MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(Portions of this message were inspired by an excellent sermon contributed by Richard
Burdette to Sermon Central)
GO & TELL!
Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20’ John 14:1-7; Psalm 74:20; Mark 8:38; Acts 4:19-20
WE WILL TELL YOUR GOD ON YOU
Poem by Amy Carson Phillips
(Adapted by Melvin Newland)
“Night is falling on the Congo,
O’er the jungles far & near.
Soon the blackness will be brooding-
He who walks will walk in fear.
Yet no black man seeks his hut,
All are waiting on the shore,
Gazing, peering through the twilight,
Gazing, peering – something more!
Longing, ah, with what wild longing,
Longing never known before!
For the drums have beat the message,
“Comes again the river spirit,
A great ship – white man aboard!”
And the black men do not fear it,
For the word has passed along;
“White man’s message, hear it, hear it!”
List, there’s the sound of its horn!
Slowly the great ship draws near,
Heeds the signal from the land
Then a voice from white to black man,
“What is it, my brother, my friend?”
And the aged chieftain answers,
Mighty chieftain of the band.
“Come & tell the story, white man.
Tell the story that you know,
That you’ve told the other black men
In the villages below.
Of a Christ who came to save us,
Of a Christ who’ll ease our woe!”
Troubled then the tired white man
Who is going home to rest,
To America, his homeland,
To America, the blest.
As he speaks his heart is breaking,
Faint is he & sore distressed.
“Black chief, giant of the village,
I am coming back again.
But now I hasten to my homeland
Time permits me not, my friend.
But a year from now you’ll see me.
I will tell the story then!”
The black chief slowly turned away –
Bent his head & sunk’ his chest,
Limp & swaying all his frame –
Then resolve did fill his breast!
“I will tell your God on you,
White man, who so loveth rest!
I will tell your God on you!
White man, tell me! Let me learn!
See, my race is almost done.
I will die with set of sun!”
But the white man dropped his head,
Slowly, sadly, turned & fled.
Down the river his great ship sped.
In the heathen village there,
Darkness deepened to despair.
Fallen stark & dead the chief.
Stricken every soul with grief.
And the horrors of the night
Stalked & brooded till the light.
But the black men took a vow.
Will you hear it, white men, now?
“We will tell your God on you!
Tell him on your brothers, too!
Surely as your God is true,
We will tell your God on you!”
White men, do your hear that cry?
May it prod you till you die.
May it, oh, become the cry
That will quicken every breast
That hath known our God on high!
May it never be suppressed!
May it prod & prick you through
Till you rise & duty do!
“We will tell your God on you.
We will tell your God on you!”
Several times during the past year you may have heard Elmer Rader or someone else say something like, “That led me down a rabbit trail.” Do you know what the words “rabbit trail” mean when used that way? It means to start out with one thought which leads you to another thought which leads you to another thought, which leads you to another thought, & so on. And that is exactly what I did during the past two weeks in preparing this sermon.
As most of you now know, last Sunday was my wife Ethel’s birthday. But being the kind of person she is, she made me promise that I wouldn’t say anything about it during last Sunday’s services. She just didn’t want me to say or do anything that would call attention to her.
Now, Ethel, that was last Sunday, & I kept my promise. But today I’m mentioning it because it is part of the rabbit trail my mind was going through.
My rabbit trail started out with the poem you just heard: “We will tell your God on you!” From that I thought about my promise to Ethel that I would not mention her birthday at church last Sunday. So I didn’t. But I did spend time last week thinking about our life together these many years. They have been good years, sometimes difficult, but good years together overall.
I also thought about the 3 times I feared that our life together might be ending. And 2 of those times involved Air Evac helicopters & their personnel.
Continuing on with my rabbit trail caused me to think of the old TV program MASH which portrayed a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital staffed with doctors & nurses almost on the front lines. And sometimes the enemy was so close that doctors & nurses risked their lives to continue caring for their patients while shells were exploding around them.
And what about the pilot who had to drop his helicopter into landing zones that were barely big enough, & usually under fire so he could get wounded soldiers back to the MASH unit...bloody, shot up kids strapped to the sides of his helicopter...it was his mission to rescue them.
Here’s my question. What if those Doctors & Nurses decided they wouldn’t go out to a danger zone...what if they decided that it would be safer & more comfortable to remain in their own cleaner, more sterile hospitals?
And what if hundreds of helicopter pilots had said, “I’m not flyin’ into the danger zone! Are you crazy? Why would I risk my safety - my own life to rescue wounded soldiers? If they can get to the hospital on their own, good! But don’t ask me to do that.”
What happens to the Church of Jesus Christ when it stops operating like a MASH unit in the field & becomes more like a country club where doctor’s play golf? What happens to individual Christians who stay in their church pews & never consider it their mission to rescue wounded people?
The answer is that wounded people often die. Jesus’ Great Com-mission really is the mission for His Church. It’s given authoritatively from our Supreme Commander. And it’s to be the driving force for our existence.
“Go & make disciples of all people.” How do I know this is the same mission as “Go rescue wounded people?” I know because the One who gave us this order modeled our mission before He gave it to us. Luke 19:10 says, “Jesus, the Son of Man came to seek & save the lost.”
So I guess it’s urgently important that those who claim to be His disciples answer a vital question...”Do we believe that most non-Christians are living in superstition & fear?”
I. MOST NON-CHRISTIANS ARE LIVING IN SUPERSTITION & FEAR
Do we really believe that most non-Christians are lost? Psalm 74:20 says “The dark places of the earth (where the love of God is not known) are full of the habitations of cruelty.” (selfishness, hatred, greed, strife, & violence.) Do they need a Savior, too? YES!!
You see, we live in a world that continually stresses, “Don’t claim your way is the only way. Don’t impose your beliefs on those who disagree.” The world hates Christianity. And much of the world hates those who are seeking to rescue spiritually wounded people. Why?
Jesus said, to His disciples, “I’m going back to my Father to prepare a way for you to get there as well. There is plenty of room for all of you there. If this isn’t the truth I’d have told you. You can’t go there now, but I’ll come back for you so I can bring you there myself, & we can be together. You know the way to get there!” (John 14:1-6)
But Thomas, one of those disciples had his doubts. “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus’ response leaves no doubt about how Thomas & every person in the world gets there. “Jesus told Him, I am the Way, I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
That’s the question I ask you today. Do we really believe Jesus? That He is the only way to heaven, the only way of salvation? Because that’s a very small gate & a really narrow road!
And if we who claim to be disciples aren’t urgently seeking & rescuing people morally wounded in our battlefield earth...Why not? BECAUSE:
II. WE’VE ALLOWED EXCUSES TO SMOTHER OUR CONVICTION
ILL. Thom Rainer in his book “I Will” lists 5 excuses people may offer:
1. “That is not my spiritual gift.” Really? You think you are not spiritually gifted in evangelism, so you decide you can leave that responsibility to others. Think about the logical inconsistency of that objection.
Would you say that those who do not have the gift of mercy should never show mercy? Of course not. Do you think a person who does not have the gift of giving should never give? Everyone is called to be obedient to the Great Commission - Including me & you.
2. “That is what we pay our preachers to do.” One preacher said, “I used to think this objection was more of an attitude than a real issue. But when I started doing church consultations, I heard it several times. I challenged one church member to show me in Scripture where evangelism was limited to the preacher. He responded: ‘That’s common sense. Everyone knows that’s why you pay a preacher.”
3. “I don’t have time.” If we don’t have time to share the love of Christ, it’s really not a priority in our lives. It’s a simple question: “Is there anything more important than someone having a relationship with Jesus as Lord & Savior?” If nothing is more important, how can we not have time to do it?
4. “I don’t want to impose my beliefs on others.” This one is really bothersome. Can you imagine the apostle Paul standing before a crowd saying, “I really have good news for you, but I don’t want to impose my beliefs on you. So i’ll just keep my beliefs to myself. After all, religion is really a private matter”? Of course not! The gospel is to be shared boldly & joyfully.
5. “I am an introvert.” Richard Burdette wrote, “Let me confess something to you. I used to get really upset with myself when I went some-where with an extroverted Christian friend & listened to him share his faith. He could develop a conversation naturally & before I knew it, he was saying something about Jesus.
“But I’m an introvert, & my personality did not lend itself naturally to that type of evangelism. So I started praying for other opportunities to share the gospel. It has been incredible to see how God opens doors for me when I simply ask him for opportunities. And those opportunities fit my introverted personality. Being an introvert is not a valid excuse.”
Here’s the truth...we do what we want to do or what’s really important to us... period.
So how do we reach a place where we say, “I Will” go? How do we become real disciples of Jesus who are obedient to His commission?
III. WE MOVE FROM THEORY TO ACTION
If we really believe that Christ is the only way of salvation, & that the only way someone can come to Him is by accepting the gospel about Jesus, then we’d better stop practicing Christianity as a theory & put it into action.
Jesus said this very, very plainly, “If anyone is ashamed of me & my words in this adulterous & sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)
ILL Let me give you an example...What if I refused to wear my wedding ring? What if I avoided telling people I was married? What if I pretended to be single when I was with other people? Especially when I was around other women.
Would you believe that I loved my wife...was proud to share life with her? Or would it seem that I wanted the security of having a wife...but had no real commitment to her & was ashamed of her?
How many people have that same relationship with Jesus? “I want the security of heaven, but I don’t want to tell anyone about my bridegroom & I want to be able to have an adulterous relationship with the world whenever I want.”
2,000 years ago Peter & John were in prison. Their crime, telling people about Jesus. So they are escorted before their judges, the Jewish Sanhedrin. After hearing their defense the Sanhedrin decides to let them go on one condition, “Just keep your mouths shut about Jesus.”
What did these 2 rebels say to that? “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide, for we are unable to stop speaking about what we’ve seen & heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)
They couldn’t stop speaking about Jesus. But far too many today won’t even start speaking about Him! So how do we move from theory to action?
1. PRAY FOR OPPORTUNITIES
It’s simple, either we believe God answers prayers, or we don’t. If we don’t have opportunities it’s because we don’t ask - or we’re too busy with our own pursuits to see them. It is absolutely how God will respond if you ask Him.
2. INVITE PEOPLE TO CHURCH
It’s simple, huh? When we invite someone to Church they have an opportunity to hear God speak to them. Do we believe God miraculously sees the hearts of people & still calls & still transforms? I do...do you?
ILL Thom Rainer’s research group did a study that showed 8 out 10 people who do not attend Church would come if they were invited by a friend. Amazing! If you invite them, they will come.
3. INTENTIONALLY LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES
1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
You have to settle the issue of Jesus’ Lordship first, but if you have, then faith overcomes fear. Life has a reason for living...and there are opportunities when lost people ask...What’s up with you? Why are you hopeful, even when it’s difficult. And when we are spiritually alert to such opportunities...we see them & speak hope.
Finally:
4. BE PREPARED TO SPEAK WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY COMES
Often in scripture it’s a testimony about how God called you, saved you... & is still working to transform you. How the love of Christ makes all the difference...write it down...something powerful happens when you prayerfully prepare & take the time to honor God with your story.
Ask other mature believers to help you be prepared. Ask questions in your small group, share the opportunities & have others be praying for you! The opportunities are for you to have Holy Spirit led words. Yes, you’ll be afraid, yes it’s outside of your comfort zone...but that’s where faith is & “it’s impossible to please God without faith.” (Hebrews 11:6)
It’s time isn’t it? Satan loves it when we remain silent. It’s time for His people, His redeemed...to be unashamed of our redeemer...to say... “Put me in the rescue chopper Lord & I'll take the risk to save others."
Let’s Pray
INVITATION HYMN
