An Inclusive Faith
Sermon
Sermons on the Gospel Readings
Series II, Cycle B
In 1948, the World Council of Churches was formed in the war-torn rubble of Amsterdam. Assessing the meaning of this, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, said, "This moment is the great new fact of our era." This organization of Protestants and Orthodox Christians from all over the world signaled a unity among these churches, greater than any of the many differences separating the historical Christian traditions. It is thinkable that this mid-twentieth century unity makes the faith more appealing to those who are unimpressed with our denominational differences. These differences now become humble offerings to the whole church rather than jealously guarded traditions used to invoke our tradition's pride and supposed uniqueness.
Most of us are aware of the dynamic toward a growing unity in a much larger field. This is the growing effort to celebrate the work of God in all the great historical religions -- Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, and others. All these witness to a larger reality pervading the rest of life. Each of these religious traditions has their way of spelling out their conviction about this larger reality and how to respond to it. Many are sensing that these varying traditions enrich all of us and we may rejoice in this great variety of religious insights. We can say this, too, is "another great fact of our era."
Our Exclusive Christian Tradition
Of course, we Christians come from an exclusivist heritage. We have claimed Jesus as God's unique revealing of this ultimate reality, making Christianity superior to all other faiths. We have also claimed that those who are ignorant of Jesus' high status, or who refuse to accept this claim, are doomed to spend eternity apart from God. Such claims are embedded in the New Testament. In John's depiction of Jesus in the upper room before his death, he says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Matthew reports these words of Jesus, "... No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). And in the book of Acts, Peter says, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
New religious movements display a common pattern in their early beginnings. Small in number and having little social or political power, they make a place for themselves through exclusive and unyielding claims for their truth. The early Christians, surrounded by a great deal of hostility from Judaism, and persecution from the Empire, began to preach that they possessed the only means of eternal salvation. In this way the early Christians forged a significant identity against those who would disdain and marginalize them.
This exclusive claim captured the allegiance of huge numbers in that day. Their numbers became so large that the Emperor Constantine shrewdly used the church to stabilize the many fragments of the Empire from Spain to Constantinople. In the Middle Ages, several Popes played on this exclusivist element in the faith, by calling for the Crusades against the Muslims who controlled the holy land, hoping these efforts would distract the many local sovereigns from challenging papal power and authority. The Reformation brought little challenge to these claims about the saving uniqueness of Christian faith, but in the nineteenth century, called "the great missionary expansion of the Christian church," these exclusivist claims experienced a significant muting.
In the early 1800s, Protestant denominations from America and the British Isles began to form foreign missionary agencies. The stated mission of these agencies was to bring the gospel to the non-Christian world so they might receive God's mercy and salvation. A reading of the letters and papers of David Livingston clearly indicates that he went out to Central Africa lest many die without eternal life promised in Christ. In James Michener's novel, Hawaii, he shows the rigid, exclusivism that drove the missionaries to that island paradise, brutally destroying the Hawaiians' cultural religious heritage.
The ironic result of these intrusions into the non-Christian worlds of Africa, India, China, Japan, and the Pacific Islands is interesting. Many involved in this missionary movement began to have appreciation for the non-Christian traditions where they went. Such a response was only a minority to be sure. But it provided a critique of Christian exclusivist claims which, along with our shrinking world, has made many Christians ask if it is time to reconsider our claims of superior knowledge and the exclusive approval of God.
The Sins Of Exclusivism
The sins of our historical exclusive claims are easy to enumerate, except within some parts of the evangelical church. Many evangelicals continue to find an ongoing insistence upon the necessity of faith and commitment to Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. But for the rest of us some of the following things seem clear:
One, exclusivity promotes an arrogance that is beyond the spirit of Jesus. Whether the historical Jesus or some later Christian communities and editors put those exclusivist words on his lips, we cannot know. It is quite clear that soon after his death, resurrection, and the rise of the Jesus movement, some were making such claims. But there is a sense that the merciful God revealed in Jesus is appalled at our attitude. We are warned about the dangers of material riches in the New Testament. There is also the implicit warning of danger of claiming to possess some spiritual status through which we look down on those not having our elevated spirituality. We cannot think that Jesus would welcome our disparaging any who is not part of the Christian company. Arrogance is simply not good religion and not good evangelism.
Secondly, exclusivism impoverishes us toward the riches of non-Christian religions. A modern scholar of non-Christian religions, Huston Smith, exudes appreciation for all the religions he has studied. In his many books he has made this clear. In fact, Smith has found many of the spiritual practices of some of these non-Christian religions nourishing his Christian faith and devotional life. Smith does not recommend that we leave our Christian faith to become the adherent of another faith. Instead he urges us to find in these other faiths, expressions of belief and spiritual regimen that will increase our own Christian convictions. Huston Smith calls us to the humility advocated by the prophet Micah: "What does the lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humble with your God." We can find God's grace and mercy beyond our Christian moorings and failing to do this will seriously impoverish our spiritual lives and faith.
A third result of an exclusive Christianity is it portrays a narrow-minded God. Such a God refuses to love all creatures, denying them eternity if they have not confessed faith in Christ, holding to an unbending exclusivism. If we humans were so rigid and narrow, we would provoke the dislike of our friends and neighbors. Once the evangelical spike of the last twenty years subsides, much of the reason will be due to its presentation of a narrow-minded God now prominent in evangelical preaching, teaching, and piety. Methodism's John Wesley said that he was "within a hair's breath of Calvinism." But he parted with the Calvinists over the doctrine of predestination saying that it makes God something of a monster. Instead the human heart insists God's grace and moral character at least equals the best human grace and generosity. Exclusivism in so many ways is not a very attractive option. We might venture a possibility that modern exclusivism masks inner drives and painful experiences, driving its possessors to adopt a seriously crippled faith.
Much Argues For An Inclusive Faith
Whether these more inclusive lines from the New Testament are authentically Jesus or are from a early Christian tradition, they make our point. The disciple John was vexed because someone was exorcising demons in the name of Jesus. Unlike those who so resent and attempt to halt anyone using our unique ideas or status, Jesus makes a clear inclusive reply: "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:39-40). This text implies that Jesus does not have an exclusive franchise on God's love and mercy. Here is a powerful argument for an inclusive faith, countering more exclusive texts found in the biblical record.
American theologian, John Lowes Watson, puts this straightforwardly in his book, God Does Not Foreclose. You don't have to read the book to know where Watson is heading. He is insisting on an inclusive faith denying Christians our claim for a special, privileged relationship with God, receiving God's everlasting mercy, denied all others. He has a companion in Emil Brunner, great Christian scholar in the 1930s through the 1950s. Brunner said all persons, Christians and all others, are within the eternal grace of God. The only Christian advantage is that we know it and are filled with joy and gratitude. He illustrated his point by picturing all humanity gathered on the decks of a sinking ship. In the midst of the panic, the Christians know the water is only ankle deep! So our Christian privilege is not some special status granted by God. Our only edge is to know we are called to share this wonderful news with others.
William Barclay has published a popular series of commentaries on New Testament documents. Writing for a lay audience, he introduced a whole generation of lay people into sound biblical scholarship. Some years ago, he wrote an article, A Spiritual Autobiography, in which he declared, "I am a convinced universalist." He said God's salvation, earthly and beyond, is given to all humanity regardless of their religious tradition, or lack of one. Anyone reading Barclay's commentaries is aware that he is no wild-eyed radical scholar. It is wise to pay serious attention to his claim that because Jesus so often speaks of God as Father, universalism is implied. In Barclay's words:
No father would count it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family. The only triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offering of love is answered by the return of love. The only final triumph is a universe loved and in love with God.
Strange as it might seem to many, an inclusive sense of the grace and mercy of God is the best way to make our witness to the gospel in our time. At the moment, the exclusivists have the numbers here in America, but God's truth is not validated by counting. God's truth is effective and saving only when we listen to the full range of the gospel with a willingness to consider that the ways of God's grace are far beyond our human comprehension. In our frantic security operations we are tempted to play the game "who's in and who's out." We play it so that we will be counted with the "ins." Yet if we can slip away from the anxiety that feeds our narrowness, we might dare to ponder anew the hymn that says, "There's a wideness in God's mercy." Such a divine generosity will certainly be the next great leap in proclaiming and living the gospel.
Most of us are aware of the dynamic toward a growing unity in a much larger field. This is the growing effort to celebrate the work of God in all the great historical religions -- Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, and others. All these witness to a larger reality pervading the rest of life. Each of these religious traditions has their way of spelling out their conviction about this larger reality and how to respond to it. Many are sensing that these varying traditions enrich all of us and we may rejoice in this great variety of religious insights. We can say this, too, is "another great fact of our era."
Our Exclusive Christian Tradition
Of course, we Christians come from an exclusivist heritage. We have claimed Jesus as God's unique revealing of this ultimate reality, making Christianity superior to all other faiths. We have also claimed that those who are ignorant of Jesus' high status, or who refuse to accept this claim, are doomed to spend eternity apart from God. Such claims are embedded in the New Testament. In John's depiction of Jesus in the upper room before his death, he says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Matthew reports these words of Jesus, "... No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). And in the book of Acts, Peter says, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
New religious movements display a common pattern in their early beginnings. Small in number and having little social or political power, they make a place for themselves through exclusive and unyielding claims for their truth. The early Christians, surrounded by a great deal of hostility from Judaism, and persecution from the Empire, began to preach that they possessed the only means of eternal salvation. In this way the early Christians forged a significant identity against those who would disdain and marginalize them.
This exclusive claim captured the allegiance of huge numbers in that day. Their numbers became so large that the Emperor Constantine shrewdly used the church to stabilize the many fragments of the Empire from Spain to Constantinople. In the Middle Ages, several Popes played on this exclusivist element in the faith, by calling for the Crusades against the Muslims who controlled the holy land, hoping these efforts would distract the many local sovereigns from challenging papal power and authority. The Reformation brought little challenge to these claims about the saving uniqueness of Christian faith, but in the nineteenth century, called "the great missionary expansion of the Christian church," these exclusivist claims experienced a significant muting.
In the early 1800s, Protestant denominations from America and the British Isles began to form foreign missionary agencies. The stated mission of these agencies was to bring the gospel to the non-Christian world so they might receive God's mercy and salvation. A reading of the letters and papers of David Livingston clearly indicates that he went out to Central Africa lest many die without eternal life promised in Christ. In James Michener's novel, Hawaii, he shows the rigid, exclusivism that drove the missionaries to that island paradise, brutally destroying the Hawaiians' cultural religious heritage.
The ironic result of these intrusions into the non-Christian worlds of Africa, India, China, Japan, and the Pacific Islands is interesting. Many involved in this missionary movement began to have appreciation for the non-Christian traditions where they went. Such a response was only a minority to be sure. But it provided a critique of Christian exclusivist claims which, along with our shrinking world, has made many Christians ask if it is time to reconsider our claims of superior knowledge and the exclusive approval of God.
The Sins Of Exclusivism
The sins of our historical exclusive claims are easy to enumerate, except within some parts of the evangelical church. Many evangelicals continue to find an ongoing insistence upon the necessity of faith and commitment to Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. But for the rest of us some of the following things seem clear:
One, exclusivity promotes an arrogance that is beyond the spirit of Jesus. Whether the historical Jesus or some later Christian communities and editors put those exclusivist words on his lips, we cannot know. It is quite clear that soon after his death, resurrection, and the rise of the Jesus movement, some were making such claims. But there is a sense that the merciful God revealed in Jesus is appalled at our attitude. We are warned about the dangers of material riches in the New Testament. There is also the implicit warning of danger of claiming to possess some spiritual status through which we look down on those not having our elevated spirituality. We cannot think that Jesus would welcome our disparaging any who is not part of the Christian company. Arrogance is simply not good religion and not good evangelism.
Secondly, exclusivism impoverishes us toward the riches of non-Christian religions. A modern scholar of non-Christian religions, Huston Smith, exudes appreciation for all the religions he has studied. In his many books he has made this clear. In fact, Smith has found many of the spiritual practices of some of these non-Christian religions nourishing his Christian faith and devotional life. Smith does not recommend that we leave our Christian faith to become the adherent of another faith. Instead he urges us to find in these other faiths, expressions of belief and spiritual regimen that will increase our own Christian convictions. Huston Smith calls us to the humility advocated by the prophet Micah: "What does the lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humble with your God." We can find God's grace and mercy beyond our Christian moorings and failing to do this will seriously impoverish our spiritual lives and faith.
A third result of an exclusive Christianity is it portrays a narrow-minded God. Such a God refuses to love all creatures, denying them eternity if they have not confessed faith in Christ, holding to an unbending exclusivism. If we humans were so rigid and narrow, we would provoke the dislike of our friends and neighbors. Once the evangelical spike of the last twenty years subsides, much of the reason will be due to its presentation of a narrow-minded God now prominent in evangelical preaching, teaching, and piety. Methodism's John Wesley said that he was "within a hair's breath of Calvinism." But he parted with the Calvinists over the doctrine of predestination saying that it makes God something of a monster. Instead the human heart insists God's grace and moral character at least equals the best human grace and generosity. Exclusivism in so many ways is not a very attractive option. We might venture a possibility that modern exclusivism masks inner drives and painful experiences, driving its possessors to adopt a seriously crippled faith.
Much Argues For An Inclusive Faith
Whether these more inclusive lines from the New Testament are authentically Jesus or are from a early Christian tradition, they make our point. The disciple John was vexed because someone was exorcising demons in the name of Jesus. Unlike those who so resent and attempt to halt anyone using our unique ideas or status, Jesus makes a clear inclusive reply: "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:39-40). This text implies that Jesus does not have an exclusive franchise on God's love and mercy. Here is a powerful argument for an inclusive faith, countering more exclusive texts found in the biblical record.
American theologian, John Lowes Watson, puts this straightforwardly in his book, God Does Not Foreclose. You don't have to read the book to know where Watson is heading. He is insisting on an inclusive faith denying Christians our claim for a special, privileged relationship with God, receiving God's everlasting mercy, denied all others. He has a companion in Emil Brunner, great Christian scholar in the 1930s through the 1950s. Brunner said all persons, Christians and all others, are within the eternal grace of God. The only Christian advantage is that we know it and are filled with joy and gratitude. He illustrated his point by picturing all humanity gathered on the decks of a sinking ship. In the midst of the panic, the Christians know the water is only ankle deep! So our Christian privilege is not some special status granted by God. Our only edge is to know we are called to share this wonderful news with others.
William Barclay has published a popular series of commentaries on New Testament documents. Writing for a lay audience, he introduced a whole generation of lay people into sound biblical scholarship. Some years ago, he wrote an article, A Spiritual Autobiography, in which he declared, "I am a convinced universalist." He said God's salvation, earthly and beyond, is given to all humanity regardless of their religious tradition, or lack of one. Anyone reading Barclay's commentaries is aware that he is no wild-eyed radical scholar. It is wise to pay serious attention to his claim that because Jesus so often speaks of God as Father, universalism is implied. In Barclay's words:
No father would count it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family. The only triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offering of love is answered by the return of love. The only final triumph is a universe loved and in love with God.
Strange as it might seem to many, an inclusive sense of the grace and mercy of God is the best way to make our witness to the gospel in our time. At the moment, the exclusivists have the numbers here in America, but God's truth is not validated by counting. God's truth is effective and saving only when we listen to the full range of the gospel with a willingness to consider that the ways of God's grace are far beyond our human comprehension. In our frantic security operations we are tempted to play the game "who's in and who's out." We play it so that we will be counted with the "ins." Yet if we can slip away from the anxiety that feeds our narrowness, we might dare to ponder anew the hymn that says, "There's a wideness in God's mercy." Such a divine generosity will certainly be the next great leap in proclaiming and living the gospel.
