|
Library
Love's Greatest ChallengesBy John W. Ritenbaugh
|
[I've been] purposefully going through this series on LOVE just prior to the Days of Unleavened Bread and, of course, Passover so that we would have ample opportunity to examine ourselves before taking the Passover this year. Because when all things are considered and push comes to shove (as we might say), the most important thing of all to us is whether we are exemplifying God's love in our lives.
We saw last week that even though the agape love can be done in a cold and a calculating way, as in loving one's enemies. We certainly don't feel disposed to love our enemies in the sense of having a warm regard for them. But yet we have to love our enemies. And so we have to set our will to do what is good and benevolent in behalf of them; and yet our feelings may not be good toward them at all. And yet we can love, by its strictest definition, in our attitude and in our actions toward them.
But we also found that, in its true form, the agape love has a very positive emotional dimension. God has a warm and tender regard, a deep concern, for every aspect of His creation. We are called the apple of His eye-which means that we are the focus of His attention. And it's not done meanly at all! It's done with loving concern-that He has His eyes on us. He feels for us. He has compassion and mercy and pity toward us.
We find that we ourselves, our emotions, are so distorted as a result of our experiences in this world that they too must undergo a conversion. The conversion of our emotions takes place through (or in) the process of our fellowship with God, and through this we will really come to know Him. But there are challenges to this. I mean there are things (if I can put it this way), factors, forces that work against the continuation of the fellowship. We might call them roadblocks that get in the way. They work to destroy this fellowship and keep us from having the love of God perfected in us.
So today we're going to be considering LOVE'S GREATEST CHALLENGES. That's the title of this sermon-LOVE'S GREATEST CHALLENGES. What is it that keeps us from being more loving? What is it that keeps us from having, or making, a better witness for God? What is it that keeps us from being used to a greater extent by God?
There might be quite a number of factors that we might examine. We might say, "Well, it's just human nature." Now that's a true answer; but I also think that it's quite a broad answer. We might also say, "Well, it's a lack of knowledge." And, indeed, this is a big factor because God Himself says that His people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge. How can one be expected to exemplify God in his life if God Himself hasn't even revealed Himself to them? So, it is true. But it is also true that there are large numbers of people who have a great deal of academic knowledge of God; but they aren't growing Christians. Now, saying that the answer here, or the problem, or one of the challenges is closer to the right answer [is true]; but I think it is still much too broad.
Now what we are looking for are personal factors-that even if we have a great deal of knowledge, we are still (all of us) going to face these challenges. Now we might say, "Hey, it's Satan, the Devil. He's the reason" Doesn't the Bible warn us that he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour? Oh, yes. That's true. But that really dodges the issue, because it deceitfully shifts the blame for our wrong choices to someone else. I don't think that it's going to please God that we are irresponsible and deceitful.
No, brethren, I think that we have to get something that is even more specific and personal, something that all of us have to battle. I think that it comes down to just two qualities (or we'll say two factors, or elements). And perhaps even these two can be refined down one. Love's greatest challenges come from laziness and fear. There's nothing esoteric or abstract about either one of them. They are challenges we all face in our relationships with God and men every day. And I mean it-every day!
We're going to begin this sermon in Matthew 7, because I think at the very beginning something has to be established--something established in regard to WORK. Laziness impacts on work. If we are lazy, we're not going to work.
There is a misperception in much of what passes in this world as "Christianity;" and, here in Matthew 7 and in verse 13, Jesus admonishes by saying...
Matthew 7:13 - "Enter by the narrow gate' for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way [Did you catch that? DIFFICULT IS THE WAY...] which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Don't ever let anybody convince you that Christianity is not a religion of works. Christianity is hard work! That's what your Savior said. It is difficult! It is hard work. And it is hard work because it's direction and purpose run counter to human nature. Confusion about "works" enters the picture when people wrongly try to associate "works" with "salvation". We are saved by grace through faith. There is no argument with that biblical fact. Works enter the picture as a necessary part of the process of growth within God's purpose--not salvation. Salvation is, in a major sense, an already finished work of Jesus Christ. That's why so many statements in the Bible in regard to salvation are written in the past tense. We are saved (past tense).
Now let's continue to explore this thing about "works" with scriptures that I know we are familiar with. We need to establish this-that laziness plays a large part in why we don't grow. We are expected by God to work; and we are not going to earn salvation by it. We are going to grow because of it. Overcoming problems is the stuff by which growth occurs. And if we are too lazy to work at overcoming things, though we may be in God's Kingdom, we're not going to grow very much.
God is looking for His children to grow. I know that there is not a parent within the sound of my voice who does not want his child, or children, to grow. Every parent wants his child to become a mature adult--able to take their place in society, able to live independent of the family and still be connected in a loving way to it, able to stand on their own feet. God sets the pattern; and He wants His children to grow as free and independent, moral agents. But we are not that way when He finds us. We are not that way when He reveals Himself to us, and reveals His way to us, and leads us to repentance. But He wants us to grow into what He is. Notice here in Genesis 1:26.
Genesis 1:26 - And God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
God gives everybody who reads His Book very early indications that work is going to play a major role in what He has created. Dominion! That's "rulership", or maybe a better word would be "management". Management of our own personal environment requires work. (We'll show why a few scriptures down the way here.) Let's go to chapter two and verse 15, where He reinforces this concept of dominion.
Genesis 2:15 - Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
"Tend" and "keep"-we might say "embellish" and "guard", "add to" or "keep from deterioration". Anybody knows (who has taken care of a piece of material equipment of some kind, a garden, a house, an automobile, clothing, it matters not what it is) you can embellish it, you can dress it, and that takes work. And it also takes work to maintain, to guard it from falling into a state of disrepair.
We know that God's real purpose here has something to do with the material things of life, but God is looking upon something that is much greater than that-that is the spiritual. And He is indicating to you and me that the things that are spiritual in our lives-that they too are going to have to be embellished, added to, dressed; and they are also going to have to be kept from deteriorating. And so they are going to have to be guarded; and there is work involved in those things. There is work in the proper management, or dominion, over the things that God has put within the scope of our authority. So both of these are indicating work.
Genesis 4: 6 - So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
Or, it could say, "You shall master it." Or, it could say, "You shall overcome it." This is a vivid metaphor in which sin is pictured as a wild beast, eager to be at us and to consume us; and it needs to be tamed. Now, I think that you would agree that, if you were faced with a wild animal, there would be a great deal of effort expended--first of all, in anxiety. The very emotion of the thing would drain you of a great deal of your energy. And you know it would be pretty hard work just to keep control of yourself in such a situation. If you were going to bring that animal under your dominion, you'd have to be working with that thing, wouldn't you?
God uses very vivid metaphors. But what I want to get across to us is this concept that, right at the beginning of the Book, God is laying down principles by which His purpose is going to be guided. And anybody, who becomes a part of that purpose, is going to know and understand that this purpose, that He is bringing him or her into, is going to require hard work to fulfill it.
Let's go back into the New Testament-into I Corinthians 3:8-10. [Here's] a different metaphor; but, again, it's one that shows that God expects a great deal of energy to be expended.
I Corinthians 3:8 - Now he who plants and he who waters are one [Paul says], and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
That is so clear, isn't it? Reward and labor-we're talking about a process of growth here. It's not talking about salvation. It's talking, though, about producing things within one's life.
I Corinthians 3:9 - For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.
Okay, here is yet another clear example of work associated with God's way of life. Building is hard labor, physically and mentally. Now if you can just conceptualize the building of a house or even a chicken coop for that matter-the building of anything, you have to know that when you are building something like that, first you have to dig out so that a footer can go in. And that's hard work, especially if you are doing it with a shovel and a pick and all kinds of rocks in your way.
But even before you get to that place, you have to do some mental exertion to plan the thing out. Draws some plans. Go to an architect [and] work it through with him. You are thinking, "How can I put this together so that when I am done I am going to have produced something there that is in line with what I am about to embark on. So that it will fit my uses.
After the footer goes in, then goes the building on top of it. And you don't just do it any old way. The whole way through the process, the apostle Paul is indicating here, we are working mentally and physically to produce the best that we possibly can. That's why he warns, "let each one take care how he builds."
Am I getting to you so that you understand that there is a great deal of labor connected to what God has called us to? And if we are lazy, nothing is going to be built. If we are lazy, indeed maybe we will still yet be saved; but we won't have built anything. And we will not have fulfilled that portion of God's purpose. And we will not have pleased Him in the way that we could, because every parent wants his children to grow.
Let's go to another one. In 2nd TIMOTHY this time and chapter 2, and verses 3 through 6.
II Timothy 2:3 - You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops.
All three of these metaphors, that Paul uses [here], involve a great deal of labor--whether one is a soldier, whether one is in athletics, or whether one is a farmer. Each and every one of them involves a great deal of work.
What is the problem? What is it that we are fighting against? I don't think that it's a lack of knowledge, because God takes care that His people hear what He wants them to do. I don't think that, for His people (His spiritual people, His church, the Israel of God), that God has failed to provide the kind of knowledge that people need to have.
It's very easy though for us to respond that the problem is human nature. And that is a true answer. But I still think that we need to get more specific than that. One thing is sure-that many of us were never taught good work habits by our parents; and that was probably because they had poor work habits too. They had the same problem; and so they passed their problem on to us.
In addition to that, many of us were fed the line that all one has to do to be saved is to believe in Jesus Christ. And, although that has a smidgen of truth to it, it gives a distorted picture, an incomplete picture. And thus the discipline required to overcome is not in us, because we are hit on both sides. Our parents did not really discipline us and teach us good discipline. Besides that, many of us were part of church organizations that played down the idea of "works" in terms of Christianity. Now let's go to Hebrews 1, and verses 10 through 12.
Hebrews 1:10 - And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain...
Now look carefully at the wording here. God, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. Not only that, but [also] the heavens. "They will perish, but You remain." The apostle is making a comparison between God and the material creation that we are able to see and are a part of. One will perish. The other remains. There is a contrast being made between God and the material creation.
Hebrews 1:11 - And they will all grow old like a garment...
Everything that we wear wears out. Everything that we wear becomes threads, eventually, once again. It gets worn and torn and fades and eventually the threads begin to separate until finally we can't wear that thing anymore.
Hebrews 1:12 - Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. [Things never stay new.] But [on the other hand] You [God] are the same, and Your years will not fail."
God never changes. There is the contrast. God never grows old. Nothing about Him ever wears out. Nothing about Him ever deteriorates, degenerates, or declines. He is as sharp now as He was twenty billion years ago, and twenty billion years before that. That's hard for us to conceive; but that's the way He is.
Now what we are looking at here (in Hebrews 1, verses 10-12) is a very simple statement of what scientists call "the second law of thermodynamics." We are looking at what they term as 'entropy'. Entropy came into the English language through the Greek; and it means to turn or to change. Now, I'll give you a longer definition--the degradation (that means the breaking down) of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity. What that means is that everything, every material thing that God has created (including you and me) is eventually going to come to the place where we are back to nothing more than atoms and molecules--and in a disorganized state, at that.
Or, another definition [is] the steady degradation (or breaking down) or disorganization of a system or society. Isn't that an interesting one? That comes out of WEBSTER'S NINTH COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY. What they are saying is that organizations, institutions, have a tendency to do the same things that the material things do in this universe; and, that is to move in a direction toward disorganization.
Remember God's instruction at the very beginning of the Book, to Adam and Eve? How He told Adam and Eve-and, of course, now us-that we are required to 'dress' and to 'keep'? There is a very logical and scientific reason for this; and that is that all matter has been designed to run down, to oxidize, to deteriorate, and to disintegrate. It must be maintained. It must be kept. And that, we just found out, includes organizations and relationships.
Is there anyone here who will argue with the concept that marriages, if they are not worked at, will run down? That they will move toward a state of disorganization, of deterioration? Now, what does it take to keep something like that going in the right direction? It takes hard work!
We have the encouragement from God that we can actually embellish it. We can make it better. We can dress it. But that's going to take hard work. So we can begin to see that it's going to take a certain amount of work just to hold it in place. It it's not held in place, it's going to deteriorate and degenerate; because the laws of entropy-the second law of thermodynamics-is going to be working inexorably to pull it into a state of disorganization. But, if we work even harder, smarter, better we can actually make the marriage, or the relationship, better. But it won't just happen. The right things have to be done.
Okay now. Remember that word, entropy. That is, we'll call it the law that is working in the whole material creation that moves everything into a state of degeneration and disorientation. Now, let's go to Luke 5, and verses 37 through 39. Jesus is the speaker and He says...
Luke 5:37 - "...No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"
Here is another factor at work. What we are looking at here is, again, a very simple statement of what the scientists call 'inertia'. That came into the English language from the French; and it is the property of matter by which it remains at rest, or in uniform motion in the same straight line, unless acted upon by some external force. Let me simplify that. A body that is at rest will remain at rest. A body that is standing still will continue to stand still unless some external force works on it to move it. Or, another way of doing it is this-a body that is moving will tend to continue moving in the same direction unless some external force either stops it or moves it from that direction.
Let me simplify it even further and put it into the area of human relationships; and that is, Jesus is saying that we are inclined, we are disposed, to continue living as we are now living. We, by nature, do not want to change! It takes work to change! We want to stay in the old rut, where we are comfortable. We even resist good changes, because of this feeling of comfort and security with the old.
Now, both of these forces are working at the same time. Entropy is pulling us toward disorganization and deterioration; and it has to be worked against. At the same time, inertia wants to keep us going in the same direction that we are. "Don't bug me, buddy. Just stay out of my way. Stay out of my life. Stay out of my hair. I just want to keep going in the direction that I am, because it feels good."
Both of these forces require effort just to maintain the current position. Now, remember that we are responsible to love God and our fellow man. Love is something that is done. If we were never taught to discipline ourselves to carry out responsibilities, it is going to require considerable effort to overcome one's inertia and resist entropy in one's relationships-a lot of effort!
Let's explore this thing of laziness for a bit. We're going back to the book of PROVERBS chapter 24 and verses 30 through 34.
Proverbs 24:30 - I went by the field of the lazy man [the slothful], and the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding...
A person who is lazy doesn't have any understanding. He doesn't know what's going on.
Verse 31 - And there it was [the field], all overgrown with thorns [What he was suppose to dress and keep.] Its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down.
You can see that this guy isn't keeping things. And so what's happening? Entropy is pulling it into a state of disorganization. That's the way of all material things. Neither is he overcoming inertia.
Proverbs 24:32 - When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; 34 So shall your poverty come like a prowler [that is, it will steal up on you step by step, it'll come marching in on you], and your want like an armed man [or like a soldier marches, step by step].
PROVERBS has very much to say about laziness. It matters not whether the laziness is directed towards physical or spiritual. The point is here that little or nothing is going to be produced by the person who is slothful. Now many people conquer laziness concerning physical things, such as their business matters. Yesterday, I heard a broadcast in which a man was being interviewed on the radio. The man was a millionaire many times over. He had become a millionaire through a scheme that he had. Maybe somebody else taught him about it; but he really took advantage of it. It was perfectly legal--nothing wrong with it that way. But he really took advantage of this way; and he became very rich. This man said, in response to a question that somebody phoned in, "You don't become rich being lazy. It takes hard work." That's what this Proverb is saying.
We want to be spiritually rich. We want our relationships to be rich. We want them to produce the right things. So it's going to take a good deal of effort on our part. People out in the world learn these principles. They put them to work in business; and they prosper as a result of it. But they avoid making the same effort in regards to spiritual things.
In the church, do you know what this produces? Laodiceanism. That's what the Laodicean's problem is. He says he's rich and increased with goods, which means that he's doing all right in the business world. He's okay. But he's not paying any attention to the spiritual. He's not using the same principles in regards to spiritual things that he does to physical things. So, he becomes reasonably well off physically; but God says, spiritually, they're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. This sermon is right up-to-date. We need the instruction that is here, because what we are talking about produces Laodiceanism, unless it is fought against.
Now the lazy person has a number of specific characteristics. Stay in the book of PROVERBS; and let's go back to chapter 6, and verses 9 and 10. This is right in the midst of this lesson about the ant; but we're going to look at verses 9 and 10.
Proverbs 6:9 - How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep-
The lesson here is that one of the characteristics of a lazy person is that he will not begin things. Now, let's understand that not everybody has all of these problems. But they will be a problem with somebody; and probably all of us have a little bit of all of them. None of us is devoid of all of them completely. So, point #1 here is that a lazy person will not begin things. Do you see what it says? "How long will you slumber?" Well, the slugger doesn't know. All he knows is his delicious drowsiness. Sleep is so good; and he revels in it.
"Sleep" is just being used here as a metaphor for failing to stir oneself up. And so what does he do? He procrastinates. He thinks about how hard the work is. And he deceives himself about the smallness of his surrenders. "Oh, it's just a little thing. It doesn't matter all that much." And so what happens? By inches and minutes, his opportunities slip away, because life never stops until you die. Time marches on; and it waits for no one.
[For] Point #2, in the characteristics of a lazy person, we'll go to Proverbs 12 and verse 27.
Proverbs 12:27 - The lazy [slothful] man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man's precious possession.
Here's the other end. He will not finish things. The picture that is given here is that the slothful man did begin to hunt. He got so far as to where he actually trapped or shot his quarry. Then he just ended it right there, and never cooked what he had brought in. He never took advantage of what he had done. There are times, then, when the slothful does overcome his inertia and he begins something. He may begin it with a great feeling of "I'm really going to accomplish something this time." But then his enthusiasm dies, and he rarely finishes what he starts.
Do you know any people like that? They get hundreds of things sometimes-at least dozens, sometimes scores of things they get started-but they never get them done. So he says, "Well this isn't worth all this trouble." And he gets easily distracted by something that is for the moment more entertaining than what he is currently doing; and he goes off in a tangent, never to get back to what he had already begun.
[For] #3, let's go to chapter 20. We're going to string three scriptures together here.
Proverbs 20:4 - The lazy man [sluggard] will not plow because of the winter; [therefore] he will beg during the harvest and have nothing.
Proverbs 22:13 - The lazy [slothful] man says, "There's a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!"
Proverbs 26:16 - The lazy man [sluggard] is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.
Now all three of these play on the same point, and that is that the sluggard will not face up to the difficulties of accomplishment. All work-I don't care what work it is-puts us to some measure of hardship or discomfort. The farmer has to face the weather. The mechanic, who works on automobiles, has to face trying to get nuts and bolts off-difficult things, difficult areas to get a wrench in. It tries his patience to reach around things that might be hot, like exhaust pipes. You see, he's working on the car, or the truck, or whatever it is; and there are disagreeable things all over.
Every job has disagreeable things; but the sluggard won't work through those things. And so, what does he do? He makes excuses. "Huh, there's a lion in the street!" You see, "I can't go out there." And so what does he do? He takes the easy way out, because he believes his own rationalization.
We won't turn to this; but you can write down the scripture-Proverbs 15:19. In this case he's compared with somebody who is upright. It indicates that the lazy person is fundamentally dishonest. He is deceiving himself. He is lying to himself that it really doesn't matter. [But] oh yes, it does.
Point #4 [is found in] Proverbs 13 and verse 4.
Proverbs 13:4 - The soul of a lazy man [the sluggard] desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.
Proverbs 21:25- The desire of the lazy man [the slothful] kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. 26 He covets greedily all day long, but the righteous gives and does not spare.
Point #4 is that the result is (and this is sad) that the sluggard is continually restless, because of unsatisfied desires. He feels helpless in the face of his tangle web of affairs, because his life is going to disorganize and get all confusing. And he feels useless, because deep down he knows that he's not producing much of worth for everybody concerned.
This feeds right back into what I've been telling you in the last three sermons-that much of our sense of well being, much of our feelings of confidence and that things are right, comes from knowing that we are doing what is right. (I John 3:17-19; John 15:9-10) We're going to end that part there on laziness right there.
It's difficult to conclude which of these two major challenges-laziness or fear-is the greatest. Both of them are difficult to deal with; but it is my personal opinion that love's greatest challenge is the second one-fear. Let's go back to a scripture that we've been spending a great deal of time in, I John 4:18.
I John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
It has been said that there is nothing so disintegrating to life as fear. Fear is so pervasive that psychologists feel that it is one of the few instinctual qualities that we humans are born with. Fear takes on a large number of forms. They begin (in childhood) with fears such as being left alone, the fear of falling, and the fear of what might happen in darkness. The fear of death begins to grow on us as we age.
Most of us are familiar with what are called phobias. They are so pervasive that one out of every eight Americans-American adults-harbors some kind of phobia. It almost seems as though the whole country is mentally ill to some degree.
Now all fears share common reactions. The only difference is the degree or intensity of the reactions. Those under the power of fear feel a sense of anxiety, or even painful agitation, caused by the anticipation of danger or a sense of loss, which either immobilizes them or motivates them to flee. I'll give that to you again-that those under fear feel a sense of anxiety, or even painful agitation, caused by the anticipation of danger or sense of loss, which either immobilizes them or motivates them to flee. Fear forces a person to concentrate on himself; and therein lies its challenge to love.
Undoubtedly, phobias are the most intense form of fear. NEWSWEEK magazine, in its April 23rd, 1984 issue, had an article entitled "The Fight to Conquer Fear". Now listen to this quote from this article: It is a paradox that phobias will loosen their grip so readily, because, untreated, they are one of the most powerful forces in the human psyche. They draw their energy from the bottomless wells of self-protection, in those primitive regions where the ego broods in sol
JWR/stf/
 |
 Printer-Friendly  E-mail this page |
|
| Articles | Bible Q&A | Bible Studies | Booklets | Sermons |
