TITLES
I have been a pastor at Shiloh Bible Church for eleven years. But my association with the church began long before that. My in-laws, Harold and Dorothy Wills, retired to the Bloomsburg area back in the 1980's and they started coming to Shiloh. And so when our family would come up from Washington to visit, we would attend Shiloh with them. We got to know Pastor Hummel and the people of the church. Larry was gracious enough to invite me to speak here on occasion.
It was during that time that I was teaching down at Washington Bible College with young Charlie Dyer who, of course, was raised in this church. Well, Charlie and I would eat lunch together every day, and he would tell me stories about growing up here in Bloomsburg. He even mentioned some of you in his stories—-which have helped me understand you considerably in my pastoral ministry!
Well, once I remember Charlie telling me about two people in the community that he knew as he was growing up. But he said he never knew their last names. That's because they were always referred to by their occupation. The first man was named Joe—-Joe the Barber. Charlie said for the longest time he didn't know the man's last name because he was always called Joe the Barber. He had a barber shop down on Old Berwick Road in Espy. Who am I referring to? That's right—Joe Deitrick. But Charlie only knew him as Joe the Barber.
The second man’s name was Dick. And Charlie didn't know his last name either. He delivered mail to the Dyer house and so he was simply referred to as Dick the Mailman. Do you know who I'm referring to? Our very own Dick Casey! But growing up Charlie never knew Dick's last name-—he was simply Dick the Mailman.
Now, many people probably wouldn’t mind being identified with their occupation-—Charlie the Truckdriver, Wade the Electrician, Brenda the Nurse, Chris the Teacher. And I guess that's not a bad way to be remembered. Unless, of course, you have a less than desirable occupation. Such is the case with a particular character in the Bible. We all know what she did for a living. Now, I'm going to say her name, and I want you to tell me her occupation: Rahab the... _______ Harlot). Interesting! We all identify her by her occupation—not simply Rahab, but Rahab the Harlot.
How would you like to be stuck with that title for the rest of your life? Rahab the Harlot. That's what she was, and that's what the Bible calls her. And even now, 3,000 years later, 3,000 years after her death, we still refer to her as Rahab the Harlot. But even though Rahab was a harlot, a prostitute, a madam, her name is recorded in Faith's Hall of Fame as someone who exhibited great trust in God.