Sermon No. 1

Stranger Danger

Who is a stranger?

A stranger is someone who is not until now an acquaintance, someone you just don't know. At least, not yet!

Several times I have suggested that you call to mind people you really care about, whom you did not know a year ago, or 5 years ago, or 10 years ago. Then extrapolate a little -- think how many more pleasing and meaningful relationships you can have just by making a determined effort to get to know more people!

Not only will you make more friends, but you will be demonstrating what Jesus prayed for (John 17) and you will be letting your light shine -- preaching the gospel, if you please!

So long as John Doe is a stranger, he is not particularly interested in you, nor in your life-style. But if you and John Doe become friends, then your life-style as a Christian will be noticed by John Doe, and he will be influenced. That is what we refer to as incarnational evangelism.

Remember, we are not held accountable for decisions people make, for or against Christ. But as Christians we are told to be lights in a dark world, salt in a bland world, thus sharing the good news, the Gospel.

Paul writes, "You are no longer foreigners . . . but members of God's household." (Ephesians 2:19) We are the family of God.

Paul faced the problem of racial prejudice. Racial prejudice is not a new phenomenon. The Romans despised the Jews. The Greeks looked down on non-Greeks. The Jews hated Gentiles, called them dogs.

Like strangers in a foreign land, Gentiles surely felt alienated. Pushed out of society by the Jews "but now in Christ Jesus" all that changed. All who accept Jesus are part of the family of God. He who "is our peace" has broken down the wall of separation.

In Christ there is no Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. As the Body of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ, we have been made one! In Paul's day, he was concerned with just two classes of people, Jews and Gentiles. Today we are Jews, Gentiles, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Catholics, Protestants of many kinds, Liberals, Conservatives, Pentecostals . . . and many more.

Unfortunately, we see those who are not like us as strangers and aliens. Often as enemies!

As members of the household of God, Jesus is our Lord, Master, King, Messiah. Yet Jesus said "I have called you friends," (Matthew 15:15) And "pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my . . . brothers.'" (Matthew 12:49)

Jesus is our brother! We are the family of God. Just think of the implication of that! To understand it better, project the idea to your own family, your children, your parents.

Family members are loyal even in the face of differences. Families don't always agree. Sometimes there are hard feelings between family members.

But we still remain family, and when one family member has or becomes a problem, the rest of the family rallies to the defense.

A minister had counseled many members in many circumstances. He decided to try an experiment. He set a date for many folks to come to his office. When they got there they were shocked to find so many others there also.

Shortly after the appointed hour, which was the same for all of them, the minister emerged from his office and announced that he had a very important meeting to attend. He said, "Would you please talk to one another about your situations and try to help each other?"

When he returned, they were all gone except one who had stayed to serve as a spokesman. He said they had had a fine sharing session and had all gone home feeling much better!

That, dear saints, is community, family, and that is Christianity. That kind of caring is exactly what Jesus prayed for, and Paul called for!

A woman joined a church and said, "Once you join this church, you never again have to bear a burden alone." What a beautiful testimony. We hope that can be said of us.

I hope we are so warm and accepting that anyone who comes once is never again a "stranger."

Some of us have some famous or infamous ancestors.

The family history of Jesus includes some interesting and strange personalities. Jesus' great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, (that's 29 "greats") -grandmother was Rahab, who was a foreigner (a Jerichoite) and a prostitute.

Rahab's daughter-in-law was Ruth, a Moabite. "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation." (Deuteronomy 23:3) Of course, Jesus was farther down the line than the 10th generation!

Jesus' great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, (only 25 "greats") -grandparents were King David and the woman with whom he had an affair. That was Bathsheba. When they discovered she was pregnant, David had her husband murdered so he could marry her.

Some family, eh? Good and bad, rich and poor, famous and infamous, Jew and Gentile.

The church is a new family, called by God, formed from formerly feuding and fractured humanity. From those who were divided, Jews and Gentiles, a new household has developed.

Are we really part of the family of God? What are the qualifications for family membership? Only Protestants? What about Catholics? How about Jews? Muslims? Atheists?

You have heard that pluralism and ecumenism are satanic devices to corrupt the Church of Jesus Christ. The basis for that concept is called triumphalism, dogmatism.

Perhaps we need to once more define our terms: "Ecumenism" refers to Christian unity. The "ecumenical movement" is dedicated to promoting interconfessional Christian unity, a united witness for Christ, cooperation on common interests. Ecumenists take seriously the call of Jesus to be in unity, while not at all compromising our separate traditions. That is significant -- vitally important.

"Pluralism" is the recognition of more than one (monism) avenue to truth. I understand it to mean that ultimate truth is not limited to any one religion.

"Triumphalism" is the belief that one religious belief is superior to all others. It generally refers to one who believes God accepts only his way of worship. We are God's "chosen" people.

"Dogmatism" is pretty much a synonym of triumphalism. There is but one system of truth, and it is the system in which I believe!

Billy Graham wrote, "I used to believe that pagans in far-off countries were lost -- were going to hell -- if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God -- through nature, for instance -- and plenty of opportunities, therefore, to say 'yes' to God."

Unfortunately, he later gave in to the pressure of fundamentalists and retracted that statement. But as it stands, I can imagine Jesus himself saying something like that, can't you?

We are quick to judge those who see things differently from us. In the 1930s, Albert Einstein spoke at the Sorbonne. He said, "If my theory of relativity is verified, the Germans will proclaim me a German and the French will proclaim me to be a citizen of the world.

"If my theory proves false, the French will emphasize that I am German and the Germans will say that I am a Jew."

The concept of Family is very much the ideal of ecumenism. We as Christians are all part of the same family, even tho we have different professions, different priorities, even different values.

Should we go further in our concept of family? Should we include Jews and Muslims as brothers and sisters in the Lord? How about Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'is?

In other words, do we want to disinherit any family members who fail to live up to the family name, in our opinion?

You and I can not be redeemed other than in Christ. We have been introduced to him. We have learned his will and his way. I see no way we can reject Christ and be saved.

I am a Seventh-day Adventist. I am often asked, "Do you think everyone must become a Seventh-day Adventist to be saved?"

I can not judge others, nor can I determine what you believe. However, because I am committed to the major doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist church, I must be one to be saved!"

And I enthusiastically support the major doctrines of the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, and their historic role in

As a confirmed ecumenist I support all these faith traditions. I also support the Quaker ideal of pacifism, peace and absolute nonviolence. For Quakers, the Bible is the Word of God, but God also speaks to us thru the "inner voice" and thru meditation. I wish we would all take our life and witness as seriously as do the Quakers!

There have been and are millions who never heard the good news of Jesus. There have been and are many who have a distorted percept of Jesus, who mentally, emotionally, conceptually, simply cannot accept Jesus. They have never "heard" the Gospel. They have not "seen" the light!

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4:17)

God does not hold anyone responsible for what he does not know.

Theologian J. B. Metz says the church's vocation is to meet others in their otherness. That is the exact antithesis of triumphalism.

Mahatma Gandhi never accepted Jesus as Savior, never called himself a Christian. He studied Christianity, but apparently never felt inclined to accept it. I am told he said he never met any Christians. Perhaps if he had seen some "lights of the world" and experienced some "salt of the earth" he would have become a Christian . . .

If Jesus were here in person, I have no doubt that he would have embraced Ghandi as a brother in faith.

When Gandhi was struggling to free India from the British, he had to contend with much animosity between Hindu and Islamic factions. He was questioned about his own tolerance for differences between people.

He said, "Our temple priest would read from both the Koran and the Bagvadita, moving from one text to the other easily, as though all wisdom were a seamless garment."

In 1872 there was a funeral procession in New Castle, Scotland. The man whose funeral it was, was Robert Stevenson, grandfather of famed writer Robert Louis Stevenson.

Among the marchers were a few peasants from the village where he was born. They carried a banner which read, "He was one of us."

Joyce Doane enrolled in the high school in Marine City. She had been born in Sombra, Canada, one mile across the St. Clair River. Because she was a "foreigner" from Canada, she was not accepted as part of the social circle of students. Walter Kruschwitz said to the class, "She's one of us the minute we say she's one of us and she says she's one of us."

Joyce said, "I'll be glad to be one of you." The class responded, "We all say Joyce is one of us." Wouldn't it be great if we would accept all others as "one of us"? No prejudice because of race or religion.

Jesus invites us to accept his way, to live his example, to share his love. Not just with each other, but with the world. He paid a high price for us. Surely he is not asking too much for us to share him with others.

A Bible School teacher taught from Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

"Who can tell me what a yoke is?"

One small boy said, "A yoke is something they put around the necks of animals."

"What is the yoke Jesus puts around our necks?" asked the teacher.

"It's Jesus putting his arms around us."

Listen to a letter:

Dear Dad,

I thank you for your patience, for your understanding and love, for your mercy and forgiveness. Thank you also for the wonderful celebration on my return.

But Father, it was not the best robe clinging about my starven frame; Father, it was not the ring; Nor yet the shoes, nor anything your kind, fleet-footed servant brought. Father, 'twas the thought that you, from your safe righteousness, could run to your unworthy son.

Father, not the dancing nor the singing, the feast, nor those who came showed me your secret, and in part your long sight and your anguished heart.

Your friends and neighbors reverencing your ways, might marvel at the thing. But I -- my father -- I, your son, a great way from you, saw you run!

Such is the ethos of family.

"I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God . . ."

Let us pray . . .



		Stranger Danger
		Who is a stranger? A stranger is someone who is not until now an acquaintance, someone you just don't know. At least, not yet! Several times I have suggested that you call to mind people you really care about, whom you did not know a year ago, or 5 years ago, or 10 years ago. Then extrapolate a little -- think how many more pleasing and meaningful relationships you can have just by making a determined effort to get to know more people! Not only will you make more friends, but you will be demonstrating what Jesus prayed for (John 17) and you will be letting your light shine -- preaching the gospel, if you please! So long as John Doe is a stranger, he is not particularly interested in you, nor in your life-style. But if you and John Doe become friends, then your life-style as a Christian will be noticed by John Doe, and he will be influenced. That is what we refer to as incarnational evangelism. Remember, we are not held accountable for decisions people make, for or against Christ. But as Christians we are told to be lights in a dark world, salt in a bland world, thus sharing the good news, the Gospel. Paul writes, "You are no longer foreigners . . . but members of God's household." (Ephesians 2:19) We are the family of God. Paul faced the problem of racial prejudice. Racial prejudice is not a new phenomenon. The Romans despised the Jews. The Greeks looked down on non-Greeks. The Jews hated Gentiles, called them dogs. Like strangers in a foreign land, Gentiles surely felt alienated. Pushed out of society by the Jews "but now in Christ Jesus" all that changed. All who accept Jesus are part of the family of God. He who "is our peace" has broken down the wall of separation. In Christ there is no Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. As the Body of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ, we have been made one! In Paul's day, he was concerned with just two classes of people, Jews and Gentiles. Today we are Jews, Gentiles, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Catholics, Protestants of many kinds, Liberals, Conservatives, Pentecostals . . . and many more. Unfortunately, we see those who are not like us as strangers and aliens. Often as enemies! As members of the household of God, Jesus is our Lord, Master, King, Messiah. Yet Jesus said "I have called you friends," (Matthew 15:15) And "pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my . . . brothers.'" (Matthew 12:49) Jesus is our brother! We are the family of God. Just think of the implication of that! To understand it better, project the idea to your own family, your children, your parents. Family members are loyal even in the face of differences. Families don't always agree. Sometimes there are hard feelings between family members. But we still remain family, and when one family member has or becomes a problem, the rest of the family rallies to the defense. A minister had counseled many members in many circumstances. He decided to try an experiment. He set a date for many folks to come to his office. When they got there they were shocked to find so many others there also. Shortly after the appointed hour, which was the same for all of them, the minister emerged from his office and announced that he had a very important meeting to attend. He said, "Would you please talk to one another about your situations and try to help each other?" When he returned, they were all gone except one who had stayed to serve as a spokesman. He said they had had a fine sharing session and had all gone home feeling much better! That, dear saints, is community, family, and that is Christianity. That kind of caring is exactly what Jesus prayed for, and Paul called for! A woman joined a church and said, "Once you join this church, you never again have to bear a burden alone." What a beautiful testimony. We hope that can be said of us. I hope we are so warm and accepting that anyone who comes once is never again a "stranger." Some of us have some famous or infamous ancestors. The family history of Jesus includes some interesting and strange personalities. Jesus' great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, (that's 29 "greats") -grandmother was Rahab, who was a foreigner (a Jerichoite) and a prostitute. Rahab's daughter-in-law was Ruth, a Moabite. "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation." (Deuteronomy 23:3) Of course, Jesus was farther down the line than the 10th generation! Jesus' great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, (only 25 "greats") -grandparents were King David and the woman with whom he had an affair. That was Bathsheba. When they discovered she was pregnant, David had her husband murdered so he could marry her. Some family, eh? Good and bad, rich and poor, famous and infamous, Jew and Gentile. The church is a new family, called by God, formed from formerly feuding and fractured humanity. From those who were divided, Jews and Gentiles, a new household has developed. Are we really part of the family of God? What are the qualifications for family membership? Only Protestants? What about Catholics? How about Jews? Muslims? Atheists? You have heard that pluralism and ecumenism are satanic devices to corrupt the Church of Jesus Christ. The basis for that concept is called triumphalism, dogmatism. Perhaps we need to once more define our terms: "Ecumenism" refers to Christian unity. The "ecumenical movement" is dedicated to promoting interconfessional Christian unity, a united witness for Christ, cooperation on common interests. Ecumenists take seriously the call of Jesus to be in unity, while not at all compromising our separate traditions. That is significant -- vitally important. "Pluralism" is the recognition of more than one (monism) avenue to truth. I understand it to mean that ultimate truth is not limited to any one religion. "Triumphalism" is the belief that one religious belief is superior to all others. It generally refers to one who believes God accepts only his way of worship. We are God's "chosen" people. "Dogmatism" is pretty much a synonym of triumphalism. There is but one system of truth, and it is the system in which I believe! Billy Graham wrote, "I used to believe that pagans in far-off countries were lost -- were going to hell -- if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God -- through nature, for instance -- and plenty of opportunities, therefore, to say 'yes' to God." Unfortunately, he later gave in to the pressure of fundamentalists and retracted that statement. But as it stands, I can imagine Jesus himself saying something like that, can't you? We are quick to judge those who see things differently from us. In the 1930s, Albert Einstein spoke at the Sorbonne. He said, "If my theory of relativity is verified, the Germans will proclaim me a German and the French will proclaim me to be a citizen of the world. "If my theory proves false, the French will emphasize that I am German and the Germans will say that I am a Jew." The concept of Family is very much the ideal of ecumenism. We as Christians are all part of the same family, even tho we have different professions, different priorities, even different values. Should we go further in our concept of family? Should we include Jews and Muslims as brothers and sisters in the Lord? How about Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'is? In other words, do we want to disinherit any family members who fail to live up to the family name, in our opinion? You and I can not be redeemed other than in Christ. We have been introduced to him. We have learned his will and his way. I see no way we can reject Christ and be saved. I am a Seventh-day Adventist. I am often asked, "Do you think everyone must become a Seventh-day Adventist to be saved?" I can not judge others, nor can I determine what you believe. However, because I am committed to the major doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist church, I must be one to be saved!" And I enthusiastically support the major doctrines of the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, and their historic role in As a confirmed ecumenist I support all these faith traditions. I also support the Quaker ideal of pacifism, peace and absolute nonviolence. For Quakers, the Bible is the Word of God, but God also speaks to us thru the "inner voice" and thru meditation. I wish we would all take our life and witness as seriously as do the Quakers! There have been and are millions who never heard the good news of Jesus. There have been and are many who have a distorted percept of Jesus, who mentally, emotionally, conceptually, simply cannot accept Jesus. They have never "heard" the Gospel. They have not "seen" the light! "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4:17) God does not hold anyone responsible for what he does not know. Theologian J. B. Metz says the church's vocation is to meet others in their otherness. That is the exact antithesis of triumphalism. Mahatma Gandhi never accepted Jesus as Savior, never called himself a Christian. He studied Christianity, but apparently never felt inclined to accept it. I am told he said he never met any Christians. Perhaps if he had seen some "lights of the world" and experienced some "salt of the earth" he would have become a Christian . . . If Jesus were here in person, I have no doubt that he would have embraced Ghandi as a brother in faith. When Gandhi was struggling to free India from the British, he had to contend with much animosity between Hindu and Islamic factions. He was questioned about his own tolerance for differences between people. He said, "Our temple priest would read from both the Koran and the Bagvadita, moving from one text to the other easily, as though all wisdom were a seamless garment." In 1872 there was a funeral procession in New Castle, Scotland. The man whose funeral it was, was Robert Stevenson, grandfather of famed writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Among the marchers were a few peasants from the village where he was born. They carried a banner which read, "He was one of us." Joyce Doane enrolled in the high school in Marine City. She had been born in Sombra, Canada, one mile across the St. Clair River. Because she was a "foreigner" from Canada, she was not accepted as part of the social circle of students. Walter Kruschwitz said to the class, "She's one of us the minute we say she's one of us and she says she's one of us." Joyce said, "I'll be glad to be one of you." The class responded, "We all say Joyce is one of us." Wouldn't it be great if we would accept all others as "one of us"? No prejudice because of race or religion. Jesus invites us to accept his way, to live his example, to share his love. Not just with each other, but with the world. He paid a high price for us. Surely he is not asking too much for us to share him with others. A Bible School teacher taught from Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." "Who can tell me what a yoke is?" One small boy said, "A yoke is something they put around the necks of animals." "What is the yoke Jesus puts around our necks?" asked the teacher. "It's Jesus putting his arms around us." Listen to a letter: Dear Dad, I thank you for your patience, for your understanding and love, for your mercy and forgiveness. Thank you also for the wonderful celebration on my return. But Father, it was not the best robe clinging about my starven frame; Father, it was not the ring; Nor yet the shoes, nor anything your kind, fleet-footed servant brought. Father, 'twas the thought that you, from your safe righteousness, could run to your unworthy son. Father, not the dancing nor the singing, the feast, nor those who came showed me your secret, and in part your long sight and your anguished heart. Your friends and neighbors reverencing your ways, might marvel at the thing. But I -- my father -- I, your son, a great way from you, saw you run! Such is the ethos of family. "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God . . ." Let us pray . . .