The Lottery and the Reformation: Young People Ask… (#11)

What is wrong with playing the lottery?

Lottery fever is running rampant across North America yet again. Last month the jackpot in Florida surpassed $55,000,000. Last week an Illinois couple won $42,000,000. When questioned as to how they would use their winnings, they responded, “We don’t know. It is a bit scary.”

Our society has succumbed to “lotto lust.” Daily our mailbox contains promises of prizes, sweepstakes, winning numbers, bonuses, or questions like, “What would you do with $1,000,000?”

There is nothing new under the sun. The love of money is still the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10).

The extremes of current lottery fever, however, are just cause for alarm. How critical it is that we of a conservative Reformed heritage do not get caught up in the craze by giving in to purchasing that “first” lottery number!

Sin must remain sin. And the modern lottery disease is packed with symptoms of sinful disorders. Consider only the following:

(1) The secular lottery springs from the same principles as our first sin in Paradise—pride and power. We want to be as God. The desire for millions is an internal craving for independence from everyone and everything—especially God. In the lottery, self-lordship is subconsciously chosen over divine lordship. The false concepts of external quantity and power are elevated above the true concepts of internal quality and beauty.

(2) Hence, not surprisingly, root motives for indulging in the lottery are covetousness and selfishness. The “l-me-my-mine” mentality of our age is brought to the fore with societal sanction and blatantly flies in the face of the tenth commandment. This is evidenced by the stirring of passion which often ensues upon losing in the lottery.

(3) The lottery is either a direct or indirect challenge to the doctrine of divine providence. The concepts of “chance” and “lottery” are inseparable by very definition. Many speak of “fate,” “destiny,” “fortune,” or “luck”—all of which deny the all-inclusive government of the one, true, personal God. Those who place expectation in chance or fortune, sin against the third commandment by transgressing the Name of the Lord. “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Mt. 4:7b).

(4) Recent studies have shown that symptoms which tend to be precipitated “by the purchase of a lottery ticket, include discontentment with present financial and vocational conditions, compulsive desires to escape current responsibilities, and lastly, intermittent fantasies about how the millions would be spent.” Edmund Bergler (U.S. psychiatrist) has documented that a disproportionate number of purchasers of lottery tickets are “psychic masochists, trying to punish themselves for some crime they’d rather not think about.”

(5) The affliction of “lotto lust” consumes an incredible amount of time and conversation. As one columnist confessed after purchasing tickets with his wife: “All our conversation was absorbed with what we would do with ‘the 55 million.’ The hours passed by like minutes, as we astonishingly pursued the topic as though we really were going to win.”

(6) The lottery is deceptive. Advertisements for becoming “overnight millionaires” abound. The slim chances of success and the serious consequences of winning are downplayed and ignored.

(7) The purchasing of lottery tickets is an abuse of God’s gifts who grants us our income not for wasteful spending at our whim, but for responsible stewardship (Lk. 16:2). We must obtain our possessions by lawful means, namely, faithful labor: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.” Wishful thinking in modern lotteries contradicts the fourth commandment which commands labor for daily bread. A group of Ontario church leaders have rightly noted: “Lotteries, like other forms of gambling, encourage the notion that you can get something for nothing.”

(8) The lottery is essentially pragmatic in a negative sense. By sanctioning lottery for the sake of raking in monies, government seeks to keep under cover that gambling is being declared legal via political sanction.

In sum, “lotto lust” is doubly deceptive in that its initial appearance seems to be quite innocent—”harmless fun,” if you will. Notwithstanding, its fruit is rotten to the core. The lottery fosters the spirit of our day—instant gratification and ethical degeneracy. It breeds lustful greed, covetousness, selfishness, and envy. It violates the third, fourth, and tenth commandments. It exposes the truth that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Oer. 17:9).

The lottery fosters the spirit of our day— instant gratification and ethical degeneracy.

Let us pray for a different spirit—for the spirit of godliness exemplified in 1 Timothy 6:6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

True contentment and happiness does not come from the sudden bestowal of great sums of money but from the gift of the great treasures of free and sovereign grace (cf. Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 1). A round world can never fill a triangular heart. What is important is not how much we receive in this life, but how we receive it, namely, from the left hand of God’s forbearance or the right hand of His favor.

When these concerns become true experientially, we shall have neither need nor room for the current lotto fever.

What are the actual reasons why we go to church for Reformation Day?

On October 31 we gladly attend God’s house to worship the living Jehovah as our “mighty Fortress.”

Compared to the world, we have much better ground to commemoratively set October 31 aside: to worship the living God who gloriously ushered in the Reformation era subsequent to Martin Luther’s October 31, 1517 posting of ninety-five Theses on the church doors of Wittenberg. On Satan’s special evening of darkness and superstition, God chose to providentially display His light, to unfurl His banner of truth once more, and to restore the truths of sovereign grace in the midst of His backslidden church.

For at least four reasons, we attend church on October 31 to worship God:

(1) Appreciation. The commemoration of Reformation goes far beyond the church doors of Wittenberg. It is intended to appreciatively regard what God has done through the lives of the Reformation’s forerunners (e.g., Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, John Huss, William Tyndale), the Reformers themselves (e.g., Luther and Melanchthon, Calvin and Beza, Zwingli and Bullinger), and Post-Reformation worthies (e.g., from Diodati to Turretin in Geneva, from Teellinck to Comrie in Holland, from Perkins to Edwards in English and New England Puritanism). Our Pre- to Post-Reformation forebears have left behind Word-based treasures in their Spirit-molded lives—writings, doctrines, and histories that we ignore only at our peril. Reformation Day attempts to redress our imbalance on this score.

(2) Direction. Based on Scripture and instilled by the Holy Spirit, Reformation principles and doctrines are eminently safe guidelines for today’s roving church. Though Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, etc. were all Reformers of varied character and doctrinal emphases, they were united in major truths and scriptural foundations. Reformation Day reminds us of these and of our need to follow their biblical direction.

Reformation principles and doctrines are eminently safe guidelines for today’s roving church.

Only on this scriptural base can “the Reformed church ever be reforming” (as the Reformers insisted), in order to address current needs. Thus, we look backward on Reformation evening in order to glean principles that may assist us to be forward-looking. By grace, the Reformers were not “cabooses,” dragging the church backwards, but on scriptural grounds, “engines” to lead her forward through the Spirit’s power. They were men of vision, not ofstagnation. Their very lives and writings, in turn, call us to be both conservative and progressive: the former to “conserve” the rich heritage they have laid in our laps and retain the landmarks they have set; the latter, to wisely use this scriptural inheritance when facing contemporary issues they never had to address.

(3) Fortification. For defense purposes, the church needs to be re-entrenched continually in prime doctrines in order to do battle against many and mighty enemies. Reformation commemoration is an attempt to strengthen salvation’s bulwarks and doctrinal defenses in the church’s consciousness.

(4) Supplication. Above all, Reformation Day is meant to be prayer day. “Lord, revive Thy truth. In wrath remember mercy. Regird Thy struggling church with Thy building trowel and Thy defending sword as Thou didst so powerfully in the Reformation generation.”

Great Shepherd, who leadest Thy people in love,
‘Mid cherubim dwelling shine Thou from above;
In might come and save us, Thy people restore,
And we shall be saved when Thy face shines once more.

—Psalter 220, st 1

May God grace us this Reformation day with appreciation, direction, fortification, and supplication. May He grant us to pray in our prayers for Reformation truth in every sphere of our lives. May He gift us with earnest contention “for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”— that faith which is so aptly summarized in the Reformation’s five predominant watchwords. First, Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) as the source of Christian revelation, authority, and rule of faith and practice—not Rome’s Scripture and tradition concept. Second, justification by faith alone (sola fide) as a gift of God—not Rome’s faith and works’ brand of Semi-Pelagianism. Third, grace alone (sola gratia)—not Rome’s system of grace and superogatory merits. Fourth, Christ alone (solus Christus)—not Rome’s Christ and the intercession of Mary and the saints. Fifth, glory to God alone (soli Deo gloria)—not Rome’s glory to God and the papal apostolic succession.

Dear young people, let us separate ourselves from the work of Satan on October 31 and seek grace to remember the work of the living, reforming God. Let us seek grace to know the history, doctrine, and application of the Reformation in our own minds and hearts, so that we may become wrestlers at the throne of grace for personal, domestic, ecclesiastical and national Spirit-worked reformation.

Forward questions intended for this department to: Rev.J.R. Beeke, 2115 Romence St. N.E., Grand Rapids, Ml 49503. Questions will be published anonymously.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen