True to Plum Amos 7:1-9
Delivered to Smith Chapel UMC on February 13, 2011
Part One
Part Two
What I Didn't Say
Plumb Line--I was a tad surprised to discover how many people in my congregation had used one of these. I have used one a few times over the years, but not recently. For a long time, I kept one in my tool box. Finally, I got rid of it in the interest of saving space.
At any rate, every time I think of a plumb line, I think of carpenters. When I think of carpenters, I often muse as to how good a carpenter I would have been. I like to work with my hands and also like to work with wood. Seems like a good combo to me. I don't know if I would have done well, but I can dream.
Carpenters--We don't give it much thought, but Jesus was not only the son of a carpenter, He was a carpenter as well. Remember, He didn't go into full-time ministry until He was twenty-nine years old. As far as I can tell, He wasn't on welfare, so He had to be earning a buck (or a shekel) somehow.
I once heard a preacher pontificate on what kind of a carpenter Jesus must have been. He averred that Jesus had to have been a good carpenter...probably an excellent one. That DOES make sense if you think about it. If the stuff He had made up until he was twenty-nine was inferior, you can imagine the scenes.
Jesus would be preaching and teaching on how your life should be lived. He states that it should be like a house built on a rock rather than on the beach somewhere...a solid foundation and all of that. Right after He says this, some guy appears out of the crowd and tosses a broken chair at Jesus' feet and yells out, "Don't try to tell me how to live until you fix this lousy chair you built for me! I paid good money for that lousy piece of crap!" At that point, Jesus would have lost all credibility. His authority and expertise on the Scripture and all spiritual things would have been undermined in a New York minute (or a Jerusalem parsec).
I suspect this says something to us about how we go about our daily business...whatever that business happens to be. If we're not good at what we do, it probably undermines any real witness we could have for Christ. After all, why would someone believe anything we say if we sold them a used car that fell apart right after the thirty day warranty expired. Well, maybe that's a bad example; but you get what I'm saying...I hope.
