would bury us economically or whether they would take our coun try and literally bury us because we as capitalists would not submit to their form of materialism or their form of communism. The interesting thing is that some preachers, some Christians, actually go around with the idea that they are going to bury other Christians or other churches or other Chris tian schools. It is even the tragedy sometimes in Christian higher edu cation that one Christian school will in almost one sense talk about burying some other Christian school. Frankly, I do not see in the Word of Cod any hint that we ought to be competitive one with another to outdo each other. Paul also goes on to say that there is also strife. The word that is used here for "strife" is a word that is not unfamiliar in the Word of God. It is found back in Rom ans 1, but there it is translated "debate." It is also found in the first part of I Corinthians, chapter one, which we have referred to in one of the earlier lessons. It has the idea, though, of not just dis cussing things in a friendly debate. It has the idea of under-cutting another person so that We come out on top. It has the idea of burst ing somebody else's balloon so that their fun and their enjoyment and their growth is minimized, so that we can lord it over them. Listen to the contrast in Philip- pians 2:3, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves." Now where is this competitive spir it in relationship to others? It is not there. Just this one last thing that Paul Page 51
I am aware of the fact that it is desirable in our economy to at tempt to succeed. I think that that is crucial. I am aware of the fact that in business we must realize that it is competitive. A man must be on his toes if he is going to have the business that is going to turn enough profit so that he can live and support his own family and perhaps support and aid the work of Christians around the world. We are aware of the fact, too, that athletics are competitive and Paul uses many images and many illustrations from athletic contests. But as 1 look to the Word of God I find that competition be tween Christians is off-base. I see Paul's illustrations on athletics and I see Paul's urging Christians to make progress always in terms of their former position, always in terms of what Cod expects of them. Nowhere do I see Paul saying, "Take a look around you and see what other Christians are doing and then try to do just a little bet ter." Paul is talking about competi tion in the sense of having victory over Satan, of being a better Chris tian tomorrow than we are today. Paul is talking about progress in the Christian life. Never does it carry the connotation that we should step on somebody else or under cut somebody else or keep an eye on other people to make sure that our spiritual progress is as great as theirs. Several years ago we used to hear quoted quite frequently the phrase given by the then leader of the Russian people, Khruschev, and that phrase was "We w ill bury you." And there was much discus sion whether he really meant that he would bury us or his country
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs