Mere Christianity - Book Four - Counting The Cost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Four

 

 

Beyond Personality:

Or First Steps In The Doctrine Of The Trinity

 

 

 

9. Counting The Cost

     I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said in the last
chapter about Our Lord's words, "Be  ye  perfect." Some people seem to think
this means "Unless you are perfect, I will not help you";  and as  we cannot
be perfect, then, if He meant  that, our position is hopeless. But  I do not
think He did mean that. I think He  meant "The only help I will give is help
to become  perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing
less."

     Let me explain. When I was a child I  often  had  toothache, and I knew
that if I went to my mother she  would give me  something which would deaden
the pain  for that night and let  me get to sleep.  But I did not  go to  my
mother-at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not
go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the  aspirin; but  I knew she
would also  do something else. I  knew she would take me to the dentist next
morning. I could not get  what I wanted out of her without getting something
more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could
not get it without having  my teeth set permanently right. And I  knew those
dentists; I knew they started  fiddling about with all  sorts of other teeth
which had not yet  begun to ache. They would not let sleeping  dogs  lie; if
you gave them an inch they took an ell.

     Now,  if  I may put it  that way, Our Lord is like the dentists. If you
give Him  an inch, He  will take an  ell. Dozens  of people go to Him to  be
cured  of  some  one  particular  sin  which   they  are  ashamed  of  (like
masturbation or  physical  cowardice) or  which is obviously  spoiling daily
life  (like bad temper or drunkenness). Well, He will cure it all right: but
He will not stop there. That may be  all you asked; but if once you call Him
in, He will give you the full treatment.

     That  is  why He warned people  to  "count  the  cost"  before becoming
Christians. "Make no  mistake,"  He says, "if  you let  me, I will make  you
perfect. The moment  you put yourself in My hands, that is  what you are  in
for. Nothing less,  or other,  than that. You have  free  will,  and  if you
choose, you can push Me away. But if  you  do  not  push Me away, understand
that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost  you
in  your earthly life, whatever  inconceivable purification it  may cost you
after death, whatever  it costs Me, I  will never  rest, nor  let you  rest,
until you are literally perfect-until my Father can  say without reservation
that He is well pleased with you, as He said  He  was  well pleased with me.
This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less."

     And yet-this is the other and equally important side of it- this Helper
who  will,  in the long run,  be satisfied with nothing  less than  absolute
perfection, will also be delighted with the  first feeble,  stumbling effort
you make  tomorrow  to do  the simplest  duty. As  a great  Christian writer
(George MacDonald) pointed out, every father is  pleased at the baby's first
attempt to walk: no  father  would  be  satisfied with  anything less than a
firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, he said,  "God is
easy to please, but hard to satisfy."

     The  practical  upshot  is  this.  on the  one hand,  God's demand  for
perfection need not  discourage you in the least in your present attempts to
be  good, or even in your present failures. Each time  you fall He will pick
you up  again. And He knows perfectly well that your own  efforts  are never
going  to bring you  anywhere near perfection. on  the other hand,  you must
realise from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide
you is absolute  perfection; and no  power in the whole universe, except you
yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal. That is what you are
in for.  And it is very important to realise that. If we do not, then we are
very likely to start pulling back and resisting Him after a certain point. I
think that  many of us, when Christ has enabled  us  to overcome one or  two
sins that  were an obvious  nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not
out it into words) that we  are now good  enough. He  has done all we wanted
Him  to do, and we should be obliged if He would  now leave us  alone. As we
say "I never expected  to be a saint, I only wanted to  be a decent ordinary
chap." And we imagine when we say this that we are being humble.

     But this is the fatal mistake. Of  course  we never  wanted, and  never
asked, to be made into the sort of  creatures  He is going to make us  into.
But the  question  is  not what  we  intended  ourselves to be,  but what He
intended us to  be  when  He  made us.  He is the inventor,  we are only the
machine. He is the painter, we are only the picture. How should we know what
He  means us  to  be like? You see,  He has already  made us  something very
different from what  we  were.  Long ago, before we were born, when  we were
inside our mothers'  bodies, we passed through various stages. We  were once
rather like vegetables, and once rather like  fish; it  was only at  a later
stage  that  we  became like  human babies.  And if we had been conscious at
those earlier stages, I  daresay we should have been quite contented to stay
as vegetables or fish-should not have wanted to be made into babies. But all
the  time  He knew His  plan  for us and  was determined  to  carry  it out.
Something the same is now happening at a higher level. We may be content  to
remain  what we call "ordinary people": but He is determined to  carry out a
quite different  plan.  To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is
laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is
obedience.

     Here is another  way of putting the two  sides of the truth. on the one
hand we must never imagine that our own unaided  efforts can be relied on to
carry us even through the next  twenty-four hours as "decent" people. If  He
does not support us, not one of us is safe from some gross sin. on the other
hand, no possible degree of holiness or heroism which has ever been recorded
of the greatest saints  is beyond what He  is determined to produce in every
one of  us in  the end. The job will not  be completed in  this life: but He
means to get us as far as possible before death.

     That is why we must  not  be surprised if we are in  for a rough  time.
When a man turns to Christ and seems to be  getting  on pretty well  (in the
sense that some of his bad habits are now corrected), he often feels that it
would  now be natural if  things went  fairly  smoothly. When  troubles come
along-illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation-he is disappointed.
These things, he feels, might have been  necessary to rouse him and make him
repent in his  bad old days; but why  now? Because God is forcing him on, or
up, to a higher  level: putting him into situations where he will have to be
very much braver, or more  patient, or  more loving, than he ever dreamed of
being before.  It seems  to us all unnecessary: but that is because we  have
not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of
us.

     I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine
yourself as a  living house. God comes in to rebuild  that house. At  first,
perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right
and  stopping the leaks  in  the roof and  so on: you knew  that those  jobs
needed doing and so you  are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking
the  house about  in a way that hurts  abominably and  does not seem to make
sense.  What on earth is He up  to? The  explanation is  that He is building
quite a different house from the one you thought of- throwing out a new wing
here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.
You thought you were going to be made  into a decent little  cottage: but He
is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

     The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to
do the impossible.  He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that
command. He said (in the Bible) that we were  "gods" and He is going to make
good His words. If  we let Him-for we can prevent Him, if we  choose-He will
make the feeblest and  filthiest of  us  into a god or  goddess, a dazzling,
radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through  with  such energy and joy
and wisdom  and love as we cannot now  imagine,  a bright  stainless  mirror
which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale)
His own boundless power and delight  and goodness.  The process will be long
and in parts very painful; but that is what we  are in for. Nothing less. He
meant what He said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Counting the cost means understanding the command "Be ye perfect" and it's implications.

1. According to Lewis, the Lords words, "Be ye perfect" mean...
2. How is the Lord like a dentist in regard to perfection?
3. Why should Gods demands for perfection not discourage our feeble attempts at doing good?
4. What is the plan that God is determined to carry out in our lives? How does it manifest itself in our lives?
5. Describe the house analogy Lewis borrowed from Geaorge MacDonald.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some people are bothered by the words, "Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Some think that maybe it means that if we're not perfect, we fail as Christians. on the contrary, Lewis points out Jesus is working in us to make us perfect -- and will accept nothing less, even though we would.

Example of the child's toothache:

• the child only wants something now to make the pain go away now
• if he goes to his mother he will get that but...
• he will also go to the dentist the next morning...
• then the dentist will go messing with every other tooth that has problems
• and all the child really wanted was for that one tooth to stop hurting

(An 'ell' is about 45 inches, "It was derived from the length of the arm from the shoulder (or the elbow) to the wrist." wikipedia.com)

Jesus is the same way:

• We are driven to him with help for some sin that's eating our lives
• He will happily help us with those sins, but....
• He will NOT stop there
• He intends to set us right, all the way around. "...if once you call Him in, he will give you the full treatment."

This is why he warns us to count the cost before becoming a disciple.

• He wants to make us perfect
• He will accept nothing less
• We do have free will and can push Him away
• Whatever the cost, He wants to make us perfect.... like our heavenly Father is perfect

The other side:

• Even though his desire is our perfection, He is thrilled with our first, feeble attempts at perfect, even though they all fail!
• Just as every parent is thrilled with their child's first, fumbling steps, and yet are not satisfied until they have mastered a healthy, strong walk
• God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.' - George MacDonald

• We do not need to be discouraged by our failures. God will keep picking us up every time we try and fail
• We are also the only power in the universe that can stop God from the transformational work
• We imagine ourselves as humble when we say, "Oh, I'm no saint."
• It is a fatal mistake to think that God is through with us before we reach perfection (which we won't in this life, but He will continue working on us through out this life)
• We would always be content to stop where are are, but God has much greater plans for us
• "To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience."

• Our own efforts will never get us anywhere
• Without His help we are hopeless
• No holiness or heroism ever witnessed is greater than what He desires to see fulfilled in our lives
• "The job will not be completed in this life; but He means to get us as far as possible before death."

We should not be surprised if it's hard... a path of trouble:

• After turning to Christ, about the time Jesus has conquered in us the sins we thought were the real problem, trouble comes
• "illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation..."
• "Because God is forcing [us] on, or up, to a higher level; putting [us] into situations where [we] will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than [we] ever dreamed of being before." (Our troubles come from God! Say it ain't so!)
• It seems unnecessary to us, or that God is punishing us for some sin to others
• This is just the fire and hammer of the forge forming us into something wonderful -- something we can not dream of

Illustration of the house:

• minor fixes
• then major renovations!
• "You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. he intends to come and live in it Himself."

"The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas

• nor is it impossible
• He is transforming us into creatures that can do it
• He says that we are 'gods,' then He sets out to make us 'gods.'

If we let Him - for we can prevent Him, if we choose - He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://lib.ru/LEWISCL/mere_engl.txt 

http://www.opendiscipleship.org/Mere_Christianity_leaders_notes

http://www.gordy-stith.com/Mere%20Christianity/mere_christianity_study_guide.htm