PODCAST
Ethics of a Christian Culture
September 19th, 2010
RG190910
Romans 12:9-21
Someone was stealing his pineapples. Feeling frustrated and angry, Serah sat partially hidden behind a banana tree waiting for the thief to return. Eventually, a young man carrying a sharpened machete crept into the garden and chopped off two of his ripest pineapples. Serah stood up quickly, ready to yell for his tribesmen to come and beat up this intruder. Surprisingly, however, he heard himself saying, “Good afternoon.” Serah told him to cut two more pineapples. And when he did, Serah spoke kindly but firmly, “I forgive you, now leave my garden.”
His culture calls for retaliation, to repay evil for evil, but the Christian culture calls for forgiveness. It is impossible to live under the ethics of a Christian culture without Christ. It is Christ who gives the ability to truly forgive and love our enemies. It is Christ who lovingly calls us to live a holy life within our own culture.
