17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Introduction
Late last evening, Pam Chesley, Dr. John Turner, Mack Phipps, and I returned from a very brief yet very meaningful trip to Belize in Central America. I had gone to dedicate two church buildings we built this past year and to help ordain a pastor. Pam went to sing, and Mack went to film a TV documentary of our work in Belize. Dr. Turner went as our Baptist medicine man to take care of us while we were there. We left early Wednesday morning, drove to Houston to catch our flight, and arrived in Belize at about 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon.
We were met at the airport by missionary Otis Brady and by Joe Barentine. Joe is the representative of our church who goes to Belize quite often to supervise the building programs that we have going on there. These men took us to the home of Otis Brady for a quick supper, and then to the Calvary Baptist Church where Pam sang and I preached for the evening worship service on Wednesday.
Early Thursday morning, we traveled to the retreat center that was made possible through your gifts and your work. It is a beautiful little farm that was purchased outside of Belize City, and it has been developed into a camping facility for the whole country of Belize. We looked over the work there because I had not seen it in a number of years. In fact, the last time I saw it, it was all overgrown with brush, jungle, and trees. But now it is fully developed.
We then traveled to some of the Mayan ruins. The Maya Indians were one of the most advanced civilizations ever to live in the Americas. In fact, they flourished for about 700 years around the time of Christ. They were a very progressive and very religious people; they built monuments to the sun god and to the moon god, to the wind god, and to the rain god, and we visited some of those monuments.
We got back to Belize City just in time to eat and rest. We headed for Hattieville (a little village just over an hour drive out of Belize City), where we built a church earlier this year. We were going there to have a dedication service for that building. It is without a doubt the most beautiful building in that little community.
That’s the way it ought to be. The house of God should always be the most attractive and the best-kept building in any community. There is no greater manmade monument to the glory of God than a church, and that little church built in the community of Hattieville is truly a beautiful monument to the glory of God—even in the rain! Actually, it rained the whole time we were in Belize, and in spite of all the rain, the building was packed to capacity for that dedication service. In fact, at times while I was preaching, it rained so hard that the people in the back of the church could hardly hear the sermon because of the pounding rain on the roof.
We learned in that dedication service that a man from the church, along with his wife, had been praying for 13 years for God to provide a church for that community. Otis Brady called that man to the front to lead in a prayer of dedication for the building. As he prayed that night, I got to thinking that 13 years ago, I had never even heard of Belize. I didn’t know where it was, didn’t know how to spell it, and didn’t know anything about it. Thirteen years ago, we had no contact whatsoever with Joe Barentine, who led the building program.
But even back then, God had placed a dream and a hope in the heart of his people. They had begun to pray, and God answered their prayers. We were there that night to witness the faithfulness of God, and to dedicate that beautiful house of worship that people had been praying for all those years.
As soon as that service was over, we left and drove for another hour to arrive in Belmopan, the capital city of Belize, to lead in the worship services of another building that we built there this past year. It also was a very beautiful building in that new capital city of Belize. Early the next day, we visited the countryside to look at some of the churches and prospective building sites for future churches. From there, we went into Guatemala for a while, but then we headed back to Belize City to rest and to get ready for the ordination services that night.
On Friday evening, I had the privilege of preaching the ordination sermon for the first Belizean pastor to be ordained in modern history. He may very well be the first Belizean pastor to ever be ordained in the country. There are a couple of pastors or more who work in the country, but they have never been ordained. For some reason they have neglected that Biblical practice of setting aside a man in an official way for the work of the ministry.
Missionary Otis Brady is committed to developing the national leadership of that country. It is his objective to work himself out of a job so that nine or 10 years from now when he finishes his missionary service, there will no longer be a need for missionaries in that country. The goal is that the nationals will have been trained and will have become such capable leaders that they can take over.
They are now in the beginning of that process. Otis has eight young men who are pastors in training. These men have felt the call of God into the ministry, and when a young man feels called of God into the ministry, Otis immediately gives that young man a Sunday school class to lead. Otis believes that if a young man can build a Sunday school class, he can build a church—but if he can’t build a Sunday school class, he will never be effective in the ministry. So he starts by testing him out in a Sunday school class.
The young men who succeed in leading a Sunday school class move on to the Master Life Discipleship program. This program is an organized, systematic program for becoming an effective disciple of Jesus Christ. We have the same program in our church, and you could be a part of it. It doesn’t mean that you are going to be a pastor or a preacher or a minister—it simply means that you are in training to become an effective disciple for Jesus Christ. We all need to improve in our systematic study and practical application of God’s word so we can become more effective disciples for Christ.
Otis enrolls the young men in the program, puts them on a preaching rotation plan, and sends them out to the nearby villages and to the churches in the community to preach about once a month. If the young men continue to grow, if they continue to be faithful, and if they continue to prove to be effective, he allows them to become the associate pastor of a church. After a reasonable period of time, he will hopefully ordain the rest of these young men, and they will become the pastors and leaders of churches throughout Belize. Soon the whole country will be filled with national leaders who are able to effectively carry on the work of God in that place.
It was a delightful experience. I honestly didn’t want to go, but I felt that I ought to go. Since I have returned, I am convinced that it was God’s plan and will for us to be there and to be encouraged to renew our commitment to Belize. Among the good things that happened, I had an opportunity to see Joe Barentine in action and that was a delight. Joe represents our church in making contracts for the buildings, in helping to decide where they are going to be put, and in supervising the construction of those buildings. Joe is the kind of man who knows everybody. He knew all of the officials in the airport. He knew all of the taxi drivers. He knew the merchants. He knew the pastors and the missionaries. Joe reminds me of the man who boasted that he knew everybody important in the world. He knew Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Tom Landry—he basically knew all of the important people in the world.
One day Joe and a friend were in Rome, and they were out in the St. Peter’s Square. The pope was up in the balcony and he was blessing all of the people. Joe said to his friend, “You know, I even know the pope. He is a personal friend of mine.” And the friend replied, “I don’t believe that. You may know all of the other people but there is no way you know the pope.” Joe said, “Well, you stay here a minute and I will show you.”
Joe weaved his way through the crowd and disappeared. In a moment, he came out of the door and out on the balcony where the pope was. A broad smile came across the face of the pope and he reached out and he threw his arms around him and began to hug him.
Joe’s friend was still not sure because he wasn’t positive that it was the pope up there. He leaned over to an Italian and asked him, “Do you know who that man is there on the balcony?” The man replied, “Well, I don’t know who the man is in the robe and the little red hat, but I do know the man he is hugging—that’s Joe Barentine.”
More than anyone else, Joe is responsible for the building programs that have gone on in Belize. When we bought that little farm, it was overgrown by jungle and Joe cleared the land. Joe built the tabernacle; Joe built the dormitory; Joe put a fence around it; Joe built the caretaker’s cottage; Joe contracted with contractors to build those buildings. He drew plans and approved everything.
As I left the airport yesterday morning and said goodbye to Joe and the missionaries, I remembered again how Joe got involved in missions in Belize. It started about five years ago when, because of some unusual circumstances (I wish I had time to tell you about them), Joe started coming to our church. For a long time, I had dreamed of having a retreat center on Lake Tyler. It would have a lodge, dormitory, some cabins, and a motel unit. Yes, I had a dream and a little bit of money—but not nearly enough money to get the job done.
About that time, Joe retired from being a developer and a building contractor. He needed a challenge, and I needed somebody to build that retreat center.
So I took him out to lunch one day and said, “Joe, this is how much money I’ve got and this is what I want to do, and I want you to build that retreat center free of charge.” And he thought about it for a while and said, “Okay, I’ll do it.” He gave our church over a full year of his life.
He graded off the land, poured the foundation, and welded the steel. He did virtually everything that one man could do to build that retreat center. He contracted parts of it out here and there and saved us an enormous amount of money. There is no way we could have built that retreat center without Joe Barentine or somebody like him.
About the time he finished the retreat center, we made a commitment to evangelize Belize within the next five years. We said, “We are ready to build up to 20 church buildings; we are going to try to put a Bible in the hands of every person in the country; we are going to help to train their pastors; we are going to do medical work in the jungle and in the villages; we are going to build and teach in Bible schools; we are going to have revival meetings. We are going to do everything we can to make every person in that country acquainted with Jesus Christ in the next five years.”
I knew that we were going to need somebody to build buildings in Belize. I asked Joe if he would consider undertaking that project. He was less than enthusiastic about it. I said to him, “I want you to go with Charles Moore to visit the country.” Charles had taken some responsibility for looking into the building situation. I asked Joe to go just to observe and to keep an eye on Charles. “Go and visit the country. That’s all I want you to do.”
He returned, and the next day he walked into my office and he sat down and looked me square in the eye and said, “I hate you.” I asked, “What do you mean?” He said, “You knew what would happen when I got down there. When I stepped on Belizean soil I felt more at home there than I have ever felt in any place in my life, and I am ready to do the work. By all rights, I should not be here. On many occasions God has spared my life.”
Joe had left home when he was 15; had a rough and rugged early life. During the early days of World War II when he was just a teenager he tried to join the Seals, but in order to get on the ship he had to have his birth certificate. He wired home for his birth certificate and the ship was going to sail in a couple of days and he waited anxiously for his birth certificate to get there and to his knowledge, it never arrived. The ship sailed without him. He learned later that his birth certificate had arrived but it had been misplaced. Consequently, he did not get on the ship. That ship was diverted to Wake Island and everyone on it lost their life. He—had it not been for the shuffling and misplacing of papers—would have been there. But he said, “God spared my life for a purpose.”
Later on, he was piloting a plane that was to land in Hurley, New Mexico, outside of Silver City. There was a power line across the end of the runway and he didn’t see it. He came in for a landing and the back wheel of the plane clipped that power line with such a thud, it almost stalled the plane. It finally broke the power line and he was able to land safely. He said if he had been one foot lower, the two front wheels of the plane would have hit the wire; the plane would have flipped and he would have been killed for sure. He said, “I have never known why my life was spared until I went to Belize. God wants me to build those buildings, and I give to you the next five years of my life.”
That was the first of more than 13 trips that Joe has made to Belize. The buildings we have there are there largely because of his efforts and his commitment.
My wish for every one of you is that you would realize that you are not here by accident; there is a purpose, there is a plan; there is a design for your life as there is for Joe’s and for mine. Part of the plan, purpose, and design is that all of us should be engaged somehow in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with everybody everywhere. That means starting at the tip of your toes; that means sharing in your neighborhood and in your business; it means sharing in your office and in your community the story of Jesus Christ. Share what he has done in you, what he has done for you, and what he can do for them. Then expand that witness until it encompasses the whole earth.
I wish we could all live with such a sense of conviction that we believe we are here for a purpose, that we are people with a mission, and that we are here to minister to a world that’s in a mess. The whole thrust of the New Testament is that God has a ministry for every believer. Every Christian—including you—is to be involved in that ministry. There are some analogies that are found throughout the word of God that give emphasis to this responsibility to witness, to evangelize.
For example, the Bible says that we are to be fishers of men and it suggests that God wants us, like fishermen, to draw fish into the boat with the use of a net. God wants us to draw men unto him. We are fishermen and we are to draw people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible uses the analogy of a farmer to set forth the Christian responsibility— that we are laborers to gather in a harvest for God. The Bible uses the analogy of an ambassador when it says, “We are ambassadors for Christ. We are his representatives to the world, to speak his message to a lost and dying world.” I wish we could see ourselves as people on a mission to a messed-up world, and as people who have a responsibility to minister in the name of Jesus Christ. I wish we could know that we are to be fishermen, farmers, and ambassadors for Jesus Christ.
If you are taking notes on the sermon as I encourage you to do, I want to group our thinking around these three ideas:
Christians are like fishermen to draw men to Jesus Christ. That’s the first truth. Secondly, we are like farmers to gather men into the kingdom of God. Thirdly, we are like ambassadors who represent Jesus Christ in this lost world.
If we could see ourselves as fishermen, farmers, and ambassadors for Jesus Christ, it would add new meaning in our lives. Some of the dullness, the drabness, and the meaninglessness we experience in our lives would suddenly disappear, and a new zest—a new purpose and meaning—would come to us as we realize that we are engaged in an activity that has eternal significance. Telling people about Jesus Christ and helping them to become followers of the Savior will change not only their lives, but ours as well.
1. Like fishermen, we are to draw people to Christ.
The Bible begins by saying that we are like fishermen to draw men to Jesus Christ. In Matthew 4, Jesus walked one day by the Sea of Galilee and he saw Peter, Andrew, James, and John washing their nets; they were fishermen by profession. Jesus said to them, “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Up until that time they had been fishers of fish, but Jesus was going to change their vocation. It was as if Jesus was saying, “From now on, you are going to catch men. Just like you throw out a net and draw fish in, you are to draw men unto me.” As surely as those men had once fished for fish, they now were called to fish for men, women, boys, and girls in the kingdom of God.
I have learned through the years that those who are successful in fishing usually love fish. More than that, they know a great deal about them. They know the habits of fish; they know something about the kind of equipment they need to use; they know something about the right kind of bait; they know something about the water that they are fishing in. They have a vast knowledge and they work hard at what they are doing.
When we talk about fishing, we usually think of some casual sport or hobby. But these professional fishermen to whom Jesus was speaking thought about it as serious labor. Their whole livelihood depended upon knowing what they were doing, doing it well, and working hard at it. When people have a love for their work, when they know what they are doing, and they work hard at it, they usually become successful at it.
Years ago when I was pastoring in Troy, I had more time to fish and I enjoyed it. One time I went fishing with a man who was reputed to be the best fishermen in the county. We went to fish at Marble Falls Lake and we were wading out in the river close at hand, casting for black bass. When we had arrived, I had gotten out of the car and retrieved my old rusty equipment and began to tie on hooks and untie knots. After 30 or 40 minutes, I had all of my equipment ready. I meandered out in the water and I would throw here and there, and every once in a while, I would stop and eat a candy bar; I would sit down on a rock, drink a Coke, or sit under the shade of a tree. I had a good time just piddling around in the water, and at the end of the day I had three fish on my stringer.
The man who was reputed to be the best fishermen in the county took an altogether different approach. When we arrived at the river, he was ready. He didn’t meander out into the water—he marched out into it with purpose and determination. He didn’t just throw his lure here and there—he seemed to know what he was doing and he seemed to be throwing it in a particular place. If he tried a couple of times and didn’t catch anything, he moved on to another place and he never stopped all day long so far as I could tell. At the end of the day, I had three fish and he had a stringer of the prettiest black bass I have ever seen in my life.
The difference was that he loved fishing and I just liked it. The difference was that he knew what he was doing and I didn’t. The difference was that he worked at it and I played at it. The difference was he had a whole stringer and I had three fish. I learned that day that men who are successful at fishing have to love what they are doing; they have to know what they are doing; and they have to work at it. Jesus said, “You are to be fishers of men.” That means that the love of your life ought to be not just making money, and not just building a reputation. The love of your life ought to be the mission of bringing men and women to Jesus Christ. You ought to know what you are doing, know how to do it, and you ought to work continuously at it. “Come,” said Jesus, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” That’s what we are to be.
2. Like farmers, we are to gather people into God’s kingdom.
Jesus also called us to be farmers. Before he sent the 70 out, he said to them, “The fields are ripe unto harvest but the laborers are few.” Using that analogy, he said, “You men are like farmers, laborers who are to gather in a harvest.”
Everyone knows that a farmer lives a fairly relaxed life at certain times of the year. But when the harvest time comes, his life takes on a new intensity. He pours all of his energy into gathering that harvest. There are times of the year when he will sit around on the front porch of the country store and spit and whittle and spin yarns. But when harvest time comes, he gets up early in the morning and he stays up late at night. He eats his dinner on the run and his social life is all but forgotten as his one intensive purpose is to get that harvest in. The harvest represents time, money, energy, and effort. It’s something of great value. If the farmer delays too long, the harvest could be lost due to a heavy rain or hailstorm. With all of his energy he works to gather that harvest into the place of safety.
Jesus said, “You are to be laborers. The world out there is ripe unto harvest. There are people who are precious and valuable to God; they are lost and they need to be saved. You need to work for the night comes when no man shall work. Give yourself to gathering in the harvest.”
I wish we could see ourselves as a valuable part of the mission of bringing people into the kingdom of God. Paul said, “I have planted; Apollos watered; God gave the increase.” See yourself as a seed planter. See yourself as a person who nurtures, encourages, and helps a person who is considering becoming a Christian. See yourself as one who is responsible for bringing that person into the kingdom of God, to Jesus Christ—the only place of safety. See yourself as a part of that process: planting seeds, watering the seeds, praying for people, encouraging people, always gathering in a harvest. You are to be a fisher of men; you are to be a laborer out in the field that is ripe unto harvest.
3. Like ambassadors, we are to tell people of God’s love.
The final analogy is that we are to be ambassadors who speak the message of God. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20: “We are ambassadors for Christ.”
What is an ambassador? An ambassador is an official representative of his country in a foreign land. Our country has ambassadors all over the world. Our ambassador to Belize is an official representative of the U.S., and whatever dealings our country has with Belize can be carried on through that ambassador.
Oftentimes when our government has a message to relay to the people and officials of Belize it is that ambassador who speaks on behalf of our country. We are often judged by his behavior as well as by his words.
The Bible says we are not citizens of this country. We are first of all citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We are really citizens of two kingdoms, and our highest allegiance is to the highest kingdom—the kingdom of God. We are ambassadors of the kingdom of God down here on Earth. Our primary mission is to speak God’s message—the message of God’s kingdom to this earthly kingdom. We speak so people will know of God’s love and grace, so they will know of the death of Jesus upon the cross, and so they will know of his reconciling love. God desires that the whole world hear his invitation to come and be reconciled to him in Jesus Christ.
If we as ambassadors do not speak that message, the message does not go out. We are to plead with men. We are to speak with men on behalf of Jesus Christ, saying, “Be reconciled to God.” We need to see ourselves not only as fishermen, and not only as farmers; we need to see ourselves as ambassadors called to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to all men everywhere. That is our responsibility; that is our mission in this messed-up world.
The greatest danger confronting the church today is not communism, atheism, or materialism. It is Christian people trying to get to heaven incognito without ever sharing their faith.
There are some of you who have been born again. Christ lives in your heart and you are going to heaven, but you have not been sharing your faith. You are supposed to a fisherman, but you haven’t put the hook in the water. You are supposed to be a farmer, but you haven’t rolled up your sleeves and gone out into the fields to labor. You are supposed to be an ambassador but you haven’t spoken the message. The crying need of the hour is that all of us become fishermen, laborers, and ambassadors for Christ.
I’m asking you today to commit yourself to the basic work of a Christian, which is the high and holy privilege of sharing what you have experienced and what you know about the Gospel with somebody else. We’ll offer you training in good fishing techniques, in how to be effective spiritual farmers, and in how to represent the Lord Jesus in a foreign land. Then you can get on with being what the Lord wants you to be in this messed-up world. Will you make that commitment?
Maybe you need to start by being reconciled to Christ. Maybe you haven’t been saved yet. Maybe you don’t know the forgiveness of sin. Maybe you are not sure that you can go to heaven when you die. Begin by committing your life to Jesus the Savior. Begin there. Become a part of the family and fellowship and then make the commitment to be what God wants you to be.