The Beaver Creek Baptist Church in Heath Springs has kicked off its 200th anniversary celebration. The commemoration will peak in August with homecoming. My father served this Moriah Baptist Association congregation as pastor from 1952-1953. We had just returned from Texas to South Carolina after my dad’s seminary graduation. Beaver Creek at that time was paired with Elgin Baptist Church in Lancaster. I was 10 years old.
KirklandBeaver Creek deserves a loud hallelujah for longevity alone and a fervent amen for its two centuries of service to the cause of Christ in its rural setting. It has been faithful to its Lord and to its mission since 1811, when Zachariah Ellis was called as its first pastor.
For me, it was a day for remembering. For them, it was the start of a year of remembering.
I was a little nervous about how the folks at Beaver Creek would remember me. At other churches where my dad was pastor, one dear lady admitted to the urge to pinch my head off. Another said she always viewed me as a spoiled brat. That was when I was younger, of course. Fortunately, I was remembered well at Beaver Creek. Maybe they were just being polite.
In the scripture I used that morning, the apostle Paul also was remembering. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul recalled an old friend who probably had died before the letter was written.
His name was Onesiphorus. He is an obscure New Testament figure, mentioned only twice, and both times in Second Timothy.
Paul wrote this letter to Timothy as the time for his death was drawing nearer. He knew his days were numbered. And in this “last will and testament,” he has words of encouragement and challenge to Timothy, a leader in the church at Ephesus. This church held a special place in the heart of Paul. He had spent three years ministering to the growing number of believers in that great city.
Onesiphorus, a Christian in Ephesus, also was near to Paul’s heart. “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus,” he wrote, “for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me … and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.”
Onesiphorus is not remembered for any great act of faith or service, as we usually determine greatness. The Bible does not mention the nature of his service to the believers in Ephesus. In Paul’s eyes, though, his friend did something vital to the apostle’s ministry: “He often refreshed me.”
The word “refreshed” is packed with meaning — to invigorate, to restore, to strengthen, to revive, to renew, to energize.
Paul’s request that God grant mercy to the entire household of Onesiphorus would indicate that the apostle spent profitable time in that home. In “The Message,” 2 Timothy 1:16 is translated, “Many’s the time I’ve been refreshed in that house.”
I can imagine some of the things Onesiphorus might have done for Paul and others. I am sure he often propped people up on their leaning side when they had lost their balance emotionally or spiritually and were in danger of falling. I am certain he gave countless pats on the back to many whose shoulders were bent low with the burdens and cares of life. And too many times to mention, he probably gave new heart — sometimes by his actions and often by his presence — to believers who were on the verge of losing heart, or perhaps already had lost heart.
One thing I hoped to leave with the believers at Beaver Creek: The church today needs Christians who are committed to the ministry of refreshment. Jesus said that even a bracing cup of cold water given in his name will never go unnoticed or unrewarded.
Even a cup of cold water? For sure. Most of us will never do great things for the cause of Christ, but we can — and must — be willing to do small things with great love. Sadly, some Christians, if they cannot do something great, will not do anything small.
Little things done in love can have big results, nonetheless.
I have been a baseball fan for most of my life. After our move from Texas back to South Carolina, I began to follow the Brooklyn Dodgers, the “Boys of Summer,” as they were described in a popular book.
In 1952, Jackie Robinson was well along in his ground-breaking career with the Dodgers. He was the first African-American to play major league baseball in the modern era. He and Pee Wee Reese had by then become a feared doubleplay combination for the Dodgers.
Robinson and Reese are remembered for many athletic accomplishments. Here is my favorite memory of Pee Wee Reese, though. One afternoon early in his career, Robinson made an error, and the fans at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn began to boo and then to jeer Robinson. Robinson stood at second base feeling humiliated. Not as much for the error as for the crowd’s response to it and to him personally. Without saying a word, Reese, a Southerner from Kentucky, walked over to second base and stood next to Robinson. Then, he put his arm around Robinson’s shoulder and turned toward the crowd. Ebbets Field suddenly became quiet. Robinson said later that Reese’s arm around his shoulder saved his career.
Our small acts of encouragement that refresh others may never save anybody’s career. But they certainly will make somebody’s day, and perhaps many days to come.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul said we ought to do good to everyone every time we have the opportunity, but “especially to those in the family of faith.”
One of my favorite hymns contains a prayer asking God to “refresh thy people on their toilsome way.” We should never forget that each of us has the responsibility and the privilege to be vessels of refreshment as we push forward together on a journey of faith that will lead us all home.
In a prayer at the end of my message on Jan. 9, I thanked the Lord for the faithful, godly, loving and supportive Christians at Beaver Creek Baptist Church, through whom God continues to work for the building of his kingdom on this earth. And I asked the Lord to lead them to make a commitment to the ministry of refreshment as a daily practice of their lives.
From what my wife and I experienced on that Sunday, I believe they already are committed to that needed ministry and do it well. My wife and I drove back to Greenville refreshed.