The Everlasting Man Lives

I have completed reading The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton and was impressed by his unique insights.  One point he makes strongly in the last chapters is how Christianity is distinct from all other religions and worldviews.  As different as human beings are to plants, so is Jesus Christ and His claims unique from all others.  Jesus did not call people to religion but to life, and this life could only be found in Himself.  His resurrection from the dead is also unique, without parallel in the history of the world.  The fact Jesus did not remain dead and His followers still continue strong in this age of reason is troubling to many.  It has been attacked by atheists, strangled by legalism, debated by scholars, scorned by intellectuals, and discarded by the inoculated.  And yet Christ lives on.  Chesterton wrote, "These people are quite prepared to shed pious and reverential tears over the Sepulchre of the Son of Man; what they are not prepared for is the Son of God walking once more upon the hills of morning."  (Chesterton, G. K. The Everlasting Man. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1925 Reprint. Print. page 258)

Christians have died many deaths, but like our Saviour Jesus Christ Christianity will endure forever with truth, hope, and love.  Chesterton's observations still ring true, and every rational, thinking mind cannot lightly dismiss them.  Like many before him and since, Chesterton is a man who values and speaks truth in a world that does not particularly care for it.  If we value the truth, then we will seek and obtain it at any cost.  And once obtained, we ought to strive to live our lives in light of that singular, objective truth.  Our natural eyes are unable to see it clearly.  Pontius Pilate asked, "What is truth?" when the Way, the Truth, and the Life was standing before Him in the person of Jesus Christ, the man who "broke the backbone of history."  The whole world is flowing downstream, and Christianity alone swims upstream as a testimony of inexhaustible life.  As the song goes, "He lives, He lives.  Christ Jesus lives today!  He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way."

'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.'  The civilisation of antiquity was the whole world:  and men no more dreamed of its ending than of the ending of daylight.  They could not imagine another order unless it were in another world.  The civilisation of the world has passed away and those words have not passed away.  In the long night of the Dark Ages feudalism was so familiar a thing that no man could imagine himself without a lord:  and religion was so woven into that network that no man would have believed they could be torn asunder.  Feudalism itself was torn to rags and rotted away in the popular life of the of the true Middle Ages; and the first and freshest power in that new freedom was the old religion.  Feudalism had passed away, and the words did not pas away.  The whole medieval order, in many ways so complete and almost cosmic a home for man, wore out gradually in its turn and here at least it was thought that the words would die.  They went forth across the radiant abyss of the Renaissance and in fifty years were using all its light and learning for new religious foundations, new apologetics, new saints.  It was supposed to have been withered up at last in the dry light of the Age of Reason; it was supposed to have disappeared ultimately in the earthquake of the Age of Revolution.  Science explained it away; and it was still there.  History disinterred it in the past; and it appeared suddenly in the future.  To-day it stands once more in our path; and even as we watch it, it grows.

If our social relations and records retain their continuity, if men really learn to apply reason to the accumulating facts of so crushing a story, it would seem that sooner or later even its enemies, will learn from their incessant and interminable disappointments not to look for anything so simple as its death.  They may continue to war with it, but it will be as they war with nature; as they war with the landscape, as they war with the skies. 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.'  They will watch for it to stumble, they will watch for it to err, they will no longer watch for it to end.  Insensibly, even unconsciously, they will in their own silent anticipations fulfill the relative terms of that astounding prophecy; they will forget to watch for the mere extinction of what has so often been vainly extinguished; and will learn instinctively to look first for the coming of the comet or the freezing of the star. (Chesterton, G. K. The Everlasting Man. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1925 Reprint. Print. page 260-260)

Scriptures and Power of God

In my morning Bible reading, a statement by Jesus arrested my attention.  The passage listed occasions when those who doubted and hated Jesus sought to entrap Him in His words.  The Herodians, Pharisees, and Sadducees were groups who attempted to make Jesus look ignorant with their moral dilemmas and hypothetical debates, but they could not stump Jesus.  In response to the Sadducees, who only exposed their ignorance by taking their best shot at Jesus, the KJV rendering of Matthew 22:29 reads, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."  It is ironic how the Sadducees would have claimed extensive knowledge of the scriptures, but Jesus whom they desired to expose as ignorant expressed this of them.  Their lack of belief in things spiritual left them severely hamstrung.  Their doubts left them wanting in both knowledge of the scriptures and experience of God's power.

What struck me as I read the words of Jesus is how the knowledge of the scripture exposes a man to the power of God.  The Bible begins with the matter-of-fact explanation concerning God creating the heavens, earth, and all that is in them in mere days.  God's miraculous power was known by the Egyptians and the Israelites when He visited great plagues upon the land of Egypt.  God delivered His people through the Red Sea, destroyed their enemies, and sustained them in the wilderness.  He provided food daily, supplied water from a rock, and miraculously healed those who were bitten by venemous snakes.  He caused the ground to open up and swallow people whole, and made the walls of Jericho to fall down when the people obeyed God.  Through judges, prophets, kings, and ultimately Jesus Christ, God's power was revealed to all.  It knowing the scripture we can know God's power, and when we are born again through the Gospel the revelation of God's power becomes personally tangible as He transforms us from within and empowers us for God's service.

No matter how I turn the statement of Christ around it shines forth brilliantly like a precious gem.  It can be said of all men we do err; we do make mistakes.  The cause of much of our sin is because we have not brought scripture nor the power of God to bear on our current situation.  It is a matter of perspective.  We have all sinned, but when we are born again we do not need to sin any longer.  God has given us the scriptures to guide us and imbued us with power from on high through the Holy Spirit.  I can say without exception when I sin it is because I have disobeyed the truth of scripture and have refused the power of God.  Often we are deluded by our assumptions, imagining our situation is most peculiar and difficult.  But the righteous, God-fearing perspective obtained through knowledge of the scriptures and walking in the power of God sets us straight.  God's people perish by a lack of knowledge, but even knowledge has its limits.  It is a starting point, not the end.

Our lives are lived worthily when we keep both the scriptures and the power of God in full view.  We Christians tend to lean one way or the other.  When we lose sight of either we will err.  We make a grave mistake when we hold to scripture whilst denying the power of God, or seek after a miraculous display of God's power without the guide of scripture.  It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit we can discern the scripture, and only by the scripture can we test the spirits to see if they are of God.  I am so grateful for Jesus and for His priceless wisdom.  He always knows exactly what I need and how to perfectly communicate truth when I am willing to listen and obey.

Playing God

"Do not say, "I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work."

Proverbs 24:29

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," the Golden Rule says.  This approach is contrary to the natural response of our flesh.  We prefer to take a stand upon our rights or a concept of fairness we agree with and hold others to that standard.  Doing unto others just as they have done to us requires us to judge not only their actions, but their motive.  When we are hurt by others we can be suspicious that was their intent all along, so we then seek how we can injure them.

Even as vengeance is the sovereign territory of God, so is the rendering to each man according to his works.  Should we do what Solomon forbids in this passage, we hastily clamber onto God's judgment seat.  It is one thing for a little child to innocently desire to sit in daddy's chair, but it is another thing altogether when we fueled by malice and revenge seek to bring down a gavel in judgment to punish others for their perceived wrongs.  David wrote in Psalm 62:11-12, "God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God. ¹² Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; for You render to each one according to his work."

Jesus said upon His return He will reward men according to their works (Matt. 16:27).  It is not by works of righteousness we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us (Titus 3:5).  God has saved us unto good works, and we begin doing the good works of God by believing He whom the Father has sent:  Jesus Christ.  He will reward and judge as well.  Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."  Books will be opened, and those whose names are not found in the Book of Life will receive their wages of eternal damnation.  Can we add anything to that hell?

Let us not say we will do to others as they have done to us when they have sinned against us.  Let us do unto others as Christ has done for us with a heart of love, compassion, and mercy.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."  The Bible says with what judgment we judge we will be judged, and if we are severe with others the Living God will be severe with us.  There is a high cost for playing God, a price only fools judge wise to pay.

Lucky or Loved?

I've heard Australia called the "Lucky Country."  People use this cliche in a in a positive sense, apparently much to the dismay of Donald Horne who penned The Lucky Country, a book about Australia in 1964 written as a "wake up call to an unimaginative nation, an indictment of a country mired in mediocrity and manacled to its past."  It sounds a bit harsh not having read the book myself, but there's nothing quite like a good dose of Australian irony.  In my opinion Australia is a blessed country in a multitude of ways.  Because I believe we live in a world governed by God who has provided our natural resources, this beautiful and fruitful land, freedoms, our necessities, and even luxuries, we ought to credit Him where it is due.

Every so often I hear the phrase, "unlucky in love."  I wonder:  if people could have their choice of luck or love, what would they choose?  My grandfather has often said in jest, "I'd rather be lucky than good."  What is the lure of luck, anyway?  Is it a revelation we secretly desire something for nothing?  Or is it because we value a faceless, powerless entity who cannot protest called "bad luck" when we fail?  In thinking this over, I have decided I would rather be loved than lucky.  It would be better to live as a person loved by God than to have what men call good luck perpetually.  Luck is an empty promise which never delivers.  I do not consider The Beatles to be experts on such matters, but had they sung "All you need is luck" it would have sounded a bit hollow.

Today in church we sang a song by Brenton Brown called "Our God is Mercy."  It contains biblical wisdom the world and even Christians might recoil from:  "You're blessed if you've been torn apart; you're blessed if you've a broken heart, for hope is waiting at the door: salvation's near."  How can pain be a blessing?  For a Christian, the pain of God's correction is proof of His love.  Christians are reminded in scripture not to despise the chastening of the LORD, for in so doing He is treating us as beloved sons - even as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.  Some might ask, how can being torn apart in any way be construed as love?  Most men must be deathly ill before they will seek the care of a physician, and men must be in a severe state before they will humble themselves in desperation before a holy God.  It is in being torn apart a man can discover healing and wholeness he never experienced before.  All the "blessings" in the world are curses if they turn our affections from God.  How good for us are hard times when they prompt us to seek the LORD!  Only then will we know salvation and the love of God, and luck hasn't saved a person yet.