THE OLD ORDER AND THE KINGDOM (4 OF 5)
Scripture: Philemon 13, Philemon 14, Philemon 15, Philemon 16
This content is part of a series.
The Old Order and the Kingdom (4 of 5)
Series: A Most Subversive Gospel
Wyman Richardson
Philemon 13-16
Read Philemon 13-16
''Pastor, that was a good sermon this morning...''
I began to open my mouth to thank him for the kind word when he finished his statement.
''...until you got into social experimentation.''
I once preached a sermon in an environment that had a kind of simmering subterranean racial tension. The town was divided both racially and socio-economically. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it was not really divided in terms of active hostilities but rather in terms of the existence of two largely distinct social spheres. By and large, things operated as they always did in this town, but the question of people of different races worshiping together in church was still, for some, a sticking point.
I had made the point in the sermon that Jesus levels the field, that the blood of Christ means that there are no more categories of people, that there are now just people. We are now freed to view people as people without the baggage of either explicit or implicit caste systems. The Church therefore becomes the sphere of reality in the midst of the world that models other-worldly values, not the least of which is the value of equality, non-partiality, and love among all people as equals.
The man who made this comment to me was actually saying something quite interesting. ''Pastor, that was a good sermon this morning...until you got into social experimentation'' is a statement about the limits of theological truth. In essence, the gentleman was telling me that he enjoyed hearing about Jesus and the cross, but any attempt actually and literally to extend those teachings to real social transformation in a culture that was racially divided was ''social experimentation.''
While the man no-doubt would deny that this was what he meant, it seemed clear enough to me at the time and seems no less clear to me today that he viewed Ch ...
Series: A Most Subversive Gospel
Wyman Richardson
Philemon 13-16
Read Philemon 13-16
''Pastor, that was a good sermon this morning...''
I began to open my mouth to thank him for the kind word when he finished his statement.
''...until you got into social experimentation.''
I once preached a sermon in an environment that had a kind of simmering subterranean racial tension. The town was divided both racially and socio-economically. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it was not really divided in terms of active hostilities but rather in terms of the existence of two largely distinct social spheres. By and large, things operated as they always did in this town, but the question of people of different races worshiping together in church was still, for some, a sticking point.
I had made the point in the sermon that Jesus levels the field, that the blood of Christ means that there are no more categories of people, that there are now just people. We are now freed to view people as people without the baggage of either explicit or implicit caste systems. The Church therefore becomes the sphere of reality in the midst of the world that models other-worldly values, not the least of which is the value of equality, non-partiality, and love among all people as equals.
The man who made this comment to me was actually saying something quite interesting. ''Pastor, that was a good sermon this morning...until you got into social experimentation'' is a statement about the limits of theological truth. In essence, the gentleman was telling me that he enjoyed hearing about Jesus and the cross, but any attempt actually and literally to extend those teachings to real social transformation in a culture that was racially divided was ''social experimentation.''
While the man no-doubt would deny that this was what he meant, it seemed clear enough to me at the time and seems no less clear to me today that he viewed Ch ...
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