A Biblical Case Against Christian Involvement in Interfaith Worship Services

Let's turn to the book of 1st Kings, 1st Kings chapter 11, and tonight

I'm going to explain from the Bible why Christians and Bible churches should not attend or participate in interfaith worship services.

So I'm going to make this argument from the Bible, why if we're invited and we were invited, but if you get invited to an interfaith worship service, why we shouldn't participate.

And let me just first define this term. It's sort of self -explanatory, but interfaith, it is what it sounds like.

It's when you get the Muslims and the Buddhists all together along with professing

Christians. And instead of exclusively worshiping the Lord, people are gathering to worship and honor all faiths.

So that's why it's called an interfaith event. So really this is about inclusivity, right?

That's the big word these days, inclusivity versus exclusivity.

And when you hear the word exclusivity, I'm thinking of the exclusivity of Christ, that Christ alone is to be worshiped.

And really a Christian should not be part of anything, should not even be at an event where other deities are worshiped.

Even if Jesus is worshiped too, if it's Jesus and Buddha and this God and Allah, and that's just, that's just a no -go for Christians.

So I thought this was a given. I thought all Bible believers and certainly pastors and elders and everything else.

I thought this was assumed that people knew this, but I'm learning that you can't really assume anything these days.

And there is specifically why I'm talking about this. There is a service like this happening in town this weekend.

And Morris Quarter Church is the only religious group in Leverett not participating.

So this Sunday, people from different churches, mosques, peace pagodas, synagogues, temples, they're all getting together from two to four for this interfaith event.

We are the one church or one group that is not participating. And this message is about why we're not participating.

So let's look at 1 Kings chapter 11, starting in verse one says, but King Solomon loved many foreign women as well as the daughters of Pharaoh, women of the

Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites from the nations of whom the

Lord said to the children of Israel, you shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you.

Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love.

So what's the first mistake that Solomon made? God said, don't marry these foreign women because they worship other gods.

And what did Solomon do? Yeah, he just, he just didn't listen. He didn't listen to what the

Bible said. He just went ahead and did it. Verse three, and he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines and his wives turned away his heart.

Just like God said would happen for it was so when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not loyal to the

Lord, his God, as was the heart of his father, David for Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the

Sidonians and after Milcom of the abominations of the Ammonites.

Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the

Lord as did his father, David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab.

So that's a different deity on the hill that is east of Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the people of Ammon.

So you're noticing something when, when God refers to other deities, what does he call other deities?

Well, you know, we just got to be tolerant and respect these other gods and respect their worship.

What does God say? This, this, this whole thing is, it's an abomination. That's what the

Lord says. And verse eight, and he did likewise for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

So the Lord, after Solomon did this, the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the

Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he did not keep what the

Lord commanded. Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, because you have done this, and if not kept my covenant and my statutes, which

I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servants.

So Solomon is the man in charge. God gave him a clear commandment. He gave the entire nation a clear commandment as we're going to see.

And Solomon just, he did what he thought was best. And because of that,

I mean, this, this is serious. So serious, God was going to tear the kingdom away from Solomon.

So Solomon again, was a man chosen by God to lead God's people, Israel, his father,

David really did. David had a zeal for God, a zeal for God's house, like few other men in history.

And we know what the Bible says about David, because that's the contrast we're seeing Solomon versus David. David was what a man after God's own heart.

So David, while he was imperfect, David was fully committed to worshiping the

Lord. David's heart was loyal. There was never any thought of, you know, interfaith activity or worshiping other gods or honoring other gods, or even allowing other

Israelites to honor other gods. That was just not in David's mind at all.

All right, let's turn to Exodus chapter 20. And we're going to look at a variety of passages that make it very clear that interfaith services, interfaith worship is not acceptable by any stretch of the imagination.

Even attending one of these services, even if you don't agree with the whole concept that all gods are equal, or there's many paths to God, even if you don't agree with that, just to go, just to go check it out and see what this is all about.

No, it is really an abomination. It should be totally off limits for the people of God.

I mean, that's what I'm seeing here in the book of first Kings. So as I said,

David's heart was loyal to the Lord. Solomon though, not so much.

We know that Solomon started out well, but mainly because of his love for foreign women, foreign wives who worship these other deities, it led him to compromise.

Now, did Solomon, just a quick question before we read from Exodus, did Solomon ever renounce faith in the

Lord? Did he ever say, you know what, forget, I don't even believe in Jehovah anymore.

I'm just going to fully worship Molech. Did he ever do that? No, what Solomon was doing, he was just kind of, you know, yeah, going along, you know, his wives, other people wanted this.

So, okay, he's going along with it. Maybe blending, blending faiths.

And even if his heart personally wasn't for Milcom, he's, yeah, just kind of going along to get along.

So what's the big problem? This is a violation of the very first commandment.

Look at Exodus 20, one through three. So interfaith worship activity.

It's a violation of the first commandment. Exodus 20, starting in verse one. And God spoke all these words saying,

I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before me. Now, what does that mean?

Have no other gods before me. Someone could say, well, you know, as long as I have the

Lord, number one, you know, then I can worship, have these other gods. But as long as God is number one, then

I can worship Molech number two, right? Well, that's not what it's saying. Have no other gods before me literally means

God is saying, have no other deities before my face. One commentator says this.

The meaning is that no God should be worshiped in addition to the

Lord. And really even tolerated in Israel. It's not even that, you know, the people are involved in interfaith worship, even allowing for this or tolerating it.

Just not acceptable at all, period. Look at verse 23. We see this in verse 23.

The Lord says, you shall not. So Exodus 20, 23, you shall not make anything to be with me.

Gods of silver or gods of gold. You shall not make for yourselves. So again, it's not about putting

God first and other deities, two, three, and four. It's just no other gods, you know, period, right?

The commentator continues polytheism. That is the worship of many gods was the besetting sin of the

Israelites. They did it not in latter times where they excluded the

Lord. They didn't. Again, they didn't worship Milcom and not Jehovah.

It's just that they worship all of them together. So Jehovah was in the mix, but there were all these other gods,

Ashtoreth, Baal, Milcom, et cetera. So again, is this serious? Yeah.

So serious that King Solomon, again, the man chosen by God, God, as soon as Solomon was dabbling in interfaith activity, it's this that caused

God to, you know, determine to take the kingdom away from him. So what have we learned so far?

So there's only one God, right? The Lord. And he alone is to be worshiped.

I know this is basic. This is like Christianity 101. But we also learn,

I think, that there's nothing new under the sun. You have interfaith worship services today.

It happens. Probably it's more common than you think it's happening today. And even though it's not exactly the same thing, you still had it going on back then, at least to some degree.

However, I think the interfaith activity today is much, much worse because today we have the whole

Bible. Back then, I don't think there really was an excuse for an

Israelite to be ignorant about this. But today, every Christian has access to the

Bible. You can have 10 copies all to yourself. So really, there's no excuse for ignorance today.

And when you find interfaith worship today, it's typically happening in church buildings.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but it's rarely the Muslims who are doing interfaith and Christians are going to them or other religions are going to them.

It's almost always in, you know, Christian churches, quote unquote. So the case

I'm referring to specifically is a UCC Congregationalist Church. You know, got the rainbow out front, the whole rest of the deal there.

And they are inviting all these other religions to come to them. That's usually the way it happens.

So interfaith activity, it's really being spearheaded by churches, which, again,

I think makes it much, much worse. But Larry. I got to thinking about a lot of the

Christian, so -called Christian musical artists that are now cooperating with the

Catholic Church and other churches. They call it a

Christian concert. But the lyrics and a lot of the music is, you know, not necessarily doctrinally sound.

And a lot of it sounds good and it's done in the name of God. Right. You know, you can't tell.

Is this a song to God or a song? Right. And at an interfaith event, see, even if you went and you're like, well,

I'm going to be a witness for God. I'm going to tell people about God. Well, in that setting,

God means different things to everyone there. God means something totally different.

I'm glad you brought that up with the Christian music, where it's usually, hey, let's come together

Catholics and Protestants. That's how it started. OK, well, first it was ecumenicalism, which brought together the different Protestant denominations.

So Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian. That I could understand to a degree if they all believe the gospel, depending on the details.

But then it jumped from ecumenicalism within the Protestant denominations. And then it started to include the

Catholic Church. And for some people, including myself, that's not OK.

We have this thing called the Reformation. Like it's still those issues have not been resolved. But some people, some people said, well,

Catholic, you know, it's close enough. But then it went to Mormons. So it starts

Protestants, bring them together, then Catholics, then Mormons. Well, now it's, you know, it's a slippery slope.

And now it's led to just everybody. Everyone who believes in God, quote unquote, whatever that means.

So little leaven leavens the whole lump. Marcus, I hope I can express this clearly.

I'm going to because of my love for Israel and because of my love for God.

The God that I do worship is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

And so Judaism claims to worship the same

God that we worship. And I'll just add to hopefully make clarity that rejecting

God's plan of salvation for all mankind,

Jews and Gentiles, rejecting his son, that that breaks that breaks it.

But I still have a love for the Jewish people and an appreciation for the

Jewish. I mean, our scriptures, our Bible, that was all written by Jews, except the

Luke. Sure. Yeah. Again, I say, well, people, people understand this.

People know this. But you shouldn't assume. Are we against the people in other religions?

Do we dislike them? No, we're not against any individuals. Hopefully we love all people.

We love them enough to want them to be saved and tell them the gospel. So it's not about disliking any one group of people.

I mean, that's that's not it. But it's about we can't compromise our own convictions and what the

Bible says. So basically at these interfaith events, again, it's usually done in a church and the people all there, they have one thing in common and you can kind of boil it down to one word and that's universalism.

So even though, okay, we're Muslims, we're Jews, we're Christians, we're this, we're that, they would say it's all legitimate.

And we all are on different paths to the one God. Well, what about this guy who has many gods?

Well, he's on his own. We're all on the same. We're on different paths, but the destination is the same.

So that's what they say that everyone's going to heaven. Muslim, Buddhist, even if, even though Buddhists technically don't believe in a

God, a creator God, the same way we do, that's what they believe. It's universalism.

All religions are equally valid. Is that what the Bible teaches? Obviously not.

So, but that's what the interfaith crowd, that's the mindset. So nobody is right.

You know, and the other person isn't wrong. It's not that our way is the only way.

Here's the problem. And you know what the problem is? Jesus himself said in John 14, verse six,

I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes unto the father except through me.

So it really is about exclusivity, that Christ is the only way. The apostle Peter in the book of Acts chapter four, verse 12, he said, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

So we're saying that there is one way. Christ is that one way. If that weren't true, then the cross was totally in vain.

And the cross just wasn't necessary if you could get to God through these other paths. And it really does blaspheme his death on the cross because it makes it null and void, essentially.

So this isn't my opinion. You know that this is what Jesus and his apostles taught.

There is one way. What's the objection though? The interfaith crowd might say, yeah, but that's not very loving.

And it's not very tolerant. These are the two things you hear a lot. And I suppose in one sense, they're right that it isn't very tolerant.

Like, I mean, we do tolerate in the sense that we are kind to other people.

We are tolerant of other religions and we don't want them to be persecuted. I mean, this is

America. We believe that people, as much as we disagree with the religion, like we don't want to see anyone persecuted or arrested for their faith, even though Christians have been arrested and are being arrested all around the world by some of these other religions.

But that's not the point. We're not against them. But yeah, there is one way.

So it's exclusive. I see a hand. Yeah. Well, I was just going to go with John 3 .36

again. Whosoever believes on the sun has eternal life, and whosoever does not believe on the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

The loving thing to do is to correct someone who is believing a lie.

Right. Right. So is it tall? Yeah. God doesn't tolerate the worship of other deities.

That's true. God doesn't tolerate that. As far as love, we do love them.

We should love them enough to share the gospel. And somebody might say, well, that's why I'm going to the interfaith event so I can share the gospel with people.

Well, you can share the gospel with them some other place. Not there. If you want, you know, you have the rest of the day, rest of the week, encounter them at work, out in the marketplace, somewhere else other than the interfaith service.

God's people were never permitted to do this throughout Israel's history, throughout

Christian history. And we shouldn't be changing now because it's the culturally, you know, fashionable thing to do.

So a few other arguments I want to make, let's turn to act 17, because I want to address somebody made an argument.

Actually, a few people made this argument. And I want to be respectful of some, because you can't assume everyone has this all sorted out in their mind.

And people want to try to assume the best of others. So there is one argument

I've heard from multiple different people, and I want to address it. But again, throughout

Israel's history, this was not permitted throughout Christian history. Believers were not involved in this.

How long has this church been here? 125 years, give or take. Has Morse Corner Church ever been involved in an interfaith service?

No. No. Okay. And the other churches in the area, some of them have been around even longer than us, a couple hundred years.

Have those churches ever been involved in an interfaith service? No. So as soon as the church starts now, it sets a dangerous, dangerous precedent.

And there is a reason why we haven't done it for all these years. It's been understood for two millennia, at least, that Christians don't do this.

All right. We're going to look at act 17 in a moment. A few verses before we read that. 2 Corinthians 6 is sort of that main passage about separation.

We are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. We are called to come out from among them and be separate.

Somebody knew to put this into our church constitution. I'm just pulling up the file for the church constitution.

So article 2, this is the purpose of Moore's Corner Church, the defense of the faith once delivered.

So one of the reasons why we exist is to defend the faith. Okay. And also as part of our doctrinal statement, our doctrinal statement on the topic of separation, here's what it says.

We believe that all the saved, and every church member agreed with this when they became a member.

So everyone read this and they said they were in agreement. So it says, we believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as to not bring reproach upon their

Savior and Lord. And that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations is commanded by God.

In other words, we are to keep separate from religious apostasy. There is no more clear a picture of religious apostasy than a church building holding an interfaith service with the

Buddhists and the Muslims and the Unitarians. So it's in our constitution.

Why is it in our constitution? Don't believers already know this? If I had to guess, whoever wrote this up, whether it was

Pastor Riddle, does anyone know who wrote the church constitution? I think it was

Pastor Riddle and the deacons at that time. Okay. You know, they probably figured, you know, someday in the future, some hot shot young pastor might come in and decide to do things his own way.

And we're going to put this in the constitution to make sure he doesn't get involved in this stuff. Maybe that has nothing to do with it.

We do have a hot shot. Well, I'm not that young anymore.

But look at Acts 17, because this is one of the arguments that I've heard from people.

Well, you know, as long as you go to the interfaith event, as long as you don't agree with universalism, you can go for the purpose of sharing the gospel, because that's pretty much what

Paul did. Paul did that in the book of Acts. No, Paul did not do that.

Paul never participated in an interfaith worship service. But let's read Acts 17 verse 16.

Now, while Paul waited for them in Athens, says his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshippers and in the marketplace daily with those who happen to be there.

Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him, and some said, what does this babbler want to say?

And others said, he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because he preached to them

Jesus and the resurrection. So when Paul preaches Jesus, have these people heard of Jesus?

No, they have never heard of Christ. They've never heard of the resurrection. Here's the first argument someone might make.

It says Paul went into the synagogues. Well, isn't that interfaith? Because he's a

Christian, and that's synagogue, and that's Christians and Jews. Isn't that interfaith? It's not interfaith for a very simple reason.

The synagogues, okay, that's where the true God was worshiped in the synagogue.

Jesus was brought up where? In a synagogue. I mean, that was the church, if you will, of that day.

So the synagogue is actually where you heard the truth in those days before the new covenant was ushered in.

And then when Jesus died and rose again, and there was a transition. So about 40 years from 30

AD to 70 AD, there is a transitionary period where you went from old covenant to new.

So there is a transition away from the synagogue to the church. But, you know, these are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people everywhere scattered.

You know, you need to give people time to learn this stuff and to make that transition.

So Paul going into the synagogue was not interfaith because it was, as Marcus said, the

Jews did worship the true God. But at this time, now it's about Jesus.

So things are changing and there is a transitionary period. So long story short, synagogue, that is not interfaith at all.

As for the Athenians, did Paul go into some, you know, pagan worship service and take part and he's just waiting for an opportunity to share

Christ in this service? No, it says he's in the marketplace. And then when he's taken to the

Areopagus, I mean, there's just nothing about him taking part in an interfaith event.

Look at verse 19. It says, and they took him, Paul, and brought him to the

Areopagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak. For you are bringing some strange things to our ears.

Therefore, we want to know what these things mean. For all the Athenians and the foreigners who are there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Then Paul stood up in the midst of the Areopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things, you are very religious.

Does anyone else have a different? Superstitious. The King James says you are very superstitious.

I tend to go with that. I mean, it's one of those, I don't want to get sidetracked, but one sounds like a compliment.

One sounds like an insult. I don't think Paul was complimenting the pagans, but that's just me.

So you're too superstitious. I think that's what he said. Let's see, what verse is that?

22, 23, look at 23. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship,

I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing or the one you worship in ignorance, him,

I proclaim to you. So here's the biggest difference between, you know, a group of Christians taking part in an interfaith service and what

Paul did at Mars Hill. Paul was preaching to basically whoever would listen and he's, this is key.

Paul is preaching to people who have never heard. They've never heard about Jesus.

Totally different than going to a congregational church where everyone's heard about Jesus.

These people at some point in their life, many points, I suspect have heard the truth. They just reject it.

They just reject it and they twist it and their pastor perverts it.

And he does this on a weekly basis, twisting the scriptures, denying the true gospel.

So you have two totally different situations. Paul preaching to people who have literally never heard.

That's an honorable thing to do. But going and spending time in a worship service with apostates, it's not the same thing at all.

So let's turn to second Timothy three and that's where we're going to close. But what does the

Bible say? Our response should be towards people who have heard the truth and reject the truth.

Not only did they reject the truth. They fly a flag in open rebellion to the truth.

You can't tell me they don't know what the Bible says. They know what the Bible says and they just flat out reject it.

Some of them absolutely hate it. So that is the word is apostasy.

And I think this time period was prophesied about by the apostle

Paul in second Timothy three. Starting verse one, he says, but know this in the last days, perilous times will come.

Does that accurately represent our current moment in history? If it doesn't represent right now,

I don't know what it's talking about. So know this that in the last days, perilous times will come for men will be what?

Lovers of themselves. It almost sounds like, I don't know, pride, maybe look at verse five, long story short.

What does the Bible say? Christians, this is how you should react towards all this.

Here's your posture. These people have a form of godliness. They say they believe it's even a church and whatever.

They may even have a Bible somewhere having a form of godliness, but they deny the power.

They deny the power of a changed life. There's no repentance, no turning from sin, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power.

And from such people, what does not, not what does Mike say and look at him and what a jerk he's being, you know, what does the apostle

Paul say from such people turn away? It's in the Bible. That's what it says from such people turn away.

And you could go to first Corinthians five, where Paul says about that professing

Christian and first Corinthians five, where he's living in open sin. What does

Paul say? Do not even eat with such a one, a professing Christian who's living in open sin, open rebellion.

He says, don't even eat with such a one here. He says from such people turn away.

If you're not supposed to eat with them and you're supposed to turn what you definitely are not supposed to go and participate in a joint worship service with them is, are you agreeing with this?

To me, this is, this is so, so very clear. We're not against these people.

They need to hear this. Okay. They need to hear this. And I say this with a spirit of love that I pray that someone would hear this and they would believe the

Bible and react with repentance and do what God says. If you do what

God says, God will bless you. You'll have eternal life. You'll have God's favor, forgiveness of sin.

But if you're just going to reject God, and this is the people, the people that are apostate. I mean, look at what

God, his posture was towards Solomon, how much worse people that just flat out reject

God altogether. So in conclusion, Christians cannot partake, participate in interfaith worship.

The Bible simply does not allow for it. And not only do we have the

Bible, we have 2000 years of church tradition and practice to back that up.

So I believe it's a compromise to even attend such an event when

God's word tells us, even if you have the best of intentions and you've convinced yourself in your mind, this is the thing to do somehow.

I don't see how you come to that conclusion, but even if you think you have the best of intentions, I believe your very attendance is compromise because God's word clearly tells us to be separate.