Who Do You Follow? What Will You Do?

Psalm 146

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.

4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.

5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,

6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;

7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

*Definition:  In this sermon, I will use the term "world." By Wold, I am NOT using the Old Testament definition of God's good creation.  I Am using the New Testament definition of the sinful forces that take form in God's creation that act against the will of God.

When you read John 3:16 "For God so loved the WORLD that He gave his only begotten son..." That means that God EVEN loves the unlovable. That is why God sent Christ into the world! That ANYONE who comes to faith has a place in the Kingdom of God!

“Where is Your Trust? What will You Do?”

Much of what this sermon says is not easy to hear (or read), but it is a message that needs to be heard (or read).  It is a message about faithfulness...The faithfulness of God and our response to that faithfulness.

Some Christians cry that Christianity is being persecuted in the USA. They may have a point - I've never met a holiday that uses a "Holiday Tree" except for Christmas, in that case, why wouldn't we call it a Christmas tree.  This may not be the best example because it seems trivial in comparison to severe persecutions where people are chastised and even disowned for coming to the Christian faith.  That, however is not limited to America. That happens all over the world.  

    Compared to the sufferings of other areas of this world, the persecution of Christianity in America is little more than a flesh wound.

·    Few if any people in the US are killed for being Christian, and it is not done on a systematic basis.  In other nations, that is not the case.

o  In Saudi Arabia if you convert from Muslim to Christianity, you can be killed

§  I am NOT saying there are not Good and Peaceful Muslims in the world who recognize our common Abrahamic roots.  I AM saying that in Saudi Arabia that persecution is the case.

o  In Israel, Palestinian Christians are looked down upon.  The first Christians ever were the Palestinian Christians. In the Book of Acts, the first converts were inhabiting the land now called Israel and Palestine.

*  Not all Palestinians are Muslim and yet the land and lives of ALL Palestinians are always in danger by the Israeli Government.

§  That is not to say that all Jewish people or Israeli People are anti-Christian – just in that particular case, they lump Palestinians into 1 group for security risk case, and many well meaning and peaceful individuals get hurt in the process.

Instead, in the USA, we tend to focus on how our individual rights are violated and some people attribute it to a “War Against Christianity”

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     It may be that individual rights are violated, but Christianity was never about Individual Rights.

·      In God’s Eyes, we don’t have “rights.” According to God, we don't have the "right" to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Instead, we have abundant gifts that only God Gives.

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   Biblically, God’s promises are to communities of believers. In the Old Testament, God's promises are made to the community of Israel.  In the New Testament, the promises are made to all believers. Only in very specific cases does God make promises to individuals who carry out a special role, such as the prophets.

Americans are good at turning Christianity into a political party – Both Democrats and Republicans do this equally well – Not one party is innocent, nor is one party completely guilty.  The truth of the matter is that  God is NOT a Republican or a Democrat, and our Faith should always come before our Party affiliation.

As the Psalm says – Don’t put your trust in Mortals/Princes/Political Figures – When their breath departs (or when their term ends), so do their ideas – BUT, God’s plan will never die!  Look at all the presidents we've had - How many have kept all of their promises.  I can think of a whopping "0." But yet, people put their faith in politicians. And if actions speak for belief, one would think that many people have more faith in their earthly leaders than in God.

Faith in God is contrary to what the world tells us:

·      * God tells us to put self interest second to communal interest (What is best for God’s Reign vs. What is best for me?).  When we make decisions, we make decisions for the common good, not just what is individually good for "me."  We have to ask ourselves, "how does this choice advance or hinder God's plan?" 

·  *We may have to endure a hardship that we can bear so that others will benefit.  Feeding the homeless is not convenient.  We leave the comfort of our own homes, but yet we are answering a call from God. Ministering to prisoners can be scary, but some are called to that ministry.  Most prisoners will be released, and if we can get them to know Christ, when they become our literal neighbor, all of us benefit.

·   *We are charged to speak the truth in love to people who are unlovable. There are A LOT of unlovable people out there! We are to love everyone - even the unlovable.  That in itself is a task because we all know someone who is difficult if not impossible to love.  But as Christians, we are called to speak the truth IN LOVE to them.

·      Most of all, we are charged to get out of our church pews and DO SOMETHING. If we don’t, we are practical atheists - people who say we believe in God but do nothing about it - and a waste to God’s Kingdom.

o  To find what you are called to do, you MUST approach God in prayer and discernment. God will answer, but you must pray and be willing to listen.  God will lead you on paths you've never expected.  God may keep your call the same, or it may change. God works differently for different people.

Little of what I said is popular, but God is not popular. God is necessary.  But, how can we expect the world to know about God if we don’t tell them? We can’t approach 2013 problems with a 1950 attitude.  Things will not go back to the way they were…ever.

·      We can help others realize God’s necessity one person or one group at a time, but that only comes through engagement. So, do you go to church to be fed? Or are you going to be nourished so you can do something for God?

Beyond Religion by The Dalai Lama - A Review

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's Exiled Spiritual Leader, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and Buddhist Monk wrote Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World in an attempt to find an ethic by which all the people of the world can live.  He calls for a "secular ethic."  According to the Dalai Lama, a "secular" does not mean "without religion," but rather he defines "secular" as "any religion OR no religion." In other words, his attempt was to seek an ethic for all religions and for all people who profess no religion.

As I began reading this book, I was very skeptical.  Yes, there are certain standards which I do believe that all rational people can agree - murder is wrong, generosity is good, living in peace is better than living in war. The problem is that rational people don't live by these standards even though most probably believe them.

From the beginning, these were the ethics that the Dalai Lama presented.  In my mind, I had a vision that he wanted the whole world to gather around a camp fire, hold hands, and sing "Kum Ba Ya."  It brought me back to the time that I played in a pit orchestra for the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the cast sang "The Brotherhood of Man."  People of a younger generation may remember the Disney Channel's Movie High School Musical and the song "We're All in this Together."  Those essentially were the beginning points the Dalai Lama were trying to make.  All humans despite religion or non-religion live on one planet and have to live in peace or in war, and living in peace is the best option.

From there, he goes on to propose certain "non-religious" practices and beliefs that he believes everyone can accept to create an Ethic for the Whole World.  While he denies it from the very beginning, what he presents is essentially a "watered down" version of Buddhism.  While I am not a Buddhist, I could tell this is what he does because he says things like "In Tibet we call this _____," or "The Buddhist term for this is _____."

In one sense, he is promoting what is a Secular Ethic.  Buddhism is a Non-Theistic Religion.  Buddhism does not believe in a god.  Some may argue that Buddhism is more of a Philosophy and set of Practices of Enlightenment and Awareness, though that argument is beyond the scope of this review.

The Dalai Lama, through his Buddhist lens tackles issues such as Justice, Emotion, Responsibility, War, Generosity, and so forth.  While all the world's major religions take a stance on these issues, he attempts to address them through logic and reason, though his logic and reason is based in Buddhism.

At first, I thought this book would be a total failure, and that disappointed me because the Dalai Lama is an inspiration to the world when it comes to Compassion and Peace.  I do not think that an Ethic apart from religion was possible - though it is possible for a non-religious person to be ethical, though in that case, each non-religious person's ethic would be unique to that person.  Only through religions and philosophies can we have standardized and systematic Ethics, and even then, it is a tedious task subject to numerous variations (Take Christianity for example - While it may seem that there is one Ethic - "Love God and Love your Neighbor," we then get into issues such as war, abortion, politics, and so on - and Christians are in no way united as a whole).

Where the Dalai Lama did succeed is pointing out certain virtues and practices that all rational people can agree.  The problem is that we can agree, but we choose not to agree.  He gives us some methods to practice and come to unity, but my question is, Will people choose to use these methods and come to unity?

At the very moment I was going to say that this book was an epic failure, I was struck with the thought that my review was an epic failure.  What I didn't take into account was that the Dalai Lama tried.  He tried to take EVERYONE into account and give worth and value to ALL PEOPLE.  He shamed me.

As a Christian, when is the last time, I thought, that I saw a book by another Christian that tried to do the same?  Of course, every religion is going to have books mainly directed at their own practitioners.  But, if Christians truly believe that God is God and Christ is Savior, then isn't that for EVERYONE?  Fine, obviously everyone isn't Christian, obviously everyone doesn't share our beliefs, but our God, our Christ, and our Holy Spirit are available to EVERYONE.

All too often, Christian books are about how to keep everyone else out, or they're about how to get those who are like us in.  I've yet to find more than a handful (and I'm being generous saying "handful" though I can't think of any off the top of my head) that address how Christians relate to the rest of the world.  When I do see books saying how we relate to the rest of the world, they usually say that we're right, and they go to hell.  Is that Christian hope?  Is that the Christian message?  Did Jesus tell us to sit back and watch the world go to hell?  Did Jesus tell us to hurt sinners or those who disagree with us, whether it is emotionally or physically?

Christian Hope tells us that God reaches down to the son who was in the pig pit and calls him to come home despite how he shunned the Father.  The Christian Message is one of God sending his only Son to die a brutal death for the sins of the entire world.  Jesus told us to spread that message so that others will believe and live in hope and eternal life.  Jesus never hurt a sinner - he ate with them.  He didn't accept their sin, but he accepted them as a person uniquely and perfectly created by God worthy of the same salvation available to ALL PEOPLE.

Salvation is not an issue in Buddhism.  Peace and Enlightenment are.  The Dalai Lama presented concrete ways for everyone to receive those gifts.  Can Christians do the same?  Can Christians be people of peace and love to everyone rather than people of division?  Can we Christians sit at a table with Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Atheists, and so on and share a common and peaceful meal?  Can we Christians share this world in love and peace and let God do the job of salvation?  Can we Christians sow the seeds and let God be the one who reaps the harvest?  Can we take concrete Christian actions to ALL PEOPLE in love and peace to present an Ethic for the Whole World?