Preaching to you only once a year is not an easy task -- so I spend a great deal of time simply seeking to discern what message God desires to speak through me. In that discernment process -- involving a lot of prayer and reflection -- my memory served me well. The Holy Spirit brought to my mind an experience I had here in Memphis. Since it was an experience worth remembering and since it happened here, I have an idea I shared it with this congregation when it happened. Didn’t I always share the important things going on in my life?
I remember it as though it were yesterday. I was driving east on Poplar Avenue when I noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. The large letters said, “I AM A GENERIC CHRISTIAN.” Well, that got my attention. I never thought about anyone being a generic Christian. I saw that something else was written on the bumper sticker and I wanted to know what it was. I’m afraid I got dangerously close to the rear end of that fellow so that I could read what else was there. It said, “Ask me what I mean.”
That intrigued me even more. What was that person trying to say? “I’m a generic Christian. Ask me what I mean.” My interest was further whetted by the fact that the sticker was on an $80,000 Mercedes. I wondered how anyone driving such a car could be a generic anything. A couple of blocks on down the street, the driver pulled into Mr. Pride Carwash and I couldn’t resist. I didn’t need a car wash but I turned in behind him because I wanted to speak to the driver and find out what he meant with that intriguing message on the bumper of his Mercedes.
The fellow told me he was a member of a local congregation, but he was so tired of denomination emphases and sectarian politics in the church that he wanted to proclaim a different kind of message. He wanted the world to know that he was a Christian, not any label -- hence a generic Christian.
Well, the fellow had a point. But I wonder. I wonder if we don’t have too many generic Christians and not enough distinctive Christians, those who are so committed in belief, faith and action, so sold out to Jesus, that people who know them will know without question that they are Christian.
We need more than generic Christians. So I want to talk to you about that today. Generic Christianity is not enough. We need disciples who are so committed to following Jesus, being in ministry, serving people in Christ’s name, that there will never be any question as to who they are and what they are about.
I believe that’s one of our primary problems in the church today, especially our mainline churches. The mainline has become the sideline. We have allowed the world around us to squeeze us into its mold...
. . . intimidated by the prevailing, Supreme Court-affirmed, scientific materialistic world-view of the Enlightenment and afraid of being labeled fundamentalists, we have diminished our biblical emphasis, almost ignoring it altogether;
. . . we have smothered the spiritual essence of persons, and left no room for the miracle-working of the Holy Spirit;
. . . our eagerness to embrace ethnic, cultural, and religious pluralism has led our church to a place where the distinctive claims of Christ’s saving grace seem to be nothing more than a matter of opinion or a description of our personal experience;
. . . we have distorted and defined pluralism as a rigid ideology and have not been willing to do the hard work of affirming and celebrating diversity without sacrificing the faith claims of Scripture and the distinctives of “the faith once and for all delivered to the saints”;
. . . radical individual rights has become the core value of our nation’s secular religion, so the rights of privacy are sanctified by the courts of the land. Abortion has become a fact of life and the practice of homosexuality is seen as a civil right. The rampant, radical individual rights of secular ideology are left unchallenged by generic Christianity which shies away from calling people to responsibility and judgment.
Well, you get the picture -- I hope. The question is, how do we move from that generic bland undistinctive designation of being Christian? How do we move from being generic Christians to being those who are seeking to take Paul seriously in his call to that first generations of Christians?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)
A hotel clerk received a long-distance phone call about an overnight reservation. “Do you want a room with a tub or a shower?” the clerk asked.
“What’s the difference?” the caller replied.
“Well,” came the snobbish response, “with a tub, you sit down.”
Being a Christian is not just another way of talking about being a good citizen or being an American. It’s not just another way of talking about being a church member. There’s nothing bland or generic or iffy about it. We are talking about the definitive issue of life -- what should be the most distinctive thing about us?
I want to make three declarations to support my contention that generic Christianity is not enough -- and hopefully provide direction and power to move us along in our distinctive, difference-making Christian walk.
One, there are ways of life -- and there is the way.
Two, there are books, and books, and books -- but there is the book -- the Christian’s book: the Bible.
Three, there are judgments in life, and there is the judgment, the final judgment.
Let’s look at these.
I
First, there are ways of life, and there is the way. There are inviting, attractive, challenging ways of life that are not Christian. No one denies that. In fact, that’s a big part of the problem. We can know a measure of happiness, meaning in our work, fulfillment in relationships, and if we are the few lucky ones that tragedy never seems to touch, we can move through life with a marked degree of peace and contentment.
. . . but let tragedy strike
. . . let the economic bottom fall out
. . . let a 16-year-old daughter get pregnant
. . . let the revelation come that a family member is a practicing homosexual -- and add the ominous threat to the fact -- he or she has AIDS
. . . let cancer invade the bloodstream and the bone marrow of a 13-year-old -- and an auto accident claim the life of one of our brightest, most joy-filled students -- both of which have happened at Asbury in the past month
Let these things happen and we know that there are ways of life that promise much but offer little. There are ways of life and there is the way: Jesus, “the way, the truth, and the life.”
There are those who would say that it’s too exclusive to claim Jesus as the way. There are all sorts of ways, they say. Did you see the TV segment about the orphanage in Albania? A young man, Mark Nyberg, is the director. Burning, looting, and wild tirades of killing forced our government to evacuate American citizens from Albania -- but Nyberg would not leave. He moved into the orphanage and is staying with the children. He is there, he says, out of his love for Jesus. Ask him about the way.
I’ve been reading a lot about the church in China. The survival of Christians there is miraculous. Some say there are 60 million Christians there, with 32,000 praying to receive Christ each day. And that is in spite of horrendous persecution and torture -- persons severely beaten, boiling water poured on them to force false confessions. But the only confession that comes is the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Persons like that are convinced that if Jesus Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. Let’s don’t send generic Christian missionaries over there, who will confuse these courageous souls with their fuzzy thinking about religions pluralism and universal salvation.
Mark it down, generic Christianity is not enough. There are ways and there is the way.
II
Two, there are books and books and books, but there is the Book. . . the Christian’s book: the Bible.
There is a Jewish legend that says that God negotiated with the Jews about the possession of the Torah, the book of sacred writings of the Jews. God said to the people, “I am going to give you this holy book. Who will be the guarantors?” The people said, “The elders will.” God said, “No, choose somebody else.” The people said then,” The prophets will be the guarantors.” God said, “No, I don’t want that. Name somebody else.” So the people said, “The children will be the guarantors.” And God said, “Yes, the children will be the guarantors of this holy tradition, for it is for their sake that I give you this book.”
Commenting on this story, Mark Trotter said:
If the children of any generation are not taught the values of that civilization, that civilization is in jeopardy.
(Mark Trotter, in a sermon entitled “Hooray for Organized Religion,” preached at First UMC, San Diego, CA, February 23, 1997).
I do not believe the Christian faith is in jeopardy. I do believe many of what we call our mainline churches are in jeopardy. I believe United Methodism as a growing vital denomination is in jeopardy because for at least 75 years there has been an erosion of our commitment to the authority of Scripture. Outright denial of that authority is expressed by a visible and aggressive segment of our denominational leadership. More subtle but pernicious questioning of the Bible comes from every direction. I could give you specific instances -- arguments and speeches at General Conference, specific statements of bishops, books that are being published regularly, teaching in our Christian colleges and seminaries, but I don’t have time.
I simply ask how: How can we preserve our life as a church, not to mention finding our way personally, if we do not have a source of authority, if we don’t accept the Bible as God’s revealed word, sufficient in directing us to salvation, guiding us in being disciples of Jesus and providing the support, comfort, and strength we need for daily living?
When we diminish and question the authority of Scripture as God’s revelation and God’s word, then we are undercutting and denying that which makes the Christian faith distinctive. When that happens, we become generic Christians -- and generic Christianity is not enough. God made it clear in our text: “You must be holy as I am holy.”
A college professor presented the following problem in an ethics class: “A certain man has syphilis; his wife has tuberculosis; of their four children, one has died, the other three suffer from an illness that is considered terminal. The mother is pregnant. What do you recommend?”
After considerable discussion, the recommendation made by the majority of the students was to abort the pregnancy. “It was,” as a class member said, “the expedient thing to do.”
“That is interesting,” replied the professor. “You have just kept Beethoven from coming into the world.” (Story told by Dr. Rodney E. Wilmoth, in a sermon preached at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, MN, February 23, 1997).
This is not a sermon on abortion, but the tragic holocaust of abortion illustrates what happens when we forsake the authority of scripture and therefore have no accepted guide as to what we say yes and no to. We fall into that alluring notion that morality is relative, personal experience must be our normative value, one religion is as good as another, and that we can’t be triumphalist as Christians in claiming that there is the way, the truth, and the life. The students’ response to the professor’s question about abortion -- “the expedient thing to do” -- is damning our culture. We’d better be careful. The expedient thing, the dignified thing, the personal and private thing that has given us the abortion holocaust, could give us a holocaust of physician-assisted suicide and an expansion of abortion to infanticide -- and now an emerging genre of expression, “cloning a super race.”
Unless there is the way among all other ways, and unless there is the Book that is our authority, there is no center around which we can move and order our life. Then everything, including Christianity, becomes generic and generic Christianity is not enough.
III
And now this: there are judgments in life and there is the judgment, the final judgment. When we lose this conviction, or when this conviction is kept under the rug of our awareness, we become far too casual about life -- how we act, how we relate to others, the values we hold --become all too relative.
Richard Holloway, a writer I have only recently discovered, former Anglican bishop of Edinburgh, tells of an experience one wet summer Sunday when he went to a church in Salisbury. The tone of the service, to use the bishop’s words, was “not exactly stirring, but gently Anglican.” There was “no sense of captivating awe or overwhelming emotion of any sort, everything was decent and orderly, nothing to set the blood racing.”
During the passing of the peace, Bishop Holloway looked up at the soaring chancel arch and there was what is called a “dome painting.” It pictured demons with long, forked tails thrusting tormented souls into hell “where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” Bishop Holloway said,
I returned to that painting repeatedly as the service proceeded, and the incongruity of it all struck me with considerable force. There was clearly little or no relationship between what was happening below [in the service] and what was happening above [in the painting]. Once there would have been a solid connection between what was done or said in that church and the gruesome painting that dominated the entrance to the sanctuary. [That painting] had issued a warning:
Remember, Christian soul
that thou hast this life and every day of thy life
God to glorify,
Jesus to imitate,
a soul to save,
a body to mortify,
sins to repent of,
virtues to acquire,
hell to avoid,
heaven to gain,
eternity to prepare for,
time to profit by,
neighbors to edify,
the world to despise,
devils to combat,
passions to subdue,
judgment to undergo. (1)
Again, Bishop Holloway observed, “It all seems a long time ago, but that is only because we have short memories.” Some of us can remember when such warnings sounded from pulpits and even our Christian conversation would occasionally engage the subject.
I want to make a confession. One of the weaknesses of my preaching throughout the years, and I make this confession with an aching heart, I have not sounded the note of judgment as clearly as it is called for in history and demanded by God. I am not talking about the stereotypical hell-fire-and-damnation, though I am certain that “any of the greatest missionary saints in Christian history were prompted to their heroic labors by the somber knowledge that only their offer of the Christian gospels stood between their listeners and eternal damnation.” (Holloway, pp. 54-55) Do you believe that how persons respond to Christ and the Christian gospel makes an eternal difference?
What I am saying -- and what I want to make as clear as possible -- is that there is judgment in life -- what we do has its consequences and those consequences are inevitable. But also what I am saying is that there are not only judgments in life -- there is the judgment, the final judgment. There comes a time when all our second chances run out.
In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins there a line that captures it all: “The door was shut!” Do you remember? When the foolish virgins failed to make preparation for the bridegroom, when he came and they had no oil, they scampered off to find oil. But too late -- when they returned the door was shut. There comes a time when our second chances have run out.
How we live is important. What we believe makes a difference. Jesus put it this way: “Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me.” And in that parable he talked about persons being cast into outer darkness.
There are judgments in life -- and there is the judgment. So I ask you again: do you believe that how persons respond to Christ and the Christian gospel makes an eternal difference? Generic Christianity may say no -- but generic Christianity is not enough.
IV
I’ve sounded three declarations to support my contention that generic Christianity is not enough:
One, there are ways of life -- and there is the way.
Two, there are books and books and books -- but there is the Book -- the Christian’s book: the Bible.
Three, there are judgments in life, and there is the judgment, the final judgment.
I close with this. We’ve had a heavy month at the Seminary. As in any community tragic things happen -- things we don’t understand. Also shocking actions and attitudes (perfection has not yet come to us as a community).
Some of you know about one of our tough issues. Jessica, the 13-year-old daughter of one of our students, Rick Winchester, has been here at St. Jude’s, recently diagnosed with bone cancer. Thank you who have ministered to them.
A second tragic thing was the death of one of our most joy-filled students, Jon Cannon. I don’t know all of our students, but I knew Jon. I intervened and caught him totally off guard in one of his practical jokes about 3 weeks before his death. He was such fun -- a member of our student government -- great promise as a minister and leader. He was killed in an auto accident. A big horse truck literally ran over his car, crushing the top in on Jon. He was trapped there for hours.
I wish you could have witnessed the way our students cared for Jon’s family from Pennsylvania who were here with him the five days he lived in the hospital after the accident. No generic Christianity there. They fed the family, kept a 24-hour prayer vigil, took up money and paid for motel rooms, and loved them. The parents were transformed by that love -- and they will never be the same. But that’s not the story.
At the memorial service, a young woman whom our community did not know, gave a witness. Some weeks earlier, she had been in an auto accident. Her car was off the road, out of sight. Jon Cannon and another student saw her lying by the side of the road. While the other student went for help and until the ambulance came, Jon stayed with the young woman, telling her stories, making her laugh, reading Scripture, praying -- keeping her conscious. She witnessed to the fact that the doctor said had it not been for Jon, she would probably have gone into shock, lost consciousness, and suffered irreparable damage.
Isn’t is ironic, and who can fathom it? Jon died in the way he had saved this one from death. But the community celebrated at the memorial service. Of course they cried. OF course a pall of sadness enveloped our campus, but we rejoiced and celebrated. Why? How? They claimed the way, and they knew Jon had claimed the way. They know the Book and they accept its authority and promise -- and they know that was true of Jon. They are certain that there are judgments in life and that there is the final judgment. That judgment is joy for Jon, because the One whose resurrection we celebrated last Sunday, with outstretched arms, has welcomed Jon home. No generic Christianity can give us that kind of hope.
1. Richard Holloway, Seven to Flee, Seven to Follow, London and Oxford: Mowbray, 1986, pp. 51-52