1 Corinthians 9

“Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. 

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”
{1 Corinthians 9:16} (NIV 1984)

The apostle Paul was used by God to spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. His conversion was miraculous, his depth of insight into the mysteries of the gospel and the church were astounding. He was the greatest of the apostles in terms of writing, evangelism and church planting. He died as a martyr for the cause of Christ at the hands of the Roman Empire. Everywhere he went he preached the gospel. He suffered greatly as he preached. Yet he would not boast about all that he did to spread the gospel. He says in verse 16 that he was compelled to preach. In other words, he was made to preach by God, that he believed that if he didn’t preach “woe” would come upon him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to preach, or that God was causing him to do something against his own will. No! Paul was filled with zeal and determination to give his life for his Lord, and for his Lord’s church.

What Paul is expressing is his deep sense of being entrusted with gospel for the world. He believed that he was given the gospel as a treasure to be shared, the gospel was entrusted to him, to be spoken out wherever he went. So he looked at preaching the gospel as being a good servant, discharging the trust that he had been given. Properly “spending” the treasure where his Master directed him.

Paul says “I can’t boast about doing my job. But I can boast about doing it without taking money from those I preach to.” Paul made it a point to work with his hands and support himself so that he could offer the gospel at his expense. I wonder my friend, do we see how important it is to offer the gospel at our expense? Christ Jesus gave himself freely, a free gift for the world. So the gospel should be free. Yet many people in our communities believe that the church wants their money.

 May we learn from Paul, and may we preach the gospel to our family and neighbours at our expense.

John 2:12-25

“But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.”

{John 2:24} (NIV 1984)  

The Bible is very clear about humans. There is nothing good in any of us. Of course we don’t believe this. Although God’s Word makes it so plain, time and again, as it records the failures of the giants of our faith, and the utter depravity of the wicked, the good we see in ourselves always outweighs any bad we might have pointed out to us, by the Holy Spirit or by other people. 

How can we be so blind? This blindness leads billions of people to hell. They work on their goodness and think to themselves that when they stand before God, they will be able to bargain off their goodness against their badness. “Yes I have done bad things, but really, I am a good person inside.” Friend if that is what you are thinking- wake up! Listen to God the Creator and Sustainer of all life. The One you will stand before on the day of judgment, has told us in Genesis 6 that every inclination of the thoughts of human hearts was only evil all the time! He has told us in Isaiah 64 that all of our goodness and righteousness is as filthy rags to Him. So you think that when you lay out your best, your very best (the things you think make you look good). You think that your best will impress God in any way? God tells us the opposite; that when we stand before him trusting in ourselves and our actions, we are shaking our fists in rebellion to Him, and He will destroy us! Oh friend, repent of this dependence on yourself. 

Throw yourself at the foot of the cross and ask for the righteousness of Christ to be applied to you. His Spirit will enter you, goodness and righteousness, will be placed within your heart and you will begin the journey of change, from a depraved sinner to a holy righteous person, a person conformed to the image of Christ. You think- Well that is the God of the Old Testament- Jesus is the God of grace. Yet in this verse we have the truth. Jesus is God, the same yesterday, today and forever, and He knows what is inside of human. He will not entrust himself to us, He knows everyone of us. He came to die for us. We need to entrust ourselves to Him!

Matthew 25:14-30

“After a long time the master of those servants returned 

and settled accounts with them”

{Matthew 25:19} (NIV 1984)

Whose servant am I? Have I not bowed my knee before the Lord Jesus Christ? Did I not give Him myself, everything I have, all that I am? On the day that I saw my need, my need for a Saviour, I knew I was going to die. I knew I needed salvation. So I bowed before the Saviour, I asked Him for forgiveness and salvation. I told Him that I wanted to serve Him, that I wanted to please Him.

 My friend, know this truth! No one receives Jesus as Saviour without serving Him as Lord, and no one serves Jesus as Lord without receiving Him as Saviour. Saviour and Lord, Lord and Saviour! Our Lord explains to us in this parable our relationship as servants of the Master. Before He goes away for a long time, He gives us a trust according to our ability. That is He made us, He chooses us, He gifts us, and He gives us a trust expecting a return. It is for our good that He goes away. His Spirit is with us; our works prepared before the creation of the world are laid out before us, our robes of righteousness are laid out before us, waiting for us to pick them up and put them on. 

There is no mention of any risk of losing the trust. The Master knows His servants and does not seemed concerned in the least that they would lose His money. Actually the words the Master uses as he settled accounts, tells us that He considers the trust to be a small thing, a test of sorts, a harbinger of something bigger and better in store. All the servants needed to do was put the money to work. Just put it in play. We can see that the test is not in the type of investment made, but in the willingness of the servant to put it to work. Two servants put the trust to work at once. The third servant despised the Master’s trust, hid the money so that it was no good for anything, and then blamed the Master’s character for his own lack of faith. We wonder at the darkness, what does that mean theologically, etc. Whatever the punishment is that servants receive at the Bema seat, the worst punishment of all will be our Lord and Saviour who died for us, looking at us and saying you wicked lazy servant!

Oh Heavenly Father, we pray, be gracious to us, constrain us by your Spirit to faithfully put your trust to work.

Ezekiel 3

“But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’, Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.”

{Ezekiel 3:27} (NIV 1984)

The book of Ezekiel is a marvelous, amazing and dreadful account of the man Ezekiel’s gospel ministry among the people of Israel. His call to this ministry is recorded in Chapter 3 and starts with Ezekiel eating the Words of God – they enter his mouth and taste sweet to him. God tells to go and speak to his own people, with his own language; to people who will not listen to him. Ezekiel is then told to take God’s Words into his heart by listening carefully, and then go and speak to them. He is carried to his people by the Spirit and sat silently in bitterness and anger- constrained by God. 

God lays out Ezekiel’s blood responsibility and warns him that there will be times when he is restrained from saying anything, “But when I speak to you and open your mouth, and you shall say to them...” (vs.37) This is God’s method of the ministering the Gospel. He speaks to us, we open our mouths and we speak to our people. Ministry of the Gospel is God’s work, it is His Words, His timing, His servant who speaks. The servant is simply that, a servant who takes what is God's, and when God’s timing comes, speaks them out of his or her heart to those who need to hear. 

God formed Ezekiel, birthed him into a priestly family, placed him in the land of Babylon, brought his wife to him, and called him to minister the gospel. In his day, this was a unique calling. In our day-the day of salvation- each one of us who are born again, and are servants of our Lord Jesus Christ have this call on our lives. Oh friend, are the Words of God sweet to our taste today? Have we listened carefully and put them in our hearts? Are we walking in the Spirit, so that we know when the timing of God is come? Are we prepared to speak, even when “success” is not likely?

O heavenly Father, may our hands be clean of the blood of others this day! Amen

1 Samuel 12

“You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. 

“You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”

{1 Samuel 12:4} (NIV1984)

In 1 Samuel 12, we have the record of Samuel handing over the rule of Israel to the newly victorious King Saul. This chapter marks the end of the era of the judges and brings in the era of the kings of Israel. This is an important change in the rule of Israel. No longer would God raise up judges to deliver His people, He would raise up prophets who would anoint kings, who would be responsible for the safety of the people and the establishment of their borders. 

The king’s duties were kept separate from the priest’s duties, as Saul would soon find out to his detriment. When we consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest and King, forever. We wonder at the displeasure shown by God at the people’s request for a king. Perhaps it was because they were placing their trust in a human ruler instead of God Himself. Samuel has warned them in 1 Samuel 8 about the consequences of trusting a human king. He tells them that these men will oppress them, take their sons and daughters, servants, fields, and flocks. He tells them that they would become slaves to these men. Samuel asks the people to tell him if he has taken anything from them. They declare him innocent, he has not oppressed them, nor taken anything from anyone’s hand. 

Ministers of the gospel should pay attention to this passage, asking ourselves the question: “Are we oppressing those we share the gospel with? Are we taking from them? Are we manipulating them and burdening them? Are we the foolish shepherd of Zechariah 11? Lest we think that these questions are only for those paid to minister the Gospel, consider the Lord’s call on everyone to Gospel ministry and ask these questions of ourselves. What a contrast between being ruled by a man and being ruled by the King of Kings! The yoke of our heavenly King is easy and His burden is light! May we emulate Him as we minister the Gospel! May we desire to be ruled by Him!