One Small Nail

A parable that comes from Haiti tells about a man that wanted to sell his house. Another man wanted to buy it, but couldn’t afford the full price because he was poor.  After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell his home for half of what he felt it was worth, but with one small stipulation. He would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from the front door.

After a few years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell it. So the first owner found the carcass of a dead dog and hung it over the nail, which he owned, on the front door. Soon the house became unlivable and the family was forced to sell it to the owner of the nail.

The lesson of the parable is that if we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, and make it unfit for Jesus to live in us.

In our study of the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, we read,

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

We are all walking toward life or toward death. We are either headed for destruction or we are being saved. There is no third choice. The cross is the place where we make a decision that will end the old life totally. Everything changes at the cross, we radically shift the direction of our lives. Jesus’ opponents yelled at him to come down from the cross, if he were really God.  The visitors from Greece tried to persuade him to leave his destiny at the cross and go to Greece where he would be applauded and rewarded, but he refused.

We can leave no peg for the devil in our lives or we will begin to stink with the fumes of hell.

“Give no opportunity for the devil” (Ephesians 4:27)

God Loves Teamwork

I’ve just begun teaching through the Book of I Corinthians this week and love how relevant Paul’s letter is to the Church of God in Canada. The Corinthian Church was birthed in 52 AD and when the Apostle wrote his letter to them in 55 AD, it was already seeing some cracks of dysfunction and disunity appear.

If Paul had not addressed them so promptly, the cracks could have become schisms that would have destroyed all that the Holy Spirit had done. These were Spirit filled believers who were beneficiaries of the grace of God and the fulness of the Spirit.  

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 1:4-7 NASB)

 The theme verse of this letter is,

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
(1 Corinthians 1:9 NASB)

 This word fellowship holds the lesson behind the letter. It’s the Greek word koinonia, which is a partner, sharer or companion. It depicts a mutual participation in the same project or event. For a church to function in health and see fruitfulness, there must be koinonia. Later Paul adds,

Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
(1 Corinthians 3:8, 9 NASB)

 That word, one, that he used carries the same idea. It means one in purpose, one in aim, being on the same team and having the same goals.

Last Sunday, to the surprise of many of my friends, I watched the football game that pushed the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl next week. One of the things that excited me was how enthusiastically the Washington fans were behind their team. Not only were the Seahawks working well as one, but their thousands of fans were on the same team, with the same goal to win the game next week!

Can you imagine if the Church in Canada really enjoyed that kind of fellowship? As Paul admonished the Church he’d pastored for 18 months. “Come on you guys. Let’s come together on the same team and do the supernatural work we’ve been called to do!”