A pastor was in college at Dallas Baptist University, as he drove through Dallas on the way to his classes. He would always see a huge sign of a dynamic church in the area that said, “Lifting Up the Name of Jesus!” It was very impressive.
One day while he was driving to school, he noticed that workers were tearing down the church sign. As he drove by, he saw the name of Jesus being ripped off the advertising board. It hit him so hard. He thought to myself, “Lord, is this what we are doing in the church today? Are we tearing down the name of Jesus by our mediocre lives? You have lifted His Name above all names so high for the world to see. God help me and help everyone in the body of Christ to be a good advertisement so that others may see Jesus and not us.”
A dozen or so years ago, a Romanian pastor came to visit an American church. He had gotten to know the pastor, who had been involved in a Bible-smuggling ministry when the Iron Curtain was still up. The pastor asked him what he thought of our country and the church in this country.
His friend was at first hesitant to speak, for fear of giving offense, but finally said that in his opinion the American church was rich in material things but poor in spiritual things. And by that he did NOT mean that we were the blessed “poor in spirit” whom Jesus commended. No. What he meant was that American Christians, by and large, had a flabby faith because it was rarely even exercised, much less tested.
An old American Indian tale recounts the story of a chief who was telling a gathering of young braves about the struggle within.
“It is like two dogs fighting inside of us,” the chief told them. “There is one good dog who wants to do the right and the other dog always wants to do the wrong. Sometimes the good dog seems stronger and is winning the fight. But sometimes the bad dog is stronger and wrong is winning the fight.”
“Who is going to win in the end?” a young brave asks. The chief answered, “The one you feed.”
Tearing down the name of Jesus. Rarely exercised faith. Feeding the wrong dog. Potent illustrations that warn us of what the writer of Hebrews was trying to convey in Hebrews 12:1-2: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
We must have the right balance in life. When we take our eyes off Jesus, we get out of balance. When we take our eyes off Jesus, we begin to tear His name down, we get fat and lazy and feed our selfish and ungodly passions. Paul advised us to keep focused on Christ. Philippians 3:13-14: “But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Jack Ward is the pastor of Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church. Listen to him Sunday mornings at 10 on WSIP. Check out the church’s Facebook page and website tomahawkmbc.com.