Bring Your Garbage To Church, We Have The Processor
By Joe McKeever
Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Kenner, LA

Last Saturday, I arrived at church to find a massive mound of garbage on our parking lot, surrounded by trucks from Waster Management and a couple of fire engines. Our custodian explained that the driver had discovered a fire smoldering in back of his truck, dumped the contents, and called the fire department. The fire was extinguished and the workers reloaded the soggy, smelly mess.

A fellow could do a lot worse than to bring his garbage to church. Where else are people better equipped to receive it and deal with it?

She sat in church with years of trash collected and compacted in her soul. Early in life, she had been the victim, but quickly enough she became the victimizer. She looked attractive, at least on the surface, because makeup and clothes worked their magic. If you looked closer you could see hardness to her eyes and mouth. The scars and guilt she carried prevented anyone from prevented anyone from getting close to her. I would have thought she would not hear anything we had to say. There was too much junk blocking the way. However, I had not counted on the gospel.

She sat listening as the pastor read from John 8, the story of an adulterous woman thrown at the feet of Jesus, a woman accused and condemned by pious hypocrites. She heard as the Lord said, “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone.”

She understood why the crowd drifted away—the oldest first, those with the longest laundry list of wrongs and crimes. Her attention was caught when the Lord stood to His feet and said, “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”

“No one, Lord,” the woman said. Jesus said,

“Then, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

That’s what broke her. She sat there in church with the tears flowing, her stone heart shattered by the love of a Savior who came not to condemn but to save. All the pastor had done was read the story in the Bible.

That day, this woman for whom Jesus died on Calvary left her burdens—the garbage of a lifetime—at the foot of the cross and walked out of church clean and free.

Did I say walked? She floated out of church that day.

She could not have told anyone how the Lord did it; she did not know the old songs about the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. She only knew that when she stepped forward at the invitation and prayed with the pastor, a dam of resistance was breached and the Spirit of God rushed in and washed away the debris. She was free, whole, clean, and new.

There has to be a garbage processor. Otherwise, people will bring their trash to church and dump it on the preacher, on each other, or they will carry it around with them and contaminate everything they touch.

A lot of churches have great internal problems because the members have not dealt with their garbage. They bring it into the house of God and guard it like a treasure, but they do not have a clue that they are stinking up the place and sickening anyone who comes near them.

I got out of my car at the mall and started inside. Along the way, I passed an automobile filled with garbage. Inside was an accumulation of tissue boxes, paper bags, hamburger wrappers, crumpled candy packages, and soda cans all the way to the top.

The driver had hollowed out an area, a cockpit if you will, around the driver’s seat, but there was no more space in the car. I stood there transfixed, wondering how in the world the owner had allowed this to happen.

Now, the lady who owned that car could have done something about the clutter any day she pleased, but she had grown accustomed to her garbage. She wore it like a soprano wears a robe.

The Lord Jesus asked a lame man, “Do you want to be whole?” This is a great question. He never forces his blessings on anyone. He offers his gifts to everyone.

The voice on the phone spoke in broken English clearly enough for me to understand he was upset. Someone had filled the dumpster behind his grocery store with huge boxes all bearing our church name. He was thinking about calling the police. We sent down a custodian, who came back with an explanation.

The day before, workers had installed our new playground. They threw the large cardboard boxes into their truck and drove away. We had no way of knowing they had stopped five blocks away and discarded the boxes in the grocery store’s dumpster. We apologized to the owner and called the company. The workers were rebuked and picked up the boxes.

Many of us recall a garbage barge from New York City that journeyed up and down the east coast a few years ago while the owners tried to find a processor willing to receive and deal with the garbage. What to do with garbage is a major problem in our time.

We know what to do with the real trash and junk of life. Bring it to the Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow or other, the blood He shed on the cross outside Jerusalem has power to cleanse us. He removes the clutter and sets us free.

Over a century ago, Robert Lowery penned a song that became the anthem for our grandparents’ generation: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

“Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28

“The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” —1 John 1:7

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are new.” –II Corinthians 5:17

“If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” –John 8:36

That’s why the gospel is such good news!

October 2002