The Louisiana Quaker eLetter

ISSN 1523-4924—Vol. 1, No. 6

"THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS TO SUCH AS THESE"

Living the Christian life, following the "Way," is not an easy assignment—even for the vocational Christian worker. Consider this horrible story: Last fall, the dean of Harvard Divinity School resigned his post, telling colleagues that he was leaving for medical reasons. Since that time he has been on a year’s sabbatical from the school, where he remains a tenured professor. The Boston Globe, however, revealed this past month the exact reason for his abrupt departure. According to the recent press reports, his distinguished 13-year career was brought to an end after thousands of explicit pornographic images were discovered on his Harvard-owned personal computer.

I am reminded of Paul’s cautionary words to the Corinthians: "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man" [1 Cor. 10:12-13].

And yet temptation struggles such as these have led Christians to argue against remaining a part of the world—or for changing it to conform to our moral needs. The history of the Church tells one long story of these two extremes. What drives this is the belief that living in the world is inevitably an impossibility for the Christian. But Paul says just the opposite: "Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him" [1 Cor. 7:20]. We are to continue our lives, but in an entirely new way. Through our faith in Jesus Christ we are made righteous before God, and yet we are also sanctified, set apart for God’s special purpose for us. This is God’s will for us:

"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. [1 Thess. 4:3-6]

Thus we are to live our lives, struggling for maturity in our Christian walk, and all the while striving to live outside the influence of a world that strongly beckons us to remain a complete part of it. Jesus knew this, and commanded this strategy:

"If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell." [Matt. 18:8-9; see Mark 9:43-48]

This is surely harsh counsel, but Jesus is admonishing us to remove from our daily lives the many incentives to sin, and at least to take a proactive stance, a readiness, as we go out each morning to confront a culture that wants to draw us back into harm’s way. For each one of us, what we face will be different, for we are not all strong in the same areas, but in each case our stance, this readiness, is a preparedness to flee.

Actually this is Paul’s advice for those in the face of temptation: Run away from it [1 Cor. 6:18; 1 Cor. 10:14; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22]. Knowing, too, that in our flight we will have to confront our Tempter, Paul instructs us to "put on the full armor of God"— a perception of the real state of things as God has revealed it (the "belt of truth"), assurance of God’s forgiveness (the "breastplate of righteousness"), confidence in Christ and his authority (the "shield of faith"), the hope (or "helmet") of salvation, and the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" [Eph. 6:13-17; 1 Thess. 5:8]. Finally, Paul advises us to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions" [Eph. 6:18].

Thus a formula for overcoming temptation might look something like this: First, remove the opportunities for temptation; when tempted, recognize it and flee it; when drawn back to it again, face and resist the Tempter with bold assurance that we now belong to Christ; know and use Scripture, for this was Jesus’ weapon of choice when Satan tempted him; and always be prepared to discuss this all with the Father and to petition his help through prayer, for "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear" [1 Cor. 10:13].

In the end, though, our best strategy surely is to enter the world each day as innocent, obedient children of the light [Eph. 4:8] and to nurture an entirely new attitude about temptation. "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance," says Peter [1 Peter 1:14]. And as innocent children, in a world that wants us to be corrupt, we ought to be ready at all times to ask ourselves this question: If it is not good enough for children, then why should it be good enough for me?

—Merle Harton, Jr., The Louisiana Quaker

All biblical references are NIV unless otherwise noted.

BOOK for the month:

The Holiness of God.  By R.C. Sproul. Tyndale House Publishers, 1998. ISBN 0-8423-1498-9.

First published in 1985, Sproul’s exposition on God’s holiness has become a classic of theological literature. Now in its second edition, with revisions and new material, this is a book still able to hold our attention and impart important insights into a subject our modern mind struggles still to discern.

From Sproul’s own personal search for the tremendous mystery of holiness to our petition in the Lord’s Prayer that God be regarded as holy ("hallowed be thy name"), from Martin Luther’s rigid understanding of holiness to Paul’s declaration that God’s holiness is something visible to us, from Jacob’s dream ladder to the repentant Job, from Moses and the burning bush to Peter’s cry for Jesus to "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"—these are but some of the subjects that figure in this exciting literary gem.

Sproul wants to help us understand "holiness," but in his deft treatment this is something incomprehensible without adequately discussing the words we are to use in addressing God, who may see him face-to-face, idolatry (holiness applied to what is not), the sacred and the profane, how an unjust people can live in the presence of a just and holy God, and how, really, we can heed God’s commandment to "be holy, because I am holy."

If we know God better through an understanding of his holiness, we risk having this knowledge undone by God’s apparent harshness: swift and sudden justice meted out to the sons of Aaron, Uzzah’s death for touching the ark of the covenant, the many crimes for which God commanded capital punishment, the slaughter of women and children at his decree, the Flood. As a result, many have argued that God is completely different in the Old and New Testaments; some, finding love and wrath totally incompatible, even go so far as to deny that the existence of the Old Testament God. Sproul is sensitive to this and devotes attention to a careful discussion of why God’s justice is neither whimsical nor unwarranted, and how God’s holiness must shed needed light on this hard topic.

But our amazement at God’s actions is surely outdone by our willingness to take God’s grace for granted, and for this reason Sproul continues to direct his investigation towards the purpose of God’s presence in our lives, to our access to God through Christ, to the marks of a person who is growing in holiness, and to the very reason for our existence, as beings created in the image of an awesome God.

Sproul’s study will both change and enrich your way of thinking about God. It is certainly bound to give you a maturity in understanding your relationship with the Father, a deeper appreciation of the scriptural record about him, and a well-lit perception of your purpose, and your station and its duties. - MCH

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Copyright © 1999 by Merle Harton, Jr.