Reader: This article was included as my Templar Times Grand Editeur piece in the October issue of the Times. It is so important to Temple Church, I am taking the liberty of reposting it here in the “Battlefield Report,” just in case you missed the Templar Times version. After prayer and deliberation, it seemed like the right thing to do!
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Yes, it is true, my fellow Templar. If you have taken the solemn Oath and have been touched with the sword of the accolade, then you have been instilled with a remarkable superpower – one that you should certainly be aware of and use with all liberality. It is a true superpower in every sense, and it has the potential to change many lives and transform them for the remainder of their rugged sojourns on this planet.
So, what exactly is our superpower? Your quite extraordinary superpower as a Templar is… “showing up.”
Before you belittle, instantly discount this truth, and exit stage right, at least give me a few lines more. It is genuinely to your advantage to hear this.
Showing up is as deeply serious as any of life’s truths, with deeply profound consequences, both negative or positive.
- If someone doesn’t show up at their job, they soon become jobless and can potentially eventually lose everything.
- If a spouse doesn’t show up emotionally for their partner, they get to pay a divorce lawyer.
- If a parent doesn’t show up physically or emotionally for their child, they estrange the very best part of themselves, often forever.
- If a military professional doesn’t show up for duty, they face a court-martial. And if they fail to show up in time of war, they are executed by firing squad.
- If anyone fails for any reason to show up for God, the consequences are truly unthinkable.
These examples are the seriously negative illustrations of not showing up. But the opposite side of these cases is equally powerful in reverse for the immediate and ultimate benefit of the Templar and many others.
Unfortunately, failure to show up for Templar duty is often held by some as a “right.” Since it’s a “volunteer duty,” they get to call the showing-up shots as they please. Besides, who’s going to care? Does one empty seat really matter?
One of Claudia’s and my pastors, Dr. Larry Thompson, once preached what was to me a life-altering lesson he called, “The Ministry of Attendance.” No matter what your God-given talents, or the level of your bank account, or the degree of your sparkling personality, the absence of your attendance leaves an empty hole that literally no one else can fill. The fellowship is diminished by the inestimable value of your worth to others: the one-on-one prayer with a hurting brother or sister; the encouragement of literally everyone around you; the gift of corporate prayer; and just your kind face, accepting smile, and simple words of life and reassurance that you may freely offer by your ministry of attendance. All these can, and will, change lives and allow many to heal from the damage inflicted on every Christ-follower by the spiritual wars always raging around all of us day after day.
Showing up as a Templar is a ministry of the Kingdom of God. When we slide on our trousers or skirts (girding our loins) and head out to do Kingdom work, we fulfill a parable of Jesus, and we are promised that He notices… every single time. The following passage describes those who show up for Kingdom Duty:
“Then the King (Jesus) will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” (Matthew 25:34-40)
The words spoken by Jesus in the subsequent verses (v.41-46) are so powerful and chilling that I will let you read them for yourself. The Lord Master begins His pronouncement of eternal judgment on those who rarely showed up for Kingdom duty with, “Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire…”
Yet, here is what happens in such a spectacular way when you show up for duty as a Templar Knight or Dame driven by our Oath, which you vowed before God and man:
First, there is the blessing of your inestimable worth to others directly in the Templar assembly: the one-on-one prayer with a hurting brother or sister; the encouragement of literally everyone around you; the gift of corporate prayer; and just your kind face, accepting smile, and simple words of life and reassurance that you may freely offer by your ministry of attendance. All these can, and will, change lives and allow many to heal from the damage inflicted on every Christ-follower by the spiritual wars always raging around all of us day after day.
Second, there is the power of your charity to all those Christ-following “strangers” – those brothers and sisters you have never met. Said the Apostle John about this kind of charity, “Beloved, it is a fine and faithful work that you are doing when you give any service to the Christian brethren, and especially when they are strangers.” (3 John 1:5 AMP)
Think about Jesus’ very solemn words to each of us concerning His view of showing up for Kingdom Work and why it is so eternally significant and totally worth His attention while you work, doing His will for others.
When a Templar shows up, that downstream action ultimately means that a family living in the Holy Land, whom you may never meet this side of Glory, will sleep easier, will feel encouraged every day – because of you – as they contend with a world outside that does not want them to live in the Holy Land at all, will have better food to eat each day, and perhaps even live in a better place. On this very night, a mom and a dad have the weight of their precious child’s future lifted just because you showed up for duty. Your scholarship support enables them to spend their terribly meager income on food and housing without suffering over trying to also provide their child with a life-enhancing education they can barely afford.
Together, the combined efforts of all of us ensure that Christ-followers remain safely and productively an inseparable part of the land where Jesus lived and walked. Most assuredly, they will never know who you are, never know your name, never see your eyes, or feel your physical touch of love.
But Jesus will absolutely notice, just as He has promised.
He knows your heart. He knows that to you, the word “charity” is synonymous with “love for strangers” – those other believers in the family of God you will never physically meet. He knows that showing up for Templar duty is not about you at all, but all about Him. It is all about serving Christ by selflessly caring for God’s children, and sharing what God has given you to pass along what they need to make their journey a little easier.
Because you love them.
Because you love Him.