Adventures in Religion

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     There is a constant temptation in our modern culture to identify ourselves with Jesus in word while ignoring his demands upon our lives. It is a matter of personal honor to be regarded as a Christian. In respectable circles of society it is a card of admission. It is a good recommendation when you seek a position as a junior executive. It has come to pass that being a Christian is no more of an adventure than being a minor stockholder in Bethlehem Steel or the Carey Salt Company. A Christian is no more expected to change the world than a holder of one share is expected to change the policy of these corporations. Both are expected to acknowledge the head of the firm and do nothing but conform.

     Unfortunately for this philosophy, acknowledgment of the head of the community of saints entails a life of non-conformity to the world. We cannot really recognize his lordship without assuming our own responsibility to change and transform the environment in which we live. Any person who attempts this embarks upon the high seas of adventure. He will become a prophet without honor in his own city. He may be stigmatized and ostracized by the unthinking ones whose hearts he tries to fire with the real message of God. "It is always the same--you never fail to resist the Holy Spirit! Just as your fathers did, so you are doing now. Can you name a single prophet whom your fathers did not persecute?" (Acts 7:51,52). Those to whom this was addressed proved the validity of the accusation. They stoned to death the one who asked the question. We live in a profit-taking and not a prophet-making society! Our norm is deadly to the spirit. We address Jesus as Lord but serve things as our gods. Thus we are absorbed and assimilated by the culture around us. We talk about adjustment to life and by this we mean adapting ourselves to the standards of the world. We are afraid of being conspicuous by being different. Our witness is stultified, our hopes are crucified, and we become resigned to helpless mediocrity. There is no longer anything heroic about what we call Christianity.

     Jesus recognized the temptation to conform and asked, "What is the point of calling me, 'Lord, Lord,' without doing what I tell you to do?" This implies that there really is no point to much of what passes for Christianity in these days. Those who subscribe to it are quick to acknowledge Jesus as Lord but the idea that they should actually adopt the implications of his way of life is remote from their thinking. The "churches" are geared and managed so the spirit is not free. If one should attempt to eat with publicans and sinners he would be treated exactly as was the Master during his personal sojourn on earth. Every day must have been one of genuine adventure to Jesus. It was also one fraught with constant danger.

     Our lives are too shallow. It is easier to set up a pre-fabricated structure on the sand than to build a permanent home. The whole world around us is one vast sub-division consisting of pre-fabs and a man who goes in for solid construction is regarded as "an odd ball." If one chooses a course in college which will enable him to serve the needs of humanity instead of to secure a lucrative position, if he reads and studies diligently even to the neglect of the big football game of the season he is a "square." If he expresses

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a deep conviction in Bible class on the Lord's Day which cuts across the preacher's thinking he is a dangerous influence and will have to be warned. Because of this, religion has become a monotonous and tedious performance. We must recapture the spirit of adventure or die because we have lost the sense of adventure of the spirit.

     Here is the way Jesus puts it. "Let me show you what the man who comes to me, hears what I have to say, and puts it into practice, is really like. He is like a man building a house, who dug down to rock bottom and laid the foundation of his house upon it. Then when the flood came and the flood water swept down upon that house, it could not shift because it was properly built." Note that the test of a properly built house is not its external attractiveness but its ability to withstand times of crisis. The strength is derived not from the superstructure but from the foundation. Before a man can build upward he must first dig downward. If he does not do this any structure he erects will be superficial.

     What is "rock bottom"? How do you know when you have dug deep enough? The rock bottom life is one that involves three things--coming to Jesus, hearing His words and putting them into practice. When one adopts as his philosophy one of total commitment to Jesus, when he resolves to reproduce the life of Jesus on earth to the fullest extent subject only to his human limitation that person has hit "rock bottom." He is then ready to start building. After that, every stone he lays will bring him nearer heaven. What are some of the involvements of the rock bottom way of life?

     1. A universal love for mankind, based not upon reciprocity, but upon love for love's sake. The world cannot be changed by love of force but by the force of love. We must inaugurate a reign of love in our hearts with all men as subjects. "For if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax collectors do that!"

     2. An association with men based not upon their agreement with us but upon their need for compassion and understanding. An actual cultivation of those who are outside our group. "And if you exchange greetings only with your own circle, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do that much."

     3. A renunciation of the rule of gold in behalf of the Golden Rule. This will enable you to disprove the cynical proverb that "Every man has his price." No one can give his loyalty to some things and be loyal to the creator of all things. It is wrong to worship the creature instead of the Creator; it is impossible to serve them both. "No one can be loyal to two masters;.... You cannot serve God and the power of money at the same time."

     4. A substitution of forgiveness of failures for a failure to forgive. This is not the same as ignoring failures or merely overlooking them. It requires a recognition of the failures and an understanding of those who have failed and it is not the same as pretending that no failure exists. "For if you forgive other people their failures, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you will not forgive other people, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your failures."

     5. A proper sense of values leading to a life free from concern about the merely physical and sensual aspects of existence. The pagans in the days of Jesus were always thinking about things to eat, drink or wear. The neo-pagans of our own day exhibit the same characteristics. Over against these is the wholly committed life. "Set your heart on this kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course."

     Only a house built upon an unshakeable rock will not be shaken or rocked by storm and wind. It costs too much to build cheaply. No house can be better than him who lives in it for "every house is builded by some man." We build for this age only when we build on the sand, that which is to endure for the ages must be built on the Rock of Ages. Shifting sands and drifting lives will not stand against wild waters and sweeping storms. Take heed how you build!