AN UNPREACHED SERMON (194)
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After church last Sunday, three wee boys were letting off steam in the grounds of the church. One of them approached me with what he said was a six-leaf clover. I was dubious, but gave his botanical knowledge the benefit of the doubt. He handed it to me as a gift and I assured him I would take it home, place it in a jar of water and see if it thrived. Rather than humming a hymn on the way home in the car, I found myself singing “I’m looking over a four-leaf clover”.
Traditionally associated with the idea of good luck, I’ve been thinking about whether this is a concept that has any place in the Christian life. It is such a contradiction of what we believe about the Lord’s control of our lives, rather than chance or random circumstances directing our decisions, destinies and futures. Alfa Romeo use the symbol on their high-performance sports cars and Celtic football club adopted it as their logo a good number of years ago. But I am unlikely ever to own such a car or play football at such a level. And don’t forget “the luck of the Irish” associated with the shamrock.
It raises the question of whether belief in luck should ever be part of our thinking as Christians. Apparently in the pre-reformation church it was quite common to lump together the famous triad of faith, hope and love with luck; often linked with the finding of a four-leaf clover. Not only was that superstitious, but a complete contradiction of the biblical emphasis and our own experience, well summarised by Paul in the words: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom 8:28); such a confident statement rules out any dependence on luck, fate or chance. So, what are we to make of Christians wishing each other “good luck”?
THE CONCEPT IS CRITICISED IN THE BIBLE.
It is clearly denounced by Isaiah, and reads very well in the NLT translation. “Because...you have forsaken the Lord and His Temple and worship the gods of Fate and Destiny, I will “destine” you to the sword...for when I called, you did not answer. You deliberately sinned...and chose to do what I despise” (Isaiah 65:11, 12). A wise saying in Proverbs conveys the same denunciation: “We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall” (Proverbs 16:33 NLT).
As far as God’s people are concerned, nothing happens by chance or at random. Every aspect of our life is under His control and leaves no room for chance. Any dependence on luck denies His sovereign control and makes the wrong assumption that to some extent we can determine our own future.
THE PRACTICE IS REJECTED BY THE CHURCH.
Whenever the church has resorted to raising much-needed funds by a dependence on things like gambling or games of chance, it has already started on the slippery slope of spiritual decline and eventual closure. But where God’s people have adopted the principle that “God’s work, done in God’s way, never lacks God’s supply” they have proved His faithfulness to provide all that was needed for successful advancement of the work.
Christians’ aversion to and avoidance of things like the National Lottery are not because of a “stick-in-the-mud" attitude to a wee flutter, but because of their firm insistence on the over-ruling providence of God in their lives. “The blessing of the Lord makes rich and He adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22). My own mother knew this when she reminded her sons as we each came to a certain age, “The only winner is the bookie” - which is why he drives an Alfa Romeo and not a Mini! When I worked for the Scottish Prison Service nearly all the men I dealt with, somewhere in their criminal career of whatever nature, had as its root the desire to “get rich quick” by whatever easy means they could devise. They often ascribed their length of time being out of jail since they were last in to luck.
THE IDEA IS OBSCURED BY THE LANGUAGE.
Even such a spiritually-minded stalwart as John Wesley was not averse to parting from people and saying, “I wish you luck in the Name of the Lord”. And William Tyndale (1494-1536) in his translation of the book of Genesis was quite happy to explain, “Joseph was a lucky fellow” (Genesis 39:2). Language changes over the years. The meanings and implications of words vary. In years gone by, when people were more religiously minded, though not spiritually renewed, to wish someone luck was tantamount to wishing God’s blessing upon them. But things change, the world changes, and so do words.
In describing Joseph as “a lucky fellow”, Tyndale was seeking to convey that Joseph had landed on his feet gaining such a high position in Potiphar’s household. But the emphasis was not on this happening by chance. It was because “the Lord was with Joseph”. What he became was dependent on the Lord’s blessing, not on him happening to be in the right place at the right time in the right circumstances. The whole story of Joseph is an example of the providence of God shaping his life and guiding his steps at every turn. Genesis 39-46 paints a picture of Joseph’s
Integrity in the face of strong temptations
Faithfulness to His God
Hard work, even in difficult circumstances
Big-heartedness towards his brothers
We catch a glimpse of Joseph’s utter trust that in it all and through it all, God was at work behind the scenes of his chequered life. “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:19). Tyndale’s vivid translation was used by him to convey that any success experienced by Joseph was due to the hand of God being upon his life and guiding him at every turn.
We need to be careful in our use of language.