When I was in college, the local Jewish Synagogue invited students from my school to sign up to eat a traditional Jewish Friday evening supper with a family, and then go with them to their Shabbat service. I went. While sitting in that synagogue, I made a startling discovery. Of course if I had thought about it, it was something I already knew, intellectually. But the experience was altogether different. The synagogue was an older building similar to churches I had been in. The service seemed kind of boring, until something grabbed my attention. I suddenly realized that we were reading from the Psalms—the exact same Psalms that were in my Bible. It suddenly hit me that Jews read the same Psalms we Christians read and pray to the same God we pray to. They do not, of course, accept Jesus as the Son of God. We Christians believe in a triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Jews rejected Jesus’ claim of divinity. Nevertheless, God is still God, and while Jews do not accept Jesus as their messiah or savior, we do worship the same God who revealed himself in the Old Testament. We Christians believe Jesus came as a further revelation of God as well as the source of our salvation. My concept of who God is and your concept of who God is and a Jewish person’s concept of who God is may be different, but that does not change who God is. God is still God. Around 600 AD, a man named Muhammad claimed to have a vision in which Gabriel, the angel, revealed a message to him. Muhammad passed this message on to his followers, who wrote it down. These revelations took place over a period of a number of years. Muhammad himself was illiterate, so someone else recorded his visions for him, and those writings became the Qur’an, the holy book of the religion called Islam, whose followers are Muslims. Today is the third week that I have been talking about Muslims in my sermons, and how we as Christians relate to them. The first week, we looked at Genesis, where we read “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”(Genesis 1:27) The first thing we need to recognize in our attempt to relate to anyone is that regardless of what we might think of them, he or she is created in the image of God. Regardless of what we think of the religion of Islam, we must remember that Muslim people, like us, are created in the image of God. Last week, we looked at Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan—a man who was from a people group despised by the Jews, but who showed the world the true meaning of what it means to love one’s neighbor. Jesus could have pointed out the theological differences between Jews and Samaritans. But he didn’t. Rather than debating the theological differences between Jews and Samaritans, Jesus reminds us that a person who believes differently can sometimes be the one who puts us to shame in their treatment of someone in need. When Jesus reminds us to love our neighbor as ourselves, we cannot choose to exclude Muslims from that definition of neighbor. Jesus does not give us that option. Today, I want to talk a little bit about what Muslims believe. I can’t possibly tell you everything, because Islam, like Christianity, is complex. Further, Islam, like Christianity, has many followers in many parts of the world, and their own interpretations of Islam differ widely. But I will talk about some of the basics. Some people get a little bit uncomfortable when a pastor in a Christian church starts talking about another religion. Let me explain why I think it is important that we talk about this. Islam is a major world religion, with 1.5 or more billion followers around the world. Many of those followers of Islam, Muslims, live in parts of the world that are currently involved in conflict. Further, the threat of terrorism—and the reality of terrorism—in our country has come from the Muslim world. Issues surrounding Muslims are in the news every day, they are on radio talk shows, computer blogs—it’s everywhere. What we hear is complex, foreign, and often confusing. It’s hard to know exactly which voices to believe. For that reason, I believe that we as Christians need to become more educated about this large and volatile part of the world. Also, in the past few years, we have seen an influx of Muslims coming to live in our own communities, and we need to know more about them. I am not an expert on Islam. However, I have taken the time and effort to become educated in the basics, and that is why I am sharing with you some of what I have learned. Learning about another religion does not in any way detract from our own faith. In fact, learning about other religions can help us understand and appreciate our own faith better. Although it is true for me that I grew up in a Christian home and came to faith in Jesus Christ as a child, I think that my adult learning about other religions has strengthened my own faith. Looking at other religions helps me define my own faith more clearly. So let’s start by reading a passage from I Corinthians 15 where the apostle, Paul, is reminding his readers of the absolute basics of what they believe as Christians. 1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. To be a Christian is to believe that Jesus is truly God, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose on the third day, triumphant over sin and death, and that we will see him in heaven when he comes again or when we die, whichever comes first. There is no other religion other than Christianity that believes in the divinity of Jesus. This belief is what defines Christianity and separates Christianity from all other religions. It’s actually pretty simple—to believe in the saving power of Jesus and that Jesus is truly God is to be a Christian. If you reject the divinity of Jesus, you are not a Christian. Let me throw in just a tiny bit of church history here. One of the false teachings of the early church was that Jesus was not truly God. Around 300 AD there was a theologian named Arius who taught that Jesus is the highest created being but does not share the same substance as God the Father. In other words, he is above humans, but not quite as high as God. Those who followed this teaching were called Arians. In 325 AD, the leaders of the Christian church called the Council of Nicaea to deal with the issue of Arianism. The council determined that Arianism was heresy, and they affirmed the divinity of Jesus Christ. This statement of faith, that Jesus is of the same substance as the Father, has stood the test of time and is accepted by all Christians today. I have copies of the Nicene Creed available if you are interested in reading it. This is important when we look at the beliefs of Muslims, because they will tell you they accept Jesus. But they do not accept the divinity of Jesus. Interestingly, they affirm the virgin birth of Jesus, and they revere Mary, the mother of Jesus. But Muslims do not believe that Jesus was divine. They accept him only as a prophet. Muslims claim the same roots as Jews and Christians. They affirm that we are all descended from Abraham. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we read of the covenant God made with Abraham, that Abram would be the father of a great nation. As the years went by, no children were born to Abram and his wife, Sarah. So Sarah suggested that Abram should sleep with her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. Abram agreed, and Hagar became pregnant. But of course, now Sarah was not happy. She was still childless, and her maidservant had become pregnant, and Hagar started being haughty towards Sarah. Sarah complained bitterly to Abram, and he told her she could do whatever she liked with Hagar. Sarah mistreated Hagar, and Hagar took off, fleeing into the desert. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert, and told her to go back to her mistress and submit to her and she would have a son and name him Ishmael. So she went back, and Ishmael was born into Abram’s household. Time passed, and finally God fulfilled his promise, and in her old age, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. But Hagar and her son Ishmael continued to be a thorn in Sarah’s flesh. Sarah said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” Abraham was distressed, but God told him to do as Sarah said. So Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away, again into the desert. When their water was gone, Hagar put the boy under a bush and sat down to cry, waiting for them both to die. But God heard the boy crying and the angel of God called to Hagar and assured her not to be afraid, saying he would make him into a great nation. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well, where she found water. According to Islam, this was near what today is Mecca. Muslims trace their lineage back to Ishmael. However, the religion of Islam did not come about until much, much later. Abraham comes very early in biblical history. We don’t have a reliable date, but a very rough date would put Abraham around 2000 years before the birth of Christ. Muhammad does not come on the scene until 600 years after the birth of Christ. Muslims also accept Moses and Jesus as true prophets. But they do not accept Jesus as God or savior. So who is Allah? Allah is the standard Arabic word for God. While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to "God". The term was also used by pagan Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia. When Mohammed came on the scene, the dominant religion in that part of the world was idolatry. There were some Jews and Christians, but most people were idol worshippers. Possibly this is why Islam is so adamant in saying there is one God, and one God alone; Allah. Muslims consider the Christian view of God as triune—that is, Father, Son-Jesus, and Holy Spirit—to mean that we worship more than one God. Of course, we know this is not so. But still, it is the view of Christians that is held in the Muslim world. The concept of the trinity is very important to Christians. And, of course, Jesus Christ is central to our faith. But going back to what I said in the beginning about Jews praying to the same God as us. This is also true of Muslims. Like Jews, they have what we would consider to be an incomplete understanding of who God is. But God is still God, whether the people who worship him have a clear understanding of him or not. So I think it is reasonable to say that even though we have great disagreement with the beliefs of Islam, we certainly can acknowledge that all of us worship God. The religion of Islam is the result of prophecy by a man named Muhammad. Right here, we have a problem as Christians, because we believe that the revelation of scripture is complete with the Bible. The Bible warns us that the words of scripture must not be added to. I have a great concern about anyone who says they have received a revelation to add to scripture, and here is the reason. The Bible quite specifically forbids it. Let me read to you the last five verses of the Bible, from Revelation 22. It begins with this beautiful verse of invitation to all of this, and then warns us about adding or subtracting from scripture, and finally reminds us that Jesus is coming again. 17The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. 18I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. 20He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen. Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are thirsty, and you call us to come. What a wonderful gift is the free gift of the water of life. God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—come to us and quench our parched souls with the water of life. We are so grateful for what you have done for us and for your steadfast love for us. We praise you. God, as we think of our Muslim neighbors, help us first of all to love them. Help us to remember that they are also your creation, created in your image, and you love them. Help us to reach out to them with love and understanding, all the while giving thanks for our salvation through your Son, Jesus Christ. We are so blessed. Lord, help us, as we have opportunity, to offer the free gift of the water of life to all who are willing to listen. Amen