The Christian in an Unchristian World 5/17/42
Scripture: Philippians 2: 12-30
Text: Philippians 2: 15-16a; “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life.....”
At last the gospel of Jesus Christ has been carried to every part of the globe! The world is vastly larger than the men of Jesus’ earthly days thought it to be. New continents, yes, new hemispheres were discovered by civilized man long years after Paul’s missionary journeys over the civilized world of his day. Indeed, it is relatively recent that civilized western man has even know that his world is round, with many countries, and multitudes of people, hitherto unknown to him living on the other side.
As western man has searched out new areas and peoples, he has taken along the gospel of Jesus Christ. The spread of Christianity has been particularly fast in the last century. Devoted men and women have given their money, their time, their lives in the great missionary cause that has carried the words of Jesus into every land. The Bible has been translated into the native tongues and dialects of practically every people. So at last we live in a Christian world.
Do we? Of course much of the foregoing statement is true. But even a little thought will convince anyone that it is a shallow form of optimism to try to maintain that the world of today is Christian. The peoples of the word probably have a wider knowledge of Christ’s gospel and its meaning than ever before. They have available the Word as never before and the Bible is still the book world’s best seller, even in Germany. People are hearing the name of Christ whose ancestors had never heard of him before. And all of this is a mighty influence for good.
But it remains true that millions of people in lands where the missionaries have gone do not yet have any understanding of the meaning of Christianity in personal life, or in community life either. There has been a distressing tendency on the part of some to reduce giving for foreign missions on the assumption that here is a job that is pretty well done. Let the native churches take over now. Yet the cry reaches our ears from devout Christian leaders of other lands and races who find themselves, as Christians, in an unpopular minority. “Don’t stop sending us missionaries! Send us more missionaries! Our people still need their help.”
Again, we have in our generation the spectacle of one great nation that once knew a form of Christianity turning against it, and against all religion - a nation that officially and deliberately exalts godlessness and tries to foster societies of the godless. The church of Russia had lost enough of its character so that its official life was easily snuffed out following the revolution.
And what of the rest of Europe and the Near East where Christianity first became rooted? Men and nations still kill each other deliberately after hearing the voice of the Prince of Peace for these 1900 years. Many are the ears that have heard, while the message failed to reach the heart.
In our own nation which has its taproots in the freedom, not to escape religion, but to worship and practice religion freely, we must confess that it is superficial to call ourselves Christian in any but a very humble and incomplete sense. True, there are here and there those who lead saintly lives making very real and very clear the love of Christ in human hearts. There are also hundreds of thousands who have taken the name Christian, have been baptized and joined the church of Jesus Christ. Many, many of these try to live as Christ would have us all live, try, fail and fall, rise and try again. And God be praised for all those who keep trying! Some have fallen away, their interest captured by other, and usually more selfish, considerations. And multitudes never go near a church and never give a serious thought to the reality of Christ’s gospel!
You see, in a very real sense, the world is not Christian. It continues unchristian. There is just as urgent need for the preaching of the gospel, the study of the word, the sharing at home and abroad of the message, and the witness of Christian living as there ever was! Every one of us touches scores of lives that need more of Christ, just as we do. We live in communities and on an earth that still has to deal with greed, with selfishness, with banditry and murder. We have not yet reached paradise or even a millennium of peace. Our hearts still cry out to God “Thy kingdom come!”
How shall Christian people live in a world that continues to be so unchristian? We see a “crooked and perverse” world, where there is still sin, subtle and revolting; where there is still dishonesty, where realities are perverted to falsehoods, where there is unkindness and hatred; where there is stubborn selfishness. Paul wrote an encouraging word to the Philippians - “that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke.”
We see a good many things more clearly through contrast. The beauty of our city’s setting is enhanced after a week of traveling for miles over the sandy countryside to the south. A shower is the more refreshing after a fortnight of heat and drought. The sunshine is the more welcomed after a week of cloudy weather.
The evil of the world stands out more sharply as a challenge to the efforts of good people when there are a few “blameless and harmless” lives to compare with it. Who of us has not been heartily and healthily ashamed of our petty bickerings after talking for a few minutes with some good mother whose lips have never known guile? Whose heart does not warm in active sympathy with the efforts of a really good citizen to combat dishonesty and promote good government?
The most powerful influence for good Christian living is the living example of those who, in the midst of crookedness and perversity, live blamelessly and harmlessly the positive qualities for which Jesus Christ stands.
There is another admonition to Christian people in an unchristian world given in the words of Paul to the Philippians, namely, “that ye shine as lights in the world.” Here is a word to the modest. There are honest and honorable souls who, quite the opposite of the vain who like the glory of the world, would prefer not to be much noticed. Perhaps there is a difference between false modesty and becoming modesty. For, while Jesus roundly and soundly condemned the self glorying and hypocritical pleasure of Pharisees who paraded themselves and their supposed virtues before people to be seen of men, yet he also said to his followers, “Let your light so shine before men..” [Matthew 5: 16] and so on. In another discourse, he mentioned the light that should not be hidden under a bushel basket or under anything else. [Luke 11: 33ff].
Of course Jesus put the emphasis right here - “that men may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Vain glory and false modesty are concerned with self. True modesty, and “holy boldness,” are not concerned with self but with a witness that shall be to the glory of God. “Let your light so shine.”
And after Christ, we find his apostle, Paul, admonishing the Philippian Christians to “shine as lights in the world” in the same spirit. Shine, then, with steadfastness, with dependability, with knowledge of the love of God that is in Christ Jesus!
One more phrase we have included in our selection of a text for the morning - “Holding forth the word of life.” The Gospel of Jesus is still the light upon our pathway, the guiding beam in our darkness, as is no other word in our day! It is the message of life with the only fullness of which we can be sure. It is the hope of our lives and the hope of the world.
In the midst of a world, then, that is still so crooked and perverse, let every Christian worthy of the name shine as a light in the world, blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, holding forth the word of life.
Too few? Too hard? “One man, with God, is a majority” for right.
What can He not accomplish with a few lives wholly consecrated to do His will?!
----------
dates and places delivered:
Pilgrim Church, Honolulu, December 10, 1939 AM
Wisconsin Rapids, May 17, 1942