Everyone reading this editorial has a remarkable opportunity to be saved! Of the billions of people on earth, we are among the few who have an association with the Truth. We may have committed ourselves to it, we may be considering that step or we may be young people growing up in a Christadelphian home. Whichever is our circumstance, we have the privilege of knowing the one true gospel. Why us? Why our families? The reasons are irrelevant. The fact of the matter is we have a remarkable opportunity. The issue is — what are we doing with it?
In Christ’s day
There is no guarantee we will use our opportunity wisely. Look at the people of Christ’s day! What an opportunity they had. They were there when the lame were healed, the lepers were cleansed and the blind were given sight. We would give much to be there for just one day on the hills of Galilee, but they could follow the Master for weeks at a time.
We thrill at the brief excerpts of his teaching that we have in the gospels. They could listen to him day after day. And if they were of a mind for deeper instruction, they could company with his disciples and listen to him open up the Scriptures with clarity, depth and power.
Most wasted it
The people of Christ’s day had a remarkable opportunity, but most of them wasted it.
When Jesus preached to his neighbors at Nazareth, they did not rejoice in their privilege. They “rose up, and thrust him out of the city” intending to “cast him down headlong” over a great hill. (Lk. 4:29)
In the synagogue of Capernaum, the scribes and pharisees did not gather to listen with rapt attention to the greatest rabbi of all. They gathered in hopes of finding something with which to accuse him. When Christ restored a withered arm, they did not rejoice for the man who was healed but “were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.” (Lk. 6:11)
There was another pharisee who had the inestimable honor of entertaining the Lord Jesus in his home. Yet, when a woman who was a sinner paid devoted homage to the Lord, he reproached Jesus in his heart determining that “if he were a prophet, (he) would have known who and what manner of woman this is…” As a result, he listened in amazement as the Lord pronounced forgiveness upon the woman but not upon him.
Some people of Gadara saw Jesus heal the demented men of their insanity and they saw their herd of swine stampede into the sea. When they reported the events in “the city and the country…the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them: for they were taken with great fear.” (Lk. 8:32-37) Here was an opportunity for them to hear the gospel from the Son of God himself and they insisted he go away.
Why would they do it?
As the Lord was to say, “many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” (Lk. 10:24) Why would so many of that generation waste their opportunity?
Familiarity causes a problem
The people of Nazareth were so familiar with Jesus they could not see the wonder of his character and resented his call for repentance. Some of us can understand that reaction. A knowledge of the Truth has been handed to us as part of our family heritage. We have grown up with it all our lives. This very familiarity can blind us to its beauty and power. Furthermore, we can resent words of correction based solidly on the word of God but spoken to us by those we have known all our lives. Familiarity often does breed contempt.
Expectations not realized
The scribes and pharisees found that the gospel message was not at all what they had expected. They looked for someone who would praise them as religious zealots and elevate their position before men. They did not get what they expected. Sometimes that happens in our own case. We may never have expected to find the Truth among a small group of ordinary people who meet in modest buildings, have non-professionals handle the services and sometimes struggle to meet their bills. In fact, the problems and personalities we meet in ecclesial life may come as a considerable shock to us. Every problem that exists in the world around us crops up in ecclesial life, although far less frequently. We may have perfection as our goal but we find ourselves and others a long way from it. So what do we do in such a case? Do we say, “this is not what I expected” and waste the opportunity we have been given by forsaking the one way to salvation?
A high opinion of self
The pharisee who disdained the sinful woman did not realize the greatness of his own need for Christ. That can happen to us, especially to those of us who have been raised in a Christadelphian family. All our lives we have been channeled into right conduct. Compared to the world around us, we are good people. Many in the world may tell us so. In such cases, it is only when we compare our conduct with the Christ-like virtues of graciousness, long-suffering, brotherly-kindness and personal sacrifice that we see the greatness of our need for the forgiveness of our sins.
The cost of Christ
The Gadarenes were dismayed at the cost of their herd of swine. The grace of Christ was too expensive for them. Devotion to him will be expensive. Many of us know how expensive larger families can be both in terms of time, money and self-sacrifice. When we join the extended family of Christ, it will be expensive. There will be demands on our time to serve the physically and spiritually infirm and time will be required to provide spiritual food for the family. Money will be needed — sometimes lots of it — to help a family that spreads across the world. There is another cost as well; forsaking the pleasures of the moment in service to the Lord. What are we to do? We regard the Gadarenes as fools for telling Christ to go away because he cost them their swine. Are we to reject his company for eternity because the momentary cost is too high in time or money or self-sacrifice?
Because of our association with the Truth, we have a glorious opportunity. What are going to do with it? Take advantage of it or waste it?
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One