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 Pilate
knew that Jesus was innocent. Three times he tells the Jews, “I
find no crime in him” (Jn. 18:38; 19:4,6). Still, “he
delivered him unto them to be crucified” (Jn. 19:16). Why?
Because he succumbed to the pressures of the moment. He allowed
himself to be influenced more by prevailing circumstances than
by what he knew to be right. Pilate was a slave to the
situation.
Like
Pilate, many others have allowed themselves to be dominated by
situation pressure to their own detriment. Among such are the
rulers who came to believe on Jesus, “but because of the
Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out
of the synagogue” (Jn. 12:42). With them, acceptance and
approval of men (avoiding man’s disapproval) took precedence
over pleasing God (v.43). They, too, became situation slaves.
Peter
was another who relented to such people - pressure. Shortly
before Jesus’ betrayal he had said, “Even if I must die with
thee, yet will I not deny thee” (Matt. 26:35). Yet, just a
short time later Peter finds himself in a different situation
— and here, while warming himself by the enemies’ campfire,
he denies Jesus three times. He proved a slave to the situation.
But this wasn’t the only time. Peter repeated his mistake at
Antioch by refusing to eat with the Gentiles in the presence of
certain Jews, “fearing them that were of the circumcision”
(Gal. 2:12). Worse, others were influenced by his example. “And
the rest of the Jews dissembled likewise with him.. .“ (v.13).
Situation slaves seldom serve alone.
The
situation pressures to which Peter
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and Pilate and others have succumbed continue
to enslave. As it respects youth, we have called it “peer
pressure”. God calls it conforming to the world (Rom. 12:2).
Whatever it may be called, it means subordinating my character
and convictions to the tastes of present company. It means being
more influenced by what they are than what I am! And, like those
who feared being cast out of the synagogue, it shows a
preference for the glory that is of men above that which comes
from God (Jn. 12:43). If what Pilate and Peter did seems bad,
think of the Christian who actually prefers and courts the favor
of the ungodly, worldly-minded sinner above God — and yet,
this very thing often happens under the pressures of certain
situations. Surely we don’t have to hear the rooster crow to
know that such conduct denies Christ as effectively as Peter
ever did!
May
God grant us the foresight to avoid deliberately placing
ourselves in compromising and tempting circumstances. This will
mean avoiding such places and people (1 Cor. 15:33) that we know
will generate conforming pressures. The broad way is filled with
former Christians who thought they could run with the world and
walk with Christ at the same time. We must be careful not to let
our associates determine what we will be like. However, when it
is not possible to isolate, we must insulate. That means
developing the kind of character that repels every appearance of
evil; the kind that yields only to God and His will and motto
transitory temptation.
Dan S. Shipley
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