Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA)
Recently it was revealed on national television that the regular prices of jewelry were fairly uniform across the country in spite of a common practice of advertising drastically discounted wearables. You see, the supposedly more expensive places just don't advertise sale prices. But the retailers who claim the best discounts simply up the normal price in order to pretend to have regular sales. Years ago when I worked in a grocery, the end of aisle displays were usually the more expensive brands, while the real buys were hidden on the normal shelves. More than once I remember raising prices on items that would later in the week be "on sale".
And so appearances are often deceiving! "Let the buyer beware" goes the old warning, just when you think you are getting a bargain, you probably aren't. Churches are not immune to sales pitches either. Years ago I saw on a rural bulletin board out in front of a country church this pun on Proverbs 29:18a: "Where there is no vision, the people PARISH". Of course I must tell you that the word perish was purposely spelled Parish! At the time, I thought the message meant that when we lose sight of spreading the gospel, we tend to get bogged down in our local survival and well being. Certainly, it is true that one of the great dangers of our local congregating is to think only about the survival of our own parish and never mind any mission activity to the greater world outside.
Before we continue, perhaps we had better understand the proverb so humorously used. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." In that proverbial passage, the Hebrew word for vision is "hazon." The emphasis in that word is on a prophetic vision or oracle or message from God Himself. The vision must be given by God. Now this idea is echoed by Paul and others in the New Testament as well. In 1 Corinthians 1:21 we read that "since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the message preached to save those who believe". Here Paul echoes the word that it is so hard for our age to accept. We do not choose God, He chooses us! How many times does the Scripture indicate that this is the method by which we are saved. God is the active agent. And yet, so many Christians have refused to believe it.
The average Christian will tell you that anyone can be saved any time they decide to show up in Church. And those who do congratulate themselves for having chosen to serve the God of heaven. How little do they know the truth of this proverb as the word for "perish" indicates. The Hebrew there is better translated "unrestrained." Thus we might read the proverb, "Where there is no vision the people are unrestrained". The people go their own way, they believe whatever they want and they spend their time searching for happiness and fulfillment.
Or in the bulletin board pun, we might read that in the church "where there is no vision the people build up their own religion." This too is a grievous problem in our day and time. Vision statements abound and if you look at church advertising these statements indicate the focus of many churches. One of our elders once jutted down as many vision statements from church advertising as he could find. Dave Brown reported that there were only a few that quoted scripture for their local vision! All the rest used worldly proverbs for their advertisements and no doubt have prospered well. "The Church that cares", "The Church on the hill", "An inclusive active & diverse congregation in the heart of the university area", "Come enjoy God with us", "Love never gives up", and "Peace for all ages" are just a few of the visions being sold in Central Ohio.
At least we are beyond the ethnic identities that characterized American denominations in the last century. One Calvinist denomination sensed that "if you weren't Dutch, you weren't much" and others felt that "God made the Scots a wee bit better". Of such a kind were the Jewish people when Paul wrote this passage of Romans. Like all of the examples we have been dealing with, the Old Testament congregation were focused on their religion instead of the reported vision of Scripture. The Jews of Paul's time would have nothing of the promised Messiah because they were so busy minding their multitude of regulations. The Messiah if they even thought of Him must come as a reigning monarch to destroy those who ruled over them. The righteousness of faith was missed because of the focus on the righteousness of their works. Because of this focus they were unwilling to yield to the authority of Christ when He came.
Verse two in chapter ten here is of vital importance. "For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." In opposition to God's righteousness, they sought to establish their own. In their false zeal the tragedy of their focus becomes apparent. Calvin notes "Away then with those empty equivocations about good intention. If we seek God from the heart, let us follow the way by which alone we have access to Him. It is better, as Augustine says, to limp in the right way than to run with all our might out of the way." Thus we may know that the "good intentions" of the Jewish practitioners end up following a false religion instead of finding their own promised Messiah.
Tragically many religions today still follow the false path. Recently a PBS station advertised a Sunday morning program on the Seven Spiritual Laws to Success. Well am I familiar with these self improvement programs. One acquaintance went to a seminar on money management, then applied for eleven credit cards so that he would have the capital resources to begin investing in real estate. Unfortunately, he could not find any of the distressed property necessary to make the huge profits foretold. Well, he didn't make a million his first year, and I think it was quite a few years before he paid off the last of his capital investment portfolio!
Verse three here is indicative of our self-glorification temptations. "Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." Once I tried to counsel a person who had become addicted to self improvement philosophies. Within three sessions, they experienced the power of the Spirit and began to change their habits and the focus of their lives, but unfortunately decided to leave the hard calling of Bible study and application to try another philosophy. They had the cure to their problems within their grasp and threw it away because they could not faithfully trust the Lord with their problems and paranoia.
Unlike that problem plagued person, we must learn to submit ourselves to the simple faith revealed by Scripture. "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." That declaration requires some humility. Humility which we must imitate from the Saints of both Testaments. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we find this requirement: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." This is the vision that we must have today and always: to realize that our only hope is in the Sovereign Lord of heaven and in His Christ who came to die in our place.
There is no place in God's plan of salvation for self-improvement, there is no place to establish another religion. In fact when someone asks you what religion you profess, you might create an opportunity for witness if you declare that you are not religious, instead you follow Jesus Christ and depend on Him for everything. The hard part is living up to that declaration! May we be empowered by the Spirit to live a life of faith pleasing to Christ.
Resources Used: The Holy Bible, New International Version
Places Preached:Hodge, Charles. Romans. Mackenzie, R. Calvin's New Testament Commentaries: Romans. Murray, John. New International Commentary: Epistle to Romans. Santa, George F. Proverbs. Schaeffer, Francis. No Little People.
Logan County Mission (PCA) 18 November 84 Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) 28 December 86 Belle Center Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA) 14 July 87
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Rom09e.htm 03 December 95
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