Thursday, June 26, 2008
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If you're going to be a great coach in sports, you generally need to be a great motivator. The team rises to the level of the coach's motivation. Now, when your team is an entire nation that is under heavy attack, the coach had better be one incredible motivator. The nation was Great Britain. The time was the beginning of WWII, when the team seemed like it was losing badly and the coach was the Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He may have been the most inspiring leader of the 20th Century as he motivated his nation to make tremendous sacrifices and win a seemingly unwinnable victory. In those early days of the war, he desperately needed the cooperation of the leaders of Britain's coal industry. Their extra sacrificial efforts would be critical to keeping the war effort going. The way he did it was masterful. Churchill asked those industry and union leaders to picture the parade at the end of the war. Look at the proud British sailors who kept the sea lanes open, and the soldiers who valiantly fought the land war, and the airmen who heroically won the battle in the skies, followed by the coal miners of Britain whose work made those victories possible. Churchill said, "They will not be in military uniform, but they will have won a place in the victory parade."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Place in the Victory Parade."
The ultimate war, the one with the most at stake, is still raging. It's the war between the forces of Christ and the forces of darkness for the lives of the people Christ died for. The battle has never been more intense, especially as it approaches its climactic stages. Here's the question: "Will there be a place for you in the great victory parade of King Jesus?"
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Samuel 30. David has just won a mighty victory. He has left behind 200 men who are just too exhausted to go to that battle, so he has assigned them to guard the supplies. Some of those who had just fought the battle don't think that those 200 should share in the spoils of the victory. The Bible says, "The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike."
There's an exciting Biblical principle here. God considers those who fight the battle and those who support them as equal contributors and equal shareholders in the victory. In Philippians 4, Paul urged those believers to support his ministry so "my fruit will be credited to your account." In the accounting of God, every person Paul reached for Christ, his supporters reached for Christ. Can't you just imagine getting to heaven and God showing you your account, and you're asking, "But, Lord, where did all these names come from? I don't know these people." I can imagine the Lord saying, "They were reached by such and such a ministry or through your church and you helped. You reached these people, too. Would you like to meet them now?"
You may feel like your part in the Lord's work is insignificant. You say, "All I do is volunteer some time, I just drive, I just pray regularly, I give some money, I just cook, all I do is just work behind the scenes." Listen to God's words: "The share of the man who stayed with the supplies (who worked in that unglamorous, no glory role) is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." Now you may feel your work is insignificant, but Jesus doesn't. He promises an eternal reward even for a cup of cold water given in His name!
So don't minimize the eternal value of the work you do for Jesus, of your part in the greatest battle of all, the battle for people's never dying souls. You may not have worn the uniform of a soldier, but I believe there is going to be a place of honor for you in the parade. For anyone who contributed to the war. I hope to see you in King Jesus' Victory Parade.