VIGILANCE: Asleep at the wheel!

"It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert--for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning - in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, 'Be on the alert!'"

Mark 13:34-37

Police discovered an eighteen year-old Santa Fe man at 2 a.m. sleeping on the passenger seat of Andrew Brewer's Chevy Camaro, next to broken glass and a large rock, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

Deputy Police Chief Beverly Lennen said the youth had apparently broken into the car to steal it. Unfortunately the car resisted starting and, for reasons known only to the car thief, he fell asleep at the wheel.

The authorities awakened and arrested him.

“He was just laying there,” the car’s owner said. “It was pretty odd … . Someone stole my car but didn't [leave] because he fell asleep.”

Jesus warned us to “be alert” that our Master not come suddenly and find us asleep at the wheel.

Christianity, Illustrations,
Religion, Vigilance

TRADITIONS: The Old Rutted Road -- Part I!

Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Mark 2:27-28

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet 8.5 inches. Why? Because that’s the gauge used in England; English expatriates built our first railroads.

Why that spacing? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Again, why? Because the people who built the tramways were wagon builders, and they used their wagon wheel spacing jigs and fixtures to set the tram wheels.

Okay! One more time! Why that odd spacing? Because, if any other spacing was used the wagon wheels would break on most of the old, cross country roads? Okay, why? Because the road ruts were that spacing.

So who built those old rutted roads? The first in Europe (and England) were built by Romans for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? Roman chariots made the original ruts (which everyone else used for fear of destroying their wagons and wagon wheels). The wheel spacing of all Roman chariots was exactly alike.

Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

It seems specs and bureaucracies are eternal. So, when you’re handed a specification and wonder which horse's behind came up with it, you may be more right than you know. Because Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the behinds of two Imperial Roman war-horses.

Beloved, much exists in the church today that’s tied to an ages old tradition without much adjustment for the people who have to live with them.

Jesus taught us, "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”; since redeemed man is the Church, and the Church is to keep the Sabbath holy, we must likewise conclude the church was made for man, and not man for the church.

Traditions give flavor and honor to the blood, sweat, and tears of those who’ve gone on before us. But people use the traditions to provide the flavor and to give the honor, not the other way around. If the people of God decide to hold onto a tradition for a couple of centuries, or even a couple of millennia, that’s fine. But if the traditions are in place because of T’TW’ADTH (That’s the way we’ve always done things here), well then, the traditions are running us not the other way around.

[The Good, Clean Funnies List, Box 476, Harvest, AL 35749-0476; USA; “The Impact of the Roman Empire on Space Shuttle Design,” 20 October 1999; “ received from L. Rodney Ford via Doug Taylor.”]

Christianity, Illustrations,
Religion, Traditions

HOMOSEXUALITY: Unrepentant, yet still loved by their Creator!

But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

Mark 10:5-9

#1) “John Dallas, author, public speaker, and counselor … said, the gay community is like a lot of folks: they hear what they want to hear. For example, pro-gay theologians make much of the silences of the Bible. Jesus, for instance, did not explicitly condemn homosexuality … . But … neither did Jesus specifically condemn wife-beating, incest, dope-taking, and a host of other evils.

"What Jesus did do, in Mark 10:5-9, was affirm the Genesis account of creation, in which God 'made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife ….' Heterosexual marriage in other words.” [#1: “Pro-Gay Theology,” Part 2, Pulpit Helps, July 1999, 31]

#2) The conference speaker asked if someone in the audience would loan her a $20 bill. A gentleman obliged with a crisp new bill.

The speaker held it up for all to admire … . Then she crumpled the bill, inspected it briefly, then crushed it in her hands once again, until it was a shapeless mass. Holding it up, she asked the donor if he still wanted his money back. Yes, indeed, he answered.

“Ah,” said the speaker, “you mean it still has value, even though it has been used and abused?” He nodded, he did.

Quickly came the moral: “Just as that $20 bill still has value, so too are men and women and teenagers whose lives have been twisted and tainted by sin. They are still precious to God.”

Both components of this two part post must be read and contrasted; social-spiritual issues such as homosexuality are too critical in our day for knee-jerk reactions. [#2: “God Can Use Anyone,” selected, Pulpit Helps, July 1999, 6.]

Christianity, Homosexual,
Illustrations, Religion

COMMITMENT: For Heaven’s Sake!

"One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, 'What commandment is the foremost of all?'"

Mark 12:28

An exasperated mother challenged her mischievous son, “How can you expect to get into heaven acting like this?”

The boy, not hesitating, said, “Well, I think I’ll just run in and out, and in and out, and in and out, and slamming the door until St. Peter at last says, ‘For heaven's sake, Jimmy, come in or go out, one or the other.’”

[Edited for publication, submitted to Jokes EveryDay by SSchmu2158; 10/28/99; http://www.jokeseveryday.com.]

Sadly, many seem to think getting into glory is that easy; that somehow the choice after death will be theirs. However, if God –

• drowned all but eight of the world’s residents for their carnality
• confused the language of the whole earth for attempting to reach Him
• turned Lot’s wife to salt for looking back
• loved Jacob but hated Esau over a spurned birthright
• prevented Moses from seeing the Promised Land for what appears on the surface to be a minor infraction
• removed the crown from Saul’s brow for a moment of greed and materialism (a.k.a. disobedience)
• caused Nebuchadnezzar to share the field with the beasts for a season of arrogance
• prepared a great fish to prevent Jonah’s flight from evangelism
• required Isaiah to walk naked for three years as a sign to Israel
• asked John the baptizer to play the fool and lose his head as a result
• and sent His only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world ...
  

I doubt seriously entrance into heaven is going to be a matter of individual choice.

Christianity, Commitment,
Illustrations, Religion

OMNIPOTENCE: The Mother of all power!

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VALUE AND SUBSTANCE: [Mark 6:37]

The story is told of a gifted musician who, with his violin, was able to sway an enormous number of music lovers. One day he played and played, manipulating his audience on till their enthusiasm reached its zenith. Pausing, he held his instrument aloft, and then smashed it over the back of a chair.

The people were enraged. They jumped to their feet as one and briefly surged toward the master-player for destroying the violin that produced such unearthly sounds, such glorious music. But there stood the musician, calm and serene.

When the audience’s rage abated, he said quietly, "I know how you feel, but I want to teach you a lesson. Do you see the shattered violin? Well, it only cost fifty dollars!”

Picking up another, he continued, "Now I am going to play on this instrument, my most treasured violin, costing me some fifty thousand dollars. By my action, which you’ve condemned, I want to teach you that music is not in the instrument, but in the player.” And then he played on the second violin. And there was no discernable difference in the music.

In the hands of a master, the cheap violin produced strains equal to that of the costlier instrument. We are
slow to learn music is not in the instrument but in the Player. It makes little difference to the Lord (who is the Creator of all true harmony) whether the violin of your life is worth a trifling or a fortune.

It isn’t what you have but what He imparts which counts. Why, He can take mere nobodies and use them in a mighty way! "Little is much, if God is in it.” The miracle of the loaves proves He is supreme at multiplication.

Source: Lockyer, Herbert, “The Ten Strings’” Union Gospel Press (nd) 28,29; edited for use.

MUSIC -Only His ear knows for sure!

THROWING OUT THE BABY AND THE WATER! [Mark 11:29-34a; controversy]

Some of the religious people of Jesus’ day were challenging His authority for doing His miraculous works; He responded by asking a question concerning a minister who was extremely popular with the people.

The dialogue was, in part, as follows:

And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me."

And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'From men''?" --they were afraid of the multitude, for all considered John to have been a prophet indeed. And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know."

Since before I became a believer in 1980, God’s children have been locked in heated debate over the issue of praise or contemporary music as opposed to traditional hymnology.

Let me ask those of you who are opposed to this musical genre, “Is it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.”

I fear many of you will reason as the chief priests, and scribes, and elders, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why do you carp about it?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we will have to contend with the multitudes all over the world who consider this music anointed and holy.” I fear even more that your answer will ultimately be, “We do not know!”

How, I ask, can a composition such as Michael W. Smith’s Agnus Dei or Maranatha’s As the Deer Panteth be anything but from God?

I must admit some of what passes as Christian music is not of heaven or men but right out of the pit of hell … but this has been a problem as old as Eden.

MARRIAGE - Two rivers come together as one!

BILLBOARD WEDLOCK [Mark 10:2-9]

A Pennsylvania bride-to-be coveted an elaborate, therefore expensive wedding. But her want exceeded her supply. So she and her fiancée decided to get some help paying for the fancy affair. The couple decided to sell advertising. They offered various space on their invitations and as well as displays at the ceremony itself ... instead of saying, “I do,” the bride said, “Did somebody say McDonalds?”

Divorce is a major problem for the church; the divorce rate among Christians (in Western, developed nations) is tracking that of the non-Christian world. With this we know for certain the institution of marriage is in big trouble. Marriage is not respected as it once was; it has become a fashionable but temporary convenience for many.

A parallel problem is the intrusion of the world into the church. One would expect the world to conceive of advertising at a marriage ceremony but who would anticipate a man of God performing such a service while invoking the name of God?

[The Sacramento Bee, 18 August 1999]


TAKE A SEAT! [Genesis 2:24; other topics - love; relationships, renewal] (added 28 January 2006)

Rebecca was looking through the family photo album with her grandmother, she was fascinated with the sepia-style pictures and old-fashioned clothing. As she leafed through the pages, her grandmother identified various family members and friends.

Rebecca noticed there were no photographs of her grandparents standing together, they were always seated. When she asked why this was, her grandmother explained, "I was six inches taller than your grandfather and he was sensitive about it.

"Grandma," Rebecca asked, "how could you have fallen in love with a man six inches shorter than you?" "Honey," she said, "we fell in love sitting down, and when I stood up, it was too late."

Rebecca's grandmother instinctively pointed out a fact relative to romance and marriage: we really do fall in love sitting down. In other words, early in a relationship, it is easy to overlook our partner's shortcomings.

If, in your current relationship, you and your partner are figuratively standing up, you probably don't recall the things you regarded as important when you first fell in love, things you now take for granted. This is probably true of the relationship as well. So, why not just sit down? You never meant to drift apart, it just happened.

Day boaters on the Niagara River, above the famous honeymoon falls, are warned -- there is a point of no return. There is a point on the river, beyond which, you will be swept over the falls. You won’t be able to recover your course. In marriage, the same is true. What are you waiting for, the point of no return?

If you and your partner are standing and the things which divide you are more apparent than the things which bring you together, sit down and reflect on what brought you together.

[Adapted from “The Duet” by David Sisler in Agape Press, February 7, 2002]