Barbecuing

In the early days, barbecuing was uncommon in Norway. Some people in the church decided that it led to gluttony and was therefore displeasing to God. Once, after I was married and had children, I was on my way to a church picnic at Skullerudsletta. I had been away traveling, so we were pressed for time. So I said to my wife Eva:

“Don’t worry about making food; we don’t have time. I’ll just dash into a store and buy something on the way.”

So I drove to a store and bought a disposable barbecue kit and some hot dogs for the family. When we arrived at the place where the friends had gathered for the picnic, I lit the barbecue and began cooking hot dogs for the family. Soon one of the “guard dogs” came over to me and said,

“Kåre Smith, don’t you know that our elder brother Olaf Bekkevold doesn’t like us to barbecue hot dogs?”

“But we’ve had hot dogs on youth trips and Sunday school outings for years,” I said.

“Yes, but those are boiled hot dogs,” he replied.

“Are you trying to tell me that the devil comes into a hot dog when it is barbecued?” I asked.

“Kåre Smith, you must not mock!” he said to me and went his way.

Around that time, Aksel J. Smith exhorted me to make sure to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. Eph. 4:3. I took the exhortation to heart and didn’t do any bar­becuing for several years so as not to provoke them unneces­sarily. And at meetings and gatherings I also took care to re­peat what they said, just to preserve the unity of the Spirit and not break the bonds of fellowship.

Nevertheless, that particular event illustrates how legalis­tic and bound a person can become in his own thoughts. I be­lieve God in heaven must have shaken His head a lot in those days when He saw how far away these people were from the ways of love.

Why do I relate these experiences? Because I want to exhort everyone earnestly to hold fast to those things that were from the beginning! It is very easy to go off track and begin to seek your own in one way or another. No one is allowed to handle another person with cold hands! Even the lowliest one must be treated with respect, warmth and goodness. Other­wise, you will be mocking God. “He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the needy.” Prov. 14:31.

Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken­hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19. We see that the apostles were especially mindful of this in all their work and put special emphasis on doing this very thing: “They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.” Gal. 2:10. This is well pleasing to God. Those souls who are well pleasing to Him are the ones He leads through the fire of humiliation to do a work in them. They must be conformed to the image of the Son so that they can wipe away the tears and take away the suffering people have endured because of sin.

“O Zion, you who bring good tidings . . . lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His re­ward is with Him, and His work before Him.” Is. 40:9-10.

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so. Amen.” Rev. 1:7. Then comes a new time—a new, everlasting kingdom of peace. Jesus and His brethren will rule in perfect wisdom, and the light that now shines from the gospel will radiate as the noonday sun over the whole earth. Then a new day will dawn in truth for all those who live.

As shepherds we must speak the truth in love and not con­duct ourselves recklessly in self-righteousness and our own strength. People must sense care and love in connection with the light and truth we are leading them into. The ministry of true shepherds gathers. To gather to Christ is the ministry we received from the beginning, and that understanding has been present among us through all the years. Being con­formed to the image of the Son has always been a central part of our preaching. Being conformed to the image of the Son is precisely the reason that life and goodness come forth so richly.