Baptist Classroom
Last week I flew to the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Silsbee, TX to preach at their annual Bible Conference. The theme of the meeting was on the faith exemplified in the lives of the men and women from Hebrews chapter 11. The church was so gracious and kind to us and went over and beyond in making sure all the attendees were well taken care of. With the cost of gas, it ended up being cheaper for me to fly down, and that is always an adventure. It’s remarkable how we can feel inconvenienced in an airport. I traveled halfway across the country in less time than it takes me to weed eat my small property. I think it’s illustrative of how in the space of 100 years, air travel went from a theory, to possible, to a privilege, to being inconvenienced by not having Dr. Pepper on the flight as advertised. It’s not just air travel, it’s everything. We are tempted to take God’s blessings and go from being thankful to having a privileged mindset, that God owes us what he blessed us with and forget its all of grace to start with (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). I grew up without central heating or air conditioning. We didn’t have a microwave. I learned what an internet search was in a class I took at community college after I graduated high school. I’m sure some of you have me beat in the “back in my day” department, but nonetheless they don’t seem like luxury items, but necessities for us now. God is so good, that we get accustomed to his goodness and then take it for granted.
On one leg of my trip, a boisterous man seated behind me commenced to flirt with the young lady in the window seat. Smooth operator, he was not. But what he lacked in skills, he made up for in persistence. He tried to win her heart with some stories the guys at the gym probably thought were hilarious, profanity at all. After several minutes of F-bombs from 20,000 feet, the young lady informed her would be suitor that she was a member of the Nazarene Church in her small Texas town. You wouldn’t believe it, but this young man just so happened to also belong to the church of the Nazarene! Will wonders never cease. Just like that, without the slightest bit of shame, he transitioned into philosophical conversation on the matters of religion. No doubt, if she informed him that she was in the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, she would have been shocked to learn his grandfather was once the Grand Imperial Poohbah. The Greek word translated hypocrite in the Bible, in the secular usage, refers to the play actor. They impersonate someone else. Robertson said its, “to pretend, to feign, to dissemble, to act the hypocrite, to wear a mask.” The airline no longer required masks for COVID, but there were plenty who were wearing the mask of a Christian.
