What Hath Washington to Do with Jerusalem? Part 5

This is Part 5 of 5. This sermon was preached at Mt. Gilead UMC in Georgetown, KY on Oct 25, 2020. Click here for Part 4 and here for Part 1.

I. Introduction

• As we finish, I want to be short, sweet, and to the point.
• I also want to be positive and remember the good things about democracy.
• And in so doing, we will finish by discussing unity and divisions.

II. Unity and Division in Corinth

• The Corinthians were a very divided church.
  • Church leaders (1-4), sexual immorality (5-6), lawsuits (5-6), Christian marriage (7), food offered to idols (8-10), worship (11), spiritual gifts (12-14), and the resurrection (15).
  • They can’t agree on anything.
• Factions and parties
  • “I am of Paul…Apollos…Cephas/Peter…Christ…”
  • Can’t you hear that in the church today?
    • “I am Baptist…Calvinist…Methodist…Non-Denominational…Charismatic…Catholic…”
  • Can’t you hear that in politics too?
    • “I am a Liberal, Democrat, Libertarian, Moderate, Republican, Conservative, Fundamentalist…”
  • Our world is divided today. Our church is divided today. People rally behind certain people, certain leaders and proclaim their allegiance to them. And anyone who says otherwise is against us. We live in a hostile world. The world is hostile to itself, and hostile to the church.
  • What was Paul’s approach? How did he deescalate the situation? What was his answer to such division and strife?
• Paul calls them to be unified in one mind and thought (v. 10)
  • United together in the Gospel.
    • Love – cross and resurrection
  • We can put aside our differences and cling to the core truths that we share.
  • That’s partly why I love the Apostle’s Creed so much.
    • It summarizes essential beliefs and doesn’t speak to non-essential matters.
    • Every denomination today has its own beliefs on the non-essentials; that’s what distinguishes us from other denominations. But in the long scheme of things, what matters is the core, central Christian beliefs.
    • Partly why we have so much division between churches today comes down to what Martin Luther in the 1500s deemed the core, central teaching of the New Testament. Luther overemphasized the book of Romans and its major theme of being justified by faith, at the expense of under-emphasizing other important books of the Bible and their message, like 1 Corinthians for example. Here Paul emphasizes church unity, something that Luther doesn’t emphasize at all, because in his time, he was standing up to the Catholic church. And thus, the Lutheran denomination was born, and from there all of these other denominations started to form. And so Protestants (non-Catholics) to this day focus upon what distinguishes themselves from others, instead of what unites them.
  • Moreover, Paul calls them all to eat some humble pie (1 Cor 9).
    • Rights and being wronged.
    • Lay down your rights and be wronged. That’s better than keeping your rights and hurting others.
    • 1 Cor 6:7-8 – “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.”
    • In short, he is saying to lay down our opinions about peripheral matters, and pull together in the essentials which are the cross and resurrection of Christ and the love of God and neighbor.

III. Unity and Division in Ephesus

• Paul dealt with divisions elsewhere in some of his other churches.
  • Ephesians was written to a broad region in Western Asia Minor (today’s Western Turkey). The issue of division there was between the Jews and the Gentiles; it was racial division.
  • And once again, Paul speaks into this and puts Christ right into the middle of it, suggesting that Jesus brings the two together.
  • Now there is peace between the two (2:14-18). In Christ, now all are one.
  • He again calls them to humility and love (Eph 4:1-2).
  • “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace…” (Eph 4:3-6).
• Unity, especially racial unity between Jew and Gentile, is to be kept in and through Christ.

IV. The Divided States of America?

• The terrible irony: united is divided.
• The Pledge of Allegiance: “Two nations, without God, easily divisible…”
• I think that we are supposed to be part of the solution. Perhaps the church, which is so divided in its viewpoints on theology and also quite divided on its political views, can learn this lesson from the first century churches. Maybe if we can pull together and work together, maybe, just maybe, it will rub off on the world around us too. Can we be peacemakers in a world of strife? With God’s help, yes, we can. And maybe what would make America great again is if we stopped our fighting and bickering and became one again.
• I’ve heard the story many times about the Christmas Truce of 1914 during World War I.
  • Unofficial, shook hands, plum puddings, carols and songs, soccer.
• What if we could do that in our time? And what if, unlike that truce, we could continue the peace and not going back to killing each other after a day or two?
• Jesus has broken down the dividing walls between all peoples, places, and times. He died for our skirmishes and he wants not to destroy this world, but to renew and restore it. When he comes to judge the quick and the dead, the goal is to set right where wrong has happened, to bring peace where strife exists, and to make new things that have died and crumbled.

V. Conclusion

• So what does Washington have to do with Jerusalem?
  • The church’s mission is to make disciples everywhere and not make a Christian nation.
  • The saints will inherit the Kingdom of God and will rule and reign with Christ when he returns. “The Kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord…”
  • Our citizenship is in heaven, and so we as Christians can vote and let vote.
  • We are called to pray for its leaders, submit to its authority, and live quiet lives, minding our own business, so as to win outsiders to the Lord.
  • Christ wants to bring true unity and healing, and true liberty and justice for all the world.

VI. Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy

O Divine Master, grant that we may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it’s in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen

Click here for Part 1.