Religious Intolerance in our Time.
Acts Chapter 5:17,41
The Apostles Persecuted
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 "Go, stand in the temple courts, he said, "and tell the people all about this new life.
21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin the full assembly of the elders of Israel and sent to the jail for the apostles.
22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported,
23 We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.
24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what this might lead to.
25 Then someone came and said, Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.
26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.
28 We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, he said. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this mans blood.
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.
35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.
40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
We live in a restless, violent, ever changing world that moves in unknown directions every day. We were witness to this sad reality this past week when those victims at Virginia Tech lost their lives.
The world is not a friendly place. We have yet to make it a friendly place, we are at odds with each other and nation is against nation as brother is against brother.
In tragedies such as this people look for blame. Well they found out who did the crime but they seek answers as to why he did the crime. What motivated this young man to go on a rampage and end the lives of so many?
To learn from our present we often go back to our past. For us as Christians that means we use the past events as recorded in the bible to give us the light we need to make our way in this dark world. Not everyone uses the bible as their source of illumination and we need to get back to it as a society and as a nation. For there is a price to pay when men decided they are best left with the responsibility of governing themselves?
Looking at todays scripture passage we see the religious leaders of Jesus day trying to decide how to put down a miracle of God. How to discredit and discourage the followers of Jesus Christ because the evidence suggested that the religious leaders were not the highest authority in the land when it came to spiritual things. God is the highest authority in the land but men even religious men do not want to accept it or acknowledge it and times have not changed. We can all be guilty of religious self righteousness.
This was not the first such tragedy at a school; we in Canada have had our share of this type of tragedy as well. In the United States they put a committee together to study the Columbine Tragedy. They were looking for blame, they were looking for answers, and they were looking for what may have caused this tragic event.
The national leaders didnt expect this latest tragedy at Virginia Tech. House Judiciary Committee on May 27, 1999 at the Rayburn House office building in Washington, D.C. Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton , Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committees subcommittee. What he said to the U.S. national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful
They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. The following is a portion of the transcript:
Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.
The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cains heart.
In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA because I dont believe that they are responsible for my daughters death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachels murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:
Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
Youve stripped away our heritage,
Youve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question Why?
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!
Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational
systems for most of our nations history.
Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbines tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA.
They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.
On April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA. I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
Friends I ask you today where is God in your life? Is he the authority of your life? Is he the central figure in your home, your marriage your relationship with your children, your friends? Do you find that not a day goes by that you do not talk about Jesus? If you answer Yes than we can have hope for the future for our young people, for our society.
We need to return to the zeal, the enthusiasm, the joy the conviction and assurance and immovable faith of the early church. The religious leaders of Jesus time beat the apostles. It wasnt enough that they could not defeat God they had to beat the messenger too!
Be not surprised at how hard it is for you to live the Christian life today. The world and I mean the ungodly world and the religious world and I mean the self-righteous pius look down their nose at you world of leaders want you to stop trusting Jesus.
These enemies of Christ want you to stop rejoicing, stop praying, stop meeting, stop trusting and believing in the power and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When we listen to their voices and we stop trusting God we get the kind of results that occurred at Virginia Tech. We must pray for our leaders, we must elect God fearing men and women and we must challenge the government when they challenge our right to express and live out our faith.
We must return to a time when the church was vocal and present in the day to day lives of believers and non-believers. We must find our voice again and turn our hearts back to God. We must be an example to our communities, our children and grand-children and we must never stop telling the story of the life changing power that is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Take the beating just as the apostles did, take the insults, the ridicule the rejection and the snide remarks. Realize that it is for envy and a hardness of heart that the world beats you for being a Christian.
We can change the world in the same way the early apostles changed their world. We just need to reach out to the angry confused hurting hearts of men and women with the love of Christ.
Let us begin today.
Let us pray.
