Bible Lessons Worldwide Ministry

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.” - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

“Tell them to stand up for Jesus.” Those were the final words of a twenty-nine-year-old minister, Dudley Tyng, as he spoke from his deathbed to a group of sorrowing friends and fellow ministers.

A great citywide revival swept across Philadelphia in 1858. Some called it “the work of God in Philadelphia.” Of the participating ministers, none was more powerful than the Dudley Tyng, known as a bold and uncompromising preacher.

In addition to preaching at his own congregation, Tyng began holding noonday services at the downtown YMCA. Great crowds came to hear this dynamic young preacher. On Tuesday, March 30, 1858, over five thousand men gathered for a mass meeting to hear Tyng preach from Exodus 10:11, which says, “Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord” (KJV). Over one thousand of those men committed their lives to Christ. At one point in the sermon the young preacher shouted, “I must tell my Master's errand, and I would rather that this right arm were amputated at the trunk than that I should come short of my duty to you in delivering God’s message.”

A tragic irony occurred the following week. While visiting in the country and watching the operation of a corn threshing machine in a barn, the young preacher accidentally caught his loose sleeve between the cogs. His arm was lacerated severely, with the main artery severed, and the median nerve injured. As a result of shock and a great loss of blood, Tyng died four days later.

On the following Sunday, Tyng's close friend and fellow worker, George Duffield, who was also a preacher in Philadelphia, prepared his morning sermon as a tribute to his departed friend. He chose Ephesians 6:14 as his text: “Stand, therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.”

Mr. Duffield closed his sermon by reading a poem that he had just finished writing. He told his congregation that it had been inspired by the dying words of his esteemed friend. Soon the challenging words found their way into the hearts and hymnals of God’s people around the world, the now very well known song entitled, “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.”

Stand up, stand up for Jesus! Ye soldiers of the cross; lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss;
From victory unto victory His army shall He lead, till every foe is vanquished, for Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus! The trumpet call obey; forth to the mighty conflict in this His glorious day;
Ye that are men now serve Him against unnumbered foes; let courage rise with danger and strength to strength oppose.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus! Stand in His strength alone; the arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own;
Put on the gospel armor and watching unto prayer, where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.

The bad news is... we sin. But the good news is... by the blood of Jesus Christ and the wonderful grace of God, we can be continually cleansed and justified before our Father if indeed we keep walking in the light (1 John 1:7).

It really is good news, the best news ever! Jesus’ suffering and sacrificial death paid the price for our sins, and Jesus’ resurrection proved that God can give new life to us as well. Paul wrote about this glorious new life in Romans 6:4-6:

"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."

God wants to take that old person that is plagued by sin and worldliness and put it to death by burying it in the waters of baptism. Then, just as He did with Jesus, He wants to triumphantly raise us from the dead to walk in a whole new way of life!

But some of those folks in Rome had heard the message and had been baptized, but they kept on sinning willfully. They had heard about this new life, but, tragically, they were not living it! Instead of living that great new life of walking daily with the Lord, they continued to fill their lives with sin just as they had before they came to Christ.

Paul’s response to them in Romans 6:2 was this: “May it never be (God forbid)! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” In other words, what they did made no sense, and they were missing out on the wonderful new resurrected life God had planned for them.

Is it possible that what Paul had to say to those folks back then might also apply to some/many of us today? Is it possible that some of us need to repent and make a change?

If so, there is more good news. Not only did God wash you clean by the blood of the Lamb, He also put His Holy Spirit within you to give you the help and strength you need to live the Christian life He intends for you to live. Or as Peter said, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3).

Former Boston Red Sox’s first baseman Wade Boggs used to hate to go to Yankee Stadium. Not because of the Yankees – they never gave him that much trouble – but because of a fan. The guy had a box seat close to the field, and when the Red Sox were in town, he would torment Boggs by shouting obscenities and insults.

One day before the game, as Boggs was warming up, the fan began his typical routine, yelling, “Boggs, you stink!” and variations on that theme. Boggs decided he had had enough. He walked directly over to the man who was sitting in the stands with his friends, and said, “Hey, fella, are you the guy who is always yelling at me?” The man said, “Yeah, it’s me. What are you gonna do about it?” Wade took a new baseball out of his pocket, autographed it, tossed it to the man, and went back to the field to continue his pre-game routine. The man never yelled at Boggs again; in fact, he became one of Wade’s biggest fans at Yankee Stadium.

Probably all of us have had to deal at one time or another with folks who have treated us in an unkind way. Maybe your boss or a coworker frequently criticizes the way you do things. Maybe a family member puts you down for not living up to his/her expectations. Maybe a friend sometimes acts toward you in a less than friendly way.

So how do you respond? I think most of us might be inclined to answer that kind of ill treatment with a similar unkind response. But is that the best way to handle it? The Bible says in Proverbs 15:1, “A soft (gentle) answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Yes, our hurt feelings may tempt us to lash out in return, but doing so will only make things worse. Your work or family environment would be negatively affected by your negative response, and your friend may cease to be your friend.

May I suggest we do as Jesus would do? “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:21-23).

Ebert Hubbard, an American writer early in the 20th century, once wrote, “The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure contentious treatment without resentment.”

We can be better than others. We can treat others better than they treat us. Even when others do the wrong thing, we can strive to do the right thing. When others put down, we can build up. When others criticize, we can encourage. When other speak ill, we can speak well. When others follow the way of the world, we can follow the way of Jesus.

Someone once wrote the following about the town in which he lived…

We live in a nice part of the country. It’s a great place to bring up children. It’s a nice place to retire. People are friendly, and we have plenty of conveniences. The streets are safe. The economy is good. Still, upon reflection, I think we’d all agree that it’s not much like heaven. We have several things in our town that you’d never see in heaven.

Our town has a drug store, but heaven doesn’t. Here we have to deal with headaches, arthritis, and a million other pains. But there are no drug stores in heaven because nobody has any sickness! John wrote, “…neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).

Our town has a hospital, but heaven doesn’t. This time of year the hospitals are filled with the sick, but there will be no diseases or injuries in heaven. John said, “… the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Our town has a nursing home, but heaven doesn’t. We daily see the aging process in our loved ones and ourselves. Our skin wrinkles, our vision dims, our strength fails, our hearing goes, our energy wanes (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:3-7). But in that land there are no retirement homes and no nursing facilities. In heaven we receive new, incorruptible bodies (2 Corinthians 5:1-6).

Our town has a funeral home, but heaven doesn’t. Hardly a week goes by without some sadness mixed with our blessings. We face heartaches and heartbreaks far more frequently than would be our choice. We find ourselves visiting funeral homes to bid farewell to our loved ones. But the Bible says, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4).

Our town has a cemetery, but heaven doesn’t. There are no hillsides dotted with the markers of loved ones “across Jordan.” You won’t find silent cities of the dead in heaven, for no one ever dies there!

Our town has an adult video store, nightclubs, and places to gamble, but heaven does not. There are many places of temptation in our community. The devil and his workers have been busy (1 Peter 5:8), and their influence in seen all around. Oh, how we long for that time when no longer are we plagued by the pain and destruction of sin.

Our town has a jail, but heaven doesn’t. We live in a wicked society. Every night the news tells us about those who were robbed, r***d, assaulted, extorted, beaten, or killed the night before. We rush to fasten our windows, bolt our doors, and secure our homes. But there will be no bad news in heaven. The doors on those mansions have no dead bolts, the windows have no locks, and there are no burglar alarms. “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but only they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27).

Our town has security lights, but heaven doesn’t. Most businesses and many homeowners pay additional fees for street lamps, but in heaven “the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23). “There shall be no night there” (Revelation 21:25b), so there will be no street lamps, no nightlights, no candles, and no light switches.

Heaven sounds like a great place to live, doesn’t it? How wonderful it will be when we finally see our Lord face to face, and we get to enjoy the beautiful eternal home He has prepared for us!