September 29th Bulletin Article HOW MUCH GOOD CAN BE DONE WHEN EVIL IS USED TO PRODUCE THE EFFECT? Charles Coats Most people are emotionally motivated and swayed. They look at the end result of something and deem that what created the end result was acceptable because the end was “good”. The title of this article could also be worded, “Does the end justify the means?” But, I want us to look deeper at this subject, because it is not unusual to hear Christians talk about how a person had to lie to protect someone’s feeling. Or, how it is O.K. to be unkind or mean because it brought someone to their senses. Maybe you or someone you know has used the idea that you could not come to the worship services because family came in and you did not want to offend them. Recently, a man argued that it was acceptable for him to use “edited curse words” in his book because so many people had been baptized because of his book. Really?! The world has always argued that it does not matter how you accomplish something as long as the end result is good. But to hear Christians justify their evil (sins) in this way is astounding. How can we as Christians ever argue that it is acceptable to sin under any circumstances? Paul addressed this situation in Romans 6:1-4. Look at Paul’s argument given by inspiration, therefore God’s argument. 1. Should we continue in sin that we might receive more grace? (vs. 1) 2. How can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? (vs. 2) 3. We are new creatures in Christ (vss. 3,4). The Roman brethren tried to argue that since grace came because of sin, then the more we sin the more grace we get. Therefore, since the end was good (grace), then it did not matter that they would have to continue in sin to get it. Paul helps them to understand that you cannot do evil so good may come. Peter shows us that evil and good are completely opposed to one another (1 Pet. 3:11). Here, we are taught to get away from evil and do good. We cannot do good if evil is in our lives. Evil never produces good, and good never produces evil. Yet, so many today believe that it does. How many have tried to justify their actions or something because they were mostly right? We need to understand that to be mostly right is to be completely wrong. When we stand before God we will not get into Heaven because we were mostly right. We will get in because we are pure and upright before God (Eph. 5:26,27). Let us “eschew evil” and “do good” (1 Pet. 3:11).
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 02:19:57 +0000
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