Chapter 2

The Bible is a very unusual book. In a lot of ways but in particular in the way it is written. In most books the author will take pages and pages if not chapters to introduce a character. With his most eloquent and descriptive words he can come up with the author will paint a picture of a character so the reader can almost visualize what they look like and how they will react to a certain situation.

But the Bible doesn’t do that. Many of its characters just seem to show up with little or no introduction. I know, it is different with some. We get the background to the birth of Moses and then we read a lot about his life and then it continues on until his death. With Jesus we have the announcement of His birth and then obviously the Bible covers in detail His three year earthly ministry along with His arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection.

But most of the time a character found in the Bible just seems to show up on the scene. And then in most cases is either seldom or never heard from again. We have been reading about these people for hundreds of years but in most cases we only get to read Chapter 1 in their lives and nothing from Chapter 2.

Two people come to mind when I think of characters like this. The rich young ruler and the Samaritan woman at the well. Both just show up for their scene, interact with the main character and then are never heard from again.

In the Gospel of Mark (Mark 10:17-27) we read the story of the rich young ruler. As Jesus is walking along and teaching this young man out of nowhere runs up to Jesus and immediately asks him a question. No background or character development at all on this guy. In fact you have to read the other gospels that tell the same story just to find out the guy is rich, young, and a ruler. Mark doesn’t take the time to tell us these things about the man.

The ruler asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Over the next several verses Jesus gives the guy His answer. At first the young man is excited because he feels he has done everything that is required of him to find this eternal life he is looking for. But Jesus knowing his heart lists one more requirement. “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. Then come follow me.”

The rich young ruler is deeply saddened by this. To follow Jesus is going to cost him more than he is willing to pay. Sadly he turns from Jesus and walks away. Speaking to the people that are left Jesus then makes a point about how hard it is for a rich man to inter the Kingdom of Heaven. But we never hear from this man again. There is no Chapter 2 for this character.
Another “Chapter 1 only” character is the Samaritan woman Jesus meets at the well. This story is found in the Gospel of John (John 4: 4-45). Jesus is traveling to Galilee and on his way he stops at a well in Samaria. He is hot, dry, and thirsty but I am sure he stopped there for a greater reason than to just quince his thirst.

Jesus setting alone by the well is soon joined by a Samaritan woman who has come to the well to draw some water. They start up a conversation which is strange since Jesus is a man and a Jew and in most cases a Jewish man would never lower himself to talk to a Samaritan woman. But they do talk. They talk about a lot of things. She mostly talks about earthly issues while Jesus spends more time on heavenly issues. But still they talk.

And during that conversation the woman starts to realize that this is no ordinary Jewish man. Jesus asks her to go get her husband at which she replies that she has no husband. Jesus responds with, “You are right you have no husband but you have had five husbands and the man you are living with is not your husband.” She wonders, how can a perfect stranger know all these things about her?

The conversation continues and she finally realizes that this stranger is actually the Messiah she knew would be coming someday. For her, that day was today. With her knew knowledge of Jesus and with great excitement she leaves her bucket at the well and heads home to tell everyone what she has discovered.

Jesus ends up following her into town and he spends two days there teaching the people about who He is. Because of the testimony of the woman and the teachings of Jesus himself, many put their faith in him. And then Jesus heads off to Galilee. Chapter 1 is over for the Samaritan woman. We never hear from her again. No Chapter 2 for her.

Maybe I am just curious. But I would just love to know what happened to these two people. How did their story end? What was in the next chapter of their lives?

After walking away did the rich ruler suddenly turn back and say, “No wait, I want to follow you. I want to give away the one thing that keeps me from following my Savior.” Or was it months or even years later that he realized mistake. And to his amazement he found the Savior that loves him was still there waiting for him to follow.

Or sadly by saying no to Jesus this one time make it easier to continue saying no in the future. Did he ever say yes and follow Jesus? We don’t know. We only have Chapter 1.

What about the woman? After her mountain top experience with her Savior did it all come crashing down when her new found spiritual life came face to face with her old natural life? While Jesus was walking out of town did He brush shoulders with the man she was living with as he was walking into town? If so, now what does she do? Does she pick her Savior or does she pick the man? Again we don’t know. We only have Chapter 1.

On this side of heaven there is no way to know what the rich young ruler and the woman at the well did with the rest of their lives. We can only guess.

But what about us? What would our Chapter 2 look like?

Now someone reading this that is in there 20’s might think, “Chapter 2? What about Chapter 6, 8, or all the other chapters of my life I will live? I will have many more chapters than just two.” And the person in their 80’s might say, “Sonny, my life is already on Chapter 30.”

But I don’t think so. I may be wrong but I see Chapter 1 as the story of our life that has been lived up to now. No matter your age. And Chapter 2 is the life you choose to live today. Like the movie Ground Hog Day the second chapter of your life starts over each day. Because each day you have to choose what you are going to do. Follow God or not to follow God.

Chapter 1 of our lives is over. We can’t change it. We can’t rewrite it. We can remember it and learn from it but it is what it is.

I think that is why the Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time dealing with the background of most of its characters. It’s because God is more interested in what we are going to do than what we have done. What we have done in the past whether good or bad is still in the past and it is over. But for today there is still hope. Hope that we will make the right choice and choose to follow Him.

And God believes we can do it. He knows we can make the right choice. As Rob Bell once said, “It is important to believe in God but it is also important to know that God believes in us.” God believed in the Jewish nation. He believed in the disciples. He believed in the church He started. And He believes in you today.

The rich young ruler and the woman at the well both crossed paths with their Savior. And both had a choice. To follow or to walk away.

We have that same choice today.

How in the world…….”

There is a game that is used a lot times as an “ice breaker” game. It is simply called Gossip. Most of you have played it or at least have watched it played. The game of Gossip is not only a fun parlor game for children or adults, but it is a good sociological demonstration of what happens to information when it is passed by word of mouth.

The game is played by having a group of people sit in a circle or next to each other to form a line. One person who is not part of the line comes up with a phrase and writes it down on a piece of paper. The piece of paper is then handed to the first person in line and they read it and commit it to memory and then gives the paper back to the person (the source) that wrote the phrase.

The first person in line then “whispers” the information, as well as they can remember it to the next person in line. Then this person does the same, passing the information down the line until it reaches the end. The last person reveals what they have been told to everyone assembled. The first person then reads the phrase out loud.

It is amazing how the phrase changes from its original format to what is actually spoken from the last person in line.

You might start with:

Little Billy was so silly in the way he would ride his bike through the streets at night while eating a moon pie.

And then end up with:

Larry and Willy got so chilly way in the woods and they hiked while wearing sheets on nights with a full moon.

Some of the words are right and some of them are not. There is usually a big laugh from everyone when the last person says out loud what he “thinks” he heard. And then usually the person that came up with the phrase says, “How in the world did you come up with that?” And people in the circle offer up, “That’s not what I heard or said.”

Great fun. If it was only a game.

In my way of thinking and I know I have a weird way of thinking or seeing things but I almost get the feeling that this is exactly what has happened to the modern day church.
In the Bible, Acts chapter 2 gives us a great picture of what the church is supposed to look like. And to me the church of today looks very little like the church found in the book of Acts.

After Jesus leaves his disciples in Acts chapter one and ascends to heaven he sends his Holy Spirit to them. Through his spirit he communicates to his disciples on how to continue the work that he started and how to set up God’s church.

And I think Acts 2:42 is a perfect picture of what the church should be. And I get the sense that God wrote it down on a piece of paper and showed to the disciples and this is what he said:

“They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teachings and to the fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer.”

So this is what the early church did. They devoted themselves to each of these areas. To the apostles teachings (studying God’s word), to fellowship, (sorry Baptists but this is more than just eating together) to breaking of bread (the Lord’s Supper) and to prayer (devoted to prayer not to prayer meetings).

And so, God’s church was established with these few directions.

God’s spirit whispers into the ears of the disciples, and the disciples whisper into the ears of the first church, and the first church whispers into the ears of the next generation, and on and on it goes.

And now it has been whispered into our ears. And now we have the modern day church. And sometimes I get the sense that God is standing there saying:

“How in the world did you come up with that?”


Now I am not so closed minded or so cynical to think that the church of today should be exactly like the church we see in the book of Acts. Of course the technology of our world is going to affect our spiritual world. But then again maybe it should be our spiritual world should affect our technology. Hmm

And I am not saying the church is bad or we have it all wrong. But I am wondering if this is what God had in mind. Maybe it is. Or maybe not.

Maybe all the deacon’s meetings, business meetings, associational meetings, session meetings, committee meetings, bake sales, garage sales, ski trips, staff trips, senior adult trips, meetings for the library committee, flower committee, softball committee, daycare committee, color of the carpet committee, and the fried chicken verses baked chicken committee are all part of God’s glorious plans. Or maybe they are the plans of “someone” else that would rather see us so busy doing meetings we don’t have time to be devoted to things we should be devoted too?

So what I am saying? I am saying take time to look at your church and see what it is devoted to. Look at all the things listed in your church bulletin or discussed at the last business meeting and see if they have anything to do with bible study, fellowship, the breaking of bread, or prayer.

Better yet, let’s look at our own lives and see what we are devoted to. Since we “are” the church then we as individuals should be devoted to these things. We don’t have to wait for Bible Study to be listed in the bulletin for us to study the bible and we don’t have to wait for the Wednesday night prayer meeting to pray.

God established the church and the church will always be. I just pray that it will always be what God intended it to be.

And I pray that has our generation whispers into the ears of the next generation they will clearly hear us say, “Devote yourselves to apostle’s teachings, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.”