In the Olympics there are some contests which look a bit awkward or strange. For example, there is the hammer toss, but the thing thrown doesn’t look anything like my hammers. It is not a claw hammer, or a sledge hammer. Someone might want to throw a ball-peen hammer, but that is not what they use in the Olympics. And how about the triple jump contest? What is the purpose of the triple jump? Nobody but five-year-olds regularly tie together hopping, skipping and jumping. But the officials in the Olympics don’t permit five-year-olds. Among the races, one of the strangest races, and one of the hardest to run, is walking. The contestants in a walking race, reach tremendous speeds, but they not allowed to run. I suppose they first realized they were good at speed walking while in the halls at school or at the swimming pool – where they were in a hurry but were constantly being told not to run. If I understand it correctly, there has to be some part of their foot on the ground at all times. True runners spend most of their time in the air. But walkers, have a very funny and exhausting style. And the rules are exacting.
Paul has just told us that he had not reached the finish line as far as his life and goals were concerned. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” Then he says, now if anyone thinks they have reached the proscribed finish line, that doesn’t mean the coach or the race officials agree. “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” As I said two weeks ago, the perfect man will be reminded that he is always less than perfect. Only the imperfect thinks he has perfectly finished his God-proscribed race.
That the Lord will reveal to a man his short-comings, is a thought which needs to be carefully considered. Because misunderstood It can lead to a lazy tolerance of evil. “If the Lord doesn’t want me to smoke cigarettes, he’ll stop me one of these days.” “If I am really eating junk food, then the Lord will give me a heart attack to show me.” “If the Lord wants me to teach a Bible class or to be an evangelist, he would have made me a pastor.” It seems that Paul was aware of this corruption, so he jumps right on the idea. He pulls the weed right out of the ground before it has a chance to go to seed. “God will reveal the failures of a man, whose heart is perfect before Him. To as many as be perfect, the Lord will reveal your contrary thinking. God will reveal to a man the things in which he is wrong, only if he steadfastly continues in the path that he thinks is the right one.” This leads us to a couple of helpful exhortations.
You who have attained some degree of attainment, live up to your faith and convictions.
I am not an impulsive person by nature. It is not my nature to tell Judy that tomorrow we are diving to Canada. I am going to have to have my passport renewed before next June, so it’s time for me start getting my ducks all lined up for a two day trip north. Some people are impulse shoppers, but that’s not my style – I only shop when I have a purpose in mind. On the other hand, if another shopper is guided by the right principles, there may be nothing wrong with spontaneous purchases. A person may live by the no-credit principle – if he has cash in his pocket, he can buy whatever. Or maybe he lives by the “if there is a need principle” – he never buys just for fun.
The Lord wants us to be lead by principles and convictions in every area of our lives. This means we should not need a list of rules, because we already have guiding principles instead. It means that we know WHY or why not we are doing the things we are doing. Spontaneity is fine, if that spontaneity has a very rational and realistic guide behind it. For example you should not need a rule which says, “Thou shalt not smoke cigars.” You don’t need that rule, if there is a conviction inside your heart which says – “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” I Corinthians 6:19 contains a principle which can apply to hundreds of areas beyond tobacco. Christians shouldn’t need a law which says, “Thou shalt not steal.” We shouldn’t need that rule, if we have the unquenchable desire to “seek first the kingdom of God….” There ought to come a time in the relationship of every parent and child that the child no longer needs the exacting and specific law which demands a toeing of the line of obedience. If parents are doing their jobs properly, we should have passed on to our children the principles which govern the specifics of a good, godly life.
And this points out one of the principles which the Bible teaches us. The rules and regulations of the law condemn, but in Christ we find the principles for living. We had a long series of classes dealing with Biblical trivia, but I hope that everyone knows that the Bible is not trivial or a book of trivia. The Bible was given to us to form the basis of our faith and the foundation of our lives. Then out of those basic principles come the way in which we live – our day-to-day actions. Take, for example, the cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus is the focal point of all Biblical revelation. Virtually the whole Old Testament points to the last chapters of the gospels. And then following the crucifixion and resurrection, the cross becomes a part of the Christian’s life. Sure, we can talk about eternal life and salvation. But shouldn’t our new life in the crucified Christ be the basis of all that we are? Paul says– “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ….” Christ Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you” – which was expressed in His sacrifice. Paul adds, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself….” Then John tells us that if we don’t love our brother, then we don’t know the love of God. What the Word of God says about the love of God which led to the crucifixion should be a part of the basis of your day-to-day living.
There are a few dozen principles in the Word of God, which if we would learn and practice, would eliminate the need for all the rules and laws. Must we have a law that demands a tithe of our income if we love the Lord with all our heart? Is it necessary to repeat that we “forsake not the assembling of ourselves together?” Must we tattoo on the back of our hand: “Pray without ceasing?”
A second thing to keep in mind, in our Christian walk is – obviously – to keep on walking.
“Whereto we have already attained, by the same rule, keep on walking.” It is a very easy thing to leave the path, and then for many of us, to get lost. When I was working at the mall, there were sometimes a hundred children a year temporarily lost. While I was there, not once did we ever had any of those children abducted, although half the Mom’s thought for sure they were. Invariable, Mom went one way and the child just took one baby step in a slightly different direction. First, one misdirected step, then a second, and then a third, until they couldn’t see each other, and either one or both were in tears. Christians get away from the Lord in the same sort of way – often in very tiny, unintentional steps.
And then there is the work of the tempter. The heart of modern man is no more or less wicked than at any other era of human history. But it seems to me that temptations to sin are doubling every year or at least every decade. When humanity lived on the farm, making it into town only once a month – our temptations were limited. When we were confined to reading the books Mom and Dad already owned – our temptations limited. When we worked 14 hour days, 6 days a week and barely had enough money to pay the rent – our temptations were limited. But with advent of TV, 36 hour work-weeks, cars to take us anywhere we want to go, the internet, and friends from every corner of society, the temptation to stray has grown like mildew in a wet climate.
And some of those temptations are not so much to evil things, but to lethargy in regard to good things. Why is it that there is more activity life in a tiny creek, away up in the mountains than there is in the huge river as it nears the sea? Why is it that there is more life in a newly-born Christian, than in the older saint? There are multitudes of Christians who have not grown spiritually in years. They used to attend all the prayer meetings, but now they attend none. They used to memorize at least one scripture a week; now they memorize nary a one. They used to meet with the lost and sharpen their use of the Word by sparing with the agnostic; now they hide in the caves on the sides of Sinai, and wish for heaven.
To the place where we have already attained, let us continue to walk by the same rule.
Paul’s exhortation can even mean – “be yourself” as much as the Spirit will allow it.
As I already said, one of the differences between legalistic Pharisee and Spirit-led Christian is a matter of principle. I have heard preachers command their members to evangelize at least one person every day. They were lead to believe that if they failed to do this, they were not worthy of membership in Lord’s church, which of course was universal. But both those points are spiritual garbage. The Lord has given to every one of His servants different gifts and abilities. Yours are not the same as mine, and it is silly for me to covet your gifts. If you have the time and ability for extensive daily prayer, but you fumble and stumble before strangers, then pray and pray and pray in the privacy of your closet. If you have the gift of gab and Lord gives you lots of new people day-by-day, then speak up for the Lord.
Where were the body if it were nothing but eyes? Can the hand or the foot function well when there are no eyes to guide them? We all have too many short-comings to be worried about the short-comings of everyone else around us.
And once again, remember that we have not yet attained perfection even in our best areas. Keep on keeping on – let us keep on walking up the road which the Lord has chosen for us. When Paul says, “whereto we have already attained” he obviously suggests that none of us have yet arrived at our final destination. And the more the conscientious Christian is aware of his imperfections, the more he will be impelled into earnestness and energy.
One of these days, the Lord shall return, and we shall see Him as He is. One of these days we shall be like Him, but oh, how far short we are of that image today. I – we all – must “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Oh, that we might hear, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”