The ministry of Jesus is very unique in many ways. Not just because He is God, but because of its extraordinary harmony and effectiveness.
This ministry is one that started with not only illiterates, but ignorant men. They were not educated. They did not belong to the priesthood of Aaron, so concerning the Law, they were ignorant men.
None of them was idle. Everyone had to give up something. Some gave up generational occupation, some gave up their only means of livelihood most certainly, all gave up their families and the ambitions of youth.
It cost everyone something that defined them, to follow Jesus.
Another feature of this ministry was that there was no promise of renumeration. Jesus never promised any of his disciples wages or allowances. There was no payroll. It was an odd call. A call to work without a guarantee of financial benefit.
None of them was expecting a prestigious position or an award. The call was to give up everything and just follow.
They were all young, ambitious, with goals and personal pursuits. Here they were, to give it all away.
Matthew 4:18 "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him."
The odd things about this plan was the potentials for failure on both sides. Building an organization with illiterates and novices is not a good idea about something that will succeed. Been called from your youth to just follow a man who had no influence, no tract record and no collateral seems like the most risky venture.
The only guarantee was the power and presence of the Father on the ministry.
In fact, all the material and financial requirements for ministry today are contrary to how Jesus started and run His!
To make things worse, the 12 men Jesus prayerfully called where native and an uncivilized bunch of country men with attitude. They were proud, selfish and childish. There was a whole lot of attitude Jesus had to deal with daily.
The quarrelled, disagreed, tried to outsmart each other, tried to influenced Jesus, fought constantly for positions and hierarchy etc. Jesus had the task of grooming these raw supersensitive opinionated men into humble and spirit filled disciples.
Perhaps they most interesting thing was how Jesus addressed everyone in their own language. I'm not talking about ethnic branding but occupational language.
"...Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen. They were generational fishermen. From infancy the have understood nothing as much as fishing. They saw it daily, they ate fish daily and they envision their future in fishing.
Therefore, they could relate to what Jesus was saying, when he talked to them in fishing language.
On the contrary, in Mark 2 he saw Levi, the tax collector and he said, "14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him." NIV
Speaking to Levi, unlike the fishermen it was just an authoritative command. "Follow me!" Levi who is also known as Matthew was a tax collector, the must brutal officers of the law. In those days, you never cross a tax collectors path! They were dread.
The man understood authority, and Jesus spoke to him on these terms.
In like matter, He taught the parables of the sower to farmers, the parable of the talents to traders and business people and the good Samaritan to country men and women who walked the dusty hills of Judea and Samaria.
Today, we have to speak to the world, not bb professional borrowed languages but in languages familiar with ours with the unbeliever.
As we we share the gospel let's bear in mind that there is a language for every people. We must allow the holy Spirit to reach people in the best way he so chooses.
If your message is going to educators and students, make sure your grammar is polished and your basic understanding of Arts, Science and literature is above average. That's the language of scholars.
If you are sharing Christ with scientist, understand Psalm 8! Gods wonders in the world of physics, chemistry and biology.
If you are speaking to farmers, use the language of planting crops and rearing of animals to explain the gospel. And if You are speaking to politicians, understand that God is the ruler of the heavens and the earth, just, righteous and fair in his rulings.
As I wrote this, the Holy Spirit drop Paul's approach to the Araepagus in Athens in Acts 17:16 "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring."NIV
Paul walked around to understand the language of the people. He discovered they were very religious. They could understand when you speak about God. In fact, he pick the catch phrace of devotion on their altars, "To An Unknown God" became the key to reaching them.
It worked so well.
Finally, Paul's emphatic expression of his commitment to reaching the unreached is probably more important on this article today.
1Corinthians 9
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Is there a better way to put it?
David Pam McQuel
Comments
Post a Comment