“HOW CHRISTIANITY CHANGED THE WORLD-Part 3”
John 18:28-37
1) I hate reviews, but feel I need to do a catch-up in case you weren’t here the last two
weeks or, more likely, don’t remember what I talked about in my sermons. That’s OK,
since lots of time I don’t remember either. Using as a source the book Seven
Revolutions, How Christianity Changed the World I spoke about the changes to our
understanding of persons as created by God and having worth beyond what they could
give back to society. I spoke of the family as built on love and respect rather than
power and fear. Work, instead of being the curse of the laboring class, began to be
seen as our way of co-creating with God and, since God rested on the Sabbath, so
should humans. Religion was not about appeasing the gods, but acknowledging that
God has already reached out to us in love to form a personal relationship with us. And
Christians didn’t keep to themselves—they lived their faith within the community, taking
responsibility for the poor and the sick in ways the rest of Rome would not do.
2) One of the more interesting ways that Christians lived out their faith within the
community had to do with death. The pagan society avoided death. It was a riddle
they couldn’t seem to solve. “What happened when people died? There might be life
after life, or there might not be. If there was, it might be something pleasant, or it might
be only eternal gloom, even for the virtuous.” Whatever happened, the Romans
wanted to get rid of the bodies of deceased persons quickly. Cremation was popular
because it was believed that with no body the spirits could not return to haunt you. The
Romans feared death. Christians did not. With a firm belief in the resurrection of the
dead, Christians cared for the sick and buried the dead with a sense of respect for life
itself. The way the dead body was disposed of didn’t really matter—God could raise
people to eternal life, even if the body was burned at the stake—but showing respect
and celebrating lives were important to the beliefs of these early day Christians. And
the first distinctively Christian buildings were not churches, but the catacombs wherein
the dead were laid to rest.
3) All of the changes in thinking—revolutions if you will—impacted the state, specifically
how governance should take place. Roman government maintained the peace, but at
the cost of many lives and freedoms. Christians quietly opposed these necessary
concessions. They were willing to die for their faith, either in the arena or by caring for
the sick during times of plague, and this demonstrated that the church offered
something the Roman government could not. In the ancient world governing meant
that some people led and ruled over others on the basis of their claim to a natural right
to do so. Not all people are created equal. Government protected the power and
assets of those already in power. Roman emperors demanded to be called by titles
such as “lord” or “god”, yet Christians proclaimed a power higher than any human
government. Leadership for the Christians was not viewed as a right—it was a
responsibility. If there was to be a hierarchy, as actually developed in the church as
well, it was to protect and serve those at the bottom. And anyone—even a slave—
could rise in the service of Christ.
4) When Constantine became emperor, he legalized Christianity and guaranteed
freedom of religion to all persons. But even before that, Christians influenced society
one person at a time. During many eras of history and especially during the history of
the United States, the church has maintained a power that could demand laws to
protect certain beliefs. Our Founding Fathers were not Deist as the popular notion
goes. With the exception of Benjamin Franklin, they all espoused Christian beliefs
even though they spoke of God in more generic terms. They believed in separation of
church and state not to create a state without religion, but to keep the state from
defining how and what one could believe. They assumed that leaders would govern
out of their religious beliefs. And while we believe that democracy is the best form of
government, listen to what Scottish law Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler once said: A
democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the
voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From
that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most
benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over
lousy fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world’s great
civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in
this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from
courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from
selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency;
from dependency back again to bondage. It’s a scary cycle.
5) Some are saying that our world today more resembles the pre-Christian world of the
first few centuries than it does the world of Christendom. The influence of the church is
declining. But even in a world where money is power, religious tolerance is despised
and diversity is seen as evil, the church continues to have a message. Jesus replied to
Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world,” and we do well to remember that the same is
true for us. While we continue to call our government to accountability, while we strive
to make our world a better place and call for freedom of religion, it is far more important
that we strive to bring God’s kingdom to life in our midst. To quote Aquilina and
Papandrea, “The Church was founded by Jesus Christ and his apostles, and we want
to affirm that Christ’s vision for the Church is still alive, in spite of human failures
throughout its history. The problem is not that the Church needs to change to conform
to a new generation; the Church needs to reclaim its power to change the world.”
6) How do we do that? One person, one issue at a time. The world will know we are
Christian by what we reaffirm, what we resist and what we refuse. The author’s to-do
list suggest that we reject isolationism (practice being inclusive), respect the value of
life (including issues such as abortion, exploitation, and immigration), reject the culture
of celebrity and humiliation as entertainment, respect the humble, the laborer and the
poor, reject the creation of a secular religion of the state, respect religious freedom,
reject a defeatist attitude and respect your neighbor. No one person can do it all. We
don’t all need to agree on the issues, but if each of us chooses even one area by which
to live out our faith, Christianity will once again change the world.