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By Glenn Pease
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 THE PARADOX OF PLEASURE Based on Esther 2:1-4
CHAPTER 2 THE PARADOX OF PATRIOTISM
Esther 2:19-3:6
CHAPTER 3 GOD IS LIGHT, BASED ON I
JOHN 1:5
CHAPTER 4 MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF MARVELOUS GRACE II PET 1
CHAPTER 5 THE SYMPHONY OF SYMPATHY Based onHeb.10:32‑34
CHAPTER 6 THE FOLLY OF THE WISE Based on I King 11:1‑13
CHAPTER 7 THE POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING
Isa. 1:1-17
CHAPTER 8 GOOD OUT OF EVIL PART II Based on James 1:12
CHAPTER 9 THE PERPLEXITY OF
PLEASURE Based on Eccles.2:1
CHAPTER10 THE PLEASURE OF
PERSPECTIVE Based on Psalm 84
CHAPTER11 THE PLEASURE OF PAIN BASED ON
PSALM 84:6
CHAPTER12 GUILT CAN BE GOOD BASED ON
PSALM 32:1-5
INTRODUCTION
Paradox and perspective
Para means contrary and doxa means opinion, and so a paradox
deals with contrary opinions or ideas which are seemingly so opposite they
cannot both be true, but which are, in fact, both true. They sound
contradictory but the really compliment each other. In paradox two opposite and contradictory ideas can be shown to
be two parts of a greater whole larger than either of them alone. Two men can be looking at a shield from each
side of it, and one says it is gold and the other that it is a silver shield.
Both know they are right for they are looking at it right in front of their
face. They can argue for ever and never convince the other to change their view.
They can only resolve their conflict by going to the other side and seeing that
a shield can be gold on one side and silver on the other. Both were right, but
both were wrong too, because they only saw part of the whole truth about the
shield.
The false assumption is many conflicts is that if one side is
certain they are right, any contrary idea must be wrong. This is false because
it is possible for both to be right even though they seem contradictory. Paradox says that opposite perspectives can
both be right. For example, when Durand, the Frenchman, visited London he saw
such places as Waterloo station and Trafalgar square. He said to his wife,
“These English are really odd, they seem to have a mania for naming places after
defeats.” From his perspective as a Frenchman these were defeats, but Waterloo
and Trafalgar were great victories for the English. He failed to recognize that
a battle can be both a defeat and a victory, just as every sports event is both
a win and a loss, for their are always two sides. We need to recognize the same thing can be seen from more than
one perspective.
Take a snowstorm as an illustration. A family of 4 can see it
from 4 different perspectives. The mother sees the snow as a source of beauty
as she looks out of her picture window and sees her evergreens beautified with
the white fluffy stuff. The father sees it as a nuisance as he has to shovel
the drive way and be late for work because of the traffic mess. The son sees it
as a source of income because the neighbors will pay him to shovel for them.
The little girl sees it as a source of fun, for now she can use the new sled
she got for her birthday. What could be
more futile than a debate to determine which of them is right? Three of them
find pleasure, and only one finds pain in the snow, and so can the issue be
decided by majority vote? This would not change the fact that the father still
has to suffer while the other three enjoy it. We need to face it. It is a
paradox. A snowfall is both pleasure and pain. It is both beautiful and a
nuisance. You cannot get everybody on the same side, for their are two sides,
and both are real and legitimate.
When Mark Twain visited Whistler in his studio he started to
touch a certain painting. Whistler cried out, “Don’t touch that, it isn’t dry
yet!” “I don’t mind,” said Twain, “I have gloves on.” They were on two
different channels, and Mark
Twain missed the point
completely. He was not being sensitive to the perspective of Whistler who was
concerned about his painting being ruined, and not about getting paint on
Twain’s finger. Paul in Phil. 2:4 wrote, “Each of you should look not only to
your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” In other words,
recognize their are other perspectives than your own, and you need to be
sensitive to them or you will be a self-centered person.
Life is full of paradoxes. If you look at a stick in the water
you see it as crooked. You know it is a straight stick, and yet it is bent to your
vision. You are certain it is straight and yet you cannot see it as straight in
the water. No matter how clearly you have it explained why it looks bent you
cannot see it straight. Mentally you know it is, but visually you experience it
as not straight. And so you have a paradox of a straight stick that is crooked
because both are real at the same time.
This reality can help a person escape prejudice. He may have
been taught that other races are inferior to his, and so he cannot help but see
them that way. But if he recognizes the reality of paradox, he can learn that
what he sees is like that crooked stick. It is an illusion created by
circumstance, but it is not objective reality. Other races are proven to be
equal with his, and so he may have feeling left from his training that makes
him see others in a bent way, but he can also know that what he feels is not
the truth, and thereby overcome the subjective feeling and chose to act in
accord with objective truth.
We have to fight the tendency constantly of seeing reality
only from our perspective. The poet gives an example.
When offspring roll upon the
floor,
And kick their heels in
rage,
They either need a spanking
or
Their going through a stage,
Depending, with distinction
fine,
On whether they are yours or
mine.
We tend to see through eyes
which favor ourselves at the expense of others. Identical behavior on our part
is seen as a virtue, which in others we see as a vice. We are thrifty, but they
are stingy. We have firm convictions, but they are stubborn as a mule. We are
cautious, but they are slow pokes. We are courteous, but the other guy is a
brown noser. We are zealous, but the other guy is a fanatic. We see ourselves
as virtuous in doing the same things that other are doing, but which we call
vices.
Men are forever debating whether we should be right wing or
left wing, when it should be conspicuous to everyone that God never made a bird
yet with only one wing. They would never get off the ground if he did. It does
not have to be one or the other, but we need the whole bird, and the
perspectives of both the conservative mind and the liberal mind to get the
whole picture. Anyone who is always just one or the other is narrow minded and
does not deal with the real world. Dr. Billy Graham said that he was a
conservative theologically, and a liberal socially. Can you be both a liberal
and a conservative? Why not? It is no more unreasonable than the fact that a
day is made up of both daytime and nighttime. They are opposites, but they are
both real and a part of the whole. Man is not a saint or a sinner, but a saint
and a sinner. He is both even though they are opposites. If you are going to
deal with the whole man you need to see the reality of this paradox. Pascal saw
it and said, “Man is the glory and scum of the universe.”
1. THE PARADOX OF PLEASURE Based on Esther 2:1-4
Alexander Selkirk was one of those men who always had to learn
the hard way. The records of his church
in Scotland show that he was disciplined several times for causing trouble in
the church. In May of 1703 he said
good-bye to all that, and at age 27 went off to sea. He tried to run things on the ship as he did church, and he got
into a furious argument with the Captain.
They were anchored off a small island four hundred miles from Chile.
Alexander got so mad he
packed up his possessions and went ashore.
"You don't dare sail without me," he shouted to the
Captain. The Captain was not impressed
with his conviction, and gave the order to sail. Poor Alexander could not believe it. He thought he was indispensable.
He was waiting out up to his arm pits pleading for the Captain to
forgive him, but the Captain was as stubborn as he was, and he sailed away, never
to return.
Fortunately for Alexander the island had been inhabited by Jon
Fernandez two centuries earlier, and he had left some goats on the island. These gave him food and skins. For four years and four months he depended
on them for survival. When he was
finally rescued, he could hardly remember how to talk. When he got back to England he was a
sensation, and several books were written about him. The most famous was fiction, but it used his experience as a
model. The book was Robinson Crusoe.
That was a tough way to learn to keep his mouth shut. It is so hard not to do something, or say
something foolish or destructive when you are angry. Even great men often have to learn the hard way that loss of
temper can be costly. Xerxes was the
ruler of the Persian Empire, he could have anything he pleased, but he lost his
wife, whom he truly treasured, because of his anger. Xerxes had a reputation for losing his temper when he could not
have his own way. He once wanted to
cross the waters of the hellespont, but it was so rough his troops could not
build a bridge. He got so angry he took
chains to the water, and he began to flog it.
Like most temper tantrums, it was not very effective.
It is so hard to play God when nature and others will not
cooperate. The water would not stop for
him, and his wife would not start for him, and he blew his stack. And why shouldn't he? He was the most powerful man in the world,
and why should he not get angry for the same reason the rest of us get
angry? Why do we get angry? Primarily because something or someone has
spoiled our pleasure. We are not
different from King Xerxes.
He had his heart set on
seeing all his noble leaders gape in envy as he revealed the beauty of his wife
to them. Half the joy of possessing
something is in showing it to those who don't.
Vashti had the audacity to rob him of this pleasure. He blazed with anger within, because she
would not grant his whim.
If you examine your own life, you will discover that most of
your anger is based on the hindrance of your pleasure. You have plans, and somebody does not
cooperate, and the pleasure you hope for is lost, and you are angry. Children cry most often because they can't
have their own way. Somebody is always
hindering them from having their pleasure.
They want to play with the new camera you just bought, and you insist it
is not a toy, and there heart is broken.
They want to run barefoot in a junk infested lot, and you deny them of
their pleasure. On and on goes the list
of pleasures a child desires that are constantly being hindered by parents, who
get no pleasure out of picking up pieces of a two hundred dollar camera, and
rushing to the emergency room for stitches.
What we see then, is that from the beginning, life is a battle
to see whose pleasures are met, and whose are denied. Striving for pleasure is a far more powerful factor in all of our
lives then we realize. Because we do
not examine our lives from the perspective of the pleasure motive, we look on
the events of the book of Esther with some degree of shock.
It is scandalous that every
beautiful virgin in the empire was to be made available to the king, to meet
his demand for pleasure. Keep in mind,
he is the most powerful man in the world.
The whole book revolves around his pleasure. What pleases him determines the life or death of every human
being of his time. If he pleases, whole
nations are destroyed,
and if he pleases, they are
spared. God's providence had to work
through His pleasure motive.
The first two chapters reveal that he was dominated by sensual
pleasure. His party life and sex life
established the environment in which the entire story takes place. Xerxes is no different than the rulers of that
part of the world today. A reporter who
traveled to all of the oil rich Arab countries, and interviewed all of the
kings and sheiks, reported that
they lived just like Xerxes
did. Wine, women, and song, and every
pleasure man is capable of was a way of life.
Xerxes is said to have offered a reward for anyone who could invent a
new pleasure. This is the challenge
today for those who have so much money they cannot think of any new way of
spending it.
The book of Esther is not dealing with something old and
irrelevant, but rather, with a subject so real and relevant to all of us, but
one that we often fail to think about seriously,
the subject of
pleasure. Before we get all bent out of
shape about Xerxes, and his lust for pleasure, lets examine our own lives. When we do, we will discover that we are not
so different from this sensual king.
The main difference is that we do not have the power and wealth to
command the pleasures he had, but the difference is really only one of degree.
We too enjoy parties with
good things to eat and drink, and we enjoy beautiful furniture and drapes. We enjoy nice clothes, and I have seldom
heard of a Christian who does not enjoy sexual pleasure.
The more we examine the Christian life, the more we begin to
realize we are very pleasure oriented.
We don't feel the lest guilt for enjoying the pleasure of music,
fellowship, an all that being a part of the body of Christ involves. Why should we? Jesus enjoyed the social pleasures of His time. He enjoyed the party, the wedding, the
feasting,
the singing, the fun of
fishing, and fellowship. So what we
have is, the paradox of pleasure.
It is both something we are
to crave and seek and enjoy, and yet it is something that can be so dangerous
that it can quickly lead us to fall, and be out of the will of God. Pleasure is both a virtue and a vice.
The search for pleasure is the primary motivation behind the
evil of man. Satan appealed to the pleasure nature to get man
to fall. He said, taste the forbidden
fruit and you will have the pleasure of being like God, and they jumped at the
chance. But good is also motivated by
pleasure. The Gospel is an appeal to
the pleasure nature as well, for Jesus says, "Come unto me all ye who
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Jesus offers men the joy of
eternal life, and the pleasure of abundant life. There is not available anywhere in the world a hope for greater
pleasure than what Jesus offers those
who put their faith in
Him.
What this means is we cannot afford to be reacting as
Christians so often do. They look at
Xerxes, and his six months banquet of gluttony, drunkenness, and perpetual beautiful
virgins for his lust, and they say this is disgusting. Then they think their mission in life should
be to prevent as much pleasure as possible.
This over reaction to evil pleasure in the world has caused Christians
to totally misrepresent Christ, and pervert the Gospel so that it loses its
appeal to most everyone but sadist who delight in pain. History is full of the folly of Christian
ascetics, who thought they pleased God by pain rather pleasure.
They wore hair shirts to
itch and be miserable. They flogged
themselves thinking that suffering was the key to sanctification. Fun and pleasure were so related to sin that
misery
and boredom were exalted to
the level of virtues.
To avoid this reaction to worldly pleasure we need to see
where the Bible stands on the issue of pleasure. The first thing we see, as we examine God's Word, is that God is
the Creator of pleasure. He made the
world and man, and said it is very good, and He took pleasure in all that He
had made. He made man with a nervous
system capable of enjoying much pleasure of sight, sound, taste, smell, and
feeling. He designed man to be a
pleasure loving creature. Every
pleasure we are capable of is a cause to thank God, for it is by His will we
have that capacity. David acknowledges
God as the source of all of life's pleasures in Psa. 36:7-8. "How precious is thy steadfast love, O
God! The children of men take refuge in
the shadow of thy wings. They feast on
the abundance of thy house, and thou givest them drink from the rivers of thy
pleasures."
God gives rivers of pleasure, even in time, before the
believers dwell by the River of Life, where all pain will be forever gone, and
life will be endless pleasure, for, "At God's right hand our pleasures for
ever more." (Psa. 16:11). God delights in the pleasures of His
servants says Psa. 35:27. God is a
personality who enjoys great pleasure Himself.
Psa. 149:4 says, "For
the Lord takes pleasure in His people."
As we, as parents and grandparents, take pleasure in seeing our children
grow and develop, so God delights in His children.
God wanted the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, and He said to the
people in Hag. 1:8,
"Go up to the hills and
bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may
appear in my glory, says the Lord."
God is no where revealed as a vast cosmic machine. God is a person who feels, and His goal is
to accomplish what is good and pleasurable.
Phil. 2:13 says, "For God is at work in you, both to will and to
work for His good pleasure."
Jesus said in Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your
Father's
good pleasure to give you
the kingdom."
Let's get it straight in our minds, God is not a sadist who
loves pain and delights in suffering .
The goal of God is pleasure for Himself, and for all His people. He makes it clear in Ezek. 18:23. "Have I any pleasure in the death of
the wicked, says the Lord God,
and not rather that he
should turn from his way and live?"
God's goal for every man is a goal of pleasure. Hell is pain and heaven is pleasure, and heaven
is always God's goal.
I looked in a dictionary of
synonyms and antonyms, and found this list of the opposites of pleasure. Listen to them, and see if you catch the
flow of heaven or hell.
Displeasure Evil Desolation
Sorrow Pain Anxiety
Woe Hurt Burden
Grief Wound Adversity
Suffering Affliction Trouble
Vexation Anguish Unhappiness
Worry Despair Tribulation
Sickness Misfortune
This is not an ideal shopping list for Christmas, or any other
day in life. In fact, the
only place you can get that
list fulfilled perfectly is in hell.
Not a one of them will be a part of heaven. So we are stuck with an enormous paradox. The entire plan of God, and the goal of
Christians, is pleasure. Yet, that
seems to be the major problem of sinful man, and the primary method of
worldliness. Even Plato could see it
and say, "Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil." It is the pleasure principle that leads men
into every form of lust, and which takes them lower than the beast. Yet, it is the pleasure principle that leads
men to the highest levels of godliness, and enables them to fulfill the purpose
of God.
The book of Esther is a perfect illustration of the paradox of
pleasure. It begins with a feast that
is dedicated to worldly pleasure, and gratification of the senses. It ends with the proclamation of a perpetual
feast that will also gratify the senses, but will be in thanksgiving for the
providence of God. The pleasure of the
people of God at a banquet
is no less enjoyable than that
of the sensuous secularist. Xerxes had
more of every sensual pleasure, but the fact is, he did not enjoy eating,
sexuality, and other aesthetic
pleasures anymore than the
Jews did, or than Christians do today.
How then can we distinguish between pleasures which are
displeasing to God, and those which please Him? How can we unravel this paradox so we know which side we are on?
How can we know if we are at
Xerxes's banquet, or Esther's banquet?
The first thing we need to do is to recognize pleasure is not evil. It is good, and from God. Then we need to recognize that all good can
be perverted and abused. That is what
evil is-it is good used in a way that God never intended.
C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters has the Sr. devil writing
to the Jr. devil explaining the work of temptation. He writes, "Never forget that when we are dealing with any
pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on
the Enemy's
ground. I know we have won many a soul through
pleasure. All the same, it is His
invention, not ours. He made the
pleasures; all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to
take the pleasures which our
Enemy has produced, at times,
or in ways, or in degrees, which he has forbidden."
The tempters task is to get men to think, if a little is good,
a lot must be better. If he can get men
to use God's pleasures to excess, he can get them hooked, so that the very
gifts of God become idols, that lead them astray from God. Such is the subtle plan of the deceiver, and
it is a very effective plan. We live in
a culture where pleasure is no longer
a gift from God, for it has
become god. Norman Lobsenz has written
a book titled,
Is Anybody Happy. It is a study of the American search for
pleasure. The goal of life for
Americans is a good
time. Our national Mecca is Disney
World. Pleasure is the alpha and omega
of life. The national heroes are no
longer the titans of industry, or the somber statesman, or solitary
inventors. Now it is the movie star,
the sports hero, and international playboy, who have taken their place.
The important thing now is to have fun. Lobsenz writes, "Advertisers, never
slow to sense a trend, have leaped on the bandwagon, and there is now hardly an
artifact or an activity that is not intimately connected with spine-tingling
happiness. Brushing your teeth with a
certain tooth paste, of course-is fun.
Cutting the grass-with a certain lawnmower-is exciting. Do you want to know the real joy of good
living? Drink a certain beer....soap
flakes give glamorous suds. It is fun
to paint your house with so and so's paint.
Eye glasses are bewitching.
Light bulbs are romantic.
Building materials are festive.
Soft drinks are sociable.
Kitchen appliances are smart.
Anything you buy that is made of shining aluminum will mirror your laughter. Even paying the bills for these items is a
pleasure if you have an account at a
certain bank." Lobsenz says he
expects someday to see a billboard with the bony finger of Uncle Sam pointing
at him asking, "Have you had your fun today?"
We are under a new morality-the fun morality. It says, if it feels good do it. It is not new of course, for Xerxes was a
pro at it 2,500 years ago. Instead of
feeling ashamed for having too much pleasure, from now on we are to feel guilty
if we do not have enough. People are
now going to psychiatrist and asking, "What is wrong with me? I can't let go and have enough fun." People feel so obligated to have fun they
attack it with all the energy they use to put into achievement. This pursuit of pleasure often ends in
broken marriages, broken lives, and death, especially for those who find their
pleasure in alcohol and other drugs.
Is the Christian approach to try and be a kill joy, and oppose
pleasure, and call people back to a work ethic, where go go go is the battle
cry? Not at all! The Christian is for pleasure too, for that
is God's plan for man. The Christian
simply needs to point out the folly of making pleasure an idol. It is not the end of life, but a means to a
higher end.
"Man's chief end is to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever."
We are into pleasure too, but because it is not an end in itself, but a
means to the end of enjoying God, we have an objective standard by which we
measure the value of all pleasures. In
other words, we count the cost. Satan
does not want man to count the cost, for his whole strategy is to get men to
choose pleasure at any cost. The cost
factor is what enables the Christian to have a guide to legitimate
pleasure. You can tell if you are being
excessive in your pursuit of pleasure by what it is costing you.
Any pleasure that costs you your growth in Christian
fruitfulness is folly, and excessive pleasure.
Jesus made this clear in the parable of the sower, where the seed that
fell among the thorns did not lead to fruitfulness. He tells us in Luke 8:14, "There are those who hear, but as
they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of
life, and their fruit does not mature."
They pay too much for their pleasure.
They lose the highest pleasure of life-the pleasure of pleasing God, and
being what He wills, for the sake of pleasure that will pass away. They trade in their diamonds for
marbles.
The Gospel is not a call to forsake pleasure, but it is a call
to rise to higher pleasure,
and to enjoy that which
lasts forever. The motive for all
self-denial, which keeps the Christian from immoral pleasure, is the hope for
enduring pleasure. Listen to Paul
giving counsel to the rich Christians who could so easily indulge themselves in
excessive pleasures. He writes in I
Tim. 6:17-19, "As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be
haughty, nor to set their hope on uncertain riches but on God who richly
furnishes us with everything to enjoy.
They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous,
thus laying up for
themselves a good foundation for the future.
So that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed."
Paul is saying, you only go around once in this life, so do it
with gusto. But for Paul, that does not
mean to drink beer, it means to enjoy the higher and lasting pleasures of doing
the will of God, which guarantees we will have abundant life now, and an
eternal life of pleasure on the highest level.
The Christian is one who evaluates pleasure, and does not just grab at
it indiscriminately. He asks, does this
enlarge, or does it enrich my Christian life, and my attitude of gratitude to
God? The Christian is on the greatest
pleasure trip possible. If we could not
assert that the plan of Christ leads to the greatest pleasure for the greatest
number, we would be saying that there is a better way. The fact is, no one even pretends to offer a
better way than Christ. We can say with
the advertisers who are confident of their products, "If you can find a
better way than Christ-take it."
When referring to God, it is an absolute truth that Father
knows best. He forbids only those forms of pleasure which, in the long
run, lead to pain greater than the pleasure.
God never forbids any
pleasure which will last, and be a part of your growth toward the goal of becoming
like Him. He only forbids that which
costs too much. Forbidden pleasure is a
rip off. It costs you the favor of God,
and usually has a kick back of pain that far exceeds the pleasure. How often people take drugs to feel good,
only to end up in jail or worse, and feeling rotten, and with problems that are
now worse than before. Biblical
morality is a fight back morality. It
is a demand that you don't be a sucker, and get ripped off by cheap imitations.
Jesus Christ, and He alone, offers the real thing-life
abundant and life eternal. He paid and
enormous cost, and endured the pains of hell, that we might enjoy the pleasures
of heaven. Whatever price we need to
pay to be loyal to Him is small cost for so great a gift.
The martyr who suffers death
rather than deny Christ, does so for pleasure.
He knows the cost is nothing compared to what he will enjoy at Christ's
right hand. That is why one of
my favorite preachers, F. W.
Boreham, said, "The tragedy of the age is
not that people are getting too much pleasure, but that they are not
getting enough." Life Xerxes, the
world is pleasure mad, but in all of their sensual self-indulgence, they do not
find the pleasure of peace and meaning, or eternal hope. They pursue pleasure as a god, and are left
empty. The Christian pursues the will
of God, and is filled with pleasure.
The world grabs the rose and clutches and thus must bare the
pains of the thorn. The Christian does
not need to grasp it, but can enjoy it, and not cling, for he knows he cannot
lose the rose even if it dies, for he is a child of the rose's Creator, and
knows the rose will be his forever.
Honey is bought to dear by those who risk the bees stingers. The Christian is one who is wise in his pleasure seeking. He enjoys all God has given us to enjoy, but
avoiding excess and the forbidden, knowing this leads to the greatest
pleasure.
Contrary to the view that Christianity is opposed to the
search for pleasure, the opposite is the case.
We have found the very thing man is searching for, the way to the
highest most lasting pleasure of which man is capable. With this highest goal of salvation settled,
the Christian then can enjoy the lesser pleasures of life more completely, for
they are not so essential that he has to cling to them for meaning. The highest and permanent
being assured in Christ, he
can relax, and enjoy the passing without the risk of idolatry.
To sum it up, the paradox of pleasure is that the pursuit of
pleasure can lead you to the pit of hell, or to the pinnacle of heaven. It is life's most dangerous or delightful
path to travel.
The ecstasy of victory, or
the agony of defeat, awaits all who travel it.
Which you find depends on whether Xerxes is your example, or Jesus
Christ. You either do what pleases you
with no higher loyalty than your own pleasure, or you do what pleases God, with
His will as your motive for rejecting or accepting pleasure. Those who choose the way of Christ, saying,
not my will but thine be done, will enjoy at God's right hand pleasure for ever
more.
2. THE PARADOX OF PATRIOTISM Based on Esther 2:19-3:6
Newscaster Paul Harvey, some years ago, told his radio listeners
this remarkable story from World War II.
From the Island of Guam one of our mighty B-29 bombers took off for
Kokura, Japan. It was carrying deadly cargo as it circled
high above the city. A cloud covered
the city, so the plane kept circling for half an hour, and then for three quarters
of an hour, and finally after 55 minutes the gas supply was reaching the danger
zone. The plane had to leave its
primary target, and go to a secondary target where the sky was clear. Then the command could be given, "Bombs
away!"
Only weeks later did the military receive information that
chilled many a heart. Thousands of
allied prisoners of war, the largest concentration of Americans in enemy hands,
had been moved to Kokura a week before the bombing mission. Had it not been for that cloud, thousands of
Americans now alive would have been killed, for that B-29 was carrying the
world's second atomic bomb. It was
taken instead to the secondary target-Nagasaki.
The direction history takes, so often is determined by such
minor things. Small things play a big
role in life. The illustrations of this
are numerous, yet it is a truth that demands balance, or it leads to
folly. God's providence is constantly
working through little things,
but not every little thing
is of significance. To think so can
lead to becoming neurotic, for you will search for meaning in every trivial
event of life. The danger of this is
illustrated by the little girl who came running into her house sobbing. She threw herself into her mothers arms, and
cried out, "God doesn't love me anymore!" The mother was shocked and puzzled at what could produce such a
crisis. "Why do you say
that?" she asked, assuring her
that God does love her. "No
mother!" she wailed. "I know
He doesn't love me. I tried Him with a
daisy." In case you have never tried
that less than fool proof method of predicting love, by pulling off petals to,
"He loves me, he loves me not," let me recommend that you never
start, if you are going to take it
seriously.
The fact is, there are little things that are just little
things. They are minor and
insignificant. They are not subtle and
hidden methods by which great things are accomplished. I don't think it is a healthy exercise to go
through life trying to figure out if God is trying to say something through
every minor event. When God does work
through such events, it is only known as we look back and see the minor event
as a link in the chain that leads to the fulfillment of His purpose.
This is what we see in the life of Mordecai. As a cloud saved many Americans, so a
conversation saved many Jews. Mordecai
over heard a couple of the kings servants plotting to assassinate him. This was very common in the ancient world,
because the only way to get rid of an absolute monarch was by
assassination. They never quit, and
could not be voted out, and so violence was the only method open for
change. Many of kings of Persians were
assassinated, including Xerxes. He was
saved by Mordecai, but fourteen years later one of his servants succeeded in
his plot to kill him.
Assassination was common even in Israel. In I Kings 15 we read of how Baasha
conspired to kill Nadab, the king of Israel, after he had reigned only two
years. Baasha became king then, and
reigned 24 years, but he was also a evil king, so nothing was gained by the
people in this politics of violence.
His son Elah became king, and 2 years later his servant Zimri
assassinated him, and became king. Once
you killed the king, you had to kill the whole family, and many of his friends,
so the violence of the ancient world was terrible.
There are other gruesome
assassinations in the Old Testament. I
point this out so that we can see clearly the nature of Mordecai's political
decision, when he chose to become an informer, and revealed the conspiracy against
Xerxes
We see in Mordecai's experience good reason for why political
decisions are so paradoxical, and why it is that politicians are often so
variable. We see it in Mordecai's patriotism. In the last paragraph of chapter 2 we see
Mordecai as a defender of the state,
and then in the first
paragraph of chapter 3 we him as a defier of the state. He first saved Xerxes life, and then he
turns around and refuses to obey his orders of bowing to Haman,
his highest
representative. In the one place Mordecai
is a conservative, and in the next he is a liberal. In the one he is a loyal citizen, and in the next he is a
rebel.
We need to study both sides of the patriotism of Mordecai, for
the Bible and history make it clear that the Christian who cannot be
paradoxical in his politics and patriotism will not be able to live a life of
wisdom in relation to the state. The
paradox is, inconsistency
in relationship to man is
the only way you can be consistent in your relationship to God.
Let's focus first on the
positive side.
I. MORDECAI AS DEFENDER OF THE STATE.
By defender, I mean Mordecai risked his life in order to a
loyal citizen, and to maintain the order of the state by reporting the
conspiracy to kill the king. Mordecai
was a foreigner, and he could have had the attitude that this is not my
country, so what do I care?
The believer is one who knows God is the God of order, and unless the leaders of a state are so corrupt that a revolution is demanded, those leaders should be honored. Many Christians have, and do now, live under tyrants, and forms of government that we could not tolerate as Americans. They live with far less freedom t