JOURNEYS OF PAUL: COMPROMISE OR CONSENSUS?

What are the minimum cultural requirements for being a follower of Christ? Our scripture today from the Book of Acts told us what they were mid first century AD. The headlines last week about the Episcopalians tell us how we are struggling with it today. How much of what we call faith is given by God and how much is the cultural trappings?

Looking back in the history of the people of God, we can see a cycle. When Abraham and Sarah encountered the settlements of other cultures, their strategy was to keep their heads low and move on. Engage in conflict only when you must to protect the family. It worked for a while, and when they stopped following it, they got enslaved in Egypt.

When Moses encountered other tribes and nations on the way to the Promised Land, the strategy was to move through peacefully or fight if necessary. By the time the People of God came to the Promised Land, the strategy was drive the others out. “This land was your land but now it’s our land.” Yet even slaughter didn’t stop the cross cultural influences that pulled the Israelites back toward idolatry and paganism.

When the nation of Judah was taken in captivity to Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah counseled: “seek the shalom of the city and there you will find your shalom.” And Isaiah echoed: “You shall be a light to the nations.” Yet when the people of Judah finally returned to the Promised Land, they circled the wagons once again and sought to drive out all foreign influences.

That struggle was still being fought out in Jesus’ day. The Romans were busy paganizing while the Pharisees were busy trying to stay clean. Jesus for the most part avoided clashing with the paganizers (“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”) but he seldom missed an opportunity to criticize the Pharisees for their excessive rule keeping.

As Christianity spread after the death of Jesus, Peter dabbled in a mission to the Gentiles but Paul jumped in with both feet. But here was their struggle: if we set aside the rules that make Jews observant, what is to keep us from becoming just another pagan cult? What is the continuity of identity as the People of God?

It was not an idle question. If you read the literature of the Roman period, there are precious few examples of integrity. It was relatively easy for the unscrupulous to rouse the rabble and get someone of honor exiled or killed by mob violence. Just ask Cicero. He lived his life trying to effect compromises that would avoid tyranny and preserve the Senate, until Caesar Augustus put out a contract on him. It was that tired, insider, petty political mindset where anything goes and nobody cares. All the while mouthing platitudes about great moral values and the glorious past. If the Christians gave up the law of Moses, would they fall victim to that? Where do you draw the line?

So the church had a meeting—a synod, a convention, a general conference. And the result is absolutely crucial for the way Christianity evolved. If what happened hadn’t happened, Christianity would be one sect within Judaism. There would be liberal Jews, conservative Jews, Hasidic Jews, and we would be the Jews for Jesus.

Let’s push pause here a moment on the history channel and turn to the daily news. The churches in their present day configurations are working on sorting out the moral from the cultural yet again. Those of us who were around 40 years ago saw the same struggle of moral values over cultural practices and institutional inertia on the issue of race. Those of us who were around 30 years ago saw the same struggle around gender inclusion and sexism. Today it’s the inclusion of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender persons into the full participation of the church. Apparently we have to do this over and over ‘til we get it right. Two thousand years, though, does seem a long time to ask someone to be patient. Hey, I’m patient, but I’m not 2,000 years patient.

The genius of the Jerusalem conference with Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James was that they began the process of distinguishing between the cultural baggage (however precious) of the believers and the loss of identity as God’s people.

Notice how James put it: abstain from (1) the pollutions of idols (meat offered as sacrifice but sold in the market instead of burned on the altar) and (2) unchastity (the Greek word has a connotation of cult prostitution) and (3) meat from animals that are strangled and (4) ingesting blood. All having to do with distinguishing the people of God from idolatry and paganism. But give up the practice of circumcision. They were distinguishing between what was Jewish custom but not essential and what was essential in differentiating from paganism.

Are you surprised at that list in Acts? It didn’t mention any positive requirements at all: love of God or love of neighbor or belief in Christ as savior. It didn’t mention faith or peaceableness or worship attendance or prayer. That’s because it was not a list of Christian virtues. It was simply a prohibition against Christians being pagans.

So one of the things we are working on today, and in fact have always been working on as Christianity spread from Jerusalem to Europe and from Europe to Asia and Australia and the Americas, has been how much of our culture do we have to bring with us before we can satisfy ourselves that we have communicated the faith? Do we have to get folks clothed and literate, establish a system of deeds and contracts and ownership before they can be included in the family of God? Or can they be clothed in a loincloth, non-readers, and have all things in common and still follow Jesus?

Did you ever notice how easy it is for one of your cultural values to become a moral value? I’m into punctuality. I hate to be late. Things should start on time. Wear a watch! But there are churches where a 10:30 AM start up time doesn’t mean that the music begins. It means that somebody will arrive about then to unlock the doors. What may feel to me like a character defect is really a cultural difference.

So the church in Jerusalem, lead by God, put aside patterns of culture that had been so very dear to them, that had been their very identity, and simply said: let’s don’t get sucked into paganism.

Did the Jerusalem conference mean that the new standard of inclusion was instantly accepted church wide? Not at all. The letter of Paul to the Galatians records Peter’s relapse and the confrontation that followed. So what the Episcopalians did last week is not surprising. Two steps forward, one step back.

But as we have been following the journeys of Paul, we put the question: who is who at the Jerusalem conferences of today? Who is Peter, with his timid steps into the culture of the Gentiles? Who are those like James who are the compromises but remain above the fray? And who are the Apostle Pauls, who push the issue of inclusion?

Today we are having Jerusalem Conferences all over Christianity. We are struggling to distinguish between the core of the faith and those things that are cultural and personal preferences and comfort levels. What the Episcopalians did was affect a temporary compromise. Pity the denominations where no discussion takes place.

And pray for the Holy Spirit to raise up more apostles like Paul, who relentlessly push the message of God’s love and acceptance beyond the culture and practices of the familiar and still hold up standards of integrity that keep us from the “anything goes” mentality of contemporary paganism.

Because the Spirit is at work. The church in all of its forms will move from temporary compromises to the holy conferencing that opened the Gospel up to the world. We don’t know when. We don’t know how. But we know Who.