The other day I heard this on the radio as I was driving in my car on my way to church, "We have really good news...the 2 person fatality that was blocking the #5 freeway into downtown has been all cleared up and we can proceed as normal." WHAT??!! That's GOOD news?? Not for the families of those 2 people.
In So. Cal. we really depend on the freeways. I know that in Chicago as well you need to use the expressways & tollways to get around easily, but many times we forget about real life that is going on! Have you ever been listening to the TV news when they break in with a late-breaking story about some shooting or murder or something? They tell you how many people were shot or killed, then they usually say, "And now in the sports world...the Lakers defeated the Celtics..." WHAT??!! What about those poor people and their families??
Sometimes we can go on with our lives, totally oblivious to the world around us where people are dying and going into eternity. What about their souls??
I'd like to read a real familiar passage to you, please turn in your Bibles to Luke 10:25-37.
It's interesting how Jesus has the spiritual leaders in this story be the bad guys!
But then along comes a hated Samaritan, and we see,
Sometimes our pity is more in the form of guilty feelings. "Oh, gee, I wish I could do something, I feel really bad." We could think about how fortunate we are in the Western world here. A missionary friend of mine told me a story of how he went to visit one of the underground house churches in China, where of course, Christianity is forbidden. The pastor said to him, "I want to show you my New Testament commentary." My friend thought, "Did he say commentary, as in singular?" After going away for a while, he brought it back and gingerly placed it in my friends hands. What a treasure he was holding!! The Chinese pastor proceeded to tell him how it took 3 years of daily hand-copying for 15 minutes at a time by listening to a Christian radio broadcast on short wave!!
Can you imagine how my friend felt when he went back to his office and sat in his desk chair and looked at all the many, many commentaries, both Old & New Testament that he had?? Now that is guilt!! But, guilt by itself is no good.
Instead of guilt alone, we need to be saying, "That's awful, I can't stand by and not do anything!"
Feelings alone are not going to get anywhere!! That leads us to our next stage.
Many times we can see a need, feel pity, or compassion, but then we need to act on this. The Samaritan did. I was confronted with a situation that I could have very easily ignored.
"Do I have time to fix someone's flat tire?"
This was the dilemma that I was faced with, on my way to teach an outreach English conversation class at our church. Interestingly enough, was the fact that I was going to talk about Luke 10:25-37 during the Bible time! (That's the story of the good Samaritan.) While driving down the street, I could see that the lady's tire was flat, and that she needed to quit driving on it, and pull over to change it. After motioning to her regarding this, she finally pulled over. I noticed that she was Asian, but was she Japanese? I got the tire changed relatively easily (I've had experience in this area before!!), then I thought I should satisfy my curiosity by asking her, "Chuzaiin desuka?" which means, "Are you a short-term Japanese resident?" She said "Yes, you speak Japanese!" I told her that I am the pastor of a Japanese-speaking church not too far from here and would love to have her come. She asked about repaying me, but I replied that Jesus wants us to be a neighbor to all.
This lady has since come by the church to thank me, but unfortunately she didn't come during a time when we were having any type of service. But, she has been invited to come back.
More and more I am convinced that it takes a "fleshed-out" demonstration of Jesus Christ in order for Japanese people, or anyone to be able to believe.
What about you?? Are you getting involved at the perspiration phase?
Many times we are turned off. We say, "But, I'll get dirty!" OR "I don't want to teach English conversation to Japanese people, it is so stale." "Besides, hardly anyone believes anyhow, does it really matter?"
I'd like to tell you about "Kay." Her Japanese name is Keiko, but she liked the Americanized version of her name. When she first started coming to my English conversation class she had absolutely no interest in God, Jesus, the Bible or anything remotely "spiritual." She only wanted to come for the English lesson and would politely "put up" with the Bible lesson in Japanese at the end when we relax and drink "ko-hi" (coffee). But gradually as she kept coming to class two times a week on Mondays & Wednesdays and hearing about the wonderful love of God shown through Jesus Christ, and how forgiveness of sins and inner peace were possible, she began to get interested in spiritual things.
You see, Japanese people believe in many gods, and sin for them in not really a personal thing. However, God worked in her heart through the Bible lessons of those English classes that I didn't really want to teach!!
Pretty soon she told me, "I'm really looking forward to hearing what you have to say from the Bible today." Ooow!! "God, please forgive me," I prayed. Eventually Kay believed in Jesus, & I had the privilege of baptizing her before she went back to Tokyo, Japan, where she is today. We don't always realize that the perspiration is worth it!!
But, it doesn't stop right there!
What about you? Have you ever tried to picture in your mind, "What would "more" look like for me in my service to the Lord?" That's scary.
We might say, "But, Lord, I'm already reading my Bible for 5 minutes a day on those days when I can get to it. If I read my Bible for 7 minutes a day, it could throw off my whole day's schedule." The same could be said for prayer. OR dare I say the amount of money that I give to the Lord, or to the ....missionaries!
The president of Miami Christian College heard people complaining one day about all of the expenses that they had. He told them about paying for this thing and that thing for his little son. He always needed new shoes, and clothes, and toys, and food and, on and on. But, then one day...his little son died. That's an experience that I hope you never have had or will have!! Now, his boy does not cost him one cent!
Did you realize that all of the money in the world belongs to God? (Psalm 24:1) "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." But, humans are the ones that are given the responsibility by God to manage it. We can choose to give back to God what He directs us to give, or we can try to rob God like Malachi 3:7-10 talks about.
If we catch the vision of what God wants to do by reaching out in love to every person in the world, we too can joyfully contribute, and be a part of that, or we can wait around until God may come and snatch it out of your hands forcefully.
I think that I would like to say to God, "Lord what do you want me to do?" "How much do you want me to give?"
I'd like to tell you about a Japanese businessman who came to my church in LA one time. He was a "well-heeled" man with monogrammed shirts and 2 fancy cars. I gave him the gospel message at that particular service that he attended. However, that was the only service that he ever attended of mine. I got word shortly afterward that he died of a sudden heart attack. He was only 50 years old! But, I asked myself, "What about my commitment? Did I do everything that I could to help him to find eternal life in Jesus Christ?"
What about you? What would more look like in your life?
Pastor Phil Waters, Missionary with the Conservative Baptist Churches
Read Bruce's message from the community sunrise service
Would you like to learn more about making a commitment to Christ?
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