Isn’t it great to see what God does in the lives of people through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!
That is the statement I made last Sunday after Russ Dean, our missions outreach pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, baptized four people, including a young married couple. It is always so encouraging to see people following Jess’ example, participating in this act of obedience to demonstrate to all that they are followers of Christ.
As Russ noted, baptism is a beautiful depiction of what Christ has done for us through His death, burial and wondrous resurrection. Russ noted that these folks’ baptisms are a way of saying, “Sin no longer has dominion over me, but Jesus Christ has dominion over me.”
It’s wonderful for me to have men like Russ and so many others working with me at our church. You know, when you watch NFL games on TV, announcers frequently point out how the offensive line, which gets little credit for a team’s success, is responsible for clearing holes for the star running backs to fire through. Without those men blocking, the efforts of even the greatest running backs would be futile.
That is the case in our churches too. As the senior pastor, I tend to get the attention. But the truth is that I have been so blessed to be surrounded by godly, wise and generous people who tirelessly work behind the scenes to ensure that we are glorifying God in all that we do.
Remember in Exodus 17:12 when Israel was in battle with Amalek and for as long as Moses kept his rod held high, his soldiers would fight well. But when his arms grew tired and he lowered the rod, the men struggled in battle? We then read this great verse:
“But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun” (KJV).
Aaron and Hur were the equivalent of the offensive line that day. They did the work that was largely unseen so that Moses could lead the people to victory. In addition, we see in this chapter that Moses ordered Joshua to pick the best men to fight this battle. The Liberty Bible Commentary tells us that this is the first mention of Joshua in Scripture, “though he must have been an important aide to Moses prior to this call for public service.”
Moses had a great team. They were not looking for glory or notoriety, but rather wanted to serve the people and help Moses please God and do His will.
Our churches need people like this today. Our nation and our world are in trouble and we need our Bible-believing churches to be functioning well as we call people in our communities to the fullness of life in Jesus Christ. If our churches are involved in infighting and bickering, we have no power in our communities.
Yes, we need some men like Moses to be at the forefront of ministries, but we really need small group leaders, Bible teachers, deacons, visitation pastors, counselors, choir directors, youth workers — just a bunch of people who love to serve the Master — to be humble, active and joyful workers as we labor together to reach people with the saving message of the Gospel.