A good friend of mine, former student and colleague in sponsoring a youth ministry at a church in Wichita, Kansas, once remarked that living the Christian life was like trying to hold at the same time thirty-two ping-pong balls under the surface of the water in a swimming pool.  He had in mind his own struggles to keep God’s commandments and the struggles of the young people with whom we worked closely.  The more I came to recognize my own sins and the perfection of God’s requirements, the more this illustration took on dimension to me.  I write this series of studies with my friend’s permission.

Those who, like me and my friend enjoy swimming (he was masterful at the butterfly stroke that I never could do!), will have some comprehension of the validity of his illustration.  It is patently impossible to hold thirty-two ping-pong balls under the surface of the water; it would be difficult to hold two or three.  As soon as you have some under, others would pop up as you tried to submerge some more.  Theoretically it should be possible, but practically it is not.  Thus God can say to Israel that they are not to add to or take from but rather keep God’s commands (Deut. 4:2), they are to be careful to keep all his decrees and commands (Deut. 6:1-3), and careful to obey all the law without turning aside to the right or to the left (Josh. 1:7).

For those who think that the Christian life is somehow easier, they should read carefully Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  My friend and I often talked about the fact that the Sermon on the Mount was to be taken quite literally, and when we do so, we encounter statements like Matt. 5:48 in which Jesus commands such perfection as God has, and Matt. 5:20 where he says that they will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless their righteousness exceeds that of the most righteous, religious people of their time, the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

Additionally, Jesus “raised the bar” in the Sermon on the Mount by incorporating the very motives of the heart and demanding purity there, not just in the outward actions of the body.  For instance, not only was physical adultery wrong, but lustful thoughts were as well (Matt. 5:28).  Not only was murder wrong, but the very act of inward anger (Matt. 5:22).  Love for enemies as well as friends and not resisting an evil person demanded a much higher standard than the law.  At the same time, Jesus emphasized that he had no intention of abolishing the law and the prophets, and those who did so and taught others to do so were diminished in standing in the kingdom (Matt. 5:17-19).

Thus we have as great a dilemma as the challenge to do the impossible with the thirty-two ping-pong balls.  We shall continue next week.