“…we teach men not to die with Christ but to live in the strength of their dying manhood. We boast not in our weakness but in our strength. Values which Christ has declared to be false are brought back into evangelical favor and promoted as the very life and substance of the Christian way. How eagerly do we seek the approval of this or that man of worldly reputation. How shamefully do we exploit the converted celebrity. Anyone will do to take away the reproach of obscurity from our publicity-hungry leaders: famous athletes, congressmen, world travelers, rich industrialists; before such we bow with obsequious smiles and honor them in our public meetings and in the religious press. Thus we glorify men to enhance the standing of the Church of God, and the glory of the Prince of Life is made to hang upon the transient fame of a man who shall die.”
- A.W. Tozer, “God’s Pursuit of Man: The Divine Conquest of the Human Heart“

Consider how tempting it is to seek credibility in this confused and decaying world. Whose approval are we ultimately trying to gain? Does it scare us that a watching world might in fact see us as weak, if we do not have the talents, the image, the academic credentials, the high status equal to the world’s greatest? Personal pride, my Christian friends. This, our downfall.

Tozer, gathering his knowledge from the Scripture, exposes us for boasting “not in our weakness but in our strength,” because a Christian no longer has need of Jesus to save when there is no underlying current of inherent weakness. To hold up an image of personal human strength and triumph, even with God as your business partner, is a distortion of biblical Christianity. The ugly truth of our need is spelled out in the book of Romans:

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Romans 3:4-10, ESV)

And again:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5, ESV)

Consider how alluring it may be to fly the banners over football pro Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos, musician Brian “Head” Welch formerly of Korn, politician Rick Perry, and all of latest news-headline-grabbing individuals. Some of these people are solid examples of genuine Christian leaders; many are far from authentic, yet that is not the point here. Tozer is getting at how we rally around earthly fame and respect, spotlighting our strength, falsely claiming ”Look here! Come join the Christian side! You can still hold on to your good reputation among your friends!” when the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:9, ”…you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake,” speak just the opposite.

Listen to the Apostle Paul’s advice, where the focus is rightly put on Christ instead:

“…far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 6:14, ESV)

Finally, I was reminded of the lyrics in a Stuart Townend song, “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us”

“I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom.”

.

“The uncompromising spirit of Olympic sprinter and Scotsman Eric Liddell was made famous by the award-winning film Chariots of Fire. For months Liddell trained to run the 100-meter dash at the Paris Olympics in 1924. Sportswriters across Britain predicted he would win. But when the schedules were announced, Liddell discovered that the heats for his race were to be run on a Sunday. Because he believed he would dishonor God by competing on the Lord’s Day, he refused to enter the race.

Eric’s fans were stunned. Some who previously praised him called him a fool. But he stood firm. Professor Neil Campbell, a fellow student-athlete at the time, describes Liddell’s decision:

Liddell was the last person to make a song and dance about that sort of thing. He just said, “I’m not running on a Sunday”–and that was that. And he would have been very upset if anything much had been made of it at the time. We thought it was completely in character, and a lot of the athletes were quietly impressed by it. They felt that here was a man who was prepared to stand for what he thought was right, without interfering with anyone else, and without being dogmatic. (Sally Magnuson, The Flying Scotsman [New York: Quartet, 1981], 40)

Unlike the film version, which takes dramatic license with the facts, Liddell knew about the heat schedule months before the Olympics. He also declined to run in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 meter relays, races that he had qualified for, because their heats also were to be run on Sunday. Since he was such a popular athlete, the British Olympic Committee asked if he would train to run in the 400 meters–a race he had performed well in before, but one he’d never considered seriously. He decided to train for it and discovered that he was a natural at that distance. His wife, Florence, says of his decision, “Eric always said that the great thing for him was that when he stood by his principles and refused to run in the 100 metres, he found that the 400 metres was really his race. He would not of known that otherwise” (Magnuson, 45).

Liddell went on to win the 400 meters and set a world recordi n the process. God honored his uncompromising spirit. But what was there about Eric Liddell that gave him the resolve to stand firm with his decision in spite of the pressure from the authorities and the press? The filmmakers of Chariots of Fire unknowingly provide the answer in a scene dramatizing the British Olympic authorities’ attempt to change Liddell’s mind about running in the 100 meters. After their unsuccessful attempt, one of the men comments, “The lad… is a true man of principle and a true athlete. His speed is a mere extension of his life–its force. We sought to sever his running from himself.” In spite of the writer’s labeling God as a generic “force,” the statement is true. The Christian life cannot be lived apart from God. To do so is to compromise your very being.

That’s where the power of integrity begins. Only as you and I derive our being from our relationship with Christ can we ever hope to live like He did, suffer like He did, to withstand adversity like He did, and to die like He did–all without compromising…”

- From the opening chapter of  The Power of Integrity: Building a Life Without Compromise by John F. MacArthur. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1997.