THE MESSAGE

D a v i d   P a m   M c Q u e l

 

The work of the kingdom of God is basically done in words, but accompanied with actions. In we do only actions, lots of actions yet not accompanied by the gospel of salvation through Christ Jesus, we basically end up doing merely humanitarian acts that win the applause of the world and not necessarily noticed by God.

Every action we do must be tied to witnessing the love of Christ. If I do good works yet do not point the beneficiaries to Christ, they will end up praising me as a good man, hence the glory comes to me and not Christ.

Jesus in his last instructions said in Mark 16,
"15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 

16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

The work He left behind for them was preach with words. They were to tell the world about Jesus.

While the disciples where under apprenticeship, Jesus sent them on practicals in twos, and he said to them, "As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." Matthew 10:7,  8

The work began with preach. Preaching is speaking, declaring and proclaiming. It is the work of words. It is a message to be spoken.

Take note, they were not to heal the sick, cleanse the leprosy, drive out demons, FIRST. They were to preach FIRST. Then do good after. Doing good first before saying the message distracts attention from the Sender to the messenger. And the messenger is working for the Sender.

Doing good first erroneously gives glory to the messenger. Therefore, the message is void of power to change the heart of the sinner.

That is why Paul capitalized on the message and not him the messenger. He was really emphatic about it in 1Corinthians 2.
"1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power."

Let's take a look at Paul's theology here:
a. In verse 5, the goal for preaching and the best evidence of a well-delivered pure gospel message is that the faith of the adherents is fixed in God and not in the wisdom of any man. So the true test of success here is faith build on God's power.

b. Therefore, the delivery of such message as shown in verse four is through a demonstration of God's power rather than in wise and persuasive words. In other words, excellent grammar, charismatic enchantment and superior oratory does not equate appropriate and right delivery of the message.

c. In verse one, Paul by revelation and experience has concluded that one of the best abilities for communicating the gospel for maximum impact was not eloquence or superior wisdom as the Greek and Roman philosophers or the Pharisees of his day. Every messenger of God and every witness of Christ must understand this point, that your special self-gratifying abilities are not necessarily a requirements in preaching.

d. Paul then sharpened his focus, and it was "Christ and Him crucified." It was not only Christ he preached, 

but Christ was all he wanted to know in any circumstances. If we preach Christ alone, (that means, focusing on what He did for us in His sufferings, His death, His burial and resurrection) as the path to salvation, peace, safe and the hope of the life to come our message will have a lasting impact. 

e. Then he broke down his attitude: weakness, fear and much trembling. 

Wow!

We have all thought in preaching we should first be intellectually sound, theologically persuasive, biblically verse, grammaticality awesome and smartly dressed. 

Paul's ingredients for good delivery is fear, weakness and much trembling. But we  brag, speak arrogantly, materialistic and human-praise addicts.

Why was Paul appearing weak?
Because as human, he had the tendency to be proud, arrogant and selfish. We all do! And he didn't want any default in his human frailty bring into disrepute, hinder or corrupt the spotless truth about Jesus. He wanted the message to have unhindered influence.

Another example we see is in Acts 8, during the persecution inspired and executed by Saul of Tarsus.  The church was scattered.
"4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.

6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.

7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.

8 So there was great joy in that city.

Yet under such unimaginable persecution, Philip went down to Samaria.

And he preached CHRIST!

Look at the impact!

Look at the miracles!

Look at the transformation!!!

And everyone rejoiced at the work of God.

Today, what makes the church important is her message. If we lose our message, we compromise or blunt it, we become weak, non-impacting.

We need to get up and make is sharp.
It is time!