Bob Harrington tells of how he was standing on the street
preaching when an angry bartender took a mug of beer and poured
it on his head. He said to the bartender, "Come here." When he
came over he said to him, "I want to thank you for that." The
bartender said, "You want to thank me for that?" "Yes," said
Harrington, "I want to thank you for that because it makes me
realize I am saved. If I didn't have the Lord in my heart I would
have stomped you through that blacktop." The bartender
responded, "I'm glad you are saved too preacher."
The real test of your Christian character is how you react to
negatives. If you meet negatives with negatives, your life has not
risen above the level of the world. To get angry at one who is angry
at you is the path of least resistance, and is a path the weakest can
travel. It takes spiritual strength to be kind to one who is angry, and
to be patient in a time of affliction. Anyone can say praise the Lord
and hallelujah when all their dreams are coming true, and they
don't have an enemy in the world. Unfortunately, that state of life
doesn't last long, if it ever comes. Therefore, the real test of
Christian optimism is seeing in how a believer reacts when the road
gets rough.
This letter to the Galatians gives us a beautiful opportunity to see
how a great optimist like Paul reacts to negatives. His labor is being
undone, and all his fruit is threatened. Everything seems to be going
against him, and he is under heavy attack from the Judaizers. There
is no question about the fact that he is deeply disappointed at the
turn of events in the Galatians church. He is clearly aggravated and
angry. Now is the time to look at Paul's attitudes to see the
foundation for his optimism. It was easy to be optimistic in his letter
to the Philippians. He could overflow with rejoicing, for they were
doing wonderful in their growth in grace. The Galatians church is a
different story, and it is here that we should look for the clues as to
how to be an optimist in negative circumstances.
In verse 5 Paul ends his introduction with a doxology. He reaches
a high note of positive optimism before he plunges into the negative
task of rebuke and defense. This doxology is the point from which
Paul launches his attack, for it is the basis for his incurable
optimism. He has to fight a battle on the level of this present evil
world, but as he just stated, in Christ we are delivered from this
present evil world. In any battle the forces that control the high
points have the advantage. Paul makes it clear in his introduction to
this battle that he is about to enter that he does so from the high
point of advantage. The very Gospel he is defending is a Gospel of
deliverance from the world. He will not be fighting on the level of
those who attack him with their narrow, limited, and pessimistic
views, but on a level far above that, which is made possible by Christ
who enables us to rise above the world.
This deliverance from the low level of the world, which is bound
by sin, to the heights of freedom in Christ is, says Paul, according to
the will of our God and Father. Just knowing it is God's will that
the Gospel of deliverance is a reality assures Paul that he cannot lose
in his fight for its defense. He ends with the doxology in which we
see three attitudes expressed which become the foundation of an
incurable and unchangeable optimism. First is-
I. THE ATTITUDE OF PRAISE.
"To whom be glory forever and ever." The glory is for both the
Father who willed it, and the Son who won it. What has been
accomplished by Christ is a fact that can never be altered, and
whatever evil perversions enter the world, nothing can change the
fact that the Gospel of deliverance is a reality. Knowing this, Paul
gives this victory shout of praise, even before he begins the fight.
You cannot defeat a man who knows he cannot lose, and the man
who knows that is a perpetual man of praise. As long as a believer
maintains a proper perspective on what God's will has already
accomplished he cannot help but have an attitude of praise.
Glory has many meanings in Scripture, but here it is synonymous
with praise. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit, means praise be to the three Persons of the Godhead. Glory
often refers to the dazzling splendor of His nature also, but that
never changes. Paul is not referring to unchangeable glory of God,
but to that glory or praise that God receives from men because of
their deliverance from the present evil world. This is a glory that
can vary in quantity, quality, and intensity. Paul uses this phrase so
frequently it is as if it was his constant prayer that believers enter
more often into the realm of praise. If the Galatians would have
constantly praised God for their deliverance in Christ, they would
not be tempted to rely on the law for their deliverance. A
breakdown in praise can lead us into all kinds of foolish things, but
an attitude of praise keeps us ever dependent upon God, and every
in a state of optimism.
In Rom. 11:36 Paul ends that chapter with these words: "For
from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be
glory forever. Amen." He ends the letter to Romans in 16:27 with
,"To the only wise God be glory for evermore through Jesus Christ!
Amen." We cannot look at all the praises which Paul offers to God,
but just a few of them show why Paul was an optimist no matter
what. Every time he thought of the completed redemption he had in
Christ, that no circumstance on earth could ever change, he broke
forth into a doxology of praise. When he wrote to Timothy about
how God chose him as the chief of sinners to be an example of His
grace to others who would believe and receive eternal life in Christ,
he could not hold back the praise, and he concluded in I Tim. 1:17,
"To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and
glory for ever and ever. Amen."
When he thought of his own deliverance from the present evil
world he praised God. In the second letter to Timothy he faced so
many negative circumstances. He faced death in prison, and he
knew the time of his departure had come. Demas had forsaken him,
and others had departed also. He was almost totally alone, and no
one was there to defend him. He had left his books and parchments
behind at Troas and apparently had nothing to study. If ever a man
had reason to be down in the dumps and pessimistic it was Paul in
those circumstances. Everything seemed to be against him, but how
does he end the paragraph? Listen to II Tim. 4:18, "The Lord will
rescue me from every evil and save me for His heavenly kingdom, to
Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen."
We note that Paul was not a Pollyanna optimist-one who says all
is well, and everyday in every way its getting better and better. Paul
could face honestly the facts of life, and admit that everything was
rotten and all wrong. Sometimes the circumstances of life were
almost totally negative, but still he was an optimist because he had
an attitude of praise. He could praise God, not for the
circumstances, but for the fact that circumstances cannot alter the
fact of what was accomplished in Christ for our salvation, and for
the fact that no matter what we endure in this life, we will enter into
the fullness of our salvation in the heavenly kingdom. The chief end
of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, and that is what we
see Paul doing in every aspect of his life. He would have enjoyed
singing-
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above;
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.
That phrase, "Praise Thee without ceasing," is so characteristic
of Paul that it leads us to a consideration of the second attitude that
he expresses that is a key to his optimism.
II. THE ATTITUDE OF PERMANENCE.
Forever and ever are the recurring words in Paul's praise. Paul's
concept of praise to God is never temporary. It is never based on
what may be today, but gone tomorrow. Christian optimism must
be based on permanence. This is what we mean by living with
eternity's values in view. You can remove some parts of objects and
still have the object. You can remove the arm of a chair and still
have a chair; you can take the cover off a book and still have a book;
you can take a bumper off a car and still have a car. There are some
qualities of an object you cannot remove, however, and still have it.
If you take away the length of a book you have eliminated the whole
book. If you take away one side of a triangle you do not still have
part of a triangle-you have a non-triangle. It just isn't a triangle
anymore. All sides of a triangle are essential to its existence.
The point of all this is to make it clear that the Christian faith
ceases to exist once you remove permanence. Permanence is as
essential as Paul's optimism as is any side of the triangle. Remove
permanence and all is gone. Forever and forever is what makes
Christian optimism relevant in the present evil world. Paul said in I
Cor. 15 that if Christ had not conquered death, and if our faith in
Him is for this life only and not forever, then our faith is vain, and
we are yet in our sins. In other words, if there is no forever and no
permanence, then we are not delivered from this present evil world.
Without an eternal perspective there is no basis for Christian
optimism.
Since our dying race began,
Forever was a leading light of man.
The good, the true, the pure, the just,
Take the charm "For ever" from them,
And they crumble into dust.
Author unknown
As Christians we need to challenge the world with this attitude of
permanence. It is the basis for our hope, but it is also a necessity for
men to be logical. If there is no forever in man's concept of the
future and his destiny, then he is forced into some very pessimistic
conclusions. If time is all we have, then there are turtles and trees
who have more life than man, and man cannot be considered the
highest and most noble creature on earth. He is the most complex,
but the great redwoods of California lived for centuries longer than
man, if he has no forever. That means they have achieved a life span
far superior to man.
Even greater yet are inanimate objects. They never need to die at
all, and so they come closest to what man hungers for, which is
perpetual existence. Louise Untermeyer expressed this paradox in
poetry.
"Eternity it thrust upon a bit of earth, a senseless stone,
A grain of dust, a casual clod.
Receives the greatest gift of God.
A pebble in the roadway lies-It never dies.
The grass our father cut away Is growing on their graves today.
There is no kind of death to kill the sands that lie so meek and still.
But man is great and strong and wise And so he dies."
Man does not die because he is great and strong and wise,
however, but rather because he has fallen. But Jesus has delivered
fallen man, and He can reverse his downward destiny and enable
man to rise to newness of life, and eternal life, and glorify God
forever. If a man denies this hope, he must confess to be less than
the sand in his shoes, and the rocks in his driveway. Forever is what
enables the Christian, like Paul, to praise God even when the present
evil world threatens to crush them. The now can never rob us of the
forever, and so we can rejoice and be optimistic under any
circumstance.
"To whom be glory forever and ever, Amen." Paul had an
attitude of praise, and an attitude of permanence which kept him in
a state of perpetual optimism. You note that Paul always ends his
doxology with an amen. That final word expresses the third attitude
which completes the trinity of attitudes that Paul has as the
foundation for his optimism.
III. THE ATTITUDE OF POSITIVENESS.
Amen is a word we use often, but seldom think about as to its
meaning. For all practical purposes it simply means the end. We
use it as a verbal period to indicate we are done praying. It is the
last word. Sometimes it is used to conclude a sermon also. One
pastor had a message that went on until it was getting unbearable.
At last he paused and said, "What more my friends can I say?"
Someone in the back shouted, "Amen!" Amen can be a very positive
word even when it is used this way, for it can mean, thank heavens
its all over. We will now conclude, is a phrase that cause many of
mind to utter amen.
This is not the way Paul is using the word, however. He is just
begun his letter, and it is far from over. His prayer was only a
couple of words, and so obviously no one could be weary of its
length. Paul's amen is an expression of his positive conviction
concerning what he has just said. Paul is glad and thrilled that God
should be praised forever and ever, and the amen is his commitment
to be one who gives God the glory forever and ever. Amen means,
so be it, or let it be so, and let me be a part of what I have just
prayed. It is a positive affirmation. You only use the word to
express a firm commitment. If I said a few scholars have speculated
that there is a remote possibility that we will praise God in heaven,
no one will shout amen, or even think it. Amen expresses a certain
conviction, and not a speculative hunch.
Amen is an expression of positiveness, and not a mere verbal
symbol of signing off, like saying goodbye on the telephone. It
means, what I have prayed I believe is authentic, and so be it. What
you are saying by your amen at the end of a prayer is, I really mean
it. When John Knox cried out, "Give me Scotland or I die!" his
amen at the end of his prayer meant, "O God, I mean it with all my
heart, let it be so." Paul ends his prayer with this amen as a positive
attitude of optimism that is assured of an answer. Optimism is not
saying that God is in His heaven, and all is right with the world. It is
never all right with the world. Optimism is saying that even when
all is messed up there is hope for the world, and certainty for
eternity. We are Christian optimists, if we, like Paul, can have these
three attitudes at all times in this present evil world.
