Messenger 2013 - Edition 15 - Seventh-day Adventist Church in the ...

4devotionalinbox5The HeavenlySalesmanby Sarah JarvisBefore I moved to the house I’m in nowI used to have a wall surrounding theproperty, including the front garden. Ihad iron gates that I always keptclosed. I lived en route from the town to acouncil estate of somewhat dubious renown,and once my mother had observed someoneenter our premises during the early hours.After that, we decided we would keep the gatelocked, and so I did until I left.I liked the feeling of locking that gate. Apartfrom the sense of security it gave me, I knewthat no one could get in to disturb me – I valuemy ‘me-time’. Of course, it was a pain foranyone who came on an impromptu visit asthey could never get in. So people stoppedmaking impromptu visits and had to book anappointment over the phone. Privileged peoplehad a key to the lock.Apart from keeping out visitors, the lockmeant that hawkers couldn’t come and disturbmy peace. Occasionally I would get caughtout when I had just nipped home for a shortwhile and was going out again and I didn’talways lock the gate. My heart would alwayssink (and probably my face did as well) whenI opened the door to a salesman with his bagof articles for sale. On offer would be theultimate ironing board cover, the last word industers, stylish aprons, super-efficient ovengloves, and so on. You know, the kind ofthings you just can’t live without.Perhaps because I’m sometimes not verygood at saying no, perhaps because I feelsorry for anyone having to do that awful job,I would invariably part with cash for thecheapest of those articles (of which I hadseveral already). After the door was closed Iwould berate myself for being so foolish as toopen it and part with my hard-earned cash forsomething that I didn’t need and which wasuseless to boot.Where I live now I have no boundary wallor fence round the front, so there’s nothing tolock and I’ve been caught out even more timeshere. But if I’m in the sitting room I can creepthrough to the front window and peer throughthe voile curtain to see who’s lurking outsidethe front door, and if I don’t know them Iusually leave them there.I certainly don’t believe in purchasingthings at the front door. I know I’ve beencaught out with small items on occasion, but Icertainly wouldn’t be persuaded to agree totree lopping, garden landscaping, roof repair,drive relaying or things of such great momentfrom someone who cold calls. The fact thatthey’re doing that, I argue, means that they’reI thanked him and told him Iwould be in touch. But hewasn’t going to leave it there.‘If you just sign here . . .no obligation. . . .’I refused.short of work, and the fact that they’re shortof work might and probably does mean thattheir work is substandard.If I did inadvertently open the door to asalesman of that kind, nothing would induceme to agree. I can be firm sometimes. Fixedas the North Star. In certain things, nothingand no one will persuade me to do somethingI don’t want to do.While at the former house I decided Ineeded a new kitchen – it was sometwenty-plus years old. So I called in a firm togive me a price. The man spent some timemeasuring and drawing and so on and thenannounced his quote for the job. I thanked himand told him I would be in touch. But hewasn’t going to leave it there. ‘If you just signhere . . . no obligation. . . .’ I refused. Then heasked me to give him a cheque for a depositand post-date it. If I changed my mind inthe interim I could cancel the cheque. I stillrefused, and he started to get annoyed andcontinued to insist that I sign on the dotted lineand give him the cheque. Neither the signaturenor the cheque, he insisted, would mean I hadcommitted myself to anything. In that case, Iresponded, what’s the point of my signature?It’s meaningless. He persisted, however, andhis persistence got my hackles up. If someoneis trying to coerce me, I’ll dig my heels in evenmore. He eventually went away emptyhanded,and I didn’t call him to book the job.When I decided it was time to leave thathouse I called in a couple of estate agents togive me valuations. One of them was a youngman with a very aggressive sales style. Healso asked me to sign up on the spot, butI told him I’d be in touch as I had othervaluations booked. When I didn’t ring, hecontacted me – several times, in fact. Herewas another one whose persistence andaggressive approach didn’t pay off – Isuppose it does with some, but not with me. Ihad to tell him firmly to leave me alone and Itook my business elsewhere. His coercivetactics, like the kitchen salesman’s, had hadthe reverse of the desired effect.No, coercion definitely doesn’t work withme. Don’t know about you, but I like to beallowed time to make my own mind up. Iwant it to be my decision, a decision basedon weighing all the relevant factors, notsomething that has been forced out of meon the spur of the moment.God doesn’t like coercion either. Some ofHis followers do, but it’s definitely not Hismodus operandi. Quite the reverse.In one sense, He’s like a door-to-doorsalesman. Isn’t there a text that mentionsknocking on doors? ‘Look!’ He says. ‘I standat the door and knock. If you hear my voiceand open the door, I will come in, and we willshare a meal together as friends.’ (Revelation3:20, NLT.)And what He’s selling doesn’t makespurious claims like the aforementionedhigh-priced, low-quality household items soldat the door. It isn’t redundant or of inferiorquality. It’s precious and priceless. And wewon’t be out of pocket. We’ll be better off afterthe deal than before – infinitely better off, infact. And when I say ‘selling’ that’s not strictlytrue, is it? The precious commodity this‘door-to-door’ Salesman isoffering is free. Whatever youthink money can buy you here,He’s offering something muchbetter – ‘wine and milk withoutmoney and without cost’ (Isaiah55:1, NIV), and His ‘gold that hasbeen purified by fire. Then you willbe rich.’ (Revelation 3:18, NLT.)And His selling style has noaggressiveness about it. Histechnique is gentle persuasion.He invites us to come to Himto soothe away life’s problemsand find calm and rest in Hispresence. ‘Come to me, all ofyou,’ He says, ‘you who areweary and carry heavy burdens,and I will give you rest.’ Matthew11:28, NLT.And He’s not selective aboutwhom He visits. He doesn’t avoiddifficult neighbourhoods orrecalcitrant and obstreperouscustomers like me. He knocks onevery door at some time or other.And not just once. If He’s leftstanding at the door, like myunwanted callers are if I catch aglimpse of them through the netcurtain, then He’ll call again later.And the invitation proffered whenthe door is opened is extended toall, no catches, no tricks.When He comes calling onyou, is He finding not just thedoor but the iron gates bolted andbarred? Don’t be like me, refusingto open them. No, invite Him inand invite Him to stay.I’ll close with the words of awell-known hymn that invite usto throw back the bolts ofselfishness, fear and indecisionand open wide the door to allowJesus to come into our lives.O Jesus, Thou art standing,outside the fast closed door,In lowly patience waiting to passthe threshold o’er:Shame on us, Christian brothers,His Name and sign who bear,O shame, thrice shame upon us,to keep Him standing there!O Jesus, Thou art knocking;and lo, that hand is scarred,And thorns Thy brow encircle,and tears Thy face have marred:O love that passeth knowledge,so patiently to wait!O sin that hath no equal,so fast to bar the gate!O Jesus, Thou art pleading inaccents meek and low,‘I died for you, My children, andwill you treat Me so?’O Lord, with shame and sorrowwe open now the door;Dear Saviour, enter, enter, andleave us nevermore.Dear EditorOn weekdays we get our children toschool on time and ourselves towork, but on Sabbath mornings wearrive at any time, sometimes notgetting to church until the secondservice, just before the sermon – oreven just before the final hymn. Forsure everyone is welcome, whatevertime they arrive – and it’s better tocome late than not at all. However,Sabbath School is often neglected.Why? Ought it not to be the highlightof the week and of Sabbathmornings? Why do we treat Godwith disrespect by not keeping ourappointment with Him? MIRIAM WOODDear EditorI’ve accessed the websites ofseveral BUC churches to find outabout their forthcoming events andpreaching plans – but most of themhaven’t got any event informationor preaching plan listed! Somethingreally needs to be done about theseout-of-date websites! After all,up-to-date communication is thekey today.My other concern is that thegardens of some churches are insuch a state – overgrown and fullof weeds. What does that say aboutthe church? Perhaps a competitionin the MESSENGER for the best churchgarden or plot would encouragethem to clean up their act. If theQueen were visiting I doubtmembers would leave the churchgardens in such a mess.MELANIE STEWARTDear EditorI was interested to read aboutthe visit of the InternationalDevelopment Secretary, JustineGreening, to the ADRA-UK officein Watford (MESSENGER, 7 June).On 2 May 2008 Cyclone Nargis, acategory 4 tropical storm, struckMyanmar (Burma), killing more than22,000 people, leaving at least41,000 unaccounted for, anddisplacing more than 1 millionpeople.As Programmes director forADRA-UK, my son Mark was partof the international emergencyresponse team that supplied food,water, shelter, sanitation and otheressential items needed by thesurvivors. While in Myanmar hemet the then Secretary of State forInternational Development, DouglasAlexander, who was very impressedwith ADRA’s response.Undoubtedly, ADRA-UK is highlyrespected and valued by the DFID.Long may this relationship continue.FRANK CASTELLINOEditor’s note: Mark Castellino now works asBusiness Development director for ADRA-International.Ever had questions about our faith, doctrines orpractice that you want to see resolved? Each weekI’ll be hosting Q&A in an effort to answer them.Andrew PuckeringQ‘What advantages does “organised religion” presentover solely private belief and worship?’AThe question of whether or not believersshould be organised into a church structuremight nearly have precluded the veryexistence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.In Tell It to the World, C. Mervyn Maxwell writes thatmany early Adventists ‘had been excommunicated because theirAdventist beliefs were deemed contrary to the creeds of theirdenominations’, and they were ‘sincerely afraid that if they set upanother religious establishment they too might in time reject new Bibletruth and persecute God’s true children’. For this reason, ‘Many earlySabbath-keeping Adventists opposed denominational organisation.’ 1Nevertheless, as Ellen White recognised, ‘Satan is seeking todestroy the people of God, and one man’s mind, one man’s judgement,is not sufficient to be trusted. Christ would have His followers broughttogether in church capacity, observing order, having rules anddiscipline, and all subject one to another, esteeming others betterthan themselves.’ 2 Here she quotes directly from Philippians 2, andexpresses similar sentiments to Solomon in the book of Proverbs: ‘inthe multitude of counsellors there is safety’. 3Scriptural support for church organisation is not hard to find:1 Corinthians 12; 1 Timothy 3; and Titus 1 all describe the necessity ofvarious roles and levels of leadership in the Church, the qualificationsand spiritual gifts for each, and their divine mandate from God. TheScriptures also recognise the importance of church discipline inshepherding the flock (Matthew 18:15-19; Titus 2; 1 Timothy 4; 5).True, Christ advocated private prayer, to discourage hypocrites fromshowing off by praying on street corners (Matthew 6:5, 6). 4 However,worshipping only as ‘lone wolves’ all the time is not the Christianway: as the author of Hebrews says, ‘not forsaking the assemblingof ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting oneanother, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching’. 5One of the biggest advantages an organised, unified church hasover individual efforts can be seen in Acts 15, at the JerusalemCouncil. All the great names of the nascent Christian community werethere – Paul and Barnabas, James and Peter – to share testimonies oftheir evangelistic endeavours, discuss what they’d learned, and makesure they were, almost literally, all ‘singing from the same hymnsheet’:all under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.This is where the greatest blessing comes, just as He did in theupper room on the day of Pentecost: when they were all together withone accord, God Himself joined them in the Person of the Holy Spirit. 6As Christ Himself promised in Matthew 18:20, ‘where two or three aregathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them’ (NKJV).What blessing could be greater than that?1C. Mervyn Maxwell, ‘In Need of “Gospel Order” ’ – Tell It to the World: The Story of SeventhdayAdventists, Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1976, pp. 125-127 2 Testimonies for theChurch, vol. 3, p. 445 3 Proverbs 11:14, KJV; see also Proverbs 15:22; 24:6 4 For an exampleof commendable public prayer, see Daniel 6 5 Hebrews 10:25, NKJV 6 Acts 2:1-4Do you have a question you’d like to see answered in Q & A? Why not send itin to us at: editor@stanboroughpress.org.uk? If your question doesn’t appearin the next issue, don’t despair – we will deal with it in due course.