Dear friends, "Amen" is a word we often say but rarely think of its meaning.  Lutherans say it at the end of prayers but not usually during sermons.  Other Christians say it all the time.  It's a Greek word that means, "Yes!" or if used as a response, it means "I agree!"  Amen to that!

          Three little Pentecostal ladies always sat up front during church service and always spoke their amens out loud during the sermon with gusto.  One day the pastor was preaching on the Ten Commandments.  He said, "God said, 'Thou shalt not steal.'"  And they agreed with "Amen!"  The pastor continued, "Thou shalt honor thy father and mother," and their "Amen" was a bit louder.  "Thou shalt not kill."  "Amen, brother!" they said.  "Thou shalt not commit adultry," and their "Amen" fairly shook the rafters.  Then he looked directly at them and said, "And thou shalt not gossip about thy neighbor."  To which one of them said aloud, "Preacher, you're getting personal!"

          Amen means, "Yes!" and we all like hearing "Yes!"  The mother of the teenager asks her son to clean his room and nearly faints hearing him say, "Yes, Mom."  Daughter asks her father if she can have the car tonight and is thrilled to hear him say, "Yes."  So also the young man in love is overjoyed when he asks the big question, and she says warmly, "Yes!"  And quite a few athletes this past week have heard the results of a certain event, and they reacted by saying, "YES!"

          So also God asks us to follow Him and loves to hear us say "Yes".  But we live in a world where "No" is often heard spoken the loudest.  "No" is the world's reaction to Jesus Christ.  Permission is sought to honor Him in public, and the answer is "No."  People seek Christianity to be respected along with other religions and the answer is "No."  At least don't mock Jesus in public, but the answer is "No!"  Double Standard - what's the problem?  We will do what we will do.

          I have been teaching a class here for several weeks, comparing the Bible and the Koran.  Not surprisingly, there has been no lack of information to discuss, as well as daily events discussed the world over.  I have tried not to use this pulpit as a forum for refutation of Islam, but I believe at least one comparison with Christianity may help us.  And I want to thank Dr. John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis, for his thoughts that helped me with today's message.

          What we have seen recently in the demonstrations over the Danish cartoons of Muhammad is a vivid example of the difference between Islam and Christianity.  The work of Muhammad is based on being honored, while the work of Christ is based on being humiliated.  Muslims insist Muhammad be honored by all people, while Christians demand nothing like that of Christ.  This produces two very different religions, as well as the inability of one to understand the other.

          It should be noted, first of all, that nowhere in the Koran is there a command to get indignant if Mohammad is somehow dishonored.  It's part of how a few Muslims interpret the Koran and then incite others to follow them.  That Muhammad MUST be honored by everyone is a new Islamic doctrine.  It is only a recent development that Muslims turn to riot and murder when they see Muhammad insulted by non-Muslims.

          But if Christians see Christ insulted, we almost expect it.  We don't like it, but we know it happens.  Indeed, it is even necessary.  For if Jesus had not been insulted, there would be no salvation.  If He had not died an innocent death, sinners would have no hope for eternal life.

          To be insulted and die innocently is how Christ rescued sinners from the wrath of God.  In the Psalms this was promised: "All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads." (Psalm 22:7)   And Isaiah the prophet wrote, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3)

          Those prophesies came 600-800 years before Christ lived.  And their fulfillment was worse than the words.  The Gospels tell us, "They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. . . . And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'  And they spit on him." (Matthew 27:28-30)

          And Christ's response to all this was not outrage, but patience and endurance.  This is what He came to do.  "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter... so He opened not His mouth." (Isaiah 53:7)   Jesus rejected is saying "Yes" to humanity!  That's our Savior.

          But that was certainly not Muhammad.  No one can be allowed to mock.  And amazingly, Muslims say the same about Jesus.  Muslims have been taught that Jesus was not crucified, that someone else went to the cross in His place.  One Sunni Muslim writes, "Muslims believe that Allah saved the Messiah from crucifixion.  We refuse to believe that God would permit him to suffer death on the cross."  In other words, "No!"  Jesus cannot have suffered.  The Bible can't be right, they say.

          It is essential to Islam to avoid humiliation.  If that happens, strike back, and as hard as possible.  How different from Jesus Christ!  He says, "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, let him strike the other also." (Matthew 5:39)   For Jesus, enduring mockery was essential to His mission.  And He did it that we might not have to endure it.

          You and I deserve it, but don't get it - that's God's grace!  For a true Christian, enduring suffering patiently for the sake of Christ is part of our faith.  Jesus once said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." (Matthew 5:11)   Blessings come from persecution, not from continual honor.

          During His life on earth Jesus was called terrible names, but never once did He strike back.  In John 8:41 He is called an illegitimate child.  He's called a drunkard in Matthew 11:19, a blasphemer in Matthew 26:65, and a demon in Matthew 10:25.  And Jesus promised that His followers would be required to endure the same: "A student is not above his teacher," He said. (Matthew 10:24)   And again, "If they have called the master of the house Satan, what will they call of the rest of his household?" (Matthew 10:25)

          The mockery of Jesus Christ has continued to this day.  Many movies have portrayed Jesus as weak and wracked with doubt or lust.  Artists, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, have painted Jesus and Mary in grossly insulting ways.  Popular books show Jesus as a man who married and fathered children.  Even a large and powerful non-Christian religion says Jesus had three wives.  All these are in direct contradiction to the Bible.

          So what should His followers do?  Strike back?  Raise an army?  An eye for an eye?  Riot?  NO!  Vengeance is God's business.  We may be grieved and angered, and justly so.  But rather than riot, we should identify with Christ.  Rather than kill, He offered life.  Rather than incite to riot, Christ appeals for our love.  We need to love our enemies, not hate them.  (This is VERY hard to do.)  Anger and hatred win no one to Jesus.  But loving them through the Gospel does.  Christ did His work by being insulted, and now we can follow in His steps.  Praise God for our Savior Jesus.

          Although those cartoons were relatively tame, the uproar has been intense.  Flags have been burned, embassies torched, and Christian churches attacked.  A few artists have gone into hiding in fear for their lives.  Governments have bent themselves into pretzels trying to deal with freedom of speech.  They proclaim it while denying it, they affirm it while punishing those who practice it.  All to mollify those who would demand only freedom of approved speech.  And burn flags, too.

          By the way, did you ever wonder where they get all those Danish flags they burn in the streets?  We live in a city where you can get just about anything, but I'm not sure there is a store in Denver that's stocked up with Danish flags.  But there they are, Muslims in the streets of Syria and Iran and Afghanistan, or out in the desert, and everybody has a Danish flag to burn!  Where did they get them?  Could it be all this indignation is being choreographed?

          So, what does all of this mean?  Has everyone has gone insane?  Is Armageddon just around the corner?  How then shall we live?  One thing we know for sure: a religion without an insulted Savior can save no one.  God's plan of salvation required someone to take our punishment, to be insulted and mocked, and that someone is Jesus.  Muslims may rise up in self-righteous indignation before the world, but Christians hang their head in humility before God.  Dealing with sin by pride and self-righteousness leads down the road to perdition.  Christians must stand up for their faith, but in Christ-like humility.  Jesus is still our only hope of mankind for peace with God and peace with people.  His followers must be willing to "share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death." (Philippians 3:10)   And if peace with people is not possible here, then we trust God will give it there.

          Rather than trying to retaliate for dishonor to Christ, let's trust what He did.  He suffered and earned our salvation.  Jesus is God's "Yes!" to the world.  Our willingness to suffer is our "Yes!" to Him.  This will not be easy.  Humans do not like humility, but it's far better than empty honor.  May God grant us humility and faith to trust in Christ alone.  Amen!

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.