The Real Thing
That phrase may be familiar to most of you. It belongs to the Coca-Cola Company. For ten years I worked for this company and the association that I had with them was very pleasant. In the time that I was associated with them in California and Michigan the company grew by leaps and bounds. Not that I was the cause for this, but because of the enthusiasm of those who worked for them. Coke sells today in 116 countries over 100 million bottles per day. The reason? The men who sell and produce this drink believe in it — to them it is the real thing, the only soft drink there is.
Now you may wonder what is the point in writing of this company and my association with them. Well, it makes me think about the Lord's church and the gospel. There are a lot of people in this world worshipping in denominations and they seem to be happy. But the reason that they are happy is that they have never come in contact with the "real thing." They do not know the truth about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and have never heard the whole counsel of God preached as Paul did to those in Ephesus. (Acts 20:27) Now as far as soft drinks go, if you never in all your life have the "real thing" you will not be hurt physically or spiritually. But never to hear the truth of Christ preached and obeyed will be spiritually disastrous. (II Thess. 1:7-9) There are other soft drinks that will satisfy thirst and refresh the body, there is no other gospel but that of the Lord that will save. It is not only the real thing, it is the only thing that can save.
On the other hand there are those who are members of the Lord's church who are lukewarm and indifferent. The church holds no special place in their hearts and the association has not been pleasant. These are the people who have never really dug deep into God's word, they have put no effort into their religion. Yet, these are the same ones who are always complaining that they cannot get interested in the sermons presented, and the Bible classes taught. In short, they lack zeal and enthusiasm. With the same amount of zeal, if they owned a soft drink company it would have gone broke long, long ago.
What is the remedy for these people? When I became acquainted with my father-in-law (father-in-law now, not then) I asked him as did many other of the young men in the congregation what it took to be a gospel preacher. He told all of us that if we would just study God's word that we couldn't help but preach the gospel. He said if you will do this, you will be like the prophet of God, Jeremiah. Jeremiah said: "And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain." (Jer. 20:9) There is a saying: "Don't preach if you can help it." The truly dedicated preacher will preach because he must. It is the same with the child of God who is not a preacher. How the church would grow if all Christians would just get brim full of God's word, so that it just must come out! If this would happen, then the church would grow as it did in the first century.
I have always heard that there are two products that will sell themselves — Coke and the VW. All you have to do is get them before the people. We realize that the gospel is not a product to be sold, but nevertheless it must be put before the people. The Lord said that the power is in the word. (Rom. 1:16) It will accomplish what it is sent to do. (Isa. 55:6-11)
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