February, 1940
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
50
Life
A New Concept of
By R O Y L . LA U R IN Los Angeles, California 1 Peter 2 :1 1 to 3 :2 2 Here are indicated two things: first, the character of the Christian; and second, the conduct of the Christian. The CHARACTER of the Christian (1 Pet. 2:11). The Christian is, first, a “stranger” in relation to the world that now is. He is in its society but not a member of it because he has been bom into a new society, the society of twice bom. He is, furthermore, a “pilgrim” in relation to the world that is to come. He is not only a passer-by, but a passer- through. He is on journey, en route, to another world. “Pilgrim” literally means an “exile.” The CONDUCT of the Christian (vs. 11, 12). As regards himself and his character, the Christian is instructed to “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” This is the negative aspect of his conduct. He is to be an abstainer from what? From himself! The greatest enemy a person has is him self. Every individual has in him the potentiality of the most devastating war upon earth—the war of passions and evil cravings against the soul. Sher man said, “War is hell.” And we can have hell in our soul—or we can have heaven. And when we have hell in our soul, we cause it to be everywhere else, in our home and in our church. The command does not say we should abstain from drink or immorality. But if we will abstain from ourselves and our cravings, we will abstain from every evil and debasing and debauching and disgracing enterprise. The seat of our trouble and difficulty is inside. It is ourselves. We manifest either the filth of our old nature,"’ or the fragrance of our new nature and new Master. It ought to be said at this place that the crisis of temptation to express the lower nature is inevitable. Since the lower nature is there, it clamors for expression. It is our business to deny it expression! There is the story of an old Negro preacher who said, “When you’re lookin’ at your neighbor’s melon patch, bred- derin, you cain’t keep your mouf from waterin’, but you kin run.” The Christian’s conduct as regards his fellow men is stated in verse 12 : “Having your c o n v e r s a t i o n honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” The example which a Christian ex-
B EING dispossessed of everything and scattered everywhere, the Christians whom Peter addressed in his Epistles were wanderers upon the face of the earth. But they were the most potent force for good in all the world. Arrayed against them was the armed weight of cruel Rome, the fanat ical hatred of Judaism, and the dark passion of paganism. Peter, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, gave to them a new concept of life. That con cept was this—the power of an evange lizing life. Not the power of an evan gelizing preaching or singing, but of Uving! It was “an appeal for the evan gelizing influences of a chaste and win some character.” It was a call to be “an ambassador of life, discharging that office through the medium o f holiness." It was the new concept that every Christian should be, as Dr. Jowett ex presses it, “ an evangelist in the domain of character, discharging his influence through the odor of sanctity, in seemliness of behavior, in exquisite fitness of speech, in finely finished and well-proportioned life. This is a ministry for everybody, the apostle- ship of spiritual beauty.” The two greatest evangelizing forces of this world are these: 1. God’s Holy Word. 2. Our Holy Life. Think that through to its logical con sequence. It is not our word of argu ment that God uses in evangelizing the world. It is His Word. But God uses a holy life, and thus Peter says: “Having your conversation [life] honest [honorable] among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Pet. 2:12). This is the new concept of life—the power of God through a holy life ap plied to dally life about us. The Christian in Relation to the W orld In this Epistle, the Christian is ad dressed in respect to his essential world- character. He is called a stranger and a pilgrim. If he would remember him self as such, he would save himself many a heartache and spare himself many a tragedy. [ This article is the fourth in a series t f expository messages on the Epistles of Peterf]
Mbits is the infallible and inflexible index of both the faith and ideals which he possesses. Otherwise, if he professes one kind of creed and produces another kind of conduct, he is a hypocrite. And God has no time for hypocrites, and the world has no use for them. Here was instruction addressed to members of a new society, the society of Christians, aliens alike to pagan and Jew and hated by both. These other groups in the ancient world took every occasion to speak evil of the Christians. The way to counteract an evil report, Peter is saying, is by a good life. The way to silence slander is not by law, but by love. The way to stop criticism is not by argument, but by life. The best apologetic for Christianity is a Christian. Among the Gent i l e p a g an s these Christians led such honorable lives that they silenced the scorching lips of the most flaming critics. Tertullian tells us that wMle pagans delighted in the bloody gladiatorial spectacles of the am phitheater, Christians shunned them and excommunicated those of their number who went. Prisons were full, but if Christians were there it was to suffer for their faith and •not their crime. Pagans discriminated against slaves, socially, economically, politically, and religiously, but the Christian recognized a brotherhood responsibility. Pagans deserted their nearest relatives in a plague, but Christians ministered unto death. Pagans were a scandal to the world wMle the Christians blessed the world. Why was the early Christian so •mighty a force for God? He had a whole Christ and a whole Bible. When we serve up to the world half a, Christ, we can expect no better results than half a Christian, and we have plenty of them. Piously praying one hour, and courting with the devil’s damsels the next! Men who see no connection be tween the thoughts of Sunday and the acts of Monday! Women who sing hymns on Sundays and assassinate char acter on week days! When a man or woman has a whole Christ, that one will live a whole life, not half in the light and half in the dark, but all for God, truth, , righteousness, and purity. So far, Peter has set forth the moral obligations of the Christian, first to Mmself. Then there follow the prac tical obligations the Christian has to the community. No Christian can draw
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