’ll Sleep by My Goats
by Pastor Kevin Sadler
by Pastor Kevin Sadler
Missionary Ben Anderson,
International Director at Things to Come Mission, taught a class and
shared at chapel time while I was a student at Berean Bible Institute.
At the end of his chapel time, he shared a story from a recent trip to
Indonesia. He told of a certain village where there was a church-planting
effort under way, in spite of the fact that the village was almost entirely
Muslim. One of the Indonesians, a recent convert, spoke with Ben and the
president of the Grace Bible Churches in Indonesia.
The man was poor, and without shoes,
estranged from family having trusted Christ, and he told Ben, “I want you to
have my house for the church.” They at first resisted and said, “But that’s
your house, where will you live?” The man said “I have a small goat pasture,
I’ll sleep by my goats.” They asked him, “But why would you do this? Why would you
give up your home?” The man replied, “Because Jesus died for me.”
“And walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweetsmelling savour” (Eph. 5:2).
No sacrifice is too great to make
for Christ who gave Himself for us. The Church is taught by God to “walk in
love.” God wants us to be devoted to pursue His selfless love in each step we
take in life.
We are to “walk in love, as
Christ also hath loved us.” Christ’s love is about sacrifice. In His love,
Christ willingly allowed Himself to be hit in the face over and over, to have
His back ripped raw in His scourging, to have a crown of thorns forced down on
His head, to be spit upon, mocked, and to be struck across the head with a
large stick. In His love, Christ was crucified for us, having nails driven
through His hands and feet. In His love, Christ faced the wrath of God against our
sins as our Substitute. He sacrificially took the punishment we deserved and
paid sin’s penalty for us so that we might be saved from our sins and live
eternally with Him.
Christ gave everything in His love
for us. As that love touches our hearts, we too should give ourselves and be
willing to give anything and everything for Him. To love as Christ loved us means
to be willing to make sacrifices for Him. We should, like this Indonesian
brother, be willing to give Him even our house and “sleep by the goats” if
necessary, because He died for us.
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