By Van Yandell
Retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary
Special to the Tribune
Luke 24: 46-47 KJV “And He said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
Driving on any given street in our neighborhood, we’ve noticed almost every house has a garage. But, the car is most always parked outside.
At times we’ve been out on the Harley and have observed those houses with the overhead door opened and those garages are stacked full of boxes, unused (and mostly unneeded) furniture, and other odds and ends.
One’s vehicle is a primary and usually large investment. While a $30,000 (or more) car sits outside in the elements of our environment, the items in some of those garages are likely not worth the cost of a set of tires for the vehicle.
Cars kept outside are more likely to be damaged by vandals, squirrels and other pests. Extreme cold can damage body parts, such as tires and batteries. Heat can damage paint, plastic/rubber seals, and tires. Salt build-up from driving on icy/snowy roads can cause oxidation and even modern vehicles with salt inhibitive finishes can be damaged.
To not take care of a product and carefully maintain it is a form of negligence. The accumulations in garages symbolize how we tend to overlook the important and unconsciously protect the unimportant.
Several years ago at a homeless mission the director asked if I had an idea to stop the men from leaning against walls and lifting a foot up behind them against the wall. The walls were being marked up and the residents weren’t even aware of what was happening. He then said, “One reason many residents are here is because they did not take care of what they had.”
We have to be taught to take care of things; it doesn’t come naturally. Many in the world today are being supported by someone else. When things are free, it is much easier to neglect their care.
Many Christians assume everyone has heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knows what eternal salvation involves. This is absolutely a false assumption and our nation and our world are beginning to feel the effects of a Godless society.
Teaching a child right from wrong is being omitted in many American homes. “Thou shalt not kill” means nothing. To the contrary, our youth and children are being taught to kill by various entertainment sources.
In the 1950’s when I grew up, guns were the desire of many young boys, including me, but the thought of killing another person never entered our minds. We had been raised in a church setting, taught right from wrong and taught Biblical concepts.
We must protect our young people and that is much more important that protecting a vehicle. To raise a child outside the teachings of God is asking for trouble in later life. Moral values for children are essential to assist them in knowing right from wrong and good from bad.
Is it any surprise most American prisons are full and more are being built? Is it any surprise that the death rate of drug overdosing has sky-rocketed in recent years?
How can the Christian community deny being partly responsible for the degradation of our country? We are not working the Great commission. By not telling others about the saving power of our Jesus, we are aiding and abetting crime and other social ailments.
Matthew 28: 18-20 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
Jesus’ last statement to His disciples was to tell others about Him. If we are believer-followers of Christ Jesus, the statement in Matthew 28 is also directed at every one of us because we are also His disciples.
The word disciple comes from the word discipline and that directly implies we must discipline ourselves to do the work our Lord directed us to do.
We do not have to be Bible scholars to tell someone about Jesus. The Bible teaches that eternal salvation is by a faith based belief that Christ Jesus was crucified for the remission of sin and resurrected. That is the fundamental of eternal life.
1 Peter 3: 15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
A preceding paragraph asked the question concerning the worth of the items in home garages. What are we keeping in our churches that would meet the same description as all that “stuff” people accumulate? What can we eliminate and replace to enhance our outreach potential?
We must ask ourselves, what is the purpose of the church? Many will say worship and/or fellowship. While that is true, those are not the priorities. Since the last COMMAND of Jesus before ascending (Acts 1: 9) was to preach this gospel (Acts 1: 8), we must honor HIS priorities, not our own.
Tremendous respect and admiration is to be had for the churches and pastors that are working the Great Commission (Acts 1: 8). Telling the world about Jesus is not an option; it is an imperative. If a church becomes a self-contained social organization, it should remove the word “church” from its name.
Jesus said in Matthew 16: 18, “on this rock I will build MY CHURCH!” The church is HIS; not ours to be our source of entertainment.
We are not accumulating the converted lost souls to our Lord as He instructed us to do. Is your church like the garages that are full of worthless items and the important things are left outside? Do not let that happen and if it already has, change it.
Philippians 3: 13-14 “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
