Seedshakers

Today on the way back from our evangelism trip from Virginia Beach, my wife and I stopped in to a restaurant for some lunch. As we were finishing up an older man who looked well dressed in a worn suit approached through the patio entrance and asked if someone there could give him some money to purchase a couple sub sandwiches for him and his wife to eat tonight because they didn't have any money until the first of the month. I was hesitant and he asked again, I was waiting to hear what another table adjacent from us would respond. They kept silent. I reached into my pocket and pulled out an American Hero gospel tract and said to Alston, here you go it's a gospel tract. He looked at it and inserted it into his pocket. I told him that I didn't have any cash to give him but I would by him some food. Go on in and look at the menu and get whatever you want, I said. His look was one of gratitude. A few minutes later I went in and checked on him. I walked over to where he was at the counter and paid for his food and chit chatted with the man for a few minutes. The lady at the register looked shocked that I was purchasing the food for the man. And then I walked away.

Back in the car, we continued our journey home and discussed briefly why I felt the Spirit's leading to purchase this man's food and did not feel led to give money to another guy we saw near Elizabeth City who was holding up a sign. Alston, asked for food and I had the resources to help him out. The man outside a Walmart near Elizabeth City was not asking for food or money but for work. If I lived in the area and had a business I would have given him some tasks to do for some money. 

I thought about how it would have looked to, if the table across from us were unbelievers and I had only given Alston a gospel tract, and he then asked the unbelievers again and they bought him some food. Would my faith be without works? Would the unbelievers who saw and heard me give him a gospel tract think that my faith in Jesus was just words and no deeds?

I then was reminded about an incident that took place a week and a half or so ago. On the way home from work I saw an older, rough, looking man pushing his moped down the road. I passed by and God prompted my heart to turn around and offer to put his moped in the back of my truck and give him a lift to where he was going. I turned around and pulled up next to him and asked if he wanted a ride. The man never acknowledged me and just kept heading to his destination. I said to myself, okay Jesus, I did what you asked me to do and headed on home.

It dawned on me what God was trying to show me through these divine appointments. It's not about helping people, it's about the glory of Jesus. Jesus deserves to receive the reward of his suffering. Jesus wants me to be obedient to the Spirits leading, not for the purpose of helping people, but for the purpose of Glorifying the name of Jesus. It's true that people are helped when Christians follow the Spirit, but helping people for the sake of helping people is not the ideal behind being a follower of Christ. It's all about Jesus!

Paris Reidhead's sermon titled Ten Shekels and a Shirt resonates in my mind [1]. He went to Africa to preach to the heathen in hopes that they would not suffer in hell after suffering so much in this life. When he got there, he discovered "they weren't poor, ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods looking for someone to tell them how to go to heaven. That they were MONSTERS OF INIQUITY!!! THEY WERE LIVING IN UTTER AND TOTAL DEFIANCE OF FAR MORE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THEN I EVER DREAMED THEY HAD! " 

Reidhead was angry at God and struggled with why God had sent him there and it was then that God spoke to his heart, "I didn't send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen, I sent you to Africa for My sake. They deserved Hell! But I LOVE THEM!!! AND I ENDURED THE AGONIES OF HELL FOR THEM!!! I DIDN'T SEND YOU OUT THERE FOR THEM!!! I SENT YOU OUT THERE FOR ME! DO I NOT DESERVE THE REWARD OF MY SUFFERING? DON'T I DESERVE THOSE FOR WHOM I DIED?"

I encourage you to listen or read the Ten Shekels and a Shirt sermon. It is a good reminder that we should avoid pragmatic humanism in our evangelism. We should be faithful to the gospel and serve Jesus despite how ineffective our outreach seems to be. Remember, it's about God's glory, not about how many people repent and put their faith in Christ.  

[1] http://www.parisreidheadbibleteachingministries.org/tenshekels.shtml