Coconut
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This wonderful message was just shared with me ...
Jesus gave His life for us. In turn, He calls us to give our lives away for His glory. I ran across some preaching by Paris Reidhead today, and I wanted to share it with you. He was a missionary to Africa in the 20th century and a leader in Christian development among the poor. This is an amazing story of how some young Moravian missionaries incarnated the gospel of Jesus Christ a few hundred years ago. I wept when I heard this story in deep conviction at my nominal Christianity.
“Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000 slaves. And the owner had said, ‘No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he’s ship wrecked we’ll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave, but he’s never going to talk to any of us about God, I’m through with all that nonsense.’ Three thousand slaves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ.
Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they received from their sale, for he paid no more than he would for any slave, to pay their passage out to his island for he wouldn’t even transport them. As the ship left its pier in the river at Hamburg and was going out into the North Sea carried with the tide, the Moravians had come from Herrenhut to see these two lads off, in their early twenties. Never to return again, for this wasn’t a four year term, they sold themselves into lifetime slavery.
Simply that as slaves, they could be as Christians where these others were. The families were there weeping, for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the wisdom of it. As the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the pier, and the young boys saw the widening gap, one lad with his arm linked through the arm of his fellow, raised his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were heard from them, they were these,
‘MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!’”
Where is this type of Christianity today? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 that the love of Christ compelled him. Does it compel us? Reidhead, in another sermon says that we are stunted in our devotion to the Lord because we have come to believe that the chief end of God is to make men happy. Our happiness is our end goal and we use God as a means to an end. That is humanism, not Christianity. Instead, our lives should be focused on living for God's glory, not our happiness. Watch this clip and ask God to speak to your heart:
DownshoreDrift: Sunday Worship: The Incarnation and the Real Meaning of Christmas
Reidhead says, "The liberal says the end of religion is to make man happy while he is alive and the fundamentalist says the end of religion is to make man happy when he dies." Both have completely missed the point as both are completely human centered. We have missed God entirely. For further reference, here is Reidhead's most famous sermon, "Ten Shekels and a Shirt."
As we reflect on the Incarnation of Christ this Christmas, here is a question for us: Are we living for our happiness or for the glory of God? Is God a means to our happiness in life, or is He our great reward. The answer to that question is the difference between humanism and Christianity.
EDIT: After writing this post, I got curious about the two young men who sold themselves into slavery. What became of them?
I found out some interesting things. Their names were John Leonard Doper and David Nitschman. Nitschman actually had a wife and young children when he answered the call of God. They thought that they would never return home and that they would indeed, sell themselves into slavery. But, God had a different plan. What God wants from us is to be a yielded vessel.
Here is the rest of the story:
John Leonard Doper and David Nitschman inspired their generation and generations to come to lay down their lives for The Lamb. As it turned out, neither man had to actually sell himself into slavery. The Governor of the island would not have let them. His attitude towards the black slaves there was such that to allow a white man to be enslaved would have been too much for him.
The missionaries arrived in St. Thomas in December of 1732. At first, Nitschmann supported the two of them with his carpentry vocation, but he only stayed at St. Thomas for four months. Dober tried to make a living as a potter, but there wasn't any good clay to make pots. He did, however, get a job as the steward of the Governor's household, and later as a watchman, which allowed him to be closer to the slaves. By 1734, a contingent of 18 missionaries arrived to help out and to spread the missionary work to the neighboring islands of St. Croix, St. John and others.
Conditions for the missionaries were difficult, and many of the early missionaries died. In fact, Moravian missionaries leaving Europe to go to the Caribbean missions always took two things with them: A Bible and their own headstone. There isn't any rock to speak of on those islands, and the missionaries knew that most of them wouldn't come home. And yet, they went in droves! Talk about fully committed to God's work! Dober eventually went back to Europe as part of the administrative head of Moravian Church. Nitschmann returned to Hernhutt Germany, to his wife and children later becaming a Bishop, and led a group of Moravians to form a colony in America in what is now Georgia.
And here's an interesting tidbit: On the voyage over, their ship encountered a hurricane (February 5, 1736). As you can imagine, there was a great deal of panic onboard, except with the Moravian group led by Nitschmann. Instead, they sang hymns and were calm. One of the non-Moravians (an Anglican, actually) was very impressed by this. He stayed with the Moravians, and later studied with them in England. This was none other than John Wesley, who later went on to form the Methodist Church. Dober and Nitschmann's work was fruitful. Their mission field is now known as the Eastern West Indies Province. There are 52 Moravian congregations still running strongly today.
"That the Lamb may recieve the reward of His suffering!"
Jesus gave His life for us. In turn, He calls us to give our lives away for His glory. I ran across some preaching by Paris Reidhead today, and I wanted to share it with you. He was a missionary to Africa in the 20th century and a leader in Christian development among the poor. This is an amazing story of how some young Moravian missionaries incarnated the gospel of Jesus Christ a few hundred years ago. I wept when I heard this story in deep conviction at my nominal Christianity.
“Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000 slaves. And the owner had said, ‘No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he’s ship wrecked we’ll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave, but he’s never going to talk to any of us about God, I’m through with all that nonsense.’ Three thousand slaves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ.
Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they received from their sale, for he paid no more than he would for any slave, to pay their passage out to his island for he wouldn’t even transport them. As the ship left its pier in the river at Hamburg and was going out into the North Sea carried with the tide, the Moravians had come from Herrenhut to see these two lads off, in their early twenties. Never to return again, for this wasn’t a four year term, they sold themselves into lifetime slavery.
Simply that as slaves, they could be as Christians where these others were. The families were there weeping, for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the wisdom of it. As the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the pier, and the young boys saw the widening gap, one lad with his arm linked through the arm of his fellow, raised his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were heard from them, they were these,
‘MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!’”
Where is this type of Christianity today? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 that the love of Christ compelled him. Does it compel us? Reidhead, in another sermon says that we are stunted in our devotion to the Lord because we have come to believe that the chief end of God is to make men happy. Our happiness is our end goal and we use God as a means to an end. That is humanism, not Christianity. Instead, our lives should be focused on living for God's glory, not our happiness. Watch this clip and ask God to speak to your heart:
DownshoreDrift: Sunday Worship: The Incarnation and the Real Meaning of Christmas
Reidhead says, "The liberal says the end of religion is to make man happy while he is alive and the fundamentalist says the end of religion is to make man happy when he dies." Both have completely missed the point as both are completely human centered. We have missed God entirely. For further reference, here is Reidhead's most famous sermon, "Ten Shekels and a Shirt."
As we reflect on the Incarnation of Christ this Christmas, here is a question for us: Are we living for our happiness or for the glory of God? Is God a means to our happiness in life, or is He our great reward. The answer to that question is the difference between humanism and Christianity.
EDIT: After writing this post, I got curious about the two young men who sold themselves into slavery. What became of them?
I found out some interesting things. Their names were John Leonard Doper and David Nitschman. Nitschman actually had a wife and young children when he answered the call of God. They thought that they would never return home and that they would indeed, sell themselves into slavery. But, God had a different plan. What God wants from us is to be a yielded vessel.
Here is the rest of the story:
John Leonard Doper and David Nitschman inspired their generation and generations to come to lay down their lives for The Lamb. As it turned out, neither man had to actually sell himself into slavery. The Governor of the island would not have let them. His attitude towards the black slaves there was such that to allow a white man to be enslaved would have been too much for him.
The missionaries arrived in St. Thomas in December of 1732. At first, Nitschmann supported the two of them with his carpentry vocation, but he only stayed at St. Thomas for four months. Dober tried to make a living as a potter, but there wasn't any good clay to make pots. He did, however, get a job as the steward of the Governor's household, and later as a watchman, which allowed him to be closer to the slaves. By 1734, a contingent of 18 missionaries arrived to help out and to spread the missionary work to the neighboring islands of St. Croix, St. John and others.
Conditions for the missionaries were difficult, and many of the early missionaries died. In fact, Moravian missionaries leaving Europe to go to the Caribbean missions always took two things with them: A Bible and their own headstone. There isn't any rock to speak of on those islands, and the missionaries knew that most of them wouldn't come home. And yet, they went in droves! Talk about fully committed to God's work! Dober eventually went back to Europe as part of the administrative head of Moravian Church. Nitschmann returned to Hernhutt Germany, to his wife and children later becaming a Bishop, and led a group of Moravians to form a colony in America in what is now Georgia.
And here's an interesting tidbit: On the voyage over, their ship encountered a hurricane (February 5, 1736). As you can imagine, there was a great deal of panic onboard, except with the Moravian group led by Nitschmann. Instead, they sang hymns and were calm. One of the non-Moravians (an Anglican, actually) was very impressed by this. He stayed with the Moravians, and later studied with them in England. This was none other than John Wesley, who later went on to form the Methodist Church. Dober and Nitschmann's work was fruitful. Their mission field is now known as the Eastern West Indies Province. There are 52 Moravian congregations still running strongly today.
"That the Lamb may recieve the reward of His suffering!"
