March 17, 2022

See if you can bring to your mind’s eye an image of a large farm, one operating back in biblical times.

Imagine a farm where the fields are well-tended, weeded, and bordered by a low rock wall. The family garden is filled with seasonal veggies. The house is stone built and sturdy.

And the barn? The outside is freshly whitewashed. The tools are all put away and in their places. Inside, the barn is neat and clean.

You have imagined an altogether beautiful scene. And everything “fits” except for the image of the barn. That’s because the message sent by a “neat and clean” barn is not that of a successful, prosperous farm, but of powerlessness.

Power to pull the farmer’s plow and to haul heavy loads comes from oxen. And if the barn is neat and clean, the farmer is missing his oxen, because oxen make messes.

As wise King Solomon wrote,

[Proverbs 14:4] Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean.

But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

Solomon’s words ring true for farm life, but they speak of a deeper reality. A nice, neat, tidy farm is pretty – and pretty powerless. So is a nice, neat, tidy life or church.

Exhibit A: The church in Jerusalem and the immediately post-conversion Saul of Tarsus.

As soon as Saul came to faith in Jesus, he was a ball of fire for Jesus.

He traveled from the site of his conversion (Damascus) to Jerusalem. Once there, he was proclaiming Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life to anyone who would listen. He was even speaking to the same group of men (the Hellenistic Jews) who had only recently stoned Stephen to death. (See Acts 7)

When these men tried to put Saul to death, his new-found family in Jesus came to his rescue and whisked him out of town. They sent Saul back to safety in his hometown of Tarsus, in Cilicia.

Luke recorded the scene after Saul left town with tongue firmly in cheek: [Acts 9:31] So (read, “now that Saul was gone” v. 30) the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace… ,

Peace ruled Palestine with the conversion and the departure of Saul, the new convert. Or, better, Saul, the ox.

It is easy for me to picture a few of the believers in Jerusalem waving good-bye to Saul as he left town, thinking to themselves, “And good riddance! Saul was nothing but a troublemaker the whole time he was here. Always stirring up controversy, bold to the point of reckless, creating a mess everywhere he went.”

Yep. Saul was an ox.

And with Saul gone, the church got neater, cleaner – and maybe a bit less “edgy.” With Saul’s departure, the boldness quotient went down in Jerusalem. And that might have been OK with some of the Christians because, along with the strength of their convictions and the force of their will and the heat of their passion, ox-men and ox-women leave messes behind. And who wants messes?

Well, Jesus has always valued ox-disciples.

Besides singling out Saul for service, think about his first followers.

Would Jesus’ original band of followers have been more manageable without impetuous Simon Peter, “Sons of Thunder” James and John, and Simon the political Zealot?

Sure. Less messy and less powerful. Tidier and less impactful.

Solomon said (Proverbs 14:4) that the value of the oxen’s strength made the barnyard messes worthwhile.

The last two thousand years tell us that the strengths Saul brought (eventually the Apostle Paul) made his frequent messes much more than worth it.

My own life’s story is that the people who have always made the most impact on me – for good and for God – are the ox-people who confront me, rebuke me, model courage for me, take risks to serve Jesus.

Our church has been marked through the years by ox-brothers and ox-sisters who have had the courage to love boldly, live courageously, and confront honestly. Ox-Christians are highly valued here at Northwest.

They throw caution to the wind to meet a need, don’t give a hoot about their reputation, value only pleasing God, and make wonderful messes out of which God often brings something redemptive and beautiful.

When writing to the Corinthians, the ox-Apostle Paul gave what may seem to us surprising instruction. [1 Corinthians 14:40] But all things must be done properly and in an orderly way.

Yes. Of course. Pursue order and enjoy “clean and neat” when you can.

But don’t despise the mess of a…

…brother who tried and failed at something grand.

…woman who is just beginning again to follow Jesus after a season of straying.

…friend who wounds you with truth because he loves you.

…fellow Christ-follower who is always stretching the envelope of your thinking.

…newcomer to church whose life has been hard.

As Jesus’ followers, we are not curators of a museum. Our job is not to run a neat and clean, sanitized church. We’re farmers who need oxen to maximize our effectiveness for Christ.

Embrace the ox.

Yours…His,

Dave