Carpentry skills, continued

Yesterday, we studied how Jesus was trained as a carpenter at His stepfather's knee and then at his side. We applied that to our own lives and said that our honest labor, no matter what we are working on, can be done to God's glory.
Jesus modeled that for us in His role as a carpenter.

There is another application of His work as the Great Carpenter. I hope you will receive a blessing from our study today....

Have you ever thought about the nature of a carpenter's work? Let me explain..... There are really two things that a carpenter does with his skills and experience.
First, he repairs things. There are many times that we have something that needs to be repaired, and it's beyond our pay grade, as my grandpa used to say. It's something that we don't have enough skill to complete.
Sure, we can sand the cabinets and fill the holes with wood putty. We can nail a board down when it comes loose on our deck.
But how about repairing the leg on that kitchen chair, so it doesn't collapse the next time cousin sits in it? Or maybe there is a violent storm, and a tree falls across the deck, and causes a great deal of damage?
Who helps us then?
We may go on our phone or computer to find the right one, but we generally are looking for a carpenter for these tasks. Someone who has the skill and the experience to repair the damage.
Jesus Christ was trained as a carpenter, and He was (and still is) a spiritual carpenter as well. People brought Him their broken lives, and He repaired them, just as He does today.
There's a dear old hymn that reads:

           Bring Christ your broken life, so marred by sin.
           He will create anew, make whole again.
           Your empty, wasted years He will restore,
           And your iniquities, remember no more.

The Great Carpenter can look down and see the mess we have created, and He can begin to repair the damage, and allow the healing to start.
This line of thinking reminds me of a verse in Matthew that would have been very meaningful to the Jews of that time, but may have lost its familiarity for us:

A bruised reed he will not break,    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,till he has brought justice through to victory.     In his name the nations will put their hope. (Matthew 12:20-21)

This is actually pointing back to a prophesy of Isaiah, and if you'd like to turn there, the passage is Isaiah 42:1-4. In ancient times, reeds were used for many purposes, but once it was bent, or bruised, or battered it was useless. A shepherd could make a flute-like instrument from a reed and play soft music on it to sooth and calm the restless sheep. If the reed became soft or cracked, it would no longer make music and the shepherd would break it and discard it. It was no longer useful; he would throw it away.
In the lamps of the time, the end of usefulness would be signaled by the fact that it had burned down to the end of the wick. It would smolder and smoke, but it would not make any light. Since it wasn't useful, it was put out and thrown away, just like that broken reed.
The battered reed and the smoldering wick are like the people in this world whose lives are broken and worn out. The world may see no value in them. If they can no longer make music or give light, the world casts off the weak and the helpless. They have no time for the suffering and the burdened souls of this world. In ancient times the Romans ignored people like this as uselesss; the Pharisees despised them as worthless.
Since the advent of sin in the world, and the fall from grace by Adam and Eve, it's been mankind's natural tendency to destroy. Little children will often follow a scampering bug just to step on it. They will snap off a beautiful bud before it flowers. Adults will undercut, hurt, and devour each other in business, politics, society, and even in families.

By contrast, it's the nature of our Father to restore. He will not break off or put out even the least of those who come to Him -- and He gives a dire warning to those who want to do so.

 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:6)

Many times, we humans are like that smoldering week. We are like that broken reed. We've been beaten down and defeated by life. But the Great Carpenter begins to work with that reed and with that smoldering wick and begins to rebuild our lives. Christ repairs our lives instead of tossing us aside.

There is a second thing that a carpenter does: in addition to making repairs, he builds new items. John says this about Jesus:

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:3)

This is the Carpenter Who built the universe! From scratch! Everything that was created was built by Him, and He was still building in the first century, for He said that He would build His church, and the gates of Hell would not overpower it!

And our Savior is still working as a carpenter today.....

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2)

Jesus, the Great Carpenter, is constructing places for us where we will dwell, once we reach heaven. His carpentry skills are awesome and amazing; He can repair our lives and He builds things from scratch.

We'll finish our study tomorrow....