"Teaching God's Word to God's World"
2766 Airport Road, Peru, Indiana 46970, (765) 472-4111
Once upon a time, there was a basketball team of twelve players. Like most basketball teams, they had an owner, a coach and an assistant coach. When the coach first began this job, there was a ceremony given go mark the occasion. The assistant came and vowed to be with him for as long as he was the coach. The owner spoke up and told how pleased he was in the coach. He said that the coach was a man who thought as he did. He added that whatever the coach said was as binding, as if he had said it himself. In fact, he said that the coach would speak for him as long as he coached his team.
The owner had been a great player in his own time. The coach often encouraged his players to emulate the actions and attitude of the owner. He encouraged them to conduct themselves in a manner that would reflect well on the owner. He asked them to seek to please the owner in all that they did. He was especially concerned about this when the team was on the road. He said things such as the following:
"Let your character show in such a way as to bring glory and honor to the owner, who is at our head-quarters."
"Play the perfect game like the owner, who is at home, would play."
"Don't be a showoff or the owner, who is at home, will not reward you. Instead quietly do your job and he will praise you publicly. He watches the game films and knows how you play."
"Don't worry about your pay. The owner knows that you need to make a living. He will take care of your needs if you make your playing your first priority."
"If you are loyal to me, then I will tell the owner, who is at our headquarters. But if you are disloyal to me, I will also relay that to the owner, who is at home."
"Those who honor the owner and follow his instruct-ions are my family."
He often gave them advice about how to deal with officials. He was especially concerned about how his players would react when the referees treated them unfairly. He gave the following advice:
"Don't worry about how to answer the officials when they mistreat you and call technical fouls on you. The assistant will tell you what you should say at that time."
The coach was in constant contact with the owner. He would often call him to tell him how things were going. In difficult times, he would seek the counsel and encouragement of the owner. On one occasion, he wasn't sure he would make it through. He called the owner and said this:
"If there is any way that I could avoid this, tell me now. I know that you can make the decision for us to change course. But if I must continue on this path, I will do as you ask me, and not as I desire."
He often spoke of a time when the team would stop playing. When asked when that would be, he answered with the following statement:
"Nobody knows when that may be, neither do the trainers, nor even myself, but only the owner knows."
Over the course of time, there arose some questions concerning the relationship between the coach and the owner. Some questioned the coach's authority to make some of the decisions he had made. Others wondered if he really had the owner's interest in mind. The coach addressed these questions with the following statements:
"I do not speak of my own authority. But the owner who sent me has told me what to say."
"He that has seen me has seen the owner."
"I and the owner are one."
"I can do nothing by myself. The decisions I make are because of what the owner tells me."
"The owner is greater than I."
"I have not come to do my own thing. I have come to do the will of the owner."
"Those who hate me, hate the owner also."
"The world must learn that I love the owner. What-ever he says is what I will do."
"All that belongs to the owner is mine."
After the coach had been with the team for over three years, he announced that he was leaving the team soon. He would join the owner in the head office. But the assistant would become their new coach. The players were heartbroken, confused, and concerned about the future. He comforted them with the following statements:
"I will ask the owner, and he will give you another coach, the assistant, to be with you forever."
"The new coach, the assistant, who the owner will send with my blessing, will teach you everything about basketball and remind you of all that I have taught you."
"I will return to the owner who sent me."
"But it is good that I go, because the assistant will not come until I do go. But if I go, I will send him to you."
"When the assistant comes, he will break down the defenses of the opposition."
"I have much more to say to you, but you are not ready to hear it now. When the assistant comes, he will guide you into all that is right."
"The assistant will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears from the head office. He will tell you what will be happening. He will bring glory and honor to me."
"I came from the owner and entered this job. But now I am leaving this job and going back to the owner."
After this farewell evening, he was away from the team for a few days. When one of the fans saw him, she kept clinging to him. He answered her with the following statement:
"Don't hang unto me like that. I haven't returned to the owner yet. Instead, tell the others that I will return to the owner."
After reading this parable, I ask you, "Who would believe that the owner, coach and assistant are not three different people? Who would say that they were all one individual holding down three jobs with three different titles?" But that is exactly what the "Jesus Only" people would have us believe.
Terry Carter, Vice President of Summit