Make Me a Blessing

                 Make Me a Blessing

                      September 10, 2006

              Wesley Memorial Methodist Church

It is so very good to be with you today. Jim Wilhelm is  a dear friend and as dear friends do they are apt to overstate my qualifications to appear before you today.  As Jim said I am a life long Moravian and as such have played in the Moravian Band for 37 years this Easter.

As part of our church tradition a brass band plays at the funerals of departed brethren. One song that is a part of such service is ever present in mind each time I am given the opportunity to speak about my faith. Written by Count Zinzendorf centuries ago, it speaks a simple truth.

The Saviour’s Blood and Righteousness

Thy beauty is my glorious dress.

Thus well arrayed I need not fear

When in Your presence I appear.

It is because of the blood and righteousness of Christ my Savior for a man so filled with sin that  can stand before you today and speak of the grace contained in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am a self proclaimed son of Ardmore. When I was born my family lived at

1220 Ebert St

. I was raised at

1387 Hawthorne Road

. I attended St John’s  Luthern kindergarten, Moore Elementary School and Dalton Junior High.  I graduated from R.J. Reynolds High School.  I was baptized and confirmed at Ardmore Moravian Church.  My family would not buy gas from anyone but Henry Bailey at his Exxon station on the corner of Knollwood and Hawthorne.  I smile when I ride the streets of Ardmore because the many fine memories that reside here for me and my family.

Having lived in this community all my life, like many of you I am familiar with the ministry of the Reverend Mark Corts. I was saddened, as no doubt many of you where, when I learned of Dr. Corts death last week. His heart was worn out.  Doctors would say it was heart disease. I think his heart gave out simply because he gave so much of it away to others.

Though I never had the opportunity to hear a Sermon by Dr. Corts in person, I have stopped surfing television channels many a Sunday afternoon and listened to his TV program. Some time ago as I was writing a chapter in my yet unpublished book, I without any shame stole many of the ideas that he presented in a Sermon on Answer Prayer.

In tribute to his life and ministry I have chosen to share with you that lesson today.

As you know Reverend Mark Corts became somewhat of celebrity in the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  He was a handsome minister, with silver gray hair, who was known for his stirring and Bible-based sermons.  He started with the fledgling church as a young man, and was blessed with a ministry of spectacular growth and witness in the community. While an evangelical, Dr. Corts is not of the stereotypical mold of a Southern Baptist evangelist.  His sermons were gentle, but thought provoking.  His manner was that of a courtly gentleman.  His appearance was that of an established businessman. 

Several years ago, his church family, and the community as a whole were stunned by the news of his heart attack.  While tending to a speaking engagement in Oklahoma, Mark Corts was stricken with a severe heart attack. He had no history of heart trouble.  He was in his early fifties, a slender man who had always kept in shape.  Nevertheless, there he lay in an intensive care unit of an Oklahoma City hospital, tubes sticking out of his body, unable to move and unable to speak.  He was alone with God.  What must have gone through his mind?

He was at a point in his life we each long to reach.  His children were grown.  His ministry established and growing.  He finally had time to do those things he had never had time to do. “ Why now?” he must have asked God.  Would he die?  To a seasoned pastor, death is not a stranger.  He had dealt with the mortality of man as he ministered to flock.  He did not fear death, but he did long to see his wife one more time.  If he could just feel the touch of her hand, he could accept death.  He just did not want to die alone in a city of strangers. That was his singular and most fervent prayer.

Though that prayer was answered, he faced many weeks of recovery. Nevertheless, he returned home, and resumed his duties as senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. He confessed in his sermon that the month he spent lying on his back in a hospital in Oklahoma taught him a great deal about prayer.

He understood what Oliver Wendell Holmes meant when he proclaimed that his religion was summed up in the first two words of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father”.  Prayer is based upon a parent child relationship.

He also understood what E.M. Bounds once said: He has ordained prayer as a means whereby He will do things through men as they pray that He would not otherwise do.  Prayer puts God to work in His own way among men in which way He would not work if prayer was not made.

He concluded that God answers prayer four distinct ways:

Divine Deliverance;

Divine Absence;

Divine Cooperation;

Divine Infusion.

                               Divine Deliverance

We each understand the idea of Divine Deliverance.  In fact, in our fast paced, “I want it now” world, it is the type of answer we would most like God to give.  Think about it though.  We ask for divine deliverance in almost every prayer we make, but how often do we witness a divinely delivered answer?  There are many stories in the Bible concerning divine deliverance.

Remember the story of Lazarus.  This man was dead!  He had lain in a tomb for four days.  He was wrapped head to foot in a funeral shroud. As Jesus approached his tomb, and ordered the stone removed, Lazarus’ sister, the impetuous Martha, exclaimed, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” (Jn 11:39) Yet, our Lord persisted and when the tomb was opened, He cried out with a loud voice so that all could hear, “Lazarus, Come Out!” Out hopped Lazarus, bound head and foot with a funeral shroud.

Then there was the story of the Israelites, pursued by Pharaoh’s chariots, standing on the shores of the Red Sea.  It was movie actor Charlton Heston’s greatest scene.  Portraying Moses in the movie Exodus, he stands on a rock and lifts up his staff, and the sea parts.  The story is told in Exodus 14.  “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided.”  The children of Israel were miraculously delivered!

A devout early follower of the church was a woman known to us as Dorcas.  She became sick.  Her friends sent for Peter who arrived after she had died.  He had been bathed in preparation for burial. Peter went alone to the bedside where Dorcas was lain.  He knelt and prayed.  Then turning to the body, he exclaimed, “Tabitha, arise.”  She arose and was presented alive to her friends and family who had just moments before been grieving over her death. (Acts 9:36-41)

On the road to Damascus, one of the vilest persecutors of the Christian church was traveling, when suddenly he was confronted with a great and blinding light.  As he fell to the ground Saul heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  A blinded Saul stumbled on to Damascus, and under the care and ministry of Ananias was healed and converted to a follower of Christ Jesus. (Acts 9:1-19)

God can and will answer prayer in the form of divine deliverance.  No doubt, you may have experienced answers to your prayers that are miraculous and even defy what you understand of nature.  It would appear that if God would answer prayer in this manner all the time life sure would be easier, and no doubt, would be more spectacular as well. But, we all understand that God doesn’t operate the way we think He should.

Dr. Corts explained that God answers prayer by way of divine deliverance for three important reasons.

First, it may be the only means available to answer your prayer.  This is illustrated in the raising of Dorcas from the dead.  This lady was dead.  There was no illness to heal.  Peter’s prayer was answered in a most miraculous manner. 

Second, a miracle of God may fulfill a greater purpose.  Look closely at the story of Lazarus and the parting of the Red Sea. In both instances, God could have answered differently.  Remember, Jesus tarried when He was told of Lazarus’ illness.  Could He not have healed Lazarus in the same manner as He healed the Centurion’s servant or Jarius’ daughter.  He only spoke the word, or even thought a thought and each was healed. Yet, He first tarried and then insisted on confronting the death of His dear friend.  Similarly, God could have struck down the army of the Pharaoh in a number of spectacular ways.  Yet, He chose a particular form of answer to the prayer of Moses.  In the case of Lazarus, Jesus sought to confront the Jewish leaders with the awesome power of God.  The result according to John’s account led to the plot to crucify  our Lord.  In the case of the children of Israel, God needed to show them unmistakably, both His power and His commitment to their leader Moses. 

Third, divine intervention may be the only way for God to get your attention.  It is very clear that there was no one who persecuted Christians with any more fervor than Saul of Tarsus.  Yet, on the road to Damascus, God spoke to Saul in a manner Saul both understood, and would never forget.

                                                Divine Absence

The second way God answers prayer is really the opposite of divine deliverance.  It is divine absence.  There is a popular country music song entitled, Thank God for Unanswered Prayer.  In the lyrics,  Garth Brooks recounts a chance meeting with an old high school girl friend.  This girl was the one he had prayed God would one day make his wife.  God had different ideas, and had set before each of these former lovers separate paths in life.  By their chance meeting, the songwriter was moved to consider all that he would have missed if God had answered his prayer. It is a real discomforting feeling when you pour your heart and soul out to God in prayer, and you get no response.  It tests your faith.  You feel that if God would only listen, you could convince Him of just how important, both your  prayer, and your desired answer are.  At such times we can relate to the words of Job: “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!  I would present my case before Him and fill my mouths with arguments.  I would know the words which He would understand me, and understand what He would say to me.” (Job 23:3-5)

Unfortunately, this is not how God works.  He is there, and He does listen to our prayers.  Still, it seems that many of our prayers remain unanswered.  At those times when we do not think our prayers are being answered, perhaps we need to look at ourselves before concluding that God is not listening.

“You don’t get what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And when you do ask, He doesn’t give it to you, because you ask in quite the wrong spirit.”(James 4:2,3)

Perhaps God has not answered your prayer because you have not yet prayed.  We all tend to want do make it on our own in this world.  The theologian,  A. J. Gordon sets forth an important principle concerning prayer: “You can do many things once you’ve prayed, but you can not do anything until you’ve prayed.”  In order for God to answer prayer, one must first pray.

James considers it to be a joy and privilege for Christians to be afflicted with trials and troubles of this world.  You see, as Christians we are as Peter describes, a peculiar people.  Our world is not limited by the finite nature of our earthly existence.  God has an entire eternity planned for us.  Therefore, when we pray while in the midst of worldly trouble, we are apt to have to wait on an answer.  The reason is that God is teaching us something more important than our momentary discomfort.  It most often is either patience or humility with a bit of endurance tossed in for good measure.  Divine absence may serve a much greater purpose.

Finally, we may not feel that God has answered our prayers, because we failed to listen.  We may be so busy with the moment, or so sure we know how God is to answer our entreaty, that we never hear the answer when it comes.  The advice columnist, Ann Landers printed a most revealing poem on this very issue:

I asked God to take away my pride, and God said, “No.”   He said it was not for Him to take away, but for me to give up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole, and God said, “No.” He said her spirit is whole, her body is only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience, and God, said, “No.” He said that patience is a byproduct of tribulation. It isn’t granted, it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness, and God said, “No.” He said He gives blessings, happiness is up to me.

I asked God to spare me pain, and God said, “No.” “Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.”

I asked God to make my spirit grow and God said, “No.” He said I must grow on my own, but He will prune me to make me fruitful.

I asked God to help me love others as much as He loves me.  And God said, “Ah, finally, you have the idea!”

        Divine Cooperation

The third way God answers prayer is in conjunction with our own actions.  Dr. Corts describes this as divine cooperation.  God limits Himself to using His followers to accomplish His purpose in this world.  Prayer is an essential part in the process.  For it is through prayer, that God prepares us for His service. 

The best example I know of divine cooperation involves a young lady by the name of Susan Mitchell.  She was fifteen, or sixteen years of age when I first met her.  She came to a Campus Life Club meeting I was directing while in college.  Campus Life is an evangelical ministry with high school youth.  While in college, I led a “club” at a local high school.  We encountered many different adolescents.  Some were rich, and others were poor. Some were popular kids, but others were those left out.  Some attended the club meetings for social reasons, and it was a good place to scope out dates for the weekend.  Others were church kids, who thought that attending a religious meeting during the week with all of their school buddies was neat.  Most all were in the need of Christ.  Some knew it more than others.  Some we helped along the way.  Their names and faces rarely come to mind anymore.

Occasionally, I will run into some of my Campus Life students. Most recently, I was answering a calendar call in court, when a most attractive female attorney approached me.  She asked if I was Buddy Collins - the guy who used to run her Campus Life club in high school.   Susan Mitchell was her girlfriend.  I probably should  have asked her about Susan, but I did not.

 I am not sure where Susan is now,  but she is one  of  the Campus Life kids I will never forget.  She was petite - a tossled hair blond, with an engaging smile.  Susan was a most troubled young lady.  She had problems at home. I believe her parents may have been separated. She had conflicting feelings involving self-esteem. Some on staff worried about her being suicidal.  She had a flare of independence about her, but we all thought it was more show than real.  She would attend several meetings in a row, then we would not see her for months.  Most of all, Susan needed to know that someone loved her.  She sought out staff members for long talks.  She often stayed after the meetings to talk to staff members, or would call us late at night, with all kinds of crises, real or imagined.  We all prayed she would come to know Christ.  Often she was very close, but something always held her back.

Each year, Campus Life was host to a convention in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  It was scheduled for that long weekend after Christmas before school starts back.  It was much fun, and it was a time when the kids could be confronted with the Gospel.  We found that many who went with us to Gatlinburg became Christians.  The parents often paid the cost of the trip.   Susan really wanted to go, but her mother could not afford the extra money.  The ministry was having trouble raising enough funds to staff the trip.  Most of the college staff was paying for their own way.  We had resigned ourselves that there was no way we were going to be able to take Susan with us.

            We prayed each week for Susan, for we knew how much she was searching for Christ. We were frustrated that we were of so little help.  Then, one Monday night in early December, God answered our prayer in a most unusual way.  On the way back to my dorm after a Campus Life club meeting, out of the blue, a man in a beat up pick up truck collided with my Chevrolet Vega, causing a really ugly dent on the left quarter panel.  I was not hurt, and neither was the man in the truck.  He was quite sorry for his negligence.  He was merely not paying attention.  He apologized as he gave me the name of his insurance carrier.   By the end of the week, I had a check for   $ 267.00.  I decided that Susan Mitchell needed to go to Gatlinburg more than I needed to repair the dent on a 1972 Chevrolet Vega.

In late December 1977, Susan Mitchell became a Christian.  Many of us could hear the angels sing, rejoicing in her salvation.  It was one of the proudest moments of my life, as there is no doubt in my mind that I had worked in cooperation with God in the life of one of His children  Jesus said: “If you abide in me, I will abide in you.”(Jn 15:7) We are His tools on this earth.   Apart from what service we can provide for God, He has limited His intervention in the affairs of this world.  However, He has provided us with all the means necessary to accomplish His work.

Understand then, it is not God who limits us, but we, who limit God.  In cooperation with Him, all things are possible.  The paradox of it all is that power is such a corrupting force.  The more we have, the more often we believe that the power comes from something special about us.  Power makes us independent. 

Each of the Campus Life staff who worked with Susan, thought it was his or her job to lead her to Christ. The truth is, we never lead anyone to Christ,  that is the job of the Holy Spirit.  It is a lesson God taught me many times as I worked for Campus Life.  The moment we began to consider our evangelism the result of our efforts, we will begin to fail.  God cannot use an independent man. There is no limit to the power of God in cooperation with our dependent spirit. For the answer to many of your prayers may very well be found within this fellowship of believers.   It is a lesson I shall never forget, for I serve a God who can transform a dent in the quarter panel of a 1972 Chevrolet Vega into music that makes angels sing!     

                                    Divine Infusion

The last way prayer is answered is by divine infusion.  Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a song entitled His Strength is Perfect.  It begins with a recitation of Philippians 4:13 – The Apostle Paul writes: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

Have you stopped to think what this verse means?

Paul did not always have this attitude. It is only through life experiences that we can come to an understand of the true nature of the inner strength that Christ provides us.  Consider II Corinthians 1:8.  Paul is describing the dangers and troubles he had faced in Asia.  Little is known of the exact circumstances other than what Paul writes in this passage.  However, it is clear he felt very close to death.  Even so, as Paul reflects upon the experience, he finds it quite unnecessary to describe the circumstances that brought him near to death.  Rather, he reflects upon the reason for the ordeal.  J.B Phillips offers a most illustrative translation using a modern metaphor. “Yet, we believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether, that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God, who can raise the dead!”

Do you know what it means to be at the end of your rope?  Have you ever reached a point in your life where you could not see how you could make it another day?   Paul was at the “end of his rope” as he lay in the streets of Jerusalem deflecting the blows of angry Jews (see Acts 21).   He was at the “end of his rope” as he lay in prison, hungry, wounded and alone (see Acts 28-30).  He was at the “end of his rope” as he lay on the beach, shipwrecked by a storm (see Acts 27).  He was at the “end of his rope” when he learned of the failure of his friends, and the difficulties his fledgling churches faced.(see Gal. 1:1-24)   It was a condition  he would find himself in many times as he served Christ.  It is a condition, real or imagined, we often find ourselves in as well.

It is also a verse that reminds me of a friend of mine.

Billy Pope is 79 years old. I first met him in 1983 when I joined the Kernersville Lions Club. Billy was a professor at High Point College. He holds a doctorate in education and is a confirmed batchelor. When he retired he became a world traveler. He has never met a stranger and is perhaps the most inspiring person I know.  For on April 19, 1990, at age 63, Billy suffered a near fatal stroke.

For the last 16 years he has been confined to his house on

Sedge Garden Road

. He is unable to walk. He has trouble speaking. He has been unable to swallow food since his stroke and must be fed through a tube in his stomach.  Life has not turned out for Billy as had planned. Still he will tell all who ask. These last 16 years have been the sweetest of his life. For Billy has made his life a mission of encouragement for others. He has a long list of telephone friends and calls them religiously. He keeps a list of prayer requests and prays constantly for those who are sick or bereaved. In his spare time, he writes prayers. Simple prayers scrawled on a notebook page. They are but simple requests of his Heavenly Father.  April 19, 1990 is his self proclaimed day of thanksgiving for his disability allowed him to know God in a much more personal way.  I am certain I know what Billy is doing right this moment. You see Jim told Billy I was speaking to you this morning.  I am certain that he is praying for this service.

Whether dealing with a personal tragedy, family crisis, sickness, danger or death, we each have reached a point where we think we cannot continue.  Our own strength is exhausted.  Our personal resources are depleted.  There seems to be no way we can face life another minute.  Then it happens.  When our strength is not enough, the strength of Christ, our Lord and Savior, becomes our own. 

It is exactly how Mark Corts felt as he lay alone in the hospital in Oklahoma City. A serious heart attack had taken away the life Dr. Corts was leading.  He did not have the strength to cope. Then it happened to him just as it happened to Paul.   One has to only face personal tragedy to understand this phenomenon. Somehow God provides all that His children need to survive. Most of us are fortunate enough not to have reached the end of our rope time and again.  Few have to encounter the dangers and perils Paul encountered.  Few will experience the gut- wrenching illness that afflicted Dr. Corts or will spend 16 years homebound like Billy Pope.  Nevertheless, storms are part of life.  For some it is facing death.  Others find it in facing disease.  Failures in family relationships or a financial catastrophe may take away the only security upon which we depend.  Whatever it is, however weak we may become, God’s strength is sufficient. 

It is significant that the Apostle Paul, Dr. Mark Corts and Billy Pope each point out that, not only does God have a way of providing us strength in our times of weakness, but He also has a way of teaching us more about Himself in the process.  It seems that God uses our troubles as His tools to fashion us for better things.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more and exceeding weight of glory, while we do not look at the things, which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.  II Corin. 4:16-18

Jim Wilhelm and I visited Billy this week. Though his voice is ravaged by his brain injury, Billy is not afraid to sing. In fact He sang to us an old hymn. He says it is his theme song. It explains best what God wants him to be. 

Out in the high-ways and by-ways of life, Many are weary and sad;

Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, Making the sorrowing glad.

CHORUS:

Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing—

Out of my life May Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing to someone today.

            Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love,

Tell of His power to forgive;

Others will trust Him if only you prove

True, every moment you live.

CHORUS:

Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing—

Out of my life May Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing to someone today.

            Give as ‘twas given to you in your need, Love as the Master loved you;

Be to the helpless a helper indeed, Unto your mission be true.

CHORUS:

Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing—

Out of my life May Jesus shine;

Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray,

Make me a blessing to someone today.

AMEN!