Syncretism within the Church.
BY DERMOT COTTULI
“Why do we need to spend more time addressing our mission to the poor rather than to the rich? Because very few have ever aspired to be poor.”
Dermot Cottuli
Syncretism
- the combination of different forms of belief or practice
- he combining of different religions, cultures, or ideas
- the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.
Syncretism is a union or attempted fusion of different religions, cultures, or philosophies — like Halloween, which has both Christian and pagan roots.
According to Rene Padilla in Hermeneutics and Culture:
Syncretism occurs whenever there is accommodation of the Gospel to premises or values prevalent in the culture which are incongruent with the biblical message.
It’s very difficult to jump outside of your culture and then turn around and view it critically but it’s something that church leadership needs to do on a regular basis or else we run the risk of adopting the practices and beliefs of our current culture into our practice of Christianity.
Now Easter bunnies and Christmas trees along with chocolate eggs and Santa Claus are easy ones to identify but there are other forms of syncretism that are far more difficult to recognise and far more damaging to our soul because they deal with principles, practices and ideas enshrined in our western Australian culture which if we’re not careful, can influence the way we interpret the mission of Jesus and how we structure and organise church.
The 3 big ones that stick out are the way we view wealth, success and leadership within the church because much of our thinking about those areas is cultural rather than biblical and they define so much of our practice, the way we do things, and what we value when it comes to church life and following Jesus.
That’s why it’s so important that you do the work needed to keep your thinking in line with kingdom principles, not simply going with the flow.
Have you ever visited another country? Did you stay there for more than 3 months? I’m not sure where they came up with it but the general rule is that most people can handle 3 months in another culture but then they hit a wall and want go home. Why? Because the culture, the way the locals do things, doesn’t line up with their internal sense of what should be happening around them. People speak differently, they dress differently, they act differently in social settings and the food they eat isn’t the same as what you grew up with.
You’re then faced with two options. You can do the work and assimilate with the new culture and take on new ways of doing things – language, diet, dress, social norms etc or you can try and keep your old culture and see if you can make it work within the context of the new. That’s what syncretism does. There’s actually a 3rd option, you can go back to the place you came from and quite a few people do that.
It shouldn’t surprise us that’s there’s the same process going on in our lives when we pledge our allegiance to Jesus. The Bible tells us that we move from the kingdom we were born in, into His Kingdom when we believe in him and choose to follow him.
Colossians 1:13
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
And then the fun starts. It starts in our heart but the struggle is felt in our head.
We all struggle with syncretism because we all struggle reconciling certain parts of the bible with how we currently live our lives.
Have you ever read something in the New Testament that caused you to wince? That means you’ve just read something that you’re not completely in line with. You mightn’t say its not true, but you’re not living it.
It’s not a new problem, Paul faced it in the first century which is why he penned these words in his letter to the church in Rome who were living at the very centre of Roman culture.
Romans 12:1, 2
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Good and pleasing and perfect, what’s not to like about that? Plenty, if it clashes with your engrained, cultural worldview.
I’m going to unpack why I’m so focused on the poor and those facing injustice in my next instalment of our series, but this morning I want to deal with the 3 things I mentioned earlier. Wealth, success and leadership, because they’re 3 areas where I’ve observed syncretism alive and well in the church. Where we’ve taken worldly values and tried to shoehorn them into kingdom living.
Wealth
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Our society tells us to store up wealth so we can have the best lifestyle we can afford and to safeguard our future. Jesus says don’t.
Did you know there’s another time that Jesus talked about not storing up treasure here on earth?
Luke 12:33-34
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Did that make you wince? It made me wince, because I’m not living like that, I drove here this morning, I didn’t walk, but I’m going to sit with it until it changes me.
Our culture says one thing and Jesus says another.
Paul when writing to Timothy said
1 Timothy 6:2-10
These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Verse 11
Timothy, don’t let this happen to you—run away from these things! You are a man of God. Your quest is for justice, godliness, faithfulness, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
Earthly culture says that wealth is your security – kingdom culture says that God is your security.
Jeremiah 22:15-16 NLT
A message to Jehoiakim – Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him. He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the Lord.”
Success
Matthew 18:1-4
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And then further on in Matthew 23: 11, 12
The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
So often in our culture our concept of success revolves around individual achievement whereas in God’s Kingdom success is centred on the purpose of God outworked in community in relationship with others. It’s why Paul used the analogy of a body when describing how we were meant to work together. None of us can function on our own, we need each other. So success within the Kingdom is found in how well we work together. It’s not found in the elevation of individuals in the sphere of their own personal endeavours but rather in a surrendering to God and a focusing of our efforts on the wellbeing of those around us.
Which is why when we stand before Jesus his review of your life and how successful it was in his eyes will revolve entirely around how well you treated others, particularly those who had less in this life than you. The poor, the powerless, the ones that others don’t have time for.
In the famous words of John the Baptist when his disciples were worried that his notoriety was taking a hit because of Jesus’ ministry – “He must increase, I must decrease.”
I don’t know if you realise how counter cultural that idea is in the west these days?
Leadership
Matthew 20:25-28
“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world Lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.”
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
When thinking about leadership in our cultural context we often focus on the development of the leader and their pathway to greater levels of authority within an organisation. Following along with that is the increased status and earning capacity that often goes hand in hand with climbing the ladder, so to speak. The focus is on the individual. It’s one of the reasons some of us are drawn to it because we see in it an avenue to personal fulfilment and happiness. Jesus flips the script when he said that in the Kingdom of Heaven the greatest leaders are focused on serving others, not being served. We’re to follow his example and not the prevailing example of our culture.
My observation over the years of leaders within the church who have gone off track has been that they invariably lost sight of why they were doing what they were doing and instead became preoccupied with their own ministry, status and the personal benefit they felt entitled to as a leader and became fixated on others serving them rather than them serving others. When things didn’t go the way they expected them to, rather than doing the difficult work needed to adjust their expectation and bring it in line with Jesus’ model, they bailed and quite often hurt multiple people around them in their exit.
I was having a conversation with one of our missionaries whilst in Phuket and he was telling me how they had somehow managed to invite a well known christian leader to come and speak to pastors in a remote area in the mountains of Thailand. A friend of his had said to him that he needed to be way more professional in his behaviour toward her than he normally acted and he was already sweating bullets when thinking about her visit and was feeling quite fearful about making the wrong impression….
We have to be very careful we don’t take on airs and graces that aren’t ours when acting in leadership positions within the church. A lot of that is driven by the cultural norms we’ve grown up with which we’ve internalised at a heart level as being appropriate and the norm for those in leadership. In the kingdom, leaders aren’t honoured for their authority and power but rather for their humility and service towards others.
Now this isn’t to say there aren’t things in our culture that align with Kingdom culture because all of us have the fingerprints of God on our lives as we were all created in the image of God. But we need to be aware that we all have a predisposition toward selfishness, and self-centredness because of the fall and can be seduced by our culture into thinking we’re right in everything we do and every thought that passes through our minds.
Remember what Paul said to Timothy – Timothy, don’t let this happen to you—run away from these things!
Now you can’t run away from things you’re not aware of, hence us having this conversation today.
Now if you’re wondering where to start in sorting all of this out in your own life I want to finish with a scripture that makes for a great starting point if youre willing to put the work in.
Luke 9:23-25
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
