CHRISTIANS AND THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS
Dear Friends,
In June I will preach through the Book Of Haggai. In some parts of the world, what I will say would be seen as highly partisan and political. Some would counsel me not to speak as I will. What gives? Should I change what I will say? Some questions with comments.
First. How on earth can your upcoming sermons be seen as partisan and political? The Book of Haggai was probably written around the year 520BC. It contains 4 messages that the prophet Haggai had from the Lord, which he delivered to the Jewish exiles who had left Babylon and returned to Jerusalem and its environs. The Lord, through Haggai, was calling the Jewish people to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. It was His intention, that the Jewish people would once again worship and serve Him in the land the He had promised them. I have to talk of these matters in preaching through the book. You may now get a sense of how the Book of Haggai could be seen as partisan and political. Many Muslims, especially Palestinian Muslims, deny that there was an ancient Jewish presence in the land of Israel, Gaza, or the West Bank. They say that Palestinians are the sole people with an ancient tie to the land. The Jewish people are thieves and interlopers from Europe, the U.S. and parts of Africa. So, when I preach that Haggai, over 2500 years ago, was urging the Jewish people to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, I am directly contradicting the Palestinian and Muslim narrative, and reinforcing the Jewish claims. Please note, the subject of how these ancient promises and the history of the last one hundred years affects the current specific land claims is something I will not talk about at all. I think Christians can talk about these things, but such topics are beyond the reasonable scope of my sermons addressed to a congregation in urban Ottawa. However, even with this caveat, my sermon will be seen by some as partisan and political.
Second. I thought from your earlier blogs that you were opposed to political sermons? The Bible speaks to moral issues. So if your church is seeking to declare the whole counsel of God in the context of the Gospel, and the Gospel in the context of the whole counsel of God, then you will teach what the Bible says about moral issues. Sometimes moral issues become political issues. In other words, the culture makes the moral issue political. This will mean that your sermon on a moral issue will be seen by some people as political. Sometimes your preaching will seem to be partisan, and sometimes it will be political without being partisan. Take the issue of abortion. If you preach that the Bible teaches that abortion is wrong, some may see this as a political sermon, but not as a politically partisan sermon, since no major Canadian political party is pro life. In the U.S., because a significant number of Republicans are pro life, the same sermon may be seen as both political and partisan. I think that a good church is supposed to declare the whole counsel of God, so that means that at times the sermons will seem political and partisan. In the case of my Haggai sermons, the issue is not moral, but of what the Bible teaches about history and God's covenants. To declare the whole counsel of God is to declare that God did make a covenant with the Jewish people; He did lead them in the Exodus from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the promised land; He did call them to build a Temple in Jerusalem; He did warn them of judgment for unfaithfulness; He did judge them by the Babylonians, so that most of the people were carried away and the Temple destroyed; He did promise them that after 70 years He would bring them back; He did keep His word and the people returned and Jerusalem and the Temple were rebuilt. It is unfortunate that this has become political and partisan, but, we are to still declare the whole counsel of God to Israeli Jews, Palestinian Christians, and Palestinian Muslims.
Third. Shouldn't Canadian Christians support Palestinian Christians? Isn't it wrong for Canadian Christians to side with Jewish people over Christians? Shouldn't you show this in your teaching? A Palestinian who becomes a Christian is your brother. It is also the case that a Jewish person who becomes a Christian is your brother. You should pray that many people in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza will come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is also true that you should do what you can to support your brothers and sisters in these areas. However, you should resist any effort to make you ignore the whole counsel of God for partisan political reasons. Your Palestinian brother cannot properly ask you to ignore the Biblical message so as to support them in a campaign against Israel. I do not know what it is like to be a Christian believer in Bethlhem, and watch the city go from majority Christian to majority Muslim, and to have the terrorist organization Fatah be the political authority, and to have Hamas be more popular than Fatah. It must be very, very, very difficult. However, the Old Testament is the very word of God, infallible and authoritative. You cannot be an orthodox Christian and accept the Palestinian Muslim view that the Old Testament is false.
One more very important matter. Fatah and Hamas publicly call for the end of the Jewish state. They publicly desire to drive the Jewish people into the sea - in other words, to see the death of as many Jews as needed. To the extent that your Palestinian brothers and sisters share these desires, they are guilty of a muderous anti-semitism that Christians need to consistently and publicly speak against.
Fourth. Given that you want to reach Muslims with the Gospel, shouldn't you avoid topics that will needlessly antagonize them? What if a Muslim came to your church and heard you preach on Haggai, won't that drive him away? I recently said in a sermon that we should pray for the day when a man named Mohammed becomes a Pastor of our church. The great commandment and the great commission teach that you need to pray for a great love for Muslims, and pray that many of your Muslim neighbours will come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. You need to pray for opportunities to share the gospel with your Muslim friends, and invite them to church. However, the Gospel is always an offence. The whole counsel of God will always contain essential elements that are an offence. Pray that the Lord will continually renew your mind and heart so that you embrace without embarrassment and shame, the Gospel and the whole counsel of God. Pray that you will be winsome, self-effacing, and humble. Pray that the Lord will give you apt examples to explain the Bible and the Gospel. But pray very hard for clarity and truthfulness as well. It is far better for your Muslim friend to hear something like Haggai opened up in light of the Gospel, than for you to pretend the Old Testament is not part of the Bible or not important. Remember that only the Triune God can convert. You cannot persuade someone into being born again. The Bible calls you to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ, and God does the sovereign, miraculous, work of conversion. Oh yes, you should also pray for the day that a man named Tzvi or Moishe becomes a Pastor in your church.
Please pray for me and all who open the word, that we will do so with humility, clarity, winsomeness as we call people to Jesus, the only Saviour, and the only Lord.
George+
