BLOG #6: YOUR TASK AS GOD’S MESSENGER (cont’d)

BLOG #6

PREACH AND TEACH TO CHANGE LIVES

Step 2:  CLARIFY YOUR TASK AS GOD’S MESSENGER (cont’d)

Our previous blog concluded with a promise to answer these questions:

·      Does God still call messengers today?

·      Does God still give His word directly to His messengers today?

·      How do we get God’s message from the Bible today?

Let’s review our diagram:

GOD’S WORD TODAY

At the bottom of our diagram you will see that the BIBLE (WORD OF GOD) serves as the foundation and source of all preaching and teaching today.  The Bible gives us the Word that God wants His messengers to deliver today.

And what is that Word?  That Word is summed up in the name CHRIST.  In other words, the main theme, the main Word, that God is communicating through the Bible is Christ.  This is what Christ Himself revealed after His resurrection.  Let’s read Luke 24:44-48:

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things.

Please note: The Old Testament Bible that Christ used was made up of three groups of books: the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.  The Law of Moses included the first five books of Moses also called the Torah.  The Psalms included what we usually describe as the poetical books today.  And the Prophets included the historical and prophetical books not included in the other two groups.  According to Christ, what was the main Word or theme of the Old Testament?  Christ.

How about the New Testament?  The apostle John summarizes for us the main Word or theme of the New Testament (John 20:30-31):

30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

John was primarily describing the contents of the Gospel, which he wrote, but we can take his description as also summarizing the main theme of the entire New Testament.  The main Word or theme that the New Testament, like the Old Testament, communicates is Christ.

It is true that the Old Testament prophets delivered messages from God that dealt with the historical situation of God’s people.  But over and beyond these historically relevant messages, there was the larger message and deeper meaning of the coming Christ.  In fact, Peter describes the struggle that Old Testament prophets went through as they sought to penetrate this larger message and deeper meaning (1 Peter 1:10-12):

10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

That larger message and deeper meaning in the Old Testament concerned Christ; it is that message and meaning that is now communicated clearly to us in the New Testament as the message of the Gospel.  Christ was God’s Word in the Old Testament and Christ is God’s Word in the New Testament today.

WHOM DOES GOD CALL TODAY

We are now ready to answer the question:  Whom does God call to deliver the message of the Gospel of Christ today?

We may confidently say that, as God called prophets in the Old Testament even so in the New Testament He still calls certain people to serve in special ministries today.  Ephesians 4:11-12 mentions these five special ministries: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

But let’s note very carefully that these five ministries are to equip the saints (all Christians) for the work of ministry, which means the edifying or building up of the body of Christ.  The whole body of Christ (all Christians) is called to ministry, and this ministry involves delivering the Word of the Gospel to the whole world (Matthew 28:18-20).

Not just any Christian can serve as apostle or prophet or evangelist or pastor or teacher.  But all Christians are called to be witnesses.  This is the task and the promise that Christ gave just before His ascension in Acts 1:8:

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

And this is exactly what happened in the early church.  When intense persecution (led by the fanatical Pharisee named Saul, who later became, by God’s grace, the apostle Paul) drove the believers from Jerusalem, what do we read about them in Acts 8:1-4?

1 Now Saul was consenting to his (Stephen’s) death.  At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. 4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.

Read verse 4 again:  Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word!  These were ordinary believers, mind you.  Remember, the apostles remained in Jerusalem; they seemed to have been given some kind of immunity.

Ordinary believers went everywhere preaching the Word.  What Word was that?  Let’s pick up the thread of the story in Acts 11:19-21:

19 Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

Some of the believers felt somehow that they were to preach only to Jews; others preached to the Hellenists or Greeks.  And what was the topic of their preaching?  The Lord Jesus.

In fact, the word translated in the NKJV as “preach” in Acts 8:4 and Acts 11:20 is EUAGGELIZO, which literally means “to proclaim the good news (Gospel)”, from which word we have the English words “evangelize” and “evangelist”.

Ordinary believers preached (proclaimed) the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  All Christians equally share in the privilege and responsibility of evangelism, although some may be called, over and above this basic duty, to serve as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

The Gospel of Christ is God’s Word or message for the world today.  And all Christians are called to preach the Gospel of Christ!  Let’s not wait for persecution to force us to take up this privilege and responsibility.

Not only that.  Christians are expected to grow to maturity in such a way that eventually they also become teachers of God’s Word!  Look at Hebrews 5:12:

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

To whom was this letter to the Hebrews written?  Not to specially called people but to ordinary church members, who were actually struggling with spiritual immaturity.  Yet in spite of their immaturity, they were being reminded and reprimanded for not coming up to God’s plan for them to attain a maturity that would equip them to be teachers of God’s word in their turn.

 Paul’s charge to Timothy adds further dimension to this ideal of the mature Christian.  Let’s read 2 Timothy 2:2:

2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Granted that this charge was given to Timothy, who had a special calling to serve as pastor and teacher, the principle seems to hold for all Christians: Pass on to others what you have received. 

The Navigators have made this as a foundational principle for their disciple-making ministry emphasis.  They call it the 2-2 PRINCIPLE OF SPIRITUAL MULTIPLICATION.  The implementation of this principle involves passing on something up to the fourth generation, as represented by these persons in the verse:

Generation 1: Paul

Generation 2: Timothy

Generation 3: Faithful men

Generation 4:  Others

SUMMARY

To summarize:

(1)  Today, all Christians are called by God to be His messengers.

(2)  The message God entrusts to Christians is the Gospel Message of Christ.  This is main Word or theme of the Bible, which serves as the foundation and source of all Christian preaching and teaching.

In our next blog we will take up the question:

·      How do we get God’s message from the Bible today?