November 1, 2020

UNKNOWN GOD: THE GOD OF TRIBALISM
November 01, 2020
Pastor Jonathan Falwell

Have you ever used the phrase “may your tribe increase” when talking to someone? What did you mean by it?

Open:

Today we are going to examine our lives for the sin of “tribalism,” as we conclude our series, Unknown gods. We have been looking for evidence in our lives of anything that has usurped our first love, which should be God. We see tribalism every day, though we may not recognize it. In America, we will be voting this week for our presidential candidate, and anger is taking over social media, with division on every hand. Political party hatred and personality conflicts are everywhere, while we still are dealing with Covid, social distancing, and financial woes crowding in on us. It is time to take up your cross today and follow Jesus, take it up tomorrow, and each of the following days God grants you, that you may please Him who called you.

Key Verse: Luke 10:27 : “He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Focal Passages: Luke 10:25-37, 1 Cor. 13:4-8.

The only way to truly love your neighbor begins in your personal

Relationship with Christ

  • Read Luke 10:36-37. When the ‘expert in the law’ asked Jesus who his neighbor was, he did not expect Jesus to turn the question back onto him. How did Jesus answer, as He closed out the parable of the Good Samaritan? During your normal day, where do you talk with the largest number of people? How many would you guess that to be? How many of those are people whom you may never see again? How do you treat them?
  • In thinking about your answers for #1, would your behavior change if you are at a gathering of people of another religion, political view or group for whom you have no particular affinity? How? (That’s tribalism).
  • Can someone define tribalism (definition is at the end of the study, if no one can)? What are some examples you can give as to groups where you might feel on edge or stressed? Do you avoid such places, if you can?
  • Why is it so important to get your relationship with Christ right? If you don’t love God with your whole being, how will you be able to love those who are not like you? Is John 15:17 just for those in the faith, or for the world?
  • Read Colossians 2:6-7. Why should we be able to love those outside of our “circle” if we are rooted in Christ?

Loving your neighbor never is done passively

  • Read Luke 10:31-32. What groups did the first two men represent? If this parable happened today, what would you expect from a preacher or elder?
  • Had you been watching, how would you have felt about two of God’s men leaving the hurt man beaten and bleeding? Would you have mentally labeled their church hypocritical at that point, and gossiped?
  • If Jesus had told you the parable, what group (in your mind) would you have had a bad reaction to Him choosing a person from? (That’s tribalism).
  • So what is the pivotal question Jesus asked the expert? How would you answer Jesus?

Loving your neighbor always required an active step

  • Read verse 33a. What were the steps the Samaritan took with the victim? Did he (the Samaritan) go above and beyond anything the Jewish community would have even imagined? Why?
  • Re-think posts you’ve seen this past week on social media. In your mind, think of a couple that made you angry; did you convey that anger from the issue to the person writing? Do you see how easy it is to be entangled in tribalism? What are steps you can take to let go of the anger?

Loving your neighbor always requires reflecting God’s love

  • Read 1 Cor. 13:4-8. What are some ways God expects of us to love, in order to conquer the sin of tribalism? How can we begin?
  • What are some of the attributes of God? Since He is holy, and has told us to be holy, what are some of the character qualities He wants us to develop?

Loving your neighbor does not mean having to sacrifice your beliefs or

Biblical truth.

  • What is the hardest concept to grab hold of when you feel as though being nice to ( or loving) someone with a different agenda will cause you to choose between them and your beliefs?
  • What must we focus on in order to love those who seem unlovely (to us)?

Close: 

Isn’t it amazing how you can sit with your Bible and coffee, having your morning quiet time with God, pray, and all is well with your life, yet five minutes later you pull your phone out, open Facebook to see what has been posted through the night, only to have someone push your buttons with the force of their words so hard you want revenge? You decide you want to stay away from them, possibly wish them ill will, and unfriend them. Done. Was it in line with your devotions?

Perhaps we feel that life is much more peaceful when we leave those who cause stress out to the side. We call our best friends, get sympathy and encouragement from them, and try not to think about those who mangle us in word or deed. It’s easier to ignore people who are mean, who intentionally hurt us, who hate our beliefs, our God, or our church. But is it God’s way, to leave them alone?

It takes total faithfulness to Him to desire a life that has no penchant for being selfish. If taking up our cross daily and following Him—-while it is today—is too hard, when will it get easier? Do we want Him to carry it all? Are we going to pull out our track record when we stand before Him, and say, “Well, I did (this), and (this), and (that) and…” and He may say “I never knew you.” What are we going to say? “WHY?” And He’ll say, “You had no love for anyone but yourself, your clic of friends, and those who were just like you. You didn’t want to be My hands and My feet, loving on others.” Could you bear that?

Tribalism: the attitude and practice of harboring such a strong feeling of loyalty or bond to one’s tribe that one excludes or even demonizes those who do not belong to that group; or, loyalty to a tribe or other social group especially when combined with strong negative feelings for people outside the group.

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