Pastor’s Place at FBC Whitesburg

Which End of the Log Are You Helping to Carry?

Acts 16:9
“If ten men are carrying a log — nine of them on the little end and one at the heavy end — and you want to help, which end will you lift on?” — William Borden, as he reflected on the numbers of Christian workers in the U.S. as compared to those among unreached peoples in China
A Biblical Mandate for Missions is found in this verse in three parts.
 

1.    God calls people to change directions in their lives
           There is something important to note about Paul.  In Acts 15:35, we are told that “Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.”  Many other teachers and preachers.  In verse 36, after some days of doing this, Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us return and visit with the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”  There is no evangelistic vision, no angelic call, no lightening, and no special wooing of the Holy Spirit.  Just simple Christian concern for the people they knew and led to Christ.  Most of us have no problem doing that.  Next we are told that Paul fell out with Barnabas and Mark and went their separate ways.  Now Paul travels with Silas and continues to strengthen the churches.  In Lystra they pick up another missionary…Timothy.   All seems to be going well.
     Then we are told the Holy Spirit shuts the door and does not allow them to go into Asia.  He did not stop or back track.  He went to the most logical place he knew, where the door was open.  Isaiah wrote, “You will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”  Isaiah 30:21.  Later Paul did go into Asia – that is Turkey today…where Ephesus is.
     God gives Paul a vision.  This is not a dream.  It is different.  He sees a man calling him, crying out to him, begging him, pleading him…”come over here and help us!”  Paul is assured that this is God’s call to change directions in his life.  Everything was going well up to this point.  Churches were growing and being strengthened.  Paul seemed fulfilled and used of God where he was and what he was already doing.  So why change directions?  God, in His sovereignty, called him.  When God call, we respond.
     Acts 26:16-18, “But rise, and stand on your feet: for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things which you have seen, and of those things in which I will appear to you;  Delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom now I send you, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
     Here what some missionaries have said and experienced in their own lives:    
“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” — Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia
“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” — David Livingstone
“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.” — C.T. Studd
When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.”]
“The concern for world evangelization is not something tacked on to a man’s personal Christianity, which he may take or leave as he chooses. It is rooted in the character of the God who has come to us in Christ Jesus. Thus, it can never be the province of a few enthusiasts, a sideline or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way. It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian.” — James S. Stewart
Mark 10:28-30, “Then Peter began to say unto him; we have left all, and have followed you.  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,  but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”
  2.    God calls people to advance the Gospel into new areas
  John10:15-16, “As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
     The interesting part of this story to me is that the Gospel advance changed directions and moved into Europe.  From Europe it spread here to America.  We are not only recipients of Paul’s change of direction, but of European missions to America.  Aren’t you glad those European missionaries believed God’s call and obeyed Him and came to tell us about Jesus?
     The next verse tells us that they immediately endeavored to go into Macedonia.  Immediately!  They didn’t have to go on a retreat and studying and pray about it.  They knew that God had placed a call upon their lives.  They went.  A missionary once said to me personally, “Every Christian is called to go to missions.  Unless God specifically calls you to stay here, you are called to go.
     Paul and his companions went overseas.  That’s right.  They began to look for a ship to take them.  International missions right here in the book of Acts. 
     Philip and Julie Bentley approached me about taking the Gospel to our college students here in Whitesburg.  They have a vision for college ministry and missions, here in church and on the campus.  This is a new area, almost untouched.  So are the jails.  A stranger in the hospital called out to me last week as I sat talking to a man in the waiting area.  She asked if I was a minister.  I told her I was.  Then she said, “Why don’t you go down to the jail.  They need you down there.  I asked her if she had someone in her family in there, she said “no” and then continued, “They need you down there.  They need to hear the Gospel.”  Then she was called back and left.  I had never seen the woman before of since.  She was exactly right.  We probably have 20 chaplains at the hospital, but maybe one or two churches ministering to a place filled with lost and troubled people.  Here’s what some missionaries have to say about advancing the Gospel into new areas:
“The Great Commission¹ is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed” — Hudson Taylor
“No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once.”  The Church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist.”  “The mission of the church is missions.”  “We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” — Oswald J. Smith
“If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn’t it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death.” — Dave Davidson
“The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.” — Mike Stachura
“People who don’t believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South.” — J. Howard Edington
3.    God calls people to help those who need help
           This is a vivid picture.  Help us! (bohqhson hmin) -  To run at a cry, to help. The man uses the plural for all, including himself. It was the cry of Europe for Christ.  Today Africa is crying for Christ.  Asia.  The Middle East  Thousands of unreached people groups in the world who have little or no evangelistic witness or scripture in their language.
The Great Commission is a call to go to all the people groups. 
 Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
 

          Nations is a Greek word that means ethnic groups, not countries.  You may have several groups in some countries that speak different languages and have not heard the Gospel.
         The plea is for help.  It is a cry.  What do you think he wanted help doing?  Paul was an evangelist, church planter, teacher, and encourager.
About 90% of the trained Christian workers serve in America.  10% in the rest of the world.  Nine men on the end of a log and one on the other.  Unfortunately today, most pastor and teachers and evangelists want to serve in America where a small percentage of the world’s population lives.  They choose to go to churches in areas that are already saturated with other churches and the Gospel message. 
     Right here in Letcher County, we have churches on every corner.  I read in the Mountain Eagle where two new ones are starting.  During our VBS last week, I knew of four other SBC churches in our county who held VBS the same time we did.  Four of them were within a couple of miles from each other.  Ed Bolen, pastor at Fleming Baptist Church told me as we discussed VBS at his church this July, “There are nine churches within walking distance of Fleming Baptist church.  We hold approximately 50 Bible schools in Letcher County each summer.
     I visited with a man last week who cannot read or write.  He had three Bibles and the Bible on cassette in his home.  People had given him two of those Bibles.  He gave one to me and asked me to give it to someone who doesn’t have one.  My friends, I cannot go into the jails or the hospitals or the nursing homes without finding Bibles already there.  If anybody in Letcher County does not own a Bible, it is because of choice.  You can buy one at Wal- Mart cheaper than you can buy cigarettes or gasoline.  Our church and many others would gladly provide a Bible to anyone who wanted one.  I told this man I visited that the only people I knew who didn’t have a Bible couldn’t use this one because it is written in English.
     Last year I sent $100.00 to a man in Africa who wants to buy a motorcycle so he can travel to more places to preach.  It costs $1200.00.  Eight months later I asked him how much he still needed.  My gift was the only money he had received.  Yet on any given day, I pass dozens of motorcycles on the road here.  Sometimes I see them in packs, two abreast, cruising down the highway – just for pleasure.  And every time one passes me I think, “My friend in Africa a place where people are dying young every day from starvation and Aids and curable diseases – how much he would like to have that motorcycle to reach his neighbors for Christ”.  And I become angry.  Nine men on one end of the pole and one on the other crying for help.  And people say, we need to help the ones on our end of the pole.  I honestly believe we – and all America – will be greatly judged.  To whom much has been given, much will be required, the Scripture says.  Here’s what these missionaries have to say about helping those in need.
“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” — John Keith Falconer
“We are debtors to every man to give him the gospel in the same measure in which we have received it” — P.F. Breese, founder of the Church of the Nazarene
“In our lifetime, wouldn’t it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions?” — Dave Davidson
“You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving.” — Amy Carmichael, missionary to India
“‘Not called!’ did you say?
‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. — William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
“I believe that in each generation God has called’ enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth…. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond!” — Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand

Posted: Thoughts

The Role of the Sepulcher in the Easter story

Mark 16:1-8
 

          Philip Yancy in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, wrote about George Buttrick, former chaplain at Harvard.  Buttrick recalled that he often had students who came to his office, plopped down in a chair, and declared, “I don’t believe in God”  Buttrick would offer a disarming reply, “Sit down and tell me what kind of God you don’t believe in.  I probably don’t believe in that God either.”  Then He would talk about Jesus.
          That is the corrective to all our beliefs about God.  Jesus!  The name above all names.  The Incarnate God!  The lover of souls.  The Savior of the world.   Religion is detrimental to you health.  Without a personal relationship with God through His only begotten Son, Jesus, religion is like the Sepulcher in the Easter story – a symbol of death and empty.  
          Mark’s gospel here does not use the word tomb.  From 15:46 through 16:8 six times he uses the word sepulcher.  The first two are prior to the resurrection.  Mark uses 15:46 to affirm that Jesus was actually dead and buried and a stone was rolled in front of the sepulcher.
          What is a Sepulcher?  The dictionary describes it as a tomb, grave, or burial place.  It is a deep cavity above ground – or at least the entrance is above ground.  Like a cave.  Today there is a church built on the sight where Jesus’ sepulcher is believed to be.  Constantine, Holy Roman Emperor in the early fourth century decided that a shrine should be built on the sight of Jesus’ sepulcher.  Through the years it has been damaged, partially destroyed, and repaired many times. 
          The Detroit Free Press ran a story this past Thursday about this church.  Oddly enough, two families control the door to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  This goes back to a peace agreement some 800 years ago.  Today, one family still holds the key and another family opens the door.  Six different religions look after or control the various sections of the Church:  Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Egyptian Coptic, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Syrian Orthodox.  And the ironic part of all this:  the two families who hold the key to the church and open the door are Muslims.
        The first question I would ask is, “Why build a church on a sepulcher?”  The angel asked the women that same kind of question in Luke 24:5, “Why seek the living among the dead?”  The second question I would ask is, “Isn’t that just like religions?  We all want to build our shrines and cherish our relics.  Religion is just like the sepulcher – dead.  The good news today is this:  “HE IS NOT HERE!  HE IS RISEN!”
The last four uses of the word sepulcher in Mark’s gospel refer to the time after the resurrection.  The sepulcher plays a role.  The sepulcher has a message to preach.
 

1.     To the sepulcher we come with –                                     ANTICIPATION OF THE MOMENT  Verses 1-2
 

          It was early in the morning – the first day of the week.  They were traveling…on their way…a vivid picture of newness and beginning.  But they didn’t know it.  They anticipated only anointed Jesus’ dead body with spices.  Just like religions.  Going through the motions.  Customs.  Traditions.  Relics.  Carrying the right kinds of spices.  Making sure the Sabbath was over so they wouldn’t break any Sabbath laws.  Careful to keep the rules.  They came to the sepulcher.  The sun is just rising.  Could they…might they…would it be possible that one of them might anticipate something extraordinary happening that morning? 
          How about you?  It’s Easter Sunday.  Are you just keeping your tradition?  Are you cherishing your holy relics today?  A Bible, a cross, a hymnal, a padded pew?  Or did you come anticipating God doing something extraordinary in your life?
 

2.     At the sepulcher we stand with –                                     DESPERATION OF THE TASK  Verses 3-4
 

         Mark tells us that these women were faced with an overwhelming task.  Who will roll away the stone?  That was on their minds.  A problem.  A big problem.  Bigger than them.  What problems have you brought with you to church this morning?  Family problems?  Money problems?  Recent bad news you have received?  Sin problems?  Addictions?  Problems bigger than you are.  What will I do about this?
          Matthew’s Gospel tells us how God handles problems like this.  Matthew 28:2, “And behold, there was a great earthquake:  for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.”  He sat on it.  Symbolic not only of the power to move the stone, but the complete victory God made over death and the grave.  You too, through Jesus Christ – not through religion – but through Jesus Christ – have this same power available to you.  Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
          I have witnessed this kind of power in my own life when Jesus came into my life and saved me.  Mark says the stone “was very great” – but it was not great enough to hold Jesus inside.
          In England a house was build in a forest clearing with a six foot thick concrete foundation.  But it time, a little oak sapling grew, spread its roots, and burst through the concrete floor.  Now that’s power.  From a tiny seed.  Jesus has also burst through and crushed death by the mighty power of the resurrection.  Do you think a big rock can cause God such a big problem?  “Nothing is difficult for thee,” the Bible says of God.  We stand today at the empty sepulcher.  The stone has been rolled away.  No problem we face in life is too desperate for us if we know the power of His resurrection.
 

3.     Into the sepulcher we enter with –                              UNCERTAINTY OF THE SCENE  Verses 5-6
 

           When the women saw all this happening, they decided to go in the sepulcher to check it out.  They saw an angel there.  Mark says they were afraid.  Luke describes two angels.  He says the women were perplexed…confused.  John says that Mary waited until Peter and John had checked it out, then she peeked inside.  There were two angels.  She told them that she was crying because she was afraid that someone had stolen or moved his body and she didn’t know where to find it.
          Have you ever looked for something and you couldn’t find it?  You knew you had put it there.  It was there the last time you saw it.  But it’s gone.  Where did it go?  You stand there confused, your mouth hanging open.  “I know it was there.”  You began to imagine what could have happened.  Am I at the wrong place?  Did somebody move it?  Is someone playing a trick on me?  Am I losing my mind?
          When you look into the empty tomb today, what do you say?  Are you afraid?  Are you confused?  Do you believe he has been stolen?  Or do you believe He is risen?   You will live your life based on what you believe about the empty tomb.  If you believe Jesus is alive, you will follow Him.  If you think He is just hidden or missing, you will doubt God’s power.  If you try to figure it out yourself, you will be religious.  No one has ever found the body of Jesus dead.  He is not here!
          There is power in emptiness.  A school professor once assigned his students to turn in a five page paper on courage.  Give the best example of courage you know.  Several students told some fascinating stories.  But one young man got an A+.  He turned in five empty pages.  There is power in emptiness.  The angel said, “Look.  Look for yourself.  He isn’t here.  Look where they laid him.  It’s empty.”
 

4.     From the Sepulcher we run with –                                        URGENCY OF THE NEWS  Verses 7-8
 

          The angel told the women to go and tell Peter and the other disciples.  Matthew 28:7 tells us that they instructed them to “go quickly!”  There is urgency to this message.  So the women did exactly as they were instructed.  They went out quickly and fled.  They trembled.  They were amazed.  They were afraid.  They were so excited they could not stop and talk to anyone else along the way.  Luke says they left the sepulcher and told all the things which they had seen. 
 

        Don’t you wish Christian people still got that excited about the resurrection of Jesus?  Don’t you wish our altars could be flooded before we got through the first verse of the invitation?  Don’t you wish people would run out of church and be so excited about the Gospel message that they couldn’t bear to stop and waste a minute?  Religion is dead and will bored most people to death.  But Christ is alive and that excites us and amazes us.
 

        CONCLUSION: 
 

           So what does the sepulcher mean to you?  It’s just a hewn out piece of rock or a cave.  You might want to build a church over it and start a new religious movement like Constantine did.  Maybe we can make a lot of money if we sold little necklaces with an empty sepulcher on it – like people do with crosses and crucifix.  But religion can save you.
 

          You might explain it away.  Jesus was stolen or hidden or misplaced.  He wasn’t really dead, you might say.  If that were true, go home and forget all about Easter.  Either Jesus is Alive and he is who he says he is or it’s all a lie.  Either He died on the cross to save sinners and rose again to conquer death or he just started another religion.  Either you know Him as your personal Lord and Savior or you don’t.  What do you believe?
 

           Dr. Seamands tells of a man from another religion in Africa who converted to Christianity.  Someone asked him why he would convert from his religion to another.  He answered like this, “Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go?  And there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive.  Which one of those two men would you ask which way to go – the one dead or the one alive?”
 

          John records that Mary turned around a saw Jesus.  He called her name, “Mary!”  She answered, “Master!”  That is our only response.  He calls us by name.  We answer Him.  Master.  Lord.  Savior.  The sepulcher is not a religious relic.  It is not something to be owned and fought over by all kinds of religions.  It points to the risen Jesus.  It is empty today because Jesus is living.  Do you know Him?  Have you ever called Him your Lord and Savior?  What role does the empty sepulcher play in your life?
 

Posted: Thoughts

Can You Guess Who Our Special Visitor Might Be?

OUR SPECIAL VISITOR