Passionate for
Others
Romans 9:1-5
Little Boy
They codenamed the first one, “Little Boy.” It was 10 ft long
and 28 inches wide and weighed 8,900 lbs. It contained 60 kg of
enriched uranium and exploded with the force of 13 kilotons of TNT on
August 6, 1945 at 8:15 am over Hiroshima, Japan. Over 70,000 people
died from the initial blast and nearly 200,000 would later die from
exposure to radiation. The decision to drop the Bomb was never in
question. Other alternatives were never considered. Political and
military leaders never discussed a moral justification for their
decision to unleash a nuclear holocaust. They never considered its
future ramifications. President Truman would later write, "I
regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never had any doubt that
it should be used." Winston Church would add "[N]or did I
ever hear the slightest suggestion that we should do otherwise."
While I do not intend to explore the military's rationaleand the
moral arguments for history's most notorious foregone conclusion. I
believe that we should consider our attitudes and perspectives toward
our enemy during a time of war. Before a war can begin, political and
military leaders must dehumanize the enemy. This was easy with the
War in the Pacific. Our nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor. We were
willing to live in peace but the enemy initiated the conflict. This
hostile act fed into our nation's predisposed racial prejudice
against people with a different color skin and culture. Our hatred
was reinforced by the bitterly fought battles waged on the beachhead
of previous unknown islands. The decision to annihilate a city was
easy when its citizens were seen as less than human.
This path of dehumanization continues today. To justify the
invasion of Afghanistan, we were told that the 19 terrorists who
destroyed the World Trade Center, attacked the Pentagon and
threatened the White House were trained and financed by other
terrorists living in that country. They were not young Muslims. We
heard their names but we only remembered them as nameless terrorists.
To justify, the invasion of Iraq we were told that Saddam had weapons
of mass destruction. We must attack before we are attacked. In a
world were might makes right, these arguments seem logical. In a
world that cherishes the temporal and only pays lip service to the
eternal, this perspective appears sound. However, both Jesus and the
apostle Paul would have different thoughts. In today's Scripture,
Paul writes that he is willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake
of those who inflicted him with 40 lashes on five different
occasions, beat him with rods three times and stoned him leaving him
for dead. In spite of all this, Paul was willing to do whatever it
took, to enable his fellow Jews came to a saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ.
The Apostle to the Gentiles
Traditionally, Paul has been viewed, by his critics, as a
self-hating Jew who distorted and manipulated Jesus' message for his
own personal gain. He supposedly deceived Gentiles who had not heard
Jesus preach and started a new religion that was both antithetical to
Judaism and the basic teaching of Jesus.
These critics hold Paul personally responsible for two thousand years
of anti-Semitism and Christian brutality toward Jews. However, I
would argue that Paul always had a love for his fellow Jews because
he believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of the ancient Scripture.
This passion for his fellow countrymen is evident after his
conversion. Blinded by a light while traveling north from Jerusalem
Paul saw a vision of the Risen Christ who instructed him to go into
the city until he was told what to do. Responding to the voice of our
Lord, Paul was taken to the home of Judas who lived on Straight
Street. We do not know what he experienced in those hours of darkness
waiting for his blindness to end. Perhaps he reflected on the the
writings of the prophets. Perhaps he reviewed the stories of Abraham,
Issac, and Jacob. Perhaps he recalled the words he heard on the road.
Finally, in response to another vision a man by the name of Ananias
came to Paul, laid hands on the man who had made murderous threats
against anyone who believed that Jesus was the Messiah and prayed for
Paul. Instantly something like scales fell off his eyes and Paul
could see. Paul then joined the disciples and immediately began to
preach in the synagogue to his fellow countrymen. Everyone who heard
his preaching were stunned. They asked one another, “Isn't he the
man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name
(Jesus)?
Paul's early missionary activity continued to focus on the Jewish
population. Whenever he and Barnabas would go into a city, their
first stop would be the local synagogue. They would always share the
good news first with the Jews. Eventually Paul noticed that the Jews
were no longer interested in hearing his message. They developed a
hostility toward him as news spread about his conversion. However,
Paul also noticed that the Gentiles were more interested in hearing
his message than his own people so Paul shifted his attention. If the
Jews were not receptive, Paul would preach to those who were
responsive. Paul would later understand that God had called him to be
an apostle to the Gentiles but he would never abandon his longing for
his fellow Jews to come to faith in Jesus. Paul never lost his
passion for the people who would consider him an enemy.
Passion for People
Let me ask you, do you have the same passion for people that Paul
had? Are you more interested in seeing Saddam Hussein come to know
Christ, or tried for his crimes against humanity? Do you want to see
Osama bin Laden captured and imprisoned, or come to faith in Christ?
Some will object. They will argue that his is not the same? These men
are not fellow Americans, they have committed heinous crimes and will
continue to do so unless they are brought to justice. You are right
on both accounts but neither point matters. They are our enemies, but
Jesus said to love our enemies and to forgive them. What matters is
how are you praying for them? Are you praying for their salvation or
for justice?
Having considered the theoretical, let us for a moment consider
the practical application of Paul's message. I doubt seriously if any
of us will ever have an encounter with the former leader of Iraq or
al Quida. However, we may have an encounter with an Arab-American, a
Jew or a Palestinian. How will we respond to them? Do you share
Paul's passion for their salvation? Would you be willing to surrender
your own life, for them to know Christ? Two things must take place
before we are able to adopt such an attitude. First, we must be
absolutely convinced that Christ is the only way to God.
Only One Salvation
Most people tend to be universalists, by that I mean, they believe
that there are many avenues to God. Each faith has its own uniqueness
but they share many common traits. They offer women and men hope in
times of despair. They instruct people in how to live a moral life
and how to treat others. While each religion may emphasize different
aspects about the spiritual world and offer a slightly different
ethical standard, no one religion is better than another.
Paul was not a universalist. He was absolutely convinced first
that God had revealed himself to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob for one
purpose and one purpose only—to redeem all humanity. Secondly, Paul
believed that the nation of Israel was a chosen nation. God blessed
them by giving them the Law. God also sent the prophets to call
Israel back to the covenant. However, in their preaching they also
included a message of hope. God would one day fulfill his covenant
and send the Messiah. Paul understood that promise was fulfilled in
Jesus. However, unless the people of Israel would place their faith
in Jesus, all the promises that God had made to them, all the
blessings that God had given to them would be for naught. So because
the people of Israel had rejected Christ, Paul believed they were
accused and cut off from God and their spiritual state brought sorrow
to Paul's heart. This knowledge did not produce anger or hatred
toward his fellow countrymen but sorrow and anguish.
My friends, allow me to be even more practical, does the spiritual
state of your neighbors and family who do not know Christ bring
unceasing anguish to your heart? Do you have great sorrow, because
they do not know the joy of their salvation, but they also will not
know the joy of eternity?
Getting Close to Our Enemies
After we have become absolutely convinced that Christ is the only
way to God the second aspect that we need to change about ourselves
is our perspective toward others. In the modern world we create
barriers between ourselves and others. We do this our of our fear as
a form of protection. We are not sure we can trust everyone. By
keeping away from others, they pose less of a threat, but in
actuality they are more threatening.
During the Lebanon War in 1982, a platoon of Israeli soldiers had
engaged a group of Palestinians in combat near a refugee camp. The
fighting was intense as the Israelis were careful not to shot
civilians. The platoon had fought their way into the refugee camp and
the gunfire had taken a momentary pause when two refugees came in
their direction carrying an object. The Palestinians were only 20
yards away. The soldiers screamed for the men to drop the crate.
There was a moment of tension when the soldiers did not know what to
do. Should they shoot assuming that the crate was a homemade bomb or
wait until they could decipher their screams. Before anyone shot,
one of the soldiers realized that the men were carrying a crate of
Pepsi. Their screams were invitations for the soldiers to have a
drink. Later one of the soldiers reflected, “If they had been 200
yards away, we would have shot them and been glad to hit them.”
Lives were spared because the distance between two enemies was
removed. We can easily treat people as enemies when we keep them out
of our lives. We can remain unconcerned about their spiritual health
when we do not know them. We cannot justify our prejudice and our
hatred, so long as the other person remains a nameless enemy or even
an unknown neighbor. Are we willing to get close enough to people to
see them as friends.
The Inevitability of War
We will always have wars this side of eternity but we do not have
to justify our decision to wage war by dehumanizing our adversary. We
need not turn them into vicious, soulless adversaries. They may
worship a different god. They may worship God differently but Christ
died for them just as he died for you and me. Before we meet them on
the battlefield we should be lifting them to God in prayer. Who knows
maybe our prayers for the North Koreans, Iranians and other citizens
of the Axis of Evil might prevent us from ever having to fight them.
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