Bible Studies for Life Series for February 17: The Messenger

Posted: 2/11/08

Bible Studies for Life Series for February 17

The Messenger

• Luke10:1-12,16

By Steve Dominy

First Baptist Church, Gatesville

Christianity is not rocket science, the basics of the faith and the outworking of that faith are not that hard to figure out. Jesus makes it pretty clear that his followers are to continue his work in this world. The hard part comes in the actual doing of his work in his world. It is one thing to know what we need to do, it is another thing entirely to be obedient to who Jesus calls us to be and what Jesus calls us to do. One of the most difficult things that Jesus calls us to do is to “be my witnesses,” but there is no way working ourselves out of it.

This statement may seem overly obvious, but the first step in acting as a witness is to have witnessed something in the first place. John says in 1 John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the word of life.” This is not something that they have made up, but is what they know first hand. The same is true of us, we speak of the one who has saved us and is at work in our lives conforming us to his image.

One of the distinctions that we need to make about the Christian life is that it is personal, not private. What Christ has done in our lives is intensely personal, if it is not then we need to examine our commitment to Christ. Because it is personal, it can be intensely difficult to share what Christ has done publicly. But that is what Christ calls us to do, if we do not bear witness to the work of Christ in our lives and in his world then God’s work in us becomes private, and we give ourselves permission to keep it to ourselves.

If we are ever to witness effectively then we must recognize the need of the world around us. A friend of mine recently said that he had the answer to all the world’s problems. He went on to admit that was a pretty arrogant statement, but it is an accurate statement; in Jesus we have the answer to all the world’s problems. But do we really believe that enough to act on it? Does Jesus really transform us into newness of life? Do we see those around us and recognize their greatest need as Jesus? If we never recognize the need we will never act on it.

As I sat in my office one day I wondered how many lost people there were in our town. One of the difficulties of ministry here is that we have fourteen churches on Main Street alone, you would think that the town was saturated with Christians, but that is not the case. I made a list that day of all the people that I knew were not believers and if I was not sure, then I at least knew that they did not attend church anywhere. Off the top of my head I came up with eighty-five people. I took the top five of the list and began to pray for them each day. After a little while three of them were baptized and the other two became faithful in church again. I tell you all of this to make the point that salvation is God’s work.

I think that is one of the points that Jesus was making here as well. When Jesus told his disciples not to carry a money-bag, traveling bag or sandals he was not allowing them to rely on their own strength but on God’s. If we are incapable of saving ourselves how in the world can we save anyone else? The answer is that we can’t, but we can bear witness to the God who not only can save but desires to save. Salvation is God’s work, it is not all on our shoulders, doing God’s work means relying on God’s power to complete it. Our work is to live faithfully following Christ and bearing witness to the reality of his work.

Even when we realize that we are being faithful and participating in God’s work it is hard to be rejected. After a hunting trip with some friends we decided to have a party to eat doves and play forty-two. I was the only single guy in the group and was informed that if I did not bring a date I could not come. The first girl I asked came up with excuse after excuse, she might as well have told me she had to wash her hair that night for all the validity of her excuses! If I had let all the rejections keep me from asking I would still be single today. That is the case with our witness as well, there are those who will reject us and the message we bring. Jesus lets his disciples know that when they are rejected, he also is rejected. Not only is he rejected, the one who sent him is rejected as well. We are not trying to win the approval of those to whom we witness, we bear witness to the Christ who saves because it pleases him. One of the verses I have relied on recently is Galatians 1:10, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I still trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Will we please Christ with our obedience to him as we bear witness to him?