THE TRENTON BULLETIN

THE TRENTON BULLETIN

Trenton Church of Christ, Trenton, Florida

He was twelve-hundred miles from home and coming through the fields outside Jerusalem he noticed a great multitude of people making a procession along the road. Pausing for a moment to witness what was going on; soldiers compel him to the middle of the procession where he came face to face with three men bearing timbers of wood upon their backs. These were sentenced men with death waiting for them at the end of the road. They were bloodied, dirty, and sweaty and weakened. The soldiers took the timber off the back on one of the men and forced it upon the traveler’s back. The procession continued with wailings and curses upon those about to be crucified.

Simon was a man from Cyrene (modern day Tripoli, Libya). He had been in the country and was passing by (Mark 15:21) when Roman soldiers compelled him to bear the cross of a man from Nazareth. He stumbled under the heavy load (probably 75 pounds or more) until they reached the place of crucifixion. The soldiers took the timber from his back, laid it on the ground and began nailing this man from Nazareth to it. Simon stumbled backward as the execution began. His eyes filled with the cruel manner the guards treated the condemned men. The men were lifted up - crucified. Some taunted the men, some cried and wailed loudly and many just sat and watched.

Simon disappears from the story as quickly as he enters. We know he was from Cyrene and he will forever be imprinted on Holy Scripture as the one who bore the cross for Jesus. Mark mentions in his gospel that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus (15:21) and great interest is made of the only other Rufus mentioned in scripture as Paul wrote in Romans 16:13 – “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.” Without certainty it cannot be ascertained any connection but hearts fond of good stories concede the relationship.

Whatever Simon was doing that day it seems certain the last thing he had in mind was to bear a condemned man’s cross. Where he was going is unknown but as he passed by he was compelled by the soldiers to bear a cross. Jesus spoke of cross bearing often in his teaching. “Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Cross bearing was not easy, filled with pain and ended in death for the condemned.

There are many times in life when we are suddenly thrown to the ground and a huge cross is placed upon us. We did not want the cross and we did not want to carry the cross but compulsion demanded we bear under the cross. The image of Simon bearing the cross of Jesus shows us the suddenness of cross bearing. But it also shows us the road to the cross leads to where we can leave the cross. Simon left the cross at Golgotha and Jesus bore the full weight of the cross in his death. Because of his death, we have an answer to our cross bearing.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30). “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting … thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Jesus died on the cross so we can carry our cross with hope.

I was teaching a Sunday morning class, and a disheveled "streetwise" man walked in. His hair was frazzled, and it appeared that it had been some time since his last "cleansing." No matter. We were happy to have there (and it’s times like that when James 2 really hits home). He didn’t say anything, and I suppose that deep down I figured him to be another one from the streets looking for a little handout. After a few minutes he drew our attention because he began peeling off what seemed like several layers of shirts, sweaters, and who knows what all. I guess he was getting comfortable (that auditorium was notorious for being too hot). We continued through the end of class, and I walked over to him to welcome him there. I was expecting some kind of request, but he just shook my hand and stayed put.

Our worship began like normal. The song leader announced the song, which happened to be "Take Time to be Holy." After about a verse and a half, the man arose and started on his way out. One of the men in the back kindly told him, "You’re welcome to stay." The man simply replied, "I don’t want to get all too holy at once." Then he left. We never saw him again.

That incident has been in my mind fairly often over the years. I don’t think that man was trying to be funny, though at first it seemed a little amusing. But the more I thought about it, the more serious of a chord it struck. The sad thing is that this man would probably never become holy at all. "Too much" holiness is hardly a concern there.

Make no mistake. God wants us to be holy. "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). All of the laws and regulations in Leviticus are founded upon this principle, and stated in what I believe to be the key passage in that book. "Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy" (11:44-45). God wanted His people set apart for His service; therefore they were not to be defiled by "unclean" things which would destroy that. This principle is carried over into the new covenant and expressed in such passages as Romans 12:1-2 and 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you and you shall be my songs and daughters, says the Lord Almight.’ Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).

Now I wonder if we sometimes think more like this man off the street than we care to admit. Apparently he was there because he felt like he needed a little "religion," whatever form that would take in his mind. But he had about all he could take, and he hadn’t even sat through one of my sermons yet! (I can only imagine what he would have thought then.)

We know we need to be holy. We can read it in the Book. We know God wants us to be set apart for Him, not conformed to the world. But … let’s be careful not to be "too" holy. After all, we don’t want to offend modern sensibilities. We don’t want to appear to be radical or anything. Let’s be holy. But let’s not overdo it.

I suppose there is some truth to this. If by "too" holy, we mean that we don’t want to be self-righteous, "holier than thou" kind of people, then I agree. Our attitudes must not reflect a self-righteous pride that looks down with contempt on those poor, godless people of the world. There is a sense in which we blend with the world. We need not walk around with robes and backward collars to show we are different. Generally (with some exceptions), we’ll wear the same clothes and speak the same language as most others do. And like most other preachers, I enjoy that Sunday afternoon nap with the football game on in the background (one of the pleasures of modern life).

On the other hand, the idea of being "too" holy may conjure up images of being too dedicated, too committed to being Christians. That might mean that we have to spend too much time studying, praying, and attending classes and assemblies. This could mean that we might be inconvenienced at times. After all, we have other things to attend to. We don’t want to cut into work, school, or recreation; so while we know it is important to be Christians, let’s just not be too demanding, ok? "Be holy, but not too holy."

That point sinks in with me. I’m tempted to go for the convenient things of being a Christian, and shying away from the demanding matters. When I find myself thinking that way, I think back to that man off the streets. He taught a pretty good lesson that day, though he will probably never realize it. Not only do we need to "take time to be holy," we need to pray, "more holiness give me." In the end, there is no such thing as being "too holy." Either we are holy or not. Holiness is to be pursued, not avoided or partitioned off into little time-slots in our lives. Without holiness, we will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). How can there be too much of that?

“The Americans demanded that they were free, masterless individuals,” wrote Alexis De Tocqueville in his classic description of the American character in 1835, “they sought absolute independence and equality of status. They imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands .,.. They acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone.’ It is this fierce independence of mind that has allowed New Testament Christianity to flourish in America. I am sure we are all thankful for the freedom of speech and conscience which has been the incubator of New Testament Christianity in the modern world.

It is precisely this habit of mind that led many nineteenth century American Christians to renounce the religious baggage of centuries and to call for a return to primitive Christianity. New England preacher Elias Smith stated that plea powerfully; ”I am a Christian . . . calling no man father or master; holding as abominable in the sight of God everything highly esteemed among men, such as calvinism, arminianism, freewillism, universalism, reverend, parsons, chaplains, doctors of divinity, surplices, notes, creeds, covenants, platforms.” Nobly stated. As a historian, I have been repulsed by the human forms of religion—by obscure theological systems, fruitless hair-splitting and semantical debate, by ecclesiastical institutions that bear no resemblance to the Christianity of the New Testament, and by fat and flabby preachers whose selfish motives are transparent. Societies have often turned anti-religious because of such perversions; it is easy to understand why. If all there was to commend religion to us was its historic forms and its present institutions, I would opt for an enlightened secularism. If I propose to stand against war, it won’t be at the behest of a political activist who appeals to a God of his own creation to support a cause of his own creation; and while I do indeed urge others to be moral, I have no interest in a religio-political movement that mixes the divine and the profane without discrimination to support right-wing politics.

Like Elias Smith, I thank God that I am just a Christian. Oh, it takes some courage to stand alone, with our “whole destiny” in our own hands. It means ridding ourselves of the accumulated assumptions of the centuries, standing lone and without prejudice before the Word of God. It means, as Alexander Campbell said, that we must “open the New Testament as if mortal man had never seen it before.” There is a spiritual exhilaration in such pioneering, as there must have been in viewing this continent for the first time. But it demands brave and adventuresome men and women, the kind that carved out the American nation.

To be a Christian only, free from theological jargon and culture-bound institutions, is not only an exciting business, it is also the right way. “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). I refuse all other labels and I am bored by all other systems of thought. I am a Christian.

How does a worm get inside an apple? Perhaps you think the worm burrows in from the outside. No, scientists have discovered that the worm comes from the inside. But, how does he get in there? Simple. An insect lays an egg in the apple blossom. Sometime later the worm hatches in the heart of the apple, then eats his way out.

Sin, like the worm, begins in the heart and works out through the person's thoughts, word and actions. For this reason, David once wrote, "Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10).

· The best inheritance parents can give their children is a couple of hours of their day.

· We like a man who comes right out and says what he thinks, especially when he agrees with us.