CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
August 29, 2010
25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373
www.blakehart.com/cypresswoodbulletin.htm
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR:
God’s will for our congregation Various friends, relatives and co-workers
The spread of the good news Our nation, military and leaders
September Birthdays:
Sherry Everett (5th), Don Henderson (6th), Coco Ingram (6th), Heather Mearns (8th), Wilma Davenport (10th), Pattye Bricker (15th), Rebel Figueroa (18th).
CONFRONTING EVIL - 7
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
We have briefly surveyed some of the ways in which some confront evil and in which others complain about what evil has been done. Context is very important in understanding such confrontations and there is not always an easy answer. What does scripture teach us? Well, again, there is no easy answer, though some do have one depending on who you read.
Certainly when we look at what Jesus both practiced and taught, we see a more non-violent approach. To love our enemies (Matthew 5:44-45), turn the other cheek (5:38-42), and to be peace makers (5:9) are goals that we all should work at both individually and congregationally. Yet when we look at Jesus, we see different reactions to situations. He overturned tables in the Temple, giving the impression that He was crazy. The religious leaders saw Him as a threat to the peace of Israel with Rome. In the end He was falsely accused and crucified. On the cross, He asks God to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing (1).
As we read through the New Testament, we see that making every effort at unity and peace was an important Christian work. We are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). Through the cross, Jesus broke down the hostility between Jew and Gentile (2:11-22). We are to return good for evil (Romans 12:19-21). You get the picture that both individuals - and that might be more of an American reading into scripture - and congregations are to work at being at peace and united. The letters to the Corinthians were written to bring unity to a divided church (2).
We haven’t done well in following Jesus (see John 17 prayer of unity). Rather than working at unity, attempting to understand that people see things from different perspectives, we rather be right in our own personal views and anyone who doesn’t agree with me is out. So we divide, yet do not consider the consequences of such actions. People leave a congregation and we blame them for their lack of faithfulness. We have confused uniformity with unity and have suffered for it.
Randy Harris, a professor at Abilene Christian University (ACU), chose a few students who were willing to commit themselves to live out the Sermon on the Mount while they attend ACU. This began in late 2009. They are memorizing the Sermon and attempting to put it into practice. That is a noble goal, a goal that we should have as Christians.
We must remember that the New Testament was written in a time when Rome ruled. Both Paul and Peter wrote telling us to pray for those in power (1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:13-17), and one of the Emperors was Nero, a terrible and almost insane ruler. They, and we, live under the authority of rulers who may or may not be Christian (Romans 13:1-7). Our responsibility is to live in peace and to obey, as long as it does not violate our consciences. That is a choice we make. Conscientious objectors have served our nation well as medical personal during war. At other times, they have been arrested and imprisoned (3). Our choices have consequences. The first British preacher I heard, Frank Worgan, spent a couple of years in prison during World War II because he opposed war. At the time I heard him at his home church, a number of American military personal and their families were members of that congregation.
Individually and congregationally, we can practice what Jesus taught. Individually, we have choices that we will make in relationship to our country. Some of us have and will choose to service in the military. Other will not. Neither should be condemned. Many of us vote, say the pledge of allegiance to the flag, and sing the national anthem, others do not (4). Neither should be condemned. Just as a side note, I think that a congregation that has an American flag just might be sending a wrong message, that America might be more important than God. One could also see it as God’s rule over America and we honor God because He has set aside America (see Acts 17:26). Still, an outsider probably would think the first rather than the second. We are not the first to mix the two, this having been done throughout our history (5).
A question that we can raise is, can a nation practice the Sermon on the Mount? The pacifist would state yes, they should. I do not think that is what we find in the New Testament. Applying the Sermon on the Mount nationally seems impractical, even if our leaders are Christian. R. J. Rummel has stated that democratic nations rarely, if ever, go to war with one another. They work out differences through different means. The same cannot be said of dictatorships. They go to war with their neighbors for any number of reasons, and are often seen as evil. That is where we have problems with confronting evil.
If we can look at the New Testament in at least two different ways, the Old Testament makes it even more difficult. God confronted evil in a number of ways. He flooded the earth (Genesis 6-7) because of the evil of Noah’s day, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and sent various armies against other nations. For instance, Assyria was sent to judge Israel, but because of their blood thirstiness, he sent Babylon against them. Jerusalem faced the Roman armies in 70 A.D. but the book of Revelation reveals that Rome would fall.
God has made it clear in several texts that He was responsible for judging His people, and by implication, others. Deuteronomy 32:19-27 states that God is judging but His concern was that observers would draw a different conclusion (vs. 27). Amos 3 states basically the same; God judges. God sent Israel into Canaan, the Promised Land, to conquer it. He ordered the complete destruction of a number of nations (6). This certainly brings confusion to our understanding.
Today, we do not have prophets to tell us what God is doing or has in mind. We can offer suggestions as to why things occur but we can also deceive ourselves in thinking that we are doing His will. President Lincoln famously said that it does not matter whose side God is on but rather that we are on God’s side. God confronts evil. He can do that because He is God. He has used nations to do that but we must be very careful about saying that God is using us to judge others. While we might be able to make a case for that, we might be trying to justify our actions rather than what God wants.
Scripture offers several interpretations in confronting evil and we must make the choice in how we should do that, if at all. I appreciate you staying with me through this. Next, I will offer a summation and conclusion to this study.
George B. Mearns
(1) We did not consider the warfare in the heavenly realms that Paul speaks of in Ephesians and Colossians and the conflict with the devil. Greg Boyd, a Baptist preacher and theologian addresses this in some of his works.
(2) See Bruce Winter, After Paul Left Corinth for the cultural influences that caused divisions in Corinth.
(3) When President Wilson entered World War I, a Christian college in Arkansas refused to participate in the war. They were shut down and the leaders arrested, along with a number of others who opposed the war.
(4) David Lipscomb, a preacher in churches of Christ during the Civil War, refused to choose sides. A Southern general sent an officer to listen to Lipscomb to see if he was a loyal southerner. The officer reported that he did not know whether Lipscomb was a loyal southerner but he definitely preached the gospel. Lee Camp, a professor at Lipscomb University stated publicly that he will not vote, say the pledge, nor sing the national anthem, nor would he wear an American flag nor preach in a church that had one. While I do not necessarily agree with all that, one has to admire his stand.
(5) See Bruce Feiler, America’s Prophet and Arlie Hoover on the sermons of preachers during the World Wars.
(6) Greg Boyd is writing a book in which he argues that it isn’t God who did this but that it was the perception of the leaders and prophets of Israel who saw it that way. I’ve read a little of his argument, coming from a pacifist and somewhat anti-government point of view, but I think he is going to run into difficulty with some texts like those above.