| July 4, 1999 |
Vol. II, No. 10
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Jesus declared His earthly mission in several different ways: “To seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10); “That they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10); “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). Not so well known, but just as significant is the explanation of Mark 1:38 and Luke 4:44, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.” Preaching, then, was an integral part of the Divine mission of the Son of God.
Jesus Preached Authoritatively
“And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22). Jesus knew the Old Testament Scriptures as no man had ever known them before, and He came down from heaven with a new message of love and faith and hope. His miracles were the credentials that proved He came from God, John 3:2. When Jesus preached and taught, He neither stuttered nor stammered. He refused to be drawn into petty arguments or take sides in human opinions. See Luke 12:13-14, etc. When Jesus preached, “He preached the word” which came from God (Mark 2:2).
He Comforted the Afflicted
As foretold by the prophets, Jesus preached to the poor and to the suffering a message of freedom and peace, of love and rest and hope, culminating in heaven. See John 8:32; 14:27; 15:13; Matt. 11:28-30, etc. “And the common people heard Him gladly” (Mark 12:37).
He Afflicted the Comfortable
But not all of Jesus’ sermons were of such pleasant subjects. As He preached from city to city He found many who had settled down comfortably, nestled in human traditions and doctrines of men, Matt. 15:1-3; Matthew, chapter 23. His sermons offered no comfort for those who refused to humble themselves before God, repent of their sins, and obey the will of the heavenly Father, Matt. 7:21-23.
He Illustrated
Jesus frequently sprinkled His sermons and conversation with illustrations from everyday life that His disciples could understand, and with which they could identify. Christ could have simply stated that God is always ready to forgive the penitent sinner. His words would have been true, but quite forgettable in the hustle and bustle of life. But who could ever forget the story of the prodigal son -- which illustrates our Father’s willingness to forgive the penitent?
He could have simply said, “Keep praying.” But note how much more strongly that admonition is impressed upon our minds by His parables of the unjust judge and the friend at midnight. Such illustrations not only made His sermons easier to apply to the generation who heard them initially, but they keep His message alive for every generation.
He Lived What He Preached
How did Jesus preach? Authoritatively, He preached what His hearers needed to hear. He preached of hope to those who had been hopeless -- and He sought to take away the false hope of those who were satisfied to fall short of God’s will. He illustrated His lessons in such a way that those who desired to apply God’s truth could easily see how God’s great spiritual truths complement and enhance the truths they had already observed in everyday life.
But perhaps the one thing above all others that made Jesus’ sermons so effective for then and for all times, is that He lived the truth He taught. He spoke of putting God first, and He did it. He taught that the greatest in the kingdom of God is he who serves the most. He taught His followers to love even their enemies, and be kind to those who persecute and abuse. Then, as He died for us on Calvary’s cruel cross -- as His enemies mocked Him, beat Him, and spit in His face -- with iron spikes driven through His hands and feet, experiencing the most painful and shameful form of death ever devised, His prayer was for His tormentors: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). And through it all, He never sinned, 1 Peter 2:21-25.
An Example For All
The gospel preacher has a great heritage. He is privileged to preach of “so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed... with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will” (Heb. 2:3-4) and in this endeavor, he has before him in Jesus the perfect picture of what every servant of God should seek to be. Jesus is the great example for both preacher and hearer.
“Pure was the mind of Christ, sinless I see.
He the great example is, and pattern for me.”
--CRJ
Speaking to His apostles in Matt. 10:40, Jesus said, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” Later He told them that the Holy Spirit or Spirit of truth would guide them into all truth, John 16:13, and bring to their remembrance everything He had taught them, John 14:26. In Luke 10:16, Jesus stated these truths from both the positive and the negative standpoints. “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” It is literally impossible to receive Christ while rejecting the teachings of His inspired spokesmen.
God’s Spirit, through the writings of the New Testament apostles and prophets continues to remind us of the authenticity of all the teachings of the New Testament. In 1 Cor. 14:37, Paul said, “The things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.” In Rev. 1:10-11, John explains how the book of Revelation came to be written: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ and ‘What you see, write in a book...’”
In 1 Tim. 5:18, Paul quotes from Luke’s writings as Scripture and on a par with the writings of Moses in Old Testament times. In 2 Peter 3:16, Simon Peter refers to the writings of Paul as Scripture and indicates that they are equally authoritative with all the other inspired Scriptures.
Paul sums up what we are saying in Gal. 1:11-12, “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” That is why we need to recognize the entire New Testament as the will of Jesus. It is a common mistake to think of the words that are printed in red in our red letter editions of the New Testament as being the words of Christ and words in black being the words of men. In reality, the entire New Testament constitutes the words of Christ. The words in red are the words He spoke while He was on earth; the black words are the words He has revealed since He ascended to heaven. The Hebrew writer warns us, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth [Moses], much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven” (Heb. 12:23). And finally, we recall the words of Jesus in John 12:48, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My word has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge in the last day.”
--CRJ
A young couple who had not been to church services for a number of years asked, “What have we done wrong besides not going to church?'' They had robbed God of thousands of dollars (1 Corinthians 16:1,2); they had forsaken the Lord's own memorial supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26); for years their voices were unheard in the praises of the saints; their petitions and thanksgivings absent from the prayers of the saints; and their knowledge of God's word stifled and fading, while their spiritual growth was completely neglected--to say nothing of the bad example set and the wrong influence exerted upon others around them. Indeed, their souls had become dead to God, and yet they ask: ``What have we done wrong besides not going to church?'' May God help us to see ourselves as He sees us.
--Bill Crews Via The Old Path II