UNHEARD AND UNKNOWN, ON EARTH...

Approximately 20 years ago, a concerned mother walked in to our church in Uruapan, Mexico, looking for my father to pray for her troubled son. My father, the pastor, gathered some of the elders to quickly pray for Jose Luis before the service started. The mother’s concerns were well founded. As soon as the praying began the demons possessing Jose Luis began to fight for his soul. To make little of Satan and to make much of Christ, Christ set him free and delivered him from all darkness and demonic control. Jesus saved Jose Luis that day from sin and death. Jesus became Lord and King over his life and all his possessions. Jose Luis was so transformed, thankful and filled with God’s love for him, that he informed his wife that he was going to give our church the piece of property that he owned. Now, our church was meeting on the rooftop of a women’s home at that time. We were outgrowing the size of the roof, not to mention that we regularly sat through violent thunderstorms. Needless to say, we were praying for a new home. This property was in the city, a prime location. God not only rescued a life, but through that life answered our prayer. Over time, Jose Luis’s wife came to Christ, as well as his children. He joyfully served the church and faithfully witnessed for Jesus in that city. Jose Luis died yesterday from cancer.

As I sit and reflect on his life, I am amazed at how God rescued one soul and through that rescue operation touched thousands of lives. It was through Jose Luis that we received the property on which we were able to build a new church and from there reach that city for Christ. The church still stands on that same piece of property and the Word of God continues to be preached, as every sermon is in a way the fruit of Jose Luis’s faithfulness and obedience to Christ.

You’ve never heard of him. You don’t know what he looks like. It doesn’t matter. The God of the universe chose him and saved him. He loved Him, a sinner. Our lives are unheard of and unknown to most of this world, but God has chosen us and saved us for His glorious purpose. His will is not something you can measure out or unfold to see all that He is doing or will do in you and through you. Our desire must be simply to be faithful to Him where we are and in whatever we do. You and I don’t know what kind of impact our lives will have on our family, friends, church, neighborhood, city, state, country or even the world. But I can guarantee you this: if you are not faithful with the little God has given you to do and thankful for what He is doing, your fruit will be minimal.

Here’s what I want written on my tombstone: “He was like a tree planted by streams of water that yielded its fruit in its season, and its leaf did not whither. In all that he did, he prospered.” (Psalm 1:3)

How do I want to prosper? Simply, in this way: I want to be faithful to love the God that loves me. I am convinced that to be faithful to God and to His Word and to be filled and empowered by His Spirit, will result in the bearing of fruit IN my life and in the bearing of fruit THROUGH my life. This He does for His glory, my joy and others good.

To help clarify what Christ does in us and, therefore, does expect from us, there is another unheard of and unknown man. His name is Archippus. He is mentioned two times in the Bible. We know that he probably worked in some manner with Paul in the ministry and that he might have been Philemon’s son. Yet, knowing as little as we do about who Archippus was and what he did, in these two verse two things are abundantly clear:

1. God had given Archippus a ministry. Paul says in Colossians 4:17, “See that you fulfill the ministry you have received in the Lord.” God had called him to be faithful in something, somewhere and with someone. When Jesus saved him, Jesus called him. Paul is encouraging him to complete the task, to run the race, to fight the fight. Paul is wanting him to take hold of that for which Jesus took hold of him. Paul is not asking Archippus to do something that he was unwilling to do. Paul knew what Archippus was going through and what he needed to make it through. Paul would die having devoted his life as a living sacrifice to His Savior. Those that die in their faithful service to God never fall short. They fully complete what God has given them to do. It may seem to us that their life was short or unfruitful. It may appear to us that they did nothing significant or with obvious results. But I am certain that God has spoken and that Jose Luis fulfilled the ministry he received from the Lord. Was it only to give the property to the church? Who knows! If it was, his obedience has led to the proclamation of the gospel to hundreds if not thousands of lives and has resulted in the salvation of multitudes of souls. I am certain that God spoke this same thing over Archippus. God spoke it over Paul. God will speak it over us. Whenever a faithful servant of Christ dies, I am convinced that God says to that servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have completed what I’ve given you to do.” This is hard to believe in the face of tragedy or a young one’s death, but God has established and knows the exact purpose we are to fulfill for His glory on earth and into eternity. We will do exactly that, nothing more and nothing less. Christ declares over each of His own, “My purpose is complete.” Be a Jose Luis. Be an Archippus. Know that you have received something to do: faithfully live your life for Christ.

2. God had equipped Archippus for ministry. In Philemon 2 Paul calls him, “our fellow soldier”. Archippus fought the fight of faith. He struggled and doubted I’m sure. He probably suffered like Paul. He may have questioned what he was doing and was it making any difference in anyone in anyway. Archippus would need to persevere and to endure and, like all those who are called, to put on the armor of God everyday. We do not live in a world at rest or at peace. We live in the midst of a never-ending war, a ferocious and incessant battle over the souls of men. Living for Christ is to live like Christ. If people hated Him, they will hate us. If Satan tempted Him, He will tempt us. If people betrayed Him, they will betray us. If people insulted Him, they will insult us. If Jesus had no where to lay His head, we may have no where to lay our head. The big question is: as a soldier, are you willing to give your life? God may ask you to do many things, to surrender many desires, to abandon many comforts? A soldier, Paul says, does not get entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. (2 Timothy 2:4). What is your aim? As a soldier, it must be to please the one who has enlisted us, who has saved us and called us to follow Him, and to complete the mission He has assigned us. God’s mission is not a worthless mission. Because God is completely worthy, all that He commands and desires and seeks and does is to uphold the worth of His name and to therefore bring Him glory. All that we are called to do serves the highest purpose that exists in the universe: God’s glory.

To be unheard of and unknown is for many undesirable. But we do not live for the glory of men. We live for the glory of God, which not coincidentally is to live for our joy! Our lives are not about us, at all. They are all about Him. Be faithful to the ministry he’s give you, whatever that might be right now. Serve Jesus. Be a soldier and aim to please Jesus as you follow His example and His Word. Love Jesus, for He has loved you.

We are not unheard of or unknown in heaven. There stands one on whose heart is written our names.