My Memorial Day Post, Four Lessons from FIve Verses was inspired by the Memorial Day message at Calvary Baptist Church in York, Pennsylvania by our senior pastor, Reverend Greg Wahlberg. The scripture reading for the day was taken from II Timothy, chapter 2. I return to this passage for my Independence Day post (a little late).
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. (II Timothy 2:1-5, KJV)
In the previously mentioned post, I concentrated on the lesson of being a good soldier from verses 3 and 4. In this post I move on to verse 5, “And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. ” to look at the lesson of winning by the rules. As God would have it, the call to worship was Psalm 33:12. In addition, the Independence Day message. delivered by our Associate Pastor, Rev Richard Hall, was about winning and losing. The scripture lesson came from the Old Testament story of Jacob wrestling God.
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. (Genesis 32: 24-30, KJV)
I am an extremely competitive person, and I love to win. VInce Lombardi, venerable coach of the Green Bay Packers says his famous quote “Winning isn’t everything; it is the only thing.” was misquoted. He claims to have said, “Winning isn’t everything, the will to win is the only thing.” More than 50 years of playing baseball, softball and basketball taught me the truth of the second quote very well. Scripture also teaches us that winning is for winners. Paul writing to the Corinthians says:
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (I Corinthians 9: 24-27, KJV)
However, winning at all costs is not an option. Paul, writing to his protege Timothy in the text for today’s post, puts winning in its proper context: And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. (II Timothy 2:5, KJV)
Nevertheless, we have all seen cheaters prosper and the righteous suffer. Two Old Testament writers describe this experience far better than I could ever do. The author of Psalm 73 (usually attributed to Asaph, but some modern scholars date this Psalm to the post-exile and Second Temple period, ruling out Asaph, who served David) eloquently laments this perplexing situation:
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. (Psalm 73: 3-13, JKV)
Echoing the sentiments of the writer of Psalm 73, the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk bares his heart and soul to God with a prayer for vengeance against the unGodly in the opening of the book that carries his name:
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. (Habakkuk 1:1-4, KJV)
Be careful what you ask for in your prayers to God. You may just get it. The answer God gives Habakkuk leaves him totally shaken and confused.
Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not their’s. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. (Habakkuk 1:5-11, KJV)
What is Habakkuk’s response to God’s answer? It essentially puts God on trial for using a more wicked people to punish the evil doers of the Israelites.
Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?… I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. (Habakkuk 1:12-13 & 2:1, KJV)
God wasted no time in responding to Habakkuk’s challenge:
And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:2-4, KJV)
Thus, we see that the unjust will be judged, but the just shall live by his faith. This passage is quoted three times in the New Testament. In each passage, living by faith is seen in a different context. In Romans 1:17, the context is sanctification and forgiveness from our sins. In Galatians 3:11, the context is justification and the removal of the penalty of our sins. The context of Hebrews 10:38 is the perseverance of the faithful. Therefore, from Habakkuk, we have the message that the unjust will be punished, but the just will live.
There are many references to this concept throughout scripture. We find one more in what may well be the oldest book in the Bible. This concept of the fate of the just and unjust is also explored by the author of the Book of Job, who is most likely a highly educated Jew who lived between the reign of Solomon and Israel’s exile to Babylon. Even he had a great deal of trouble putting into words the internal battle this dilemma caused him. Instead of directly lecturing or preaching, he turned to another effective educational process. He begins the book of Job by metaphorically looking his audience in their eyes and saying to them, “Let me tell you a story about a man…”
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. (Job 1:1, KJV)
If ever there was a human who deserved to “win,” Job was that man. However, Satan was out to show God up. Thus, he saw Job as a convenient target. If Satan could bring Job down to his level, he would win over again to his side one of God’s favorites, just like he did in the Garden of Eden. Although Job wavered and wound up on the dung heap in sackcloth and ashes (as depicted in the 1880 painting by Gonzalo Carrasco), when he looked squarely at God, he couldn’t say anything negative about Him.
Therefore, whether we look at the Old Testament or the New Testament, at the end of the day, God rewards the righteous and punishes the unjust. An old childhood jingle comes to mind: “Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat.”
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