“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am supplementing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions in behalf of His body, which is the church. I was made a minister of this church according to the commission from God granted to me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ. For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power which works mightily within me.” (Colossians 1:24-29 NASB)
All of us who are of genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded
faith in Jesus Christ are called of God to proclaim (preach, teach, share) the
message of the gospel of our salvation with the people of the world. So this
isn’t just for preachers and teachers and missionaries, etc. but this is for
all of us who, by faith in Jesus Christ, have died with him to sin, and who are
now living to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his will
and to his purpose for our lives, and to his commands. We are to be sharing
Jesus!
Nonetheless, if we
are the faithful in Christ Jesus who are taking this call upon our lives
seriously, and so we are in the practice of sharing the truth of the gospel of
Christ with others, then if what we are sharing (teaching, preaching) is of
God, and if it is what the Scriptures teach as the gospel message, in full, in
context, then we should also be expecting to be treated as Jesus was treated,
and as Paul and the other New Testament apostles were treated when they were
sharing the truth and were refuting the lies.
Now, some of us God
has called to do this full-time, yet not all of us in official positions of
pastor/teacher, or as missionaries, or as Bible college instructors, etc., but
some of us just as ordinary everyday followers of Jesus Christ who love him and
who want to obey him and to serve him with our lives. And this is God’s calling
on my life to write down what he is teaching me from his word each day, and to
post these writings on the internet so that a herald may “run with it,” the
title of my blog (runwithit.blog).
And, yes, we need to
be those who “fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,” for so many
people today are diluting and altering and cutting short the gospel message in
order to appease human flesh, and in order to not offend the ungodly of the
world. And so they are teaching that a mere profession of faith in Jesus
assures them forgiveness of all sins and a guarantee of heaven when they die,
as their eternal destiny. But by itself, without the rest, this becomes a
half-truth (lie) gospel message.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny
self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if
we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity.
But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience
to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with
God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew
7:21-23).
By God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our
own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ
to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as
slaves to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands.
Thus, we are no longer to allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us
obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if
obedience is what we obey, it results in sanctification and its end is eternal
life with God (see Romans 6:1-23; cf. Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14; Acts
26:18).
So, it is critical that we are teaching what Jesus taught
and what Paul taught and what the other New Testament apostles taught, in their
full context, so that we do not end up teaching a lie to the people and not the
truth. And that doesn’t mean that we have to quote every Scripture in its full
context, but we must make certain to teach what that context teaches so that we
are not in danger of altering the gospel. And this gospel message isn’t all the
happy stuff that everyone likes. It includes exhortations and warnings, too.
For if we are going to present everyone who believes in
Jesus complete in Christ, then we have to tell them the whole truth. For faith
in Jesus Christ is not lip service only. Since the faith is of God, and not of
human flesh, it will conform to the will of God. So by faith in Jesus we die to
sin and we now walk in obedience to his commands, by his grace. But if sin is
still what we practice, and not obedience to the Lord, then we do not have
salvation from sin and eternal life with God. So we need to heed these
warnings.
[Jn 10:27-30; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 8:1-14; Rom
12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal
6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Heb
3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1
Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
The Lord’s Anointed
Based off Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the
Sov’reign Lord on me;
Anointed to preach
the Good News;
Sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted;
Proclaim freedom for
the captives.
He sent me to preach
release for pris’ners
Who are walking in
sin’s darkness;
Proclaim God’s grace
to all men who’ll listen;
And tell them about
God’s judgments;
Comfort all who
mourn;
Give crowns of
beauty;
Oil of gladness and
thanksgiving.
They will be called
oaks of God’s righteousness,
A planting of our Savior,
God,
For the display of
our Lord’s splendor, and
They will rebuild
God’s holy church.
God will renew them,
and will restore them,
And you’ll be called
priests of the Lord.
You will be
ministers of our God, and
You will rejoice in
salvation.
The Lord loves
justice;
He is faithful to
Reward those who are
seeking Him.
I delight greatly in
the Lord;
My soul rejoices in
my Savior, God.
He has clothed me
with His salvation,
And in a robe of His
righteousness.
He has given me
priestly garments to wear,
As the bride of
Jesus Christ.
As the garden of our
Lord and Savior,
He causes us to grow
in Him.
He makes
righteousness,
Praise, and
thanksgiving
Spring up before all
the nations.
An Original Work / December 16, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
The Preaching of The
Word
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