Join Our Mailing List

Print this page

OF RENOVATION OR WHITEWASHES
(The Teachings of the Church)

(Luke 6:45-49)
June 8, 2008

“And they got married and lived happily ever after.” How many fairy tales and Romance Novels end like that? Those of us with experience know that marriage is not the end. It’s just the beginning. Nevertheless, we often present the Gospel in this way. We say in effect, “And they got saved and lived happily ever after!”

That too is a fairy tale. Those of us with experience should know conversion is not the end. It’s just the beginning. The world legitimately asks, “Well, you got religion? So, what?” Is this a permanent renovation or just a temporary whitewash?

A farmer said, “When you prepare a hog for the county fair, you hose him down; scrub him real good; put a little talcum powder on him; tie a ribbon behind his ears and run him into the judging arena. But, when that’s done, you put the animal back in the pen. In thirty minutes you have a hog covered with barnyard filth because the hog will always return to his wallow.”

That’s a whitewash. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t complete. It wasn’t permanent. It only lasted until the first mud-hole. It only affected the outside!

Conversion must represent a renovation from the inside, not a whitewash on the outside. Jesus criticized hypocritical facades. “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites? For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).
Jesus wasn’t interested in pretense. Likewise, a waiting world isn’t interested in pretense. Once a very wicked man sold wood to his neighbors. He always cheated them by cutting his logs a few inches short. One day the rumor was circulated that the woodchopper had been converted. Nobody believed the report because they all declared that he was beyond redemption. One man, however, slipped quietly out of the crowd. Soon he came running back shouting excitedly, “It’s true! It’s really true!” “I measured the wood he cut yesterday, and it’s a good four feet long!” Conversion must make a difference!

Salvation, opens the door into life. When Jesus said, “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), he was not referring to sinless perfection. The term translated perfect means mature, complete, whole. Growth is our goal. Salvation allows this growth to begin. Jesus used the model of the physical birth in referring to salvation because the experience moves an organism from a state of inert dependence into a state of active independence.

Our spiritual life develops in stages just as our physical life does. Therefore, the question for Christians is, “Have we been renovated or whitewashed?” After a baby is born it grows. Parents, doctors and friends would be worried and, indeed, desperate if a child retained its newborn status for five years, ten years, or a lifetime! Yet, too often, individuals seem to stay the same, or even regress after their spiritual birth.

Conversion that doesn’t make a difference isn’t a conversion! It’s a whitewash!

Paul said, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (II Cor. 5:17).

Let’s look at renovations as contrasted with whitewashes:

I. First, renovations are authentic.

Whitewashes are fake. When we cover up and try to be somebody we’re not it takes its toll on our energy. It destroys our actual potential and it eventually shows itself to be false. We need to accept our weaknesses and acknowledge our sins. We need to quit rationalizing, lying to ourselves and blaming circumstances for our failures. We need to quit criticizing others.

Renovation demands no pretense, no smoke screens, and no hypocrisy. As the Coke Ad says, “It’s the real thing!” That’s important!

An art dealer in Italy once got a shipment of statues. Some were genuine marble and some were wax copies. In the cold warehouse it was hard to tell the difference. The shop owner wasn’t worried. He said, “It will be easy to separate the real from the fake when they are exposed to heat.” He was right. When the pieces were placed in the hot sun the genuine marble objects remained as stately as ever while the wax copies melted down to blobs.

One question about your Christianity, “Is it the real thing?”

II. Second, renovations affect the whole person.

Whitewashes only affect certain areas. When we soup-up our emotions but don’t alter our mental outlook or behavior patterns, we become artificial and warped.
On the other extreme if we determine to achieve a list of moral reforms without the motive of inner commitment, we’re involved in a hopeless endeavor. We need our entire life changed. The mental, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of our lives must all fit together and enhance one another.

Character conflicts must be eliminated. We need no excesses of emotion, but neither do we need performances of good deeds out of duty. Instead, we need a balanced lifestyle. Once a clock began to run erratically. It indicated that it was twelve o’clock when it was really six; and nine o’clock when it was really three. The owner, in ignorance, removed the hands and took them to a repairman. The expert was exasperated. “The hands aren’t the problem,” he said. “I must examine and adjust the inner mechanism, not the outer indicators. These hands are just responding to a fouled up internal situation.” It’s the same with us. Our words and deeds are just symptoms of our inner condition.

One question about your Christianity, “Are you a whole person---the same through and through?”

III. Finally, renovations are permanent.

Whitewashes are temporary. When we paste on a happy face or add a few new religious words to our vocabulary, they are sure to fade. We can’t keep playing the role of a disciple. We need a conversion that will last. We need a salvation that will continue to expand.

A whitewash job has to be redone every few months to perpetuate the illusion. A renovation will endure. It’s true that moods shift and depressions occur; but the general overall positive thrust will remain. Renovation lasts because it’s living water, not a stagnant cistern. Jesus said, “The water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

Renovation lasts because it’s a budding vine, not dead wood. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit . . .” (John 15:5).

Renovation is permanent! A tourist stood with a local resident and looked out at the desert in the moonlight. Strange shapes and outlines were everywhere. “How can you tell which are the rocks and which are the shadows” the newcomer asked. “Oh, that’s easy,” replied the native. “The rocks will still be there in the morning.”

Yes, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the real from the fake, but remember this: “The real thing will still be there in the morning.”

One question about your Christianity: “Will it last?” Jesus said, “The one who has endured to the end who will be saved” (see Matt. 10:22).

Today, there’s an overriding issue each of us must face. In our life, have we had a spiritual renovation, or merely a whitewash? Is our salvation experience real? Is it complete? Is it permanent?

How can we tell?

One question is: “Do I feel concern?” A man whose feet had been amputated explained why it was necessary. “I was caught out in the bitter cold of the far north. As long as my feet gave me pain, I knew I was alright. But, when they no longer hurt, I knew my feet were doomed.”

So it is with the Christian. We’re going to make mistakes, but when we do commit a wrong or omit a right, we should hurt! That’s evidence of an authentic relationship with God.

Another question is: “How do we deal with these sins?” When they fail, individuals with mere whitewashes tend to run from God. They find things wrong with the church. They criticize other Christians. They stop praying. Conversely, when they fail, individuals who have been genuinely renovated run to God. They want their joy and peace to be restored. They want that relationship with the Father which only a realization of forgiveness can bring.

But the most important question is: “Are we using the Spiritual resources God has provided for us?” Price Hughes wrote a story called, “The City of Everywhere.” He described how he arrived in that city one cold morning. As he got off the train, the station was like any other station with the crowds and redcaps, except that everybody was barefooted. No one wore shoes.

When he found that the cab driver was also barefooted he had to ask, “Pardon me, but I was just wondering; don’t you people believe in shoes?” “Sure we do,” said the driver. “Then why don’t you wear them?” asked the visitor. “Ah, that’s the question. Why don’t we wear shoes? Why don’t we?”

It was the same at the hotel. The clerk, the bell boys, everybody was barefooted. In the coffee shop he noticed that even the patrons were barefooted. He asked a nice-looking fellow at a table opposite him, “Sir, I notice that none of you are wearing shoes. Don’t you people know about shoes?” The man replied, “Of course we know about shoes.” “Then, why don’t you wear them?” “Ah, that’s the question,” said the man. “Why don’t we wear shoes? Why don’t we?”

After breakfast the tourist walked out on the street in the snow. Every person he saw was barefooted. He asked another man about it and pointed out that shoes protect the feet from the cold. The man said, “Oh, we know about shoes. See that building over there. That’s a shoe factory. We’re proud of that plant and every week we gather there to hear the man in charge tell about shoes and how wonderful they are.” “Then, why don’t you wear shoes?” “Ah, that’s the question,” the man replied. “Why don’t we wear shoes? Why don’t we?”

This fantasy illustrates that knowledge isn’t enough. Belief isn’t enough. Talk isn’t enough! Admiration isn’t enough! Use is essential! We must use the resources God has provided. We must be totally committed!

Salvation is personal. It’s your most important choice. Is it real? Is it complete? Is it permanent? It can be!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(WC1766)

This issue of NEW PERSPECTIVES is from an unpublished manuscript © copyrighted 2008 by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THEM IN ANY WAY YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE. The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in PUBLISHED works.

NEW PERSPECTIVES is a free service from Diversity Press.

You may find other messages and a book list on our Webpage:
www.ForMinistry.com/USOKSOBCOFBC5
or www.diversitypress.com

Email: wdiversitypress@aol.com
Fax: 1-580-286-2650

Miles E Wesner