Their God is My God

Last year, we were all horrified to learn that 21 Coptic Christians had been executed by Islamic State terrorists in Libya. Called the Copts, this group is the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and one of the oldest in the world. They trace their church back to Saint Mark, who introduced Christianity in Alexandria, Egypt, just a few years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

These Coptic Christians were taken hostage and executed because of their faith in Jesus Christ. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, released a video of the killings titled, “A Message Signed with Blood to the Nations of the Cross.” ISIS clearly wanted to send a message to Christians around the world, to residents of what they call “the Nations of the Cross.”

But like the people who killed Jesus, they did not know what they were doing. Instead of weakening the Christian faith, they strengthened it.

The 21 men who were murdered were working on a construction job as tradesmen. All were Egyptians except for one. He appears to have been a young African man, perhaps from Chad or Ghana. The executioners demanded that each hostage identify his religion. Under threat of death, they could have denied that they were Christians. But instead, each of the Christians declared their trust in Jesus. Maintaining their faith in the face of evil, each man was beheaded.

But as horrible as these executions were, the story has an unexpected and inspirational ending. The young African man who was with the Egyptians was not a Christian when he was captured. But when the ISIS terrorists challenged him to declare his faith, he replied: “Their God is my God.”

After hearing those words, the terrorists killed him. But in that moment, the young man became a Christian. The terrorists who killed that young man in Libya did not know what they were doing.

On this Sunday called Christ the King, we are confronted by a king who dies on a cross. Instead of saving himself, Jesus saves others. Rather than crying out in anger, he forgives the people who kill him. Both then and now, Jesus brings good out of evil.

What a difference it makes when people see Christ as their king, even though that king is hanging on a cross. The criminal next to Jesus did this when he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v. 42). Both that criminal and the young African man saw Christ as king. They grasped his power and trusted him to save them. In the face of death, they put their complete faith in a crucified Lord.

Such stories stir our wonder. But they also leave us with a question: Are we living our Christian faith in such a way that people will look at us and say, “Their God is my God”?

The challenge for us is to speak in ways that reveal authentic faith and act in ways that show real courage and devotion. Only when people are inspired by what Christians say and do will they be willing to accept Christ as their king.

Jesus continues to turn evil into good on Libyan beaches and in American cities. Sometimes the evil is human violence, which falls under the category of moral evil – evil that is done by sinful human beings. But there is another category called natural evil, which is often attached to painful experiences that cannot be blamed on any person.

Unlike the killing of Coptic Christians, this category of evil does not involve human choices and is usually the result of a natural process. Cancer, genetic defects, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes – these can be described as natural evil, because they arise out of nature and cause tremendous suffering.

Fortunately, Christ the King has power over all forms of evil, moral or natural. And more often than not, he fights evil through people who follow him with courage and devotion.

Words are lovely, but in the 21st century, when we have rhetoric everywhere, maybe people are paying attention to how you and I live, to what we do.

Better for us to be participants, not commentators.

A young couple moved from New Jersey to Iowa to start their careers. They visited a couple of churches but didn’t join a congregation. Then the wife discovered that she had Stage 4 breast cancer and was terrified. She entered the hospital for surgery, and was visited by the pastor of one of the churches they had attended.

Once home, the young wife received a visit from one of the women of the church. She brought a casserole and said that she and her fellow church members had been praying for the woman and her husband. The wife thanked her and asked how much she owed her for the casserole. The woman said, “Sweetheart, this is free.” They talked for a while, and then the visitor helped by cleaning the house.

Next day, there was another knock on the door. This time it was a man from the church bringing another dinner. The young wife offered to pay him, and he said, “No, this is free. This is what we do.” Then he offered to fix her screen door, and he went out and got his tools and fixed it.

The congregation brought a meal to this couple every week for six months. The two had so much in their freezer that they invited young adults from their workplaces to a meal at their house. Their colleagues asked, “Where did you get this food?”

They replied, “It comes from our church.” Note the pronoun: Our church.

What made the difference was actions, not words – how Christians were living and what Christians were doing. In this Iowa community, young adults were looking at authentic Christian devotion and saying: Their God is my God. And once again, Jesus the King was bringing good out of evil and life out of death.

Folks are looking for a group of believers who act for the glory of God. Not for themselves, but for the glory of God. Not for themselves, but for Jesus. Believers like the Coptic Christians on the Libyan beach. And like the men and women of that Iowa church. All of us are challenged to take actions that will cause people to look at us and say, “Their God is my God.”

Evil comes in many forms, both moral evil and natural evil. Some is delivered by sinful people, while some is the result of the spread of cancerous cells. But Jesus has the power to overcome it all, and to bring life out of death in every time and place and situation. Our mission is to act in ways that show that Jesus is our king, and that we are willing to follow him with courage and devotion. If we act as followers of Christ, Jesus will remember us and welcome us into his kingdom. And for some people around us, our God will become their God.