Sermon Tone Analysis

6-25-06

*Christianity*

Acts 4:12

Review:

            Today we finish our series on world religions.

This has been for me a long journey; not so much in time, but it has been a long journey through the burden of the world.

We are a religious, searching people here on planet earth.

* *

*•Buddhism* - 376 million  6% -no concept of God but a path of self help in hope of “spiritual enlightenment” toward reincarnation

*•Hinduism *900 million 14% -(1 of 6 in the world)  and its chains of karma toward reincarnation

*            Abrahamic religions*

*•Islam *1.3 billion       21% (1 in 5) Muslims follow Mohammed’s life and teaching in rejecting Jesus as Son of God and Savior.

*•Judaism*14 million .2%  - with whom we have common OT roots but who reject Jesus as the Messiah.

All of which is a heartbreaking burden about our world.

*•Christianity *2.1 billion         33%

            Gary Poole, a graduate of Indiana University and a staff person at WCC is going to speak for Christianity.

(Videos)* *God-Holy Writings-Life after life-Jesus-Mistakes *“Jesus is the only way…”*

This claim was probably the most difficult for people in the Greco-Roman world of Jesus’ day to accept.

It was shocking.

It was revolting.

It was difficult to accept.

It is the same in our day.

It is probably what you felt when we read it in Acts 4:12.

*“Salvation is found in no one else,*

*for there is no other name under heaven*

*given to men by which we must be saved.”*

It is important to recognize that this was just as repugnant in that culture as it is in ours.

The Roman empire was every bit as pluralistic as ours and as committed to religious relativism (that every religion was equally valid) as our culture is today.

In the Roman world everyone would have believed two things:

 

#.

There were many gods.

There were many religions.

Everybody had his or her own gods.

#.

Every god had limited sovereignty.

So, it meant that you had a God of Ephesus, and one over Sparta.

Regions and spheres (agriculture, love, war, etc.)  But, one thing was understood in that society and that was that no one’s god was supreme over all the rest.

So when Christianity said things like Acts 4:12, it was as implausible and dangerous as it is today.

Christianity was not born into a world that said, “Oh of course, Jesus is God’s provision for our salvation.”

It raises a question, “If they were as put back at the thought as our culture is, why did so many come to believe it?

What overcame their revulsion?”

Many became Christians, so many that it changed their whole society.

Four realizations that overcame their revulsion and caused them to embrace this shocking claim:

#. *They came to see this claim as implication not arrogation*.

People say, “It is okay to believe in Jesus as long as you don’t believe he is the only God.”  Let me try to believe.

Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am”.

“I am the beginningless God who created the universe.”

Is it okay to believe in that person?

Did the Buddha or Plato or Mohammed or Moses, Abraham, Confucius claim anything close to that.

No, of course not.

Can I believe in Jesus as we have him in the Bible?

(He is the only Jesus we have got.)

You can’t recreate him with only your desired qualities.

He is just love and no justice?! No.

      Why did the Jews, the only monotheists in the world, begin to worship Jesus as God.

When worshiping a human being was punishable by death under Mosaic law.

(Answer)They saw Him.

They didn’t create him as a superior way.

They saw him live and lay down His life and then rise from the dead.

They drew the implications.

#.

*They came to see that this claim (that Jesus was the only way) was no more exclusive nor absolute than the claim of religious relativism.

*

* *

Back in v. 7 the religious leaders were asking, “Do you have a license to practice this religion?”

The Roman empire did not give Christianity a license for over 300 years because it was committed to religious relativism.

You know why? (answer) It was an issue of power.

In religious relativism, there is no agreed upon standard in a culture by which you can judge what is right or wrong.

There was no vying for accountability with Imperial Rome.

Those in power determined what was right or wrong.

In actuality, relativism is a bid for power.

Ill.

Hinduism is a very tolerant religion.

Right?   “It is better to believe something than to believe nothing.”

So why are the militant Hindus killing Christians in Uttar Pradesh?

Why is it that Samuel Thomas, who has planted churches, built hospitals and schools and seen thousands convert to Christianity, has broken no laws and yet is harassed by dozens of lawsuits, threatened for his life, and thrown in jail on charges of disturbing the community.

It is an attempt to retain power through a bid for power by the Hindu leaders.

All truth claims are bids for power.

They say, “I am right.

You are wrong.

My bid should hold sway.”

To say that there is no truth is also a bid for power.

It is the biggest bid for power.

When you say no one has the truth, that is a truth claim.

Every single statement for spiritual reality is a bid for spiritual authority.

Ill.

All religions are equally true.

How can this be if at the heart of the various religions, there are contradictory claims.

Remember the Muslim Imam Fisel saying, “Jesus, peace be upon him.”

But at the core they cannot believe that any human being can be God.

That would be blasphemy.

At the core of Christianity, we say Jesus is God.

How can they both be true?

During the European Enlightenment Immanuel Kant said, “Religions are subjectively helpful, but not objectively true.”

If you accept Kant’s construction (All religions are subjectively true) you are saying that if you believe that Christianity is objectively true you are an “infidel”.

You don’t believe the Kantian construct.

On the surface it looks tolerant.

But in reality you have thrown every other construct out.

There is no way to avoiding claims to spiritual reality.

To say that Jesus is the only way to God is an exclusive claim.

To say that Jesus is not the only way to God is an exclusive claim.

So, it is a wash!

There is no difference in the claims.

They are bids for spiritual authority.

(Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Christian)

            Where does this leave us?

Is there no way to tell?  Oh yes, there is a way to tell.