I do and how I react to others. For a Christian our number one heart’s desire is to know the will of God and to live it out. As Christians, we are a part of the Kingdom of God. The rules to the Kingdom of God supersede everything else. And often as a part of the Kingdom of God we will find ourselves paddling upstream against the prevailing thought of the culture. There are things that society says are “ok” that are wrong if we are seeking to be faithful to the lordship of Christ. It’s simplistic but yet there is an important kernel of truth on these issues like those little bracelets – W.W.J.D.—we’re seeking to know the mind of God and to say, “God was revealed in Jesus Christ, therefore, what would Jesus do about these issues?”
I fully recognize some of you in this sermon series are going to be thinking, “I can’t wait until we get back to talking about spiritual things like prayer and sanctification and holiness. And you’re thinking, “These are political issues. I’m not sure God is that concerned about these issues.” Think about what you are saying if that’s your attitude. The last I checked, Jesus wanted to be Lord of all. God doesn’t sort out “secular” and “spiritual”. All of life is important to the heart of God. So it is not in our preaching either/or it’s both/and in terms of what should get our attention.
We as Methodists trace our faith back to a man by the name of John Wesley who lived in England in the 18th Century. And during my renewal leave, I had a chance to read a great deal and study about Wesley. In reading I discovered that for Wesley, the heart of the gospel was “a warmed heart and a transformed life that could only come in a deep, personal relationship with God through faith in Christ.” Wesley would be very plain to say, “We cannot transform society until God first transforms us.” But as I read I discovered there was an equally important side of the coin for Wesley when it came to faith that we in the evangelical camp have often neglected. John Wesley said, “All holiness is ultimately social holiness”. John Wesley wrote tens of thousands of letters and I found it interesting that his very last letter, do you know what the topic of that letter was? It was a letter he penned to his friend, William Wilberforce, to say, “William, keep your hand to the plow. The slave trade is an abomination to God’s world. It must be snuffed out.” That was the last letter Wesley ever wrote.
Next week we will begin to get in to the issues themselves but let’s take a moment this morning to think about how God wants us to approach these issues. Please hear me carefully on this. Rev. Dan and I are not going to stand up here and spoon feed you on these issues and tell you what you ought to believe. Adam Hamilton, in the preface to his book that is providing us the background materials to this series, says two words are critically important as we think about these issues—1) sensitivity to the realization that none of us have all the truth, and 2) respect that good God-fearing persons can at times come down with different perspectives on issues. And, friends, I think the way we approach issues of faith and culture within the United Methodist Church ought to be one of our strengths. That as we seek after God’s will, we don’t ask persons to check their minds at the door, that sometimes we agree that we disagree and yet we are bound together by our love for Jesus Christ.
If there were easy answers to these issues, they wouldn’t be controversial! And Wesley said there were four tools we’d use as we seek to know the mind of God.
Scripture: For Wesley the first was foundational and it was scripture. It is the ultimate authority that we look to for guidance in our lives. But, friends, on many of these issues at times it is not always easy to completely understand what the Scripture teaches. In the Old Testament we read one thing and then we get to the New Testament we seem to read a passage of scripture that doesn’t quite line up with that. And even in the New Testament we read the Apostle Paul and then we get to the Book of James and the writer of the Book of James has a different slant on this issue. You know, I think there is a great deal of honest truth in the statement, “Where God’s Word says it, I’ll believe it.” That settles it if it were only that simple when it came to the controversial issue. In these places, we are left to work out our salvation, as Paul said, “with fear and trembling.”
And there are issues that face us today that were not anticipated in Bible times. The last I checked, Paul and his buddies weren’t dealing with invitro fertilization. They weren’t dealing with, “What do we do or not do with fertilized eggs that the mother and father say, ‘We have no intention of using those’?” That wasn’t an issue for Paul in his day or for Christ. So on those kinds of issues, we’ve got to look at the Scripture for basic principles and then try to peel underneath the issue and, in fear and trembling, apply those principles.
Tradition: There is a second tool that Wesley said we ought to use and it is tradition. Tradition is not a book we go to read. Tradition is simply acknowledging the fact we are not the first to think about these issues. The church has wrestled with many of them for years and we want to give credence to what the church has taught about these issues. One of the most fascinating documents within the United Methodist Church, and I urge you to pick up a copy. It’s fascinating reading; it’s called The Social Principles. It’s got our official position on dozens of different social issues. Now, I don’t think there is any United Methodist that agrees with every line of this document. But we ought to give it attention because hundreds of thinking, loving Christians have wrestled with these issues to seek to know the mind of God.
Experience: The third thing Wesley said we ought to use is experience. This is more than just our day-to-day experiences, for our human emotions can often deceive us. Rather, this is the experience of the Holy Spirit living within us and leading us to truth as we wrestle with difficult issues.
Reason: The last tool is reason. Wesley was an avid scholar and reader. In our church’s tradition, we believe that God gave us a mind and expects us to use it. But as we do so, please note that experience and tradition are listed at the bottom of the list, not at the top. Human reason can so easily be led astray. Think back on your childhood and how easily you could rationalize your wrong behavior! The church has often gone astray by giving too much credence to our own human intellect.
The thing I would challenge you to do during this series is to approach these issues with a deep desire, not to know what Rev. Mike or Rev. Dan thinks on these issues, but rather to use our reflections to cause you to examine them in the light of Scripture and the Biblical principles contained therein. To be willing to put aside your own personal opinions for awhile, to re-examine these controversial subjects, and then to ask the question, “What is God’s heart on these issues?”
And as we close today, could I challenge you to do two things? 1) to pray for Rev. Dan and me as we speak to these issues; and 2) to bring to our conclusions on these issues (and at times they will differ) a spirit of love and grace. For you know, we could get an A+ in terms of correct beliefs on these subjects, but at the heart of Biblical teaching is the fact that if we don’t show love for one another, the correctness of our beliefs doesn’t matter a hill of beans!
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