Must You Live? By Vance Havner
I n th e first centuries of the church Christians had to make a living, even as you and I. Some were crafts men, making and gilding idols for the pagans. Of course they did not wor ship these idols nor bow in their shrines and they saw no harm in carv ing or polishing images. “After all, somebody will do it anyway and I have to live” — so ran the old excuse, which sounds very modem! Confront ed with that alibi, Tertullian, rugged stalwart of early Christianity, an swered, “Must you live?” He held that a Christian has only one “must,” he must be true to Christ, come what may, live or die. There were no ifs, buts, reservations and provisos. One did not have to live, he had only to be true; Compromise A lot of water has run under the bridge since those days and there are not many Tertullians. He would have a rough time getting his doctrine over to the average American church mem ber. For one thing, in this atomic age, staying alive has become the magnifi cent obsession. Churchill has envis ioned a stalemate when “ safety will be the sturdy child of terror and sur vival the twin brother of annihila tion.” We compromise our national integrity and negotiate with the gangsters of Communism on the prem ise that the supreme issue is to sur vive, no matter how. But there was a time in our history when some things were counted more precious than life. Patrick Henry called for liberty or death and the immortal fifty-six who signed the Declaration of Independ ence pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor on the ground that death was better than bondage. There were some appeasers called the Olive-branch Men who were ready to do anything but die. We have the same kind today, who say that peace at any price is better than no peace. We are making it our main business
to save our hides at the cost of honor . . . and we may end up by losing both our hides and our honor. “ ’Tis man’s perdition to be safe, When for the truth he ought to die.” Tertullian might well ask at a Summit Conference, “Must you live?” It is better to die with a conviction than to live with a compromise. Self- preservation is a powerful instinct but self-preservation is not the most im portant thing on earth. Some things matter more than survival. In such a time we Christians forget that we do not have to live, we have only to be faithful, not only until, but unto death, if necessary. When a man becomes a Christian he loses his right to his own life. He is no longer his own, he is bought with a price. He is the personal property of Jesus Christ, bought and paid for with the blood of Calvary. He is to magnify Christ whether by life or by death. Whether he lives, he lives unto the Lord, or whether he dies, he dies unto the Lord but the most important thing is not whether he lives or dies but that he is the Lord’s. He counts not his life dear. To live is Christ and to die is gain. Anything that compromises that all-out devotion is to be refused at any cost. Christians Are Tested In the days of the early church every citizen of the Roman Empire was expected to put a pinch of incense on the altar and acknowledge the lordship of Caesar. That would create no problem for the average American church-member today. I can hear the argument: “ You see, I don’t really worship Caesar in my heart but why get into trouble? So I go through the motions and placate the powers that be, then on Sunday I go to church and worship the way I really believe.” But not so the early Christians. They would die rather than offer incense and confess Caesar as Lord. They knew but one Lord and would not by life or lip pay tribute to another. If it meant death they did not have to live, they only had to be faithful. The most important thing in life was not survival. Nor was making a living the su preme issue either. There were pagan guilds in those days with their social get-togethers e n d i n g i n heathen orgies. It was very much like the boss putting on a drinking party today. If a Christian belonged to the guild,
he was supposed to go along with it and cooperate. If he did not, he might lose his business^® and, after all, “ one must eat.” But a true Christian did not have to eat, he only had to be faithful to Christ. So they had a rough time of it and suffered the loss of all things. Radical? Yes, but they upset the world. One would think that today the supreme concern is to live and to make a living. Tertullian would get hard looks if he thundered, “Must you live?” But we are not here either to survive or to succeed. The thing that matters is stewardship and only one thing is required of stewards, that they be faithful. I have read of a Coast Guard com pany called upon to rescue survivors of a sinking vessel on a fearfully stormy night. One member was fear ful and moaned, “We’ll never get back.” “We don’t have to get back,” answered the captain, “we only have to go!” That sounds like Tertullian. Christians with that spirit are invinc ible. They have nothing and possess all things. The devil offers this and that but they reply, “You can’t give us anything, we have everything.” Then Satan threatens to take every thing away from them but they an swer, “ You can’t do that for we don’t have anything.” If he tries to kill them they say, “To die is gain.” Their lives are hid with Christ in God. They are not chiefly concerned with being survivors or successes but stewards. They do not have to live, they only have to be faithful. 15
Dr. Havner's arti cle is printed by permission of the Watchman - E x am iner. O ther new messages by this distinguished Bible teacher will be fe atu red in forthcoming is sues of the King's Bu siness Maga zine.
JANUARY, 1959
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