The Street, page 4
I am harping on this for a reason. You will get discouraged, I promise you. You will feel burned out and exhausted. You will get tired of the lies, games, debates, and trickery. You will despair for the soul of mankind. You will cry out for the human beings swimming in murder, rape, cowardice, and lust as if it were a heated swimming pool at a five-star hotel.
Men and women are fools and sinners. They are stonehearted and stubborn. They are rebels against the very God who created them from pure and beautiful love. There is no hope for us as a race, none at all, apart from the blood of Jesus Christ.
This reality is harsh and heavy, but ironically it is our only hope.
When I consider all the damage my many sins caused in the lives of those who love me, it sends shivers down my spine. Everyone who knew me could have abandoned me and no one would have blamed them.
In this truth, on that dark and barren stage, my mother prayed, my sister loved, and my father stood firm. All of them remembered that they too had been hopeless sinners and God saved them somehow. If He could save them, then He can save me.
That is why we don’t grow weary in doing well. When we finally realized that we were drowning in the endless ocean of our sins, God opened our eyes to see the lighthouse. He gently turned our heads so that we could see the lower lights along the shore.
We are those lower lights. When God has used the terrible consequences of our sin to do the hard work within the hearts of the sinners, He is seeking, and then He will bring them to us, the lower lights.
Broken and beaten, sometimes angry, sometimes in great depression, He hands them off to us. That’s when we speak the truth in love, emphasis on love. That would be tough love, not enabling pseudo love.
Sometimes they will be ready, not easy, but ready. Sometimes we do all that we can, but they walk away for another time around the freeway of sin. God may or may not bring them back to you.
Remember, He does the saving. Our calling is to be obedient to His word. It is not a glamorous calling, it is a fulfilling calling. It is not an easy calling, it is an important calling.
We are the light of the world, the lower lights of the world. Remember that and it will free you from the weight of the world.
Notes:
2 P. P. Bliss (1871), “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning,” Public Domain.
CHAPTER FOUR
A
The Faithless Street
For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)
As a preacher I spend a lot of time reading the Bible, studying it closely, over and over reading and rereading. It is frustrating to know of something that will truly make another person’s life infinitely better but to be unable to convince them to even try it.
For years my mother tried to convince me that green vegetables would make me healthier, but I didn’t like the taste and, besides, I felt fine. Why should I torture myself to be healthier when I felt perfectly healthy already?
There is the dilemma but it is weirder than turning your nose up at good health because everyone on this street is in desperate need and they know it. The weird thing is that they are willing to try anything but Jesus, including other gods. These gods, of course, aren’t real gods, but I suppose that is their appeal. If they aren’t real, then they have no power, and if they have no power, then they have no authority. If they have no authority, then we get to make up the rules. It’s like a lucky rabbit’s foot. All I have to do is put it on my key chain and then do whatever I want. If things fail to get better, well, no harm no foul. I might even keep it on my key ring if I like the way it looks or if I’m too lazy to remove it.
I see the vampires only when the food stamps run out.
That sounds cynical, doesn’t it? We can talk when you’ve spent ten years on this street or one just like it.
I am not without compassion. I am not heartless. Like the tin man, I moan. I know I have a heart because I can feel it breaking.
The insanity of selling the expensive perfume over and over again and dumping the money into the bottomless pit of sinful consequences is tying my guts into a knot. Break the alabaster box, and pour the fragrant oil onto to the head and feet of the savior.
Anoint Him as the Lord of your life! Do it now! Get off the insane roller coaster of “what about me.” For the sake of your immortal soul, do it now!
That whirlwind was twisting in my spirit as I found a little wooden box, just big enough for my feet, and I took it out to the street corner and stepped up on top of it.
“Why Lord!” my pride was screaming inside me. Noah, Jonah, and John the Baptist instantly came to my mind, leaving me speechless.
It was summertime and although it was a little hotter than comfortable, I was still grateful. Summer meant school was out and the high school across the street was empty. I had a feeling that a crowd of high school students would not be gracious to a weird preacher standing on a box crying out to the neighborhood.
There was no one on the street as I began my impromptu sermon.
“Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven! Whose sins are covered!” I began at the top of my lungs. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him!” I was waiving in the air the one and only prop I had, an old blue hardcover Bible. It was a New International Version; a King James would have just seemed too corny.
“Day and night we chase after money as if it were the answer to all of our needs. Our only concern is the rent, utilities, and the cable bill, and we treat our immortal souls like empty beer cans or cigarette packs!” This wasn’t like me. I had never been much of a fire and brimstone preacher, but there was a fire inside me. An aching filled my heart for the dying vampires of the street.
“The rich long for more money while the poor strive for just a little. The miser stands guard over what he has, afraid that he might lose it. The lazy wicked and foolish demand their fair share as if they were owed a portion by the mere right of their birth.”
Now a very small crowd was beginning to form around me. Shock, anger, and confusion were the dominant facial expressions. I found my eyes wondering for possible escape routes.
“Self-justification!” I shouted as if I were not afraid at all. “That is what you’re thinking.”
The street congregation totaled five, three women and two men. They looked at each other quizzically, but no one spoke except the preacher.
“What have I done that was so wrong? Who have I hurt that didn’t hurt me first? What is so wrong about doing whatever it takes to feed my children? But you don’t recognize the lies because you refuse to believe. You have no faith!”
“Faith in what?” an angry woman’s voice shout from the crowd.
“Faith in God!” I gave her no time to continue. “These things you’re chasing will never satisfy! You are trying to fill the hole in your spirit by filling your stomach!”
“What are you talking about?” a man in the crowd turned on his heels to walk away in disgust. “That’s the problem with churches—the preachers never talk about anything real or important!”
“Like what?” I countered sounding angrier than I wanted to sound.
“Like getting the bills paid and putting food on the table,” he turned back quickly.
“Yea,” the rest of the vampires agreed in unison.
“Consider the lilies of the field,” I heard myself saying. “They don’t focus on these things but look how beautifully God provides for them.”
“Right,” he sneered. “That’s easy for you to say.”
“Why,” I countered.
“Why, what,” he barked.
“Why is that easy for me to say?”
“For one thing you have a job.”
“No, I don’t.” I surprised him. “I am on unemployment and I’m looking for a paying job. I preach here for free because the church has no money.”
“But… I,” he stammered.
“Food stamps too,” I confessed. “But that really doesn’t have anything to do with anything. You have made it clear what you think is most important in life; in fact you came right out and declared it. I am here to tell you that you are wrong. Faith is the most important thing, faith in Jesus Christ, because that leads to grace which leads to salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and a restored relationship with the one who created you.”
One man and one woman turned in disgust, the man murmuring that he had heard it all before, as they walked away. I fixed my eyes and heart on the three who remained.
“If you work for somebody for a week, he does give you a paycheck not just because he’s a nice guy and he likes you. He gives you your paycheck because he owes it to you, right?”
They all nodded in agreement. The man who had started to walk away was now closer than the other two.
“We kind of like it that way here in America, don’t we? We like to earn our way through life?”
“What’s wrong with that?” it was the first rebel. His pride was struggling as if he were tied to the tracks and a train was coming.
“Nothing,” I assured him. “The Bible even says that if a man will not work, he should not eat.”
The other two mumbled like pouting children.
“Charity is fine for those who can’t work or would be glad to work as soon as they can find a job. It’s the ones who won’t work who are the problem. But look how quickly we get off course.” I smiled but they seemed confused. “We are talking about faith and your soul, not your belly or your bills.”
“But those things are important too,” the first man insisted.
“Yes!” I agreed. “We just get them out of order.”
He scratched his head.
“If a man trusts God, his faith is counted as righteousness by God.”
“What has that got to do with anything?” One of the remaining women wanted to know.
“First things first,” I could feel that I was smiling. This whole exercise was so frightening at first, but now I was actually having a good time.
“We need to accept the gift first,” I continued. “Accept the fact that we need God first and then with Him in our lives, our other needs can be met. Without Him, we will never know peace because we are incessantly chasing what we think we deserve.”
The women shook their heads in confusion while the man leaned in a little closer.
“Our problem is not a lack of things but a lack of God.”
“Whatever.” And I lost one more as she walked across the street.
“Narrow vision, blinders,” I don’t know why I said it, but I did. “The clothes I’m wearing aren’t new enough, my house is not big enough, I don’t have enough channels on my TV, and my cell phone won’t surf the net.”
“But the bigger problem is that your soul is bound for hell and you can’t even imagine that there is an ounce of truth in that statement.” I shut my mouth for a moment.
“How do you know that’s true?” the man asked.
“The same way that you do,” I said. “You can feel the fear growing inside of you. Every day it gets harder to smile and much, much harder to think about anything but the material things you are lacking.”
He nodded his head and the woman stayed.
“I was a drug addict who drank too much and spent his spare time watching porno movies.”
Now they were intent on my words. “For a long time, I had plenty of money and it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t lucky or talented enough to reach my goals, so I moved into the land of self-pity and lost everything there.”
“The good thing about hitting the bottom is that it forces creative thinking, but if you can at least try to lift your focus to spiritual things, you might be able to avoid a white-water rapids ride in the gutter.”
“I am still very poor but I am much happier than when I was well to do. My happiness, though, has nothing to do with my poverty. It has everything to do with Jesus.”
“Against all hope,” I continued to testify. “I put my faith in Jesus. In return He gave me grace. Grace is favor and forgiveness that you do not deserve. It is a free gift from a God who loves you so much that He was willing to do anything to bring you back to Him.”
“Adopted children often say they do not feel complete until they find their birth parents. That loss of roots is what you really feel. It is never a lack of things that destroys us, it is a lack of love and a longing for home.”
There was a tear in the woman’s eye. I could not read the man’s face.
“Against all hope,” I said again. “I put my faith in Jesus and He forgave my sins, and with that burden gone and His presence with me, my life has changed.”
“But you’re still poor,” the women pointed out.
“In worldly possessions, I am,” I agreed. “But again that is not the point.”
She shrugged her shoulders as if she did not understand.
“Imagine two children,” I suggested. “Let’s say they are both boys and they are each five years old.”
Her eyes brightened as the scenario seemed to make sense to her.
“Now imagine the babysitter brings a package of Oreos with her one night. She takes out two cookies and then places the package in sight but out of reach. She gives each boy a cookie but will not allow them to have any more before bedtime.”
Now the woman was smiling.
“One of the boys,” I continued, “eats his cookie and goes to bed happily. The other boy eats his cookie too but then begins to pout. The babysitter sticks by her guns and refuses to give the boy another cookie. He then throws a tantrum but still the babysitter will not budge.”
“Kids,” the woman sighs.
“Yes we are,” I agreed. “I didn’t say that Jesus budged and changed my circumstances. He just showed me how to be happy and at peace in any circumstances.”
“The gift?” the man asked. “Is that the gift?”
“The gift is salvation, restoring our lost relationship with God. Peace is a result of that gift.”
He nodded.
“We all know John 3:16,” I said. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” I quoted. “But we should remember the next two verses as well: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
“Jesus said that He came to give us life more abundantly. That is the gift.”
“So I suppose we’re supposed to just run inside and get baptized right away,” he was smiling.
“That is certainly an option,” I assured him, smiling as well.
“I think I would like to come to church Sunday morning,” the woman said. “I guess maybe I never understood. I’m still not sure that I do.”
I handed her the Bible in my hand. “My phone number is in there. Call anytime.”
“Maybe I will,” her smile was sad but not despondent.
“I live across the street,” the man said. “I want to check you out. I will be here Sunday morning.”
His demeanor was no nonsense and left no room for compromise. I would have to wait until Sunday to see if he showed up.
I climbed down off my soapbox, picked it up, and carried it inside the church. I was shaking my head as I walked considering the truth of the old saying, “God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.”
B
We Are deaf
First things first, that is what we face in this chapter. Caught in the middle of a spinning tornado or a raging inferno, it is almost impossible to think clearly, but there could never be a more important time to try.
This is what is happening on the street where God has planted me. The immediate needs feed the cancer that kills the soul. It is a morbid and fatal Catch-22. The sinner erases his future for the needs of today, rejoicing in a meal, a drink, a cigarette, or night of sex only to wake up one step closer to eternal hell
Should I be kinder? What I know is this. I woke up and saw Jesus only after everything material was stripped from my still clutching hands. I know that’s anecdotal evidence but it’s my anecdote.
So this is where we stand, those of us who preach and/or testify to the lost of this world. Esau comes to the door because he smells the stew, but we know if we give it to him, he will be instantly gratified and will know longer believe he has any needs at all. To him the good news of Jesus Christ is now a boring lecture in a class he is taking only because it is required for him to graduate.
We know the truth. Nothing begins without faith. It is like the sinner is pretending to live but he has no life. I am reminded of a piano practice keyboard, a long strip of wood painted to look like a keyboard. The student moves his fingers across the pretend keys to make imaginary music.
The movements are useful but only if the student someday sets in front of the real thing. The sinner may one day be able to put the things he has learned to use but only if one day he bows humbly in faith before the God that made him.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we were created for good works, but John 15:5 tells us that we cannot do anything without Jesus. There it is. What comes first? There is only one answer. Faith comes first, faith in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other answer. There is no other road. There is no other God.
Problem is that the sinner won’t listen. Satan is lying at the top of his lungs right into the ear of everyone who has not received salvation. The Holy Spirit speaks in a still small voice. The mission He has given me is to shout what He whispered to me at the top of my lungs from any and every available rooftop.
God assured this would happen by setting my bone marrow on fire with the wonderful word of truth. I can no more shut my mouth than a waterfall can flow up or the world can change the direction of its rotation.
