GOOD INTENTION-BAD PERFORMANCE

Rom. 7:14b-15 ... "I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate."

      This Scripture addresses one aspect of the human condition, the relation between one's intention to act and the actual performance of that act. People fall into three categories in the way they manage this relationship. There are those who intend to do good and then execute that good in their course of life. Second, there are those who intend to do good, but are not always able to accomplish it. Third, there are those who intend to do evil and are usually able to carry it out. Only one person on earth has ever fitted himself into the first category, and He was the Lord Jesus Christ. It says of Him in I Pet. 2:22-23, "[He] committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return." This perfect self-control in the face of severe opposition reveals a heart that was untainted with evil intentions. Furthermore, in Acts 10:38 Jesus is described a Man who "went about doing good." Jesus willed to avoid evil and do good as the invariable rule in His life, and it is evident He accomplished both.

      The third category mentioned above is crowded with people the world over. There is never a shortage of those who plan out evil deeds and then apply their energies and resources to enact the plan. The perfection of this black art was the prime reason why God resolved to send the great Flood upon the antediluvian world. We are told that in those days "the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," (Gen. 6:5). Evil must be recognized and resolutely resisted, or else it will take over a person's mind and pervert it to invent and execute evil. We are forewarned that as the present age progresses, this perversion will build in people and become prevalent in the world. We read in I Tim. 4:1-2, "The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron."

      Conscientious Christians are in the second category. By instruction in the gospel of Jesus we are enlightened as to what is good and then exhorted to fashion our behavior to model it in daily living. Then, like Paul, knowing what is good and sincerely willing to do it, we often fail to carry it out. Or, knowing what is evil and fervently willing to abstain from it, we often proceed to do it nevertheless. In either case sin is the result of our failure to perform what our intellect knows is right and what our will determines that we ought to do. This condition is the background to the apostle's declaration in I Jno. 1:8, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us." The difference between a Christian and one who isn't is not that the latter sins while former does not. No, indeed! Both the Christian and the worldly person sin. The difference is that the Christian wills not to sin and aims at doing good, while the worldly person is not particularly concerned about either, at least not as the guiding rule of his life. The Christian frequently fails to follow through with his noble intentions, but he never becomes comfortable in these failures. He daily appeals to God for pardon and rectification, (I Jno. 1:9), and continues his efforts to close the gap between what he wills and what he actually does. Rather than despair over shortcomings, he looks to a better future with the attitude expressed in Php. 3:13-14, "Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

WHO IS YOUR MASTER?

Rom. 6:16-17 ... "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed."

      This Scripture involves three ideas which have become quite objectionable to contemporary thought. First is the idea of opposing absolutes. Second is the idea of being in subjection to an external authority. Third is the idea of being delivered from sin by obedience. In recent decades we have generally come to accept the philosophy of relativism, which denies the existence of absolutes and holds that in everything there is a spectrum of reality. For example, in the sphere of morality there is no supreme standard. Rather, there is a range of moral behavior that depends on the situation of those involved. For a specific case, in certain settings it might be justifiable to commit fornication, or lie, or kill. Or, because of one's particular station or vocational responsibility it could be moral for him to engage in acts that are usually taken to be immoral. But our text above presents only two opposing alternatives, sin and righteousness. There are no relative positions in between. A given behavior is Biblically classified either as sinful or righteous. One of the objectives of God's word is to provide us with the criteria for discerning the two. We are urged, therefore, in I Ths. 5:21 to "examine everything carefully" and "hold fast to that which is good."

      Our text also presents the idea that there are external authorities to which we are in subjection. We of the present generation rebel at the thought of having our liberties denied us. Our goal is unfettered freedom to do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it, and however we want to do it. Even when one's exercise of freedom intrudes into another's life to the extent it inflicts harm, or even causes death, we have a tendency to mitigate his action in all sorts of rationalizations. The featured text, however, proclaims that there are only two masters, sin and righteousness, which rule over the life of an individual. The choice we have is not whether to be absolutely free of all external authority, but rather to which of these two masters we will belong. Everyone is at liberty to choose whether he will be the servant of sin or the servant of righteousness, but no one can choose to be free of both. Those who think they can defy all authority and be "liberated people" are, in reality, enslaved to the lord of evil without realizing it.

      It is commonly taught that obedience has nothing to do with deliverance from sin. Eph. 2:8 is often quoted: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." That is, when a person puts his faith in Christ, He bestows salvation upon that person as a gift. Thus, obedience is not an operable factor, for Eph. 2:9 continues: "Not as a result of works, that no one should boast." And yet, the same apostle who wrote those statements also wrote the words, "You became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness," (Rom. 6:17-18). Freedom from sin came after their obedience to what they were taught (the Gospel). Salvation is indeed by the grace of God and comes through faith, but it also involves obedience. This obedience, however, is not a work that merits one's salvation; it does not obligate God to save its performer. It is God's will that a person should respond to His grace by faith and obedience. The ability to respond constitutes the essence of responsibility, and everyone bears responsibility in his salvation. One who will not accept that responsibility will deny himself the benefit of God's grace and continue his journey through life as a servant of sin.