Living
for God
Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the April 29, 2017 Sabbath School Lesson
“Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through
Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law
of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2, NIV
Perhaps I am giving away my age to mention this, but in
1965, Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple” opened on Broadway. It was well
received and was followed by two movies and several incarnations through television
series. Perhaps the best known of the television series was the one with Jack Klugman
as Oscar Madison and Tony Randall as Felix Unger, both pictured here. The show
was a comedy about the problems of two writers living together when one, Felix,
who was rather Obsessive Compulsive when it comes to order and cleanliness and
the other, Oscar, who was basically a slob, tried to live together. Oscar had
come to an understanding with life where as long as life made few demands on
him, he was happy. Felix, however, was unwilling to take life as he finds it and
tried to order and organize everything in a vain pursuit of happiness that
always seemed to elude him. As the play progresses, they ultimately get to the point
where they decide they cannot live together and separate, only to realize that
each has developed something positive in the other, and they reunite in the
end. The television series, which went on for years and was not constrained to
complete the plot line in a single evening, had many such ins and outs.
The success of this storyline was built on the shared experience
of everyone in the audience. Many of us have had those periods in our lives
where we were tempted to just let things slide, like Oscar, and drift with the
current into whatever adventure life sent our way, for some this was alcohol, drugs,
sexual exploration, gambling, or any number of other possible questionable involvements.
Also, like Oscar, we have run into those Felixes who are offended by those life
style choices, and like Felix, they are quick to point out our errors. As the
storyline would lead us to believe, they perhaps do this to make sure that the
relaxed standards do not allow any Oscars to enjoy any more happiness than the
Felixes of the world.
Then there are those who can identify with Felix. They are those who try to
live an organized and predictable life, prepared for what may be around the
next corner. They may feel that the entire world should be so organized and
those who, like Oscar, just don’t seem to care about the rules that Felixes
feel are important are a “wrench in the works” that introduces too much
uncertainty into a life that should be well-ordered. Felixes may come across as
constantly complaining and never happy to the Oscars among us. Everything they
do seems to require so much more overhead, so much more expenditure of energy
to do anything. They may seem frozen and unable to move forward with their
lives because when others have arrived at their destination, the Felixes are still
trying to figure out what to pack for the trip. They want the perfect
experience and cannot see it happening without perfect preparation. While they
are still trying to figure out what they need to have happiness, the Oscars are
finding great joy in that less-than-perfect experience they call life.
What does this have to do with living for God? It not
only speaks to secular life situations but to our spiritual experience, because
there tend to be spiritual Oscars and Felixes as well. A spiritual Oscar may
not be down with all the theology and may not be able to regurgitate the
significance of the sanctuary doctrine or apocalyptic eschatology, but they are
enjoying being a Christian. Instead of a well-ordered life based on
denominationally iterated dogmas, they find a blessing in the social
interactions, especially those that do not judge them for their lackadaisical
commitment to all the rules that have been agreed upon by all the spiritual
Felixes. For them, there is as much or more spirituality in a church potluck or
social event as in the regular church service. They may even eschew church
altogether to get dirty on a nature hike or wet and muddy on some beautiful bend
in a local river. If a sermon is filled with interesting stories, they might be
in church. Maybe it was for the Oscars of His day that Jesus told so many
parables. But if church is too much like Felix telling them what they are doing
wrong, they might simply slip out the back, drawn by the birds and the sunshine
outdoors. Their social side likely makes it difficult to sit silently on a hard
pew or chair for so long anyway. Oscars might never be able to give a Bible
Study to explain all the reasons and rules why one should belong to the church,
but they are good at making others feel welcome, primarily because they are not
constantly making their expectations of others center place in their social
interactions. Therefore members, new and old, feel at ease with them and fell
they have time to grow in a spiritually safe environment.
A spiritual Felix will be happiest being in a position where they can order the
lives of others and the church in general. While some may perceive them as
constantly finding fault with others who do not find the rules and dogmas to be
as clear-cut and vital as they do, they can be catalysts for self-examination
as long as they don’t push their perspective so hard that they alienate others.
Felixes tend to argue every point of belief within a denomination. They will
not only be able to recite the prophetic timelines, backed up by detailed
charts, but they will have the right charts, published at the right time by the
right publisher and with the right biblical citations. They will be very literal
in their biblical exegesis and may even promote only one version of the Bible
as being superior to all others. Because they have spent so much time packing
for the spiritual trip, they arrive able to quote prophets and scriptures for
every possible situation. They may even feign surprise that the Oscars that
were already present because they had less baggage to prepare were not better
prepared for the conversation. Felixes are good at turning relaxed social
gatherings into debates on theology and praxis. While they may feel this is the
road to spiritual happiness, no one goes home happy. The Oscars do not go home
happy because they were having a good time until things became all about rules
and penalties for breaking the rules, and the Felixes don’t go home happy
because they don’t understand why the Oscars don’t get it. In frustration, they
may even warn the Oscars about all the bad things that are going to happen if
they don’t somehow start worrying about the rules like the Felixes. For their
part, the Oscars may wonder why the Felixes are always spoiling everything. In
light of these differences, how can the Oscars and Felixes both find happiness
in God’s family?
Perhaps a good starting point is realizing that not only
does God love both the Oscars and the Felixes, but also that there are very few
pure Oscars and Felixes around. For comedic purposes, Neil Simon needed to make
his characters as stark as black and white. The sharp contrast made the jokes
come easier along with the laughs that followed. But in reality, we all are
part of a spectrum of personalities with most of us likely falling in the
middle as on a bell curve. Because of this, we may be somewhat better able to
understand one another. If we tend to be more like Felix, we may nonetheless
see some of Oscar in ourselves as well. If we are more like Oscar, we may yet
have some areas of our lives where we tend to be more organized and more
dogmatic about how things should be done. Jesus reached out to both personality
types. His pronouncements about the law appealed to the Felixes who agreed that
not one jot or tittle should be altered.[i] But his words to Martha
concerning Mary’s desire to simply sit at His feet when the meal needed preparing,
showed His love for the Oscars, also. He even went so far as to tell Martha
that what Mary had chosen to do was better.[ii]
An old hymn tells us that “There is Room at the Cross
for You.” Perhaps this is what we might all keep in mind. Whether we tend to be
more Oscars or more Felixes, there is room at the cross for both, and God does
not expect the Felixes to become Oscars or vice versa. He loves them for who
they are. He died for them to make it possible for each to join Him in paradise.
Maybe the spiritual growth we all need is to learn to love like that. And that
is what will make it paradise for everyone.
