Home Page  |  Sermons in CD Format  | Directions  | Centerview Tidings |  Links

Centerview Tidings

Previous Article
Salvation eBay Style?
September 6, 2003

Jesus said “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8) He was not exactly commending them for their compromising attitude; rather, their wisdom in maneuvering and trading among the mammon shows serious dedication. For this reason there is no religious equivalent of eBay for those seeking the truth on spiritual subjects. Can you imagine the spectacle of hundreds of thousands of conversions per day?
 
However, availability of religious teaching and transaction is not the problem: the problem is dedication. The children of light might learn some lessons by observing an enterprise driven largely by the simple desire to acquire.
 
Visitors to eBay see immediately that there are various categories of merchandise, just as in religion. A search begins at “all categories,” and narrows as it goes. In religion, of course, one must begin his religious search with the question of the existence of God, then proceed to the nature of God. In these simple choices of category, one will eliminated the eastern religions (including New Age), Islam with its Allah, and Mormonism with its strange ideas about God.
 
Onward the search goes, getting narrower along the way. Just as if one were looking for a specific video on eBay, one might look for the specific truth about scripture, a church, or a doctrine. However, while in the eBay search the narrowness would be no surprise at all, in a religious quest any hint of narrowness or specific truth might be denounced as intolerant or bigotry. Well, Jesus did comment on this aspect of the kingdom, and He says that narrowness is to be expected! (Mt. 7:13-14)
 
Further, Christ said that the kingdom is like “a pearl of great price,” which a merchant found and sold everything he owned for the purchase. (Mt. 13:45-46) Here is dedication, zeal, and interest. Perhaps you have heard the stories of folks who bought seemingly trivial items and later discovered that they are worth $big? More succinctly, you’ve heard of folks who found just the prize they wanted, and they were determined to outbid the competition regardless of the cost!
 
The bidding element on eBay shows the degree of desire for the various items available. If you wonder what anything is worth, just look on eBay and see what similar items are selling for, and you have the true market value, the cost which no one is willing to top. The parable of the pearl of great price teaches that those who aren’t willing to give up everything will not find the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is the “one and only.”
 
"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mt 16:26
 
eBay shoppers are vulnerable in that the merchandise they purchase may not live up to the advertisement or may never be delivered. Likewise, Jesus warned about false teachers. (Mt. 7:15ff) eBay management has dealt with their problem in this area by providing a rating system, and bidders can look at actual complaints of previous buyers to determine the trustworthiness of the seller. John the apostle exhorts Bible readers to “Try the spirits, whether they are of God.” He says further, “We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (John 4:1,6) Those religious seekers who fail to abide in the apostles’ doctrine are not only vulnerable, but sure to go the wrong way. (II Jn 9-11)
 
There are limits to comparing religion with eBay. “All symbols bear an apparent contradiction.” Religion is quite different from the market place because truth and eternity are not negotiable. $Billions are spent each year for the upholding and advancing of religious belief and doctrine. Preaching is found online, but more conveniently it is offered regularly at church buildings, synagogues, mosques, on TV, on radio, and in print. Religions, like the old-time market places, have been here throughout history. Not all gods, churches, doctrines are the very ones you want, but the truth is there somewhere. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Mt. 24:35)
 
The lessons learned by a quick visit to the “children of this world” on eBay should be transposed from the desire to acquire things into something more noble. When Jesus spoke of the proper place to lay up treasures, He said “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” To be a part of His kingdom, and to be right with Him–here is the Pearl of Great Price! Obtaining it requires a desire to search; a willingness to be very specific and narrow in that search; exerting enough energy to distinguish between truth and error; and giving everything else in one’s life second place to truth and the kingdom.
 
George Hutto