Chapter 18. Type 1. Fear obedience. "Those slavish spirits will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required, for it is a law that compels them." Henry Scougal. "They formally renounce and forsake sinful acts, but they turn back many a fond lingering look to what they have left, like Lot's wife as she fled from Sodom." Francis of Sales. We'll begin with Type 1 obedience. Obedience motivated by fear. Type 1 Christians correctly understand that without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14.
They realize that obedience to God is not optional, that we must bear fruit to stay on the vine. They also recognize that obedience to Christ's commandments is part of bearing fruit. All of these things are commendable. However, Type 1 Christians obey Christ's teachings primarily out of fear of eternal punishment. One writer described his life as a Type 1 Christian in these words: "For years I lived for myself, all my hopes and ambitions centered in myself.
Even my desire to go to heaven was more a desire to escape from the pains of hell than to enjoy the society of Jesus and redeem souls and to do good and be holy." To be sure, fear is often the starting point of living an obedient life. Obedience stemming from fear is better than disobedience. In fact, Christ repeatedly gives us warnings and uses fear to motivate us to obey.
He alerts us to eternal danger, saying: "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell." Matthew 5:29-30. So Christ accepts obedience that is primarily motivated by fear.
In fact, the Scriptures tell us, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." But that's the point. It's only the beginning of wisdom. Christ wants us to grow to the point where we obey His commandments because we love Him, not because we fear Him. Drusilla Dread. Drusilla Dread is a Type 1 Christian. After hearing an impassioned sermon about the horrors of hell, she gave her life to Christ when she was a teenager.
Since then, she has read the many warnings in Scripture against disobedience, and she has taken them to heart. So she lives a very careful, restricted life based on fear. She would never dream of committing immorality, getting drunk, taking illegal drugs, stealing, using profanity, or a whole host of other sins. Yet Drusilla constantly wears a dour face, for her Christian walk is joyless. In her heart, she loves much of the world and is attracted to its pleasures. She wishes she could participate in its enjoyments.
However, fear of God holds her back. An intense war rages inside Drusilla because she is divided between Christ and the world. Although she would never admit it, Drusilla envies the lives of many of her unsaved neighbors. In fact, she would live like them but for fear of the judgment to come.
William Law astutely describes Type 1 Christians like Drusilla: "While you are divided between God and the world, you have neither the pleasures of Christianity nor the pleasures of the world, but are always in the uneasiness of a divided state of heart.
You have only so much Christianity as serves to disquiet you, but not Christianity enough to give you a taste and feeling of its pleasures, so that you are just as happy as the slave that dares not run away from his master and yet always serves him against his will." That's exactly what Drusilla is, a slave who serves her master out of fear. She wishes she could run away from her master, but she's afraid to. So there is little joy in her Christian walk. She hasn't found Christ's yoke to be easy or His burden light.
In fact, her life would be almost unbearable if it weren't for the fact that she found a way to "game the system." Or at least she thinks she has. Christ's denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 hasn't been lost on Drusilla. She often thinks about Jesus' words to the Pharisees: "You pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin but have neglected the weightier matters of the law." Matthew 23:23. Drusilla correctly realizes that not all biblical commandments are on the same level.
Some are weightier than others, as Jesus said. In fact, Jesus even talked about the two greatest commandments. So some commandments are obviously more important than others. To be sure, all sin is equal in the sense that, apart from our redemption through Christ's shed blood, any sin bars us from eternal life. Even the smallest sin means that we are deserving of death, and we are utterly unable to save ourselves even if the only sins we have committed are relatively minor ones.
However, after we have been saved, after we have become branches on the vine, then all sins are not the same. When Jesus examines our fruit, He is particularly looking at the weightier matters. This is clear from His interaction with the scribes and Pharisees. Paul also makes it clear that not all sins are on the same level. He warns us that those who practice certain sins will not inherit the kingdom of God. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. See also Galatians 5:19-21. Drusilla has reviewed this list many times, as it is a great comfort to her. "I'm certainly no fornicator, adulterer, homosexual, sodomite, or extortioner." Drusilla consoles herself.
"And I've never worshiped an idol, been drunk, or stolen anything." Drusilla doesn't even know what a reviler is, but she's quite certain she's not one. She acknowledges to herself that, occasionally, she's coveted something not belonging to her. "But that hardly makes me covetous," she says in self-defense. "Everyone occasionally covets something they can't have or afford." Yes, Drusilla takes great comfort in the fact that her sins aren't on the list of offenses that will keep us from inheriting the kingdom.
Those things that Paul mentions are salvation issues. She often explains to others, "If we're guilty of those practices and are unrepentant, then we will eventually be cut off the vine." And Drusilla is technically correct. However, how she applies this principle is not what Paul had in mind. For example, last month Drusilla took another believer to court over some money he owed her. Elizabeth, a concerned Christian who knows Drusilla, spoke to Drusilla about this inconsistency.
"I thought you believed in obeying what the Scriptures teach," she said. "Don't you know the Scriptures say that Christians shouldn't take one another to court?" Elizabeth then read to Drusilla the following passage in 1 Corinthians: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?" 1 Corinthians 6:1-3. "Well, technically you're right," Drusilla conceded. "No, I shouldn't have taken him to court. However, taking a brother to court is not a salvation issue, so I'm not going to worry about it. He owed me over $5,000. Nobody cheats Drusilla Dread and gets away with it. Besides, when someone behaves like he did, I seriously question whether he can truly be called a brother." Rightly dividing the word.
Drusilla has given new meaning to "dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15. She has mentally divided all the commandments of Scripture into two groups: those that she believes are salvation issues and those that aren't. She is extremely careful not to break those commandments that she views as salvation issues. As for the other commandments, she picks and chooses obedience based on the level of inconvenience and sacrifice involved. If the cost to her isn't too great, she obeys them.
But if the cost is substantial, she ignores them. She took another Christian to court because she felt that $5,000 was just too big of a sacrifice. And she will carefully point out to you that Paul never said that those who take their brother to court will not inherit the kingdom of God. So what do you think of Drusilla Dread? Has she found a shortcut to make Jesus' yoke easy without living the kingdom life? Has she outsmarted Christ? Before you answer those questions, let me introduce you to Sammy Slick.