"Islam"

Scripture: Genesis 21:9-30

Yesterday, we continued our sermon series on "Christianity and World Religions." As we discussed the religion of Islam, I was struck by how similar it is to Christianity in so many ways. First, both Islam and Christianity (and Judaism, which we will cover next week) claim Abraham as a patriarch of our faith. Islam recounts many episodes in the Koran that are straight out of the Bible. Both religions emphasize the practice of spiritual disciplines. Obviously, the major difference is that Islam believes that the prophet Muhammad experienced the final and lasting revelation of God while Christians believe that not only did Jesus fulfill that role, but he did it as God in the flesh, Immanuel ("God with us"). And herein lies the greatest difference between Christianity and Islam. Christianity has from the very beginning been an "incarnational" religion, which means that everything hinges on the truth that God loves us enough to become one of us. Islam emphasizes humanity's faithfulness to God by following the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. In Islam, God is revealed, but not incarnate. The challenge for Christians becomes making God's love incarnate in the world so that people might see the truth of Jesus Christ as "the way, the truth, and the life" by the way the Jesus' followers love God and love their neighbor. As I have said in every sermon during this series, let love be our greatest truth claim.