Is Playing The Lottery Sin?

Of course, gambling and playing the lottery are not mentioned in the Bible specifically as sin--so it's hard to make a case against it. God looks at the motive--does the individual desire to get rich, or does he have greed and love for money? Is he bored and looking for entertainment? ("The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil....") To be perspicuous, I am not a protagonist of any sort of gambling, since I cannot see Jesus doing it. "What would Jesus do?" is a good motto to live by. One should ask the questions: Can I ask Jesus' blessing on this? Can I invite Jesus with me in this? Many who play are obsessive-compulsive and in bondage like an alcoholic. They need to be set free and see the light. They think they've got the "bug," but really they've just been fooled by the lure of the destroyer-Apollyon (the devil).

There is no such thing as luck, so why believe in it? Einstein said, "God doesn't play dice with the universe." The Epicureans believed in chance, and the Stoics believed in fate--these are the two philosophies that seem to distinguish the gamblers. In essence, they are not trusting God to supply all their needs. Some say that if they tithe, they can do what they want with "their" money, but, as a matter of fact, all our money belongs to God, and the question should be "how much of God's money do I spend on myself?" We should trust in Providence, not happenstance. In the parable of the stewards, none of them used the money to gamble. As for stewardship, it is good advice to bet what you can afford to lose--not what you want to win if you must gamble.

Why should I be so concerned about this issue? Well, it has invaded the church as a condoned behavior that no one preaches about, like gluttony. Samuel Rutherford said that the more lively sense of sin, the less sin. What if you should win a million dollars? God sometimes gives us what we want, but are we prepared for it? The gambler can be guilty of worshiping at the shrine of "almighty chance," which is idolatry. In sum, gambling is not a sin per se, but it is unwise and should be avoided Many who condone it, don't do it themselves; why set a poor example and jeopardize your testimony, or do the devil a favor and love the world or the things of the world?

The call to holiness, "to come out from among them and be separate" is not something that can be commanded, one must get "convicted" on his own. So, don't think I condemn all lottery players, but I think there is a lot of abuse and slavery.

What may be a sin for me and my testimony, may not be for the baby believer for whom God doesn't require as much responsibility and testimony. Nothing is sin that isn't named or implied in Scripture, but the mature believer will see it as unwise.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Law And The Believer II

Watchman Nee explains the meaning of Romans 7 very well and says that God gives us the Law to break, He knew full well we wouldn't keep it. Gal. 3:10 says that those who rely on the Law are under a curse. Eph. 2:15 says that Christ abolished the Law for the believer. The Law is merely a shadow of things to come and is obsolete (Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1). If the Law could do away with sin, there would be no need for a new covenant, the old covenant was faulted. The Law says we do for God, grace says that God does for us. The Law says we have to, while grace says we want to. The purpose of the Law was to make us knowledgeable of sin (Rom. 7:6-7;3:20), not to be a panacea, but a diagnosis. "...[Indeed] it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are" (cf. Rom. 3:20 in the J. B. Phillips).

We live not under the Mosaic Law, but we live according to the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ" (Rom. 8:2). Nowhere in the NT are we exhorted to obey the Law!  When we say to God, "Oh wretched man that I am ...," this is "music to God's ears," according to Nee. "Our end is God's beginning," says Nee. Remember, 1 Tim. 1:9 which says, "The Law is not made for the believer, but for lawbreakers and rebels." Martin Luther called the Law a hammer that smashes our self-righteousness and a mirror that shows us our true nature, and a whip that drives us to the cross. It is meant to drive us to Christ as a tutor (see Gal. 3:25).

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The Pharisees were guilty of obeying just the letter of the Law and not the spirit. "As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the Law." We don't have to become "somewhat Jewish" to become Christians or grow in Christ. Christianity is not a branch or wing of Judaism. A good rule of thumb is that if a prohibition or command is not repeated in the New Testament it is probably not valid for the Christian, e.g. observing the Sabbath Day. The ceremonial laws and governmental laws are obsolete and the moral principles are still valid because morality never changes.

God never gives us the right to do what is wrong, or to just do what is right in our own eyes, or to be lawless. Martin Luther wrote a book, Against the Antinomians, which was a polemical book against those who thought they could live as they please after salvation. Today this kind of thinking is close to hedonism.

The Reformers who wrote the Formula of Concord in 1577 had a threefold use of the Law: to convict the unbeliever of sin or as a tutor to drive us to Christ; to bring order in society and restrain evil, and to be a light for what pleases and offends God. The Reformers were not as grace-oriented as modern-day evangelicals tend to be, e.g., they had strict Sabbath laws and rules in Calvin's Geneva and in Puritan New England. Actually, the Christian is under the higher law of love with the higher standard of Christ.  In sum, the Law doesn't save mankind it measures them.   Soli Deo Gloria!