Zach’s Theological Musings

  There is a bumper sticker that says, “Obey gravity. It’s the law!” It is a great bumper sticker to get you thinking. We use the word “law” in two distinct senses. In the context of science, laws (”of nature”) describe things which occur so consistently that we theorize that they must always occur according to the same fixed pattern. In the context of human societies, and generally in the context of theology, when we speak of laws we mean a rule issued by an authority which (at least in the eyes of the authority) should be obeyed, even though it is possible for people to disobey the law. [It is also interesting to consider the relationship between these two senses of law in light of God’s absolute power and authority. But that is not the direction we are going in this post.]

  My friend Bruce has pointed out that when Jesus says (or when other portions of the Bible say), “You can not… ,” that He is often speaking of ability rather than permission. In other words, the meaning is, “You are not able to…. ,” rather than, “You are not allowed to… .” A case in point is Matthew 6:24:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

To support the claim that Jesus is talking about a “gravity type” of law here we could refer to the Greek and see that “No one can” is “Oudeis dunatai” which we could render as “No one has the power to”. Or we could stick to the English and point out the logic implicit in the word “for”. Jesus doesn’t say, “You shall not serve two masters; for God disapproves of such double-mindedness.” Instead He says that the reason you cannot serve two masters is because if you love one master you will, inevitably, despise the other. Jump off a cliff, you will come crashing down. Love money or serve wealth and you will hate God. It is a statement of fact which quite suitably belongs in scientific textbooks.

  One implication is that this observation crushes any thought our sinful nature might have along the lines of, “Well, maybe God will let me slide on this one. Maybe I can get away with serving two masters for a while, and at some indeterminate point in the future I’ll give Him more and more of my allegiance.” Nope, it’s not going to happen. The fact is, you ALWAYS ARE serving only one master. If, on some level, we think, “Hey, this is the best of both worlds. I’m serving God and wealth and I seem to be getting away with it,” then we are self-deceived because in fact we hate God without realizing it.

  Does God let the law of gravity slide sometimes? Yes, it is called a miracle. Is God going to perform a miracle to give you the supernatural ability to serve another master alongside Him? Nope. No sir. No ma’am. No way. No how.

  In particular, the “Can’t vs. Shan’t” paradigm sheds much light onto Jesus’ “cost of discipleship” message.

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:33

To be a disciple (learner) of Christ is to be a follower of Christ. And Christ is on the move. During the years of His ministry on earth, He literally moved frequently from place to place with no possessions and no place to lay His head. If you had to carry around a whole chariot full of luggage, you wouldn’t have been able to keep up with Him. You literally, physically, COULD NOT be a follower of Christ and cling to your possessions any more than you could flap your arms and fly in the sky like a bird.

  The same it true for us both on a metaphorical and on a literal physical level. Christ is on the move. And it is not infrequent that He says to His disciples, “Leave those things behind and come, follow Me.” Anything apart from Him, be it tangible possessions and property, or less tangible dreams, hopes, memories, relationships,… becomes a choice between Christ and no Christ. Being with Christ or apart from Christ.

  We often wish that there wasn’t such a choice. “Jesus, I want to be with you. But I also want this other thing. Can’t you just divert your plans and stay here with me and this other thing that I love for a while?” How would Jesus answer? I don’t think we need to speculate:

And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” And another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. - Luke 9:57-62

  If God can cause a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, then yes, a middle class American can enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25).

  But they have so much going against them. The opportunites to be choked into complete fruitlessness are so numerous and so tangibly pressing from every side.

And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  - Mark 4:18-19

I don’t believe that it is incumbent upon everyone who would follow Christ to necessarily sell all of their possessions and give to the poor as the rich young ruler was commanded to do in Mark 10:21. However, if anyone would come after Christ, it is absolutely essential that he forsake (or, “say good-bye to”) his possessions, such that when Christ does say, “Leave that thing behind,” he says, “Yes, Lord,” and does not turn back.

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. - Luke 14:33

  There may be good and godly reasons for some followers of Christ to continue in a middle class American lifestyle. Lord have mercy on those whom you would call to remain in such a circumstance, and give them extra grace. The temptations toward futility will be enormous.

Luke 9:24-26:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

  Investment analysts tell us that different people have different levels of aversion to risk. Some people like to risk it all with the chance of a large payoff. Some would rather play it safe and have a virtually guaranteed, though much more conservative, return.

  How does risk play out in the spiritual realm? Well, in the upside-down world of Jesus* where the meek inherit the earth, where masters serve slaves, and where the persecuted are the most joyful, “playing it safe” often requires risking or losing “everything”. (* Rather, I mean the right-side up world of Jesus relative to which the ways of this world are upside-down.)

  The first option is to “play it safe” in terms of worldly wisdom. Store up your crops, build larger and larger barns, then sit back and say to yourself, “Self, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” Whew! That’s safety, that’s security, that’s planning ahead. There’s nothing to worry about. Until your life and your property are all taken away in an instant, and you are left with nothing but the T-Shirt on your back which reads, “This one stored up things for himself but was not rich toward God.”

  Likewise, when the persecution comes, which it will for anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus (II Tim 3:12), the persecutors will probably tempt you with a “safe” way out. “Oh, we don’t hate Christians or Christianity,” they’ll say. “In fact, we think religion is great, and you are free to have whatever beliefs you want within your self. We just want to be assured that your allegiance is first of all to the state and our agenda, and that you recognize that Jesus is just a personal deity in your heart.” Hey great! You can have the best of both worlds, right? Until Jesus comes in glory with the whole host of heaven with Him and looks away from you, ashamed.

  The other option is to lay everything on the line, like the man who found treasure hidden in a field (Matt 13:44). When he found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. The world will say he’s a fool. Jesus will say, “He’s mine.” If there is no resurrection of the dead, then we who have banked everything we have on Christ are to be pitied more than all men. If there is a resurrection of the dead, which there is, then to live is Christ and to die is gain.

  Playing it safe is not an option in this world. We were born into a world at war. Satan seeks to kill, steal, and destroy. The dangers are already real, they are already present whether you like it or not, whether you acknowledge them or not. The more you cling to sources of safety in this world, the more you expose yourself to massive dangers of eternal proportions. Beware of earthly “safety”. It can kill you.

  As an evangelical Christian, I never expected to hear myself say this, but I think it is Biblical and it needs to be said: believing in Jesus in your heart alone is not enough to be saved. In particular, I’m referring to verses like the classic “how to be saved” text, Romans 10:9-10:

[I]f you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Although these verses are very common in gospel presentations, we usually emphasize more on the “believe in your heart” part (together with “saying the sinner’s prayer” which, although not necessarily bad, is certainly extra-Biblical). But here Paul puts confessing Jesus with your mouth right up there with genuine faith as essential to salvation.

  This observation, as far as I can see, does not raise any immediate, outward, application for most of us in the already Christianized world. Confessing Christ as Lord with our mouths usually goes right along with believing in Him. If you have trusted in Christ but you don’t confess Him as Lord with your mouth, then do so! But I think most of us who have trusted Him in our hearts have also confessed Him with our mouths, and continue to do so. But there are serious implications here for missions and, at least on the level of self-examination of the heart, for all of us. 

  Consider together with me: Romans was written to “the beloved of God in…” where? Rome. And who else lived in Rome? The emperor. Caesar. Now, it appears that Caesar wasn’t too fond of people in his empire following other authorities. Remember what finally got Jesus sentenced to death?

As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.” … Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.  John 19:12-16 

And don’t forget about this:

But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”  Acts 17:5-7

  If confessing Christ to be a king could get you in trouble out in the remote parts of the empire, then how about in Rome? Indeed, I see a number of hints that the Christians in Rome were not a timid lot. Paul took it for granted that they had all been baptized (Rom 6:3), an OPEN declaration of their faith. The church of Rome consisted of people who were willing to risk their own necks for the gospel (Rom 16:4). Faith like that is often contagious. When people see their brother risking his neck for the gospel, and rejoicing in Christ through it, then they are emboldened to do likewise (cf. Phil 1). No wonder the Romans’ faith and obedience were “famous throughout the world” (Rom 1:8, Rom 16:19). The church in Rome would be like the church in Beijing or Pyongyang. The rest of us, further removed from the anti-Christian political capital would look at them and say, “If they are bold in their confession of faith, then certainly we should be too!”

  Paul wasn’t naive. If anyone knew that there were consequences for openly declaring Christ to be Lord, it was Paul. He knew. And still he told the church in Caesar’s backyard that salvation comes through confessing Jesus Christ as Lord not only in your heart, but with your mouth.

 The only examples in the Bible of people hiding faith in Christ that I know of are the disciples who deserted Christ upon His arrest (11 out of 12 of them repented and were restored), and a certain group of rulers:

Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. John 12:42-43

Now, the Bible doesn’t explicitly say whether these rulers were born again or not. But as for me, I certainly don’t want to stand before God and hear Him say, “You did not love My approval,” lest what comes next is, “Therefore you have not received it.”

  Jesus warned us that as we do or do not testify of Him before men, so He will or will not testify of us before His Father:

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” Matt 10:32-33, cf. Luke 12:8-9

  The application is clear, I believe, for those who would follow Christ in Mecca, Medina, Kabul, Istanbul, Astana, Ho Chi Minh City, and for Communist Party members in China. Set your heart fully on that day when Christ, with all rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms and every creature under the heavens looking on, lifts you up in the presence of His Father seated on the throne, and says, “This one belongs to ME! See, he declared me to be his Lord while he was on earth in the face of all of Satan’s hostilities because he loved the approval of God rather than men!”

  The rest of us, in much less hostile circumstances, will hopefully not hesitate to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. And we can further examine our hearts. Would we be prepared to confess Jesus as Lord under the shadow of Caesar’s palace?

  I’m don’t believe I’m over-dramatizing, but simply trying to be true to the Scripture, in saying that at least when it comes to confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, timidity is a salvation issue:

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving…, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Rev 21:8)

  Which brings us to the great news. You know that famous faith of the ancient Roman Christians that we are hearing about even up to today? It came from God. “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you [Romans], because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.” (Rom 1:8) Thank God for the famous faith of the ancient Roman Christians. Be encouraged and challenged by their example. The same God who supplied them with faith is ready to supply you as well.