How can it be wrong when it looks so good?

OK - so before we go any further, we need to make sure we understand the name of the town, ‘Vanity Fair’… which is linked to the old-fashioned meaning of ‘vain’ (meaningless or futile), rather than the more contemporary sense of self-idolising that thinks of ourselves more highly than we ought. Although Bunyan would clearly consider such an attitude entirely inappropriate, it isn’t the issue he is exploring here. We get closer to his sense if we remember that the Authorised Version of the Bible launched into the Book of Ecclesiastes with the lament ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity’ (1:2). The NIV renders the same verse in a more modern parlance as ‘Utterly Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!’ We need to make the same shift in vocabulary as we come with Christian and Faithful into the next chapter of their Pilgrimage: Meaningless Market… or perhaps Futility Fair.

But the name we give it is nothing like as important as the reality it conveys. Every fleeting pleasure, every distraction, every entertainment, every indulgence - in short, everything the world has ,is on offer. The Fair stands through all of time, and embraces every culture. Even Christ had been taken from street to street and stall to stall (Heb.4:15). Some of its ware is self-evidently sinful, some seems harmless, some even seems legitimate after a fashion, but all of it is spiritually deadly. It is the world, enamoured with sin, enthralled by frivolity, ensnared by entertainment and distraction. The point is not that everything is ‘depraved’ or obviously evil. It is that ‘this world in its present form is passing away’ (I Cor.7:31), and that those who are engrossed in the things of this world, who live for what this world has to offer, will findthey have invested in something that will not last… that their lives count for nothing. It is futile, meaningless… vanity.

Pilgrims must be in the world, and our discipleship must be played out on this stage. As Bunyan puts it (echoing I Cor.5:10), ‘he that will go to the City, and yet not go through this town, must needs go out of the world’. But it is immediately obvious to all that Christian and Faithful do not belong there. And nor do they have any interest in the merchandise. Initially their disengagement provokes nothing more than amusement; but the situation quickly turns sour. When they refuse to purchase anything but truth (which isn’t on sale!), the Fair turns ugly, ‘some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling on others to smite them’. These two believers, simply by being there, had almost turned the Fair upside down (Acts 17:6). ‘All order was confounded’, and through no fault or provocation of their own, Christian and Faithful find themselves on trial. As they give their statement, they are at first dismissed as ‘bedlams and mad’ or perhaps ‘such as came to put all things into a confusion at the Fair’. They are beaten, imprisoned and left vulnerable to ‘any man’s sport, or malice, or revenge’.

A host of passages lies behind Bunyan’s portrayal of the behaviour of the Towns-folk:

I Peter 4:4, They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you;

Titus 2:7-8, In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

John 15:18-19, If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Bunyan is at pains to show that this is the nature of the world. Christian and Faithful have done nothing to justify their ill-treatment. They have simply acted in a way that is consistent with their confession of Christ as Lord. And yet, that is sufficient to inspire the world’s ire. When Satan is not able to distract us with the ‘fleeting pleasures of sin’, he will just as soon seek to intimidate and bully, imprison and berate. It makes no odds to him. One means is as good as the other in achieving his end of hindering those on the Way.

Many however do not need to be treated so brutally. They are distracted, swallowed up by the Fair, enticed and entrapped, ‘deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures’ (Titus 3:3). Satan has no need to persecute those who are already possessed by a love for all this world has to offer. Those who claim to be pilgrims, but who look and behave no different from those around them in the world, pose him no threat, and cause him no concern.

A Prayer for the Pilgrim in Vanity Fair:

O Lord,

the world is artful to entrap, approaches in fascinating guise, extends many a gilded bait, presents many a charming face.

Let my faith scan every painted trinket, and escape every bewitching snare in a victory that overcomes all things.

In my duties give me firmness, energy, zeal, a devotion to Thy cause, courage in Thy name, love as working grace, and may my life be commensurate with my confession of Christ.

Thy Word is full of promises … May I be rich in its riches, strong in its power, happy in its joy. May I abide in its sweetness, feast on its preciousness, draw vigour from its pages,

that I may have no hunger or desire for this world.

O Lord, increase my faith.

…taken from The Valley of Vision, ‘Faith and the World’

no article on Thursdays

…but here is a great Bunyan quote to get you through the day!

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life

Christian and Faithful enjoy a timely encounter with Evangelist, which as we read it, might strike us as strange. We are used to thinking about evangelists as those who get us started on the Way, perhaps introducing us to Christ, helping us to understand the benefits following Him might bring, and as being instrumental in our conversion. But here he is again, half way through the Pilgrim’s Progress. In part this is simply due to the fact that Evangelist is himself, first and foremost a Pilgrim. He too is on his way to the Celestial City, and so an evangelist will be journeying with those they have played a part in leading to Christ. But Bunyan’s point is more subtle. We have too compartmentalised a view of evangelism. We tie it too firmly and exclusively to the earliest stages of someone’s journey to Christ. But we’ve seen that Evangelist’s Gospel-ministry is much wider, rebuking Christian earlier for listening to Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, re-focusing him on the Narrow Way at key points, and now, encouraging him - and Faithful - in their pilgrimage. Evangelist keeps them in the Way, as well as starting them in it. It is s amuch more dynamic view of salvation, that understands we are being saved, as well as having been saved (e.g. I Cor.1:18).

And of course, his concern for their spiritual well-being doesn’t end once they become Pilgrims. He reminds them, somewhat ominously that they (and we) have many trials to go through if they are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Acts 14:22). This is no abstract exhortation… ‘You will soon come into a town that you will by and by see before you; and in that town you will be hardly beset with enemies, who will strain hard but they will kill you; and be you sure that one or both of you must seal the testimony which you hold with blood. But be you faithful unto death and the King will give you a crown of life’.

Evangelist encourages them to remain steadfast, to run in such a way as to gain the prize, to let the Kingdom be always before them. He calls them to courage and perseverance, reminding them that martyrdom will mean they will have ‘arrived at the Celestial City soonest’, and that they will escape many hardships that the other pilgrim(s) will have to endure. ‘Commit the keeping of your souls to God in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator’. This is a very different message to the one we are accustomed to hearing from evangelists. Yet it is far more true to Scripture, and we would do well to remember it as we are sharing our faith with others. We must warn them of the struggles and hardships of following Chist, that the call to discipleship is a call to take up our cross and follow Him (Matt.16:24); it is to recognise that Christ is more to be valued than all the treasures or comforts of this world. Failure here is a dereliction of spiritual duty, and will cause significant problems for those we are seeking to introduce to Christ. Many have turned back because those speaking to them of Christ were simply not honest about the difficulties that lay ahead.

Earlier in the story, when Christian was benefitting from the counsel of more mature Christians and ministers, he was plagued by an impatience to get going. At the Interpreters House, and again at Beautiful Palace, he had to be restrained, bid to stay to learn and experience more that would be to his advantage. It is a sign of Christian’s maturing in his faith and discipleship that he thanks Evangelist, ‘but told him that he would have him speak further to them for their help the rest of the way’. Spiritual growth is evidenced by a developing desire for fellowship and teaching.

There is a pattern in Pilgrim’s Progress that is true to life. Before trial and tribulation there is often a time of especial encouragement. Before his battle with Apollyon, Christian enjoyed the blessings of the Beautiful Palace. Here again, before their entering Vanity Fair, there is - even in the wilderness - strong fellowship, rejoicing at the re-union with old friends, encouragement and exhortation from the Scriptures. They will need to draw on such benefits to endure the spiritual contest that lies ahead.

Questions to ponder:

How does thinking about Evangelist and his ministry change the way you think about the Gospel? …and about evangelism?

How would you encourage someone in the face of their martyrdom? Would you encourage them? …or would you commiserate with them?

All mouth and no trousers...

It is a relatively easy thing to speak of being a Christian, and even at times, to speak as a Christian. If you hang around Church a while, you can soon learn how to do it. It can happen inadvertently, but the danger is that we start to think that because we know how to fit in, and how to sound like one, we must therefore be a Christian. Occasionally there might be an intention to deceive, but more often than not, it just happens… and the person doing it is as deceived (or perhaps well-meaningly confused?) as anyone.

And our sense of what it is to be a Christian these days has fallen to such a low ebb, that if someone says they have become a Christian, we tend to assume that the reality is as they say it is. We’ve already met Discretion who seeks to test the authenticity of any claim to faith. And once we’ve met Talkative we appreciate how valuable such Discretion can be. It turns out that in Bunyan’s day - as in our own - there are those who talk a good game, but whose profession of faith runs no deeper than their tongue! They have an opinion on everything, and are willing to share it, but as Faithful concludes: ‘I saw you forward to talk, [but] I knew you had aught else but notion … you are a man whose religion lies in talk…’ But because it lies only in talk, ‘religion fareth the worse for your ungodly conversation’. The lack of integrity becomes apparent to everyone except themselves, and they end up undermining genuine discipleship in others by their hypocrisy.

And most frustrating of all, such ‘Talkatives’ come to deeply resent any challenge, and insinuation that they might not be the genuine article. They are snide towards those who call their claims into question, and who see the dissonance between their life and their lip. When Faithful pushes the conversation to the question of ‘experience, conscience and God’, when he speaks of faith in a specific Christ, and of holiness and obedience, when he asks: ‘doth your life and conversation testify the same? or standeth your religion in word or in tongue, and not in deed and truth?’, Talkative begins to blush, and then dismisses Faithful as a ‘catechiser’ (!). Talkative believes himself to be a true Christian, deeply resents such searching discussion, and dismisses Faithful as a ‘peevish and melancholy man, not fit to be discoursed with’. He is the kind of person who dismisses authentic discipleship as ‘just your opinion’, and legitimises his own inconsistencies by accusing others of being ‘ready to take up reports and to judge so rashly’. In today’s parlance, ‘Don’t be so judgemental’. His departure puts beyond dispute the spurious nature of his claims to discipleship.

To be fair, there have always been ‘Talkatives’ lurking around Churches. The Apostle Paul had to remind the Corinthians that ‘…the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power’ (I Cor.4:20); and before that, Jesus lambasted the Pharisees as those who ‘do not practice what they preach’ (Matt.23:3).

Christian knows of Talkative from previous dealings, and has learned to keep his distance, to cast not pearls before swine. Christian warns us, with a certain poetic vigour, that ‘he is best abroad; near home, he is ugly enough’. In other words, when you first meet them, or if you only have casual acquaintance, you can easily be fooled. They sound passionate, knowledgeable, serious, and at a superficial level they can look like the real deal. But once you’ve listened carefully (often to what they are not saying), or got to know them, the inconsistencies in their life become too much to bear.

Such as Talkative have never grasped that ‘while we are saved by faith alone, the faith that saves is never alone’ (Luther). …that those who have such genuine faith in Christ are those who hear His words and put them into practise (Matt.7:24-26; 12:50 & 13:20-23). It is not enough that there is ‘a great outcry against sin’, it must be abhorred and repented of. It is not enough to denounce sin, it must be disowned. It is not enough to know the Gospel, it must be believed and trusted in. It is not enough to confess Christ, but - in the words of Faithful - our life must be answerable to that confession.

Genuine disciples react differently to such questions. It may be painful to be asked them, but our response will include conviction, repentance and growth. We will appreciate those who love us enough to take the time and the risk of challenging us where sin is obviously unchecked. Our fellowship deepens, and our commitment to one another grows as we support each other’s growth.

The departure of Talkative is one of the saddest moments in the Pilgrim’s Progress. There is a tragedy about those who seem to understand so much and so little all at the same time. But Faithful is glad he made the effort. He was faithful to warn Talkative and he is ‘clear of his blood, if he perishes’. Small comfort, but comfort nonetheless.

Questions to ponder:

How can we avoid the danger of becoming merely ‘Talkative’ ourselves?

Have you ever been disillusioned by a ‘Talkative’? How did you negotiate that?

Do you think Christian’s attitude to Talkative is a bit harsh? How do you think we should relate to people like this? Can you think of any passages from the Bible that would help you formulate an appropriate response?

Faithful: adhering firmly and devotedly, as to a person, cause, or idea...

Some pilgrims never make it out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. It becomes more than a metaphor. It becomes a martyrdom. Christian stumbles across the ‘blood, bones, ashes and mangled bodies of … pilgrims that had gone this way formerly’. Remember that Bunyan is writing Pilgrim’s Progress in prison. He is experiencing first hand the realities of being persecuted for his faith, and so the questions of persecution and martyrdom are uppermost in his mind, as are the encouragement and inspiration a pilgrim can draw from the faithfulness of others in the midst of such suffering. We’ll experience something of this encouragement and inspiration ourselves at our Open Doors / Global Church weekend in September. But thinking about the experience of the Church in England, Bunyan - from the perspective of the 1600s - paints initially Paganism and subsequently Roman Catholicism (including insofar as it had ‘infected’ the Anglican church) as chief amongst the causes of suffering, and indeed martyrdom, for English Christians. You may feel this is a somewhat jaundiced view, and perhaps an unworthy episode in an otherwise great book. But bear in mind the experience of many Christians in that generation, that Foxe’s Book of Martyrs was standard reading for Christians of the day (detailing the persecution suffered by the Church during the Reformation), and that Bunyan had fought during the Civil War(s) in which the religion of politics and the politics of religion had played no small part.

It is no accident that it is at this point in the narrative that Christian connects with Faithful. Even his introduction to Faithful is instructive as Bunyan warns against the danger of competitiveness and pride creeping into our discipleship. Pride is a recurring theme in Christian’s pilgrimage. It was Pride that had caused him to slip as he went down into the Valley of Humiliation; and Pride had been one of the patterns of sin Apollyon had exposed. But even in his stumbling we see God’s grace at work, for it is the occasion of Faithful’s coming to help him.

Faithful is ahead of Christian on the path, even though he left the City of Destruction after him. Bunyan is again teaching us, warning us of the dangers that lie in the Way. Many who have been Christians for many years can often feel aggrieved when other, more recent, converts seem to enjoy much more of Christ, to benefit more from the Church than they have, and to make a progress they have not. Rather than celebrating their growth, learning from their fellowship, and being inspried by their zeal, they seek to ‘prove’ they are more mature than they are, and to re-assert their privileged position over them. There is a tragedy in such an attitude, and it leads to a greater stumbling.

Ironically, Faithful explains that it was Christian’s witness, message and changed life that galvanised his own escape from their City. Indeed, Faithful has wisely learnt from the mistakes of Christian, and has avoided some of the difficulties as a result. Mind you, he’s faced some challenging characters of his own, such as Wanton, Adam from the Town of Deceit, Discontent, and Shame (who rather confusingly seeks to alleviate his own shame by shaming others whose shame is dealt with by Christ). And Faithful has also had his own bruising encounter with legalism…

No-one’s pilgrimage is the same. Whilst there is huge resonance between Faithful’s and Christian’s experience, giving them plenty to discuss on the Way, there are also points at which each pilgrim’s battles are unique to them. The temptations we face, the fears we succmb to, and the sins we struggle with are not necessarily those others will.

Nevertheless Faithful had proved, well, faithful. Even in the Valley of the Sadow of Death he knew the face of Christ shining upon him, coming to terms with death and judgement more easily than Christian. He kept on the path, and kept going forward (even at points where Christian had slept or wandered). Faithful has pressed on through his struggles with his own ongoing experience of sin, and his old, corrupt, Adamic humanity (Eph.4:22); he has resisted the temptation to turn back, or even to be shaped by his former acquaintance with ‘Pride, Arrogancy, Self-Conceit and Worldly-glory’.

But while he had missed some of Christian’s trials, he had missed some of his blessings too. Faithful, in his urgency, had missed the opportunity for refreshment and equipping at the Palace Beautiful (and likely Bunyan intends us to understand this as lying behind his dalliance with Discontent). And there is a lurking question about the urgency that drives Faithful so relentlessly. It doesn’t always seem healthy, or appropriate. Whilst we rejoice that he has missed some of the trials that overshadow the Narrow Way, we are saddened that he has missed the Beautiful Palace, and the benefits Christian enjoyed from his stay there.

Early in their conversation, Faithful and Christian reflect on Pliable, whose abandonment of his own pigrimage has had dire and tragic consequences (which should lead us to pray for those we know who have begun in the faith, but who have since discarded it). Faithful was obviously deeply affected by what he saw of Pliable’s condition, and by how Pliable was treated by others and by God. Is this what lay behind Faithful’s undiscerning determination to press on at all costs? We can learn from the mistakes of others, but let us not allow them to throw us off balance. Our pilgrimage must be shaped by the Word of God alone.

Questions to ponder:

Who in your life has acted like Faithful in your own pilgrimage, encouraging and supporting you , challenging and inspiring you? Is there an appropriate way you could thank them?

In whose pilgrimage are you acting like Faithful, encouraging and supporting, challenging and inspiring someone else? Is there a way you could be more intentional in this?