Christian leaders need to emulate Paul and make their points boldly. No one spoke more emphatically than Jesus. He would start by saying, "It is written," and conclude with, "but I say unto you." Jesus and Paul, his apostle, spoke with great authority. It is a pity religious leaders are not equally forthright on matters pertaining to the gospel.
(2) A priest. ... because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of the Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
I very much dislike church leaders being called priests. They do not officiate at a sacrifice when communion is celebrated. Christians remember the sacrifice Jesus made when they partake of the bread and the wine. In the New Testament Christian leaders are called apostles, elders and deacons.
I have claimed in the course of these expositions that nowhere in the New Testament are Christian leaders referred to as priests. So imagine my surprise when I found Paul likening himself to a priest in his role as minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. His priestly duty was to present the Gentile converts as an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The Gentile converts, the fruits of Paul's ministry, were a thank offering to God.
So we can fulfil a priestly function if we have been used to bring men and women to Jesus for salvation. We will not be able to make an offering on the same scale as Paul! But if we have played a small part in the salvation of just one that is an acceptable offering to God. I am glad that four have come to faith through my ministry. It makes my life worth the living.
Paul's offering was conditional upon:
- His appointment by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. The apostle was like Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel and David - a man specially chosen and equipped for a supremely important task. Very few Christians are called to be like Paul; we shall, however, be equipped for whatever task God wants us to do.
- His proclamation of the gospel and the Gentiles acceptance of it. It is amazing that when Paul preached Christ and him crucified to the Gentiles, both Greeks and barbarians, slaves and free responded to it. Even Paul wondered how he would get on in Corinth. He was apprehensive about preaching the gospel there. But: One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no-one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." Acts18v9. See exposition on Acts18v1to11.
Jesus knew that the gospel would produce tremendous results among the Gentiles. He told his disciples after dealing with the Samaritan woman that the fields were white unto harvest and that they would reap the benefits of work done by others. If we did but know it many contributed to the amazing success of Paul's ministry.
All over the world wonderful harvests are still being gathered in. Men and women are able to present the fruit of their labour - many, many souls redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb - as an acceptable offering to God.
- The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives new life to believers. The Spirit enlightens, imparts a hunger for God's word, empowers for service and reinforces the obligation to obey Christ's teaching.
What an offering Paul brought to God: a blood bought people, devotees of God's own son, transformed by the indwelling Spirit and abounding in good works. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good work. Eph2v10.
If all those church leaders who call themselves priest had an offering like Paul to present to God they would, indeed, be living up to the name. But do they? The fact is that many who never dream of calling themselves priests are able to make an offering of those they have brought to the Lord. They are the true priests!
(3) An instrument. Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit.
Paul was Christ's instrument or tool to make the Gentiles obedient to God through his powerful ministry of word and deed. The Holy Spirit was the secret of Paul's effectiveness.
An effective tool has certain characteristics. It is:
- Readily available. It isn't hidden away in some dark corner gathering dust. There are too many Christians skulking in dusty corners. They need a good blast of the Holy Spirit to blow all the dust away and get them ready to be useful.
- Well maintained. Certain tools like a pair of shears need to be sharpened, oiled and tightened. There is nothing worse than chopping wood with a blunt axe or cutting a hedge with rusty shears. Christians need maintenance. Prayer, Bible study and meditation will keep us sharp and efficient.
- In frequent use. Nicolo Paganina (1782-1840) the great Italian violinist, willed his fine instrument to his home city of Genoa. His bequest carried one condition. The violin was never to be played; it would simply be placed on display. But that's not good for a finely crafted stringed instrument. It needs to be used and handled regularly if its beauty and value are to be retained. As a result of Paganini's request, his marvelous violin has become nothing more than a disintegrating object. It has wasted away as a museum piece.
Christians should not be museum pieces. The more God uses us the better instruments we shall become. We need to be in constant use otherwise we, like Paganina's violin, will deteriorate. The apostle Paul never lost his cutting edge. He was zealous to the end - as was another great evangelist, John Wesley. Wesley like to say, "Get on fire for God and men will come to see you burn."
- Fit for purpose. In other words it is just right for the job it is doing. Whenever I change a plug I always have a job stripping the plastic off the wires to expose the copper beneath. I use a pair of scissors and pliers and make a proper mess of it. My friend, Dennis Fisher, an electrician, has just the right tool for the job. I can recall once trying to knock in some stakes with the back of an axe the head of which was loose!! It was a poor substitute for a mallet.
Paul was a superb tool for the task Jesus had in hand - the evangelisation of the Gentiles. The Master has a first class instrument case full of high quality little tools waiting and ready to do all the various jobs he requires of them. I can remember a couple of spinster sisters taking an elderly retired pastor into their home and caring for him. That was the special task Jesus had for them. My old friend John Skull was skipper of a Christian camp for boys and girls for 25 years. That was a role in which he was a great blessing. And so I could go on!
(4) A herald. So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
It didn't matter in what circumstance Paul found himself he always managed to make the gospel of Christ fully known. He did so:
- At a river side ladies meeting in Philippi.
- To the inmates of the Philippi lockup.
- To the academics of Athens.
- To his fellow leather workers in every city he visited.
- At his several trials before Felix, Festus and Aggrippa.
- On his voyage to Rome - in fair weather and in foul.
- In Malta where he was shipwrecked.
- In chains.
There are have been others like Paul. John Wesley never passed up an opportunity of challenging a person with the gospel. This is where we are lacking today. To be an effective herald you need:
- A strong commitment to your employer.
- Confidence in your message.
- The courage of your convictions
- Faith that your message will be heeded.
So where are we lacking today? Speaking for myself, I lack faith that the message will be heeded. Whenever I conduct a funeral I always confront those who attend with the words of Jesus: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. Jn3v36. Many non-believers attend the funerals I conduct - as far as I know no one has been converted yet!
Even Jesus gave up on the population of Nazareth, his home village, for their lack of faith! Poor old Jeremiah proclaimed God's message but he got increasingly despondent at the people's reluctance to accept it.
Paul was successful - most of us are not! This is bound to have a de-motivating effect. Yet we are obliged to keep on witnessing. Who knows when the tide will turn and men and women will start responding positively to the gospel.
(5) A pioneer. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation ..... . This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
When the tide of settlement swept west across America there were some settlers who kept moving on - into virgin forest and then virgin grassland. Whenever the advancing tide caught up with them and overtook them they moved again. To be a pioneer certain qualities are necessary:
- A spirit of adventure. Pioneers venture into the unknown and consequently take risks. Conditions changed as the frontier advanced across America. Hostile native Indians were encountered.
- Courage. Settlers in the virgin forest and grassland of America faced many difficulties and dangers and often did so alone. Indian attacks and the lack of law and order made life hazardous.
- Resourcefulness. Settlers had to make do and mend. One of the charms of Laura Wilder's book, 'Little House on the Prairie,' are the descriptions of how her father built a log cabin, made furniture, dug a well, hunted for game and grew crops.
- Adaptability. When the settlers in America moved out of the woodland and into the grassland they needed to change their farming methods. What worked in the woods didn't work well on the drier grasslands. New inventions were needed like the sod-busting plough and barbed wire.
Paul needed all these qualities in order to go with the gospel where none had gone before. He needed a spirit of adventure to heed the Macedonian call and venture into Europe to preach Christ and him crucified. The apostle showed great courage in speaking out in spite of murderous opposition from the Jews. He showed immense resourcefulness in making Christ known to the Philippian jailer, all those who attended his trials, his fellow travellers in the storm off Malta and the soldiers to whom he was chained in Rome. Finally, Paul was adaptable - willing to be all things to all men that he might win some for Christ.
Equally all these qualities are needed to reach new people with the gospel. Whenever in the past missionaries pushed into areas where Jesus wasn't known they needed to be adventurous, courageous, resourceful and adaptable.
It goes without saying that not everyone is going to be a pioneer. When the frontier moved west in America most farmers needed to stop put to work the land reclaimed from forest and grassland. They consolidated the gains made by the pioneers and made sure the land continued to yield a harvest. They also brought stability, law and order and social cohesion.
Paul depended upon others to build on the foundation he had established. Today much valuable work continues in churches that have been in existence for hundreds of years. Indeed this is the norm - and should not be despised. The tragedy is that many churches, just like some of the frontier farms, have been mismanaged and are going out of business.
So what are the inducements of being a Pioneer:
- It is exciting to take on the challenge of venturing into new areas.
- It is satisfying to occupy virgin forest just as it is strangely agreeable to be the first to walk over a snow covered lawn. We all like to be the first to leave our footprints in the snow.
- Freedom. The settlers on the frontier were free from restraints. There was no one to tell them what to do. They were free to experiment, to fail or succeed.
- You don't inherit the mistakes of others. No one has been before to exhaust the soils or to introduce pests and weeds. The pioneer farmer gets the benefit of fertile soils.
Paul and other missionaries have been strongly motivated by these inducements. I'm not sure they are especially worthy motivations. There is a tendency today for go-a-head pastors or evangelists to start new churches where there are already several in existence. They prefer to found a new church for some of the reasons above rather than work with pre-existing churches.
However, the church still needs those with a pioneering spirit. In Britain there is the need to reclaim lost ground. There are large tracts of England with no effective witness.
We also need those who stop put and maintain continuity of witness in a place. The biggest need is for faithful, conscientious and enterprising Christian workers to give a life-time's service to their local church. Many farmers in Britain inherit good, productive land. They have an obligation to be good stewards of what they have inherited and to ensure their farms remain productive and in top condition.
It is very sad when land goes out of production. This happened in the Great Plains of the USA. The pioneers made too many mistakes and the soil blew away. Pioneering missionaries have through the years made mistakes and hindered the spread of the gospel. It is also tragic when long established farms go out of business due to many years of bad management. In Britain thousands of local churches have closed. There just hasn't been enough committed and gifted people to keep them open. It is easier to restore a clapped out farm to productivity than it is a knackered church.
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