Lesser of Two Evils
In chapter two, Keller divides the two sons into two “acts.” Here he demonstrates that Jesus is telling this parable with great purpose and intention. In Act 1, we see the disgraceful actions of the younger son and the amazing vastness of the father’s grace. Through the father’s actions, the freeness of grace and its power is established. However, in Act 2, Jesus explains the extreme costliness of grace. Though there is nothing the younger brother could have done to earn or merit the father’s grace, it was very costly to the father to give it freely. Furthermore, Keller indicates on page twenty-nine that the elder brother was just a disgraceful (if not more) to the father as the younger. And he is given just as much grace as the younger, yet we are left without his response.
The question for this week deals with the lesser of two evils. Philippians 1:12-18 shows us that some people choose to preach Christ out of contention. Paul’s commentary is that as long as Christ is preached, whether in pretense or in truth, he will rejoice. Revelation 3:15 shows us that Christ would rather us be hot or cold, but being lukewarm is a dangerous and disgusting condition. So the younger brother chose to rebel (not serve) while the older brother chose to serve for his own motivations. Is it better not to serve than to serve for the wrong reasons?
Philippians 1:12-18 is specifically addressing preaching the gospel. The preacher’s motivation for preaching does not affect the power of God’s Word being preached. Isaiah 55:10-11 states that God’s Word will always accomplish His purpose when it goes out. Serving encompasses much more than preaching. We are to serve God with all of our words and deeds (Colossians 3:17). In the Beautitudes (Matthew 5), Jesus makes it clear that the heart can sin without our hands or mouths taking any action. How can I choose which is the lesser of two evils? There is no lesser or greater evil. God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11), including judging sin in degrees. If I do not choose, I am not playing along with discussion. Sorry. I cannot choose. I will say that when my heart has not been right in my service to the Lord, He always makes that clear to me and shows me the right attitude and motivation to have, which He is currently doing through this study.
The passage in Revelation 3 about the lukewarm church definitely indicates that God hates when we are apathetic or half-hearted in our Christian walk. It is clear from the phrase, “I will vomit you out of My mouth”, that when we are serving God out of any motive except love for Him, He is disgusted. There were also some harsh words for the dead church in Sardis (Rev 3:1-6), which makes it clear that not serving God at all, may eventually leads to spiritual death.
It seems that there are ways to support either position depending on the specific circumstances. Jonah never had the proper attitude when he was commanded to go to Nineveh, but he eventually went and the people repented. It was definitely better for Jonah to serve God with wrong motives, than to refuse to serve at all. Ananias and Sapphira sold their property and gave money to the church, but lied about how much they gave because they were doing it to be praised by others. The act of lying, cost them thier lives. Obviously, it would have been better for them not to have served at all.
I realize that each of these examples, are not directly speaking about serving God, but it shows that we can always find ways to make ourselves feel better or more spiritual than someone else, whether we are serving with the wrong motives, or not serving at all. The Bible has equally harsh words for those who refuse to serve Him as he does for those that serve out of duty or serve looking for praise from others.
At this point, it is impossible for me to choose one answer over the other, because they seem to be equally wrong. I am struggling to even see the need to decide which is better or worse, since the Bible condemns both as sinful practices. It seems like there definitely could be a right answer to this question, so I am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s thoughts, which will hopefully give me a clearer perspective.
I agree that it was better for Jonah to obey, even with a wrong attitude, and worse for Ananias and Sapphira to give with a lying spirit.
The prophet Jonah had a bad attitude and thus ran away from God, rather than doing what God told him to do. Even after his encounter with the fish, his attitude did not change (Jonah 4:1). God knew that Jonah’s attitude did not change, but He still commanded him a second time to preach to Nineveh (Jonah 3:1). Because of Jonah’s bad attitude, God chastened him with scorching heat (Jonah 4:8) to try to get him to realize how foolish he was being.
By not going to Nineveh the first time and having a bad attitude, Jonah was disobeying God in two ways, each of which was met with a different kind of chastening. If Jonah was going to have a bad attitude, he should have at least gone to Nineveh the first time. That way he would only be disobeying God in one way (outwardly), rather than two ways (outwardly and inwardly) and would have gotten scorching heat instead of both scorching heat and a stormy sea.
However, in Ananias and Sapphira’s case, they were not commanded to give. “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” (Acts 5:4a ESV). They would have been better off not giving anything than giving with the purpose of creating a false impression. If they had not sold the land, they would not have been disobeying God at all, since God had not commanded them to sell the land to give to the church.
So my conjecture is this: If God is clearly commanding someone to serve in a particular way, then he should do it, even if his heart isn’t right. However, if someone is doing something to serve God out of his own free will, he should only do it if he is doing it for the right reason, with the right attitude.
Timothy Keller wrote (caps added for emphasis) : “In Matthew 25, Jesus describes Judgment Day. Many will stand there and call him ‘Lord,’ but Jesus say, STUNNINGLY, that if they had NOT been SERVING the hungry, the refugee, the sick, and the prisoner, then they hadn’t been serving him (Matthew 25:34-40)…Younger brothers are too selfish and elder brothers are too self-righteous to care for the poor.” According to Mr. Keller, neither one is “serving” in the way God would have them serve. It almost seems like the elder brother does not have the ability or eyes to see how God wants him to be serving. The elder brother was “serving” some way other than the way Matthew 25 says he should serve.
Elder brothers today are running churches by entertaining and coddling the saints/unbelievers. This is NOT what God intended for the church to be doing. I think that if one is “serving” even for the wrong reasons, but is doing what God says in Scripture they should be doing, then by all means DO IT! Do obey God’s commandments; do feed the hungry; do preach the Word; do feed the poor; do serve the sick; do minister to those in prison; do take in the stranger; do fight against injustice…
But if one’s “service” entails entertaining, praising, or feeding well fed saints/unbelievers, AND you are doing it for the wrong reasons, please don’t “serve”… Pray for God to have mercy and revive the church of these last days
Dear class:
Once again, great responses! I am encouraged that all of you were not quick to choose a side. This has been a very difficult question that I too have pondered through my study of this subject. I must say that it seems the consensus has come to an acceptable conclusion. According to Scripture, it would be difficult to conclude that God finds any sinful actions more wrong than another. I have to agree with Keller on this subject:
“It may be Jesus is trying to point out that while both forms of the self-salvation project are equally wrong, each one is not equally dangerous.” (p. 53)
It seems that Revelation 3 (along with other Biblical passages mentioned by responses) would indicate that the reason Jesus spews us out of His mouth is due to the danger of our blind condition. Though equally wrong, we are more likely to know when we are cold, that it’s wrong, and that we’re in need of change. Our lukewarm condition can often be the most difficult to detect and rectify.
Keep up the great work.