Students love scavenger hunts. In my youth ministry work over the years at various times in various capacities, my passion has always been teaching. Teaching for me is fun! Yet I have always shared an appreciation that teenagers love doing fun doing activities, and I have provided many fun activities for them. One activity I prepared was clue hunts in churches. Students are given a sheet of paper with a clue for another location, and when they find that location, there is another clue written on a sheet of paper there. Students like running around their church poking into places which have been off limits ever since they were toddlers, such as the church office and the janitor’s closet. It was places like this where I hid a trail of clues. The final clue would lead to a spot where there was a reward like chocolate.
The last time I ever did this, the final clue purposely led to an object for a teaching. Up in the balcony of the church, where I only saw people once in the entire year I worshiped at that church, were two paintings. I am not positive, but I think Warner Sallman was the artist for both, and if that was the case, one would be from 1946 and the other from 1953. The painting on the one side was of Jesus holding a lamb in the midst of some sheep. In the other painting, Jesus is portrayed simply knocking on a door.
My message for the students standing by the door painting was based on what I learned in the winter of 1998 from the Reverend Dr. John Stott in his classic book Basic Christianity. Dr. Stott gave an illustration of a 1853 painting whose artist was [William] Holman Hunt which was apparently the original painting of Christ knocking on a door, a model for a number of similar paintings which would follow, such as Sallman’s. One significant detail common for both Hunt’s and Sallman’s painting was that in both, a door knob is absent. Regarding Hunt’s painting, Dr. Stott states: “There is neither handle nor latch on the door in Holman Hunt’s picture. It is said that he omitted them deliberately, to show that the handle was on the inside. Christ knocks; but we must open.”(1) Dr. Stott describes how God, who created everything, could get into the house: “He could command us to open to him; instead, he merely invites us to do so. He will not force an entry into anybody’s life.”(2) Indeed an invitation is the nature of true love. It is not something forced, rather it is offered, and the person gets to decide whether or not he or she will receive.
Dr. Stott used this painting to illustrate the offer of salvation for people. “Christ came into the world and died for your sins. He has now come and stood outside the front door of the house of your life, and he is knocking. The next move is yours. His hand is already on the knocker; your hand must now feel for the latch.”(3)
In all fairness to John Stott, I add that in his later years on earth, long after this classic book was published in 1958, John Stott shifted from basic “reformed” principles that most Protestants would agree with, such as that Jesus was the penal substitute, to more disputed reformation doctrines, such as suggesting God regenerates a person before a person makes a choice. On the flip side, even though John Stott always practiced infant baptism, he always insisted that was not the occasion of regeneration, which is counter to Reformed theology. This is shown in his eclectic theology book, Evangelical Truth from 1999, which has some doctrines which are strongly “reformed” alongside other doctrines fitting the theology of Karl Barth, or which are quite unique. Yet even in that book, regarding gaining the kingdom of heaven, Dr. Stott stated: “It could only be ‘received,’ as a little child receives a gift, freely and gratefully…”(4) And going back to his teaching in Basic Christianity, Dr. Stott stated, “…you can have been baptized and confirmed…and still not have opened the door to Christ.”(5) And he boldly states in chapter ten what is truly the theme of chapter ten: “Nor can anybody else settle the matter for us. We must decide for ourselves.”(6)
I close by giving a statement from Dr. Stott: “A boy in his later teens knelt at his bedside one Sunday night in the dormitory of his school. In a simple, matter-of-fact but definite way he told Christ that he had made rather a mess of life so far; he confessed his sins; he thanked Christ for dying for him; and he asked him to come into his life.”(7) The boy here is a self-description by John Stott. That night he received Jesus into his heart, and after doing so, gave Jesus complete control of his life. The result was a ministry which had a worldwide impact in the 20th century. Revelations 3:20 is the verse associated with the paintings: “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me” (NRSV). This invitation is actually the offer for an eternity.
If you have never opened your heart to Jesus, may you know that Jesus is knocking, and He is the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice who made it possible for you, whoever you are, to be united with God.
Hunter Irvine
1) John Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press,
1958), 126.
1958), 126.
2) John Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press,
1958), 124.
1958), 124.
3) John Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press,
1958), 127.
1958), 127.
4) John Stott, Evangelical Truth:
A Personal Plea for Unity, Integrity, and Faithfulness
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 124.
A Personal Plea for Unity, Integrity, and Faithfulness
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 124.
5) John Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press,
1958), 127.
1958), 127.
6) John Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press,
1958), 121.
1958), 121.
7) John Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press,
1958), 128.
1958), 128.
