Apprenticed

Thoughts on the Sabbath School lesson for 5.26.12

Have you ever tried to learn how to play a new game by just reading the directions? It’s pretty hard to do, isn’t it? It’s much easier if someone in the group already knows how to play the game and they walk you through the first couple of times.

Have you ever wondered how skateboarders and motocross riders learn to do what they do? Do they sit in classes, read books on their tricks, take tests over the physics involved and write papers? In fact, a person could read an infinite number of books about how to skateboard, but until he or she actually got on a skateboard and tried to ride it, he isn’t going to learn how, right?

When Jesus called His disciples, He followed the same pattern of teaching that we now know ensures the most success. First, He talked about what He wanted them to learn; next, He showed them, then He had them try it, both with supervision and without. That’s how apprentices used to learn their tasks.

We don’t have many apprentices around anymore, but my father, who was born in 1910, began his working life as a blacksmith’s apprentice.  Since he was kind of on the cusp of what we would consider “old world” ways of thinking and “modern” ways, he went to school too. He became a tool and die maker/machinist and never lost his love of creating things with his hands. He was also a sculptor and could make pretty much anything out of metal, stone or wood.

Now, even though my father learned his skill mostly through practice, I remember that he had a book he would refer to from time to time. It was called the Machinist’s Handbook. I really couldn’t tell you what all it had in it, even though I have looked through it many times, because it made absolutely no sense to me, but he could look through its pages and find a solution to a problem that he had encountered in one of his tasks. He even had parts of that book memorized because they were the most helpful to him. Hm…are you thinking what I’m thinking?

We could say that the disciples were Jesus’ apprentices, couldn’t we? Apprentice fishers of men.

“And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” Matthew 4:18-20

“The prompt, unquestioning obedience of these men, with no promise of wages, seems remarkable; but the words of Christ were an invitation that carried with it an impelling power. Christ would make these humble fishermen, in connection with Himself, the means of taking men out of the service of Satan, and placing them in the service of God. In this work they would become his witnesses, bearing to the world His truth unmingled with the traditions and sophistries of men. By practicing His virtues, by walking and working with Him, they were to be qualified to be fishers of men.”[1]

Can you imagine what that must have been like for the men that Jesus called? Did they really understand what Jesus was calling them to do? Did they have any idea what was involved in being a fisher of men? I’m thinking, probably not. And they went anyway…isn’t that odd? Do you think you would have gone? Did Jesus call to other people who chose not to go with Him? Do you realize that Jesus is calling us, right this moment, to become fishers of men, just like He did those men?

How do we become fishers of men? I mean, the disciples had Jesus right there with them for three and a half years and they still didn’t really figure it out until after Jesus died. How can we even begin to learn?

Well, in addition to the Holy Spirit, we do have the Bible. We can sit at Jesus’ feet almost like the disciples did and learn from His words. In some ways, it might even be easier for us, because it’s condensed to the most important information.

We have to remember though, that it’s easy to get stuck in the book phase of learning. We can get all caught up in theory and debate, but that’s probably not going to lead anyone to Jesus.

A few years ago, I decided to learn to crochet. I got a book or two, I looked on the internet. I read how to get started and I looked at picture after picture of all the different kinds of stitches. I looked at pictures of afghans and baby sweaters. But until I picked up a crochet hook and some yarn and started practicing, I hadn’t learned how to crochet.

Reading the directions is fine, but we have to move on from there. We have to start practicing what we’ve read. How many of us come to church every week, study our lesson, read our Bibles, and that’s all? We’re stuck in the first phase of becoming fishers of men.

That’s all good stuff to do, but it isn’t enough. We have to move on to phase two: practicing what we’ve been learning.

What? You don’t think you’re ready?

“One of the lessons I have learned in six and half decades of life is that very few dreams should go on hold while you improve the shortcomings of your life …. To be sure, there are times when you need to stop what you are doing and focus on conquering a flaw. But if you wait till all your shortcomings are remedied, your dreams will die. All our advances are with a limp.
“If you wait till you are beyond criticism to pursue your dream, you will never do it. You won't marry or stay married. You won't decide to have children or raise them. You won't take your first job or keep it. You won't go into missions or stay there …. Few things paralyze people more than their own imperfections. And there are always people around to remind you of your flaws and suggest you can't move forward until you're better.”[2]

You know what? On our own, we’ll never be ready. And Satan will make sure that we never, ever feel ready. We have to start anyway, holding Jesus’ hand, and He’ll take us where we need to be. We just have to start doing something. Jesus didn’t spend three and a half years teaching His disciples and then say, “OK, the teaching’s over, go home.” No! That’s when the real work started! If you doubt that, you need to re-read the book of Acts.

I’m sure that sometimes the disciples didn’t feel like they could do what they were supposed to be doing…and without the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t. But, with the Holy Spirit, they could do absolutely anything!

The same goes for you and me. There will be times when we’re tired or when we mess things up or just don’t know what to do next. But Jesus is right with us, whispering to us, “for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20b

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[1] E.G. White, Gospel Workers, page 24.

[2] John Piper, Bloodlines (Crossway, 2011), p. 109

Tale of Two (?) Disciples

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, page 1.

“I am a follower of the Christ.  He called me; I left everything  and followed Him.  I went everywhere with Him from that day on.  He taught me and touched me.  I have seen Him heal the sick,  and raise the dead.  I heard Him speak the Words of Life to multitudes of followers.  I was there with Jesus, on the boat, when He told the wind and the waves to be still; I saw Him walk on the Sea of Galilee.  I have laughed and cried with Him and prayed with Him.  He is my Best Friend, my Brother, my Teacher.

“Unfortunately, though, I haven't always been the best friend He needed.  I have often fallen far short of Jesus' expectations and disappointed Him.  I could even say that I have broken His heart on more than one occasion.  In fact, when He needed me, I betrayed Him.

“For one brief moment, I put aside everything He had taught me and did what I thought was best.  And at that moment, our eyes met and He looked straight into my eyes, into my heart.  The expression on His face stopped my heart and took my breath away.  He knew what I had done and His heart was broken because I had done it.  He wasn't angry.  He had tears of love and pity in His eyes, and I wished that I could run to Him and tell Him I how sorry I was – that I hadn't meant to hurt Him...and in that very instant, I saw that He knew all that was in my heart and my mind and He loved me.  Through His tears, I could see He still loved me.”

So, which disciple is it?  Which disciple failed Jesus the most?  Judas?  Peter? Who was the most evil disciple?  We all jump to say it was Judas don't we?  But when you think it through, every single one of the disciples failed Jesus in his own way, didn't they?  They all left him to be carried away by the Roman soldiers.  So why do we think of Judas as the worst?  I mean, at least, we could argue that Judas thought he was doing something to forward what he thought was the mission of the Messiah.  All of the rest of the disciples were just plain scared! 

A big question is, was Judas doomed from the very beginning?  Some of the articles I've read seem to say so.  That's really sad to think about isn't it?  I mean, Jesus had a choice but Judas didn't?  What kind of thinking is that?  Now, I had a thought while I was studying this, that absolutely nobody mentioned, but it kind of makes sense to me.  Now, this is just my thought, but could it have been that Jesus knew that one of His disciples would betray Him, but not which one.  That it could have been that any one of the twelve could have turned against Jesus...What do you think?

I have two reasons for asking.  One, because I believe that everyone has betrayed Jesus.  We are all capable of selling Jesus out for next to nothing, and have done so, more than once.  We betray Jesus every time we take our lives out of His hands because we're too impatient or too arrogant to wait for His timing and His wisdom.  That's really what Judas is guilty of, isn't it?

We betray Jesus every time we deny that we know Him because we're afraid that the people around us won't understand and laugh at us or think less of us because we consider ourselves one of His followers.  That's all Peter is really guilty of.

And that leads me to the second part of this question:  Could Judas have been forgiven?  Could He have repented?  Again, some of the things I read imply that He did repent and was denied forgiveness.  That doesn't sound right.  And, again, this is just me, but I want to believe that he could have repented and Jesus would have forgiven him...in fact, that Jesus had already forgiven him.  But that Judas did not accept Jesus' forgiveness. 

Because, if even one of us has been denied forgiveness, than salvation becomes the arbitrary gift bestowed by an arbitrary god.  And that's just not the God I believe in.  So what would you do if you got to Heaven and Judas was there too? (I'm not claiming to have any inside knowledge; I'm just speculating.) 

We have Jesus' promise; check this out: 

“And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”  James 5:15 and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:9

Spend a few minutes thinking what an amazing gift Jesus gave us when He spread His arms wide and took all of our sins upon Himself.

East To West

Casting Crowns

Here I am Lord,

And I'm drowning

In your sea of forgetfulness

The chains of yesterday surround me

I yearn for peace and rest

I don’t want to end up where you found me

And it echoes in my mind,

Keeps me awake tonight

I know you cast my sin as far as the east is from the west

And I stand before you now as,

As though I've never sinned

But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away

From you leaving me this way

Jesus can you show me

Just how far the east is from the west

Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been

Rising up in me again

In the arms of your mercy I find rest,

Cause you know just how far the East is from the West

From one scarred hand to the other.

I start the day the war begins

Endless reminding of my sin

And time and time again your truth is drowned out

By the storm I'm in

Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away,

From you leaving me this way

Jesus can you show me,

Just how far the East is from the West

Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been

Come rising up in me again

In the arms of your mercy I find rest

'cause you know

Just how far the East is form the West

From one scarred hand to the other.

I know you've washed me white,

Turned my darkness into light

I need your peace to get me through,

To get me through this night

Can’t live by what I feel

But by the Truth your work reveals,

I'm not holding on to you

But you're holding on to me,

You’re holding on to me

Jesus you know

Just how far the East is from the West

I don't have to see the man I've been,

Come rising up in me again

In the arms of your mercy I find rest

'cause you know just how far the East is form the West,

From one scarred hand to the other.

To Die For

What would you be willing to die for?  When we look back through history, we’ll see that a bunch of different people have been willing to die for a lot of different things.  Many, many people have died for the idea of freedom.  We have some favorites of those – those who fought in the Revolutionary War and World War II, for example.  Some people have given their lives to help their family/friends/countrymen have a better chance of winning a battle – the men at the Alamo, the soldiers of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts (the unit the movie Glory was based on) and the Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae (the movie 300 is supposed to based on them).  There are also lots and lots of people who have been willing to die because of their religious beliefs – for example, the Jews during the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust, the Waldensees, Joan of Arc, Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. 

Now, we may not agree with all these folks, in fact, we may be diametrically opposed to what they believe in, but they all believed with all their hearts in something that was so important to them that they would give their lives for that cause.  Truly, if any one of these people had had any tiny germ of doubt, he (or she) would not have gone through with it. The truth is, nobody dies for a lie, not if they know it’s a lie, anyway.

Ya know, we’ve talked before about the accuracy of the prophecies leading up to Christ.  But here we can go even further.  What if all of that WAS just coincidence?  What if it WAS a huge hoax?  Once Christ had died, the movement would have fallen apart.  It’s not like these apostles were really, really brave guys.  They all ran off at the first sign of trouble.  They hid in their houses for fear of the Roman guards.  If the Resurrection were a lie, everything would have ended right there, but it wasn’t and it didn’t.

When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection, everything changed.  For the disciples, it was a life transforming moment.  In that instant, each disciple knew that everything that Jesus had said was true and, as far as we know, he didn’t waver after that.

 “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:  to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days,…And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” Acts 1:1-3,9 KJV

The apostles believed what they saw and what they had experienced so strongly that from that moment on, they went willingly wherever God led them.  And their lives weren’t any easier from then on either.  They were chased and persecuted for the rest of their lives.  Just in the book of Acts we get a little taste of how things went for them:

“…the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.  And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. …But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” Acts 4:1-3,17,18 KJV
“Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.” Acts 5:17-18
“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Acts 7:59
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.  And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)  And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.  Peter therefore was kept in prison:…” Act 12:1-5

Do you think these guys would have put up with this if they were not 100% convinced of the truth of the Messiah and the resurrection of Jesus?  How long do you think they would have continued to perpetrate a lie or a hoax once they were faced with imprisonment, brutality and death?  You know, a lot of people have even denied the truth they knew to escape those things.  No one would die for a lie!

According to a gentlemen named Grant R. Jeffrey in his book The Signature of God says:

“…history reveals that not one of these men, who knew Jesus personally, ever denied their testimony about Him despite the threat and reality of imminent death.  This proves to any fair-minded observer that these men possessed an absolute unshakable personal knowledge about the truth of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.”

Mr. Jeffrey goes on to tell what is believed to be the fate of each of the apostles according to a church historian called Schumacher.

>         Matthew was killed by a sword wound in Ethiopia.

>     Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt by horses until he was dead.

>         Luke was preaching in Greece until he was hanged.

>       John was the only apostle who died of old age…but not because no one tried.  At one point John was boiled in oil in Rome.  He was unharmed.

>         Peter was crucified upside down at his own request.  He said he was not worthy to die the same way Jesus did.

>         James was thrown down from the pinnacle of the church in Jerusalem.  He fell over 100 feet.  When they discovered that he had survived the fall, he was beaten to death.

>         James (John’s brother) was beheaded in Jerusalem.  According to this account, the Roman guard was so amazed to watch James defend his faith that he declared his own faith and knelt beside James to be beheaded for being a Christian as well.

>         Bartholomew was in Armenia when he was whipped to death.

>    Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece after being whipped.  According to his story, he survived for two days and preached about Jesus the whole time.

>         Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India.

>         Jude, Jesus’ brother, was killed with arrows.

>         Matthias was stoned and beheaded.

>         Barnabas was stoned to death in Salonica.

>         Paul was tortured and beheaded by Nero in Rome after he had spent a long time in prison

These men didn’t become rich or powerful by saying they were followers of Christ and that they knew He was alive.  They gained nothing for sticking to their story.  In fact, they died because they refused to give up what they knew was the truth.

Is there anything that you believe in so strongly that you would die rather than give it up?  I believe we’re all going to have to answer that question for ourselves before Jesus comes to take us to Heaven.  If we’ve been living with compromise, will we be able to take that stand when the time comes? 

What would you be willing to die for?