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How The Baker Lost His
Dough
Fresh out of
college with the highest honors in his class gave a lot of
confidence to Tom Yeast. The whole world was hungry for
the bread he was capable of making. Things looked even
brighter when Susie Kitchen agreed to become his bride.
Together they would make their mark in the world. Tom
heard of a growing town where there was no baker and it was not very
long before he established his business and soon he held a virtual
monopoly on the baking needs of the community.
To Yeast
was more than a good baker of bread. Tom knew more about
bread making than anyone in the area. People came for
miles to buy his products and he even had it shipped to places where
much older and more established firms were in competition with
him. As Tom prospered, he added equipment and hired more
help until he was proprietor of one of the most flourishing bakeries
in the industry. To Yeast’s rise to success had been
phenomenal. But Tom himself was not
satisfied. He continued to make scientific studies and
gain knowledge and know-how until he was regarded as an authority on
the subject far and wide. The inhabitants of Bakerville
were proud of Tom Yeast and the fame he had brought to their
prosperous community.
As time went by a noticeable
change came into the policy of the “Tom Yeast Baking
Empire.” It was scarcely perceptible at
first. Moreover it was not a planned change.
It all happened quite unintentionally, but it finally brought about
the ruin of Tom’s business. As Tom’s renown in the
baking trade became more widely know, he was often asked to speak at
public gatherings. He was especially sought after to
address his fellow tradesmen. Tom could explain the
scientific formula and delve into the secrets of bread making in
such a manner that he was regarded as the peer in
baking. He chartered planes and traveled widely to keep
his appointments to tell others the scientific secrets of baking
bread.
Gradually the effect of Tom’s absence from his
business began to reflect itself on his empty shelves. People
came for bread but were turned away to satisfy their hunger at other
places because Tom did not have a supply on hand to meet the needs
of his customers. Instead of providing for the hunger of
his friends, Tom sought to satisfy them by offering scientific
information about the making of bread. He prepared long
and interesting articles on the making of bread and gave them to his
customers.
Many honors were conferred on Tom
Yeast. He received degrees from several prominent
societies. He used only the finest equipment and he
originated many novel methods to produce and market his
product. There was one fatal flaw in the entire
structure though, and that was precipitation a crisis in his
business. While Tom Yeast was busy telling everybody HOW
to bake bread, he was neglecting to bake it himself. The
people of Bakerville were going hungry. They were tired
to going by Tom’s empty windows and they found no satisfaction in
his recipes or scientific explanations about bread. In
other words they wanted bread.
About this time another
young man came to Bakerville and made a thorough appraisal of the
situation. He was well aware that his skills did not
compare with those of Tom Yeast and he was uninitiated in the
scientific details. However, he knew that by mixing some
flour with yeast and a few other ingredients he could make a loaf of
bread that would appeal to a hungry person. It was not
long until Bill Crusty found an empty shop where he installed his
bakery. Bill Crusty was not able to provide formulas and
data on bread making, but he did have bread. He was not
called away to explain the art of bread making, but he did continue
making it. In a little while the results began to
show. Long time customers of Tom Yeast had tired of
going without bread and started making a path to Crusty’s
shop. After a few more years Tom Yeast presided over a
bankrupt enterprise. Tom Yeast spent most of his time
explaining how bread is made but hungry men passed by to patronize
the well-stocked shelves of Bill Crusty.
Jesus well
defines the spiritual needs of man as hunger. When He
said, “I am the bread of life,” He spoke a language anyone can
understand. Bread is the staff of life.
Jesus is the satisfying portion, who meets the need of the hungry
soul. But sometimes we get so concerned with the
theological technicalities that we fail to find the “bread” we need
to satisfy our spiritual hunger. Some mental giants and
theological wizards tower over the horizon with surpassing knowledge
and wisdom. They supply us with theories and
speculations of great interest. They plumb the depths of
the past and plot the course of the future. They invent
new words to describe new ideas. That’s very interesting, but
not very satisfying to a hungry soul. Someone has well
said, the gospel is “One beggar telling another beggar where to get
bread.”
Could it be that many of the vacant pews in
modern churches are mute evidence of the unsatisfied hunger of those
who once frequented such places of worship? Would we
find so many costly church building boarded up and going into
disrepair if they were concentrating on the Bread of
Life? Is not the spiritual hunger today as great as it
ever was? Tom Yeast’s bakery is boarded up because Tom
spent more time on the theory of bread than he did on making
bread. Bill Crusty prospered in the very presence of one
who knew much more about baking than he ever hoped to know, but Bill
produced something that hungry people needed.
What
dough is to a baker, the Word of God is to the minister of the
gospel. Tom lost his dough in his effort to spend all
his time analyzing it instead of using it to produce
bread. While Tom was climbing to fame as an expert, Bill
was satisfying the hunger of his customers. Most people
today regard the Apostle Paul as a leader among Christian preachers,
but in Paul’s day his reputation does not appear to have been very
attractive. The Athenians called him a babbler; the
Corinthians regarded him as a fool, while Festus in his capacity as
judge accused him of being insane. His physical
appearance is described as weak and even some of the churches
described his speech as contemptible. Not very
impressive credentials to advertise one of the world’s greatest
evangelists! But Paul had a great message that
proclaimed the crucified Christ as the answer to man’s
need. For that reason his name will be enshrined in the
hearts of believers as long as the world stands. That
message met the hunger of the soul and satisfied it. It
planted churches that produced man who died for their
faith. Paul gave them bread. Are we giving
them intellectual substitutes? Time will
tell!
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