THE LIFEBOAT STATION
, by Theodore Wedel
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give their time and money and effort to support its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.
Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in the club’s decoration, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held.
About this time, a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos, so the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a "lifesaving station." But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. This they did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred at the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.
Have we left our first love? Are we still saving lives?
THE TEXT
John begins, by addressing his message to the “angel” –probably referring to the pastor or elder—of the church of Ephesus. These are the things said by HE who holds the 7 lamp stands, or the 7 churches, in HIS hand.
The Ephesian church of Revelation chapter 2 is in a state that many of our churches, our lifeboat stations, are in. The Ephesian church is in a state that, if not looked at and seriously critiqued, many churches (our lifeboat stations) are going to be in real soon. What is that situation? Well, the situation is just as John explained it.
Today we say so many times the phrase “ Make it plain.” Well, John made it plain, by telling them as it was. He said: “These are the things said by Christ I’ve got some good news for you and some bad news for you today. Let me tell you the good news first.”
You’ve been real good. I know what you’ve done, I know the labors that you have done in My name, I know that you’ve had patience, I know that you’ve contended for the faith, and I’m proud of you. You see, I know that you’ve done your work for the community. You’ve provided clothes for the community; you’ve provided help and money for those that suffered at the hand of natural disasters like fire and flood. You labored for the kingdom of God. You’ve had your weekly Bible studies, and your choir rehearsals, and your monthly church meetings. You’ve had communion once a month, and I’m glad. You’ve contested for the faith against false apostles and you know that they are liars. You’ve taught your churches to know the validity and power of the Holy Bible. You’ve taught the truth of the Word. You’ve told your children that there’s just something NOT right about the Jehovah’s Witnesses,and the Mormons. You’ve told our youth that our God is NOT the same god of the Buddhists, and Hindus, and the Unitarians.
You have served as the true lifeboat station that I, your God, chartered you to be! Even though it appeared primitive and simple, you used the equipment that you had to start with. The small dirty life preserver, that had the worst smell to it but still floated when thrown into the water to save a life—you used it! The undersized and under-comfortable life jacket, that fit snug enough in the worst of waters to keep you from drowning—you used it! The frayed ropes that you used, without the aid of a motor to reel in by hand those stranded at sea; the one that gave you blisters and calluses—you used it! The small used to be fishing boat, now turned cost guard frigate, with the engine that needed repair daily—you used it! The run down shack turned “Safe Haven”, complete with holes in roof and buckets inside to catch the water that dripped; you know, the one with the only furnishings being simple Army surplus cots and wool blankets for those rescued from the ocean—you used it! I’m glad that you did that. But that’s what you did!
But now here’s the bad news. “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” You have left your first love...What do you mean that we’ve left our first love…we have left our first love…Have we today left our first love? Have we today forgotten that we called to be a lifeboat station for all the ships that come to our shores? Now I’m not saying that we cannot replace that which is needed. If our ropes become frayed to the point of being inoperable, we must have them replaced. If our lifesavers and life jackets no longer work yes, we must replace them; but when we seek to improve our lifeboat stations to the point where we have improved ourselves out of being a lifeboat station and into being a well furnished country club with a members only sign on the front door—even if everyone cannot or will not see it—we have a problem. That is what Christ has revealed to John, the church is no longer saving those in the ocean—it is pampering those in the shelter. Have we left our first love? Are we still saving lives?
When we begin to focus more on what we have done rather than what we are doing in our lifeboat stations there is a problem. When, my wife and I were first married one of the first things we did together was to go out and buy a bathroom set. We spent the day at Wal-Mart picking and choosing the perfect bathroom set. It was a wonderful thing for my wife a daylong experience for me. By the time we got home we’d purchased the essentials for the perfect bathroom: the cute little rugs, the matching toilet seat cover, the coordinating shower curtain (actually we already had that), the little soap dispenser, the toothbrush holder, and even the rinsing cups. A few weeks later as we were talking about the bathroom set, I found out that the towels were NOT to be used; they were only decoration. I also found out that the kitchen towels, potholders, and refrigerator thing were only for decoration. Although the items seem to have a functional use, they serve as decoration. This understanding can be observed in a home, in a store, and yes even in a church, but we must not allow our churches, our lifeboat stations to become museums. Have we left our first love? Are we still saving lives?
When we hang the mementos of our past-lived lifeguards all around us to cover up for the fact that we aren’t doing much lifesaving it is a problem. Here in Ephesus the church once had had a great zeal in working for Christ, now the second and third generations later had lost that energy and excitement. They were still busy working for the people around them, but they were doing it out of the wrong motives. Work for God must be motivated by love for God or else it’s not worth doing.
When the building that protects those that are stranded from the horrors of this world becomes more important than the people it is supposed to protect, there is a problem. We must continue to ensure that our lifeboat stations remain lifeboat stations and not museums. I’m reminded of a United Methodist church in downtown Houston that my wife’s sister attends. The building was once owned and pastured by a white pastor and was attended by a completely white congregation. Well as time went on as more and more Black people were in the area; as more and more homeless people were in the area; the more that part of Houston became the “bad” part of the city; the more persons left that church until no pastor, Black or White, wanted to pastor that church. About ten years ago a pastor accepted the challenge and since has developed a ministry unlike any I’ve ever seen. They provide a weeklong ministry to feed the large number of homeless people in Houston. They provide showers, with soap and shampoo for the homeless people to cleanse themselves daily. They have removed the pulpit from the church because the choirs are so large, and they do not want to have a barrier between the people. The pastor wears jeans and t-shirt to church and that is the attire that everyone who attends the church, each of the 3 services on Sunday, and the one service on Saturday, so that the population whether homeless or not, rich or poor, does not feel bad. You wouldn’t recognize it as being a Methodist church if you tried. Yet when you go inside you see the pipes from the old organ in the background, and the fancy display of architecture, but you see that the lifeboat station is not more concerned with its appearance on the inside than its work on the outside.
The cycle cannot continue. We cannot keep going on and on building new lifeboat stations that do incredible work in the beginning and then become complacent. But God has given us a way out. We are the body of Christ and we are the witness to the world. How can the cycle be broken? Verse 7 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We do this: (pretend to listen) The WORD says to listen. We stop the madness; we freeze in our steps. Bill Cosby used to tell Elton on the Cosby show exactly what to do whenever a situation came up in verbally confronting the females of the house. He would go (the stop thing). That’s what we have to do with Christ! We have to just sit back and listen.
When we listen we see what our shortcomings are and that leads to repenting. And as we see in 2 Peter, once we’ve repented then we have a clean slate and we can have diligence in doing the work of Christ. “And beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity—love! That’s what it’s all about. We are in a lifeboat station; we the body of Christ should be focusing on our main, our first, no our only love—God. When we do that our lifeboat stations remain lifeboat stations and not museums.
People of God, Church of God, Have we left our first love? Are we still saving lives? Let us all continue to make that answer YES!
