September 1943
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A NOTE of victory in Christian war fare is necessary. In the text a Lmetaphor is used of the Roman of the Christian. Paul u s e s this metaphor of th e triumph to describe certain aspects of the Christian life. He had seen enough of these Roman triumphal arches and probably some of the processions so that it was an apt figure for his use. The comparison of Christianity to warfare is most appropriate. In fact, this is probably the most repeated metaphor in the Bible and in hym- nology. We are enjoined to fight against Satán, against the world, against temptation, against self, and against mere inertia.; We are told to be “ a good soldier,” to “fight the good fight of faith,” that “our warfare is not with fleshly weapons/’ and to “con tend earnestly for the faith." Any one who seriously tries Christianity, knows that war is the best description of it War depicts the sacrifice, the. toil, the suffering, the expenditure of money and effort, the self-denial, and the heroism which are connected'with Christianity. One need only think of the sacrifices which have been made by missionaries and are being made today, to realize that this is a war of no mean proportions. The holy war of Christianity demands from its soldiers all that a worldly war demands from those young men who are laying down their positions, giving up homes and loved ones, and going into encamp ment, for the possible reason of shed ding their blood for the country. Yet this very fact of the warfare of the Christian against sin, evil, and Satan, is often forgotten by Christians who desire to take their ease in Zion. Heaven was never attained on flow ery beds of ease and It never will be, for Christianity is warfare. The con flict comes before the victory, the suf fering before the triumph, both in the individual Christian’s experience and in the church. Without great dangers, sufferings, and struggles, there would be no triumph in an individual life. We are constrained that this note of triumph is needed by many who em brace Christ’s cause today. If there is an absence of the note of triumph it is because we have entered no war, have made no sacrifices, have met no obstacles, have undergone no jeopardy for Christ. The note of peace at any price, appeasement of evil, compro mise, retrenchment—this has been the note of the church. For such there can never be a triumph. There can never be intoxicating joy of victory and of IThis message by the Pastor of the Park Street Congregational Church, Boston, Mass., was delivered over the Church of the Air, Columbia Broadcasting System. On two oc casions recently. Dr. Ockenga has been a visi tor to Los Angeles, speaking from the plat form of the Church o f the Open Door. — KTUTOR 1
triumph as similar to the experience
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowl edge by us in every place" (2 Cor. 2:14). "Nay, in all these things we are more than c onque r o r s through him t ha t l oved us" (Rom. 8:37). "And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4). now writes, some new danger had come to him in Asia, the nature of which we do hot know. He describes it: .“We would not, brethren, have you to be ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.” Distress came to him from still another condition, however, name ly, the spiritual confusion and turmoil which e x i s t e d in the Corinthian cjiurch. Paul’s life was bound up with these churches. Therefore, he immediately dispatched the f i r s t Epistle to the Corinthians, instructing and exhorting them as to what they should do. A great contrast is here brought out between the life which Paul lived and what people imagine the Christian life to be. These afflictions which Paul mentioned are but a small part of the general afflictions which, he [ Continued on Page 330]
By HAROLD
JOHN
OCKENGA
glory, and there can never be any tro phies in their train. For the church we say, Away with such inglorious, anaemic, vacillating leadership and spirit in individual lives. “Cross of Christ lead onward, through the holy war; By this sign we conquer, now and ever more. Not of man the power, not to man the fame; We are victors only in our leader’s name.” Paul's Victory Think of the mighty afflictions and deprivations -under which Paul passed in his Christian warfare. As he wrote this second Epistle to the Corinthians from Macedonia he remembered vivid ly his recent terrible trial at Ephesus when his ministry was concluded by a riot in the amphitheater, led by Alexander the coppersmith. At that time his life was in danger,.but as he
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