So if you're loud, please do 2 Samuel 23, verse 8. 2 Samuel 23, verse 8. Tonight, we come back together for worship. Let's look again at the last part of Mark 7 and our study of Mark's gospel at 6 30. This morning, 2 Samuel 23, begin with verse 8. And this is the Word of God. These are the names of the mighty men that David had. Joseph had seven. He was chief of the three. He loaded a spear against 800 men to be killed at one time. Next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, son of Ahio. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about great victory that day, and the men returned after them all and were slain. Next to him was Shammah, the son of Ayi the Harite. Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils. And the men fled from the Philistines, but he took his stand in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and struck down the Philistines. And the Lord worked a great victory." Let's pray. Father, we're so grateful to you for your word. Father, it's true, it's certain, speaks to us here and now. Father, we thank you for the encouragement it gives to us, and we ask your spirit's help to grasp what you're saying to us here as we commit ourselves, Father, to go or to send, Father, into fields of grace. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. John Chapman was born in Massachusetts in 1774. His mother died when he was two, while giving birth to his sister. His father remarried, and 10 step-siblings followed. So that left sort of a crowded house, and John and one of his half-brothers left there in 1796, a time when New England farmers began to head west in great number looking for better soil and larger farms. The life on the frontier wasn't easy. Oftentimes the farmers had trouble finding clean drinking water. Their solution was making hard cider from apples. Now John saw this as an opportunity. He had a knack for sort of predicting where the next settlement would go, and he would get there and he would either buy inexpensive land or, better yet, he would plant some trees and stake a claim on land in anticipation of the next settlers. He did that across present day Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, even into Ontario. And what he would do was he would plant a nursery, he would build a fence around it, he would hire a caretaker, and then he would leave. And he'd come back every year or two to check on it. And the caretakers would sell the seeds and seedlings and then, of course, the apples. You see, John's apples had one purpose, and it wasn't to make pies or snack on. Farmers could only make hard cider from them. And so John's apples did not come from grafted trees, but he insisted on seedlings. And Henry David Thoreau once wrote about such seedlings. They were sour enough to set a squirrel's teeth on edge and make a blue jay scream. In fact, the apples that Chapman favored were small and tart and they were called spitters because that's what you did when you bit into one. But it made this very valuable for hard cider, a more valuable crop in those days than edible apples. actually up until Prohibition. If you were an apple, you had a better chance of ending up in a barrel of cider than you did getting eaten as a snack or for food. In rural areas, in fact, the cider took the place of beer, wine, coffee, tea, juice, even water. It enabled the farmers, though, to survive. And so the man today we call Johnny Appleseed's seed planting efforts helped sustain life, physical life on the American frontier. It also made him wealthy. He had some 1,200 acres scattered across that part of the country. Now, like Johnny Appleseed, We are to be planting seed. We're planters. But as important as these apples were for physical survival, we have a far more valuable seed because it's the gospel seed that provides for eternal life. So the question today on Commitment Sunday is, what's our involvement in planting eternal life-producing gospel seed in fields of grace? We get to what Paul says in just a moment. But he points out we all have different roles, but we all have a role to play. So where are we taking our stands in the fields of grace that surround us and stretch across the globe? Let's be clear from the outset. It's very possible, even probable, that some here today are called to go. When the invitation's given, you need to respond. You'll be praying what David Livingston prayed that Sue just sang. God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart, except the tie that binds my heart to yours. Some of you are praying about whether or not God is calling you. You need to keep praying. Some may yet be called. We all need to be open to that. Thing is, if we're not called, we are called to sin. So what's my role? What's your role? Let's go to the text and see. First, we're going to go to two other passages to look at cultivating fields of grace. Turn back to Leviticus 23, 22. Leviticus 23, 22. And when you reap the harvest of your field, you shall not reap right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. I am the Lord your God." Then over to Deuteronomy 24, 19. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheath in the field, you should not go back and get it. It should be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. So you're a farmer providing for your family. Now today, farmers do everything they can to maximize the harvest yield per acre. They did back then. But see, God built into the farmer's work, into his work ethic, his work habits, a way to be gracious, a way to give to people in need. So you would leave the crops growing along the sides of your fields or you'd leave what's growing in the corner for the poor to come in and harvest. Or as you went through the field, if you missed anything behind you and your workers, there would be the poor coming and they would pick it up and they would use that for their food. Like that's exactly what Ruth was doing in the fields of Boaz. She was poor, she was a sojourner, and she was picking up what the harvesters left behind. And so they were fields of grace, providing for the family, but also for those in need. Friends, we're to be cultivating fields of grace, making the gospel available. And it's a definite decision we've got to make just like the farmers in Israel. During the 45 years that John Chapman was active in planting trees, he's estimated to have spread almost 20 bushels of apple seeds. That doesn't sound like a lot until you figure there's 300,000 seeds in a bushel, and he planted all those. You can do the math. Now today, best we can determine, because of Prohibition, when they weren't around chopping down all the apple trees, only one of his trees is still alive. It's in Nova, Ohio, planted probably around 1830. Age has taken its toll. It stopped producing apples just a few years ago. But its branches taken from it have been grafted onto other trees, and in that sense, the tree's still giving life. Now, this church was planted 100 years after John Chapman's birth in 1874. And I wonder if the people envisioned that it would still be producing life 145 years later. See, our work habits, our life habits should be similar, looking for us to ways to cultivate fields of grace around us and around the world. As a church, together we want to be deliberately providing a context for people to hear and find the gospel. We want to be cultivating CMPC and Chestnut Mountain, Northeast Georgia, and the world as fields of grace. So what's our role? Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul writes this familiar passage. Verse 5, "'What then is Apollos, what is Paul, servants through whom you believe, does the Lord assign to each? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.'" All right, our task is to find what our place is in the fields of harvest. Like the farmer in Israel who gives part of his profit, that kind of cultivation is always going to cost us something. See, if we're called to go, it costs us giving up our attachment to this world, to where we are right now. And if we're not called to go, then we've got to give up our resources, we give up our money to send others, we give up our time to pray. Dr. Kim reminded us last weekend that the need to be kingdom-minded, the Lord's agenda comes before our agenda. His interest ahead of our own. We're to use His resources, He's entrusted to us, for the sake of His kingdom, His glory. So Paul's point is here, we all have different roles, but the key thing to the whole thing is not us. It's God who causes the increase. He brings the growth. Our role might be to plant, it might be to water, we're to be content, whatever that role is. Again, some are called to plant cross-culturally, like Paul. He went from place to place, all of them went to Spain. But some of us are called to water. In this context, sort of think of that, it'd be like providing support of those who do go, those who are sent. Baseball started this week, it's like stepping up to the plate and being the senders God calls us to be in whatever role God gives us. Stephen Day reminds us about this by pointing to Isaac Newton's contribution to history and science. Long before Johnny Appleseed, Newton was sitting under an apple tree, they say, one afternoon and supposedly a ripe apple fell from above him and hit him on the head and he discovered what? Law of gravity or some set of headache, but we don't know. One or the other. But he realized, if it wasn't for Edmund Halley, we might never have learned much from Newton. See, Halley's the one who challenged Newton to think through his work, his original notions. He corrected some of Newton's mathematical errors. In fact, he coaxed a very hesitant Newton to write his great work, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. He edited and supervised the publication of the work and even funded the first edition of the book, though Newton had more money than he did. Historians say it's one of the most selfless examples in the annals of science. And almost immediately, Isaac Newton began to receive the rewards of prominence while Halley received a little credit. In fact, the only reason Halley's name is committed to us at all is because they named that comet that comes to about once in your lifetime, every 76 years, after him. Here's what one biographer said about Halley. He said, he did not care who got the credit. His mission in life was to simply advance the cause of science. And shouldn't that be our approach? We don't care who gets the credit. We don't care what role God assigns to us. Rather, we just want to see the kingdom of God advanced. So we've got to be sure that we take our stand in fields of grace. 2 Samuel 23 summarizes David's kingdom in life. One of David's keys to success is the quality of the people who surrounded him. Thirty-seven men stood out, three in particular that we read about earlier. I want to focus on the third one, Shema. Again, what God said about him. Next to him was Shema, the son of Agi the Herorite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot. and defended it, and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory." David's 37 mighty men all had their different opportunities for valor in different places. Some became more famous, others stayed more obscure. All were prominent to some extent in their day. But the only one most of us remember is Bathsheba's husband, Uriah the Hittite, sort of like American presidents. You know, you could tell me a little bit about Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, but what would you tell me about Fillmore or Pierce or either one of the Harrisons? You know, we might be here a while. In introducing these three mighty, most prominent men, what the writer does is in typical style, gives an incident from each of their lives to show the most exceptional thing that they did. And so all three of these guys displayed tremendous physical strength. They had great courage. They were very loyal in their service to David. They were contented to stay in the shadow despite the remarkable abilities. They had great faith in the God of Israel. They truly believed that in their service to God, they were serving God as they served David. So what stands out about Shema? His greatest moment came on a farm in the middle of a patch of lentil beans. How would you like to be remembered for that? Where he struck down the Philistines when the rest of the Israelites ran in fear. You've heard us talk a lot about the Reed property and our desire to sell it as soon as possible, and please keep praying that we do that. You know, the four Reed siblings, Horace was the only brother. And accepting Horace's service in Europe during World War II, the Reeds evidently never left Georgia. They stayed faithful on the family farm in Oakwood. And that's where Horace Reed faithfully served the Lord. on the farm. He was a farmer all his life except during the war. He was a solid, strong man who worked hard his entire life. When I first met him when he was 74 years old, even at that time, he could work circles around me. And he was a good farmer. I don't know how many of you ever tasted his watermelon, or his yellow watermelon, even better, but you know that. Or his beans, or his peas, or his okra, tomatoes, strawberries, all good. And he took his stand on the farm, and he served God there, and he stood firm there as a man of integrity and faithfulness. A man who loved the land and who loved the Lord. And through his life, You see, the Lord brought about a great victory, even as He did through Shammah, who took His stand on a farm. God brings about the victory when we love Him and we serve Him in the place where He puts us. You say, well, what was the great victory that He brought about through Harsh? Well, you see, Harsh, like his sisters, was blessed with three outstanding gifts from God. One, made in the image of God, like God, very hard worker. God rewarded that. Two, he was absolutely contented with what he had and lived a very simple lifestyle. I can't emphasize how simple that lifestyle was. He had his overalls and he had a suit. Third, he had the gift of giving. He, whether it was giving land to the city of Oakwood, notice not selling it to them, giving land to them to build a road, whether it was sharing the bounty of their farm with their friends, whether those of you in Christmas caroling there know it was always having oranges ready to give you when you left, or whether it was in sacrificial giving to the ministry of the church. It was giving enabled by hard work. and enhanced by a very simple, contented lifestyle. He was faithful in being a channel for giving to others what God had entrusted to him, and really has given his impact to all of us who sit here right now. So when Horace died back in the summer of 99, this is the text that came to mind from 2 Samuel here. Because don't you love the picture? See the Philistines coming? See the Israelites running? See Shema taking his stand right there and he single-handedly takes on the Philistines as they come and he kills them all right in a bean patch, just like Horus. How did he do it? Notice what the writer says. He took his stand, he defended it, he struck the Philistines and what? And the Lord brought the victory. Friends, if we are faithful where the Lord puts us, with what the Lord entrusts to us, He will bring about the victory. You know, the history of the church is filled with the names of missionaries who took their stand as the Lord brought about the victory. Yet for every Paul or David Livingston, Hudson Taylor, Adam Armin and Judson, Amy Carmichael, Jim Elizabeth Elliott, Helen Rosevere, there are people like Doug and Doris Eager, or John and Margie Haynes, whom you've never heard of. We have famous missionaries across the years, but we have a whole lot more not-so-famous missionaries across the years. But see, it's not about fame. It's about faithfulness to God in fields of grace. It's people like the woman at the well in Samaria who goes to the city of Sychar and reaches it with the gospel. It's the one time demon possessed man who goes into the land of the Gadarenes with the gospel. We don't know what their names are. It's about people who give graciously and sacrificially like Lloyd Strickland did, well known across the PCA for his giving to missions. And like Horace Reed, not known by anybody outside of Chestnut Mountain. It's about people who pray faithfully and ferociously like Kennedy Smart. So what about us? How do we respond to God's Word today? First, who's called to go? We had four at the first service. If you're called, come and we give the invitation. Or if you're praying about going and are willing to go, if God's calling you or willing to stay and send, if He does not, Come, we'd still like to pray with you. Or maybe you think you know what God wants you to do with your life and you're open if God has different plans. Come and we can pray with you about that. And if we're not called to go, we'll be answering the question, the money that we'll give so that others can go. The sacrifice of our time to pray for others who go. We'll be filling out the cards in just a moment. Quite frankly, most of us in this play what's a very small role in the eyes of the world, but maybe there'll be a large role in the eyes of God. So I'm going to close with two stories, two challenges. Once there was a woman who loved her great king as did all the people of the kingdom, and they decided they would all present him with great gifts to show their deep affection, but all this woman had to give were two small coins. She felt so ashamed that she lined up with all the other subjects. It was her turn. She could not look into his face, but she just put the coins in his hand and looked down and kept on going. Then he called after her and said, was it you who gave me this? And in his hand were two pieces of gold covered in diamonds and pearls. She stared at him, no, I didn't give you those. And he said, take them back in your hands. And she did, and when she did, they turned back into coins, two coins. But she put them back into his hand and they became pieces of gold covered with diamonds and pearls. Thank you for the beautiful gift. I will treasure this forever. He took the gold and put them on a chain and wore it around his neck. He always thinks of her when he sees them. And whenever any poor man or woman, boy or girl is afraid to bring a little gift to him, he reminds them, these two glorious jewels were once two coins and they please me as much as any gift I've ever received. A person's gift is according to what they have, not according to what they do not have. See, as we said several weeks back, God values what we give that comes from our heart and is sacrificial, whether it's our money. or our time or our lives. There was once a missionary who was the son of a widow and he went out to West Africa to serve Christ. He was there not long when he died, was buried. His brother left at home, went to his mother and said, you know, mother, I want to go and take my brother's place. Off he went to Africa. Tragically, before long he became ill and he died and he was buried next to his brother. So the news reached home that she'd lost her second son and many from the church came to her to sympathize with her. She wept with them as she tried to, as they tried to comfort her. Then she said this, she said, you understand my tears. I'm not weeping because I have two dead sons in West Africa, but because I do not have a third son, I can send there. Friends, the fields of grace are ready. They're ready for us to harvest, ready for us to water, ready for us to plant. May God find us faithful. And so you have your cards, prayer card, faith promise card, and let's pray, and then we'll take a moment to fill those out, then we'll receive them. Father, we thank you so much for giving us the privilege to serve in fields of grace. Father, I pray for those here that you're calling. Father, those that are contemplating that call, those, Father, that are open to you calling them. Father, a change in direction. Father, work in their hearts even now, we pray. Father, those of us you call to send. Father, may you cause us to send sacrificially from the heart with our gifts. And Father, committed to giving our time in prayer for the ones who've gone. And this we ask in Jesus' name.