What’s Wrong with It - Glenn Conjurske
What’s Wrong with It?
Introduction: The Question and Its Implications
“What’s wrong with it?” is a question which is heard altogether too often in the church of God. The question itself is low and petty, and usually betrays a wrong state of heart in those who ask it. This question is the common language of the carnal and the worldly, whose Christianity consists of nothing more than a free ticket to a heaven to which they have no desire to go—for they have no delight in anything in it, unless perhaps the gold. Whenever a faithful preacher of the word of God labors to call men to devotedness to the cause of Christ, and to a little self-denial as a means to that devotedness, or an expression of it, he is met with the question, “What’s wrong with it?”
The Answer: Lawfulness vs. Devotion
The answer to that question may well be, “Nothing.” Nothing is wrong with it. “All things are lawful.” But lawfulness is not the test of devotedness. Lawfulness dictates what is absolutely required of us—it determines the bare minimum—and those whose standard consists of a determination not to yield anything more than is absolutely required of them are so mean and niggardly that it is difficult to suppose them Christians at all. “We love him,” the Bible says, “because he first loved us.” His love for us moved him to give up all the glories of heaven, and to forgo even the common comforts of life on earth, in order to save our souls. Was there anything wrong with the glories of heaven? When the Father sent the Son into the world, and in so doing expected him to give up his heavenly glory, can anyone imagine the Son of God saying, “What’s wrong with it?” He loved us, and devoted himself to our cause, and therefore freely relinquished a host of things which were good. Christians profess to love him in return, and yet will stint to give up anything for him, unless they perceive it to be positively evil.
Making Sacrifices for Christ
But the plain fact is, God expects us to give up things which are lawful and good. Scripture grants that all things are lawful. There is nothing wrong with them. This, of course, must be understood to refer to all things which God has created and sanctioned, and not to all the sinful pleasures of the world. But for my present purpose, I need only say, make the application of this verse as wide as any carnal heart may please. “All things are lawful.” So says Paul. But this is not all he says. “All things are lawful for me,” says Paul, “BUT all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, BUT all things edify not.” (1 Cor. 10:23). The fact, then, that there is nothing wrong with it is really immaterial. The plain implication of Paul’s words is this: we must have better reason to indulge in anything, than the mere fact that it is lawful. Those who ask only “What’s wrong with it?” are asking the wrong question. They ought rather to ask, “Is it expedient?” “Does it edify?”
The Meaning of “Expedient”
Now observe, the word “expedient” has acquired a rather unwholesome connotation, and may therefore fail to communicate to us the meaning of the original. The word is elsewhere translated to be profitable, or to profit. Thus:
- Matt. 5:29—It is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
- 1 Cor. 7:35—And this I speak for your own profit.
- 1 Cor. 10:33—Not seeking mine own profit.
The meaning of 1 Cor. 10:23, then, is this: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable; all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” Let those who claim to be Christians, then, cease to ask, “What’s wrong with it?” Let them rather say, “Does it profit? Does it edify?” But profit for what? It is hardly necessary to say that the profit and the edification of which Paul speaks are spiritual. Such and such a thing is lawful, but is it of any profit to my soul, or to the souls of anyone else? Does it edify myself or the church of God? If not, I have no business with it. I am here to devote myself to the cause of Christ as he devoted himself to my cause, and not merely to render to God the bare minimum which righteousness requires of me.
The Defective Standards of the Church
But in the light of this, it plainly appears to me that the standards of the evangelical church in our day are defective in the extreme. Evangelicals will refuse all such activities as they suppose to be unlawful, while they defend and freely indulge in those which are in fact unprofitable.
With all of this, I suppose most Christians will agree. Yet I have long observed that many will cordially agree when we preach abstract principles, and forcefully disagree as soon as we apply those principles to anything specific. The preacher’s work, therefore, is not done when he has preached principles, nor when he has secured assent to those principles. Even the ungodly will very often assent to the principles of truth. Many of them will agree to every word, so long as we preach repentance to them in the abstract, but as soon as we begin to apply the doctrine to their own particular sins, they will defend every one of them. I aim, therefore, to apply these principles to those specific unprofitable and unedifying things which are usually freely indulged under the carnal and worldly standards of modern Evangelicalism.
Making Money: A Necessary but Limited Pursuit
At the head of the list, I may speak of making money, as this may serve to bring clearly into view what is meant by profit. To the worldling, profit is money, and their thoughts can scarcely rise above this, but the Lord says, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” And what shall it profit a Christian to make money, if his soul is dwarfed in the process, or if the souls of his neighbors or his children are lost? To make money takes time, thought, and energy. Is this profitable? Does this edify? It is necessary to make a certain amount of money, and this is certainly lawful, but there must be some reasonable bounds to this, in the face of the Lord’s solemn command that we “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” (John 6:27). Some years ago I was reproached by a fellow Christian (behind my back, of course) for not making all the money I could. Such reproaches have not the weight of a feather to me. If I were to make all the money I could, I certainly would not be publishing this magazine, for I make no money at it, and if I had chosen for all these years to make all the money I could, I would certainly have no ability to edit such a magazine. The making of money, beyond what need requires, or beyond what we have occasion to lay out in the cause of Christ, I have judged to be unprofitable—and those who have engaged in such pursuits may best judge whether it is edifying.
Classical Music: A Distraction or a Benefit?
I speak next of classical music. I observe that it is the universal practice of Christians who have no proper ideas concerning what the world is to distinguish between the clean and the unclean things in the world. They thus make a distinction where God makes none, for God says, “All that is in the world… is not of the Father.” All that is in the world has taken its rise from man in alienation from God, led by Satan, and the tendency of all of it is to draw the heart away from God, and to provide pleasure and satisfaction without God and without reference to him. But Christians are determined to hold to the distinction between the good and the evil in the world. While they therefore condemn the popular music of the day, they defend classical music, or some other sorts of music which may appear to be free from the moral corruption of the popular music, always asking, “What’s wrong with it?”
Well, suppose nothing is wrong with it. We have yet two questions to ask. Is it profitable? and Does it edify? Does classical music profit your soul? Does it build up your soul in the faith, in the love of God, in the love of saints or sinners? Is it not rather a distraction, a hindrance, a detriment? Does it not waste your time, and draw your mind away from solemn and heavenly meditation? Do you “pray without ceasing” while you listen to classical music? Perhaps twenty years ago I had the pastor of a flourishing Reformed Baptist church over for supper. He and his church were very favorable to what is called “culture,” which is the cleaner side of worldliness. He had evidently heard a few things about me, and began to interrogate me. He asked me what I thought of classical music. I responded, with deep feeling, that I have one little drop of time between two eternities—one little drop of time in which to determine the issues of eternity, for myself and for others—and I am not going to spend it listening to classical music. He evidently felt the force of this, and answered not a word.
Classical Literature and Secular Reading
I speak next of classical literature. Under this head we may include secular literature of all sorts. I will not contend that all of this is unlawful, nor even that all of it is totally unprofitable. A man whose heart is thoroughly devoted to the cause of Christ may find profit in almost everything. He may draw honey from the rankest weed, and turn all that he touches to gold. Nevertheless, all things are not equally profitable. There is doubtless some small profit in secular history and biography, though there is precious little in fiction of any kind. But granting that secular or classical literature may yield some profit to a man of God, what business do we have to pursue things of small profit, when we might find greater profit elsewhere? Our life is a vapor, which appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. This lays upon us a solemn obligation to redeem the time, and so of course to spend that time in those things which yield the most profit, though some profit might be gleaned in almost everything. Suppose we find a company executive spending hours every day playing marbles with the boys in the alley. We question him, and he tells us that this is profitable, that he has won sixty-three marbles already, all of which shall be faithfully applied to the profits of the company. We quickly conclude that he is not devoted to the profit of the company at all, but only to his own pleasure. Yet this is an apt illustration of the ways of many Christians, and of how they justify those ways. To spend our time in things of little profit, when we might spend it to better advantage, is trifling with our responsibility, and with the little vapor of life which God has given us.
Conclusion: The Standard for Christians
Many will doubtless think me far astray in supposing we ought to do nothing but what is profitable or edifying, but any other supposition makes Paul’s exhortation meaningless and void. When Paul wrote, “All things are lawful, but all things are not profitable,” did he write merely to fill up paper?—or to teach us to refuse that which is unprofitable, though it may be lawful? Certainly the latter. Further down in the same paragraph (1 Cor. 10:31) he says, “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Does he mean we should do unprofitable and unedifying things to the glory of God? Let him believe it who can.