The Old "Shave and a Haircut" Knock Trick

This Sunday after 3pm I lay down for a little sleep.  I had not been laying there ten minutes when I heard a loud, "Shave and a Haircut - two bits!" knock on the glass by the front door.  "Now who could that possibly be?" I thought to myself as I creaked to my feet.  I walked down the stairs hoping it would be someone that I knew.  It wasn't.  It's an experience I've had far too often for my liking, even after placing a sticker which asks politely for salespeople to refrain from knocking.  The second I cracked the door the nice young lady wouldn't stop talking, briskly showing me her wares, and inquiring about my interest in her paintings.  She was a bit put-off when I was able to break in a minute later and say, "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested."  She kept talking even after I closed the door.

I have to say, I really struggle when people come to my door to sell me things.  If I wanted to change my electricity provider, I wouldn't do it with a fast-talking salesman who shows up at my door unannounced.  Then there are those cagey folks who aren't actually selling anything - so they say!  It doesn't matter who it is or what they are selling:  after they leave, I always tussle with salesmen rejection remorse.  It is not that I have ever actually been tempted to buy anything.  But I always think later:  "Was I too harsh or abrupt?  It could have been a scam, but possibly it was someone trying to make an honest living.  Should I have tried to engage them in an actual conversation?  How could that have gone better?"  The self-talk inevitably goes on an on.  And I pray.  Something about people coming to my door sends me crying out to God, and sleeping becomes out of the question.

After this latest unwanted intrusion, many thoughts swirled around in my head.  The truth is, I don't trust anyone who comes to my door I don't already know.  I don't know who they are or what they are about.  Then I started thinking:  what if that girl had come to the door asking for water, food, or money?  My guard would have dropped a little.  Once it is clear I am not being swindled out of something I can relax a bit.  When the Salvos have their shield appeal, it's a very different feeling.

When I lived in San Diego, I had an interesting conversation with a friend who originally was from Ohio.  He said it was not out of the ordinary for friend to drop by unannounced and to extend hospitality, share a drink and a chat.  He said he noticed that was not often the norm in Southern California.  When he dropped by a friend's house because he was in the area, they were quite guarded.  They might open the door to shake his hand, but never once invited him inside.  He found it most disappointing.  It's true:  inviting an unexpected visitor into your home is personal business.  It means you are choosing to put aside your plans and to gladly extend hospitality to an impromptu guest.  It is a sacrifice of love when done joyfully.  As I thought of my friend's story, I thought of Jesus Christ's words in Revelation 3:20:  "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

Jesus says those words in context not to strangers, but to the members who comprise His Body - the church.  When Jesus stands at the door and knocks, calling out to those within, it is with the implication that the person on the inside of the house has the power to either open the door or leave it shut.  We can ignore the door and Christ's voice, we can open the door for a chat but block His entrance (because we're not exactly prepared or have other things we'd rather do), or we can open the door and invite Him in.  If Jesus chooses to drop by, I don't want to be too busy with other things to spend time with Him.  I don't want to pretend I'm not available when my Saviour seeks my company.  To have a meal with Jesus!  What a treat!  If we will hear His voice and open the door, Jesus will come in to us so we can share fellowship together.

This morning at church we had a wonderful time of fellowship and a time of remembrance through Communion.  Bread and juice were received, symbols of Christ's broken body and shed blood for our sins.  It is a good thing to walk in obedience to Him and proclaim His death until He comes in remembering the price paid.  God is challenging me to show my appreciation to Him for all He as done in the form of loving others even as He loves me.  Even when pesky fast-talking sign-ignoring salespeople with agendas knock at my door, I pray God helps me make it my agenda to love them as people He died to save.  When someone knocks at the door, Christ knocks in a strange disguise!

Sin is Eternal

Here's an interesting thought for consideration.  Perhaps you have wondered how the punishment of eternity in hell is a fitting penalty for a sin committed on earth.  One sin to us doesn't seem like such an awful thing.  Everyone sins, so it must not be that bad, right?  But consider the perspective of the eternal God, the Judge of All.  Because He operates outside the confines of time, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years a day.  A sin committed on earth is not a single moment from God's perspective outside of time:  it is an eternity.  It is therefore just and reasonable sin be punished eternally.

C.S. Lewis wrote, "We have s strange illusion that mere time cancels sin.  I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker's, and even with laughter.  But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin.  The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood fo Christ:  if we have repented these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble.  As for the fact of a sin, is it probably that anything cancels it?  All times are eternally present to God.  Is it not at least possible that along some one line of His multi-dimensional eternity He sees you forever in the nursery pulling the wings off a fly, forever toadying, lying, and lusting as a schoolboy, forever in that moment of cowardice or insolence as a subaltern?" (Lewis, The Problem of Pain, pg. 49)

Each sin committed is an eternal offense against the unceasing righteousness of God.  The sins of my youth demand punishment as much as the sins I have committed this week.  But thanks be to God, who in His love for fallen man has sent Christ to seek and save the lost and once for all become a divine sacrifice for sin.  From God's vantage point, Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).  After we repent and are washed in His blood by faith, all memory of our sins from God's perspective is put away.  It is written in Hebrews 10:14-17:  "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵ But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ¹⁶ "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,"¹⁷ then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."  We live now in this day of the New Covenant of Christ's blood, and we are very privileged to do so.

Wounds sometimes heal over time, but the stain of sin lasts forever.  Only repentance and the blood of Jesus can cleanse us by grace through faith.  When He cleanses us, we are washed and purified forever.  How grateful and blessed I am that God has chosen to remember my sin no more!

God is Guiltless

We live in a day of relativism.  Yet even with the relative state of morality in the various societies in the world, there are crimes so heinous they deserve prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.  Even in prisons there is a code of ethics, where felons punish violators for the crimes committed outside prison, as well as breaking the code within.  In each of us there is a morality based upon our beliefs.  A drug dealer may have no problem with dealing illegal narcotics to adults, but believes it would be wrong to sell bad dope to kids.  Everyone has within them a conscience that causes us to experience guilt or shame when we know we've done something wrong.  There's a lot of people in prison who believe they have been hard done by and don't deserve the punishment they have received.  In some cases there is injustice, but it doesn't mean that concept of prison is one of them.

Can you imagine a serial child rapist and murderer complaining to the judge of the injustice of being sent to prison?  There are many who would say, "Prison is too good for that murderer."  Prison serves as a deterrent to those who consider committing a crime, to protect the innocent by removing criminals from society, for restitution, and personal reformation.  Now I do not want to imply that all prisons are fair or injustice hasn't occurred in some cases.  In our justice system people are involved (witnesses, jurors, solicitors, judges, wardens, guards, etc.), there will be mistakes, errors in judgment, and weakness common to men.  My point is to say the concept of a judicial system and imprisonment after a fair trial is understood in itself not to be the problem, but is among the most acceptable ways to uphold justice and mete it out to lawbreakers.  Jail is not a bad thing in itself, but a place built for people who have done bad things to go.

Some people struggle with the idea that God created hell, a place of eternal incarceration and torment in outer darkness.  It is truly a place more horrible than any can imagine.  It is commonly said, "The punishment should fit the crime."  Hell is the punishment for a single sin committed against the righteous Laws of God.  Sin is really a terrible thing, so awful and wretched, that God created hell as a place of torment for the devil and his demons.  Years ago in some of the United States the punishment for the worst crimes was the electric chair, hanging until dead, or the firing squad.  The severity of the punishment was matched to the most severe crimes.  This severity of hell shows us the greatness of sins from God's perspective which appear so small in our eyes today.  A single lie, stealing, committing adultery, even coveting something is sin!  When we serve gods other than the One True God who reveals Himself through the Bible, have idols in our lives, or even use God's name to swear, we commit the most serious of offenses before the Just Judge of the Universe.

God is loving.  He knew that man in his current condition is doomed to eternal damnation, because all have sinned.  So God in His grace provided a way for men to be forgiven and saved from death and hell.  God took human form in the person of Jesus Christ and did many signs to show His divine nature.  He was falsely accused and condemned unjustly and murdered on the cross.  But three days later, He rose from the dead to prove His victory over sin and death in accordance with scripture.  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." God has made a provision for all our sins to be expunged by the blood of His Son.  When we repent and trust in Him as King and LORD, we are born again by God's grace.  After our debt of sin against God has been paid, we avoid hell fire and are promised a place in heaven forever.

In the current system of justice, for someone to be "bailed" they must meet certain conditions.  It is the same way with divine justice.  We do not pay with money, but it is the blood of Jesus applied to our lives through faith which sets us free.  There are many examples of this in the Bible.  One instance was when the two men of Israel were spying out the city of Jericho and were harboured and protected by a harlot named Rahab.  She asked them to repay her for the kindness she had showed them when they eventually sacked the city.  The men agreed they would spare her and her family but held forth specific conditions.  Joshua 2:17-21 reads, "So the men said to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, ¹⁸ unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. ¹⁹ So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. ²⁰ And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear." ²¹ Then she said, "According to your words, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window."  The men would not be held accountable for their promise to Rahab or her family members if they did not meet the prescribed conditions.  Rahab was required to hang a scarlet rope from her window, and her family could leave her home at the risk of their lives.  She was to remain quiet about their agreement.  Should Rahab hang up the red rope but choose to go out for a walk, she did not meet the conditions.  They would be guiltless should harm come to her because she had not heeded their warning.  If she decided to betray them, the promise of safety for her would no longer apply.

God has done the same thing for all people.  It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  He does not desire that any man or woman be doomed to hell for eternity.  He has graciously set forth conditions for our release and forgiveness.  We first must plead guilty and repent for our sins.  Then Romans 10:9 explains God's conditions for salvation succinctly: "...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  One thing is for certain:  if you choose to be judged according to your works, you will receive justice.  You will receive a fair trial when the books are opened and your life is measured according to God's perfect standard.  Every word, deed, thought, and attitude of your heart during your entire life will be brought under divine judgment.  Psalm 130:3 says, "If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"  The implication?  Absolutely no one.  Another condition is we must choose to repent and trust in Christ during our short time on earth.  If we wait until our bodies die and we face God's judgment, it will be too late.  Psalm 130:4 tells us, "But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared."

Hell isn't the problem:  sin is.  God is guiltless; man is guilty.  While there is a little time left, choose to meet God's conditions for salvation and new life in Him.  He has paid the price at great cost.  Don't appeal to justice when God has already given grace and great promises.  1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

A New Master

One of the wonderful aspects of the One True God is He makes all things new.  When a person is born again by grace through faith, the Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside.  We are freed from the bondage of sin and spiritually brought from death to life.  It is like coming out of a darkened grave into the light of God's love.  What warmth and joy we experience!  What a relief, to be free from the burden of sin and to have a new Master.  It was Satan and sin that once oppressed and ruled us.  We were prisoners in a chain-gang serving a life sentence headed to hell with the whip of guilt laid across our consciences.  But in Christ we have been made free and a whole new life for eternity stretches before us like a luscious meadow before a flock of sheep.  Jesus is our Good Shepherd and we love to hear Him call our names.

Though God makes all things new, we continue to live life on earth in a body of flesh.  All the experiences in our prior life can haunt us, and Satan's biting words can still wound.  We can be like dogs abused by their owners who are adopted by a loving new owner from the RSPCA or the pound.  Some dogs have experienced a tragic life which involved torture, starvation, being made to fight, neglect, or disease.  When they are brought into a new home with new masters they can still be fearful from past experiences.  Memories of their old master do not immediately disappear.  It takes love, care, and time for abused dogs to trust anyone again.  Though the dog is in a completely new situation, the creature only sees through the old paradigm.  With a big dose of love, patience, with new freedoms and established boundaries, over time the dog will thrive in the new environment under a new master.

Spiritually speaking, the transformation in a person through the Holy Spirit is far more pronounced.  What is impossible with men is possible with God.  God is able to redeem the tragedies of our past for His glory and our good.  Ephesians 4:21-24 gives us an exhoratation we are called to embrace:  "...if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."  Many people do not obtain dogs from rescue shelters because they want a "clean slate."  They want a dog that has not been abused or that has learned "bad habits" which they must be broken of.  But not our God.  He takes us from the equivalent of death row, having rebelled against God as his enemy.  We have greatly suffered in isolation from fellowship with God.  He does not simply "reform" us but transforms us through the renewing of our minds.  He doesn't just clean our slate, but takes away our slate and gives us a living, feeling heart.  We are given a new Spirit within us.  We are taught to put off the old man - the old way of thinking and living.  We are to have our minds renewed through the truth of scripture, and then to put on the new man "according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."

Let us not cower under the bed or run away in fear when our good Master calls out to us in love.  We have a new Master now, One who loves us with undying love.  Jesus demonstrates His love for us that while we were yet sinners, He died for us.  When the old wicked master comes calling, accusing and abusing you, do not believe a word he says.  Do not listen to him; pay him no mind.  He no longer has power or authority over us.  We answer only to our new Master, the LORD of All, KING OF KINGS.  He makes all things new.