Preached on 01-24-99

THE NEW CHURCH & THE WORLD

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"And his servant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do? So he answered, Do not fear; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." (2 Ki. 6:15-16)

SYRIA WAS AT WAR WITH ISRAEL. From the description given, it would seem as if it was not an all-out battle, but, rather, a series of attempted ambushes by the Syrians. These ambushes, however, were not successful, for though they were planned in secret, Elisha the prophet was given by the Lord to know their plans, and warned the king of Israel, whose troops then avoided the ambushes. The Syrian king at first suspected that there was a traitor amongst his servants, but then learnt that Elisha was responsible. Hearing that the prophet was in the city of Dothan, he decided to send a great army to capture him. By night this army came upon Dothan and surrounded the city.

Elisha's servant, when he rose early in the morning, saw the horses and chariots of the enemy and was struck with fear. But Elisha told him not to be scared, and prayed to the Lord that the eyes of the young man might be opened. With his spiritual eyes opened, the servant then saw a multitude of horses and chariots of fire around his master.

Just as Syria's attempts at ambush were futile, so too was the attempt to capture Elisha. The prophet prayed that the enemy soldiers might be struck with blindness, and then went and told them that they had the wrong city. He told them he would lead them to the right city, but led them instead to Samaria. Then their sight was restored. At this point the king of Israel was present, and the king asked whether he should kill the Syrians. Elisha forbade it, and told the king to give the Syrians bread and water and to then send them on their way.

THIS STORY, LIKE SO MANY OTHERS in the Word, deals with war. In the literal sense, the Old Testament is primarily a history of Israel, and Israel was rarely at peace. Time and time again it was threatened by hostile nations. The history of Israel was to a large degree a series of military conflicts, and these conflicts are recorded in the Lord's Word for the reason that they portray a universal war -- the war between good and evil. No war between nations has or will last longer, or be more crucial, then this war between the forces of good and the forces of evil. As long as active evil exists, peace is impossible, for what is evil does not make peace with good. And the stakes are high, for in the balance hangs the eternal welfare of the souls of men and women. It is an awesome and horrifying battle.

This war between good and evil is the subject of the internal sense of the incident we read about this morning. Elisha was a prophet of Jehovah, and his office represented the Lord Himself, or, more specifically, the Lord in relation to His Word and His teachings. The Syrians' attack upon Elisha thus represents an attack upon the Lord's Word. Syria itself represents knowledge. In a good sense it represents knowledge about what is good and true from the Word, for it was in Syria that the last remnants of the Ancient Church existed (AC 3249). In an evil sense -- and where Syria attacks a prophet of the Lord it has indeed an evil sense -- it represents the knowledge of what is not true.

When evil attacks good, it attacks the Lord, for good is from Him. Here evil is attacking the Lord by attacking the doctrine from His Word, represented by Elisha. And it is attacking by means of the knowledge of what is not true (see AC 4720), represented by the king of Syria.

No New Church pereson can be unaware of this conflict -- the conflict between the knowledge of what is not true on the one hand, and the Lord's teachings on the other. As members of the church we endeavor to uphold as precious the teachings of the Lord. But these teachings stand in sharp contrast to much of the thought of the world. They are opposed by "the knowledge of what is not true." Note the use of this phrase in the Writings. The Lord's teachings are opposed, not by mere falsity, but by false knowledge . . . the knowledge of falsity. In other words, what we believe is opposed by people who know, or think they know, otherwise.

As followers of the Lord, we try to uphold a set of teachings, and a consequent way of life, which are opposed by the culture around us. The world knows many things, many things which are not true. It knows them in the sense that many, many people are convinced these falsities are true. And on the basis of these knowledges many people hold mistaken values, values which are very different from our own. The attack is not an open one. On the surface we are allowed our freedom to believe as we wish. But there is a threat nevertheless, a somewhat hidden threat. The Syrians did not surround Dothan during the day. They came by night. The danger is that our thought, our values, our ideals, will be influenced and compromised by the values of the world in which we live. It is not easy to see ourselves being influenced in this way. It is like an attack by night, an attack we cannot see. Where we can perhaps see it more clearly is in our children. They are children of the church. But they are also children of our time. And sometimes we can only hope that the values they have received through us will continue to influence them more than the opinions of the world. Occasionally, when parents feel they are losing, there is despair -- despair that their children are being converted to the thought of the world -- despair that the future of the church, which rests upon our children, holds little promise.

As did Elisha's servant, when he saw the Syrian army surrounding them, so also do we at times throw up our hands and say, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" And we may despair; but we don't need to despair: the Lord's message, through Elisha, is simple. "Do not fear," he said, "for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

If we despair for the future of the Lord's church, all we need do is open the eyes of our understanding. The threat of the world might at times seem overwhelming, but in the final analysis the attack is futile, just as the Syrians attempted attack upon Elisha was futile. We can see this even if we think only in terms of numbers. We tend to think of ourselves as one of the smallest of churches. At times we might even feel embarrassed by our small numbers. But we are not small. If our spiritual eyes were opened, we would see hosts of people. For -- just think about it -- if this church be true, if it truly be the Lord's. then the whole of the Lord's heaven, all the angels, will be associated with the church. If we ourselves are truly working for the benefit of the Lord's church on earth, we are not alone in any sense. The Lord and His angels are working for the same goal that we are.

Neither need we be embarrassed on an intellectual level. Our powers of argument, our powers to convince, might at times seem weak when faced by arguments found in the world around us. There are a multitude of highly intelligent, well-respected men and women in the world who would scoff at some of our beliefs. Their opinions and their arguments carry great weight. There are sociologists who, in their respected opinion, hold that marriage need only be a temporary contract. There are anthropologists who view human beings and their behavior as being no different, essentially, than that of animals. There are biologists who have reduced life to merely a chemical reaction. There are criminologists who deny that a human being has free will, placing the blame for crime upon a person's environment. In the face of such learned and convincing arguments, how can our beliefs carry any weight at all?

The knowledge and learned opinions of the world seem overwhelming in their influence. But this is only the appearance. Such opinions are represented by the horses and chariots of the Syrian army. Seemingly powerful, this army nevertheless proved unable to harm Elisha as long as he was protected by the horses and chariots of fire from the Lord. And the New Church has its chariots and horses, that is, good and true things from the Word, the teachings of the Writings. These teachings are the truth, and the truth has great power. In time the truth can convince any person who is willing to be convinced. Unlike falsity, truth is inherently consistent, and can withstand any argument. Falsity is different: in the final analysis it can only have a permanent hold over the minds of those want to be enslaved by it. Falsity is essentially inconsistent. It does not hold together. Indeed, falsity, in essence, is absurd. What is more, given time, and in the light of truth, this absurdity manifests itself. Even today we can see this happening on a small scale, as previously undisputed tenets of the learned world must be revised and at times retracted in the face of new facts.

The weakness of any false system of thought is that when it is carried to its logical conclusion, which its proponents inevitably make the mistake of doing in the end, it then violates the dictates of common sense. Those who adhere to it are then seen for what they always were: blind and helpless. As the Syrian army was struck with blindness, and accepted help from the very man they had come to capture, so too, those in the knowledge of what is not true become helpless. They lose their influence and power. The most striking example of this is in the area of theology. Many false doctrinal systems, which at one time held an undisputed power over the minds of men, still have great influence, but their influence is beginning to decline. Other fields, other disciplines, are affected as well. For example, those experts who held that people don't have free will, and that crime is simply a product of a person's environment, are faced with the realization that some criminals are that way simply because they choose to enjoy crime.

We cannot predict the future. But we do know this: falsity is weak, and can only have a permanent hold over the men's minds when they love what is evil. Though the New Church must defend itself from the false thinking of the world, in the end falsity will defeat itself. Then there will be a challenge. When those who thought they knew the truth, but knew only falsity . . . when these people finally find themselves confused and in ignorance, we must not bear them ill-will. The king of Israel wanted to kill the Syrians, but Elisha told him to set bread and water before them.

Elisha had led the Syrians to Samaria, representing a state in which people are affected by the truth, a state of instruction. So too, the New Church will become one day a source of instruction for many people. It will be called upon to satisfy the hunger that lies deep within human minds. It will have to quench their thirst for truth.

THIS IS OUR MISSION, a mission we should not forget. We should not, from a false sense of humility, ignore the vital role we must play for the world. True, we cannot -- and must not -- think of ourselves as good, and the rest of the world as evil. As individuals we have our own failings, our own evils. There is a war between good and evil in our own minds. And outside the church there is not simply evil; there are also so very many people with good hearts, and good intentions, people who in many cases are far better people than we are. Neither can we glibly assume that our views on things are correct, and the views of others are false, for we also can at times misunderstand the truth the Lord has given us. We also can be mistaken, and think we know things that are in fact false. But though we might be weak, our church is strong. Though we are merely human, the truths we seek to uphold are Divine. And though there are many good men and women in the world, their thoughts and knowledge are often false, through no fault of their own. Thus, though there is no war between New Church people and people outside the church, there is still a war -- a conflict -- between what we believe and what they believe. The Lord and His angels work for the establishment of truth amongst the people of the world. The falsities prevalent today oppose the Lord's truth, and for this reason the hells stir up and encourage these falsities.

The hells would have the truths of the New Church destroyed. Evil cannot but fight against the truth by means of falsity, for evil hates the truth. And evil hates what is true for two reasons. First, truth reveals evil for what it really is, just as Elisha revealed the secret intentions, the secret war plans, of the king of Syria. Second, the truth can bring happiness, and evil cannot stand the happiness of others. It is thus inevitable that falsity and mistaken knowledge will be used by the hells to attack what is true, to attack the doctrines and the life of the church. Therefore we must stand prepared to defend the truths the Lord has given us. We must stand up for and live the doctrines of the church, no matter what pressure there might be to follow the multitude of the world into falsity and evil. We must defend the New Church and the things for which it stands. And we must do so, not for selfish reasons, nor out of ill-will towards those who might oppose us, but for reasons of love and charity.

Elisha could not allow himself to be harmed by the Syrians, for the simple reason that the Syrians needed his help. In the spiritual sense the Syrians needed the bread and water Elisha was to give them. And so it is with the New Church and the world. We must defend the church, we must uphold its teachings by living them in our everyday lives, so that, when the falsity of the world has defeated itself, we may offer the blind and helpless people of the world the light of the Heavenly Doctrines.

And we can do no less. The Lord has given the New Church for all mankind. It is not our church. The truths we believe are not our own. They are the Lord's, given to us in trust, that the world might inherit them. For the sake of mankind, we must preserve these wonderful truths, we must defend them, live them, and, insofar as we are able, we must give them to our fellow human beings.

Amen.

Lessons: 2 Ki. 6:8-23; Mt. 5:13-16; AC 4720 (part).

© 1998 by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose