Bartimaeus said, “Gentlemen, let me go first. I cannot wait to tell you what Jesus did for me. I was outside the city of Jericho when Jesus walked by, surrounded by a mob of people. I cried out, ‘Son of David! Son of David! Have mercy on me!’ and Jesus stopped. The crowd quieted down. He asked me the most unusual question. He asked, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ I said, ‘Rabbi, I want to see.’ He said, ‘Go. Your faith has made you well.’ Gentlemen, at that moment, instantaneously I could see. I was healed. As a result, I have come to this conclusion: When it comes to healing blind people, Jesus uses our faith and His word, and that equals healing.”

The other two shook their heads and frowned. They obviously disagreed with Bartimaeus’ conclusion. Unable to keep quiet, the man from Bethsaida spoke up. He said, “Gentlemen, my story of how Christ touched me isn’t anything like that. Jesus took me out of the city, and he spit directly into my eyes. Then he touched my eyes with his hands. I was expecting an instantaneous healing like yours, Bartimaeus, but when I opened my eyes, it was awful. I saw men as trees walking. Everything was a blur. I thought, ‘If this is what it is like to be healed by Jesus, he’s not much of a healer.’ Then Jesus repeated the procedure. He spit in my eyes again and touched me again. Gentlemen, the second time I opened my eyes, I could see. As a result, I am convinced that when Jesus heals blind people, he uses spit, and it’s always in two stages.”

By this time, the third man was red in the face. he said, “Gentlemen, I would seriously doubt the validity of both your conclusions. When Jesus healed me, he used saliva all right. But he did not spit in my face. Instead, he spit in the ground, and he took the saliva and the dirt and made mud packs and put mud packs on my eyes. It was uncomfortable and somewhat disgusting. Then he told me to go to the pool of Siloam and commanded me to wash the mud out in the pool. As I washed it out, I could see instantly. As a result, I am convinced that when Jesus heals blind people, he uses mud and the holy waters of the pool of Siloam.”

The three men argued with one another well into the night and went away divided on the matter of Jesus and healing. In the days that followed they formed three denominations – the Mudites, the Spitites, and the Faithites. The Mudites made mud their sacrament of healing, the Spitites made saliva their sacrament, and the Faithies assigned no special sacrament at all to healing, believing that faith in Christ’s word was all that was necessary to be made well.

Which one do you belong to?

Trying to believe it was a coincidence, the Pastor put the incident behind him. The next Sunday he preached on giving. Afterwards, the choir squirmed as the director led them in the hymn: “Jesus Paid it All”.

By this time, the Pastor was losing his temper. Sunday morning attendance swelled as the tension between the two built. A large crowd showed up the next week to hear his sermon on the sin of gossiping. Would you believe the Choir Director selected: “I Love to Tell the Story”. There was no turning back.

The following Sunday the Pastor told the congregation that unless something changed he was considering resignation. The entire church gasped when the Choir Director led them in: “Why Not Tonight.”

Truthfully, no one was surprised when the Pastor resigned a week later; explaining that Jesus had led Him there and Jesus was leading him away. The Choir Director could not resist: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

Of course, this is a fictional story. But this kind of undermining of authority happens in churches all the time. We should be thankful for a unified leadership at New Hope. Human nature could easily destroy all that.

“A congregation in a small town in Tennessee flew apart rather than staying together. Their place of worship had a sign in front that read, ‘LEFT FOOT BAPTIST CHURCH’. It seems a number of years ago, there had been a split in this local congregation that practiced foot-washing. An argument had broken out over which foot should be washed first. The group insisting on the left foot taking precedence finally withdrew and split off to organize its own church and named its congregation accordingly!”

I’m all for standing up for our beliefs, but that takes the cake. I wonder how many people in the area were attracted to that church by its new name.

In conversation with a person I had recently met, I asked, “Are you a Protestant or Catholic?” My new acquaintance replied, “Protestant.”

I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He answered, “Baptist.”

“Me, too!” I said. “Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”

“Northern Baptist,” replied. “Me Too! I shouted.”

We continued back and forth. Finally I asked, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”

He replied, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”

I said, “Die, heretic!”

Lutheran reformer Philip Melancthon proclaimed, “In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity [love].”

It seems that some believers keep picking until we find something to disagree on. Perhaps it would be more godly to look for things we agree on rather than hunt until we find what we disagree on. Be a bridge builder this weekend.

The neighbor looked at him quizzically and said, “In?”

Could it be that we can’t work with someone because they don’t know what we’re thinking? My wife and I have this problem often. I’m talking about one thing and she’s talking about another. We finally come to the place where it dawns on one of us that we’re misunderstanding something. I’m pushing one way and she’s pulling another.

That problem that you have with the other person just might be a miscommunication on your part. Sometimes we just need to start over and spell out our vision. Which way are we trying to go, anyway?

A solemn assembly was called. Apostles and Prophets gathered to sit in conference with one another. Chairs were circled, so no one man would sit at the head. As each man took his seat, an unusual silence filled the room. The men sat staring at one another, almost forgetting the reason they had assembled, not one man wanting to speak. Out of the unusual silence a Voice spoke and asked, “Button, button, who has the Button?”

As if well rehearsed, the men jumped to their feet and shouted in chorus: “I’ve got the Button! I’ve got the Button!” Each man raising his arms in the air with closed hands to show the Voice, and then one another, that they indeed were holding the Button. Their voices roared, as if trying to drown out one another, shouting with great apostolic and prophetic confidence: “Yes, I’ve got the Button!” “I’ve got the Button!”

Their voices were hoarse from shouting as the roar subsided and all responses stopped. And again the unusual silence filled the room, each man still standing with arm raised and hand closed. Slowly their arms began to drop and each man opened his hand and stared into his palm. And not in one hand was the Button.

But there was something in each man’s hand – a small piece of the Button. Every man standing in the room was holding a Button Fragment. Not all of the fragments were the same size or shape. Some were larger, some smaller; some were round and smooth, some oblong and jagged, but each man held some part of the Button.

Again the Voice broke the unusual silence and asked, “Button, button, who had the Button?” This time there was no quick answer. The men stood silent, no longer examining their own fragment or the fragment of their neighbor, but with their heads lowered, arms hanging limp at their sides, and all boasting stopped – they stood dumbfounded in the unusual silence.

Finally, one man confessed in a broken voice, “I don’t have the Button…” And another whispered, “I don’t have the Button…” And another with a deep sigh, “I don’t have the Button…” This time the response was personal, quiet, and remorseful, as every man in the circle admitted to himself, to the Voice and to his peers, “I don’t have the Button.”

Once again the unusual silence filled the room. Moments passed into eternity. And again the Voice broke the unusual silence: “I gave you bits and pieces but you assumed you possessed the Whole. I sought to increase and shape those pieces but you refused to open your hand. I desired to enlarge your fragments and mold them with other fragments, but you refused to let go. My gift you made your possession. My generosity you turned into exclusiveness. My revelation has become your prejudice. You speak of unity yet build invisible barriers between yourselves with your boasting, I’ve got the Button! As you see, all you really have is a fragment. And you are protecting, exalting and defending your fragment as if it were the Whole. My sons, you have not yet seen the Whole!”

No longer were men standing, they were on their faces. The Button fragments had slipped from their hands and lay scattered around the floor. Their hands were empty. Their self-confident hearts were broken and their proud spirits softened. For the third time the Voice asked, “Button, button, who has the Button?” Through tears of contrition came the gentle reply, “Lord, You have the Button!”

Jesus said, “Before you can remove the speck from your brother’s eye, you must first remove the beam from your own eye.” What does this say to you?

I remember a couple of years ago I was asked to chair a business meeting for a church that was between pastors. A couple of older former members who had gone on to other churches showed up to voice their gripes. They raised questions that had nothing to do with the business of the church. They questioned my motives for even being there. I’m sure they were committed Christians who were headed for heaven, but they attempted to bring great confusion to that church body. It was one of the most stressful meetings I’ve ever attended, and this was a Church! I didn’t see such disrespect when I was a Union Steward.

Years later one of the elders from that church said that I saved the church that night. I’m not sure about that, but I learned that night that sometimes God’s people are our own worst enemy.

Why do you think it is that Christians get so opinionated and spiteful when the scripture tells us to live peacefully among all men?

Though with a scornful wonder Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed:
Yet saints their watch are keeping, their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.

Satan’s number one target is the church, because it is the organized body of believers. So, it is no wonder there is so much division and false teaching that has arisen. Yet the faith of the believers continues to wait upon the Lord and we long for the day when he shall return.