Benjamin's New Knife

Benjamin’s Knife of Life Young Benjamin grabbed a knife and lunged toward a teasing playmate. By something of a miracle the boy survived the attack. And a greater miracle of God's mercy transformed Benjamin's knife of potential death into the knife of life he now wields as a world-renowned brain surgeon. Dr. Benjamin Carson didn't grow up on easy street there in Detroit's inner city. His mother raised him by herself working three jobs at once. Every day that dear saint prayed with Benjamin and his brother, and on Sabbaths she took them to church. Benjamin loved the stories about Jesus and His healings. And when he heard in Sabbath School about mission doctors helping people in far-off lands, then and there he dedicated his life to become a physician. His wise mother nurtured in her son a love for books which catapulted him from the bottom of his class to the top. Benjamin won a scholarship to Yale University and then to the University of Michigan Medical School. At the age of 33 he became director of pediatric neurosurgery at Baltimore's famed Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. You may have heard Dr. Carson's name on the news. In September 1987, he was the primary surgeon in a dramatic 22-hour operation separating Siamese twins, who were joined at the back of the head. Time magazine called it "an operation of staggering complexity." Newsweek said it "could quite possibly be the most complex surgical procedure performed in this century." Dr. Carson first earned national headlines in 1985 for performing the delicate surgery known as hemispherectomy. But as a boy, Benjamin showed little potential of performing such feats as a highly skilled servant of humanity. Along with the typical obstacles to success faced by any youth of his race, Benjamin had a violent temper. Without a moment's notice he would attack with a rock, hammer, or anything else at hand. Even a knife. His temper problem climaxed at the age of 14. "A boy had done something very minor," Dr. Carson recalls, "and I grabbed a knife and tried to stab him. Thank God, the steel blade snapped harmlessly as it struck the playmate's heavy belt buckle." Benjamin fled the scene in horror, shocked that he had almost killed a fellow human being. He ran home into the bathroom and shut the door. Trembling, he knelt and gave his heart to the Lord once and for all. You may have read Dr. Carson's incredible story in national publications such as Guidepost, Ebony and Message. Of all the professions, none exacts more vigorous demands than neurosurgery. Dr. Carson must manage his time with wisdom and utmost efficiently. That's why he opens each day with two hours of prayer and Bible study. Thought question: What did Jesus promise to do for those who put the will of God first in their lives? (Matthew 6:33). _______ ______________________________________________________ Dr. Carson says, "If I don't want a Christian experience that's 'for the birds,' then I had better get up with the birds to seek the Lord early every morning." Prayer is great time management. First, it keeps us focused on what's most important in life. Experts agree that the foundation of managing our time is setting goals and priorities--then sticking with them. But it's so easy to become disoriented and distracted! Pollsters report that Americans rank spiritual values high on their priorities. Somehow, though, our relationship with God gets buried amid the rat race. Prayer prevents us from cheating ourselves out of that which means the most to us. Putting first things first with God every morning helps us stay on track all day long. Have you gotten sidetracked? Take stock and rank priorities. A - Absolute essentials--preserving our relationship with God and our families. Guarding our health and earning a living. B - Beneficial activities--wholesome reading and educational television, along with recreation. C - Cravings we have for harmless fun, such as innocent TV.

Dr. Carson through prayer manages to preserve his priorities. He may not have much leisure for categories B and C, but he certainly looks after his main agenda, category A. He knows the occupational stress which neurosurgeons suffer threatens their home life. Many of their marriages fail. But the Carsons have managed not just to survive but to thrive together. Benjamin treasures his wife, Candy, whom he met at Yale where she was a music major. He is an affectionate father to his three boys: Murray, Ben junior, and Rhoeyce. You can be sure they are glad to have a praying daddy. How much we all need prayer to help keep priorities in order! Besides prayer, Dr. Carson has another secret of time management, something which also relates to his relationship with Jesus -- the Sabbath. For all the reasons prayer enhances time management, so does the Sabbath. Each week God's holy day reaffirms our priorities. On Friday afternoon as the sun sets, the last thing we may want to do is stop whatever we are doing and enter Christ's rest. And so the Sabbath brings us a weekly test of what is most important to us: Will we consider what Jesus has done for us worth more than what the world offers--enough to set aside its business and pleasure, its news and sports and shopping? Will we take the day off as a spiritual vacation with our families and fellow believers. It's not always easy to lay aside life's duties for the Sabbath. But any time you take a vacation you've got to make arrangements with your employer, your friends and family--and the Sabbath is our weekly spiritual vacation. Yes, it takes some inconvenience and perhaps even hardship to keep that appointment with God. But Sabbath rest leaves us refreshed and rejuvenated. When we "come apart and rest awhile" every Sabbath, the energy we receive makes for wonderful time management in conquering the challenges of the new week. The Sabbath also enhances relationships within the family and friendship circle. All week long people race past each other, out of time and out of touch. Superficial relationships. Sabbath rest makes it possible to restore and deepen those precious ties which bind our hearts together. This again is good for time management, not to mention our quality of life. Just ask the Carson family. When the sun sets Friday evening, they gather for stories and songs. The next morning they go to church together for worship and fellowship. Following a thoroughly enjoyable dinner, often with friends, they like to spend Sabbath afternoons in nature. Medical emergencies may call Dr. Carson back to the hospital, and he considers any such act of compassion perfectly suited for the Sabbath. Normally, though, he can arrange for associates to cover for him so he can have his Sabbaths off. It's important to spend God's special day with the ones he loves most. Do you see the potential in Sabbath rest for enriching every part of our lives all week long? And keeping the Sabbath is indeed effective time management. But its greatest value is that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Thought question: What does the Bible say is God’s special sign between Him and His people? (Ezekiel 20:12,20). ______ ____________________________________________________ God says: "Hallow my Sabbaths." That is, "Set the seventh day apart for Me, just as I have set it apart for you. Let's spend that time together each week." Well, since the Sabbath offers such blessings, how come most of the Christian world has forgotten it? We must go back to the early centuries of the Christian era. Believers, ready to sacrifice life itself rather than yield their faith in Christ, allowed that faith to be corrupted by pagan influences. Lapsing into legalism, they adopted false teachings which suffocated pure gospel truth. Quietly and gradually the apostasy spread. Although many refused to compromise the gospel, the church in general suffered a serious loss of faith. Should this surprise us? Had not God's people throughout history continually wandered from His will? Thought question: What problems did the New Testament predict would happen within the Christian church? (2 Peter 2:1,2).

_____________________________________________ Paul also prophesied that truth would suffer. See Acts 20:29-30. Just how did the church lose sight of salvation and Sabbath rest in Christ? Soon after the apostles died, legalism corrupted Christianity. It was a gradual process. Around the third century, penance entered to prevent repenting sinners from rejoicing in sins forgiven and the assurance of complete acceptance with God. Then in the early fifth century, legalism ascended to new heights when Simeon Stylites climbed to the top of a tall pillar and made his home there. He determined to live quite literally above the world, safe beyond the reach of its comforts and pleasures. For several decades he remained perched on a small platform atop various pillars, unsheltered from the weather. Finally death gave rest from works. The Christian church venerated Simeon Stylites as a spiritual hero. Upon his death the cities of Antioch and Constantinople competed for the possession of his body. For six centuries ascetics known as pillar saints followed his example by living up on pillars away from the world, pursuing their personal perfection. Not surprisingly, amid such abounding legalism Sabbath rest fell into disfavor. In its place came the celebration of Sunday, the first day of the week. How did this come about? Let's take a fascinating tour through early Christian history. The first century church wanted to distance themselves from anything Jewish. The Jews, you see, had put themselves in the emperor's disfavor by constantly revolting to regain national independence. And Rome struck back. In 70 A.D. Roman armies stormed Jerusalem. A quarter million Jews were starved, burned, crucified or otherwise killed. Numerous anti-Jewish riots swept the empire, climaxed by even stiffer penalties for Jews. Because Christians and Jews shared the same heritage, Romans tended to treat both groups the same. This was unfair. Christians wanted peace with the emperor, rendering to Caesar his due. Yet they suffered as if they were Jews--on top of the persecution already theirs for Jesus' sake. After the second destruction of Jerusalem in the year 135, Emperor Hadrian outlawed Jewish worship, particularly their Sabbath keeping. Christians felt compelled to divorce themselves completely from their Hebrew heritage. Gradually they welcomed customs and holydays from the pagan Roman empire, including their weekly day of sun worship. For several centuries Christians kept both the Sabbath and the Sunday, with the first day of the week gaining more and more prominence. This side-by-side practice continued into the sixth century, with the true Sabbath still holding firm in many areas. But finally the Sunday completely eclipsed the Sabbath throughout the empire, although even then pockets of Sabbath keepers remained. The Epistle of Barnabas, written around the year 135, contains the first explicit reference to keeping Sunday. It's interesting to notice the case presented there for abandoning the Sabbath. Barnabas argues that Sabbath keeping is impossible. Impossible until the future life in eternity, because in this world all believers are impure and unholy. Barnabas asks, How can we have rest until God's work within our hearts is complete? But in heaven, he states, "we shall be able to treat it [the Sabbath] as holy, after we have first been made holy ourselves." How very sad! To Barnabas, holiness meant perfection of character. But in the New Testament, being a saint means deciding to repent of sin, being set apart to live for God. Apparently the church was forgetting the gospel through misunderstanding Sabbath rest. You see, we don't rest in Christ because of our character development, but rather because of His accomplishments. The apostle Paul taught that God "has made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. "You are complete in Him." Colossians 2:10. This is the message of the Sabbath. Thought question: Under the new covenant of grace, what happens to God’s law, where the Sabbath is the fourth commandment? (Hebrews 8:10). ________________________ _____________________________________________________

Had the early Christians retained the pure gospel, they never would have forsaken Sabbath rest. Let's explore this further to learn how legalism assisted the Sunday in overtaking the Sabbath. For Christians in the mid second century, the main reason for keeping the Sunday was that this world began to be created on the first day of the week, when God made light. Before long, Christ's resurrection on Sunday became the dominant support for Sunday sacredness. Later on, another reason gained prominence -- the fact that the Holy Spirit came to the church on Pentecost Sunday. The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1977 edition, documents this: "The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday" (pages 40, 41). A favorite verse quoted by church fathers in establishing Sunday sacredness was Malachi 4:2: "But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings." Sunday symbolized spiritual "healing" within the human heart from Jesus, the Sun of righteousness. The process begins when God brings sinners light. Then comes conversion--new life in Christ through His resurrection. Finally the Holy Spirit of Pentecost lives within the believer, restoring the image of God. All these elements of spiritual renewal exist because of events which happened on the first day of the week. One author summarized it this way: "For the Sunday assembly ... [is] a celebration of the re-creation of men." A memorial of God's power to re-create human hearts through the new birth and keep us from sinning. Such is what Sunday represented to the backsliding church. Well, what could be wrong with that? Remember we are dealing with something subtle here. A sincere error, perhaps, but an error just the same appearing as gospel truth but secretly destroying faith. Christian growth certainly is important. But we cannot confuse what the Bible calls the "fruit" of the gospel--a changed life--with the gospel itself. The gospel, you recall, is the doing and dying of Christ. The fruit of the gospel is a transformed life because of the indwelling Christ. Do you see the difference? The Sabbath memorializes the gospel, the finished work of Christ in His life and death. Sunday was made to memorialize the fruit of the gospel, the unfinished work of Christ in our lives. The difference between the two is crucial. Only Sabbath rest gives us that blessed assurance that all is well with our souls. By turning away from Sabbath rest in the completed work of Christ, the church broke the very heart of Christianity. Satan diverted attention from the cross, focusing instead on the imperfect spiritual experience of believers. And remember, Sunday keeping has no support in the New Testament. Jesus said, "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Matthew 12:8. Well, you may wonder, what difference does it make, this Sabbath-Sunday business? None at all, unless we have committed our lives to Jesus Christ. Since He is Lord of the Sabbath, faith in Him involves entering that rest. Thought question: What blessings has God promised for those who begin keeping the Sabbath holy? (Isaiah 58:13,14). ______ ______________________________________________________ No wonder so many thousands of sincere Christians the world over are making plans for worship and fellowship this coming Sabbath. Why not be among them? You already love the Lord -- this is just one more step with Jesus. Often we hear the words, "Expect a miracle!" Usually the idea is to get what we want from God. But God has a better plan--expect a miracle in getting what He wants. He will indeed work miracles for us, if that's what it takes, when we step forward by faith to obey. Our Saviour's gracious promise is worth whatever trouble it takes to accept it: "Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Discussion starters

* If the word Sabbath itself means “rest,” why do so many Christians associate it with righteousness by works? * Is it safe to follow human traditions when they conflict with Bible truth? (See Matthew 15:3,9). * What benefits would keeping the Sabbath bring into your personal and family life? If you want more: Hebrews 4:1-11 Exodus 20:8-11 Deuteronomy 5:12-15 Romans 3:31 1 John 2:3,4