In my husband's first pastorate in Webster, Kentucky, a dear sweet lady gave me a cookbook as a birthday gift. It was no ordinary cookbook. The pages were mostly blank. However, my friend took time from her busy life as a dairy farmer's wife, and mother to four children, to write-in several of her recipes and those of other church members. I was thrilled. If you've never been fed potluck dinner from Raymond Baptist Church, you really haven't tasted the best food on earth. Some of their cooks have gone on to glory where I'm almost certain the Lord is using them to prepare the feast we Believers will enjoy together in Glory with our Lord.
In the middle of the "dessert" section of my cookbook is a "No Name Cake" recipe. It is absolutely, the best cake I've ever been priviledged to taste. Why in the world they called it the "No Name Cake" is beyond me. But it is what it is. The cake's name doesn't do one thing to change the texture, the delightful flavor, or the popularity of its presence on the Raymond Baptist buffet table. I've never been to a fellowship at which there wasn't someone scraping the remaining crumbs left on the plate of Margaret Pollock's "No Name Cake". Invariably, someone asks for the recipe...as did I.
Anyone who has never experienced a taste of No Name Cake is still enticed by its creamy, fluffy, icing. It looks simply yummy. The first bite demands a second. In fact, whenever I went to potluck dinners at Raymond Baptist Church, I checked the dessert table first. If No Name Cake was present I got myself as big a slice as possible. I usually ate it as an appetizer to my dinner.
After the Lord moved us on to other pastorates, I was grateful for my cookbook and the recipe of No Name Cake. I've since introduced it to many other people I've entertained and to other churches I've attended. Folks don't care that it has no name. They eat it and enjoy it and request the recipe so they can make it for folks they know. There's no telling where that No Name cake has gone because of a sweet Southern lady's kindhearted, generous gesture of sharing its contents with me and others.
I imagine by any other name it could be just as sweet, delectable, and tantalizing. I imagine by any other name it could be just as satisfying and well-received. However, the name is not what makes the cake the cake--it is its ingredients. What's inside that creamy, fluffy, delectable dessert makes the difference. You can add or take away from it, but it won't be the same without the original ingredients of a No Name Cake.
For Christians, it is not "what" is inside or outside our churches that makes the difference in attracting folks to Christ. It is not the beauty of our church, the majesty of its stain-glass windows, the tulips by the sidewalks, or the comfort of the pews. It's not even the buffet tables filled with food and No Name Cakes.
It is Who they meet when they enter. It is the love they receive and the sweet Spirit of the Believers which makes them want more. It is Jesus living within us and pouring forth from us which makes them want to drink from His well and eat the Bread of Life and return for another helping. Jesus makes us different from the rest of the world. We are the ingredients which keep people coming back...or turn them away. By no other Name can one be saved and live eternally. Not by my name, your name, or our church name.
With Jesus, our name is not an issue, nor is our past. Without Jesus living within us, we have nothing to offer...nothing...no matter what name we call ourselves. selahV
