Several factors may account for indifference to life’s big questions. Deep and complex, these issues make many people feel inadequate to form opinions about them. Answers have been so hotly disputed over the centuries that people are tempted to believe no genuinely satisfying answers exist. Or some people fail to recognize any practical significance of these questions to their daily lives. The seventeenth-century Christian thinker Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) came up with a provocative and controversial approach to shake people from their diversions. In his “Wager” argument, Pascal developed a line of practical reasoning with the very purpose of challenging anyone seemingly unconcerned with the perplexing issues of life. An accomplished scholar in many fields, Pascal is probably best known for his presentation of the Wager. This argument appeals more to prudent and materially existent considerations of the human will than to reason per se.
What is the “Wager”?
Pascal designed the Wager for his skeptical friends who remained simultaneously unconvinced by the claims of atheism and of Christianity. He said that the uncertainties and risks inherent in the human predicament force individuals to make up their minds about God’s existence, and that the truthfulness of God and Christianity cannot be decided by an appeal to reason alone. Therefore people must make a prudent wager about whether God does or does not exist. You can’t get away from it - you must make a bet. Pascal suggests only two possible choices or bets: 1) Belief in God and the making of a religious commitment (he speaks, of course, about commitment to the Christian God). Two possible outcomes can result from this choice: A person’s belief can be correct or incorrect. If a person believes in God and He actually exists, then according to Pascal the believer stands to gain everything. The payoff, so to speak, for a correct wager would involve infinite gain (eternal life with God in heaven). On the other hand, if a person chooses faith and God does not actually exist, then the believer loses nothing. In terms of a cost-benefit analysis, the person who wagers on God has everything to gain and nothing to lose. The second recourse is to wager against God by disbelieving in Him and refusing to make a religious commitment. Two possible outcomes can also result from this choice. A person’s disbelief can also be correct or incorrect. If an individual does not believe in God and God does not exist, then the unbeliever gains nothing. On the other hand, if a person does not believe in God but God does actually exist, then the unbeliever stands to lose everything. The loss for wagering incorrectly would involve an infinite loss (eternal exclusion from the life of God). In terms of a cost-benefit analysis, the person who wagers against God has nothing to gain and everything to lose. In light of these two scenarios, Pascal asserts that the prudent wager is on God. Adopting Christianity over atheism is a judiciously rational decision. The Wager was never intended to function as a rational proof for God’s existence, nor as a substitute for Christian evidences. Also the Wager targets a specific audience, namely those who have suspended judgment on ultimate issues - as a device to help awaken people who are indifferent to God, death, and immortality. A number of criticisms have been raised against the Wager through the years by skeptics and Christians alike. 1.) The Wager diminishes love for God, and makes faith into a cold, pragmatic gamble. Response: It does reach an unbeliever at a realistic starting point. Maybe the Wager should be viewed as a common sense appeal that helps a person mentally prepare for faith (itself a divine gift). Thinking in strongly practical terms about one’s relationship with God isn’t necessarily unspiritual. 2.) Performing a religious task as a bet does not make a person a Christian. Response: While this is true, it is also true that certain actions are a discipline of grace (reading the Bible, attending church, prayer, etc.). These activities work to change the human heart, and this change is central to developing a day to day trust in God. 3.) The Wager fails to recognize that the believer loses a great deal by wagering on God if He doesn’t actually exist. In fact, the believer loses his autonomy and wastes his life on religious nonsense. Response: It may be more accurate to say that the person who wagers on God has everything to gain and, in comparison, little to lose. The “pleasure of sin” may appear, for the moment, to be some gain, but in actuality the built-in consequences far outweigh any short-term pleasure. 4.) The Wager provides no guarantee, so why wager at all? Response: People are forced to choose, but life’s experience provides no absolute guarantees of anything. Every choice made in life is some kind of wager. 5.) The Wager only works if a person bets on the right (or true) religion. What if you gamble on the wrong God? Response: Pascal recognized other religious alternatives, but he believed that Christianity was the most probably true religion in light of prophecy, miracles, and its unique explanatory power. The Wager emerged within a given historical context that no God other than the Christian God is real. This gamble may not have the same force (or as broad an appeal) in a modern pluralistic age. Today, the Wager may be more appropriately used after a person has conceded the superiority of Christianity’s truth-claims as compared to other religions, in the crucible of objective testing. 6.) The Wager will not convince the hardened or committed atheist. Response: No argument will convince anyone (apart from the work of God’s grace). The Wager was not intended for a hardened, atheist audience in the first place. Other Christian arguments are available for those who deny God’s existence such as a complexly designed creation, proofs of the Bible, etc. 7.) The Wager promotes intellectual dishonesty. A person can’t pretend to believe when he or she really does not. Response: The Wager can promote reflective thought about what lies ahead (death), not dishonesty. Skeptics sometimes overestimate the quantity and quality of human intellect. To open one’s mind to being persuaded is not dishonest. 8.) Wouldn’t a just God prefer honest skeptics to purely gambling believers? Response: Skeptics fail to see, from a biblical perspective, that “hardness of heart” keeps a person from believing in God. Unbelief is rooted in rebellion and arrogance, which essentially is false worship. God has given everyone signs of His existence, but some skeptics ignore and/or repress them. 9.) Why gamble a certain finite good (human independence) for an uncertain infinite good? Response: All gamblers risk what is certain for what is uncertain, especially when the benefit significantly outweighs the cost. So much good results from belief in God - even in this life (virtue) - that any independence sacrificed seems comparatively insignificant. 10.) Doesn’t the Wager entice people to believe by appealing to a threat or harm (that is, believe so as to avoid hell)? Response: Some threats are real - the necessary and logical consequences of a person’s actions. If God is in actuality the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, then He legitimately sets the rules. Many material things that we do in human life are done by fear of a threat or harm. The good or harmful consequences of a God or no God decision are just in line with the overall effects of choices.
Conclusion
Pascal’s “Wager”, though open to criticism, is still worthy of careful consideration on the part of believers and unbelievers. In our modern culture where “gambling” has been changed to “gaming” to make it more socially acceptable, there might very well be a place for fence-sitting skeptics to place a bet ON GOD.
Immediately after the death and burial of Pope John Paul II, talk began about making him a saint of the Church. Of course, according to the rules of the Catholic Church, it takes much time and investigation before anyone can be canonized as a saint. In 2002, the Pope bestowed sainthood on Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the controversial founder of the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. Sainthood for the Spanish priest was bestowed just 27 years after his death – one of the shortest waiting times in the Vatican's history. So swift canonizations are very possible in the Catholic Church. What is a "saint"? Could I be one? Could you be one? The Greek word for "saint" in the New Testament is hagios and Strong's Concordance says that it means: a sacred, pure, blameless and holy person. Webster's dictionary gives the established church definition of a "saint": 1. one officially recognized as preeminent for holiness through canonization or 2. one of the spirits of the departed in heaven. The Roman Catholic Church down through the ages has made a special point of recognition of particularly holy persons as "Canonized Saints of the Church". The canonizing process usually requires a long study of the person involved with special church recognized "proofs" of holiness. Catholics have patron saints for their names, for each day of the year, and for particular kinds of activity. My given name is "Lucian". I am a junior since my father's name is also "Lucian". My paternal grandparents had nine children, and when they could not decide on a name for my father, they went to the Catholic calendar and used the name of "St. Lucian", the saint for January 7th, my father's birthdate. Patron saints have been designated for many things: St. Christopher for travelers, St. Appolonia for dentistry (my profession), etc. It is believed that we should invoke these patron saints for special help in particular areas. Recognizing the lives of especially holy people is all well and good. We can learn a lot about living the Christian life from their example. But the point I want to make here is that ALL CHRISTIANS, by Bible definition, are SAINTS. I am a saint – I don't have to die first and be canonized. If you are a Christian, you are a saint – you don't have to die first and be canonized. When a person living apart from God recognizes his inability within himself to live a right life, repents and accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of his life, God the Father does a miraculous thing – He creates a Christian! He creates a SAINT! God creates a new person to take the place of the old. God places His very nature, His divine nature, right within the Christian SAINT. Jesus Christ comes to dwell in a living union within the human spirit of the Christian. The old "sinner" is dead. The new SAINT is born again. This happens once and forever within the person. The "sinner" is dead forever. The SAINT is alive forever. "When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!...For God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then, in exchange, He poured God's goodness into us!" (2 Corinthians 5:17,21 Living Bible) "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. " (Galatians 2:20) The newly created SAINT instantly becomes a member of the Family of God. He is a Child of God with God's Family nature. Since the Christian contains Christ in a living union, the Father sees His new child as righteous, not by the child's own doing, but because he contains the righteousness of Christ. He is a human living SAINT. He does not have to die and be canonized as a SAINT through his good and holy works. Yes, I do not have to be canonized as a saint – nor does Mother Teresa, nor does Billy Graham, nor does John Paul II. It is not necessary to canonize YOU as a saint if you are a Christian. We are all SAINTS because of Christ within sealing our new divine nature forever. I know that the Christ nature within me is incorruptible. I know that when God looks at me, He sees this incorruptible nature, Christ in me. This means that when God put His nature in me, there was no more He could do for me to make me His child, His SAINT, than by this. Every born again believer can receive or get no more of God than he got the moment he was reborn. The Christian cannot become any more SAINTLY. You cannot add to the nature, you cannot make it more, and neither can you take away from it. It is total. The Christian is a total Child, a total SAINT. Once birthed by God, there is no more a believer can receive. This must not be confused, however, with the manifestation of that nature. Many believers who have Christ within them are poor at manifesting Him. It must be finally fixed in the Christian's mind that to God he is a SAINT by the new birth, and no more can be given. On the other hand, MUCH MORE CAN BE DONE BY THE CHRISTIAN TO MANIFEST CHRIST'S NATURE WITHIN HIM. How does this take place? By a growth in awareness. The Holy Spirit comes as a Teacher to point us to Jesus Christ within. The Holy Spirit within your mind takes all of the circumstances and situations of your life and uses them for good to point you to the guidance and power of Christ within. You must come to the knowledge of who you are – a SAINT – and grow in constant awareness of your Family status made secure by the indwelling Christ. Then you will grow in manifestation of who you are. BUT THE MANIFESTATION OF WHO YOU ARE DOES NOT DETERMINE WHO YOU ARE! Who I am – a SAINT in union with Christ – is by the gift and grace of God. What I manifest is by my awareness, trust and love of this Christ within me. If you want to talk about manifestations and works of "holy" people on this earth and call them "saints", that is one approach. But I believe that this approach tends to mask the reality and the perspective of our awesome new birth in Christ. While I am on this earth, I will never manifest Christ perfectly. And neither did Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, neither did Mother Teresa, neither did John Paul II, neither will Billy Graham, neither will YOU. There are too many influences of the world, the flesh and the devil to cause us to slip up. We don't want to, but we will slip up, we will neglect to trust Christ for guidance and fall on our faces in our own weakness. As long as God allows me to live a human life, I will be an imperfect SAINT! But the correctional consequences of my slips into sin are there to force me to grow in Christ. Yes, there are more saints around in the world than you may have thought. A sinner can become a saint very simply – by choosing Christ and being born again. A saint can never become a sinner by nature again.
I once attended a church that was big on the “unpardonable sin”. Doesn’t the Bible talk about it? “All the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, he is guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:28-29). Verse 30 says that Jesus said this because they accused Him of having an evil spirit. One person in that church told me, “I think I might have committed the unpardonable sin!” “Why do you say that?” I asked. “I did it again,” he moaned. And after I had repented so deeply. I think I’m lost. I feel horrible dread.” This man’s persistent struggle with sin had led him to believe that he was under God’s curse. If his repentance had truly been sincere, he reasoned, then he would never repeat the sin. Therefore, his repentance must not have been sincere, and he must not be capable to true repentance. Another man in that “unpardonable” focused church said, “I don’t know what to do. I think I’ve committed the unpardonable sin.” “What did you do?” He looked at the ground. “I cursed the Holy Spirit.” “How did you do that?” he was asked. “I don’t know. I was reading the verse where Jesus said that anyone who blasphemed the Holy Spirit would never be forgiven, and I just felt this crazy compulsion to do it. And I did it. Now I’m scared to death.” I have heard many strange explanations of the unpardonable sin over the years and have heard of many people who fear that they might have committed it. But let’s understand something: for those who are born again and trust in Jesus, NO SIN IS UNPARDONABLE. When Jesus said what He said, He was describing a specific attitude and state of mind that can never be true of those who trust in Him. Mark explains, “He said this because they were saying ‘He has an evil spirit.’” The teachers of the law had deliberately refused to acknowledge that the works of kindness and mercy that Jesus was displaying among the people were from God. Because of their own jealousy, they had rejected the witness of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was sent from God and was doing the works of God. They willingly blinded their eyes to God’s own testimony through the Spirit that Jesus had come in His name to bind Satan, destroy his evil works and forgive sins. God sent the Spirit into the world to bear witness to Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven by which humans can be forgiven and saved. To reject that witness, to despise What God has done to bring about forgiveness of sins, is to reject the forgiveness itself. How can a person be forgiven who refuses to accept forgiveness? How can a person’s sins be forgiven if the person rejects the forgiver of sins? Are you worried that you might have committed the unpardonable sin? The very fact that you are worried about it is proof that you have not committed it. The unpardonable sin is unpardonable only because it is the sin of refusing to come to Jesus to be forgiven. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us to Jesus Christ. The blasphemy Jesus refers to in His passage is the rejection of the Spirit’s witness to Him as the Son of God and Savior of the world. Remember this: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. For those who come to Him, no sin in unpardonable! What sin are you afraid God might not forgive you for? When you are His child, you are His eternally forgiven child. That’s that!
The stray thought flitted across my mind as I was shaving one morning: I wondered if there was any reward for faithfully performing such a mundane task almost every day of my life so that others would not have to look at a stubby growth of whiskers. The Bible speaks of the Judgment Seat of Christ as a place of rewards and punishments. Speculation as to the specifics of what takes place on that day of reckoning has been rampant in Christianity. Many feel that the good deeds of each person will be lined up with the sins committed and the scales will be tipped one way or the other. Those of us who believe that we have become new persons in union with Christ by accepting Him as Savior and Lord see the Judgment Seat of Christ differently. The Bible says that at our new birth and after, any forgiven sins are wiped away and forgotten and separated from us as far as the east is from the west (infinitely, because there is no east or west pole as there are north and south poles). Christ has paid the punishment for all our sins. Therefore, for true Christian children of God, this Judgment Seat can only be for rewards and not punishment. As accurate as that stance is, it is equally true that there will be recognition for our works. When we as true Christians in union with Christ do stand before Him, remember sin is not the issue. There will be no forensic punishment meted out. We are perfect and complete in Christ and no sin is going to be laid to our charge on that day. This is not a punitive place for us. This is a time of evaluation – a family matter of the Father with His children. I am told that there used to be a sign in the registrar’s office of Dallas Theological Seminary that read, “Salvation is by grace, graduation is by works.” On graduation day, our performance will be evaluated entirely on what we have done with what we have been given – the very Life of the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). As we listen to the Life within to guide and direct, we will inevitably move to the rhythm of LOVE in all we do. We have been encoded with the very essence of God (1 John 4:16). If Christ lives in us, God’s love is in us. I propose that we reckon it as the only fair and equitable measuring stick by which to evaluate our interactions with people, our work performance and our relationship with our God. We will not be rewarded according to our doctrine or dogma, but according to how we have used the gift of God’s agape love. No matter how we may have failed at many things in our lives, if we have learned in good measure how to love, we have succeeded no matter what kind of other things we do. Whether wheeling and dealing in the high, heady echelons of the corporate boardroom, teaching a group of wriggly first graders or checking out groceries in the line at the supermarket, the measure is the same. Our culture says that ruthless competition is the key to success. Jesus says ruthless compassion and love is the purpose of our journey. Endurance is frequently referenced in the scriptural context of rewards as it rightly should be. The example of running the Olympic race with persistence to finish strongly is placed in our memory by Paul. Yes, there is much to indicate there will be rank in heaven. I would not like to speculate on what that might finally look like, enough to say that if being faithful over little warrants being made ruler over much on earth, then there may well be heavenly parallels (Matt. 25:20-29). Paul Bilheimer writes in “Don’t Waste Your Sorrows” – “Rank in heaven will be determined not by magnetic personality, glittering talents, towering intellect, or other coveted endowments, but by the depth and quality of one’s love.” We will fully discover that our only hope of glory truly comes to fruition as we stand before our Savior at that Judgment Seat. When we see Him face to face in all His beauty, we will realize totally that Christ IS that glory – the glory that has resided in us from the moment of our new birth. Then there are those promised crowns. Unlike the Miss Americas I have seen all decked out in full regalia, but clutching on for dear life to the temporal crown on top of her head as she tries to walk down that aisle – the crowns we receive we do not hold on to. We lay them at the Father’s feet, for the praise and honor belong to Him. And we are glad to be there in heaven regardless of rank or rewards.
We live in a world of flying objects. Airplanes, rocket missiles, etc. Right here in St. Charles, MO where I live, we have the only company in the nation that is building the JDAM sattelite-controlled guidance system used on the U.S. "smart-bombs". During the war with Iraq, the importance of properly controlled "flying objects" became crucial. Have you ever sat in a Boeing 747 before take-off and thought, "How will this monster ever get off the ground?' We wonder how four jet engines will ever enable thousands of pounds to fly across the continents or the oceans. Two physical laws are involved: the law of gravity and the law of aerodynamics. When we see a plane fly, we know that the law of aerodynamics has set the plane free from the law of gravity. The Wright brothers knew they could fly long before they proved it by their successful flight at Kittyhawk. While others continued to say that the law of gravity made flight impossible, Orville and Wilbur had concluded that because of another law, the law of aerodynamics, flight was possible. The law of aerodynamics had not negated the law of gravity, but it had set them free from the law of gravity. Even more amazing, they had come to understand that the very law that had been the seeming curse – the law of gravity – was actually an important factor in the operation of the over-riding law of aerodynamics. Thrust alone, without the gravity factor, would have made directional flight and landing impossible. The passenger and military jets of today all are continuing proof that we can be free of gravity even though the law is still very much operative. Since the Wright brothers were not intimidated by the concept of the law of gravity, they could creatively USE the law of gravity as PART OF the greater law of aerodynamics. Most of us have heard the often used, pathetic excuse, "I'm only human!" Not only is this statement inaccurate, it also reflects the common negative attitude that many Christians have about their humanity. We must come to see that our humanity is really very wonderful!!! Whether we see our humanity as a draw-back or as wonderful is dependent on our focus. Do you have Paul's negative Romans 7 focus of yourself, or the positive Romans 8 focus that Paul came to see as reality? Near the close of Romans 7, Paul says, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?" Then chapter 8 opens with the wonderful statement of Paul as the light of the Holy Spirit comes on in his head, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." How can we account for Paul's move from frustration to freedom? Most Christians continue to be plagued with negative feelings about their humanity, even though they may have a wonderful sense of peace with God regarding their destiny in the hereafter. So what can we say to ourselves and others to bring a current, NOW sense of wholeness, self-worth and creative freedom? What is it that will trigger good feelings about our personal humanity, even though temptations and negative inclinations continue? For me, the answer lies in the next verse, in Romans 8:2: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." As in the above analogy of airplane flight, we have two laws. As long as we see the two laws (1 – life in union with Christ and 2 – human inclinations) as being in a continual struggle within us, as long as we assume that the existence of the two laws is proof that we are "stuck" with two competing natures, we will continue to live in the Romans 7 frustration. We will repeat endlessly: "On the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin" (Rom. 7:25). When will we see that the temptations and negative desires and inclinations of our humanity are not properly labeled a "nature"? We "WERE by nature children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:3), but now we ARE by nature children of obedience. Yes, obedience is now our very nature, because we have the Spirit of Christ living in us, in union with us, irrespective of some negative human inclinations and tendencies. Do not confuse your true nature with a human tendency. This is why Jesus said, "Do not judge [yourself or others] according to appearances [or human tendencies] but judge righteous judgment [the way things really are at their inner center]" (John 7:24). We must distinguish between our outer man (mind and body) and our inner man (spirit). We are more than a composite of personality, talents, moods, feelings and physical appearance. These are all outer expressions of the container – the physical brain and body. They are not our real essence, the real "me". We ARE who we contain in union with our human spirit. These individual human traits are our contact with the world, whether for good or bad. The traits, the personalities themselves, are not "bad" in themselves. THEY are "only human"! THEY are only the human container. THEY are involved in the law of sin and death. But after our new birth, WE are MORE than human – we are a union of human and divine. We become under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus who has come to live within our human spirit – that is, to the extent that we are aware of that new law and allow and trust in that new law to operate our life. Getting back to the airplane, if you take a 747 up to 30,000 feet and then cut off all power so that the laws of aerodynamics of thrust and airflow do not work, what happens? The law of gravity takes over completely and those many tons drop pretty much like a lead balloon. Crash and burn! So also, when we as Christians don't make daily use of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and trust in its aerodynamics, we gravitate downward, misuse our God-wired human inclinations, and crash and burn – sin! But when that 747 continually uses all of the physical laws of thrust and airflow trusting in aerodynamics to overcome and control gravity, then the useful qualities of gravity can and must be used to control take-off, direction and landing. That is, overall flight is achieved. Likewise, when we as Christians become aware and recognize the ability of Christ within to control and overcome our negative traits and to use in daily living our positive traits, then we are "free" from the law of sin and death. The "gravity" of our human characteristics cannot make us crash and burn. In fact, the way God has wired us can in turn be used by God in whatever way He chooses to manifest Himself. He can use the "gravity" to steer us into safe take-offs, proper levels and headings, and smooth landings at our destinations. The law of sin and death that reigns in the lives of those who have not yet come to a point of repentance is no longer a reigning law in our lives. Now when any negative humanity surfaces, we see it for what it really is - God's way of reminding us of who we really are, His precious assets in union with Christ. Since we have been "joined to another" (Rom. 7:4), we "have been released from the law" (7:6). The law that once condemned us is now just a wonderful reminder of who we are in Christ. When we finally are no longer intimidated and condemned by our humanity, all the unique qualities of our own personal humanity can be used by God to draw us and those around us into His awareness. So many people look on their human qualities as downward pulls away from the spiritual. But God created us with these unique human characteristics. They are neutral. They are neither good nor evil in themselves. They have a good or evil usage by who we allow to direct our actions. Are we children of disobedience (Satan's kids) or children of obedience (God's kids)? And if we are God's kids, do we let Satan externally influence us into an independent attitude to use our human characteristics wrongly? Or do we stay aware of Christ's guidance from within to use our characteristics righteously? Realize that humanity is NOT a liability, (just as the law of gravity is not a liability for the airplane), but is an asset to be used as we TRUST in Christ to live out through us to our own little world (just as the law of aerodynamics is used in conjunction with the law of gravity for proper flight). Our own unique qualities, talents, and even gifts from God, can be used as no other person could ever use them. Our approach to the people of the world around us is special to God – can be used in a special way by God. Our humorous approach, our intellectual approach, our carefree approach, our comforting approach to others can be used as needed. Don't look down on your humanity. God created all of that humanity and said that "it was good!" And after the Fall, the human qualities did not become "evil", but humans just allowed their human qualities to be MISUSED. And after years of misuse, we do not instantly at conversion institute proper use. Life is spiritual growth in awareness of HOW to be able to eliminate misuse. The next time you see a plane in flight, either actually over your home or on TV over Iraq, stop and contemplate the interaction of the two forces, the two laws. That plane needs the curvature of the airflow over the wings and the power of the engines. BUT it also needs the "curse" of the law of gravity just as much.
IT ALL WORKS TOGETHER FOR CONTROLLED FLIGHT.
CHRIST AND YOUR HUMANITY CAN WORK TOGETHER FOR CONTROLLED RELATIONSHIPS.
Dwight Moody, one of this country’s most stirring evangelists, was not known as an erudite scholar. Growing up a poor, fatherless farm boy, Moody accepted Christ at age 17 while working in a shoe store in Boston. Unfortunately, he was denied church membership because he was “not sufficiently instructed in Christian doctrine.” Undeterred, Moody moved to Chicago and started up a Sunday School ministry that reached out to the ragamuffins of the city and in turn their parents, growing rapidly until the numbers were in the thousands. Even with such an obvious pastoral calling, Moody was not a silver-tongued speaker and often received advice from the “learned” imploring him to keep silent; he simply made too many grammatical errors. Once, when Moody was being considered as a speaker for a revival campaign in England, an elderly Anglican pastor protested, ”Why do we need this Mr. Moody? He’s uneducated. He’s inexperienced. Yet listening to some of you talk, you’d think Mr. Moody had a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?” The room grew silent. Then another pastor spoke. “No, Mr. Moody doesn’t have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit sure has a monopoly on Mr. Moody!” Does the Spirit have a Monopoly on you? Does He own Park Place and Boardwalk and all four railroads? Does He claim sole possession of every utility, every house, every hotel, right down to that little silver doggie and funny looking shoe? Painful as it is, I have to admit that I sometimes opt for a fair trade agreement, and find myself buying into the world’s values and priorities. It’s as if I forget that I have Christ living inside me and make ugly, selfish soul choices, say rude things and hustle along with impatience, frustration and self-concern. CHRIST IS A RESIDENT IN MY LIFE – BUT HE’S NOT ALWAYS THE PRESIDENT! So I’ve been pondering how I can grow to let Him monopolize me more. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far. I believe that to see Christ taking over your Monopoly game, you must begin each day in prayer. Don’t worry – I’m not talking big, long prayer here. A “quickee” will do – just some awareness that you are more than just a hunk of flesh joining a bunch of other hunks of flesh in a daily hustle and bustle. One – you ARE a spirit joined to Christ. Two – you HAVE a soul with a brain that is being gradually taught by the Holy Spirit about Christ’s power and leadership in you. Three – that old body that you LIVE IN has another day of jostling relationships in family, business and friendships. When we choose Christ as our leader, we concede that we can’t put much faith in these earthly bodies and that the mentality of our souls needs revision and correction. Another way for His Monopoly takeover is that you must be familiar – and I mean cozy, dog-eared, bedside-table familiar – with His instruction book, the Bible. Without the “Book”, it’s easy to get off track. But you can bet your life that if the prompting you are feeling matches what you are reading, you are hearing from your guide. But a guide is no good if we’re couch potatoes. Unless we pick up our feet and walk with our guide, we’re going to get lost. When you keep your prayers going up and your nose going down in the good book, choices become easier to make. It become clear that there is only one market worth buying into – and Christ holds all those Monopoly deeds. And, on top of that, you’re even getting a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card!
There is a story of a boy who follows his dad to the dark corners of a carnival, sneaks into a tent for “adults only” and sees what he knows he should not see. He is wracked with guilt and makes an attempt to do something about it: He took his boots out into the woods, took them off, and filled the bottoms of them with stones and small rocks and then he put them on. He laced them up tight and walked in them through the woods for what he knew to be a mile, until he came to a creek. Then he sat down and took them off and eased his feet in the wet sand. He thought, that ought to satisfy God. Nothing happened. Anything happening he would have taken as a sign – but nothing happened. After a while he drew his feet out of the sand and let them dry, and then he put the shoes on again with the rocks still in them, and he walked the mile back before he took them off. The boy, being a human being like all of us, knew by instinct that he had crossed the line. He attempted what he thought should be adequate payment for his wrong. In the end, it just didn’t seem to be enough. We are all born into this world like that boy – guilt is in our spiritual DNA. The absence of guilt in any person is unnatural; it is normal to sense when we’ve done wrong. And like any human, we intuitively know that some penalty should be paid. We believe we need to do something to take care of the debt that guilt leaves in our hearts. I call this the “Fig Leaf Dilemma”, and it stands in blatant rebellion against the name on the front of my church, “Grace Church”. Grace is God’s unearned, undeserved goodness alive in me. Grace achieved by my own merit or morality is not grace at all – that’s the dilemma. Some traditions in the Catholic Church still alive today are self-flagellation – beating yourself with a whip or rod to draw blood in penance for your sin. Or in Mexico, there is the practice of getting on your knees about 200 yards in front of the Cathedral and shuffling over the hard rock street on your knees all the way to the entrance. Leaving your knees bloody is again a practice of penance for your sin. In the Middle Ages, the doctrine of the “temporal punishment for sin” came to the fore. This is the belief that even though Christ paid the eternal punishment for our sins, we still have to pay a physical hardship price in our human lives – either before our death, or in a place called “purgatory” after our death. This then led to the concept of “indulgences” by which you could remove some of this necessary physical punishment, on earth or in purgatory, by giving some of your hard earned money to the Catholic Church in exchange for the elimination of so many “days” or “months” or “years” of temporal punishment. Where did we get this? Where did this sense of guilt come from? Where do we get the gnawing need for repayment? Repayment by us doesn’t do anything to take care of our sin. But that’s not what our minds tell us. Our minds say that we can pay for sin by making up for it, working off the debt. We can balance out our bad side with our good side, and, as long as the good side wins, even by an edge, it will be enough to get us to heaven and into good standing with God. Carry enough painful rocks in your tight-tied boots for long enough, walk on your bloody knees far enough, whip your own back painfully enough, and God should be satisfied. The Garden of Eden is an example. Eve contemplated the temptation, weighed the benefits against the risk and decided to eat. She shared the fruit with Adam. Immediately something changed. In that one, fateful instant, the nature of every man and woman born throughout the history of the world was altered. This is the moment we call “The Fall.” Adam and Eve sinned; they broke the one and only prohibition and brought sin into the world. From then on mankind shared a “sin nature.” What is a sin nature? Boiled down, it means that because we are all broken and all guilty. We carry a weakness and propensity to sin. We are prone to it, conformed to it, weak against it. We inherit a good/evil economy. A recognition of right and wrong. (The eyes of both of them were opened.) A realization of guilt. (They realized they were naked.) A need to fix the problem for themselves. (They sewed fig leaves together.) A fear that prompted them to hide from God. (They knew the leaves didn’t really take care of things, so they went off and hid from the Lord.) Humanity has been caught in the trap every since – the Fig Leaf Dilemma. It’s that inward pressure, produced by the concentration on good and evil inherited from Adam and Eve, calling out for us to pay our sin-debt on our own. As a Christian child of God, you also face the dilemma when you try in your own strength to obey a bunch or rules and regulations in order to be considered a good player of God’s team. A Christian friend faces the dilemma when she tries to deal with guilt feelings in the following way: she heard on Christian radio once that refined sugar was “of the devil,” so she ransacked her kitchen, tossing out offending food in order to avoid God’s judgment. This is the mess that humanity finds itself in. FIG LEAVES NEVER COVER. MAKING UP FOR OUR SIN NEVER WORKS. WE CAN’T FIX THE PROBLEM. Genesis 3:21 SAYS, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” This is no small matter. Adam and Eve stood before God already clothed. They had made coverings, sewed fig leaves, for themselves. But it wasn’t sufficient. What they had done by taking initiative to handle their shame was insufficient. They, and the rest of humanity after them, had to learn that their efforts to handle their sin for themselves would never, ever be enough. In essence, God says, “Let Me do it for you. You’ll have to trust Me on this. What I provide for your shame will be enough, My grace is sufficient. Take the rocks out of your shoes – you’ve got to do this MY WAY.” God’s way is prefigured in the Old Testament by the taking of animal life and human life in order to cover sin. This was a crude but effective way to demonstrate the seriousness of sin. But this was all directed to the ONLY way for the resolution of sin. God’s way is through the sacrificial death of Jesus, the son God loved. God’s way is that Jesus gives His life to provide permanent covering for all of our sin. God seeks out the ashamed, the afraid, the guilty. His built-in conscience still embarrasses us, still allows us to sense our nakedness when we come to Him. His desire is for everyone to join Him in His covering of GRACE – (Isn’t that a great name for a Church?)
