The Nuts & Bolts of the Matter

June 4, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
This Sunday, my sermon topic is this: “The Nuts & Bolts of the Gospel.” I am afraid there will be more “nuts” than “bolts” but that will not hinder my pursuing the subject in the least. For some reason, I have the feeling that, when we all of us who teach the Scriptures get to Heaven, we will have to face the fact that we were all “nuts”! I am certain that none of us are as knowledgeable about the Scriptures, as we would like for others to think. Actually, our biggest hindrance to knowing God is our concept of God. Our perceptions of Him determine what we believe about Him, and the truth be known, our perceptions of Him are all probably way off the mark of truth.
I know of no other subject where it is advantageous for the teacher to know that he/she knows little, if anything, about the subject matter. A mathematics teacher must have an excellent working knowledge of mathematics; otherwise, he will fail as a teacher. In the same way, a language teacher must have a excellent working knowledge of the language he is teaching; otherwise, he will fail as a teacher. Interestingly, however, the opposite is true for the teacher of theology; the more he realizes just how little he knows, the more effective he is as a teacher. Don’t panic, as God’s ways never have been our ways, nor will they ever be, at least not this side of Heaven. You see, knowing God has little, if anything, to do with facts and figures, with principles and formulas, with permutations and combinations; instead, knowing God has to do with love, and, well, I think you know what I was about to say about that.
Anyway, nuts & bolts have a neat function; they hold things together! I will never forget the Christmas that Santa brought Amy her first swing set. When I opened the box to put the set together, and realized how many nuts & bolts were necessary for the proper function of the swing set, I nearly fainted. I counted them! There were exactly 4,219 bolts and exactly 4,218 nuts! It was that one missing bolt that kept me up all night, as without it, the set simply would not hold together. I think it was the king pin! (I really didn’t count them, but I didn’t have to, because it became obvious toward the end that a major nut was missing!) Anyway, I finally found it, neatly tucked away in one of the corners of the box.
Just for the record, there are several “nuts & bolts” that actually hold the gospel to-gether, without which the “good news” becomes “very bad news.” Sadly, they have been long-since lost, or so it seems, as is evidenced by the many perversions of the gospel that run rampant throughout the church.
Gosh, I wish all of you could be present this Sunday, as I really would like for you to get your “nuts & bolts” together! (-:

Blessings,
Mac