Recently in the early
hours of a quiet Sunday morning I sat enjoying a first cup of coffee. Suddenly
I noticed out of the corner of my eye a young man about seventeen walking along
our neighborhood street seemingly in a stupor. Curious, I got up and went to
the living room window to get a better look. He moved slowly, caressing in his
arms something black held closely to his chest. His dazed eyes focused only one
step ahead as his stride lengthened. As he disappeared from view my first
thought was, ‘… too much Saturday night!’
A little later as I left for church and drove a few blocks from our home, I
noticed this same young man walking back down our street as if he had been
somewhere and was returning. This time, being closer to him, I could see he was
wearing a number 13 football jersey-type tee shirt and in his hand he held
loosely a black over-shirt. His pants were covered in some sort of horrible
filth. A look of despondency dominated
his features and it seemed apparent that this young man was coming down from a
night of drugs and booze. As I saw this teenager for the second time, my first
impression of disgust melted away as I cried out to God, ‘How can we the church help people like this who are so lost and dying
in their own foolishness?’ At that moment the Holy Spirit revealed to me
that many in the church today have a ‘hands-off’ attitude regarding those
living in deception and sin like this young man, but that God loves His children
even in their bondages and addictions. If we the church would reach out to
them, one by one, many would be saved. Most will never step inside our churches
because of shameful feelings of not being accepted and not being good enough.
With a sudden humiliation I felt so religious
all dressed up, smelling good, on my way to church, while this young man and
many like him in our community are lost and dying in their own indulgence of
rebellion. That morning I knew my religious
ways were not going to reach this
young man, but that my ways of kindness and compassion, which could only come
from a heart after God’s own heart of unconditional love, were needed. As I
came face to face with reality and the responsibility of the commission to the
church, I knew the Lord was moving me into a place beyond myself and my
comforts. The Spirit of the Lord was speaking to my heart; ‘pray for number 13 and do as My Word
declares,’ “… therefore go into the highways and byways …”, (Matthew 22:9) ‘
then you will begin to see revival within the church spreading into your
community.’
Touching lives to
expand the Kingdom of God has to have its beginning of mercy within the walls
of the church or we will not accomplish the power of character of our Lord’s
spoken words before His ascension. If we do not daily involve ourselves in
ministering God’s unconditional love to those we reason unacceptable, we grieve
our Father God and disobey His Great Commission. We as true believers in Christ
Jesus and in all that His love characterizes, need to realize that we His church represent His loving and
kind nature to our lost communities.
We have to win the
lost today where they are, bringing them into our fellowship with the hope of a
better life through Christ Jesus. We need to move beyond ‘church as usual,’ and fully walk in the power and joy of the
abundant life. Full of Jesus’ love, we can live lifestyles that guide and
disciple broken people, bringing the hope of salvation. Living in power, believing and walking out
the Word of God within us, we become ‘…
sharper than any two-edged sword…’ (Hebrews 4:12), in His hand, without
fear, marching into the darkness of the hell holes people around us have made
of their lives.
Let us go in scripture
to the Book of Jonah where most everyone has heard the story of ‘Jonah and the whale.’ A good childhood
tale of adventure, many people see the ending as Nineveh repenting and turning
to God. But chapter four of Jonah has much for us to gain in knowledge concerning
God’s command in advancing His Kingdom. Just as Israel was specially made to
reveal God to the world in Genesis
12:1-3; so the New Testament Church has been commissioned, ‘… to go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature.’ (Mark 16:15)
God desires to show
His mercy and offer forgiveness to all peoples of the earth, no matter how
revolting their lifestyle. Bear in mind that God’s forgiveness of Nineveh was
an insult to Jonah. The Kingdom of Assyria and its evil capital city was a
constant threat to Israel’s existence, a society where unspeakable wickedness
abounded. God’s mercy on a people that Jonah was raised to hate was more than
this Prophet of Jehovah could tolerate. So after Jonah finally went to Nineveh
and preached the message the Lord told him to speak, ‘…the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast and put on
sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them …’ (Jonah 3:5), ‘…then God
saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from
the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.’
(Jonah 3:10) Then Jonah became angry and went out of the city to sit and
watch what would become of these noncovenant
enemies of Israel. Jonah’s heart was still unchanged as he sat in the hot
sun, when God in His mercies, ‘… prepared
a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to
deliver him from his misery.’ (Jonah 4:6) As soon as the plant died and
Jonah no longer had shade for his own head, his misplaced theology became
painfully obvious. God challenged him to consider the value of the Ninevites as
more important than the death of this gourd that brought him the comfort of
shade. Finding it hard to separate his loyalty to his misguided religion from
his knowledge of the character of God, Jonah was about to learn a lesson
concerning how God values everyone in His creation. When Jonah refused to
accept God’s divine work, the Holy Spirit showed him the similarity between his
grief for a plant and God’s concern for the population of Nineveh.
For us to have an
effective illustration of Christ’s love in today’s world, there has to be a
structure of obedience in prayer and bible study and a passion for God to move
us beyond ourselves into His power. The enemy gets so fearful when we continue
to yield to the Holy Spirit at work in us and produce good fruit with our heart
loving as Jesus loves and touching lives for His Kingdom. Moving beyond
ourselves and our own error-prone mind set, we ‘… let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.’ (Philippians
2:3)
God Almighty has a
tender regard for little children and one way to view the great city of Nineveh
in history is to consider its population of infants two and under. In some
commentaries it is suggested that there were as many as 120,000 such in Nineveh
that had not come to an understanding of hatred and guilt of sin, and yet, if
the city had been overthrown, all these would have been involved in the common
calamity of judgment. So these children were spared and given the opportunity
to be raised in homes having a strong foundation of the One true God. There is
one Lord over all that is rich in mercy to all that call upon Him, ‘… but in every nation…’ (In Nineveh as
well as in Israel) ‘… whoever fears Him
and works righteousness is accepted by Him,’ (Acts 10:35)
A very interesting
point to remember here is that Nineveh is modern day Mosul, Iraq, and that the
ground still holds the seed planted by the Word of God through Jonah His
prophet. God in His mercy will have a harvest of souls even today if we the
church will see those unlikable to us through His eyes of love within us ‘… as the juice of the grape is found in
the cluster and one says, do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it, so
will I do for My servants sake, that I may not destroy them all.’ (Isaiah 65:8)
Oh Father God ... move through areas of our lives that are
beyond us and may Your convicting presence come this day to those we cannot
understand but are hurting and searching for that place within their hearts
where only You can fit. Move us to that place beyond ourselves, to be hands
touching the Number 13’s of our world. Bring healing to bodies, minds, and
souls of these precious people that need Your light in the darkness of this
nation ... may Your glory be seen this day and we will bring You honor and
advance Your Kingdom, Lord ... In the Mighty Name of Jesus … amen.
