There was a time when I was surrounded by individuals who were willing to risk a considerable amount for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. We were young back then and naive enough to believe that God would protect and reward us in this life. And in case He didn't, we were prepared to do whatever it took, even if it meant our very last measure of life.
Sometimes, our decisions could be attributed to rash youthful choices; nevertheless, many of us persisted, standing firm in devotion and belief. Some more than others!
In the end, I made choices leading me away, even as I had help. Still, none of that changes the truth. God is still looking for people who will lay everything on the line for Him. While each of us has breath, the call will not change, even though the available choices will as we make each one.
Here is a poignant quote from brother Mitchell's sermon so many decades ago. It rings as true today as it did the night he delivered it to that eager crowd of dedicated men and women.
However, God calls you and I to stake our lives. The Bible says that Epaphroditus was just such a man. He staked his life, and this word is used in Philippians 2:25 by Paul to describe a man who was willing to risk(1) his life for the call of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It means a reckless courage that makes him ready to gamble with his life to serve God.
As a matter of fact, in the early church they had a group of people who were called 'The Gamblers.'[παραβολανοί or parabolani]These were people who visited jails and desperate criminals. These were people who ministered to those who had contagious diseases, and who were physically ill. They were people who went into such horrendous places to carry the Gospel, that they called these people 'The Gamblers.'
They were men exactly like Paul and Barnabas, who staked their lives. As a matter of fact, at one time in Carthage, Egypt, there was a terrible plague. The officials were throwing the bodies and the carcasses of those who were dying outside the wall, and not burying them at all.
Piplium, the overseer of the Church in Carthage, called the Christians together and rallied them to the task. The people of the church took the bodies of these diseased people and buried them. Then they began to minister to the sick and afflicted. History records that the city of Carthage was saved because Piplium and his group of gamblers risked their lives for the cause of Jesus Christ.
You see, The Gospel is a call to risk.
This was a mark of the early church. Mitchell did his best under the hand and Spirit of the Lord in him to recapture this drive and means of being a disciple. And while he and others made mistakes, the effort of them all poured into others like wildfire. For when they were and what they knew, they did extraordinarily well.
The question remains: Where are the risk-takers today? I know they are out there in the world and mission fields of 2023. Some of you reading these words are such people. You are risking everything, including your very lives for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven to love and rescue lives. What I am more interested in is the harvest fields of (so-called) westernized civilization. For example: Most American churches are docile, placid, timid, and safe. Again—where are the risk-takers?
From here to eternity
Politics and sports are not the primary venue of the Christian, certainly not to the called and not to the disciple of Jesus. In the eternity to come, only what was done to the rescuing of precious people from demon monsters of the Watchers will be remembered. All else will be forgotten.
Brother Mitchell quoted the poem below in his sermon, using it as a foundation to emphasize the universal call to Christ. He appealed to every man and woman present in that conference hall, affirming that they had all been equally called upon.
The act of pioneering and planting churches among a vast field of human harvest is, according to him, the greatest call that any human being can ever receive. He also considered those who lend their support and help construct the foundation from which the risk-taking gamblers can operate to be just as important, our shared legacy.
Where are the Risk-takers? The Gamblers of the final moments before Christ returns at the end of this Age of Grace and the Age of the Kingdom begins?
Generations have come and gone,
Drank the cup of life, then fled.
Made their eternal record,
Then joined the army of the dead.
They're gone, oh frightful words where,
Where have they quietly fled?
Gone from our sight and memories,
Are millions of forgotten dead.
Each tastes his favorite phantom,
In his respective age.
Carefully wrote life's sacred page,
Or in the Light of Eternity's stage.
Time is the momentous hour,
When eternal character is formed and adorned.
Like victors, ages have rolled
Their lusty centuries, un-mourned.
Along through the visit of time,
Til now it is yours and mine.
The awful hour has come when
It's your turn to live, and mine.
My time, oh dreadful thought!
My moment to live, my time to act.
Great God, in this stupendous hour,
Infinite inspiration, please impact.
Shall I in this fearful hour,
Break then, the fantastic spell?
Or, with the reckless millions,
Will my burden Heaven or Hell?
And the volition of my will,
I can reach the realms of light.
Or I can forge infernal caves,
To bind me in eternal night.
I bless dues of mortal sword,
And my way too, effects another.
It may turn his scale of destiny,
In this life, and in the other.
Then awake, awake, awake!
It's my battlefield, my time.
I win today or lose forever,
My fate is fixed, beyond repeat's chime.
"I win today or lose forever" — I can clearly see how this was one of his favorite poems of all. Built within these words is the heart of a man I remember from afar, but others knew up close. As the Lord is finally able to grow me up, I am reconnecting with this clear and wild-eyed call. What does a worn out, nearly expended, sixty-year old man do? He obeys Christ in the time that remains.
My most earnest prayer is that you do as well!
NOTES
1 Regarding quote from Pastor Mitchell on "The Gamblers".
- Epaphroditus 1 was a risk-taker who devoted himself to the work of Christ as Paul's envoy and assistant. He became ill and almost died while serving Paul in prison (Philippians 2:25-30) ².
- The word "risk" (παραβολεύομαι) in Philippians 2:30 was indeed a gambler's word that meant rolling the dice or exposing oneself to danger. It was also used to describe the members of a brotherhood called the parabolani, who voluntarily cared for the sick and the dead during plagues and epidemics, risking their lives for the sake of Christ ¹, ³.
- Epaphroditus traveled from Philippi to Rome, which was about 800 miles by land and sea. The journey would have been rigorous and dangerous, especially for someone who may have been already sick. It would have taken him about six weeks to reach Rome, assuming he traveled about 20 miles per day .
Source: Conversation with Bing, 10/2/2023
(1) Epaphroditus - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epaphroditus.
(2) Parabalani - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabalani.
(3) William Barclay: Epaphroditus the gambler – Generosity Monk. https://generositymonk.com/2018/10/26/william-barclay-epaphroditus-the-gambler/.