Shibboleth

Kip McKean

August 26, 2007

The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Judges 12:5-6

 

 

This past Sunday’s sermon, “Jephthah’s Life of Tears”, examined Judges 10-12. From Jephthah’s family heritage to his rejection by the Gileadite elders to his rash vow to his early death, Jephthah’s life was filled with so much pain. The sermon’s points were: The Pain of Sin, The Pain of an Eerie Past, The Pain of a Vow, Confronting Compounding Pains and The End of Pain. Taking letters from each of the points, it spelled PEACE. To be faithful to the end, it is essential for disciples to grasp that the more we are like Jesus the more we will suffer; there will be pain as we take up our cross daily. I concluded the sermon with Paul’s admonition in Philippians 4:4-13. In this beloved passage, Paul shares how he learned to “be content in all circumstances, whether in plenty or in want.” Only in Christ could the ever-suffering Paul find “a peace that passes understanding.”

As with the previous four sermons of the Book of Judges Series, the account of Jephthah had so much intrigue. After mustering the Gileadites, God gave Jephthah and the Gileadites the victory over the Ammonites. Since God gave him this victory,
Jephthah fulfilled his vow to God to kill whatever first came out of his house upon his return home. To his horror, his beloved daughter met him at the door. Afterwards in a strange course of events, the Ephraimites, fellow brothers in the faith, went to war against him. There were likely two reasons for this. First Jephthah was a “half-breed,” for though his father was a Jew, his mom was an Aramean prostitute. Since the tribe of Ephraim possessed a great pride in producing leaders such as Joshua and Deborah, the Ephraimites felt it was beneath them to follow this son of a foreigner, let alone a prostitute. Secondly, it infuriated the Ephraimites that Jephthah was victorious over God’s enemies without them!

In the ensuing bloody battle between “brothers”, 42,000 Ephraimites died. Jephthah and the Gileadites were able to destroythe Ephraimite army and then cut off the Ephraimite survivors’ retreat by securing the fords of the Jordan. When a soldier was caught trying to return to Ephraim by crossing the Jordan River, the Gileadites would ask the suspected Ephraimite soldier, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” they said “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If the soldier said ‘Sibboleth,’ he would be killed.” (Judges 12:4-5) Unlike the Gileadites, the Ephraimites do not have a “sh” sound in their Hebrew dialect.

 

Wikipedia defines Shibboleth as “any language usage indicative of one’s social or regional origin, or more broadly… it is specialized jargon, the use of which identifies speakers as members of a particular group… For example people who regularly use words like ‘gork’ and ‘filk’ are likely members of a science fiction fandom.” Interestingly shibboleths were used by American soldiers in the Pacific theater during World War II. The word “lollapalooza” was asked by American soldiers to be repeated by those in hiding and unidentified as the Japanese often pronounced the letter “L” as “R.”

Christians through the centuries view the Shibboleth story as a prophetic type as one cannot gain entrance to the Promised Land without uttering the shibboleth. Thus one cannot get through the gates of heaven unless one confesses “Jesus Is Lord.” Interestingly, shibboleth literally means “stream or flood,” while sibboleth means “burden.” What a burden at the fords of the Jordan River for the Ephraimite soldier when he said sibboleth!

In God’s new movement, we have at least two “shibboleths” – “sold-out disciple” and “evangelizing the nations in a generation.” The first century followers of Christ had the shibboleths, “The Way” and “Christian.” These shibboleths were initially given to them by the world, but adopted by the early disciples. (Acts 9:2, 11:26) At the Portland Jubilee in my speech “Behold the Lamb of God,” I admonished those in attendance that our message is “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” and our response to this grace is to be “sold-out disciples,” whose motivating vision is the evangelization of the nations in a generation. At this time, I know of no other Christian organization that has this vision. Sadly our former fellowship has repeatedly renounced this compelling dream and disfellowshipped many of those who still embrace it. In contrast in the “Sold-Out Discipling Movement” (a name given to us by our detractors),our message is not to be against any one group or any particular doctrine. Our message is a positive affirmation that Jesus died for the sins of the world. (1Timothy 1:15)

 

Some fear unnecessary “lines” will cause division. First of all, not all division is sin. Let us not forget, Jesus prophesied division in families. (Matthew 10:34-39) Also, Jesus’ teachings constantly had a clear divide: hot or cold, rock or sand, true prophet or false prophet, fruitful or barren, sheep or goats, those who used their talent for God or those that buried them. Our shibboleths of “sold-out” and “evangelizing the nations in a generation” are foundational Biblical teachings and must not be apologized for or compromised.

However, let us remember as the “Sold-Out Discipling Movement” what we are striving to accomplish for God. We are not saying we are the only “sold-out disciples” or saved people. I believe that in the International Churches of Christ (ICOC) there are many sold-out disciples, yet sadly lukewarmness propagated by a more mainline Church of Christ theology has spread like a yeast into most congregations around the world. In recent years, this has caused the ICOC to become a shrinking fellowship and no longer a movement. To be a movement, people and churches must be “moving.” In other words, a movement is a geographic and numeric expansion of disciples and congregations. I also believe there are sold-out disciples in the mainline Churches of Christ, such as my friend Ron Clark who preaches in a mainline Church of Christ in Portland and led a prayer at last week’s Jubilee. I also believe there are sold-out disciples in the conservative Christian Churches. The conservative Christian Churches and the mainline Churches of Christ, two branches of the Restoration Movement of the 1800’s in America, officially divided in 1906 over instrumental music. Yet the real division was over their differing views of interpreting the Bible. The mainline Church of Christ, as now with the ICOC, embraces building a “New Testament Church” that “speaks where the Bible speaks and is silent where the Bible is silent.” In other words, one must have an example or command in the New Testament to implement a methodology. For example, since no use of musical instruments is recorded in the churches in the New Testament, our mainline brothers believe that non-instrumental singing is the only “Biblical” way to worship God. In my opinion, in the ICOC this same erroneous view of the Bible is why in 2003 World Sector Leaders, Lead Evangelists, paid Women Ministry Leaders, Bible Talks and Discipleship Partners were abandoned and declared “unbiblical.”

 

The conservative Christian Church and the Sold-Out Discipling Movement believe in building a “Bible Church” where principles in both the Old Testament and New Testament are combined. We believe we are to “be silent where the Bible speaks and speak where the Bible is silent.” Therefore, if there is a command we must obey it without question. If not, we are free to do as we like in implementing Biblical principles. For example, Jesus discipled and evangelized with the apostles as a small group. In our family of churches, we call everyone to be in a Bible Talk, a small group, for the purposes of discipling and evangelism. Also, though there is no example in the New Testament for women to baptize women, we believe we are free to do so because the Bible does not prohibit it.

 

Why embrace shibboleths? Because we believe Jesus desires a movement to evangelize the world. Independent, isolated, autonomous congregations going in various doctrinal
directions may be composed of saved disciples, but will not even be able to evangelize their cities. A church government of isolated autonomy will only lead to isolated and autonomous
disciples within those congregations. Therefore motivated by all these convictions, I will invite anyone in any conservative Christian Church, mainline Church of Christ or ICOC Church to join us as the Spirit is building a new movement to evangelize the world in our day. I am not inviting them for the purpose of their personal salvation as a faithful baptized disciple is already saved. I am inviting them for the salvation of the world as only a movement of disciples who make disciples will be able to penetrate and then saturate this pagan world of sin. God sent Jesus to die for a worldwide movement of multiplying disciples that are likeminded in spirit and purpose to produce a fellowship of love that is the same in whatever city a disciple travels.

 

Pray to God for a “shibboleth,” a “flood” of those who will unabashedly call themselves sold-out disciples to relieve the “sibboleths,” the “burdens” and pains of a lost world. And to God be the glory!

 

Kip McKean

World Missions Evangelist

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