Moral Institutions—II - Chambers, Oswald
In Practice
By in practice is meant fitness through regular exercise. If we do not fit ourselves by practice when there is no crisis, we shall find that our nature will fail us when the crisis comes. The grace of god never fails, but we may fail the grace of god. Unless our nervous system is made the ally of the new life from god it becomes a humiliation to us, and we sit down under a tyranny of nerves. Once we have received the holy spirit we must sit down to nothing. In these distinctly personal matters it must be borne in mind that the moral institutions ordained by god take no account whatever of nervous disabilities, they take account only of god himself and the way he has designed man. When your nervous system, which has been ruled by the wrong disposition, is inclined to say i cant, you must say, you must, and to your amazement you find you can!
1. Righteousnessconformity to a right standard
Where no one but god sees us. That is where very few of us are Christians.
(a) in intention
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous. (1 john 3:7)
Jesus Christ demands of his disciples that they live in conformity to the right standard in intention. We say, though i didn’t do well, i meant well; then it is absolutely certain you did not mean well. Jesus Christ makes no allowance for heroic moods; he judges us by the diligently applied bent of our disposition. Concentration on the part of a christian is of more importance than consecration. . . . He that doeth righteousness is righteous. There are different kinds of intention, e. G. , outer and inner; immediate and remote; direct and indirect. The righteous man is the one whose inner intention is clearly revealed in his outer intention, there is no duplicity, no internal hypocrisy. A mans outer intention is easily discernible by other people; his inner intention needs to be continually examined. The marvel of the grace of god is that it can alter the mainspring of our make-up; then when that is altered we must foster in ourselves those intentions which spring from the spirit of Jesus and make our nervous system carry them out. The holy spirit will bring us to the practical test, it is not that i say i am righteous, but that i prove i am in my deeds.
(b) in individuals
For i say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20 RV)
Take saul of tarsus as an example of pharisaism; he says of himself in writing to the Philippians, as touching the law, a pharisee; . . . Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless . . . (philippians 3:56): Jesus Christ says as disciples we have to exceed that. No wonder we find his statements absolutely shattering. Our righteousness has to be in excess of the righteousness of the man whose external conduct is blameless according to the law what does that produce? Despair straightaway. When we hear Jesus say, blessed are the pure in heart, our answer, if we are awake is, my god, how am i going to be pure in heart? If ever i am to be blameless down to the deepest recesses of my intentions, you must do something mighty in me. That is exactly what Jesus Christ came to do. He did not come to tell us to be holy, but to make us holy, undeserving of censure in the sight of god. If any man or woman gets there it is by the sheer supernatural grace of god. You cant indulge in pious pretence when you come to the atmosphere of the bible. If there is one thing the spirit of god does it is to purge us from all sanctimonious humbug, there is no room for it.
(c) in institutions
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the lords sake. . . . (1 peter 2:13; see 2 peter 2:1318)
Peters statements in these verses are remarkable, and they are statements the modern christian does not like. He is outlining what is to be the conduct of saints in relation to the moral institutions based on the government of man by man. No matter, he says, what may be the condition of the community to which you belong, behave yourself as a saint in it. Many people are righteous as individuals, but they ignore the need to be righteous in connection with human institutions. Paul continually dealt with insubordination in spiritual people. Degeneration in the christian life comes in because of this refusal to recognise the insistence god places on obedience to human institutions. Take the institution of home life. Home is gods institution, and he says, honour thy father and thy mother; are we fulfilling our duty to our parents as laid down in gods book? Guard well the central institutions ordained by god, and there will be fewer problems in civilised life. We have to maintain spiritual reality wherever we are placed by the engineering of our circumstances by god; as servants we are to be subject to our masters, to the froward master as well as to the good and gentle. That is where the shoe pinches, and whenever you feel the pinch it is time you went to the death of something.
2. Rights-what one has a just claim to
every right brings with it an obligation. Legally, a man can do what he likes with his own; morally, he is under obligation to use it for the general good; spiritually, he is bound to devote it to god.
(a) of life
Whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed. (genesis 9:6)
Every man in the sight of god has an equal right to life, and if a man takes away the life of another, his own life shall be taken away. The right of life is insisted on all through the bible. As long as i do not murder anyone outright the law cannot touch me, but is there someone dependent on me to whom in the tiniest way i am not giving the right to live? Someone for whom i am cherishing an unforgiving dislike? Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, says john (1 john 3:15). One of the terrors of the day of judgement will be our indifference to the rights of life.
(b) of land
When ye come into the land which i give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the lord . . . . In the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the lord . (Leviticus 25:2, 4 rv; see Leviticus 25:17)
The twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus is the great classic on the rights of the land. The establishment of mens rights on the earth is limited by the rights of the earth itself. If you keep taking from the land, never giving it any rest, in time it will stop giving to you. We talk about the rights of the land, and make it mean our right to grab as much from it as we can. In gods sight the land has rights just as human beings have, and many of the theories which are being advanced to-day go back to gods original prescription for the land. When god ordained a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, it was a reiteration of the instructions given to adam in the garden of eden be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it (genesis 1:28). Man was intended to replenish the earth by looking after it, being its lord not its tyrant; sin has made man its tyrant (cf. Romans 8:19). The rights of the land will probably only be fully realised in the millennium, because in this dispensation men ignore obedience to gods laws.
In the teaching of jesus the earth is never con- founded with the world. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). The meek, i. E. , those who have the disposition of the son of god and are practising righteousness in accordance with that disposition, are to inherit the earth. The world is the system of things which man has erected on gods earth. To-day people belong to various isms and its and they say, we are going to inherit the earth; we are the favoured people of god, but that characteristic is not meekness, it is rather the spirit of the devil. Jew or gentile, lost tribe or found, none of it is of any account unless it is based on the principles
Jesus Christ lays down. He says that the meek, those who obey the laws of god, shall inherit the earth. The material earth is gods, and the way men treat it is a marvellous picture of the long-suffering of god.
(c) of liberty
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. (1 Corinthians 6:12 RV )
We call liberty allowing the other fellow to please himself to the same extent as we please ourselves. True liberty is the ability earned by practise to do the right thing. There is no such thing as a gift of freedom; freedom must be earned. The counterfeit of freedom is independence. When the spirit of god deals with sin, it is independence that he touches, that is why the preaching of the gospel awakens resentment as well as craving. Independence must be blasted right out of a christian, there must be only liberty, which is a very different thing. Spiritually, liberty means the ability to fulfill the law of god, and it establishes the rights of other people. The teaching of the sermon on the mount is the exact opposite of the modern jargon about equal rights; why shouldn’t i do this? Im within my rights. Of course you are, but never call yourself a christian if you reason like that because a christian is one who sacrifices his liberty for the sake of others, for Jesus Christs sake. Pauls whole argument is based on this (see 1 Corinthians 8; Romans 14). Dont use your liberty as an occasion to the flesh, he says. When we receive the holy spirit we receive the nature of god, and he expects us to keep our nervous system obedient to the dictates of the holy spirit. All through these studies we have emphasised the principle of obedience to the highest; it is one of the most practical guides for our conduct as individuals. Paul continually dealt with people who under the guise of religion were libertines; they talked about liberty when what they really meant was, i insist on doing what it is my right to do, and i don’t care a jot about anyone else. That is not liberty, that is lawlessness. The only liberty a saint has is the liberty not to use his liberty. There is nothing more searching than what the new testament has to say about the use of liberty. It is never your duty to go the second mile, to give up your possessions or property to someone else, but Jesus says if we are his disciples, that is what we will do.