One of the strangest teachings of Jesus occurs in Matthew 11:12. Seemingly out of
nowhere, our nonviolent, loving, self-sacrificial Savior declared, “From the days of John the Baptist until now
the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”
As weird as the statement is, I never thought
anyone would use it to make a case for Jesus being in favor of His disciples
acting in physically violent ways. However, I’ve been shocked throughout the
years to hear that argument actually used. Still, I wasn’t quite sure what to
do with Jesus’ words there.
Recently,
I was amazed and convicted when reading the way the early Christians
interpreted this teaching of our Messiah.
The Lord [did]
assert that the kingdom of heaven was the portion of “the violent.” And He
says, “The violent take it by force;” that is, those who by strength and
earnest striving are on the watch to snatch it. … Paul the Apostle says to the
Corinthians, “Do you not know, that those who run in a race, do all indeed run,
but only one receives the prize? So run that you may win. Every one also who
engages in the contest is disciplined in all things: now these men [do it] that
they may obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. But I so run, not
as uncertainty; I fight, not as one beating the air; but I beat my body, and
bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when preaching to others, I may
myself be rendered disqualified.” This able wrestler, therefore, exhorts us to
the struggle for immortality. … Both the Lord has taught and the apostle has
enjoined us the more to love God, that we may reach this [prize] for ourselves
by striving after it. – Irenaeus Volume 1, p. 873 [CD-ROM]
Irenaeus compares Jesus’ words to
Paul’s analogy of an Olympic athlete training to win a gold medal. We are
supposed to fight and wrestle to obtain all that God wants for us.
I have nappy, frustrating hair, so from an early age I learned
the value of a good hat. No matter how catastrophic the condition of my hair, a
ball cap can cover it up. A few years ago, my father came over to take me to
lunch, but I hadn’t showered by the time he arrived. I figured I’d just put on
my favorite hat and we could go. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the place I
remembered putting it last.
Like hounds after a fox I hunted my hat. I spent at least 15
minutes tearing through piles, crawling under beds and rummaging through my car
seeking this perceived pearl of great price. Finally, when I had almost given
up, something told me to go back to my room. There on the floor, just beneath a
pair of pants I had worn the day before was my
precious.
My father and I jumped in his jeep and left for lunch, but somewhere
between the driveway and the restaurant the Holy Spirit began to prick at my
heart. He asked, “Do you seek after Me with the same ferocity, Phil? Is your hat
more valuable to you than Me?”
According to the early Christians, Jesus calls us to aggressively pursue Him… not
just at the beginning of our relationship, but all throughout our lives. However,
does the New Testament really call us to that sort of aggressive approach to
God? Or, like some spiritual songs suggest, is there no real worth to what we
Christians do? Let’s see:
For the
love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have
wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee
from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, perseverance and
gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the
eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the
presence of many witnesses. – 1
Timothy 6:10-12
Applying
all diligence, in your
faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if
these qualities are yours and
are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the
true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former
sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain
about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things,
you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. – 2 Peter 1:5-11
If those passages are so familiar to you that you just skimmed through
them, please go back and slowly and thoughtfully read them again as if for the
first time. Fight. Pursue. Take Hold. Apply all diligence. Supply. Increase.
Make certain. Practice.
