Foundations of Faith
NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD (III)
In the last issue we considered some of the philosophies of the world or basic attitudes shown by people who do not know Christ as their Lord and Saviour. We continue with some Bible-twisting philosophies that are all too often expressed by Christians; then we conclude this series by focusing on issues related to sports and games.
If I sin, God will forgive me. This is a true, Biblical statement:”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). However, when professing Christians use this as a justification for entering into sin, this attitude is totally contrary to Scripture. “Shall we sin, that grace may abound? God forbid!” (Rom. 6:1,2).
Many years ago, I learned that a co-worker who professed to be a Christian and who attended a Bible study I was leading at work was living with her boy friend. I spoke to her about this. Her response was that she knew it was sinful but didn’t know how to get out of it; she went on to reason that once they got married she would confess her sin, God would forgive her, and everything would be all right. They did marry, but everything was not all right. She found that her husband had not the slightest interest in spiritual things and she has suffered a very difficult marriage for over 20 years.
As another example, while leading a Bible class with inmates at the Baltimore City Jail I stressed the importance of telling the truth in court, even if it meant having to “do time.” I told them it was better to be on God’s side in jail than to be on the streets without God. One inmate looked troubled when I said these things and said softly, “But God forgives, doesn’t he?” Clearly his idea was to lie his way to freedom, then confess his lie to God. Another inmate answered him more eloquently then I could by saying, “When I went to court last year for a minor charge, I lied and pleaded not guilty. The judge bought my story and let me go. Not long afterward I committed a far worse crime and now I am looking at a 20-year sentence.”
Yes, it is true that “God forgives.” But it is also true that “God is not mocked:for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
I am assured of heaven, so I can do as I please. The doctrine of the eternal security of the believer in Christ (review Feb98-Apr98) is a most blessed truth of Scripture. Those who are truly saved, and enter into the marvelous grace of God and the love of our suffering Saviour on our behalf, will not trample on God’s grace by thinking for a moment, “Now I am free to do as I please.” (See Assignment 12)
When you hear professing Christians saying such things, your response should be to present the gospel to them and emphasize how much the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for their sake. It may be impossible for us to say definitely whether or not such are saved; we may have to rest on “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Tim. 2:19). We surely cannot enjoy Christian fellowship with a person who has such an attitude.
God wants us to be wealthy. This teaching that is being spread by some TV evangelists is totally unscriptural and utterly unworthy of Christ. The Lord may feel free to entrust wealth to certain individual Christians who have shown a sensitivity to His will as to the use of that wealth. But actively seeking wealth as an end in itself or as a sign of God’s favor was one of the sins of the Pharisees that the Lord strongly denounced (Luke 16:13,14). The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “Charge those who are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate [or to share their wealth with the poor]” (1 Tim. 6:17,18).
There are some Christians who believe that playing baseball, volley ball, and other sports and games is worldly. However, Scripture does not portray active participation in sports and games in a negative way (see 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 3:13,14; 2 Tim. 2:5; 4:7,8; Heb. 12:1; 1 Tim. 4:8). Whether athletics are worldly depends in large measure on a person’s attitude about it. If one’s whole life is centered around athletics, this is idolatry and thus worldly. If one engages in sports because of the thrill of victory or the personal pride of being recognized as a superior athlete, again this is a worldly attitude.
Of course, the same applies to just about any activity or occupation one can think of:baking, sewing, painting, playing a musical instrument, collecting stamps, furnishing a house, fixing up old cars, or any kind of profession or daily employment. In any activity or occupation, one can easily be caught up in the idolatrous pursuit of becoming “number one.”
On the other hand, if a believer participates in sporting activities with the primary goal of reaching out to and developing bonds of friendship with others so that he/she might be a spiritual help to those others, is this worldly? I know a Christian man who enjoyed playing basketball. He would go out on the sandlot courts in the inner city and play with the neighborhood kids. In so doing, he eventually became good friends with them, got them to go to Bible studies, and led a number of them to Christ. That work, carried on a number of years ago, is still bringing forth fruit in the lives of some of those young people.
Playing Scrabble is worldly for the person who gets impatient or angry if the other players are concentrating more on conversation than on the game itself. Playing dominoes is worldly if one just has to keep playing another game until he/she wins, or always finds an excuse for losing and/or gloats over winning. Washing the car is worldly if one’s primary motive is for other people to notice how nice it looks. Doing gospel work is worldly if one’s motive in it is gaining some kind of credit with another person or with God. Teaching the Word of God can be a worldly activity if one enters into it with the idea of showing off his superior intellect and knowledge of the Scriptures, or winning doctrinal debates by means of his clever arguments, or believing that only he understands Scripture rightly and that all teaching flows in one direction-from him to others.
Running the Race
Assignment 12: Write out a verse in Galatians 5 and at least one in James 2 that clearly tell us that Christians are not free to do as they please.