Under New Management

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 10.1.11

Let’s start with a story told by Stuart Briscoe in “Christmas 365 Days a Year:”

“Let me put it to you with the story of a simple, illiterate man who was converted through the work of the Salvation Army. He went regularly to the Salvation Army citadel. One day he came home rather disconsolate.
“His wife said, ‘What's the matter?’
“He said, ‘I've just noticed that all the people in the Salvation Army wear red sweaters, and I don't have a red sweater.’
“She said, ‘I'll knit one.’ So she knitted him a red sweater.
“The next Sunday after he went to the citadel, he still wasn't happy.
“His wife said, ‘What's wrong this time?’
“He said, ‘I just noticed all their red sweaters have yellow writing.’
“They were both illiterate, but she said, ‘Don't worry about it. I'll embroider some writing on for you.’
“She had no idea what the yellow writing on the red sweater of a Salvation Army man said--Any of you know what it is? They have a yellow circle, and in it, BLOOD AND FIRE. That's their motto. (Unbutton the jacket of a Salvation Army man when he's ringing his little bells sometime; tell him you're just checking.)
“The man's wife had no idea what the letters said, and she couldn't read anyway. So copying a sign from a store window opposite their home, she embroidered the words of that store sign onto his red sweater.
“When he came back the next Sunday, she said, ‘Did they like your sweater?’
“‘They loved my sweater. Some of them said they liked my sweater better than their sweater.’
“What neither of them knew was that the sign on the store window she had copied read, THIS BUSINESS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
“That's what it means to get saved. That's what it means to get converted. That's what it means for the Holy Ghost to come upon you: this business under new management.”[1]

Isn’t that great?  When we see an “Under New Management” sign on a business, doesn’t it bring hope?  It lets us know that no matter what our experience has been with that business in the past, it will be different from now on. 

It’s the same for people too.  Of course, we don’t have to hang a sign around our necks, but when we’ve turned our lives over to Jesus, we can let people know that their experience with us will (hopefully) be different from now on.

Think about Saul, for example.  He was an extremely loyal and steadfast Jew.  So much so that he was kind of in the frontlines of the Jews who were trying to eradicate the new Christian believers.  The first we hear of him in the Bible is when he’s guarding coats at the “trial” and execution of Stephen. 

“…, they all rushed at [Stephen], dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.” 

That is the last time Saul and Stephen saw each other.  Now imagine this, Stephen is walking around Heaven and coming the other way he sees the man he knows as Saul.  What do you think would go through Stephen’s mind at that point?  (Of course, this is earthly thinking here.)  Do you think he might, for just a fraction of a second, entertain the thought that this must be some kind of joke?  that there must have been some huge mistake?  After the initial shock, Stephen and Saul/Paul would have a good talk and it’d be ok, because Stephen would find out that Paul is “under new management.”

Even more amazing though is that Paul would be able to thank Stephen for having a part in his conversion.  “Wait, what?” you say.  “Saul was with the guys who murdered him.”  Well, true, but check this out:

“The martyrdom of Stephen made a deep impression upon all who witnessed it. It was a sore trial to the church, but resulted in the conversion of Saul. The faith, constancy, and glorification of the martyr could not be effaced from his memory. The signet of God upon his face, his words, that reached to the very soul of all who heard them, except those who were hardened by resisting the light, remained in the memory of the beholders, and testified to the truth of that which he had proclaimed.          
“… Saul seemed to be imbued with a frenzied zeal at the scene of Stephen’s trial and death. He seemed to be angered at his own secret convictions that Stephen was honored of God, at the very period when he was dishonored of men.”[2]

Having read that, I thought, for the first time, that even though we talk about sudden or Damascus Road types of conversions, that’s not really the way it works.  The Holy Spirit was working in Paul all along.  The Damascus Road experience was just the culmination of that work…the “under new management” sign hung in the window. 

That gives me so much hope!  God never gave up on Paul, even when he was running around actually supervising the killing of Christians.  The Holy Spirit stuck with him, even when Paul was at his absolute lowest point.

What an amazing God we believe in.  He sends the Holy Spirit to work on our hearts and to convict us even when we are doing absolutely everything we can to avoid surrendering our hearts and minds to Him.  And another thing I just realized is that even though my conversion experience or your conversion experience doesn’t look as dramatic as Paul’s, we are each led to that exact point in time where we can make our own Damascus Road decision to either walk with or walk away from God.  Do you realize that Paul could still have chosen to continue to work against God?  Paul could have decided he’d been struck by some freak bolt of lightning.  But praise God he didn’t!

“There comes a crisis, a moment when every human soul which enters the kingdom of God has to make its choice of that kingdom in preference to everything else that it holds and owns.”[3]

I believe when we compare notes in Heaven, we’ll find that we share the experience described by Francis Thompson the author of the poem, “The Hound of Heaven.” 

“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; / I fled Him, down the arches of the years; / I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways / Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears / I hid from Him, and under running laughter.” [4]

We’ve all run from Jesus because we weren’t ready to surrender, but now it’s time to put a sign on all our hearts:  “UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.”

---

[1] Stuart Briscoe, "Christmas 365 Days a Year," Preaching Today, Tape 135.

[2] E.G.White, The Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 3, page 299.

[3] Catherine Booth. "William and Catherine Booth," Christian History, no. 26.

[4] Francis Thompson, “The Hound of Heaven”

Stand Up

Ya know, I can think of two very different kinds of heroes. The first is the fireman who runs into a burning building or the soldier who throws himself on top of a grenade and saves the lives of his buddies. (I’m using the generic “he” here, meaning he or she.) It takes someone special to be that kind of hero, someone who is brave, loyal, and impulsive. His parents probably said over and over again, “Doesn’t that child think before he acts?” And the answer is, probably not. That’s part of why he is able to do what he does. I could never be that kind of a hero. I’d look at that grenade and think, “Ooh, I bet that would hurt.” And then step behind the nearest tree. The people who can act instantly and purposefully and accomplish what others could not or would not do are amazing and necessary people. God has given them each a truly special gift.

There is another type of hero, though. This is the person who after careful and thoughtful planning makes the move that almost always leads, if not to death, then to general unpleasantness. History books are full of these kinds of heroes.

If you were raised in Texas, more specifically, San Antonio, you’ve heard the story of the Battle of the Alamo thousands of times. Whatever historians say about their motives, those men believed in something so strongly that they stayed and fought, knowing how it would end. I also think of the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the guys the book/movie, Glory, was written about. They were the first black regiment formed in the Civil War. If you don’t know the story, rent the movie. What a story of courage. You can probably think of others. I’d be interested in hearing about them.

The Bible also has stories of men and women who believed in something so strongly that they were willing to accept whatever consequences came. Think about Stephen. He stood before the Pharisees and, in the face of false witnesses, spoke calmly and with the authority of truth, knowing all the while exactly what would happen when he stopped talking. If I were in his situation, I think I would have just kept talking…like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Then I thought of Samson, after he was captured and blinded, performing his last feat of strength knowing that he would be killed along with the Philistines. The Apostles and all the early Christians knew that believing in Christ as the Messiah could get them killed in some hideously painful ways.

Jesus, himself, falls into that category. He knew before He created us that He would end up giving His life for us. And He created us anyway. Can you imagine?

How do we get to the point where we can choose to stand bravely for what we believe in no matter what it costs us? I’m not sure I know. I think that we have to start by making little, seemingly insignificant choices along the way. Then “the big choice” is one more in a long line of choices that have now formed the foundations for our lives. Sometimes, though, the day-to-day choices we make just don’t seem that important, and maybe most of them aren’t. But how will we know which ones are the important ones?

Think about it, how often do we choose to watch TV or study our Sabbath School lesson or read something that will bring us closer to Christ? Do we hold back a little tithe and/or offering because we’re a little short this month? Do we choose to sleep in Sabbath morning, or come to Sabbath School? One by one, these choices don’t seem like that big a deal. The world won’t stop if we choose to sleep in next Sabbath morning. What difference do little choices like these make in the long run. Well, read through this e-mail I got just today. (What a coincidence.) Now whoever started this e-mail claims it is true and happened at USC. Whether it really happened or not, I think it will illustrate the importance of building on a solid foundation of choosing God.

There was a professor of philosophy [at USC], who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester proving that God couldn’t exist. His students were afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. Some had argued with him in class from time to time, but no one had ever really gone head to head in a debate with him because of his reputation. On the last day of every semester, he would say to his class of 300 students, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up! If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can’t do it.” And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. No one ever challenged him. Maybe most of the students agreed with him, but certainly, a number of Christians had to have slipped through…quietly, without drawing any attention to them selves. For twenty years, they had all been too afraid to stand up.

Finally, a freshman came along who was a Christian. He had heard the stories of about this professor, and he was afraid. Every morning for that whole semester, he prayed that he would have the courage to stand up, no matter what the professor said or the class thought. Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith…he hoped.

Finally, the last day of class came. The professor walked to the front of the class and said, “Is there anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, “You FOOL!!! If God existed, He would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground.” He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off the toe his shoe. From there it simply rolled away, unbroken. The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. Three hundred students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of His power through Jesus.

Will you …