There are not many companies that would refuse a $23,500 payment, but that is exactly what one company did! Two welding companies had gone to litigation because one of them was refusing to pay the other one.
JMF Enterprises had hired Fired Up Fabrication as a subcontractor to do work on an apartment building and then refused to pay them in full. Finally, in arbitration, JMF agreed to pay Fired Up Fabrication $23,500, but the agreement did not stipulate how they would make payment. It was assumed that a normal means of payment would be made.
But that was not what happened! A few months later, the Fired Up Fabrication lawyer got a call from a delivery man trying to unload the $23,500 payment. He had arrived with a flatbed truck holding a 2' x 3' x 4' metal container which held the specified amount in quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies. The container weighed over three tons, weighing 6,500 pounds (which is about the weight of an elephant!).
Though JMF’s lawyer insisted that the whole payment was there, he admitted that “it required a forklift to move.” Danielle Beem, Fired Up Fabrication’s lawyer, refused the delivery. “Even if I wanted to take this box of coins, I had no way of doing so,” Beem told CBS News Colorado. She explained that the freight elevator in her century-old downtown Denver office couldn’t carry more than 3,000 pounds.
So, the heavy box of coins went back to JMF, and Fired Up Fabrication went back to legal wrangling. JMF’s attorney made a mighty attempt to defend their stunt, writing, “The coins, being current coin of the realm, constituted a tender of the settlement funds, and therefore, JMF has complied with the terms of the agreement. The settlement agreement did not outline any specific form for the payment.” Just in case there was any doubt, he went on to write, “JMF has no intention to harass Plaintiff, waste time, or frustrate the settlement.” JMF wanted a judge to force Fired Up Fabrication to accept the coins.
Fired Up Fabrication was asking for a more reasonable form of payment. Beem commented, “It’s petty and a grand waste of time.”
COMMON SENSE
In a brilliant, blinding flash of common sense, Judge Findley ruled that JMF had acted “maliciously and in bad faith” and that JMF should make payment in a more conventional manner, like a check or money order. He went on to contradict JMF’s claim that they had absolutely no intention of harassing, wasting time or frustrating Fired Up Fabrication by stating, “The defendants apparently obtained the coins in various denominations in neatly organized boxes but then took the extra step of removing the coins from the boxes and dumping them loosely and randomly into the large metal container.”
As a further punishment for wasting everyone’s time, he ordered JMF to pay all of Fired Up Fabrication’s legal fees, which Beem said would come to over $8,000. He then gave JMF 14 days to pay the debt that they owed.
Though JMF tried mightily to defend their foolish stunt, Judge Findley saw through it by looking at their actions. The bank had delivered the coins neatly packaged and clearly marked, but in a fit of spite they had torn open the packaging and tossed both it and the coins haphazardly into the container. Though they tried to make it sound good, there really was no defense for their actions.
PAYMENT FOR OUR DEBT
We, too, owe a great debt to God. We are born in sin, living in sin and sunk in sin so that we are separated from God. This debt of sin is so great that it is impossible for us to pay. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). This is because God is holy and pure and cannot — will not — allow sin into His presence.
But God saw our hopeless condition and in His great love toward us said, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33:2424Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. (Job 33:24)). He sent His beloved Son, Jesus, to suffer, bleed and die on a shameful cross to bear the penalty for our sins. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just [Jesus Christ] for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened [made alive] by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). All of this He did for us so that we can have our sins forgiven and have eternal life.
JMF tried to excuse their method of payment by saying that the agreement didn’t specify how payment should be made. But God’s Word is clear. The Bible also tells us how to have our sins forgiven so that we can go to be with Jesus when we die. We must have “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:2121Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)). We can show the reality of our faith. We are told, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and ... believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-109That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9‑10)).
But we must receive God’s gift of salvation now, and we must receive it His way. Just as JMF’s way of payment was unacceptable, coming to God by any other means than repentance and faith will be unacceptable! Good works will not save us. Just one sin is enough to sink a soul into hell! Living for the pleasure of sin, such as drunkenness, drugs, immorality, stealing, and lying, will only harden your heart as time goes on. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:1919Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3:19)) is the divine command, for “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)).
Judge Findley made a ruling based on actions, but the Judge of all the Earth knows the motives and intentions of every heart. There will be no deceiving or fooling Him! If you have saving faith in your heart, you will hear Him say, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:2121His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:21)). If you reject God’s plan of salvation, you will hear Him say, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:2323And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:23)). “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:1010I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:10)).
Consider a wealthy man and how he acted in Joseph of Arimathea.