"Tough on Sin, Tender on Sinners"

25-Sep-2011

“Tough on Sin, Tender with Sinners”

Robert M. Thompson, Pastor

Corinth Reformed Church
150 Sixteenth Avenue NW
Hickory, North Carolina 28601

828.328.6196 corinthtoday.org

Your security is not a wall; it’s a Spirit.

Jude 1-25

September 25, 2011

Balaganim

Most of you know by now that Linda and I returned from Israel Friday. Before we left for Israel with 19 others – Corinth members, family members, and friends – I knew that on this Sunday I would be preaching on the last of the one-chapter books in the Bible – the one called Jude. I wondered at the time whether I’d be able to make any connections to the trip. Now I can hardly read a verse in Jude without seeing parallels.

For one thing, Jude is about a big balagan. If you don’t know what a balagan is, have no fear. I didn’t either two weeks ago. But having heard the word a dozen times a day from David Tal, our tour guide, while we were in Israel, it’s hard not to add balagan to my regular vocabulary.

Israel is a balagan.

The origin of the word is debated. It’s common in modern Hebrew, but it was brought by Jews returning to Israel from the Diaspora, and may have roots in Russian, Yiddish, Polish, Turkish, or all of the above. The word balagan is a balagan.

If you had to choose one English word as a parallel for balagan, it would probably be chaos. A balagan is a messy situation. But the word isn’t always negative. A wedding or parade is a balagan. So is a war, an earthquake, or a terrorist attack.

Israel is full of balaganim (plural form). Jerusalem is a balagan of layered culture, history, and religion. The land of Israel/Palestine is a geographical balagan. The history of this land – its occupants and wars – is a balagan. Israel’s democracy is a balagan and makes ours look rather well-organized.

Our trip to Israel was for the most part well-planned and structured, but at points it became a balagan. At no point was that more true than finding ourselves walking up a street in Bethlehem alongside flag-waving, chanting youth headed toward a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the square that sits opposite the Church of the Nativity. Usually tour buses unload next to the church, but local authorities had closed the streets. The balagan in Bethlehem over the balagan of Palestine’s bid for statehood caused a balagan in our souls. Even though nothing happened, we became acutely aware that a group of 21 American Christians walking the streets while our President was declaring opposition to their cause could have sparked an international balagan.

Balagan may be the best word to describe life. Whether you live in ancient Judea, modern Israel, or North Carolina; whether you’re Jewish, Muslim, or Christian; whether you are 6 or 86 years old – life is a balagan. Most of the books of the Bible were prompted by balaganim, and offer godly wisdom on what to do in the middle of a balagan. That’s how I now read Jude.

Change of plans

The letter of Jude we have in our Bible is a balagan first because it’s not the letter Jude intended to write. He had in mind a more structured and poised treatise “about the salvation we share” (v. 3). But the letter turned out to be free-flowing and full of passion in response to…you guessed it…a balagan. If your plans are sometimes interrupted by chaos, you can relate.

Who was Jude? I was startled to see his name on a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, a sobering collection of images and voices from the Jewish people’s worst balagan. The patch that German Jews were forced to wear in the early days of their oppression had the word “Jude” in the middle of a star of David. “Jude” in German means “Jew,” and that yellow patch became a symbol of discrimination, then persecution, and finally, attempted extinction for the Jewish people.

That connection may not be a first-century one, but remember that the name Jude was common for Jewish men in the first century. You may recognize another form of the same name: Judas. The first century writer of this letter was, in all likelihood, one of Jesus’ half-brothers. We know that because he is brother to James, also a half-brother of Jesus. Jude is humble enough to call himself “a servant of Jesus Christ.” Imagine calling yourself a “servant” of your older brother.

Jude writes to an unidentified church that, as we will see shortly, is facing a spiritual threat. The old city of Jerusalem has an intact wall that has been built, expanded, destroyed, and rebuilt numerous times over the span of three thousand years. A few of us walked the ramparts on Thursday to get a better understanding of the wall and the city. Defense against an outside enemy is critical during times of conflict. Jude had planned to write a letter about building the infrastructure of the faith. But if an enemy is attacking your city, you stop building roads and cisterns, and turn your attention to the wall. The balagan Jude faced changed his priorities as well.

He begins on a positive note, reminding his readers that they are called, loved, and kept (1). He greets them with mercy, peace, and love (2). He loves threes.

There is an urgent threat to the faith, he writes in verse 3. You must “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” But how do you “contend”?

Here’s what makes this battle even more of a balagan. The wall has already been breached. “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you” (4). If you allow the enemy a foothold inside the walls, winning the battle becomes exponentially more complex.

Why does Jude identify these infiltrators as threats? “They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (4). We don’t know the historical details, the Christian community (or any other religious group) is defined by its beliefs and its conduct. There are certain essentials that are the walls of your faith. If you say Jesus is not Lord and morals don’t matter, you’re like the Babylonians of 586 B.C. or the Crusaders in A.D. 1099. You’ve breached the wall and the city is no longer secure. Big balagan.

Messiah’s prerogative

On Wednesday morning of this past week, Linda and I stood with our tour guide, David, and nineteen other members of our group on what David described as the most volatile piece of real estate in the world. Riots have begun and wars have been fought over everything from possession to misunderstanding of the 35-acre platform that Herod the Great built about three decades before Jesus was born.

All my life I have seen pictures of Jerusalem, the most common angle being that from the Mount of Olives. But I never knew what I was looking at, or how large and prominent the temple mount is.

The Jebusite city that David conquered and made his capital is actually a smaller hill to the south of Mount Moriah, where Abraham had almost sacrificed Isaac. But David bought the field on this higher ground so that Solomon could build the first temple in the tenth century B.C. The Babylonians destroyed that temple four hundred years later, but Ezra rebuilt it after a gap of only a half-century or so. Herod was the one who employed 10,000 slaves, including many skilled in architecture and engineering, to built up the south and east sides and expand the temple to a looming structure two and a half times the height of the Dome of the Rock that sits there today.

But Herod’s temple stood only a century or so until the Romans dismantled every bit of it in AD 70 as they crushed the Jewish revolt. They left the platform intact, however, and it stood mostly empty even after Constantine established Christianity during the Byzantine era. The Muslim conquest in the 7^th century turned the temple mount into an Islamic center for worship and learning, with the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It’s been like that ever since, except a 100-year period under the control of the Crusaders, who replaced crescents with crosses and turned mosques into churches.

What’s somewhat remarkable given the history of this parcel of land that has been variously claimed by Jews, Muslims, and Christians, is that when the Jews regained control of Jerusalem in 1967 they chose to give respect to Islam and leave the Temple Mount as a holy place for the Muslims.

But they don’t do nothing. They pray. There’s a short segment of original western wall of the Temple Mount where Jews pray and weep. But David explained, and others confirmed, that Jews do not believe they need to force God’s hand in giving them back this plot of land and their temple. They are willing to wait and pray for Messiah to do his work in his time, which they assume is the end of the age.

When I read Jude 5-16, I read this same spirit of waiting for God to restore order to the balagan. To be sure, Jude’s words sound strong at points. But notice what he doesn’t say about the threat that has breached the walls. He doesn’t say, “Go get ‘em! Take back what is yours. Throw the bums out of the city! Man the ramparts!”

He does give biblical examples of God’s judgment – deliverance from Egypt (5), and Sodom and Gomorrah (6). He speaks of the false teachers as “dreamers (who) pollute their own bodies, reject authority, and slander celestial beings” (8). But he follows by a reminder in verse 9 that even Michael the archangel did not slander the devil, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” The point is that these evil men will destroy themselves (10).

Jude is very aware of their hypocrisy at the love feasts (12), feeding only themselves. His metaphors are biting, among them “clouds without rain” (12). In a land that endures long months EVERY year without rain, and historical drought cycles that are devastating (including the current one), the people of Israel have always known what the cruel irony of a cloud that only teases them. The chance of rain the entire time we were in Israel the last two weeks was zero. We woke up one morning to a partly cloudy sky that looked like it had potential, but soon it dissipated and nothing happened. “Clouds without rain” is a vivid metaphor for those in that land.

But Jude quickly turns from his descriptive criticism to the fact that judgment on these men belongs to God. “They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever” (13). Let God take care of them. He continues in verse 14 with a quote from the apocryphal book of Enoch about God’s coming judgment. “I get the fact that they’re evil and arrogant,” he says in verse 16. But the prerogative to judge them is God’s – not yours.

Courage to change the things I can

OK, then, if I’m not to storm the temple mount, what should be my response? Do I do nothing? Am I to be completely passive?

No, Jude gives some specific action steps in his final verse. If you’re looking for practical help in the midst of the balagan that is your life, look at Jude 19-23.

First, expect the balagan. These “men who divide you” (19) should not take you by surprise. The apostles foretold this, Jude says in verse 17. He seems to be alluding to words from Paul or Peter or both (2 Timothy 3:1ff.; 2 Peter 3:3). Even if it’s too early for him to be quoting their letters; such apostolic warning was probably common.

It’s sort of the biblical equivalent of Murphy’s Law. David gave us ample warning that security at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport steps it up a notch from most other airports, even international ones. Sure enough, everything from customs to screening was a balagan in a crowded airport, and it took every minute of our three hours to get from the bus to boarding. But two things helped keep us calm. One was that David had told us what to expect and two was that he was with us throughout the process. David knew the system well enough to help shorten the process and keep us calm when something unexpected arose.

Second, your security is not a wall; it’s a Spirit. “Build yourselves up in your most holy faith,” he says in verse 20. “Pray in the Holy Spirit.” “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life” (21). It turns out the wall that needs to be strengthened is in your own soul. The ramparts that need to be watched are your own understanding of what is true and right. You need to let go of the need to replace the balagan around you with order.

The Garden Tomb offers a fitting atmosphere for concluding a Christian tour of Israel, because of the first century-era tomb that some (though definitely not all) believe could have been in the garden owned by Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus was laid for three days. The remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection is powerful in that place.

At the back of that garden is a view of Golgotha – the hill with a skull face that is one possible site for the crucifixion. Next to that hill is an Arab bus terminal, with chaotic and crowded movement of both vehicles and humans. Our guide reminded us that it’s a fitting location to remember the cross of Christ, because the Romans deliberately crucified their outlaws in public places to serve as an example and warning. Yet Jesus found his peace, his security, and his purpose right there in the midst of the balagan by turning toward his Father. That’s what Jude is saying.

Third, prioritize others. In the midst of the balagan that Jude fully understands in its potential to destroy the faith and divide the church, Jude says, “Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupt flesh” (22-23).

“Tough on sin, tender with sinners.” That is what Jude is reminding us to be. I’m going to assume that the vast majority of the Palestinian residents of Bethlehem last Wednesday were quite unaware that their celebration and rally for a cause was rather frightening to a small group of pilgrims winding through their streets. Most of us are like that when we’re waging war on the great spiritual and political battles of our times.

Linda and I believe God has called us to stay in a denomination where we’re a small minority in a cause that many believe is lost. Most people, particularly in a free society, simply withdraw when they feel there is nothing further to be gained by the fight. We try to remind ourselves that staying in the United Church of Christ is not about winning anything. It’s about noticing sheep who need shepherds, about caring for the little people who tend to be forgotten during the war.

A humbling experience

Jude ends where he began – giving encouragement to his readers. “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen” (24-25).

He’s practicing what he just preached. All this talk of God being the judge who metes out “eternal fire” (7) and “blackest darkness…forever” (13) has likely rattled some of his readers. He doesn’t want faithful believers wondering about their eternal fate. It doesn’t rest with them, anyway. Christ Jesus is the one “who is able to keep you from falling and preserve you for himself.”

A pilgrimage to Israel is in every way a humbling experience. What humbles me the most is how many ways there are to get faith wrong. In the balagan that is present day Israel as well as the layers of its past, the blind spots are so obvious.

It would be easy for me to pick on Jews or Muslims at this point, because their errors are obvious to me as a Christian. So let me instead pick on the Christians. We have had two major opportunities in our history to rule the holy land.

The first was about 300 hundred years, from the time Constantine legalized Christianity until the Muslim conquest. During that era, among other mistakes, Christians turned our faith into a religion of shrines and superstition, so thoroughly corrupting the faith that Muhammad’s charge of idolatry was easy to prove.

The second was about 100 years, starting in 1099. The Crusaders bungled their opportunity so badly that Muslims and Jews still pronounce us guilty by association eight hundred years later for our arrogance, violence, intolerance, and abuse. The primary reasons Muslims and Jews resist the gospel of Jesus is the leftover results of the Crusade mentality.

In the balagan that is my life, I need remember only a few simple lessons, lessons Jude reinforces in his little letter. God is in charge of straightening it out in the end – and apparently, he’s not in a hurry to do so. I must pay attention to the boundaries of faith and morals he has given me. I must never stop looking for those who need my encouragement in the midst of their chaos. And I must pray and wait.

Notice what’s not on the list of my duties – to take personal responsibility to turn balagan into order. Even in a world of high unemployment, there’s no vacancy listed as “Assistant God.” Amen.

Prayer of Response

Heavenly Father, we’re all guilty to one degree or another. We want our lives predictable, controlled, organized. Or at least we want to choose the times when we can manage our chaos. We certainly want other people out of our way when we decide we want either structure or flexibility.

Sometimes the people who create our chaos really are turning their backs on you and living self-destructive lives that damage our communities. We see it in ways they can’t see it, or won’t see it. They truly are what Jude says they are – dreamers, blemishes, scoffers, headed for eternal punishment.

Lord, forgive us when we meet their arrogance with our own. You are their judge, and you are the only one who can bring justice. In our world of chaos, whatever the cause, remind us to find ways to show mercy and to rest, trusting that you will keep us from falling and stand in your presence, faultless and joyful, through Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray,

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.