Pressure from

Pressure from "others."

I have several times heard from Christians who are faithfully attending Bible classes in order to learn the scriptures in depth that they have people around them, family, friends, spouse, etc. who put pressure on them to quit this habit. It seems pretty consistent that the "others" are made uncomfortable by witnessing this habit. These are not cases where the positive Christian is nagging the "others" to go to Bible class with them or is constantly condemning the "others" for their ignorance of scriptural truths, but only that the positive Christian goes, period.

If someone in my family decided that they were going to take an art class or a cooking class four nights a week, I might say to myself, "Wow, they are serious about cooking," but beyond that I wouldn't give it another thought. I'd venture to say that the "others" who resist Bible class would do the same in that situation, yet, it is a completely different matter when the Bible is the subject of study. What makes this even more odd is that the "others" in certain cases claim to be Christians.

And what is the positive Christian learning in Bible class? They're learning to love more and judge less. They're learning to walk in joy, peace, and forgiveness. They're learning kindness and gentleness, and all from the true source of these virtues, the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be more logical for the "others" to desire them to go, heck, to offer them rides even, since the positive Christian will treat them better, forgive them more, and love them with divine love; but again, inexplicably, Bible class attendance is an affront to them.

First we must remember that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. EPH 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Like it or not, the "others" are motivated by Satan and the kingdom of darkness. You can take comfort in the fact that they probably don't even know it, so there is no need to look at them as Satanists performing dark rituals in their basements. Satan is the god of this world and his system influences the "others" greatly and subtly, even when they are Christians. Satan's world system may have only influenced this part of them and left the rest of their conscious to appear pretty normal. This helps to convince them that they are normal, since much of what they are and what they think agrees with the world around them. As a result they look at the positive Christian as abnormal, as one who is taking the scriptures of the Bible way to seriously and far to personally.

We could probe for the motivation of their angst. It may be fear of God or fear of the Bible. It may be their own recognition that they are accountable to God, which recognition they have swept under the sub-conscious rug and witnessing the positive Christian is causing it to be brought back out into the conscience. It may also be that they fear losing their relationship with the positive Christian. This last reason is a very real fear in the heart of the "other," 1PE 4:4-5 And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you; but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. While it is true that certain friendships will dissolve it is also true that the positive Christian will only love his loved ones and family members more, but he will certainly not run with them in the world system like he once did. Paul, who spent more time in Corinth than he did in any other city was despised by the church he had built, 2CO 12:15 And I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less? Through his own personal growth, Paul loved them more, and through their own neglect of sound doctrine, they loved him less.

Our Lord experienced opposition from His own family. MAR 3:20-21 And He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. And when His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses." Robertson says that "His own people" refers to His family, who are mentioned in verse 31 and are seen as standing outside the crowd wanting to speak with Him. Jesus started to heal many and cast out many demons and this seems to have upset his family, even his mother, to whom at this time it was ok that her Son was the Messiah, but all this power and commotion was not so ok.

MAT 13:54-57 And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household."

Paul evangelized the lands of his birth for ten years. He wrote that five times he received 39 lashes in his own local synagogues and three times he was beaten with rods. We can assume that his Jewish family fully rejected him. In fact, as a positive Christian, he lost everything. Php 3:8 I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. When Paul was being beaten in the synagogues he could have claimed his Roman citizenship and escaped punishment, but he did not since doing so would have prevented him from entering more synagogues in which he could give the gospel. Paul loved the gospel more than he loved anything else. He did not know this love immediately after his conversion, but through deep understanding of the depth of the gospel and the very real significance of the human condition and God's solution to it.

So we would conclude that both Christ and Paul thought more of God and God's people than they did their own families, as Christ  so plainly said, MAT 10:37-39 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. "He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it. Yet this in no way meant that they failed to love their own families. What it means simply, is that when the positive believer falls in love with God and His word and the "others" in his life want him to stop, he has a decision to make. And I have seen some believers, who once seemed so positive, make the decision for family above continuing in a consistent study of the word of God. This is a dire and foolish decision since it may be very likely that they will never return to kneel before the throne of grace as a humble pupil.

So much of Christianity has settled for a superficial understanding of the scriptures. They want the cliff notes only. I think some of this is laziness, but I also think much of it is deception from the kingdom of darkness that makes them think such a course of study is dangerous and makes a person weird; not like everyone else, and certainly not like they "used to be." They are in essence, too afraid to approach the throne of grace. They feel like a common Jew in the OT who approaches the holy place too closely, knowing he is not authorized and will die by the wrath of God. Do they not know that they are worthy? HEB 10:19-22 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Too afraid to go in themselves they are disturbed when they see another go in, and on top of that to go in with joy and confidence. To stop going in because of sentimentalism for those who are afraid to go in has to be one of the most idiotic decisions a person can make.

In the allegory by C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, the experienced demon Screwtape instructs the learner demon Wormwood on how he should distract the believer he has been assigned to from ever getting into a close relationship with God. He is encouraged to motivate the believer's mother and friends in an effort to pull him away from the silliness of sound understanding. He instructs Wormwood to make him a taster or connoisseur of churches, trying many different assemblies in order to become a critic of God rather than a pupil of God (chapter 16). Lewis knew these troubles in 1942 when his book was published. These troubles have been upon believers since Christ's first advent and they will continue until the end.

My prayer is that any believer who has found the beauty and life and power of the scriptures does not concede this path to the enemy when he brings that believer's friends, loved ones, and family to stand in opposition to the path. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and He has gone to prepare a place for each of us. He commanded us to pick up our crosses and follow Him. He loved the word of God, PSA 138:2 For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name. And to love the word of God is to love as He loved. He is the word in the flesh, and to love the word is to love Him. That is why, to love anyone else more than Him, more than His word, is to be in a state of not being worthy of Him.

You don't have to fight with the "others" or argue with them. You are instructed to be gentle with them and to forgive them. GAL 6:1 Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. You are to be in peace and tranquility, despite the pressure they may bring, and in so doing they may see Christ in you. And if that happens, and this is the only way it is going to happen, then maybe their accountability to God will come out from under the rug and they may behold it and cross into the holy place with joy.

Love to all in Him,

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries