A Second Battle of Tours (7)

Introduction:

The Bible teaches us that God’s ways are not ours, and that God’s wisdom is folly to man, and that man’s wisdom is folly to God. Worldliness is therefore not to be thought of as shot full of vice (although in the long run it always is), but rather as something shot full of virtue and respectability. The will of the Father that sent Jesus His Son to the cross reveals this divide as nothing else can.

The Text:

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1-5).

Overview:

The apostle Paul did not come to Corinthians as a trained rhetorician (v. 1). His determination was to know nothing in their midst except the crucified Lord (v. 2). When he was there, he was not a personal dynamo (v. 3), and his speech was not according to the canons of this world (v. 4). Nevertheless, it was still powerful (v. 4), and this was in order that the faith of the Corinthians would not rest in the wisdom of men but rather in the power of God (v. 5).

Can’t Tell the Players Without a Scorecard:

The division between Shiite and Sunni Muslims occurred 13 centuries ago in a dispute over who was the rightful successor to Muhammad. The Shiites are in the majority in Iran and Iraq. The Sunnis predominate everywhere else. There is a smaller, mystical sect called the Sufis who need not concern us here. As a historical matter, the Sunnis have been much more political, and the Shiites were comparatively non-political—until the late seventies and the rise of Ayatolla Khomeni. The radical Wahabi sect from Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda are Sunnis. Throw into this mix the fact that many predominantly Muslim countries are formally secular—like Turkey and Syria, and as Saddam’s Iraq was. They are Muslim countries the same way that the United States is Christian.

Submission to What?

We have noted that Islam means submission to Allah, and a Muslim is one who has submitted. What is the place where submission occurs? What is required? The five pillars of Islam are as follows: The first is the creedal declaration of faith or testimony. “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet.” The second pillar is to pray five times daily, while facing Mecca. The third is almsgiving to the poor. The fourth is to abstain from food, drink, smoking, sex, and so on, during the daylight hours of the lunar month of Ramadan. The fifth pillar is the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca sometime in one’s life (as possible).

But the highest duty for the Muslim transcends all these, and this is the duty to wage jihad.

“Do you pretend that he who gives a drink to the pilgrims and pays a visit to the Sacred Mosque is as worthy as the man who believes in God and the Last Day, and fights for God’s cause? These are not held equal by God . . .Those that have embraced the Faith, and left their homes and fought for God’s cause with their wealth and with their persons, are held in higher regard by God” (Koran 9:19-20).

Jihad (force, power) are typical of Islam. The modern world has changed Muslims in many ways, but not in this respect. Terrorism is not how Suleiman spread his power, but it is a straight-up right-handed power in either case. If people are uncooperative and refuse to submit, then you do what it takes to make them submit.

A Crucified God:

The Koran affirms many things about Jesus that are true. For example, while His Deity is denied, the fact that He was born of a virgin is affirmed. The fact that He was a prophet of God is also affirmed. But the most significant denial comes in the Muslim denial that Jesus was ever crucified.

“They denied the truth and uttered a monstrous falsehood against Mary. They declared, ‘We have put to death the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the apostle of God.’ They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did” (Koran 4:156-157).

This is fully in accord with the wisdom of men, but it is a flat out rejection of the power of God. Please note that this is not a disagreement about a particular fact, as whether Jesus ever went to Capernaum. It reveals the way our minds and hearts are shaped—whether as incarnational Christians or as worldlings.

Nothing But Christ and Him Crucified:

The cross of Jesus Christ is not a tiny subset of theology, and when the apostle Paul said that he resolved to know nothing but “Christ and him crucified,” he was not promising to stay on that tiny subject. The death and resurrection of Jesus are at the heart of all things. It is not possible to talk about anything in the world accurately without involving the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it is not possible to fully consider Christ and Him crucified without talking about the universe and everything in it.

For our purposes, the center of our faith is the conquest of the world by dying. First, we find the death of Jesus, but in imitation of Him, all His disciples. For the Muslim, life is much more “straightforward.” If you want to conquer the world you do it by killing and subduing.

If death and life are two fundamental realities (and they are), there are three possible religions. One is the religion of death (and no resurrection). This is the religion of the pietist, or the escapist. Christian retreatists go this route. The second is the religion of life (with no death). This is the right-handed attempt to seize and wield power, and is the way of Islam. The third is the faith that will fill the earth with fruit—death and resurrection. The pattern is one of full surrender in death and full vindication in life forever.