Christians And Amusements

“Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed.” —2 Corinthians 6:3

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” —1 John 2:15

Not a few Christians have been‚ and some are—greatly perplexed as to what should be the attitude of a Christian toward the world and its amusements. There are some Scriptures that tell us very definitely that the Christian is not of the world, that he has been chosen out of the world, that he is separated from it by the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul thanks God for the cross by which “I am crucified unto the world” and also “the world is crucified unto me.” This is just another way of saying that when you embrace the cross of Christ, it kills love for certain worldly things in your heart. More than that, it puts you in a place where the world is not likely to want you.

There are, however, other Scriptures that refer to the world in another sense. For instance, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” for its salvation. Jesus came to the world to make known God’s love for it. He did not come to condemn it. Of course, He did not need to; it was “condemned already.”

“Ye are the salt of the earth,” said the Christ to His disciples. “Ye are the light of the world. Let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

A Sacred Trust

If the Lord Jesus Christ were to single out each one of us and say, “Ye are the salt of the earth; ye are the light of the world,” we might be tempted, like Sarah, to laugh in our unbelief. And yet, friends, that is the solemn and sanctifying truth that is taught in the Gospels and also in the epistles. The Lord has committed His cause on Earth to His disciples. We may not think that we are very great or very important, but this is His own statement: “Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world.”

I do not think that the world would be prepared to say that we are of that value. I think that probably the world underestimates the worth of the church. But I believe genuine Christians are making a contribution to the world’s welfare that no other persons are making. We are told in one of the epistles that when the church is removed from the world, there will be a manifestation of evil and sin such as never has been known before. That statement may seem strange to some folk, because they have not studied the Scripture on this point.

The restraining influence on the forces of evil in the present hour is the church of Jesus Christ. “Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world.”

Contact, Not Contamination

Salt cannot benefit anything that it does not come in contact with. There are those who seem to think that separation from the world means isolation, that we are to keep away from the world in the sense of becoming a nun or a monk. That is not the teaching of the New Testatment. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world,” the Lord Jesus prayed. “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.”

One of the greatest needs of the present hour is consecrated laymen, in manufacturing establishments, commercial houses, factories and homes. What a wonderful thing it is for a man to live his life—and live it well—in the presence of other men!

I heard the other day of a woman who went to work in an establishment where a large number of women were employed. There were no Christians, that is, no known Christians, there. The forelady had a terrible temper. But inside of a few weeks, there was a great change. One of the women said, “Have you noticed the transformation in Miss So-and-so (the forelady)?”

“Yes,” another replied. “What a terrible temper she used to have! Now she is kind and considerate.”

In looking for the cause, it was all traced to this one Christian girl who was “salt” indeed, who was a light on a candlestick, giving light to all that were in the house.

That is what I mean by consecrated laymen, men and women who live the life that wins in the presence of others in the common walks of life. They surely make a rich contribution to the church of Christ and to the welfare of the community. “Let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God,” says Paul, using the world, but not abusing it. That is, if he is called to be a carpenter, or a blacksmith, or a merchant, or a banker, let him abide in that calling—with God.

I do not believe, as some have erroneously thought, that everyone should leave his former vocation when he has found Christ and give himself to Gospel preaching. I have known some cases in point that bordered on tragedy.

The Impression We Make

I am an epistle read of all men. What I am as a Christian will be the impression that people will get of Christianity. And so I repeat my text: “Give no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed.” This is the standard. It is not a question of: Can I do this and go to heaven? Or, if I do this will I go to hell? That is not the issue at all. “Give no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed.” You have a trust committed to you. May God give you grace to sacredly guard it.

There are other ways of testifying for Christ than by preaching and singing. “Let every one wherein he is called, abide with God.” Go with God to the market, to the office, to the school room, for there is no place where He will not be with you.

Some years ago, a brother minister told me a little story that I had forgotten until this week, of a girl who went to work in a home where her employers were non-Christians. One Sunday, after a sermon had been preached about living for God and being true to Him, this poor girl went up to the preacher and said: “My heart just yearns to do something for Jesus, but I do not know what to do. I wonder if you could tell me somebody that I might be able to reach with a testimony or a visit.”

And the preacher said to her: “But, my dear girl, you are living in Blank’s home, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she said, “I am their maid.”

“What about Mrs. Blank? She is not a Christian. Do you not think that God has placed you there to be a light in that home?”

A new conception of her position came to her. Dignity was added to this maid service. It was lifted from washing dishes and sweeping floors to being an ambassador for Christ. (Oh, friends, you may be artisans, or merchants, or students, but if you are a Christian, above everything else, you are a representative of the Master!) She went back to her home and her heart was burdened for this woman and began to pray. It may be strange to you, but to some of us who have been in this kind of work for many years, it is not so. We have found that this is the key that unlocks many problems.

That night the woman awakened her husband and said: “I feel as if I would die! I am lost! I want you to go and get the preacher.”

Now the preacher lived a long way from their home, and the husband said: “But wife, our maid is a Christian. Why not ask her to pray with you?”

“Oh, that will do,” she replied. In her extremity, she rushed to the door of the maid’s room and went in, only to find her arising from her knees beside a bed that had not been slept in, a bed that bore the marks of two elbows that had rested and the place where tears had fallen. Do you put the two things together? The girl led her to Christ, of course.

Beloved friends, this is one of the greatest needs of the present hour. We have come to a time when the testimony of massed evangelism is not moving sinners as it once did. It seems to me that the more definite, the more outstanding results of the Christian ministry are coming as the result of the personal touch; somebody’s heart has been aroused by another’s kindness, and then led gently, scripturally, to Jesus Christ.

Destroyers Of Our Love For God

You know that we are taught in Scripture that there are three foes with which we have to contend: the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is well for us to remember that while we are trying to win souls to Christ from the world, the world will do its utmost to win us from Christ. We will need to pray:

From the snare of sinful pleasure,
Hide Thou me;
Thou, my soul’s eternal treasure,
Hide Thou me;
When the world its power is wielding,
And my heart is almost yielding,
Hide me, O Thou Rock of Ages,
Safe in Thee.

From the snare of sinful pleasures! What are they? You know! Don’t ask me. You know the thing that kills your love for God. You know the thing that quenches zeal for Christian service. You know the thing that destroys appetite for the Word of the living God. Anything that will destroy your relish for God’s Word and God’s house should be avoided.

We read in the 11th of Numbers that several months after the children of Israel came out of bondage, they fell lusting for the things of Egypt. And they said, “There is nothing for us to eat but this angel food, and our souls are all dried up.”

Of course! When you lose your love for the bread sent down from heaven, and long for the things of the world, your soul will dry up. “Whosoever, therefore,” said James, “will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.”

People ask about dancing, about cards, the theater, and even about whiskey. The New Testament does not say you shall not drink, you shall not dance, etc. But there are also a great many other prohibitions that are not mentioned in the New Testament. They are left to your own intelligence and conscience, and you must decide these questions in light of your influence and testimony. You must ask, “Can I do this and glorify God?”

Here is the standard: “Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all tot eh glory of God.”

If there is something in which you cannot glorify God, if you cannot ask God’s blessing upon it, if you cannot realize that Christ will go with you into it and keep you through it, then for Jesus’ sake, and for your own sake, forebear. The most unhappy people under heaven are those who have compromised on these questions and have lost out with God.

And so I say again with Paul, that if by yielding to anything of that nature I will be made a stumbling stone to others, then for Jesus’ sake, for their sake, and for mine, I will desist.