The Implications of Christian Hope
The Implications of Christian Hope THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHRISTIAN HOPE
J. P. Sanders When the beloved John wrote his first epistle, he was concerned with the primary theme of eternal life. He knew that the joys and glories that God had for those who were his were far beyond the powers of human description, and beyond the understanding of the human mind. It was sufficient for him, therefore, to express himself concerning that future state, “Beloved, now are we the children of God and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that if he shall be manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Such a hope carries with it very definite implications. It is moving and dynamic, and possesses a purifying and cleansing efficacy. And so the apostle added, “And everyone that hath his hope set on him purifieth himself even as he is pure. Everyone that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And we know that he was manifested to take away sins and in him is no sin” (1 JOH. 8:3-5). John knew that it would be impossible for the Christian person to have his hope set on Christ without seeking to be like Christ, without purifying himself as Christ is pure, and without walking in the path of righteousness for which Jesus had set the pattern by his own conduct. The definite implication of the hope of eternal life is the life of righteousness. It is impossible for men to continue to trust in God as their Saviour while they continue in sin. Realizing that there might be soma who have a tendency to take advantage of God’s grace and mercy, Paul asked the question, “What, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” And he did not hesitate to give the only answer that is consistent with the demands of the Christ way of life, “God forbid. We who have died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?” (Romans 6:1-2). With Jehovah religion demands righteousness.
Even under the old covenant it was impossible for a man to be right in the sight of God merely because he was ceremonially correct. God demanded conduct in keeping with his holy will. David so expressed it in the 24th Psalm, “Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah, and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, and hath not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing from Jehovah and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalms 24:3-6).
Prophets were also equally insistent upon the ethical demands of God’s righteousness. In Israel’s day of prosperity, when the inhabitants were at ease in Zion and secure in the mountain of Samaria, when they were lying upon beds of ivory and stretching themselves upon their couches, and eating the lambs out of the midst of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, and singing idle songs to the sound of the viol, and yet coming to Bethel with many of their sacrifices, Amos said unto them, “Therefore shall they now go captive with the first that go captive, and the revelry of them that stretch themselves shah pass away. The Lord hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob and hate his palaces. Therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein” (Amos 6:1-8), Michael also rebuked the people for their injustices while realizing that they were meticulously careful in offering their sacrifice. “Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah and bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings and with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams or with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good, and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Amos 6:6-8). The people of Israel had fallen into the careless habits of the pagan religions around about them, felt that they could get by with all kinds of unholy and unrighteous living provided they were careful of Jehovah’s sacrifices. But the prophets thundered against their wickedness, their idolatry, and all their injustices, reminding them that Jehovah was holy and righteous, and that he required the same of men. It is not surprising then, when we come to the New Testament, to find the apostles of our Lord insisting that his religion and that the hopes that go with it demand the purification of life.
Jesus has a standard of hfe that is inferior to none, and that demands an excellency all its own. To his disciples he said, “For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the i ciihes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). We very often pride ourselves on being as good as those who are about us, but Jesus reminds his people that to be just as good as those around us is not to be good enough. The righteousness of the religious leaders of his day was not adequate for the righteousness of his disciples. Chns- tianity is an exceeding religion. It requires an exceeding righteousness. The second mde and the turning of the other cheek are characteristic of the righteousness of Jesus and set it apart from the righteousness of common standards.
Let us inquire further into the meaning of the term righteousness as Jesus used it. The basic idea that lies at the heart of all Jesus’ teaching concerning righteousness is the idea of love both to God and to man. When one of the scribes came and heard them questioning together, “knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment is first of all? Jesus answered, The first is, hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31). This idea of love reaches out in lojalty, devotion and obedience unto God above and m devotion and service to our fellow men. The ideal of all living is set before Jesus’ disciples in the 48th verse of the first chapter of the seimon on the Mount. “Ye therefore shall be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The righteousness of the Pharisees was made up of a piece-meal righteousness, doing this good deed and that good deed, mak'ng this sacrifice and that sacrifice, tithing mint, anise, and cummin. All these ceremonies and duties which are valued for their own sake have but little value in the sight of Christ. Even the apostle Paul reminds us that if we give away all our goods to feed the poor and have, not love it is nothing. Even if we give our bony to be burned and have not love it is nothing. Love includes every specific form of goodness that God expects of his children. It is not just an enthusiastic emotion, but the rich, round, vigorous expression of the complete Christian life. The comparing of many of the' statements of Jesus reveals the fact that to him love is righteousness, and the terms aie very often used synonymously. At any rate, righteousness is included in love.
After he warns his disciples that their righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees if they expect to get to heaven, he immediately points out the difference between the demands that they made upon men and the demands of brotherly love which he demanded. Said Jesus, “"You have heard that it was said to them of old times, Thou shalt not kill, for whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment. But I say unto you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the. council, and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire” (Matthew 5:21-22). There is a contrast between the demands of Jesus’ righteousness and the demands made by the scribes and Pharisees of their disciples. Jesus knew that before the overt act of murder is committed that it exists first of all m the heart, and begins with anger toward one’s fellow men Righteousness as Jesus demanded it is a righteousness that springs from the love of man. Jesus saw anger as a sin against love and as the first step toward murder. According to Jesus’ standard it is possible for a man to be a murderer who has never killed anyone. It is not just the overt act that makes one a murderer in Jesus’ sight but the attitude of mind and heart that would permit him to commit the act under certain circumstances. The judgement of Jesus is on what man is and not that which the accidental circumstances of life permit him to do. Two men put their guns on their hips and go out to “get” their man. One finds his man and “gets” him. The other is unable to find his. The long arm of the law reaches out and takes the first and puts him in prison and brands him a murderer. The second retains his freedom. In the sight of Jehovah both are murderers, both were prompted with the same anger toward their fellow men, both were motivated by the desire for revenge and the desire to kill. They are both unrighteous alike in God’s sight. Circumstances permitted one to give expression to his feeling, circumstances did not allow the other to do so. But the judgement of God says that they are both unrighteous. The righteousness of Jesus demands that right conduct be undergirded with right character. It is impossible for one to possess the righteousness that Jesus talks abcut without possessing certain primary and fundamental attitudes of heart that cause him to maintain’the proper disposition toward both God and man. Even one of the scribes in Jesus’ day detected this difference between the popular idea of righteousness and Jesus’ idea. He asked Jesus which was the chief commandment, and Jesus replied by citing the command-ment of lo\e, Lo which the scribe replied, “Love to God and man is, as you say, more than all offerings and sacrifices, and when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:32-34). Whenever anyone possesses the spiritual insight to determine the differences between a real spiritual and a ritualistic conception of righteousness, he has made an appreciable step toward the kingdom of God. In the parable of the Royal Wedding Jesus pictures there a guest having not on the wedding garment. To this person the king replied, “Bind him hand and foot and Lake him away and cast him mto outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13). This w’edding garment in which the guests were required to present themselves was the wedding garment of true Christian character, a righteousness that corresnonds to the nature of Christ’s kingdom. It is absolutely impos-sible to be a member of his kingdom and to participate in its blessings and to share its hopes without the disposition to do the will of God and to purify oneself even as Christ is pure, e referred above to the first and greatest com-mandment, to which Jesus replied that one should love God with all of his mind, heart, soul, and strength. May we inquire into Jesus’ meaning of “love to God” and “love to man”? This of course we learn from the vanous things that he has taught about the attitudes of men toward God- Jesus severely denounced any ostentatious piety that was practiced as a means of gaining the attention of peopie round about. The Pharisee who loved to pray standmg in the chief place of the synagogue, and the man who gave alms to be seen of men, both had theii rewrard, but they were not the rewards of the truly righteous. What they did was for the purpose of being overheard and overseen of men. They were overheaid and overseen and they were r ewar ded. Jesus commended the unselfish benevolence of doing the good deed that w'as not to be seen and the simple devotion and prayer expressed in the px’ivacy of one’s closet which only God can hear. Surely this is a just conclusion from a careful study of the first- eighteen verses of the sixth chapter of Matthew^. Here too wre see that if one is to love God acceptably it will result in a reverent attitude on man’s part toward God, As one contemplates the. greatness and goodness of his heavenly Father he finds a corresponding sense of weakness and sin within himself. The acceptable worshipper confesses his sins before God (Luke 18:13), and even disclaims any special merit for doing his obvious duty (Luke 17:10). Another element that Jesus pictures in love is that of trust or faith which is an unshaken confidence in God’s goodness and in God’s provision for our need. This trust causes the individual to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, believing thoroughly that all these other things will be added. He will not be torn between conflicting desires that will detract his interest in the kingdom of God. The hu-. man heart cannot hold within it two great loyalties. At any moment of crisis the one that is truly first will stand out and dominate the other. God and mammon cannot occupy first place in the same heart. The single eye stands for one dominant, controlling ambition in life. Where that ambition is to lay hold on the kingdom of God, the eye is single, and he will make God’s requirements his primary interest and desire in life. He will choose God as the source of all that is good. To choose, reverence and obey God as revealed by Christ—that is love to God. Jesus said, If you love me you will keep my commandments. Love without obedience is impossible. If we love God we will obey God. We will love what God loves. We will desire for ourselves that which God desires for us, and in doing this we will be loving God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength. The second part of this commandment is like the first. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” In other words, we should be just as careful about fulfilling our obligations to our neighbors as we are that they fulfil their obligations toward us. When one loves his neighbor as himself he is just' as anxious to do a good deed for him as he is to receive a good deed from him. One is just as anxious to confer as to receive a benefit. This commandment is further amplified in what we call the golden rule. “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). In other words, the rights of others are equal to our own rights. We should be just as anxious that the other fellow gets his as we are to get our own. In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus helps us to understand the term neighbor. The lawyer had asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell among robbers, was stripped and wounded, and left half dead. The priest and Levite, representatives of the official religion of the Jewish people, passed by without rendering aid to him who was in need. But the despised Samaritan came along, inconvenienced himself by getting off his beast and binding up the wounds of the half dead man and bringing him to the inn. He showed by the kindly way with which he dealt with the unfortunate that he was a neighbor to the man. And Jesus said to the lawyer, “Go and do thou likewise.” The road that leads from Jerusalem to Jericho was all the way around the world, and whenever we come to a person in need there is our neighbor, there is the opportunity to show our love for our fellow men. Wherever there is a person that we can serve or help there is a neighbor. And there is no reason why neighborliness should be diminished as the result of national and social differences whatever this may be. Jesus showed himself completely above the prejudices of the Jew for the Samaritan and the Samaritan for the Jew. He saw all men as potential sons of God, and he loved them for what they were capable of becoming.
Jesus shows us further that our neighbors do not consist just of those who love us, but they may even exist among our enemies. “Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you, that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and his rain on the just and the unjust. For if ye love them that love you, what reward have you ? Do not even the publicans the same ? And if you salute your brother only what do ye more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same?" (Matthew 5:43-47). If the Pharisee had been given the liberty of defining who his neighbor was, he would have been glad to love those within the little circle that he drew. Those without he would have regarded as an enemy, or at least as one who had no claim upon his r crvice. But the righteousness of Jesus demands that even those who offend us are to be treated with positive kindness. Jesus said, “Resist not him that is evil, but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also. And if a man would go to law with thee and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:39-41). It is human nature to respond in kind to the treatment which we receive. You lie about me, I lie about you. If you cheat me, I will cheat you. If you strike me, I will strike you. The superiority of Jesus’ righteousness is demonstrated in the spirit of any lack of retaliation. When one responds to lies by lying, to cheating by cheating, to a slap by slapping, he places himself upon the same level as the other, partakes of the same evil and has absolutely no possibility of causing the other to turn to the superior righteousness of the heavenly Father. For the Christian the spirit of retaliation is definitely out. Evil cannot be overcome with evil. Satan will not cast out Satan. The only way that evil can be overcome is with good. Render to no man evil for evil. “Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance belongeth to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. But if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him to drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. And be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17-21).
Jesus clearly shows that love for one’s fellow men must be unselfish, and not motivated by the desire to receive as the result of one’s giving. To this end he spoke a parable to a group of invited guests on one occasion mentioned by Luke, “When thou makest a dinner or a supper call not thy friends nor thy brethren nor thy kinsmen nor rich neighbors, lest haply they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they have not wherewith to recompense thee. For thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:13-14). The value of any service or gift in the sight of God is to be measured not in the outward form of the action but in the love which prompts it. Hence the poor widow’s mites were greater than the abundance which was cast into the treasury by the rich, because they represented a more self-sacrificing love than did the abundance of the wealthy.
Another quality of Jesus’ righteousness is to be in the strenuousness with which he maintained the sacredness of filial and family relationships. Jesus told the Jews that they made void the word of God when they withheld support from their needy parents in order to make a temporal offering unto Jehovah. Later on the apostle Paul reminds them that he who would not take care of his own has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. The righteousness of Jesus commends the highest in conjugal fidelity and condemns even an impure look (Matthew 5:27-28). Here again he gets down to the foundation of all evil, un-righteousness in attitude held within the heart. To Jesus the marriage bond was sacred and divine, and for its origin he went back to the original intention of Cod who created man male and female (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:24). This standard of righteousness, the many aspects of which we have been studying m this lesson, was not only the subject of Jesus’ teaching, but was made concrete in Jesus’ life. In all his relationships, both with God and with his fellow men, we see exemplified the high principles which he taught. If we follow his life we will at the same time give expression to this righteousness of conduct that we learn from Jesus’ teaching. This brings us back to the subject of our text: And everyone that hath his hope set on him purifieth himself even as he is pure. Because Jesus was righteous, the disciple seeks to make himself righteous; because he was pure, the disciple, seeks to make himself pure. This change from unrighteousness to righteousness, from the righteousness of the Pharisee to the r ighteousness of Jesus, from impurity to purity, is accomplished in the most natural manner. It is the process of growing in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the Corinthians Paul said, “That we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Here we have the secret of how the trans-formation is produced. It is brought about by studying Jesus, by knowing Jesus, by becoming like Jesus, and then by showing Jesus to others. As we stand before the mirror and marvel at the perfection of his character and the righteousness of his conduct, it is natural for us to become like him. People have a tendency to become like those that they admire, and with whom they constantly associate.
Upon one occasion Peter and John had been arrested and placed in prison. When the Jewish leaders came together Peter and John were set before them and asked in what name they had done the things which they did. Peter spoke with such power and persuasiveness that those who were present marveled at him, and Luke says, “Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). As the result of following Jesus through the three years before his death, studying him and learning him, he became like him, so much like hirr that others saw the characteristics of Jesus in Peter. Christian people today must so study and learn Jesus that their very lives will be a demonstration of the righteousness and purity of Jesus Christ. It is especially incumbent upon those who teach Christianity, especially upon those who are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ that they study carefully the character of Jesus in order io correctly portray him to men and women. When Paul wrote back to the Thessalonians after be-ing- absent from them for just a little while, he reminded them of his conduct when he first came unto them. “For yourselves, brethren, know our entering- in unto you that it hath not been found in vain. We waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict"(1 Thessalonians 2:1-2). “For ye remember brethren our labor and travail working night and day that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are -witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and imblama- bly we have behaved ourselves toward you that believe: as ye knew- how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you and testifying, to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:9-12). Paul had purified himself as Christ was pure, had made himself righteous as Christ was righteous, and had carried the picture of Christ in his own life to those people whom !e had converted in the city of Thessalonica. Unless wre do set forth the message of Christ m deed as well as in word, we put ourselves in the place of the. scribes and Pharisees, of whom Jesus said, and of whom Jesus warned the multitude, “But do not ye after their works for they say and do not” (Matthew 23:3).
Arthur Guiterman wrote these lines concerning a great teacher:
Mark Hopkins sat on one end of a log And a farm boy sat on the other.
Mark Hopkins came as a pedagogue And taught as an elder brother.
I don’t care what Mark Hopkins taught,
If his Latm was small end his Greek was naught, For the farm boy ho thought, thought he,
All through lecture time and quiz,
“The bind of a man I mean to be Is the kind of a man Mark Hopkins is.” That quality of excellence, in the teacher which so impresses the pupil as to make him want to be like his teacher, is a desirable, quality which every Christian ought to possess. As the righteousness and purity of Jesus impresses us and makes us want to be righteous and pure, so our lives will impress others-with the same desire. When we become conscious of the fact that our iives are useful and instrumental in helping others to become what they ought to be. It provides us with a new motive and a new power for living. In such glorious achievements all sense of futility is gone and joy fills our heart as we look forward hopefully to the great challenge of rehabilitating human life with the righteousness and purity of our Lord.
Back during the days of the depression when Mr. Clarence Darrow was in his 76th year, the newspapers report him as saying this to the younger generation, “If I were a young man with a life ahead of me, I think I’d chuck it all, the way things are now. The odds are too great against it, and anyway, the world is all wrong nowadays. I certainly have no encouragement for the young bloods" that are just starting out looking for jobs. The sooner they jump out a window the sooner they will find peace.” What a message from age to youth! But after all, what does an atheist have to live for? The Christian, on the other hand, is filled with a glorious and an eternal hope which motivates him to be righteous himself and to give his life in sacrificing service that others may also know the righteousness of our Saviour. The Christian does not need to chuck it all and jump out of the window to find peace. He can find peace in the midst of difficulty, trouble and persecution. He has a profound conviction about the ultimate meaning of life, and a glorious hope that keeps him marching on.
“Wherefore we faint not, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. For we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). With these beautiful words the glorious apostles set forth the hope of the Christian ministry. That kind of hope makes an immeasurable difference. It makes a man want to be like his Master, it makes him want to show all other men the picture of his Master that they may be like him too. It takes their eyes off of the scene and sets them upon things eternal. “Wherefore we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing unto him” (2 Corinthians 5:9).