Sermon No. 5

Isn'tism

Roy Blount, Jr., author of "Crackers," spoke of the Law of Negative Credibility. He saw it in the presidential election of 1976. He credits Jimmy Carter's success to that law:

"Jimmy ran on all the things he wasn't. He wasn't a racist, an elitist, a sexist, a Washingtonian, a dimwit, a liar, a lawyer, a warmonger, a peacenik, a big spender, a Republican, an authoritarian, an ideologue, a paranoid or a crook. He had found one last creditable ism, isn'tism."

Isn'tism as a campaign policy is apparently based on the fact that many of us vote more often against a candidate we don't like than for one we do! Some of us did that in the last election - if indeed it turns out to have been an election!

Isn'tism has been in religion as long as in politics. "God, I thank you I am not like others; not an extortioner, not unjust, not an adulterer, not like that tax collector sitting over there." The Pharisee was praising God for his negative "virtues"!

Negative religion? Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? God, I thank you I am not a Catholic, or not a Protestant, or not a liberal, or not a fundamentalist, or not a Mormon, or not a Jehovah's Witness, or not a Unitarian, especially not an atheist!

God, I thank you I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't dance, I don't play cards, I don't go to movies; I don't even associate with those bad folks who do!

When I was a kid we used to sing a ditty: "I don't smoke and I don't chew, and I don't go with girls who do."

There are hundreds of things we may not be, or may not do, things we are better off for not being or doing. But what are we?

The first year I pastored the East Side Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Paul, I played volley ball at the YMCA. Another minister on our team was pastor of a down-town fundamentalist church which had a theater type marque. He advertised sensational titles like, "Mormon Moronism," "Jehovah's False Witnesses," "Christian Unscientists" and then "Seventh-day Adventists - Wise as Serpents and Harmful as Scorpions."

Whoa! As a Seventh-day Adventist I knew what Seventh-day Adventists believe, so I attended that service. The speaker was a former Seventh-day Adventist missionary who had become disillusioned with what he had believed and who then turned against the very things he had fanatically promoted.

I didn't question his sincerity, but his critical attitude had obviously warped his memory, because what he portrayed was not legitimate Seventh-day Adventism! That I knew for sure.

I decided that night I would never again preach against any denomination or any church, but would preach "Christ and him crucified."

It is amazing how many Christians feel a responsibility to brand those who disagree with them as unchristian. Last week I heard a radio preacher categorically label the Mormon church and Unity both as unchristian sects.

You remember I was once fired as a disc jockey on a local religious radio station because I referred to Mormons as Christians. I know enough about Unity to label them also as Christians. Since I am a member of neither, I obviously don't agree with either!

Negativism seldom produces positive results. There are, to be sure, times and causes which demand our opposition. Two centuries ago, "taxation without representation" needed to be opposed, and that opposition produced the United States of America. God bless America! Slavery needed to be opposed. The Catholic inquisition and the Islamic conquests and the Protestant witch hunts and the Christian Crusades and the Holocaust all needed (and still need) to be denounced.

Jesus protested the way lepers were treated, the poor were treated, sinners were treated, women were treated, the Temple was desecrated.

The Jewish people had long lists of isn'ts, thou-shalt-nots. Jesus did not repudiate the principles; in fact, he fortified them. Thou shalt not murder; Jesus said, Love your enemy. Thou shalt not steal; Jesus said, Do twice what you are required to do. Thou shalt not covet; Jesus said, Give to the one who asks. Do what is right - and then some!

The real emphasis of Jesus was in positive ministry. Jesus spoke courage to tax collectors, forgiveness to prostitutes, healing to lepers, hope to the poor, restoration to prisoners, grace to the struggling, reassurance to the sick, peace to captives.

Rather than encourage people to "Stand up for your rights," Jesus said, "Do twice what you are required to do." Rather than, "Don't get mad; get even," Jesus said, "Return good for evil." Rather than "An eye for an eye," Jesus said, "Turn the other cheek."

He did issue negative warnings, of course - "Don't lay up treasure on earth." "Don't be angry with your brother." But the positive injunctions were his priority. "Lay up treasure in heaven." "Pray for your enemy." Jesus spent more time ministering to the needy than castigating the self-righteous.

The serendipity is that when you follow the positive instructions of Jesus, most of your negative attitudes will melt away.

Dear saints, I highly recommend a positive attitude in life. Positive attitudes nearly always produce surprisingly positive results!

Many people criticize our public school system. We all know it needs improvement. Instead of negative talk, the critics might better get involved in improvement programs - like tutoring, participating one way or another.

The critics often make outlandish statements, meant to arouse emotions. Listen to the religious radio stations and you will hear that "public school teachers can not tell students it is wrong to steal, cheat or lie." I actually heard a university professor say that last week on a religious radio program! Saints, it just ain't so! I challenge anyone to name any school where that is prohibited. I do not believe there is any such school system.

I was active in both Michigan Education Association and National Education Association for years. And my doctoral program at Peabody College (part of Vanderbilt University) was in educational administration. Never, never have I heard any such a proposal, nor anything remotely like that.

When William Bennett was Secretary of Education, he spoke to the Economic Club of Detroit. I was there. He said, "Teach the religious principles of honesty and truth . . . Just don't baptize them!"

At a Soundings session, several of you expressed concern about some of our denominational priorities. It was a good session, and I believe the concerns are well taken.

You heard one member say that if she had visited our national headquarters before, rather than after the Soundings session, she would have felt much different. When she saw first hand the priorities of our national staff, she was less critical of our leadership.

I hope many of you will take a cue from that and participate in more denominational programs. It will afford a good opportunity for you to know more accurately what is being done, and it will provide opportunity for you to support what you approve and "sound off" on what you disapprove. We are, after all, democratically structured.

"There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it ill behooves any of us not to talk about the rest of us."

Criticism is by nature, negative. We should not condemn all criticism. The matter at issue is a matter of priorities. We only make progress by constructively criticizing the present status. E. Stanley Jones, the great Methodist missionary to India, said his critics were "the unpaid guardians of my soul."

Famous preacher Charles Spurgeon got a series of anonymous letters. Week after week they dissected his sermons without mercy. Later in life he said he would like to know whom to thank, because that person helped him improve his preaching more than anyone else.

Another time the great London preacher received a letter with only one word: "Fool!" The next week he took the letter with him into the pulpit, and said, "I have got many letters where people forgot to sign their names. This week I got one in which the writer signed his name but forgot to write the letter!"

Rabbi Robert Alper tells of a synagogue with this message on the answering machine: "Welcome to Temple Beth Shalom. If you are calling about membership information, press one. For schedule of services, press two. To complain to the rabbi, press three. To complain about the rabbi, press four, five or six."

Maybe you need to criticize more. I have a certificate which I present to anyone who gives me a written criticism. I am very serious about that. I don't promise to satisfy everyone, of course. One of you said you wish we would use the Apostles' Creed every week; another one doesn't like it used at all!

No one enjoys criticism, but no one becomes better without it.

Winston Churchill attended a ceremony. Two men sat behind him. He overheard this bit of their conversation: "That's Winston Churchill! They say he is getting senile and should step aside and let someone younger and more capable run this country." When the ceremony was over, Churchill stopped on the way out and asked them, "Did they also say he's deaf?"

Jonas Salk was often attacked by the medical community. He said criticism comes in 3 stages: first, critics say it won't work; second, critics say that what you're doing isn't really very important; third, they knew all along it would work!

Salk believed the best defense is the quality of your work. Those who recognize it will appreciate it, and those who don't recognize it will criticize you anyway.

A very important factor in any criticism is the attitude of the critic toward the one criticized. For example, we were all very angry with the young hoodlums who killed an expectant mother at an automatic teller.

How about the 76-year old man who stabbed his wife? You heard how shocked all the neighbors were. "He was such a nice man. He must have just snapped!"

Both cases were murder. Yet one man just "snapped" . . . while the others were thugs! And I am not sure but what that is correct. There are various mind-sets which produce similar results.

That's an extreme example, of course. Let's consider a more common situation: How do you feel when you get stopped for speeding, and get a ticket? Then, how do you feel when some young punk passes you on the expressway, going much faster than he should, and how do you feel when you see him pulled over down the road a piece?

How about child behavior? Are you less critical of your own children or grandchildren when they misbehave than you are of other children? All children misbehave! Somehow, parents don't seem to notice the noise their own children make!

We recently celebrated World Communion Day, a day most Christians celebrate the Lord's Supper. It is a day to celebrate our togetherness rather than our differences. It is a day to remember what we have in common with other Christians.

For several years I have been privileged to serve on the boards of Michigan Ecumenical Forum and the Christian Council of Metropolitan Detroit. It gives me the opportunity to worship and pray and fellowship with many who believe differently than I believe. Praise the Lord for our common faith in Jesus Christ.

I have also been privileged these past few years to be part of the Interfaith Roundtable - Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'i, Sikh. There is no faith journey other than the Christian Way which satisfies my spiritual needs. But I know many adherents of each those other faiths who are just as sure of what they believe.

The night before he was crucified, Jesus taught his disciples the most important lesson they ever learned - that unity and fellowship and love among his followers is not only good, it is the greatest single evidence of his divinity. "As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
(John 13:34, 35)

A little later, on the way to Gethsemane, Jesus stopped and prayed the most passionate prayer recorded. We read it in John 17, and the burden of that prayer is for unity among believers. He said, "My prayer is . . . that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:20 - 23)

Did you get that? "so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Maybe we need to de-emphasize the prophecy charts and the theological rationale, and dwell together in love and fellowship. Jesus said that is the strongest proof of all!

We are Christians. To us, for us, it is the only way to life eternal. There is "no other name" by which you and I can be saved, find eternal life. (Acts 4:12) Does that mean that faithful Jews will be lost because they do not know the name of Jesus? Does that mean Muslims will be eternally lost unless they espouse the name of Jesus?

Jesus said, "Other sheep I have, not of this fold." (John 10:16) Does that mean Jesus considers Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists as "other" sheep? Or is he saying only other Christians? Like other Protestants? Or other evangelicals?

You and I have many "isn'ts"! We isn't Catholics. We isn't Mormons. We isn't Jehovah's Witnesses. We isn't charismatics. We isn't orthodox. We isn't Jews. We isn't Muslims.

I pray we isn't self-righteous. I pray we isn't bigots. I pray we isn't exclusionists. I pray we isn't triumphalists.

So what are we? We are God's children, that's what we are. He loves us. We love him. Those pentecostals next door are also his children. As are the orthodox worshippers next to them. And the Catholics next to them. And the Muslims up the street.

When this matter came up in our Bible study and hymn sing last week at Henry Ford Village, one of the ladies said, "But the Bible teaches that we are saved only thru Christ." That it does. "There is no other name by which we can be saved." (Acts 4:12)

There is no way you and I can find salvation, eternal life, self-fulfillment apart from accepting Jesus Christ, his way, his principles, his Kingdom. But does that mean the devout Jew cannot be saved - the Jew who does not know Jesus as you and I know him? Or the devout Buddhist? Or the faithful Hindu?

How about the atheist who does more to make this a better world than many Christians I know? I can introduce you to just such an atheist. I know a Jewish rabbi who is a homosexual and an atheist. He is probably the most brilliant person I ever met. He has spent his life helping people understand and follow the principles of righteousness.

There is no way I can be faithful other than as a pacifist, a Sabbath observer, a social activist, a vegetarian, an outspoken iconoclast. At the same time, I am careful not to condemn those of you who differ. I may criticize you, but I will not condemn you. After all, you have every right to be wrong!!! I isn't you and you isn't me!

Please let us not be triumphalistic, self-righteous, bigoted. Let us do our best to reflect the character and teachings of Jesus. There is no other way for us to be "saved," no matter how you define that word!

I am so thankful this Thanksgiving season that "I am not like others; not an extortioner like that tax collector sitting over there."

As we begin our worship every week lighting a candle "with a prayer for peace on earth," and then as we close our worship every week, joining hands and singing, "Let there be peace on earth," we must open our hearts to all God's children and close our minds to all prejudice, to the temptation to think we are better than others.

Let us pray . . .



		Isn'tism
		Roy Blount, Jr., author of "Crackers," spoke of the Law of Negative Credibility. He saw it in the presidential election of 1976. He credits Jimmy Carter's success to that law: "Jimmy ran on all the things he wasn't. He wasn't a racist, an elitist, a sexist, a Washingtonian, a dimwit, a liar, a lawyer, a warmonger, a peacenik, a big spender, a Republican, an authoritarian, an ideologue, a paranoid or a crook. He had found one last creditable ism, isn'tism." Isn'tism as a campaign policy is apparently based on the fact that many of us vote more often against a candidate we don't like than for one we do! Some of us did that in the last election - if indeed it turns out to have been an election! Isn'tism has been in religion as long as in politics. "God, I thank you I am not like others; not an extortioner, not unjust, not an adulterer, not like that tax collector sitting over there." The Pharisee was praising God for his negative "virtues"! Negative religion? Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? God, I thank you I am not a Catholic, or not a Protestant, or not a liberal, or not a fundamentalist, or not a Mormon, or not a Jehovah's Witness, or not a Unitarian, especially not an atheist! God, I thank you I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't dance, I don't play cards, I don't go to movies; I don't even associate with those bad folks who do! When I was a kid we used to sing a ditty: "I don't smoke and I don't chew, and I don't go with girls who do." There are hundreds of things we may not be, or may not do, things we are better off for not being or doing. But what are we? The first year I pastored the East Side Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Paul, I played volley ball at the YMCA. Another minister on our team was pastor of a down-town fundamentalist church which had a theater type marque. He advertised sensational titles like, "Mormon Moronism," "Jehovah's False Witnesses," "Christian Unscientists" and then "Seventh-day Adventists - Wise as Serpents and Harmful as Scorpions." Whoa! As a Seventh-day Adventist I knew what Seventh-day Adventists believe, so I attended that service. The speaker was a former Seventh-day Adventist missionary who had become disillusioned with what he had believed and who then turned against the very things he had fanatically promoted. I didn't question his sincerity, but his critical attitude had obviously warped his memory, because what he portrayed was not legitimate Seventh-day Adventism! That I knew for sure. I decided that night I would never again preach against any denomination or any church, but would preach "Christ and him crucified." It is amazing how many Christians feel a responsibility to brand those who disagree with them as unchristian. Last week I heard a radio preacher categorically label the Mormon church and Unity both as unchristian sects. You remember I was once fired as a disc jockey on a local religious radio station because I referred to Mormons as Christians. I know enough about Unity to label them also as Christians. Since I am a member of neither, I obviously don't agree with either! Negativism seldom produces positive results. There are, to be sure, times and causes which demand our opposition. Two centuries ago, "taxation without representation" needed to be opposed, and that opposition produced the United States of America. God bless America! Slavery needed to be opposed. The Catholic inquisition and the Islamic conquests and the Protestant witch hunts and the Christian Crusades and the Holocaust all needed (and still need) to be denounced. Jesus protested the way lepers were treated, the poor were treated, sinners were treated, women were treated, the Temple was desecrated. The Jewish people had long lists of isn'ts, thou-shalt-nots. Jesus did not repudiate the principles; in fact, he fortified them. Thou shalt not murder; Jesus said, Love your enemy. Thou shalt not steal; Jesus said, Do twice what you are required to do. Thou shalt not covet; Jesus said, Give to the one who asks. Do what is right - and then some! The real emphasis of Jesus was in positive ministry. Jesus spoke courage to tax collectors, forgiveness to prostitutes, healing to lepers, hope to the poor, restoration to prisoners, grace to the struggling, reassurance to the sick, peace to captives. Rather than encourage people to "Stand up for your rights," Jesus said, "Do twice what you are required to do." Rather than, "Don't get mad; get even," Jesus said, "Return good for evil." Rather than "An eye for an eye," Jesus said, "Turn the other cheek." He did issue negative warnings, of course - "Don't lay up treasure on earth." "Don't be angry with your brother." But the positive injunctions were his priority. "Lay up treasure in heaven." "Pray for your enemy." Jesus spent more time ministering to the needy than castigating the self-righteous. The serendipity is that when you follow the positive instructions of Jesus, most of your negative attitudes will melt away. Dear saints, I highly recommend a positive attitude in life. Positive attitudes nearly always produce surprisingly positive results! Many people criticize our public school system. We all know it needs improvement. Instead of negative talk, the critics might better get involved in improvement programs - like tutoring, participating one way or another. The critics often make outlandish statements, meant to arouse emotions. Listen to the religious radio stations and you will hear that "public school teachers can not tell students it is wrong to steal, cheat or lie." I actually heard a university professor say that last week on a religious radio program! Saints, it just ain't so! I challenge anyone to name any school where that is prohibited. I do not believe there is any such school system. I was active in both Michigan Education Association and National Education Association for years. And my doctoral program at Peabody College (part of Vanderbilt University) was in educational administration. Never, never have I heard any such a proposal, nor anything remotely like that. When William Bennett was Secretary of Education, he spoke to the Economic Club of Detroit. I was there. He said, "Teach the religious principles of honesty and truth . . . Just don't baptize them!" At a Soundings session, several of you expressed concern about some of our denominational priorities. It was a good session, and I believe the concerns are well taken. You heard one member say that if she had visited our national headquarters before, rather than after the Soundings session, she would have felt much different. When she saw first hand the priorities of our national staff, she was less critical of our leadership. I hope many of you will take a cue from that and participate in more denominational programs. It will afford a good opportunity for you to know more accurately what is being done, and it will provide opportunity for you to support what you approve and "sound off" on what you disapprove. We are, after all, democratically structured. "There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it ill behooves any of us not to talk about the rest of us." Criticism is by nature, negative. We should not condemn all criticism. The matter at issue is a matter of priorities. We only make progress by constructively criticizing the present status. E. Stanley Jones, the great Methodist missionary to India, said his critics were "the unpaid guardians of my soul." Famous preacher Charles Spurgeon got a series of anonymous letters. Week after week they dissected his sermons without mercy. Later in life he said he would like to know whom to thank, because that person helped him improve his preaching more than anyone else. Another time the great London preacher received a letter with only one word: "Fool!" The next week he took the letter with him into the pulpit, and said, "I have got many letters where people forgot to sign their names. This week I got one in which the writer signed his name but forgot to write the letter!" Rabbi Robert Alper tells of a synagogue with this message on the answering machine: "Welcome to Temple Beth Shalom. If you are calling about membership information, press one. For schedule of services, press two. To complain to the rabbi, press three. To complain about the rabbi, press four, five or six." Maybe you need to criticize more. I have a certificate which I present to anyone who gives me a written criticism. I am very serious about that. I don't promise to satisfy everyone, of course. One of you said you wish we would use the Apostles' Creed every week; another one doesn't like it used at all! No one enjoys criticism, but no one becomes better without it. Winston Churchill attended a ceremony. Two men sat behind him. He overheard this bit of their conversation: "That's Winston Churchill! They say he is getting senile and should step aside and let someone younger and more capable run this country." When the ceremony was over, Churchill stopped on the way out and asked them, "Did they also say he's deaf?" Jonas Salk was often attacked by the medical community. He said criticism comes in 3 stages: first, critics say it won't work; second, critics say that what you're doing isn't really very important; third, they knew all along it would work! Salk believed the best defense is the quality of your work. Those who recognize it will appreciate it, and those who don't recognize it will criticize you anyway. A very important factor in any criticism is the attitude of the critic toward the one criticized. For example, we were all very angry with the young hoodlums who killed an expectant mother at an automatic teller. How about the 76-year old man who stabbed his wife? You heard how shocked all the neighbors were. "He was such a nice man. He must have just snapped!" Both cases were murder. Yet one man just "snapped" . . . while the others were thugs! And I am not sure but what that is correct. There are various mind-sets which produce similar results. That's an extreme example, of course. Let's consider a more common situation: How do you feel when you get stopped for speeding, and get a ticket? Then, how do you feel when some young punk passes you on the expressway, going much faster than he should, and how do you feel when you see him pulled over down the road a piece? How about child behavior? Are you less critical of your own children or grandchildren when they misbehave than you are of other children? All children misbehave! Somehow, parents don't seem to notice the noise their own children make! We recently celebrated World Communion Day, a day most Christians celebrate the Lord's Supper. It is a day to celebrate our togetherness rather than our differences. It is a day to remember what we have in common with other Christians. For several years I have been privileged to serve on the boards of Michigan Ecumenical Forum and the Christian Council of Metropolitan Detroit. It gives me the opportunity to worship and pray and fellowship with many who believe differently than I believe. Praise the Lord for our common faith in Jesus Christ. I have also been privileged these past few years to be part of the Interfaith Roundtable - Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'i, Sikh. There is no faith journey other than the Christian Way which satisfies my spiritual needs. But I know many adherents of each those other faiths who are just as sure of what they believe. The night before he was crucified, Jesus taught his disciples the most important lesson they ever learned - that unity and fellowship and love among his followers is not only good, it is the greatest single evidence of his divinity. "As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34, 35) A little later, on the way to Gethsemane, Jesus stopped and prayed the most passionate prayer recorded. We read it in John 17, and the burden of that prayer is for unity among believers. He said, "My prayer is . . . that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:20 - 23) Did you get that? "so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Maybe we need to de-emphasize the prophecy charts and the theological rationale, and dwell together in love and fellowship. Jesus said that is the strongest proof of all! We are Christians. To us, for us, it is the only way to life eternal. There is "no other name" by which you and I can be saved, find eternal life. (Acts 4:12) Does that mean that faithful Jews will be lost because they do not know the name of Jesus? Does that mean Muslims will be eternally lost unless they espouse the name of Jesus? Jesus said, "Other sheep I have, not of this fold." (John 10:16) Does that mean Jesus considers Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists as "other" sheep? Or is he saying only other Christians? Like other Protestants? Or other evangelicals? You and I have many "isn'ts"! We isn't Catholics. We isn't Mormons. We isn't Jehovah's Witnesses. We isn't charismatics. We isn't orthodox. We isn't Jews. We isn't Muslims. I pray we isn't self-righteous. I pray we isn't bigots. I pray we isn't exclusionists. I pray we isn't triumphalists. So what are we? We are God's children, that's what we are. He loves us. We love him. Those pentecostals next door are also his children. As are the orthodox worshippers next to them. And the Catholics next to them. And the Muslims up the street. When this matter came up in our Bible study and hymn sing last week at Henry Ford Village, one of the ladies said, "But the Bible teaches that we are saved only thru Christ." That it does. "There is no other name by which we can be saved." (Acts 4:12) There is no way you and I can find salvation, eternal life, self-fulfillment apart from accepting Jesus Christ, his way, his principles, his Kingdom. But does that mean the devout Jew cannot be saved - the Jew who does not know Jesus as you and I know him? Or the devout Buddhist? Or the faithful Hindu? How about the atheist who does more to make this a better world than many Christians I know? I can introduce you to just such an atheist. I know a Jewish rabbi who is a homosexual and an atheist. He is probably the most brilliant person I ever met. He has spent his life helping people understand and follow the principles of righteousness. There is no way I can be faithful other than as a pacifist, a Sabbath observer, a social activist, a vegetarian, an outspoken iconoclast. At the same time, I am careful not to condemn those of you who differ. I may criticize you, but I will not condemn you. After all, you have every right to be wrong!!! I isn't you and you isn't me! Please let us not be triumphalistic, self-righteous, bigoted. Let us do our best to reflect the character and teachings of Jesus. There is no other way for us to be "saved," no matter how you define that word! I am so thankful this Thanksgiving season that "I am not like others; not an extortioner like that tax collector sitting over there." As we begin our worship every week lighting a candle "with a prayer for peace on earth," and then as we close our worship every week, joining hands and singing, "Let there be peace on earth," we must open our hearts to all God's children and close our minds to all prejudice, to the temptation to think we are better than others. Let us pray . . .