A Christian Example

SUN., JUNE 2, 1991, 6:26 AM
FARM, STUDY

This morning, in the last Bible study class for this Spring, you shall read and discuss that chapter in Paul’s Letter to the Romans which tells about Christian example. You have read it many times, and you should have read it again before this morning. So, ere this Teaching truly commences, put down the pen and take up The Book.

I tell you that the essence of this chapter is the need of giving yourself to Me, and from this relationship comes the behavior of which I approve. Behaviors in and of themselves are not Christian or non-Christian. Any act can be a Christian act… or a blasphemous act. Sin is not being in relationship with Me, and therefore what such a sinner does is truly sin. Conversely, anyone truly committed to Me does not sin.

Now this is a spiritual matter, so it does not translate directly into logical, human, physical behavior. It is like unto My telling you that, as one with your hand in Mine, you shall not die, but shall have eternal, everlasting life. This does not mean that your body will not, someday, sicken and die or be traumatized in some accident. Your body shall die, but your spirit will not… and may even grow some in the experience.

So, while a committed Christian generally acts in ways that would be recognized as “Christian”, acts of behaviors are not, in themselves, Christian or non-Christian, holy or profane. In this portion of Scripture Paul struggles with the practicality of this. He refers to the one who is exceedingly careful about her behavior as “weak.”

Generally, you would expect the one who abstains from meat and wine to be called the strong one. Paul says weak. And so do I. The principle here is that the committed one looks to Me for guidance rather than to that of any group. This gives you freedom to act in many ways.

On Friday your class met here at the Farm. You shared this place with them. You shared some observations about your life with them (and you could have gotten more spiritual… and I’ll expect such next Friday). You also drank some of your home brew before them, and mildly encouraged others to so drink. That act did not negate the other. You were presenting a unique “set” of Christian behaviors.

But then there is the matter of causing another to “stumble.” It is possible that your drinking behavior could, unknowingly, urge another to drink when he shouldn’t. Therefore the abstainer is the better… at least more safe, example. The principle here is a powerful one: it is good to give up something good for something better. Consider also that drinking and knowing every one by name and carrying on a full class conversation was an example. Drinking was part of a warm, inclusive activity. By abstaining you could not have presented that example.

Another portion of this text is the affirmation that what I have created should not be blasphemed… or called bad. An alcoholic drink may not be good for a susceptible person, but it is not to be called bad. Marriage is called good, but it can be destructive for some… yet it should not be called bad. You sit and write what you hear from Me, and yet another may also write in this fashion and blaspheme Me by what is written. Yet the process is not bad.