What Are Coconut Christians?
I would like to begin by telling you about something I find fascinating. The story starts in the years immediately following the end of World War II, and its setting is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the area of Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, researchers studying the indigenous peoples of these remote islands in the Pacific noticed a strange pattern of behaviors they saw repeated across the region, from island to island. Even islands who had no direct contact with each other.
On these islands, various indigenous tribes – again, many with no real contact between each other – were following similar patterns of behavior. They had cleared long, straight swaths of trees from their forests. They had lined these straight clearings with flaming torches. Strange.
Even more strange, alongside these clearings, many of the tribes had built tall towers out of bamboo they had lashed together. Holy men of the tribes were positioned at the top of these bamboo towers night and day, and they seemed to be worshiping the sky.
Researchers could not explain what was going on. Until one day, the researchers saw the wide pathways cleared of trees, the tiki torches lining those paths, and one of the holy men up on top of one of these bamboo towers wearing a COCONUT CUT IN HALF OVER HIS EARS.
This holy man was wearing a halved coconut like a pair of earmuffs we wear in winter – and that’s when the researchers understood what was going on. THE COCONUT WAS A PAIR OF HEADPHONES. This is when the behavior of these indigenous tribes started to make sense.
You see, during World War II, air forces for the Allies needed safe spaces to drop off supplies for their naval fleets fighting in the Pacific. They used many of these remote islands as way-points, as drop-off stations they could use to help supplies along to the front lines.
What the indigenous peoples saw was strange men coming to their islands, cutting down trees to make runways, and setting up radio control towers to call in supplies. Then, to the eyes of the tribes there, massive amounts of food, clothing, and other goods just fell from the sky.
To the eyes of the indigenous peoples on these Pacific islands, these goods were gifts from the Gods – that’s why they fell from the sky. And the way to worship the Gods and entice them to drop these gifts from the sky was what the tribespeople SAW: clearings, towers, headphones.
So, once WWII had ended and the supplies stopped falling from the sky, the tribespeople tried to recreate what they saw. They cut clearings in the jungle. They lined those clearings with torches. They built bamboo “control towers.” And they made COCONUT HEADPHONES.
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We are called as followers of Jesus to leave our old lives behind, and live out a new life. A new life of possibility. THAT NEW POSSIBILITY INVOLVES MATTERS OF THE HEART, AS WELL AS THE ACTIONS THAT FOLLOW. When we follow Jesus, WE LEARN WITH OUR HANDS.
It is within each of our hearts – just you, between you and God – that our transformation into living a life of God begins. AND YET, THOUGH WE MAY START BY UNDERSTANDING JESUS WITH OUR MINDS, AND LETTING HIM INTO OUR HEARTS, DEEDS ALWAYS FOLLOW.
Jesus placed great emphasis on DOING HIS WORD. LIVING OUT WHAT JESUS TELLS US TO DO AND THE STATE OF ONE’S HEART GO HAND IN HAND. Remember when we said that TO LOVE UP IS TO LOVE OUT? It goes the other way as well. WE ALSO LOVE OUT TO LOVE UP.
To me, LOVING OUT TO LOVE UP can help illuminate ONE OF THE MORE DIFFICULT APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS in the Bible. It’s found in James 2:14, when Jesus asks us “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?”
Jesus goes on, “Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:14-16).
What is Jesus telling us? Notice that Jesus does NOT say “faith alone is not enough.” Because we’re told in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, THROUGH FAITH—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—NOT BY WORKS, so that no one can boast.”
And yet we’re told again in James “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Show me your faith WITHOUT DEEDS, and I will show you my faith BY MY DEEDS. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (James 2:17-19).
So what’s going on here? Is it that we are saved “through faith…not by works,” as we’re told in Ephesians? Or that, as Jesus tells us in James, it does no good “if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?” Which is it? It seems we have another APPARENT CONTRADICTION.
But as with the other apparent contradictions we’ve discussed in the past weeks, we see by looking more closely at the words of Jesus what he really means for us and for our lives. The answer lies in James 2:14. I’ll repeat what Jesus asks there: “...can SUCH FAITH save them?”
Jesus, full of wisdom and grace, our God incarnate here on this Earth, in this world, DOES NOT SPEAK WORDS CHOSEN BY ACCIDENT. If there is one person in the history of the Earth we can take literally, who had a true plan about everything he spoke, that person is Jesus.
So when we read this passage in James slowly, and take time to reflect and pray on it, we see the key emerge to this apparent contradiction in the specific language Jesus speaks to us. “SUCH FAITH.” What does Jesus mean by “SUCH FAITH?”
Well, first Jesus tells us what he DOES NOT MEAN by “such faith.” Jesus tells us in James 2:19, “You believe in one God. Good! EVEN THE DEMONS BELIEVE THAT.” I mean: WHOA. “Even the DEMONS believe that…?” What a thing to say! Jesus seems to be making a point!
Jesus might as well have said “You’re no better than a DEMON if the extent of your faith is believing in one God.” So we know Jesus means something more than this sort of faith alone. We’re told we are saved by faith alone. This is true. But a faith that is MORE than faith in God.
What sort of faith? Something more than just believing in God. THE SORT OF FAITH THAT MAKES US WANT TO ACT DIFFERENTLY. TO ACT BETTER. Jesus tells us “show me YOUR FAITH without deeds, and I will show you MY FAITH BY MY DEEDS.”
When I hear Jesus tell me specifically WHAT HIS FAITH LOOKS LIKE, I lean forward. I pay closer attention. Here Jesus is telling us, very directly and specifically, “NOT THIS SORT OF FAITH HERE, BUT RATHER THIS OTHER SORT OF FAITH OVER HERE.”
We are saved by faith alone, but what sort of faith? SUCH FAITH. SUCH FAITH THAT LIVES IN OUR HEARTS TO CREATE ACTION. To be clear: IT’S THE FAITH THAT SAVES US, NOT THE WORKS. BUT IT IS ‘SUCH’ A FAITH THAT MAKES US WANT TO ACT. THAT faith will save us.
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Let’s turn to today’s lesson from Matthew. Jesus tells us, “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
Jesus is telling us about the relationship between three players here: ourselves, other people, and God. Remember: WE LOVE UP, to God, TO LOVE OUT, to other people. But Jesus here is also telling us that we must also LOVE OUT, with other people, IN ORDER TO LOVE UP.
In this passage from Matthew, Jesus tells us very specifically to PUT OUR FAITH INTO ACTION with other people. We must try and make things right where we may have wronged. Then, we are graciously invited to love up to God – what welcome there is in His words “THEN COME.”
And notice again the very specific language Jesus uses here. Jesus does not say “if you are at the altar and there remember that YOU have something against SOMEONE ELSE.” Jesus does not tell us this here – though we may want to consider coming to God with anger in our hearts.
Here, though, Jesus tells us to go and reconcile with others if we remember that SOMEONE ELSE has something against US. Even if we think that WE are in the right. Even if THEY started it. We want to reply to Jesus, “But THEY have wronged ME! Will nothing be done to THEM?”
This is the hard part. No one said that putting the words of Jesus into action would be easy. In three of the four Gospels, we hear Jesus encourage us to do some version of “take up our cross and follow.” IN THREE OF THE FOUR GOSPELS.
“Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy,” (Matthew 10:38). “You must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me,” (Mark 8:34). “Whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple,” (Luke 14:27).
Putting words into action is hard. Especially with other people. ESPECIALLY WHEN WE ARE CALLED TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT SPECIFICALLY WITH THOSE WHO HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST US. NOT ONLY PEOPLE WE HOLD SOMETHING AGAINST OURSELVES.
“But Lord,” we want to say back to Jesus. “My brother or sister only has something against me because they think I am more in the wrong… But Lord, I am more right than they are! It is THEY who should be apologizing to ME!” Jesus answers us: TAKE UP YOUR CROSS.
“But Lord,” we say, “this isn’t fair! If I am the one who apologizes, it will look like I was the one in the wrong, and that they were entirely in the right! This just is not the case! What will be done with THEM?” Jesus answers us: LEAVE THEIR JUDGMENT TO ME. TAKE UP YOUR CROSS.
“But Lord,” we try once more, “I will look weak if I am the one who apologizes.” Based on today’s scripture, Jesus might say ‘it is a small, small thing if you should look weak, and out of your control what others think of you. IT IS LIFE AND DEATH TO YOU THAT YOU LOVE THEM.
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Let’s get back to our story in the Pacific. Remember the COCONUT HEADPHONES? Here, in this church – our church – let’s decide together, today, right now, NOT TO BE COCONUT CHRISTIANS. Let’s come together right now and decide not to only go through the motions.
Let’s decide right now to be honest with ourselves: WHEN WE PRAY, ARE WE JUST FIDDLING WOODEN KNOBS ON A FAKE RADIO? HAVE WE TRULY CLEARED SPACE FOR GOD IN OUR HEARTS, OR JUST BUILT A FAKE RUNWAY FOR SHOW?
ARE WE GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS? OR ARE WE LETTING THE WORDS OF JESUS – RADICAL WORDS, FOR SURE – INTO OUR HEARTS TO GUIDE OUR ACTIONS? Do we have only the same faith demons have, or are we instead called to action, TO FOLLOW THE WAY?
Most importantly, Brothers and Sisters: HAVE WE BUILT OURSELVES A COCONUT KINGDOM TO WORSHIP IN, DOING THE SAME THINGS WEEK-TO-WEEK AND EXPECTING THE GODS TO DROP WONDERFUL THINGS OUT OF THE SKY? OR ARE WE WILLING TO DO MORE?
Let’s decide right now that our work every week is OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF THIS CHURCH, not only what we do here on Sundays. Let’s decide to TREAT CHURCH LIKE BASECAMP, NOT THE SUMMIT. Let’s gather here to renew ourselves for our work, not treat it as the work itself.
Let’s be part of the Church who reads today’s passage from Matthew and thinks “uh-oh. I bet if Jesus asked so-and-so, they would say they do indeed have something against me. How can I bring myself and my offering to God without first making it right?”
As Paul tells us in Romans 12:10, 17, “Be devoted to one another in love. Do not repay anyone evil for evil.” It doesn’t matter who started it. Or whose fault it is. It doesn’t matter who is right, and who is wrong. All that matters to us as Christians is whether you are “devoted in love.”
Paul (again! Always Paul) tells us in his letter to the Philippians, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4).
When we’re called by Jesus to love our neighbors as ourselves, we must recognize that we can’t even try to accomplish this alone. It is, I would argue, impossible for any individual to love the complete picture of who another individual is without help.
THANKFULLY, WE HAVE THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS TO GUIDE US ON THE WAY. WE HAVE THE LOVE OF GOD AND HIS STRENGTH IN OUR SOULS. AND WE HAVE EACH OTHER, IN THIS ROOM, AS PART OF HIS CHURCH, TO HELP EACH OTHER SHARE OUR BURDENS.
