Pascal's Wager

What drives you to Church this morning?

Is it a habit that is ingrained into you since young and, being a creature of habit, you continue to come to the worship service? Perhaps you are trying to fulfil some requirements that you have conjured up in your mind, such as Church attendance that you think would please God as it fulfils part of the bargain or duty towards God as a Christian. However, you would go off immediately before the worship service ends. Partaking in the fellowship of saints or sharing in each other’s life in Christ would seem to be a little too much and it is never part of your bargain with God, neither is the keeping of the Lord’s Day. Perhaps, occasionally, you would feel smug, thinking that God is pleased with your having never missed a Sunday worship service and that God has become your debtor by and by; you would perhaps get angry with God if your ways are not smooth because you think God should bless you.

Or perhaps you are convinced of the Pascal’s Wager* position, that having considered all the attendant privileges of professing Christian faith and not forgetting the future reward and the lack of any ramification, if Christianity is false, you have decided to attend Church Worship Service. To you, the rewards outweigh any small sacrifices that you make such as coming to Church and tithing. You are motivated solely by the rewards that you would have now and in the future. You are okay to deny yourself some sinful pleasures but the thoughts of loving and serving God and his people never really cross your mind. In effect, your faith looks very mercantile in nature. Or perhaps you are slightly “better” because you think you truly believe in the Lord Jesus, but Jesus is only one of the competing demands in your life. You are given to work, given to your family, given to your expensive Watches, given to your hobby, given to holidays. So, what remains available to you for God is two hours at church on Sunday.

The above descriptions of a professing Christian seem to fit the description of the Rich Young man found in the Gospel of Matthew 19:16-24. The first personality that we described earlier, let’s call him John. John having learned Christianity since young, feels a void in his heart and like the Rich Young Man wants to do something to inherit eternal life (Matt 19:6). What he knows to-date is the need to do his duty before God, whatever that may be called forth by the Word of God. John is driven by duty just like the Rich Young Man who claims to have kept the 10 commandments from his youth! He seems to say that he has done his duty, as given by the 10 commandments, very well. This shows the superficiality of his religion! Likewise, the second character we described earlier, the one who espoused the Pascal’s Wager position, let’s call him James; he believes in Christianity as there is much to be gained here on earth, not to mention the “weight of glories” that lies beyond the grave. Like the Rich Young Man, James has gained much to be among the Godly learning from their ways and benefiting from their positive networks. He has perhaps become richer and acquired a sense of respectability, like the Rich Young Man who was described as a ruler of the Synagogue in a parallel account in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 18:18). The last character, let’s call him Jason, has many competing demands like the rich young man, one of which is coming to Church, but that is not the major one; the major one is his gold and silver, his financial security.

If one of the described characters fits you, well, in a single stroke, our Saviour says that the only way to have eternal life is to follow the Master (ie Jesus) himself who is the only good and to do so you have to dethrone everything else, that includes what you love most, including yourself. The way to be “perfect” before God is to throw yourself at the Saviour as the only good and treasure. Having faith in Christ is to follow the Saviour and we can only do so if we deny ourselves (dethrone ourselves) and to take up the Cross because you are so convinced of the Gospel truth that you are willing to suffer death for the sake of the Gospel (Matt 16:24). That is why Jesus told the rich young man “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matt 19:21). This is what it means to be given to Jesus! Then the keeping of God’s law would not be motivated by a sense of duty but rather an expression of love to our Heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we would be consumed with extending God’s kingdom (Matt6:33). Spiritual rewards to such would not become mercenary in nature (Matt 19:29). Would you from the bottom of your heart sing with William Cowper, “My soul rejoices to pursue the steps of him I love, till glory breaks upon my view in brighter worlds above.” Amen.

* Philosophy: The argument that it is in one's own best interest to behave as if God exists, since the possibility of eternal punishment in hell outweighs any advantage in believing otherwise. (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pascal's_wager)

Published in the Pastoral Voice of First Evangelical Reformed Church, Singapore, 19th May 2019.

www.ferc.org.sg