Chapter 19. Sammy Slick. For a moment, imagine that you've just started work at Grimm's Hardware Store. The owner, Malcolm Grimm, introduces you to Sammy Slick, with whom you'll be working closely. "Sammy will teach you the ropes," Mr. Grimm explains. "He's a pleasant fellow, and you'll enjoy working with him." And sure enough, you find Sammy a very congenial fellow. You have many good conversations with him, and the two of you laugh a lot. However, you soon notice that Sammy doesn't follow all the workplace rules.
"Sammy, I hate to say anything," you mention discreetly late one afternoon, "but I notice that you nearly always quit work around 4:50 or 4:55. Mr. Grimm told me that we don't get off until 5:00. Aren't you afraid you're going to get into trouble?" "Oh, I'm sure old man Grimm doesn't like me leaving early, but I can guarantee you he's not going to fire me over it," Sammy asserts confidently. He then puts away his tools and heads for his car, five minutes early.
You've also noticed that Sammy takes about 70 to 75 minutes each day for lunch. You remember quite distinctly Mr. Grimm telling you that employees are allowed one hour for lunch. "Say, Sammy," you finally mention, "I'm sure Mr. Grimm told me that we get an hour lunch break, but you always take nearly an hour and a quarter.
Aren't you afraid you'll get caught one of these days and get into trouble?" "Oh, I'm sure old man Grimm knows what I'm doing," Sammy replies dismissively, "but he's not going to fire me over it, so I don't worry about it." As the weeks pass, you notice that Sammy frequently takes personal calls and texts on his cell phone during work. Often when you need his help with something, you have to wait until he gets off the phone.
"Listen, Sammy," you finally say, "don't you think you're going to get in trouble one of these days for spending so much time on your cell phone?" Shaking his head impatiently, Sammy replies, "What are you, a Boy Scout or something? Yeah, I imagine they don't like me talking and texting on my cell phone, but believe me, they're not going to fire me over it, so quit worrying." Over time, you notice more and more company rules that Sammy violates.
By now, you've quit bringing such matters up to him, for you know what his reply will be, "Yeah, I'm not supposed to do it, but they're not going to fire me over it." Sammy Slick Syndrome. So what do you think about Sammy Slick? If you were an employer, would you like to have someone like him working for you? Would you think that Sammy cherishes the relationship he has with you as his employer? Obviously not.
To be sure, Sammy obeys every rule he thinks he'd be fired for breaking, but he stretches or breaks most of the rules he thinks he can get away with. As Sammy has shrewdly calculated, the owner is probably not going to fire him over any single one of these infractions. However, the owner may eventually tire of the attitude that Sammy's actions reveal. Sammy obviously doesn't have the company's best interests at heart. Type 1 Christians typically play the "salvation issue" game. They obey all the big commandments.
They don't commit adultery, fornication, murder, blasphemy, robbery, etc. However, they feel comfortable ignoring the smaller commandments. As we've said before, their primary motivation is fear of eternal punishment, not love of God and His commandments. A primary problem with Type 1 Christians is their heart condition. Jesus talked a lot about the heart when He was on earth. In the parable of the sower, this is how He described the ones who would faithfully bear fruit on the vine.
"The ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." Luke 8:15. Why Drusilla Dread's strategy doesn't work. Drusilla Dread is right to put more emphasis on the weightier commandments than on the minor ones. However, she has ignored two important precepts in Jesus' denunciation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. First, notice what Jesus designated to be the weightier commandments.
"You have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy and faith." Matthew 23:23. To be sure, adultery and murder are weightier matters, but what Jesus specifically referred to were qualities inside the heart: justice, mercy, and faith. These qualities are not simple matters of do this and don't do that. They come out of a godly heart. Jesus developed this point more fully in another passage.
"A good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit, for every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. But why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?" Luke 6:43-46.
So trying to be a Drusilla Dread on the eternal playing field doesn't work. Bearing good fruit has to come out of a cleansed heart closely in tune with God. Merely avoiding committing the "big sins" isn't sufficient. That alone will not produce good fruit. Furthermore, we should remember what Jesus identified as the two greatest commandments. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment.
And the second, like it, is this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31. Can Drusilla possibly claim that she loves God with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength? How can she, when her primary motivation is self-preservation, not love for God? Sammy Slick might just as well claim that he loves Grimm's Hardware Store with his whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.
So although Type 1 obedience is where we might begin our Christian walk, it's not a place we want to dwell. We will never be able to live the kingdom life with Type 1 obedience. So let's move on to Type 2: dutiful servant obedience.