Piercing the Darkness (Mark 11:15-17)
- if you've been following the 50-Day Adventure Journal,
today is day 36
- and you might have noticed that this week's assignment
is a little more difficult than usual
- we've been trying to represent Christ's interests in
our community, by trying to see things from Christ's perspective, getting
involved in the community, seeing things that are good and bad
- last week our assignment was this:
- Ask the Lord to help you express concern about
something in your community that you believe disturbs Jesus.
- in other words, look at the community from Jesus' point
of view, and if you see something that displeases him, then ask him
for the strength and courage to express your concern
- but this week's assignment is even tougher
- it's this:
- Ask the Lord to help you plan how you can challenge
the evil you've identified. How would he have you express his righteous
anger in this situation?
-
- this morning we won't talk about Thanksgiving in the
message
- instead, I want us to think about confronting evil
in the community
- would you turn and read your Bibles along with me in
Mark 11:15-17
- (Mark 11:15) On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the
temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling
there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches
of those selling doves,
- (Mark 11:16) and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise
through the temple courts.
- (Mark 11:17) And as he taught them, he said, "Is
it not written: "'My house will be called a house of prayer for
all nations' ? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"
-
- we don't usually think of Jesus doing this sort of
thing
- we sing about "gentle Jesus, meek and mild"
- we don't think about Christ physically confronting
that which is so offensive to him
-
- in those days, a temple tax had to be paid by everyone,
and it was usually paid at the time of the Passover season
- people brought all sorts of coinage, because unlike
today, all sorts of coinage were used for everyday purposes
- however, when you came to the Temple, you had to pay
your Temple tax with coinage that did not have the king's head on it,
because to a Jew, a coin with the king's head on it was a graven image
-
- money changers therefore changed the coins, but they
charged each pilgrim the equivalent of a day's wages for exchanging
the money
-
- in addition, you would bring an offering
- you could buy a dove outside the Temple, but the Temple
had inspectors and would always find a flaw in any animal bought outside
- so instead, they said, "Just buy one from our
Temple stalls. They have already been inspected"
- outside the Temple, you could buy a dove for a day's
wages, but inside the Temple they charged the equivalent of 45 day's
wages
- this so infuriated Jesus
- and he swept the money changers and the cattle dealers
out of the Temple because they were turning the only part of it to which
the Gentiles could go into a shop, and a dishonest shop at that
-
- by the way, Christ knew that his action would precipitate
a showdown with the Jewish leaders, even though it made him popular
with the masses
- this was the way to the cross
-
- if Jesus were in Etobicoke today, what would he do?
- what abuses wouldn't he tolerate?
- if we are to follow in Jesus' footsteps, we had better
confront evil in society where it exists
- mind you, it will be costly
- but the real question is: did Jesus save your soul
just for your own benefit, or does he expect you to have an impact on
those around you, and the world?
-
- in his excellent book The Road to Reality,
K.P. Yohannan of India, the president of Gospel for Asia, writes:
- I'm convinced the main reason why we are not impacting
our generation for Christ is our refusal to be honest with Christianity.
We have offered the world a gospel without sacrifice and suffering.
We've done everything we can to apologize for Christ's demands and
explain them away. We've told people that Jesus didn't really mean
what He said - that they can have Christ without His cross.
- The result is around us. We have apologetic, defensive,
shallow Christians whose faith can't turn the next corner, let alone
turn the world upside down.
- what does it look like when a Christian confronts evil?
-
- Dennis Shere was publisher of the Dayton, Ohio Daily
News
- one day, the Dayton Gay and Lesbian Center approached
the newspaper with an advertisement to promote a speakers series at
the center dealing with health issues, and the availability of support
services for lesbians and gay men
- Shere rejected the ad and was fired
- he explains: "I have been dismissed for refusing
to run advertising from the homosexual community. I was told I could
remain as publisher if I would adjust my position on this issue. In
the past, I have tried to balance my Christian perspective with the
demands of running the newspaper. I have compromised where appropriate
without violating my principles. My conscience and concern for the community
would not allow me to compromise on the issue"
-
- what would Jesus do if he were publisher of the Dayton,
Ohio Daily News?
- would he accept an advertisement advertising gay and
lesbian services?
- do they have a right to expression too?
- what is our responsibility to our employers?
- what would Jesus do? What would you do?
-
- William Wilberforce was the only son of prosperous
merchant parents
- after his graduation from Cambridge, he was elected
to the Parliament of England in 1780
- in those days, corruption was so widespread that few
members of Parliament thought twice about accepting bribes for their
votes from those involved in the slave trade
- in 1785, Wilberforce became a Christian and met up
with a clergyman by the name of John Newton, a former slave trader and
the author of the famous hymn Amazing Grace
-
- not many witnessed the horror of the slave trade firsthand,
but here is what happened:
- people were captured from tribal wars, or from jail,
and some were just kidnapped
- they were enslaved and held in a stockade on the African
coast until sold to the highest bidder
- once purchased, they were branded and rowed to the
schooner waiting offshore, their screams and cries ignored by the seamen
who hoisted them aboard and chained them in the stinking hold, 500 African
men and women packed like sardines in brine
- the crew of the ship would often help themselves to
whatever slave women they chose
- several weeks into the voyage, many of the slaves would
be dead, and each morning several dead or near-dead bodies were thrown
overboard to the sharks
- for those who survived the three-month journey, they
were auctioned naked in the marketplace to planters who would work them
to death on their Caribbean plantations
- never again would these African men and women see their
homeland
-
- on a foggy Sunday morning in 1787, Wilberforce sat
at his desk and asked himself:
- did God save him only to rescue his own soul?
- he concluded that if Christianity was true and meaningful,
it must go deeper than that
- it must bring God's compassion to the oppressed as
well as oppose the oppressors
- at that moment, all he could envision were loaded slave
ships leaving the coasts of Africa, and he wrote this in his journal:
- "Almighty God has set before me two great objectives:
the abolition of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners."
-
- in 1788, in the midst of a sickness, he convinced the
Prime Minister of the day to introduce the abolition of slavery in the
House for him
- and thus began the fight
- one man angrily cried out, "Things have come to
a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life"
- working day and night for abolition, his attempts failed
in the House in 1789 and 1791
- in 1792, he realized that they were not going to win
the battle in the House, but in public opinion
- he soon was able to come to the House of Commons with
519 petitions for the total abolition of the slave trade, signed by
thousands of British subjects
- backed into a corner, the House passed Wilberforce's
motion to ban slavery, but not before they added the word gradually
- and not too long after, they defeated Wilberforce's
motion again
- year after year, Wilberforce doggedly re-introduced
his motion, and each year Parliament threw it out
- in 1796, it looked like it would finally be passed
- but the night of the vote, a dozen supporters skipped Parliament for
the opera, and Wilberforce lost by just four votes
-
- and so it went - 1797, 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and
on
- in 1804, the House of Commons finally voted for his
motion by a majority of 124 to 49, but the House of Lords adjourned
the bill until the next session
- in 1805, the House of Commons reversed itself, rejecting
the bill by seven votes
- in 1807, the bill passed the House of Lords and was
sent to the House of Commons
- one by one, members jumped to their feet to decry the
evils of the slave trade and to praise the men who had worked so hard
to end it
- as the debate came to its climax, Sir Samuel Romilly
gave a passionate tribute to Wilberforce and his decades of labor
- and the entire House rose, cheering and applauding
- realizing that his long battle had come to an end,
Wilberforce sat bent into his chair, his head in his hands, tears streaming
down his face
- the motion carried, 283 to 16
- years of illness, defeat, and ridicule had taken their
toll on Wilberforce
- but as he left the House, he turned to a friend and
said, "Well, Henry, what do we abolish next?"
-
- sure enough, he fought another 18 years for the total
emancipation of existing slaves, and also continued his work for reforms
in the prisons, among the poor, and in the workplace
- on July 29, 1833, three days after the Bill for the
Abolition of Slavery passed its second reading in the House of Commons,
sounding the final death blow for slavery, Wilberforce died
- "Thank God," he whispered before he slipped
into a final coma, "that I should have lived to witness a day in
which England was willing to give twenty million sterling for the abolition
of slavery"
-
- one excellent Wilberforce biography is aptly titled
God's Politician
- and truly he was, holding his country to God's standard
of moral accountability
- his dogged campaign to rid the British empire of the
slave trade shows what can happen when a citizen of the Kingdom of God
challenges corrupt structures within the kingdoms of man
-
- what about you?
- Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of
ease
- While others fought to win the prize, and sailed
through bloody seas?
-
- Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem
the flood?
- Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me
on to God?
-
- God could be calling some of you to action this morning
- the question Wilberforce faced was this:
- did God save him only to rescue his own soul?
- or did he save us so that we could make a difference
to others?
- God might be calling a Wilberforce here this morning
to turn the tide of public opinion on the issue of abortion
- he might be calling someone here this morning to try
to rid the corner store of pornography
- but God is calling all of us to ask this morning, "What
would Jesus do?"
- what are you going to do?
-
- let's pray
- Dear Father, this morning is Thanksgiving
- and we have much to thank you for
- you are a kind and benevolent Father, who never fails
to provide for us
- this morning we realize that with our great privilege
we also have great responsibility
- and one of these responsibilities is to confront the
evil that is so real in this world
- it might be in the school system
- it might be a political matter
- it might be the House of Lancaster on the Queensway
- it could be the pornography sold at the corner store
- but you call us to confront that which displeases you
- Lord, help us not just to hear this message and walk
away without taking action
- give us courage to confront the evil that is so present
in the world
- for we pray in Christ's name, Amen.
