INTRODUCTION
Just a few weeks ago I finished reading the
journals of John Wesley. John Wesley lived in the time of George Washington.
Wesley was trained for the ministry at Oxford. He was a preacher who could draw
crowds of thousands almost everywhere he went.
He spent most of his life riding his horse to
various towns and villages in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
The churches would not hold the crowds that
wanted to hear him, so he preached in the fields to as many as 10,000 people at
a time. He preached 800 sermons a year, sometimes as many as four messages a
day—at different places. Typically, he preached his first message at 5 o’clock
in the morning.
Thousands of people came to Christ through his
preaching. His faithfulness to God made a big difference in the world. He
founded the Methodist Church, which now consists of millions of people all over
the world.
I finished another book a few weeks ago about
another man of God. His name was Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney. He is usually
known as the Curé of Ars. (In France, a Curé is a parish priest.
Jean Vianney was a peasant lad who grew up in
France working on the family farm. From an early age he was in earnest about
the things of God. At his first communion he declared his ambition to become a
priest. He had little education and no great aptitude for studies. He never
could master Latin. But his devotion to God was so outstanding that he was
ordained a priest anyway.
His bishop assigned him to the tiny town of
Ars, population 230.
On his way to Ars, he lost his way. He asked
a shepherd boy whom he met and the boy accompanied him to the little town. When
they arrived he said, “Thank you for showing me the way to Ars; I will show you
the way to heaven.”
He found Ars to be a godless town. The people
would much rather dance and drink than go to church.
But Jean-Baptiste loved his people. He
established a home for orphan girls. He preached sermons.
But the best work the Curé of Ars did was in the confessional. As he
listened to the people confess their sins, he led them to Jesus. The culture of
the town changed.
“Why do you weep so much, Father,” said a
sinner kneeling by his side.
“Ah, my friend. I weep because you do not
weep enough.”
Some said that what most deeply impressed
them was to see the man of God weeping for their sins.
As the years went on it is estimated that
20,000 pilgrims came to his church each year and lined up, some waiting all day
for a few minutes in the confessional with Father Vanney. In the winter he
spent about 11 hours a day in the confessional. In the summer it was 16 hours.
Trains made special stops to bring pilgrims
to Ars. Numbers of them went home changed people.
He saw miracles done. This humble man is
remembered today as a great saint.
When I consider the lives of people like John
Wesley or the Curé
of Ars, I feel humbled, knowing how little I have achieved for God in my long
life.
But I take heart from knowing that most of
God’s work in our world isn’t accomplished by the John Wesleys or the Jean
Vianneys. Most of God’s work in our world is accomplished by ordinary believers
like you and me.
I. In the first chapter of 2 Timothy, we read
just a few lines about an ordinary Christian named Onesiphorus, who, by being
faithful in a small way, made a big difference.
Here is what St. Paul wrote about
Onesiphorus:
You
are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, and among them Phygelus
(fie-GEL-us) and Hermogenes (her-MAH-gen-ees). May the Lord grant mercy to the household
of Onesiphorus (ah-nay-SIF-o-rus),
for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived
in Rome, he searched for me eagerly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find
mercy from the Lord on that Day—and you well know all the service he rendered
at Ephesus (2 Timothy 1:15-18).
A. This was the last letter Paul wrote. He
knew he would die soon. He wrote this letter from prison.
He must have been discouraged. In his letter
he writes that all his friends in Asia have forsaken him.
(What was called “Asia” in Paul’s day was the
western end of the peninsula that is now called Turkey. It included many cities
where Paul had preached and founded churches.)
Among the cities of Asia was Ephesus, the
city in which Onesiphorus lived. Paul had proclaimed the gospel and served the
believers there, nurturing them in the faith, and constantly praying for them. He
supported himself by the work of his hands—he made tents. They were his
children in Christ.
But now, Paul writes, they had turned away from
him. No doubt he still had friends in those towns who remembered him and loved
him—like Onesiphorus. But many had turned away and no longer owned their debt
to him as their father in Christ.
Were they ashamed of him because he was now in
prison?
Had they found more interesting preachers?
They owed Paul everything but now that he was
in trouble, they had forgotten him.
B. We don’t know the details about the prison
where Paul was kept, but we know enough about ancient prisons to know that they
were dreary places.
Often they dug out of solid rock and were
underground. Prisoners, their guards and their provisions were lowered through
an opening the size of a manhole.
If there was any light, it came from a torch
or oil lamp. A prison was called a “house of darkness.” There was no proper
latrine; it was a stinking place.
In this prison Paul mentions that he was
chained.
People weren’t sentenced for specific lengths
of time as they are nowadays. Prisons were there for two purposes.
The first was to keep prisoners until their
trials—in one of Paul’s previous imprisonments, he was kept in prison for two
years, awaiting trial.
The second purpose of prisons was to keep
prisoners until they were executed.
In this case, it appears that Paul was
awaiting execution, because he writes at the end of his letter, “The time of my departure has come. I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. For now
on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge will give me on that day…”
Prisoners depended on family or friends to
provide them with clothing, blankets, food and water. Friends would also
provide bedding straw and clean away the human waste.
II. This was where Onesiphorus came in.
A. All that we know about Onesiphorus is in
this one sentence and in another at the end of the letter where Paul instructs
Timothy to “greet the household of Onesiphorus.”
We gather that Onesiphorus had been a friend
and helper of Paul back in Ephesus.
When he found out that Paul was in prison,
Onesiphorus was not ashamed of Paul’s chains.
So Onesiphorus left his family and made the
journey to Rome. It was a sea journey of 100s of miles and would have taken
weeks.
And when he arrived in Rome he didn’t know
where to find Paul. He “eagerly searched” for him.
And when he found him in his prison, he served
Paul in what ways he could. He “refreshed” Paul.
I like that word “refreshed.” Onesiphorus
came to give new strength to Paul. His visits invigorated him. The hours
dragged on in that dark cell. How refreshed Paul must have felt when he saw his
friend from far away, who had taken the time to come to him.
I can imagine some of the ways Onesiphorus’s
would have cheered Paul.
He brought him food and drink, clean clothes,
blankets, books to read and a lamp to read them by, and writing paper for
letters. He cleaned up and carried away refuse.
He prayed with him, learned from him, and
offered him companionship.
(Incidentally, Onesiphorus wasn’t the only
one who helped Paul in prison. At the end of his letter Paul mentions others
from the church in Rome who also helped him.)
APPLICATION
God knows we have limitations. He doesn’t
expect of us what we can’t do. Once while on vacation in New England, we
visited a little graveyard beside a church in New Hampshire. We noticed a
tombstone. Under the name of the departed one was written: “She done all she could.”
God knows our limitations. He has uses for
mediocre people as well as for the brilliant,
the beautiful, and the ones with magnetic personalities.
700 years ago a rabbi named Sosya lay dying.
His disciples were exclaiming about how
wonderful his life had been:
“You have lived an exemplary life. You have
led us out of the wilderness like Moses. You have judged us wisely like
Solomon.”
Said Sosya, “When I meet God, he won’t ask,
‘Have you been Moses,’ or ‘Have you been Solomon?’ He will ask, ‘Have you been
Sosya?’”
Years ago a Sunday school teacher invited a
boy named Dwight to Sunday school.
That boy responded to God’s call, gave
himself to Jesus, and grew up to be a great evangelist.
He was Dwight Moody. Thousands of people came
to Christ because of that great man.
But maybe he would never have come to God if
it weren’t for that Sunday school teacher.
Maybe as you look back over your life, you
don’t see any great accomplishments. Maybe you were pretty ordinary, but you
were faithful. You did what you could.
You cared for a family, served God in a
workplace, taught Sunday school, sang in a choir, visited the sick, brought
food for the potluck…
You were a good neighbor, offered hospitality
in your house, helped someone in need, encouraged someone who was downhearted…
You still do what you can, even if you are
limited now because of your circumstances.
You do what you can to cheer your friend who
is downhearted, pray for those who suffer, give as you are able to God’s work,
attend these church services, and let others know that you love Jesus.
I have a friend who lives in assisted living
who writes letters of encouragement members of her church—just to encourage
them. It is a ministry for her.
Who do you know that needs refreshing?
You refresh me with your smiles and your
interest in the things of God.
As we look back over our lives, let’s thank
God we have had the privilege of serving God by serving others.
Some of you, when you get to heaven, may
wonder if you deserve to be there, and God will surprise you by saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
“The
smallest work done for Jesus lasts forever whether anyone remembers it or not.”
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