Motorcycle Theology, Part 3

In Part 1 I discussed why would love to ride a motorcycle. In Part 2 I reviewed some safety statistics and found that you are approximately 2330% more likely to die riding a motor than driving a car. Given that motorcycle riding is relatively unsafe, in Part 3 I want to look at our responsibilities as Christians.

The first thought when thinking through this topic is: "well, it would be great if I died young on a motorcycle...I could get a head start hanging out with Jesus in heaven." At first glance Philippians 1:21 almost appears to say that we should do everything that we can to try to die. It says "to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (ESV). Sweet, I gain if I die! However, the context of this verse is in that of ministry. Sure, Heaven is certainly gain compared to the world we live in. But verse 20 says: "as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death" (ESV). So while a physical death is gain, we still have a responsibility to honor Christ in our bodies. This includes being responsible with our safety (part 3) and honoring our families (especially those who are dependent on us) (part 4).

Christ isn't glorified by us acting irresponsibly and recklessly with no intention of furthering the gospel. God's plan (pre-fall) is for life and not death. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (ESV). This includes honoring God by not knowingly chosing to do something, like ride a motorcycle for purposes of convenience or pleasure when you are 2330% more likely to die compared to driving a car for essentially the same purposes.

Before I move too far into this I want to point out that there is a great missions field within the biker community. If you've been called to motorcycle missions work then you would fit right in with Paul risking his life for his missions work. If you're interested here are a few hundred groups doing so: motorcycle ministries. However, motorcycle missions were never my intentions, therefore I'm going to keep pursuing this safety question.

There are a multitude of places in the Bible that say that God is sovereign: Proverbs 16:9, 16:33, 19:21, 21:30, Ecclesiastes 7:13, Lamentations 3:37-38, James 4:15, Revelation 3:7, Psalm 115:3, Isaiah 46:10, Daniel 4:35, Acts 17:25-28...we really could keep going on and on here.

Additionally we have an extremely large number of verses discussing God as the provider of safety or is sovereign over our safety: Deuteronomy 12:10, 33:28, 1 Samuel 12:11, 20:13, Job 5:11, Psalms 4:8, 12:5, 55:18, 78:53, Proverbs 11:14, Isaiah 14:30, 38:14, Jeremiah 4:6, 6:1, 32:37, Hosea 2:18, Zechariah 8:10.

I want to write out Romans 8:28 because I feel it really addresses the issue of God being in control of what is best for us: "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose". I don't want this to turn this into a blog discussing God's sovereignty, but I do want to pose the question: "if God's sovereign, won't he just like keep me safe or something?" In short: not necessarily.

The "good" spoken of in Romans 8:28 might not always align with what we deem as "good". For example, sometimes one man's death leads to another accepting Christ. Trusting in God and his sovereignty does not exempt us from adversity/hardship/struggling/sickness. We should actually expect them (1 Peter 4:12). Trusting God does not somehow give us the ability to control the outcome of our lives (that would be trusting in "our sovereignty"). Instead, trusting God gives us the attitude necessary to submit to whatever God throws at us...which may be a motorcycle accident.

Additionally, trusting God does not excuse us from pursuing wisdom and responsibility. Pursing wisdom means NOT embrace foolish decisions: Numbers 12:11, Deuteronomy 32:6, 1 Samuel 13:13, 2 Samuel 24:10, 1 Chronicles 21:8, 2 Chronicles 16:9, Psalms 38:5, a huge chunk of Proverbs - a good on is 6:6-8, Ecclesiastes 7:25, Jeremiah 4:22, Matthew 25:8, Mark 7:21-22, Romans 1:21, Ephesians 5:4, 2 Timothy 2:23, Titus 3:3, etc. A good summary is Ephesians 5:17 which says "do not be foolish"!

I think it's safe to say that while God is in control of everything that happens to us, we still have responsibilities. We have a LOT of responsibilities, e.g. to work, care for others, pray, be fruitful, etc. As a biblical example of being responsible essentially in pursing safety, God tells David that David will succeed Saul as King (1 Samuel 16:13) but Saul wanted to kill David. David didn't just presume God's sovereignty, sit back and assume that regardless of how irresponsibly David acted that God would protect him. Instead, he acted wisely and carefully (still in dependence upon God to bless his efforts) and took every effort to run away from this guy trying to hill him so that David would actually live to become king.

We can't simply sit back and "trust God" that he will keep us safe on a motorcycle. If it is his will to do so, he will...but we must still be responsible. We are essentially commanded to be safe in Deuteronomy 30:19-20: "I have set before you life (no motorcycle) and death (motorcycle), blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days" (ESV).

In summary, we glorify God in our bodies by not making dangerous decisions and God is sovereign over our safety but we are still responsible to pursue that safety. In Part 4 I will further discuss our need to be responsible with our safety. Namely I want to discuss honoring parents and responsibilities to wives/kids (for those of you not in the BTR who have to worry about such things).