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Infant Baptism |
The Good News is to be preached to everyone everywhere.
The command to His original followers has become known as the “Great
Commission.” And is stated in two ways: “go into all the world and preach
the gospel.” (Mark 16:15), and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).
Those who preach the gospel are to make disciples of those who believe
it. Born again by God’s Spirit
into His family converts begin a new life as God’s follower, eager to learn
about Him and to Obey the one to whom they owe such a great debt of gratitude. Christ warned that not everybody who heard the gospel and
who were initially enthusiastic would continue in great enthusiasm.
Rather, they would become entangled in the world, discouraged and
disillusioned and would eventually turn away from following him.
Many maintain a façade of Christianity without an inward reality,
deceiving perhaps even themselves. Never
fully convinced in their hearts, they are unwilling nevertheless to admit their
unbelief. “Examine yourselves,”
Paul warned, “whether ye be in the faith.” (2 Cor. 13:5). Finally, of those who have a genuine belief and who try to
obey the commandments of God, too few are able to give a “reason for the hope
that is in them.” (1 Peter 3:15). How
many Christians are able to give a defense of their religion to an atheist,
Buddhist, Hindu, or New Ager with overwhelming evidence and sound reason?
God’s Word is the sword of the Spirit, but few know it well enough to
quell their own doubts, much less to convert others.
One of today’s biggest needs is for the solid Bible teaching that
produces disciples who are able to “earnestly contend for the faith once [for
all] delivered to the saints.” (Jude 30.
That faith for which we must contend was once and for all time delivered
by Christ to the original twelve disciples, who were then taught to teaches
those whom they evangelized “to observe all things.” Through succeeding generations of those who have been won
to Him and who have in turn, in obedience to their Lord, made disciples of others, this
unbroken chain of command comes down to us in our time.
Not some special priest or clergy class, but each Christian today, like
those who have passed before, is a successor to the apostles. At the heard of Christ’s call to discipleship is the
daily application of His cross in each life.
Yet one seldom hears in evangelical circles the definitive declaration
from Christ: “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me …
[and] forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke
14:27-33). This call to
discipleship honestly faced. It is
through the Cross that we die to self and begin to live to out Lord in
resurrection power 9Gal. 2:20). Resurrection
life reckons the old person dead and makes no provision for the flesh.
Instead of the popular self-esteem terminology heard about so much today
even in Christian circles, God calls us to deny self, to love truth and to hate
folly, to please God instead of others or ourselves not matter what the cost in
this life. Never mind social pressures from what others may think, say or do.
We must be fully persuaded that what God thinks and what He will say when
we appear before Him one day in Judgment is all that matters. As Jim Elliot, one of those who were killed as a martyr in
Ecuador, said when as a young man he chose the mission field over a more popular
vocation, “He is no fool who give up what he cannot keep to gain what he
cannot lose.” That choice is only
logical if one believes that time is short and eternity is endless.
Such commitment brings heavenly joy, peace, and a fulfillment that
nothing earth offers can rival. To those whom He called into a saving relationship with
Himself, Christ said, “Follow me.” (Matt. 4:19, 8:2, 9:9, 16:24, etc.).
This simple command, which our Lord repeated after His resurrection (John
21:19,22), is as applicable to Christians today as it was when He called the
first disciples. Following Christ
There has been a recent tendency to assume that belief in
Christ would led to fame and fortune – or at least fortune.
However, this is not what the Bible says, for Christ noted: “If the
world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated your … The servant is
not greater than his lord. If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you … for my name’s sake…”
(John 15:18-21). Today, Christianity is popularized, and the idea of
suffering for Christ just doesn’t seem to work among today’s world.
And yet, not only did the ancient world suffer immensely for Christ; they
counted it a privilege to suffer for His sake!
They were beaten and imprisoned, and still were able to rejoice that
“they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
(Acts 5:41). Such is the
commitment the gospel requires. After Christ was beaten, humiliated, and crucified, He
appeared to his disciples and noted, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send
I you.” (John 20:21). The Father
sent the Son as a lamb to the slaughter into a world that would hate and crucify
Him. And as the Father sent Him, so
Christ sends us into a world that He promises will treat His followers as it did
Him. The question that remains for
us to answer is this; Are we prepared to follow in Christ’s footsteps.
Certainly, this is not the popular ideal of Christianity; rather, we
would much rather have focus groups and comfortable, air conditioned houses of
worship. And yet, Christ indicates
that the norm is for Christians to be persecuted by the world.
Peter, who failed so miserably before the crucifixion of Christ, would
later find his courage and be restored by the Lord.
He would note, “for even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously; who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness…” (1 Peter
2:21-25). Today, Christians are still suffering, being martyred for
their religion and faith. In this
country, it is safe to persecute Christians whereas other groups, which perhaps
more traditionally suffered persecution, are now much more protected.
Christians are being imprisoned and martyred again in communist China, in
Muslim countries, and at the hands of Catholics in Mexico.
Similar persecutions are starting in this country.
In 1986, for example, Jefferson County, Kentucky imposed a licensing fee
upon every “business, profession, trade, or occupation” – including
pastors and churches. Remember that
the ability to tax is the ability to regulate and control. The Strength to Stand: Strength in Weakness
The strength to stand against overwhelming suffering and to
triumph as Christ’s faithful disciples comes not through our own strength or
willpower, but rather through our very weakness. We need to learn not to trust in our own righteousness and
lean not unto our own understanding, but rather to have faith – faith that in
letting go we will get more; faith that through weakness comes strength; faith
that death brings new life. Faith. When Paul cried out for deliverance from a severe trial,
Christ replied that He had allowed this trial to make Paul weak enough so that
he would trust only in the Lord, rather than in his own great abilities.
“[M]y strength is made perfect in your weakness,” replied the Lord.
(2 Cor. 12:9). Paul exhorts
us, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him.” (Col. 2:6).
We received God as helpless, hopeless sinners crying out to Him for mercy
and grace. This then is the way we
are to walk this path of triumph in suffering – as sinners saved by grace,
weak and helpless in ourselves and trusting totally in Him. We are but weak earthen vessels, but we contain a great
treasure: “that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us’ (2
Cor. 4:7). Such is the secret of
our triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil. The load is too heavy for us to carry alone.
What a relief to turn it all over to Him!
And what a joy to be delivered from the fear of man, from seeking to win
acclaim of the world, from seeking anything but His “Well done, thou good and
faithful servant.” (Matthew 25;210 in that coming day. Some manage to get a great future only to leave it all at
death to their heirs. Others have
little of this earth’s goods but have great riches laid up in heaven for them
for eternity. It takes little
wisdom to know whom of these have made the wisest choice and who have been truly
successful. God has an eternal purpose for our lives.
Our passion should be to know and to fulfill that purpose, beginning here
on this earth. One day, very soon,
we will each stand along before Him. What
a tragedy to miss the very purpose for which we were created and redeemed! Many wonder what exactly is it that our Lord wishes to
accomplish through us. But learn
this; Greater than anything God can do through you is what He wants to do in
you. What counts most is not
quantity but quality, not so much your outward effort but your motive within –
the purity of your heart rather than your prominence with men. Furthermore, what seems so important in time may be of very
little value in eternity. It is not
one’s talents or energy but the empowering of the Holy Spirit that produces
genuine and lasting results: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6).
Trust God for the filling and empowering of His Spirit. Millions have laid down their lives for the faith.
Their commitment for Christ meant so much that they would not compromise
when threatened with the most excruciating torture and death. Can we understand
their choice, and would we do similarly? The martyrs could have chosen the ecumenical path of
compromise, of avoiding controversy and affirming the “common beliefs of all
religions,’ and thus have escaped the flame or the sword.
They chose instead to stand firm for the truth, to contend earnestly for
the faith. Christ calls us to do the same. Paul said he had been “Put in trust with the gospel” (1
Thess. 2:4) and so have every one of us. Let
us be certain that we keep the trust for the sake of the lost and in honor of
our Lord who paid such a price for man’s redemption! There is no escaping the eternal choice that confronts us. Will we follow from afar, or will we seek to follow in our Lord’s footsteps? One day we will give an account before God for the path we choose. What joy there is now and will be eternally in being true and faithful to Him! |