How Are We To Respond To All The Different Cultures and Traditions and Religions?
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday we had this glimpse of the golden era of Solomon and now a couple of verses later we have the decline of the dynasty and the reality that one can be a wise fool. For the King who had it all, everything is about to spiral out of control as his eyes and heart became diverted from a focus on God. One might well conclude that having 700 wives and 300 concubines is not such a good thing. So, the message today relates to Solomon’s problems of continuing a dynasty and our own. How Are We To Respond To All The Different Cultures and Traditions and Religions?
Scripture: For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not completely follow the Lord, as his father David had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Then the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. I will not, however, tear away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
1 Kings 11:4-13 (NRSV)
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Mark 7:24-30 (NRSV)
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
Revelation 3:14-22 (NRSV)
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
Psalm 22:27 (NRSV)
Message: The United States has embraced the whole idea of cultural diversity, as a strength and it makes a lot of sense as it did for Solomon, but religious diversity did not work well for Solomon and I wonder ultimately how well all this will work out for our future. Undoubtedly you are familiar with story about frogs being put into hot water. It basically goes like this . . . if you put a frog in a boiling pot of water, the frog will jump out, but if you put a frog in a pot of lukewarm water, you can slowly turn the heat up on the frog and the frog will stay in the pot and you can boil that frog to death. The application of this for us is that we too can detect sudden changes in our environment but it is more difficult for us to detect small incremental changes so by the time we recognize the danger of the situation it can be too late. Such was the case with Solomon and so too it can be for the church, for the cultural subversion of the Biblical faith also takes the path of incremental changes. Now changes might be a needed, but whether reform is wise, is not so easy to discern. Some reform might be a disaster waiting to happen. The challenge is knowing in the difference. The thing is that God does not like a lukewarm faith in this regard. If we are going to sin we are to sin boldly. Our passage from Revelation makes that clear for being lukewarm on our faith is a slippery slope. Now with the story of the frog in our mind and a belief in the plan to get everyone back into a great relationship with God through Jesus, we look at two Bible stories that deal with the question of how to approach the diversity of cultures that religious people face. And the surprising thing is that in Gospel of Mark, the story seems to cast Jesus as a bigot. He appears to be calling this Syro-Phoenician woman a dog or at best a puppy. Her only offense appears to be asking Jesus to heal her daughter, who was possessed or more possibly obsessed by an evil spirit. Jesus’s response seems at least to be remarkably offensive. After all, on several occasions he preached to and healed audiences of mixed Jewish and Gentile heritage. One must scratch one’s head on this until we begin to see its connection with the story of Solomon and how both stories are relevant to our Christian experience today. You see, Jesus has commanded us to go to the whole world and preach the Gospel but to Jews first in the context of the plan. And this has been going on, with varying degrees of success, for almost two thousand years. But of those who hear the Gospel, perhaps the majority, either do not get it, or if they understand the pleas and commands of Christ, they refuse to accept it. The example of Paul is most instructive here for he was a Jew who preached to Gentiles. He was at first intolerant of Christians and Gentiles but changed his ways in a conversion that is perhaps what is needed on a mass scale so we might find our way back to God’s Way.
Pray we work the plan. Pray we meet people where they are. Pray we not get angry. Pray we live our own faith boldly in public and private. Pray we become wise but also accountable to God. Pray we realize that the world is filled with people who have heard the Gospel but do not understand the pleas and commands of Christ or simply refuse to accept the gift offered. Pray we not be tempted to jump in the pot with them. Pray we turn down the heat of persecution but never be lukewarm when it comes to our perseverance to promote the purpose of peace in Christ. Pray we help shine a light on a way out of the melting pot and not fall into the frying pan in the process.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 