Triple AAA Church and Christian.
I want to speak to about being an Accepting Christian!
Prayer -
Bridges and walls are both necessary and both serve very different purposes. Walls divide. Bridges unite!
In 1964, our family lived on Staten Island, NY. It was an exciting time for that borough of New York City. The Verrazzano Narrows bridge was finished, and for the first time, those living on the Island felt like they were a part of the city. The multiple lanes on two wide decks of that world famous bridge turned a 30+ minute ferry ride into a two minute drive.
The new connection brought development (a good thing?) and Staten Island changed, almost overnight. At the same time, I saw the effect of walls. The people who moved into our neighborhood from Brooklyn thought they had moved onto country estates, despite having postage stamp sized lots. Standing on our back porch, one could see a crazy quilt of fences - stockade, picket, split rail - built around tiny backyards, fences that declared- "this is my space!"
Here’s my question to you this morning- are you a bridge-builder or a wall-builder?
Stated another way, I’ll ask- are you forming connections with others, or shutting them out?
I invite you to turn with me to a wonderful story from Jesus’ ministry. He relates a woman in the story with acceptance for her despite her religious difference, her racial difference, and her moral or I should say, immoral choices!
TEXT - John 4: 1- 26 Pew Bible page 1651
This story’s impact is lost without an understanding of the times in which Jesus lived. Here are several factors that bear on the story we will read. (Show map.)
Samaria was a region that was right in the center of Palestine, separating the Judean region and Jerusalem fom the Galilean in the north.
Jews so despised Samaritans that they went out of their way not to travel through that territory. We’ll learn a bit about why in a moment.
Men did not speak in public with women because to do so opened a person up to accusations of immorality. There were distinct boundaries between male and female.
The time of day when this woman was coming out to draw her water is a clue about how even her own community felt about her! Generally a person came to draw water in the cool of the early morning, but she came alone at midday. She came in heat of the day to avoid the stares and the comments that followed her wherever she went because of her promiscuous life.
So, let’s see what Jesus does. READ text
Jesus intentionally went Samaria. I wonder if any of the men who traveled with him objected? Did Peter say, "Jesus, where are we going? Don’t you know that we Jews don’t travel in this region of Samaria?" The Bible is silent about this, but since Jesus was teaching his followers all the time with both His words and actions, I believe his choice to go through Samaria was an intentional one, teaching experience for them and for us.
It was about walls and bridges! Let’s take a look.
He was tearing down a wall of prejudice!
As the result of complex issues in history the Samaritans were not ’pure’ Jews. 5 centuries earlier during the time of the Assyrian invasions, other people had been settled in the area and over time the Jews in the region of Samaria inter-married. So the Jews in Judah looked down on the Samaritans as racially inferior!
The woman at the well was astonished that Jesus would even ask her for a drink. [re-read v. 9]
He also tore down the wall of gender!
Men of Jesus’ time generally treated women with contempt, valuing them only for the work the did, for the children they bore, and as the object of desire. But Jesus speaks to her with respect. Other men this women knew spoke to her rudely, many probably were suggestive. She was an object to most. But to Jesus, she was a person. He asks for a drink, he does not demand one. He engages her in conversation, speaking with her, not down to her!
He tore down a wall of religion!
When she tried to engage him in a debate, he skillfully re-directed the conversation to one that was concerned with knowing God. In so many words, He says to her, "Let’s not argue about religion, let’s talk about your spiritual needs.
He tore down the barrier of SELF!
Take a look at v. 6 (read) Jesus was tired! He could so easily have ignored the woman as she came by the well, pretending to doze, not to notice her, but he didn’t. Or, once she gave him the drink he needed, he might have dismissed her with a wave of his hand. But he gave of his time, not hiding behind a wall of selfish concern!
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This story from Jesus’ life leaves some powerful lessons about building bridges for us to learn!
If it our desire to be an ACCEPTING church, to be ACCEPTING Christians, we must emulate Him.
The bridges we build to others must cross the divide between races!
I am thrilled that here at Washington Assembly there are persons - black, brown, and white- sitting side by side, but I’m not fooling myself into thinking we have conquered all racism yet. Our desire must be intentional as we come to value one another, as we create a community, not that reduces us to a bland mix, but that savors the special flavors and textures and cultures that each of us brings to the Body of Christ!
Standing at a rally in 1963, Martin Luther King said, "I have a dream...a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
I, too, share that dream of a church where we like God, our Father, look at a person’s heart, not his skin, to determine who he really is!
The bridges we build to others must cross the divide between sexes!
Women and men are equals in the sight of God! No, I am not buying into the feminist lie that men and women are the same. They aren’t! But I do think that way too many assumptions are made about men and women because we readily embrace sweeping stereo-types that perpetuate injustice and inequality.
Even Christian men (I am guilty of this!) make jokes at their wives expense or use their place as the servant leader of their home as a place of power used to meet their own needs! That is an offense to God Himself, who made our wives our partners, not our slaves!
Peter says to us who are husbands: "In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. If you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard." (1 Peter 3:7, NLT)
We must build bridges that affirm the value of both men and women, respecting the roles to which God has uniquely called each one. This includes recognizing that God does His work in this world through both men and women. The Bible says, "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:27-30, NIV) In case you don’t understand Paul’s reference to Abraham, let me explain. Abraham is the father of all those who live in faith. God called Abraham and gave him wonderful promises that he would greatly blessed and a great blessing. Paul says that we are adopted into Abraham’s family of faith - through Jesus Christ - and that regardless of our race, our social standing or our sex - we become heirs of those promises first given to Abraham!
The bridges we build to other must cross bridge religious chasms that divide us!
Some of you are starting to feel unsettled by this line of thought, aren’t you?
You may be thinking, "Doesn’t Jerry know we must be committed to the truth?"
Yes, I value truth, but would you agree that we are all too inclined to turn our preferences into a ’truth’? For a long time in my life, I thought that ’real’ Christians believed in one fixed way - the way I was taught. I just assumed that to be a ’real Christian’ a person had to come from the same holiness church I came from, had to sing the same songs, and had to worship in the same manner.
I honestly thought that the only way to come to know Jesus was to respond to an altar call, to kneel and pray ’the sinner’s prayer.’ I was really surprised when I learned that both those ideas only came into being less than one hundred years ago! I was surprised, yes really I was, when I found people from very different Christian traditions talking about Jesus with genuine love, who served Him as fervently as many of the people in ’my’ church did.
As I built bridges into their lives I was not in any way diminished. I became richer! I discovered the amazing beauty of ancient liturgies. I found myself anchored and steadied by the recitation of the Church’s creeds. Those were alien concepts to a boy raised in the fiery, emotional worship style of the Pentecostal church.
Please do not think that I think that Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and other world religions share equally in the Truth! But I do believe it is our obligation to build bridges to those who are adherents of other religions. Hang with me, Believers, and give me the chance to make this point.
Jesus told us that God’s demands of us are summed up in two commandments.
"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
The second is equally important: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31, NLT)
Sounds like a bridge-builder to me, how about you?
Was He downplaying the need for orthodoxy, for truth?
No! He prefaced those remarks with a quotation of the ’heart’ of the revelation of God’s Person. "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord." (Mark 12:29, NLT) What was Jesus saying? He was reminding all of us that not all gods worshiped by human beings are truly God. In our desire to build bridges to others we cannot affirm all ’truth’ as being true.
However, we don’t have to be so quick to confront others with our dogma and a challenge to choose, do we? As I read the Gospels the only people that I find Jesus throwing down a truth challenge to are those who should have known the truth- the religious teachers and leaders! To ordinary sinners, He showed love. He built a bridge into their lives and that bridge became the means for God’s grace to become evident. Once He touched them with love, He called them to Truth.
We need to understand clearly that acceptance is not the same as affirmation!
IF we are like Jesus, we will accept those who are a sinful mess, who lack understanding, who disagree with us. Once we have established a connection heart to heart, we will be able to reason together. Jesus accepted the woman at the well, even though He knew she was a moral mess and a worshiper of false gods! And He then led her to the Truth, which we know. (See John 4:39-41)
Finally, we will need to build a bridge over SELF!
Reaching out with acceptance will drag us out of places where we feel comfortable, into places where people who think and act differently live! Too many churches are orthodox in creed but full of comfortable people who are only interested in having people just like themselves in ’their’ church. A person left the church and told me - "I found a church where the people were more like me!" He had missed the point of church which is not be like a country club, at all!
All over America today congregations of similar, like-minded people exist comfortably. These churches don’t post a list of qualifications at the door but they might as well.
Does our bulletin say, "Everyone welcome!" but our actions say, "only if you’re like us."?
People who share similar backgrounds, educations, and cultures have a natural affinity! Jesus asks, "do you think deserve any credit for loving those who love you? Even sinners live that way!" It does not require a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to form an association of people who are very much alike. But the church is a supernatural thing - a place where diverse people are called together to form the Body of Christ and they love each other deeply. Rich and poor, educated and uneducated, white collar and blue collar - ministering to each other in the power of the Spirit is the plan of God. It was the model of the first century church.
It demands that we build a bridge over our own selfish inclinations to become friends and fellows only with those with whom we have an easy and natural bond.
Are you ready to attempt that?
As I close today, I want to ask you to turn to one more passage -
It is a call to us to build unity. Unity is a choice we make much like love. It doesn’t just ’happen.’ We choice to live in unity - being accepting, being patient, respecting each other, following those who lead with a willing and submissive spirit. Unity results when we set aside our selfish needs, our preferences, and our personal comfort.
Romans 14:19-20, 15:1-7 Pew Bible1766
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Let me make it personal!
- Are those in this church that you have decided you can live without for some reason or another?
- Are there those you have written off because you simply dislike them or their ways or even their personality?
- Are there certain kinds of people that you simply would not be-friend because you consider them beneath you or too good for you?
- Have you concluded that someone is beyond God’s reach and therefore outside of your concern?
God’s call is to a life marked by loving acceptance!
This accepting life will not happen because a purple dinosaur named Barney teaches our kids to sing a little song that says, "I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family!"
This accepting life will not come because we go through corporate diversity training that usually just teaches people how to be better hypocrites hiding their real values under a speech code.
The Bible says, "We love because He first loved us," when we were still sinners!
The Holy Spirit is the key. As we live obediently and intimately with Him, we will surely learn to love others, accepting them, as we radiate the love of Christ that we ourselves have experienced.
Amen.
Copyright 2005 Jerry D. Scott
