I preached this message to the residents at a 55+ community. I hope it also encourages you.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but
God was causing the growth. So then neither
the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the
growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one;
but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. (1
Corinthians 3:6-8)
To this day, I only know his last name. Funk.
First Class Radioman Funk. In recent years I’ve tried unsuccessfully to find
him through several internet groups. He was one of my instructors in the Navy
Radioman school I attended in San Diego at the beginning of my enlistment in
1972.
I was only 22, but I thought I was smarter than
most people three times my age. Arrogant was my middle name.
In those days I swung like a pendulum between
atheism and agnosticism – mostly atheism.
I thought I was too intelligent to believe such nonsense as the
existence of God. And as for what I knew of Jesus, I was born and raised
Jewish, so I knew virtually nothing about Him, except I was sure He was the
Catholic God, and Jews didn’t need to know much about anything Catholic.
Radioman Funk was only a few years older than
I, so we developed a sort of friendship. When we weren’t talking about the
classes he was teaching, he often turned our discussion to religion. He was
waiting for the end of his current enlistment so he could begin seminary
training. He planned to be a Presbyterian minister.
Presbyterian. Catholic. They were all the same
to me. But one day, he told me of a book he’d been reading. Much of the content
covered the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. It was titled, The
Late Great Planet Earth, written by Hal Lindsey.
I filed the title into the back of my mind, and
a few more weeks later I graduated and went on to my next duty station. I
arrived at the Naval Communication Station in Yokosuka, Japan on December 7,
1972.
One evening, after I’d checked into the
barracks and my new job, I met Jerry. His room was across the hall from mine.
As we talked, I noticed a book on his shelf: The Late Great Planet Earth. I
asked if I could borrow it.
What I read astounded me. Those of you who have
heard my story know that as I read the first several chapters devoted to the
Old Testament prophecies of the promised Jewish Messiah, I could hardly believe
what I was reading. What little I knew of Jesus, I DID know the stories of His
virgin birth, His crucifixion and His resurrection.
And there it was. All of it. In MY Jewish
Bible.
A few days later I spoke to the Jewish chaplain
on the naval base. He couldn’t answer my questions about the prophecies to my
satisfaction. Then I met with Curt Brannan, the Protestant chaplain. He
answered them all.
But what really intrigued me was his knowledge
not only of the entire Bible – old and new testaments, but he also had a
workable familiarity with famous philosophers of the past, such as Soren
Kierkegaard, Georg Hegel and Immanuel Kant – names of men I’d only heard
about in college – but this chaplain talked as if he knew them personally. I
thought to myself, clearly, this guy is no fool. And so, when he spoke to me
about Jesus, the Bible, and Bible prophecy – he held my attention. And, well,
here I am nearly 50 years later.
Radioman First Class
Funk planted the seed of faith in my heart. Hal Lindsey watered it. Chaplain
Brannan added yet more water, followed by the nurturing of other great men of
God whom the Holy Spirit brought across my life. Men like Chaplain Billy
Dodson, Pastor Phil Wannemacher, Doctors of Theology Charles Harris and Stanley
Horton, and dozens and dozens of others who watered and nurtured the germinated
and maturing seed.
Eighteen years after
Radioman Funk planted the first seed in my heart and God caused it to grow, I was
in the deserts of Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. I was deployed to that war
zone with another 50 or so navy and marine corps personnel. It was there I became
friends with a general surgeon, Doctor Phil Fitzpatrick. During the several
months we were together, we talked a lot about faith, God, and Christ. Before
too long, I led him to make a commitment of himself to Jesus as his Lord and
Savior.
Afterward, he told me
one of his good friends had been speaking to him about Jesus for years – but
Phil was never interested in giving his friend much of an audience. But when he
and I started talking in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert, our
conversations reminded him of the talks he and his friend used to have.
Phil’s friend planted
the gospel seed. I came along and watered it. And God brought it to fruition.
And so, what are you planting? What am I planting?
One of my favorite passages in the gospels is of the poor widow
who shuffled up to the Temple treasury to deposit what amounted to a few
pennies. You probably remember the story yourself from Mark’s gospel: “And He sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the
people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting
in large sums. A
poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him,
He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow
put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of
their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had
to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44)
That impoverished widow had absolutely no idea that God would use
her simple act of sacrificial faith as an example for as long as this earth
continues – He would use her act as an example of fruitfulness for the kingdom.
How was her act fruitful for the Kingdom? We’re still reading
about it 2000 years later, aren’t we?
And doesn’t her gift give us a glimpse into the mind of God who is more
interested in our heart than in our wallet?
And isn’t her story also a picture of what Peter tells us in his
second epistle:
“[A]pplying all diligence, in your faith supply
moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge,
self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance,
godliness, and in
your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are
yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the
true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8)?
In other words, as we mature in our love and
knowledge of our Savior, God assures us that we cannot be anything else BUT
fruitful for Him.
Charles Stanley, in his booklet, We Shall Be
Like Him, writes this (page 20): Do you know what God has called you to do?
There’s much emphasis today on accomplishing something great for the Lord, and
that can lead some of us to think that our ordinary life doesn’t amount to
much. However, no everyone is called to preach to thousands or serve in distant
lands. Being a mother, a student, or a hard-working employee is a tremendous
calling, if that’s the task God has given you.
I will add to that by saying being a kind,
thoughtful, humble, respectful, Christ-like resident here at Ashwood is ALSO a
tremendous calling – because HERE is where the Lord has brought you.
I will never
forget Bill Santee. God used him to plant another seen in my life nine years
ago when Nancy and I lived in Washington State. We’d
met a few weeks earlier at a morning Bible study led by the pastor of one of
the churches in the area. One day as he and I chatted over coffee, our discussion
turned toward the Lord. As we finished our drinks and donuts and got up to
leave, I mentioned how useless I sometimes felt because I thought what I was
doing for Christ was only a small thing, compared to what others were doing.
When we stepped outside and headed for our
cars, Bill stopped me. I’ll never forget what he said. He pointed his finger at
my chest and said: “Don’t ever call what God has given you to do a small
thing.”
I knew immediately that the Holy Spirit Himself
had rebuked me. And I needed that rebuke.
If you and I want to
be fruitful for Christ – in big things or in small things – then it is essential that we understand why
the Lord told us of that poor widow. It is essential that we take to heart what
Peter tells us in his epistle about maturing in our faith. And it is essential
that we live what the Lord tells us in John 15: “Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so
neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he
who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can
do nothing.”
Listen.
It’s all about Jesus’ supernatural power to take what is natural and of the
flesh and use whatever we give Him for His glory. I
mean, we’re talking about God here. So, stop thinking such foolishness
that God is done with you, that He has put you out to pasture, that He can no longer
use you to plant seeds and water seeds. Even in your old age and in your infirmities and
in your loneliness – keep giving yourself to God and He absolutely and most
assuredly will use you for His Kingdom.
St.
Teresa of Avila recognized this critical point: Christ has no body but yours; No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world. Yours are the
feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which He blesses
all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you
are His body. Christ has no body now but yours.
The 25th chapter of Matthew’s gospel should help
put to rest such foolish ideas about our so-called uselessness to God. “Then
the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For
I was hungry, and you gave Me something
to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something
to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked,
and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you
came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord,
when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and
clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and
come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them,
‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew
25:34-40)
Those
standing before the Lord at the judgment will be surprised to learn they’d been
fruitful for Christ. All they’d done was fed the hungry, clothed the naked,
visited the sick, helped the helpless, spoken kindly to the depressed, cut the
food of those who can’t cut it themselves, retrieved the wheelchair or walker
for those who needed help getting up from the dining room table, read the
scriptures to those who can no longer see well enough to read, prayed with and
for those who feel all alone . . . simple things.
As
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do
small things with great love.”
Do
we really think God pays no attention to what we do for others?
I
started this message quoting from 1 Corinthians chapter three as Paul writes: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
So then neither the one who plants
nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are
one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”
I will close it with another word
of encouragement from the Holy Spirit through St. Paul. It’s a word about our
labor for Christ, our planting and watering for Christ, our sacrificial giving
and our moving forward toward ever-increasing maturity in Christ. It’s about
being kind and thoughtful and prayerful and humble because you belong to
Christ:
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is
not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
My brothers and sisters – be encouraged. God is
still using you. He has not shuffled you off to some corner of His Kingdom. These
lyrics by Josh Groban ring true to everyone who knows the supernatural God and
wants to serve Him:
When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary
When troubles come and my heart burdened me
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until you come and sit a while with me
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up, to more than I can be
