‘When we think/preach about ‘The Bali Nine’ what will be our attitude?

I tend to prepare a sermon by immersing myself in the text for a week or two (Philemon for this Sunday at a Wesleyan Methodist Church) then ask ‘What’s the main point I’m meant to make here?’ (Ancient preaching wisdom: can the congregation summarize your sermon in one sentence, and can you summarize it in one sentence, and do those roughly coincide?)

Here are my first and last paragraphs (I’d appreciate any reactions):

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Introduction:

During the past week the fate of ‘The Bali Nine’ has featured on news broadcasts around the world. These young people (the youngest is only 19)

are convicted drug smugglers/’mules’.

Question: As you look at these ‘criminals’ what is your Christian response? I’ll leave that up in the air for the moment…

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Conclusion:

So Paul, when relating to a young ‘criminal’ he met in a foreign place has to make a decision involving ‘duty vs. love’ (Philemon 8). How does he follow his Master Jesus in this situation? He chooses to follow *both* law and love, but, he says, with the emphasis on love.

We are not called to be utterly permissive: Romans 13 is our guide here in terms of obeying the State and the rule of law. But when confronting a ‘sinner’ a Jesus-follower’s *first* instinct is to say ‘I do not condemn you’ before ‘Go and sin no more.’ If we reverse the order or the emphasis we’re in danger of being modern Pharisees.

I wonder… did any of us ask ourselves… ‘Did any of those young people in Bali *not* have family/friends with them? Should I get on a plane and do for that one what Paul did for Onesimus…. ?

Well???

* Shalom! Rowland Croucher * * http://jmm.org.au/ * (16700+ articles, 3500 clean jokes/stories)

http://victoriaconcordiacrescit.blogspot.com/ *