His Only Master Was Jesus

Fifty years ago, Marshall Keeble died at the age of 89. Leroy Garrett, in a book about the history of churches of Christ, called brother Keeble one of the princes of the church (Stone Campbell Movement, 680). Earl West, in his history Search for the Ancient Order identified Keeble as one of the three best preachers among churches of Christ in the first half of the twentieth century (Volume 4, 140). Marshall Keeble had no political power. He was not wealthy. His father had been born a slave. Yet he wielded, and continues to exert, great influence in the Lord’s church. He preached in small churches and clearings. He preached in large public auditoriums to a packed house. He preached in Europe and in Africa as well as in the United States; he baptized more than ten thousand people. Among his greatest achievements was his mentoring of young men who wanted to preach. In 1939, he became the President of Nashville Christian Institute, a school for training African-American preachers. Some of the students travelled with him on evangelistic campaigns and learned even more as they listened and as they watched. Although Keeble was a powerful preacher, he emphasized that he was not the focal point of the assembly. He pointed people to focus on Jesus, saying things like, “Don’t follow your Momma. Follow Jesus. He knows how to get to Heaven. He’s made the round trip. Your Momma don’t know the way to Heaven – she’s never been there” (Willie Cato, His Hand and Heart, 37). He exhorted his hearers to “prove all things, then hold fast to that which is good.” My parents took me to hear Marshall Keeble preach in 1964 when he was about 85 years old and I was 7 years old. He impressed me greatly with his fervent preaching that could capture the interest even of a small boy. As my family left the auditorium that night, I reached up to shake his hand and asked him if he would come to preach where I went to church. After asking me where I lived and worshiped, he was silent for a few seconds, then he smiled as he answered, “Maybe someday.” He loved to pray. He loved to preach. He loved his family and he enjoyed baseball. But more than anything else, he loved the Lord. The Lord Jesus was his master. His biographer observed that what made Marshall Keeble great was “…NO BODY and NO THING mastered him, except the Master himself.” (His Hand and Heart, 134). Let’s pray that they will say the same of us.

How Will You Respond to Jesus?

Large crowds surged to hear Jesus in villages and in Jerusalem. They even swarmed into wilderness areas to find the one who spoke like no one else spoke, who healed disease, and who loved the outcast. Even as they praised him, voices from among them challenged the credentials of the teacher, the content of his teaching, and his faithfulness to God’s law (How dare he heal on the Sabbath, a day of rest, was among their complaints.). When Jesus spoke of sacrifice, commitment, and death, crowds diminished. After his arrest, the voices of his supporters were drowned out by the clamor of those demanding his execution. Two of his closest associates betrayed him, one by taking money to hand him over to authorities, and the other by denying that he knew him. Paradox surrounds the ministry of Jesus. Crowds wanted to make him king (John 6); others denied him, saying they had no other king than Caesar. He healed disease, but his priority was healing the soul. He was criticized because he socialized too much, and with the wrong people; he withdrew often to quiet places by himself. He marveled at the faith of a Roman Soldier, talked with women (which just wasn’t done), touched a leper, and prayed for the unity of his disciples, but demanded an allegiance that would create friction in other relationships (Matthew 10:34-39). Large crowds still gather to hear the message of Jesus. Voices from among the crowds still challenge his claims and denounce the content of his preaching. Others still follow him when it is convenient, but drift away when his call to take up their cross and sacrifice for him interferes with their goals or their schedule. His prayer for unity remains, but his followers bicker among themselves, demean one another, and still, like the earliest disciples, seek to be the greatest rather than the servant. The question for us is, “What will we do with Jesus?” Will we praise him when it is convenient, but renounce him by our silence or absence when it is not? Will we follow him, or live life our way? Jesus’s words remind us why our answers to those questions are critical: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39).

Is Jesus Lucky to Have Us as His Disciples?

Robert Burns wrote:

O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An' foolish notion: What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, An' ev'n devotion!

In our vernacular, "would some Power the gift give us to see ourselves as others see us.It would from many a blunder free us, An' foolish notion: What airs in dress an' gait would leave us an' even devotion!" The picture with this entry came to my attention when a Catholic priest posted it. The chart aptly portrays what he sees when he considers the vast array of non-Catholic churches. I come from a background that the priest might consider a good fit for the cartoon. We try to be Christ's church. At times we may forget that Christ determines the parameters for inclusion in his body and that we do not. So we say things that earn the response, "So, you think you're the only ones going to heaven." Actually, it's not my call who goes to heaven. God makes that call. You and I study his message to us (the Bible) and listen to discern what he wants. Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples in John 17. As the chart on the board in the cartoon depicts, we have not done a good job at maintaining that unity. In part that division has arisen because of personality clashes, in part because of doctrinal disagreements (a few of them actually critical), in part because of disagreements about what was most important, in part (sadly) because of ethnic boundaries. Ephesians chapter two teaches that Jesus came to break down barriers, not to erect them. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me"(John 14:6). Another biblical passage, Hebrews 12:1-3, affirms this when it directs reader to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author (or trailblazer) and perfecter of our faith. If we want to be Jesus' disciples, we must focus on how he walked and what he said. The experience of the early church as described in the New Testament also gives us insight into what a group of people that belong to Jesus look like (Christianity in the New Testament is lived in fellowship with other believers, not in isolation.). They met together for prayer, communion, and teaching. They sang and encouraged one another. They corrected those who had lost their focus. They considered themselves, as Jesus had, one group (or body or church) belonging to him. There were no franchises. Is Jesus lucky to have us as his disciples? No, we're the blessed ones. He has called us out of darkness into the light of the path he cleared. Let's follow him. It won't be easy, but we will do better if we realize our relationship to him and let him lead the way.

Growing in Godliness

Individual Christians and churches should aim to grow in godliness. When we look at Titus 3:8-14, we discover in the concluding paragraph of a letter from a spiritual mentor to his evangelist protege several insights as to how to become more like God. When we examine the entire letter to discern what strengths and weaknesses the evangelist Titus and the church on Crete had, we discover that what Paul the mentor encouraged and what he said to avoid probably reflected what was happening there. We discover also that those Christians were like many of us today. Some Christians' lifestyles had not changed much since their conversion, and they should have! Older men had not earned the respect of younger men. Older women slandered. Servants conspired against their masters, did as little work as possible and stole. In response, Paul set down principles for godly living so that "those who have believed in God might take care to practice good works" (Titus 3:8). Christians must concentrate on doing what is good. We must make a conscious effort to do the right thing. If you have tried to catch a football that was thrown to you, you know that the football was not drawn to your hands by electromagnetic force. Growing in godliness is like that. You have to decide to do it, whether the good work is sharing food with the hungry, taking care of your children or telling someone about salvation through Jesus. To grow in godliness, Christians and especially evangelists, must avoid controversial questions. That does not mean that they tolerate heresy or promote lax behavior. Christians should focus on positive aspects of following Christ rather than arguing about every little thing that comes up. Paul warns Titus here to go out of his way to avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, quarrels and disputes about the law. He says that these activities are useless and idle. They do not produce growth in individuals or churches. Christians must avoid enforcing traditions as God's law and arguing over unimportant issues if they are to grow in godliness. Paul had left Titus on Crete for two reasons - to appoint elders and to set in order the things that were lacking (Titus 1:5). One might infer that Titus had been so busy trying to resolve every little dispute that he had not taken the time to what Paul had told him to do. To grow in godliness, Christians must correct divisive personalities who threaten to disrupt the unity of the church. Remember that Paul wanted Titus to appoint elders and set in order the things that were lacking. Elders, as mature spiritual leaders, would possess the credibility to address such problems. Paul told Titus, as an evangelist, to " convince them rigorously so that they might be healthy in the faith." Sometimes even the most patient counseling and thorough, sound teaching by well-grounded elders and evangelists fails to correct a problem situation in the church. IN this concluding passage of Titus, Paul tells what to do when troublemakers refuse to heed the warnings of the evangelist and elders. First, warn the troublemaker. If he refuses to repent, warn him again. If he still keeps on causing problems. drive him out before he cause more hamr to the body of Christ. His own actions have testified that he is not a godly person and that he intends to hurt the church. Divisive actions within the body of Christ are like cancer in the human body; if not treated early, they prove fatal. Note that the expulsion occurs only after several attempts to reason with the individual. Loving biblical discipline seeks first to restore the sinning Christian. Then all Christians can concentrate on doing good. But why this emphasis on doing good? Why avoid controversial questions? Why discipline divisive personalities? Paul writes in Titus 3:14, "Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives." Older men will deserve and receive respect; older women will win the respect of younger women who will follow their examples in living for Christ. Younger men will use common sense and accomplish far more. Employees will earn respect from supervisors. We don't do this to earn salvation, but to demonstrate that we have received it and are grateful to the God who "saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5b-7).