By Mark Proctor
Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia
Focal Passage: Proverbs 24:10-12; Mark 10:46-49
The day comes for us all, the day we have to take a stand. Scrawny little Ted Newton had to take a stand against school bus bullies in the 1992 classic movie Beethoven. When enough finally became enough, Ted stepped off the bus, turned to face his rivals, and raised his little miniature fists only to see his enemies cower with fear and retreat. His bravery worked. In the midst of his self-congratulations for his prowess, he failed to see his hulking dog Beethoven who had been standing behind him all along. The bullies saw Beethoven but little Ted didn’t. And the bullies fled.
Our previous studies in Joshua reminded us over and over the command of the Lord, “be strong and courageous.” Courage and strength are commands for the faithful not for personal gain but for the glory of God. The precious texts in today’s study give us a practical application of that courage: to “rescue those who are being taken away to death” and “… those who are stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11 ESV) and those who are cast away from society (Mark 10).
In the United States alone, over one million precious lives a year are lost to abortion — taken away to death. Are those to be rescued? What about the 3.5 million Americans who are legally blind or the 45 million Americans who live below the poverty line or the 18 million orphans in the world? Does it glorify God for believers to be strong and courageous as we step forward for these? For which of these did not Christ die on the cross?
We note clearly in our passage from Proverbs that God doesn’t call for a courageous stand only for those who are strong or smart (Proverbs 10, 12). He calls for a courageous stand for all those for whom Christ died.
Such is blind Bartemaeus in Mark 10. He was blind and in poverty. He had nothing to offer Christ but a loud voice and even that the crowd thought would be bothersome to Jesus. But two beautiful words spring from this passage: “Jesus stopped …” (Mark 10:49). The Son of the God of the universe stopped and heard the voice of a blind beggar.
Friends, Jesus stops for blind beggars. Jesus stops for unborn infants whose parents choose abortion. Jesus stops for those who stumble their way through life making one wrong decision after another. Jesus stops. And where does He stop? He stops and stands right behind the scrawny, weak little Christian who has the obedience and the guts to stand up in the face of the enemy! It’s not our strength, friends, with which we stand. Our job is to be courageous and to stand. It is the strength of the one who stands behind us that makes the enemy flee.
