“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the Truth.”
1 John 1:5-6
In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis argues that when humanity removes universal moral absolutes outside of themselves as the basis for determining right from wrong, they cease to exist, i.e., mankind is abolished. In other words, humanity is invisible when moral absolutes (outside) are consigned to individuals (inside). Consequently, as man abandons Truth by Revelation for Truth by Reason, he’s on an irreversible path to self-destruction.
Lewis illustrates this point by describing a garden seen through a window. The garden is visible only because it is opaque, i.e., it has substance. Should that garden cease to have substance (natural organic composition), it would be invisible. Thus, according to Lewis, for mankind to discern right from wrong, they must accept an absolute authority or framework outside of themselves.
For Christians, this universal moral absolute is the Triune God, explicitly revealed by His Word, the Bible, and generally by His creation (Psalm 19).
Many questions arise at this point, but for the sake of this context, an obvious question follows: “How does God’s Word, as the Christian’s absolute, work out in the everyday life of a local church?”
Enter God’s Alternative Program
GAP is a discipleship ministry within a local church built on biblical Truth. It provides a biblical community for students, volunteers, and leaders to grow in character and experience God’s Word.
In other words, GAP is an idea based on God’s Word that seeks to develop godly instincts implemented in everyday life.
On the one hand, it is easy to say that a moral absolute guides every facet of the GAP ministry. It is God’s Word, the very revelation from God. However, seeing it worked out is challenging because of the variety and mystery. Still, it is a fruitful exercise to consider how God’s Word is worked out within the GAP ministry.
Let me explain…
- It’s summer meetings, calendar planning, and hours of conversation preparing for the students to arrive.
- It’s overhearing a sacrificial outdoor volunteer saying, “I’m not concerned about sleeping in…if a student wants to go hunting, I’m ready and willing to take them.”
- It’s a GAP student being sent home for a week of reflection after being discovered in egregious sin.
- It’s that same GAP student seeking forgiveness and writing why he wants to return and finish his year strong.
- It’s the other students forgiving the repentant student, laying their hands on him in prayer, and welcoming him back into their community with open arms.
- It’s business professionals, a professor, moms, dads, singles, young and old, teaching a life skill, cooking a meal, offering advice, instructing a class, and more.
- It’s private rebuke and encouragement. It’s discipleship meetings, late-night calls, and texts to be there as a guide and friend.
- It’s assignments that force young minds to think biblically first and practically second.
- It’s surviving three days in the woods with enough training and resources to make it, but the necessity to apply it now.
- And so much more.
What difference might living out God’s Word make?
From time to time, I’ll read select articles from The Economist, a British news source. An article I recently read presents one of the many obstacles present in a world without moral absolutes; it’s the very world these GAP students are soon to enter:
“Flashbangs to clear occupied buildings, helmet-wearing police officers and handcuffed students: the scenes at Columbia and other American universities seem like a throwback to a rougher age. More than 1,500 students have been arrested around the country so far…As a practical question, dealing with these protests is hard. As an intellectual question, the sort debated on college campuses, it really is not. And yet clever people are tying themselves in knots over the rights and wrongs of what is going on.
To the right are politicians who have spent years denouncing elite universities for being full of snowflakes who cannot bear exposure to different opinions, and are now trying to stretch the definition of antisemitism to silence views they disagree with, preferably with the help of the National Guard. To the left are students, faculty and administrators who have embraced the idea that objectionable speech is the same as violence, and are now arguing that it is fine for people to wave banners that call for actual violence (for example, “Globalise the intifada!”).” –Should American Universities Call the Cops on Protesting Students? The Economist, May 1, 2024
What is their basis for right and wrong without a moral absolute outside humanity? Without one, scenes like at Columbia are all we should expect. Notice the article title: Should American Universities Call the Cops on Protesting Students? What do cops represent?
Answer: An authority outside of the students and faculty. The Bible is clear (Romans 13) regarding the role of such an authority.
And so, what is the final word to give you after nine months of discipleship bent on developing your godly instincts for implementation in your everyday spheres of life?
Three Points and an Encouragement.
- Walk in the Light
- Rest in the Goodness of God
- Walk Wisely
- And when you don’t, confess and return.
Walk in the Light
- 1 John 1:5-6: “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the Truth.”
- Like the mushroom, sin grows in the dark.
- Therefore, you must walk in the light, strive for holiness, and keep godly accountability.
Rest in the Goodness of God
- Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”
- Life hurts. Life is loaded. Yet life has joy and love and laughter.
- Therefore, by trusting that God is Creator and Sustainer of all things, you can rest that though you may not know why something is happening, you know who is with you through it all.
Walk Wisely
- Genesis 3:6: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
- Eve was drawn in by a false wisdom promising her wisdom apart from God. The same temptation is available to us today.
- Therefore, prove God by reading and obeying His Word daily. He will honor His Word.
When you don’t, confess and return.
- 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
- Irony: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” – R. Zacharias
- Therefore, you must walk in the light by confessing sin quickly, fully, and appropriately.
Conclusion
I opened this year at the GAP commissioning ceremony referencing the first book of the Lord of The Rings, The Similirilion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I want to end this year and this message by connecting the first book with the last book in the series, The Return of the King.
The Silmarillion opens with Iluvatar creating all the Valar with the ability to make beautiful music. One of the Valar, Melkor, rebels against the harmony and, seeking power, begins to sow discordant notes—the beginning of sin in Iluvatar’s created world.
Fast-forward to Tolkien’s final book, The Return of the King. The only reason the Ring of Power falls into Mount Doom is Frodo and Gollum’s greed. The discordant notes from Melkor echo throughout the ages, even down to the end. It was an accident that destroyed the Ring of Power, not Frodo.
Lesson: J.R.R. Tolkien forces us to look for a Savior–absolute Truth–outside of all created things. In other words, nothing in his created world could be the savior of the world. Tolkien forces us outside of Middle Earth to read our Bibles and see there is a Triune God who entered into our world and destroyed death, i.e., the power of death, by becoming His creation, Emmanuel!
O, the glory! God became man!
The One Savior is outside us, yet He became one of us to redeem us through His death and resurrection. The “Ring” is destroyed—not by accident! Oh, no! By the foreknowledge and love of our God!
— May 1, 2024