On January 18, 1912 Captain Robert F. Scott and four companions at last reached the South Pole
only to discover that they had been beaten by another explorer named Amundsen. It was a terrible
disappointment, for they had gone through unbelievable hardships to get there. The return journey
was even worse. The blizzards were so bad, and the cold so bitter, they made little progress. This
led to their running out of food, and you can imagine the rest. Ten months later rescuers found their
bodies and Captain Scott's diary. One of the last things he wrote with his cold and weaken hand was
this: "I do not regret this journey...We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out
against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence,
determined still to do our best to the last."
Here were men who died heroes because they were willing to take risks to reach their goal. No
man can ever be truly successful without taking risks. One must risk the possibility of failure in
order to succeed. No ball player ever stole second without risking being thrown out. Progress and
advancement on every level of living demands risk taking courage. Those who always play it safe
are never the heroes in the battle of life. In fact, some studies indicate that they live in greater
danger than the risk-takers.
Dr. E. Paul Torrence, a university of Georgia psychologist, studied U. S. Ace Flyers during
World War II. He discovered that the ace flyers who took all kinds of risks actually suffered fewer
casualties in combat than the pilots who were inclined to play it safe. He discovered that the risk
takers kept testing the limits of their abilities and, therefore, kept growing and learning new skills.
The more cautious stop short of their best and were sunk in a crisis beyond their experience. Playing
it safe led to their defeat. Dr. Torrence said, "Living itself is a risky business. If we spent half as
much time learning how to take risks as we spend avoiding them, we wouldn't have nearly so much
to fear in life."
Some of you may be wondering, what does this have to do with heaven? That is certainly one
goal we can arrive at without any risk. Jesus already paid the price did He not? If He is our Savior
then we have the hope of heaven guaranteed. Certainly no one has to be a hero to get to heaven. At
least this is the common understanding among Christians. But I wonder if we do not take too much
for granted. The black Christians back in the days of slavery use to sit around their humble
dwellings on the plantation and sing,
"When I get up to heaven I'm gonna put on my shoes,
I'mgonna walk all over God's heaven."
Then they would look up to the mansion and sing,
"Everybody talkin bout heaven aint goin there."
They had their conviction about who was not going to make it. The Apostle John had his
convictions also, and he tells us by revelation just who isn't goin there. The amazing thing is that the
very first kind of person he lists as being excluded from heaven is the one who plays it safe and fears
to take a risk. John says in verse 8 that the fearful, or the cowardly as the Greek means, will be the
first to be cast into the lake of fire. In verse 7 he says that it is the over-comer, or the conqueror who
shall inherit heaven. There is no way to escape the truth of what John is saying. The principle of
success through risk taking is not just for earthly goals, but for all goals, even including the goal of
heaven.
Heaven is for heroes only, so there will be no cowards in heaven. All cowards will be cast into
the lake of fire which is the second and final death. They played it safe and took no risks for Christ,
and like all safety first people, they end up as total failures. Think of Pilate for example. He was so
merciful until it became to risky. He wanted to do what was right, but when setting Christ free
threatened to cost him his position of power he turned coward and sent Christ to the cross. He had
the chance to be one of the greatest heroes of the New Testament, but he played it safe, and lost the
key to heaven's door. All he will see of heaven is the sign saying, no cowards allowed. How many
others will there be who drew back from the challenge to take up the cross, and who will lament
with the poet who wrote:
"I dreamed of a faith for heroes,
But a hero I refuse to be.
I fell back from the cross.
Such faith would cost.
The risk was too much for me!
Now, the years are gone,
And I have come to see
That the risk I shunned
Is the risk that made of someone
The hero I had wanted to be."
Author unknown
Pilate's type of fear is a good example to illustrate what John is saying here, for not all fear
excludes from heaven. The foundations of the Holy City have on them the names of 12 men who
were fearful on more than one occasion. The same word that John uses here was used by Jesus
when He asked His disciples why they were so fearful when the storm threatened to sink their boat.
Fear of storms and drowning is not the kind of fear that excludes from heaven. We can dismiss all
the fears of life that make us cowards before the manifold enemies of our peace and tranquility.
The cowardice that excludes from heaven is the cowardice that refuses to take the risk involved
in being identified with Christ. It was dangerous to be a Christian when John wrote this book.
Christians were being martyred constantly. You didn't raise your hand; go forward, and live
happily ever after. Your stand for Christ was often the signing of your death warrant. You risk
your business, your home, your family, and everything, when the Romans began to persecute
Christians.
Masses of people who professed to be Christians in times of peace and safety denied Christ and
forsook the church when it involved risk. All they wanted was a religion that promised them good
things. They wanted fire insurance to keep them out of the flames of hell, but they were not going to
burn at the stake to collect it benefits. They refuse to pay the premium of risk, and, therefore, their
insurance is cancelled says John, and the lake of fire is their destiny. "He who puts his hand to the
plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom," said Jesus. The coward who forsakes Christ when
the heat is on literally leaps out of the frying pan into the fire.
The language of revelation is strong and frightening because it is addressed to those in the midst
of great spiritual warfare. The commander does not say to his troups as they face the enemy attack:
"Any of you guys who cannot take it, just fall back and trucks will be ready to take you off the field
of battle." No! He says, "I'll shoot the first man who turns his back to the enemy." Rough words,
and seemingly cruel, but there is no alternative if the battle is to be won. So it is in the Christian
battle. No person should ever become a Christian with the idea in mind that Christians receive
special permission to cop out of life's battles. Jesus says, "Take up the cross and follow me." Paul
says, "Put on the whole armor of God." No where do we read that Christians are free to go AWOL
because Jesus paid it all.
The completed work of Christ is what assures us of victory even if we fall in the battle, but it does
not remove us from the battle. The cross does not relieve us of our duty to fight against the forces of
evil. An article in Christianity Today suggested that one of the reasons youth are rejecting the
church today is because the heroes of today are not coming from the church. The dangerous
business of fighting the forces of evil is being done by non-Christians, or people not connected with
the church. Christians are taking no risks and are not involved where they might get hurt. In the
words of Dr. Harpur, youth know "...that the average church goer blends into the background of
suburban conformist society as neatly as a snowshoe rabbit in a drift in January."
Does this mean the average church goer is cowardly and faces exclusion from heaven ? I'm not
sure what it means, but I know Jesus said that if we are ashamed of Him before men, He will be
ashamed of us before His Father in heaven. Anyway you look at it cowardice is going to cost plenty
in the long run. No wonder Paul was so concerned about being bold for Christ. He asked for prayer
that he might be bold in his preaching of the Gospel. He was not an automatic hero. He had to fight
off the fears of the flesh like every hero.
Arthur Koestler said, "Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears." Paul
had the fears of the flesh like any man, but he acted on faith and not fear. His faith led him to risk
everything for Christ, and the result was he had absolute assurance of receiving the crown of
righteousness, for he fought a good fight. Paul also writes, however, of those who make shipwreck
of the faith. They do it, not because they commit themselves to battle the storms, but because they
try and play it safe.
John Logemann told of how he and his wife were invited to take a cruise in the Caribean with
some friends in their cabin sailboat. On the second day out they ran into heavy seas and learned that
a tropical storm had developed just ahead of them. They turned back, and with auxiliary engines
running full speed they raced for their home port. They were within a mile of the entrance to their
harbor's shelter and safely when the storm caught them. Thank heavens we're almost there
Logemann thought to himself, but then to his astonishment the skipper turned the boat around and
headed into the center of the storm. Logemann could not control his fear and began to protest.
"Sure its risky," yelled his skipper friend, "But its better than breaking up on those rocks." Hours
later when they had ridden out the storm and surried into port, Logemann saw what he meant.
Wreckage was everywhere. The harbor was a shambles of boats that had been smashed against the
docks and rocks. The skipper had learned from experience that sometimes you have to take a risk
for the sake of safety.
What is true for sailing is true for all of life, and for the hope of eternal life. Heaven is open wide
for those who launch out into the deep, but for the fearful and cowardly who hung the shore and take
no risk for Christ, there is only a cowards reward. This is certainly what Jesus had in mind when He
said, (paraphrase) "If you lose your life for My sake, you shall find it. But for those who save their
lives because they play it safe, they shall lose them."
The only way to win in the game of life is to be a risk taker for Christ. It is important that we get
this straight that it must be for Christ. Just as fear will not keep us out of heaven, so foolish bravery
will not be of any value. If I risk going through a red light at 50 miles per hour, I may get to heaven
even sooner than I expected, but it won't be because of my bravery, but rather in spite of my folly.
The boldness and courage the Scripture demands is that which leads us to take risks for the name
and the glory of Christ. To be a fool for Christ's sake is not to be foolish, but to risk all for Christ so
that the world looks upon you as a fool, because to them Christ is not worth the risk.
Frances Schaeffer in his book The Church At The End Of The 20th Century hits hard at the
Evangelical Christian cowardice in facing the world's needs. Few are willing to be fools for Christ.
Compassion is costly, and he tells what it cost him to love sinners. In his world famous retreat called
L'abri in Switzerland, known to Evangelicals all over the world, and from which he has written his
many best selling books, he opens the door to all. The all includes drunks who vomit on his rugs,
and prostitutes and drug addicts who ruin his sheets and burn holes in everything. Blacks and
Orientals, and everyone eats at his table.
Why does he risk the dangers and diseases these people can bring? Because he believes this
passage of Scripture which says such people will be excluded from heaven unless they can be won to
Christ. He knows that only a love that takes risks can ever win them, and he asks, do you really
believe that people are going to hell? "We Evangelicals will fight the liberals when they say there is
no hell, but we don't want to take the risk of opening our homes to those who are going there, in an
effort to rescue them." He is saying that we deny Christ, not verbally, but by failure to do what He
desires. We want a risk free faith that costs nothing.
It is obvious that there are many true Christians who fail Jesus at this point. All of us are cowards
at some time or another, and are fearful to witness. Certainly not every act of cowardice and fear
will keep us out of heaven. The implication of what John says here is that the perpetual coward is
just not a true Christian. Christ cannot really dwell in the life of a person who never takes a stand for
Christ. No person can truly be born again who does not openly identify himself with Christ at some
point. But since such cowardice is a guarantee from heaven, any cowardice and fear of risk taking
for Christ by true Christians will certainly also be a basis for loss of reward.
The point is, if God hates cowardice the same as murder and whoremongering, and all the other
horrible sins that lead to the lake of fire, then it cannot help but be a curse in anyone's life, and in any
degree. What a challenge this becomes for each of us to join Paul in his constant prayer for
boldness.
