Opportunity Awaits
Galatians 6:10
In speaking of the New Year, Columnist Ellen Goodman writes;
We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws, but for potential. 1
Many times we look at our lives in Iraq, in much the same way—looking for flaws.
We are separated from family and friends and all we are able to see is the hurt of being away. We see the living conditions and all we are able to see is the terrible inconvenience of it all. We see the phone banks and all that we see in the line.
Sometimes, we simply look at life here for what it is not.
The gym is not what we had at Fort Campbell. The food is not what Mama used to make. AFN is not like Charter Cable. The shopping is not even the same.
We can look at all these things and look at the flaws, or we can find balance and look at the potential that we have here.
This evening, we are looking at Galatians 6:10 which is found on page 1037 in the red Bible under your seat.
In Galatians 6:10, Paul tells the Galatians to
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. 2 (Gal. 6:10, NKJV)
Paul is putting his closing thoughts on a letter of great importance, so great that he writes in his own hand. The people in these churches are being weighed down by a great controversy. On one hand, there are those who believed that all Christians must obey the Jewish law in order to be saved. On the other hand, there are people, like Paul that believes in the freedom granted through faith in Christ and the salvation is achieved by faith alone.
Near the end of his letter, Paul makes the point, that in our freedom in Christ, we take every opportunity to do good.
We have the potential here at Speicher to do good in many ways. We must continually open our eyes to the opportunities that God provides for us.
Much of our work here in Iraq is outward focused, because that is our mission; “to give the Iraqi people a free and democratic society, free from terrorism.” While we go outside the wire or support those that do, we seem to forget that there are plenty of good things that can be done right here inside the wire.
“Therefore, as we have the opportunity,” we are to do good. We do good because God is good.
In Mark 10:18, Jesus says, “No one is good but one, that is God.” (NKJV, MK 10:18)
The good that we do in this world reflects back on Him and our relationship to him.
One of the things I am anticipating during my Midtour is pizza.
I told my wife, Monica, “On the day you pick me up, I don’t want you to worry about getting a good dinner for me. All that you need to do is order one large, hand tossed, supreme pizza from Pizza Hut.
I love good pizza.
Pizza is interesting. The cook can be very good, skilled and trained in the finest schools, and whether or not the ingredients are good or bad, the cook is still responsible. It is the cooks’ responsibility to choose the right ingredients. It is the cooks’ responsibility to make it good.
We serve a good God. We are the ingredients in this great big pizza called earth. He chooses us to do His work in the world. He chooses the best ingredients for each situation.
He knows our flavor. He knows our texture. He knows what works and what doesn’t. He chose us to do His work.
As the ingredients of the pizza reflect on the master cook, we reflect God, when we do good.
“Therefore, as we have the opportunity,” we are first to do good to all.
Often, when I am in the office studying, I will have a visitor come by who had just come to the chapel to praying about a troubling issue. It could be the lowest of privates or the highest of officers. They are all people. They each have there own problems that life has thrown at them.
The Bible says;
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (NKJV, Mt. 5:16)
We need to be light in a dark world. We, who have the hope and the freedom of Christ, must take every opportunity to be light for those that are around us. Within us, we have a peace that surpasses all understanding, a peace that is so needed in the world today. And you can bring that peace to those around you.
In the world of international diplomacy, one of the most significant tools of peace is the ambassador.
And ambassador communicates with other governments in hopes of creating an understanding atmosphere between the two governments.
The Bible says “we are ambassadors for Christ,” (NKJV, 2 Cor. 5:20)
We represent Christ in everything we do. We are a significant tool for peace in the lives of the many that cross our path everyday.
This can be in the form of being a listening ear, or a voice of encouragement. It can be a helping hand where one is needed or a companion during a down time.
It is good to help hurting people, but there are many people who aren’t hurting who could use a little good in their life—a movie, a DFAC buddy, a PT partner, a friend.
Doing good could mean inviting a friend to worship, or it could simply mean setting the example of worship every day of the week.
We are to do good to all.
We also see “therefore, as we have the opportunity,” we are to do good; “especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Paul is writing to the Galatians about people adding obedience as a requirement for salvation.
This problem hasn’t gone away. We are continually faced with people who add external requirements to salvation. Many times we confuse the law’s requirements with the purpose of the law.
The Law exposes the sin in our life. And all of us are sinners, so law condemns everybody to death. Jesus Christ died on a cross in our place. When we accept this fact by faith and we are made right with Him.
We are then freed from the punishment of the law because of our faith.
Ephesians 2:19 says;
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. (NKJV, Eph. 2:19)
When we receive Christ, we become members of the family of God.
However, we continue to fight the problem of requiring obedience for salvation among our own Christian brothers and sisters.
One reason we have a hard time getting along with other Christians is that we tend to be the hardest on the people that are closest to us.
But, these are also the people that we need the most. These are the people that we can depend on when life gets tough. Does it really matter that they don’t agree with our particular theological slant? I don’t think so. We can be polar opposite on every issue but find common ground at the foot of the cross.
Through that commonality, we can encourage other believers, we can join them in worship, we can study the Bible together, and we can pray for one another.
We are to do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Then we, “therefore, as we have the opportunity,” do good for ourselves.
On Tuesday night, I stay all night at the chapel.
Here at Destiny Chapel, we are open 24 hours a day. We want to provide a place for you to pray at any time of the day or night. We also desire to provide chaplain coverage at any time, day or night.
Tuesday nights, typically is my night. During the night, I take time to visit the people in MWR, or the TOC or in the units who work all night.
Many times, I will see people walking with their flashlights. Some of those flashlights are bright, others are dim.
But the flashlights that are the brightest far away are also the ones that are the brightest up close.
That is how it is with our Christian life as well. My home church pastor, has a phrase that he uses when he talks about missions. He says; “the light that shines the farthest, shines brightest at home.”3
This is to say that the more we do for our ministry right here, gives us more opportunity to do for others. If we are going to do good for all or if we are going to do good for other believers, we must take care of ourselves.
John Maxwell writes:
If you desire for just one person close to you—your spouse, your child, a close friend, or an employee—to change in some way, then become a model of change yourself. 4
This is not some selfish “look out for number one” concept. Actually, it is the opposite of that.
You are only able to help people with what you have.
Obviously, a good illustration for this is financial giving. If you have more money on hand, the more money you can give away.
The truth is in our personal life. The more joy we have; the more faith we have; the more wisdom we have; the more knowledge we have – the more we can give away.
It is our responsibility to do good for ourselves so that we will have more to do good for others. We are to grow in Christ with every ounce of our being so that God can use us for His Glory—for His service.
We first begin with doing good for our soul.
This is accomplished by staying well fed in the scriptures. Begin a time of short Bible reading while you are here. It doesn’t take much time to read a verse or a chapter, but it pays great dividends in the end. This will give you fuel to help others understand who God is and what he means to you.
We need to do good to our minds. I know of several soldiers who are taking online classes, this is a great opportunity to use the time here. I know of others that are actively learning to play an instrument or learning to draw. I try to read much of the time. Find something that interests you and do it; study it; or practice it.
There are many different opportunities to do good for yourself while you are here. It is up to you whether or not you will do something with the time you have.
Six months from now, you are going to look back at what you have accomplished in your personal life. Are you going to look back and wonder if it all was a big waste of time, or are you going to see some measurable good that you did? That choice is up to you. The opportunities are here, the challenge is for you to find them.
The same goes for the good you do for other Christians. The same goes for the good you do for others in general.
Over the next several weeks, we will be talking about the halfway point in the deployment. The halfway point is simply a reminder to keep up the good work, to keep moving forward, and to seek ways to improve during the next six months.
The best way you can make a difference in your attitude, in your work, and in your life is to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
God loves you and has a plan for your life. The sin in our lives separates us from God. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin on the cross and we accept this payment he becomes Lord and Savior.
After the service, I’ll be down the front and you can meet me there and we can talk more about your desire to know him personally. Don’t let another day pass you by without knowing him.
Let us pray.
1.Guideposts, Jan 06
2. All scriptures marked (NKJV); The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
3. Hamlet, Michael. Spartanburg. First Baptist Church of North Spartanburg. 2004.
4. Maxwell, John. Today Matters, 2004.New York: Warner Faith. p28.
