Go and Tell Them

Jesus Christ had just been crucified on a cross by the people who hated him and wanted him dead. But this was the will of God that Jesus should die on that cross, for in his death he put our sins to death with him so that by genuine faith in him we might die with him to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 4:17-24; 1 Peter 2:24).

For Jesus didn’t stay dead. God the Father resurrected him from the dead on the third day. And for the next 40 days he appeared to his followers and to many other people, including to some of his disciples who were women, who were very dedicated to the Lord and to serving him with their lives.

“Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’—and that he had said these things to her.” (John 20:16-18 ESV)

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.’ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.’ (Matthew 28:5-10 ESV)

“’He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.’ And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.” (Luke 24:6-12 ESV)

Sometimes Jesus uses women to give his messages even to men. Another example of this is the woman at the well whom Jesus used to give the message of the gospel that Jesus gave to her to her own towns people, many of whom were men, so that they would seek out Jesus and turn from their sins and follow Jesus with their lives. And the Scriptures do speak of women who prophesied (proclaimed the messages of God to the people), and of how, in these last days, God is pouring out his Spirit on men and women and that they will prophesy, i.e. give out his messages to the people.

Now this has nothing to do with usurping authority over men. When these women followed the instructions of the angels and of the Lord Jesus to take the message of “He is risen!” to his male disciples, all they did was they obeyed the Lord Jesus, and they delivered the messages, but they had no authority over anyone to make anyone do anything. And this was at great personal risk to themselves that they might be rejected and not be believed, just because they are women. And that is still the case today. But we must make certain the messages are in line with and not against the Scriptures.

But whether we are male or female, we who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine faith are all to be the Lord’s servants and messengers in taking his messages to the people of the world and to the church, some of which is not the true church and/or is not operating as God intended for his church to function as the body of Christ. And we are to go wherever he sends us, and we are to say whatever he directs us to say, but in a proper (appropriate) order, and we are to leave the results to the Lord, like these women did. For it is the Holy Spirit’s job to persuade. We are to speak the truth.

And in the Christian culture we live in here in America today it is imperative to get the truth of God’s word to the people, via male or female messengers, i.e. via whoever is willing and obedient to the Lord and will risk rejection in order to tell the people the truth of what the Bible teaches, in context. For so many people serving as “pastors” in so many “churches” are not speaking the truth, but they are altering the truth to make it more acceptable and attractive to the ungodly and to human flesh. And this is because they want to “draw in large crowds of people from the world” into their gatherings.

And since so many of these charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing are telling them that faith in Jesus Christ requires no submission to Christ as Lord, no forsaking of their sins, no obedience to the Lord and to his commands, and no works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them, many professers of faith in Christ are living selfish and self-indulgent lifestyles, still walking in deliberate and habitual sin, sinking into sin, spiritually out of action, just living for self and for self-pleasure, and not for the Lord, and not in submission to him as Lord of their lives.

And so those of us who are following the Lord with our lives, and who are students of the Scriptures and those who are living in close walks of faith and fellowship with our Lord, whether we are male or female, we should be giving out the truth of God’s Word and of his gospel message, in context, in the manner in which Jesus taught it and that his NT apostles taught it. And that message is that Jesus died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Come, Thou Fount 

By Robert Robinson / John Wyeth

Come Thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount – I’m fixed upon it –

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Hitherto Thy love has blessed me

Thou has brought me to this place

And I know Thy hand will bring me

Safely home by Thy good grace

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O take and seal it;

Seal it for Thy courts above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylNnG5bxnsE

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