"Tear Down This Wall"

By John Stallings


A very successful businessman was on a road trip with his wife.

 When they stopped for gas she got out for a moment & shortly thereafter the businessman saw his wife engaged in conversation with the male service attendant.

After they finished she got back in the car. As they drove away the husband asked about the guy his wife was talking to & learned that she’d dated him in high school.

Feeling cocky, her husband says to her, “I bet I know what you’re thinking. I bet you’re thinking that you’re pretty lucky that you married me, a very successful president of a mega-corporation & not a service station attendant.”

She said, “No, actually I was thinking that if I’d married him & not you, he’d be the president of a mega-corporation & you’d be working in this gas station.”

There is a sin that is hard to detect, & its results are deadly.

It has been around since before man.
It is no respecter of persons.
It can creep in at any stage of your life.
It is a sin over which most Christians stumble.
Believe it or not, this is the only sin that even our face can commit.
The sin-PRIDE

In 1981 I had the privilege of visiting the Republic of China with The Blackwood brothers Quartet.

I was privileged to speak in several major rallies all over the Far East. God was gracious to give us many souls during these days.

I was more impressed with the city of Hong Kong than any other place I visited in the Orient. We ate one meal that had 23 separate entrees.’ Seven of these entrees’ were desserts. Ugh! But I did learn some things on this adventure; The Cantonese cooks are the best.

I also learned that The Great Wall of China was started about four hundred years before Jesus was born & is the only man- made object visible from outer space.

The wall continued to be built on & off for about two thousand years. Today it stretches, though it has collapsed in many places, from the east coast of China all the way into the north-central part of the country.

The Chinese people built it to keep enemies from attacking & invading their country. To this day, the Great Wall is a great source of pride among the Chinese. Tourists come to see it. Historians study it, & scientists use it to study earthquakes.

But did you know that some historians believe the Great Wall-the pride of China-backfired on them? It may have protected China from attack, but it also isolated the nation from many good things. For centuries much of the progress & discoveries that benefited people in other parts of the world never reached China. A great nation became a backward nation of barbarians partly because the Great Wall kept progress from flowing into China.

PRIDE

That’s a lot like what pride does. Some folk act prideful because they think it protects them or makes them look better than others around them. Little do they know their pride makes it harder for God to help them, or other people for that matter.

On the other hand, humility opens the windows of blessing. Humility makes it easier for God to speak to us & help us & bless us. Pride builds a wall that keeps many good things out of our lives; humility opens a window that brings many good things in.

Perhaps the highlight of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency was on June 12, 1987 when he addressed a throng gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in what was then West Germany. In a speech that could be heard behind the Berlin Wall in Communist East Germany President Reagan said…..

“General Secretary, if you seek peace. If you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union & Eastern Europe, if you seek liberation; come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!!”

These emotion- filled words have been compared by many with President John F. Kennedy’s speech given twenty-four years earlier at the same place where Ronald Reagan threw out his challenge, when he declared; “Ich bin ein Berliner.”[I am a Berliner!]

Just two years & four months after President Reagan’s speech was delivered, the Berlin Wall was torn down.

Pride’s most dangerous aspect is that it builds walls between people. You could almost use the words pride & wall inter- changeably.

FOREBODING WALLS WE FACE

There are a multitude of walls we all must face, many of which can be overwhelming. There’s;

…Racism
…Sexism
…insensitivity in others
…Strife
…Hostility
…Grudges
…Addiction
…Stubbornness
…Unforgiveness
…PRIDE

HERE’S A PRIDE QUIZ;

Are you easily offended?
Does it irritate you when your faults are corrected?
When you make a mistake do you have a pocket full of excuses?
Do you find it hard to receive instructions?
Do you mind being told what to do?
Do you get upset when someone crosses your rights?
Do you ever seek council or advice?
Do you have a grateful spirit?

Forty years ago this summer, the first moon landing took place, Apollo 11. It was then that the first man set foot on the moon. Many of my readers will remember the man’s name; Neil Armstrong. You will no doubt remember his words when stepping onto the moon, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” There was another man on that trip & many will remember his name, Buzz Aldrin. Buzz was the 2nd guy on the first trip to the moon.

Later that year there was the 2nd trip to the moon, Apollo 12. I’m going to refresh your memory by giving you the name of the lead astronaut on the 2nd trip, Pete Conrad. I bet few people could give me the name of the 2nd guy on the 2nd trip. His name was Alan Bean, but almost nobody remembers him.

SILAS

Silas was the Alan Bean of the Book of Acts. Because he, like Alan Bean, was the 2nd guy on Paul’s 2nd missionary trip he gets sort of lost in the shuffle. Of course we know that Barnabas was the 2nd guy on the first trip, but the 2nd guy on the 2nd trip gets a little fuzzy. We don’t know too much about Silas.

What do we know about Silas? For one thing we know he’s called a “Fellow worker.” We’re first introduced to him in Acts 15, at the Jerusalem council-the first church convention if you will. The apostles & elders hash out a thorny situation about what to do with the Gentiles & they composed a letter to be sent out & chose two men to take it—“Leading men among the brothers.” One of these leading men was Silas. Later Silas is mentioned as a prophet & he “encouraged & strengthened the brothers with many words.”

When Paul & Barnabas had a bit of a falling out, Paul needs a good 2nd banana to travel with him, so he chooses Silas. There must have been something about Silas that caused both the church at Jerusalem & the apostle Paul to choose him for some important albeit unglamorous tasks. Maybe the words we’re looking for are “faithfulness” & “Humility.” In 1 Peter 5:12, Peter mentions Silas using his Latinized name, Silvanus, & calling him a “faithful brother.”

Sometimes Silas traveled with Paul & at other times Silas & Timothy traveled elsewhere; places like Philippi, Thessalonica, & Corinth. Faithful, humble, willing to take the lower part-that was Silas. Let’s move this story along.

So Silas goes with Paul on his second missionary trip. They go through Syria, Cilicia, Asia Minor where they pick up Timothy to join the group. Paul gets his Macedonian vision & now the little band heads over to northern Greece. First stop- Philippi. One thing we know is—Paul is Paul! If ever a man could have worn a T-shirt saying “Here comes trouble” it was he. As you well know Paul is “hung –up” on Jesus & can’t & won’t try to hide it [thank God.]

“ANOTHER FINE MESS”

So now Paul’s preaching gets him in trouble resulting in him & Silas being arrested, beaten & tossed into the slammer. These men are in all probability hanging up on a dank prison wall with their hands & feet in stocks.

What now? Try this guys; give up. It’s not worth it. Of course we know that’s untrue but you wonder if Silas ever wondered, “Maybe I should have stayed in Jerusalem.” I don’t know what was running through Silas’ mind on this occasion. We might ask ourselves what our thoughts would be in a mess like this. How do we react when trouble & hardship comes our way? Do we blame God or say, “I don’t deserve this, - After all God, I’m doing your work?” I suppose this is a temptation for all of us; to blame God & others for our difficulties. It seems that sinful flesh is-“The same yesterday today & forever.”

A GOOD TIME TO PRAY

Friend, forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but I’ve learned when things are “all tied up in knots & wrapped around the axle” that’s a very good time to pray. When you can’t do anything & God is going to have to do everything, that’s another real good time to call on Him, am I right? Paul & Silas knew the same thing you & I know- that we have a heavenly Father who loves us. We can call upon the Lord in the day of trouble& expect to hear from Him. That’s what Silas did. At midnight, Paul & Silas prayed & sang songs to God. The only thing these two men of God had they could use were their tongues so they operated within the fullest extent of their liberty.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE STOCK MARKET

Paul & Silas never heard of the Stock Market but they were familiar with Stocks. The prayers & praises of these two men went up through the roof, moved through the clouds, shot through the Milky Way, scooted by Orion & the Pleiades & didn’t stop until they reached the throne room of heaven. Then God took their songs of worship & praise & sent them back down to earth in the form of an earthquake & the stocks fell off Paul & Silas the prison doors flew open. Then they probably sang a chorus of “Unchained melody.”

The jailor & his household were saved because of this miraculous jail-break but there was still work ahead for Paul & Silas, more towns to go to. “And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them & departed.—Acts 16:40

People can get spiritually “star struck,” & feel that if what they do for God isn’t evident to all, they’re wasting their time. The devil will tell us that we should never play second banana or be willing to play a humble role. But if the truth be told, God needs an army of Silases, fellow workers, faithful & humble, singing & praying & praising individuals who stay in there, not worrying about the accolades of men.

Isn’t it instructive that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem for His Triumphal Entry, when He made His grand entrance into the City of God, he didn’t come riding on a white stallion, wearing shining armor. That would have made Him look like a conquering military man.

No! Jesus made His grand entrance on a humble donkey. How great is that? No king in history ever rode into a conquered city on a donkey. That would be out of the question because it would be too humiliating. Other kings rode on prancing stallions or chariots in procession. Only Jesus rode a donkey. If you & I would be like Him, we should ask God to give us humility.

I close with a story from my life that after many years still troubles me. For years I had a minister friend who, though I loved him as a brother, I never truly understood.

To be frank, he was the kind of a person who always seemed to have an invisible wall up, through which, as far as I know, few ever passed. The wall was to me, unmistakably a wall consisting of fear, mistrust, & pride. The manifestation of this pride was that he’d never; under any condition, ever admit to any kind of failure. Out of 52 Sundays, I could usually count on a few “disaster Sundays,” either we got clobbered by the weather & the crowd was down, or I didn’t do as well as I felt I should in my preaching. Or maybe the church offerings were low.

This good brother never had a down Sunday to hear him tell it. He had an almost unbelievable mind-set. According to him, things in his life were always perfect. And to be candid, things did always seem to be going swimmingly for my friend. If I ever mentioned to him any problem I was going through, real or imaginary, he’d look at me & shake his head in wonderment. Every sermon he preached went great for him, every alter call was extremely productive; the sun was always shining, the birds always singing. This man never knew mediocrity.

Through the years of friendship, I would sometimes hear of reversals he was having, nothing of a moral nature but if I ever asked him about it the wall would go up & he’d put such a good face on things it made me feel I’d just listened to idle gossip.

I knew for a fact some of his children had gone through divorce but it wasn’t that different from what most men his age experience with their family. But he’d never mention it. I was pastoring a church in a distant town from my friend, & one day I heard through unimpeachable sources that the church he pastored had just filed bankruptcy. We spoke by phone but he never mentioned this & it was evident he was covering it up. By this time I was catching on that he had a problem facing reality. Do you think??

But I was older now & experienced enough that I was no longer going to be intimidated by his elusiveness, so in one of our next conversations I pinned him down about some of the things I’d been hearing. Still he hedged, never admitting to anything negative in his life.

Some time later our families were together. My preacher friend & I & were riding to the store one day & I finally decided to put a question to him respectfully but point-blank;-

“Have you ever had anything to happen in your ministry or personal life that you’d feel to be negative or bad or hurt you in any way?” Can you imagine asking a question like that? My friend knew me well enough to know I wasn’t just being nosey & that I was a friend who wasn’t going to spread anything negative about him.

He thought for a moment & then he spoke; “Well to be honest with you, the only thing I can think of that I think was my worst fault has been my tendency to be so far ahead of people & events that sometimes it caused problems, not because I was wrong but because I was moving too fast for people.”

Then I asked the last question I ever remember asking him. I said;-“Then what you’re saying is that the only fault or failure you ever had in your life & ministry wasn’t really a fault in you but the weakness in others around you.” He thought a short while & then a big smile crossed his face. I felt for a minute that hopefully my pushing him like this would cause him to get real with me & our friendship, instead of being bruised, would be enhanced. I thought he might even feel I was being sarcastic or dealing with him in a humorous way.

Finally he answered, sober as a judge; “John, you’re exactly right. It is, & has always been the problems of those around me.”

Not long after that conversation I got the shocking news that my friend had dropped dead suddenly. I spoke to a family member & learned that he’d just had a physical check-up & was told by the doctor that his constitution was a strong as an Ox. Later I learned he had stress related problems & had suffered a massive coronary occlusion. In essence, his heart had exploded; an extremely athletic man who had hardly gained a pound since his high school days.

I will always believe that my friend died very prematurely because he carried such unrelenting pride in the perfection of himself & everything connected to him. At some point the tipping point was reached & he was confronted with the incontrovertible evidence that his illusion of personal perfection wasn’t true & would never be true. This revelation devastated him, shattered him & killed him.

What we’re dealing with here is beyond a positive confession. Certainly words of faith & great expectation are powerful weapons in our spiritual arsenal. And unquestionably I would have been concerned if my friend had been prone to get down & wallow in his weaknesses & failures.

What I’m suggesting is that we by the grace of God tear down every wall that pride has constructed, because those walls will inevitably shut us off from the love, support & understanding we need from each other. They’ll certainly cut us off from our loving & compassionate God.

For…

.The lord resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.-
James 4:17


Blessings,

John