The Good Shepherd never gives up on a wandering
sheep. He goes after it “until he find it” (Luke 15: 4). Do we?
The Gospel does not just
deal with my past—it deals with who I am.
Where true ministry is in operation, God
selects the subjects, and God sends the speakers.
If you are never out at the prayer meeting, then
how can you say you care about other members of Christ’s body?
We often doubt God, but what tremendous
reassurance there is in what He says about us: “Fear not … thou art
mine” (Is. 43: 1).
Which comes first, my choosing to follow Christ,
or God choosing me? Those who say their own choice, do not really
know what it means to be lost.
God is infinite, and since what is infinite is
unchanged by either subtraction or addition, language such as a
limited or a full thought of God is absurd.
Christ is a Man, but not just a Man, for He “is
over all, God blessed for ever” (Rom. 9: 5).
If we announce in our
‘meeting notices’ that the Gospel is going to be preached on Sunday
evening, then it is nothing short of fraud to substitute it with
ministry to the saints. We ought to value both the Gospel and
ministry, but we should also practise honesty. Broadening the
definition of ‘Gospel’ to validate our fraud only deepens our
dishonesty.
Redemption
When an article is bought, it is only the
buyer’s after the price is paid; when an article is
redeemed it must be the redeemer’s before the price is
paid. Anyone able to pay can purchase, but only one who has the
right of redemption can redeem (see Lev. 25: 26; Jer. 32: 7). So why
does someone have to pay for what is already his? It is because a
liability lies on the property—in our case, slavery to
sin. Christ is able to set us free, for, as come in blood and flesh
(see Heb. 2: 14-15) He “is near of kin to us” and has “the right of
our redemption” (Ruth 2: 20).
In Egypt, Israel
already belonged to God, for He calls them “my people” (see Exod. 3:
7; 9: 1) but they were slaves to Pharaoh and therefore needed
freedom: “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the
Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their service, and I will
redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments”
(Exod. 6: 6). Why then did He say, “And I will take you to me for a
people, and will be your God” (v7) if they already belonged to Him?
It was because as slaves to Pharaoh they could not serve God—in a
practical sense, they were lost to Him.
We also belong to
God as the Father’s gift to the Son (see John 17: 24) but we needed
redemption too, for, “Every one that practises sin is the bondman of
sin” (John 8: 34). This redemption is costly (see Ps. 49: 8) but in
Christ’s death the price has been paid, and “If therefore the Son
shall set you free, ye shall be really free” (John 8: 36).
Just as the Passover redeemed
Israel, so “we have redemption through his blood” (Eph. 1: 7)— that
“precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot,
[the blood] of Christ” (1 Pet. 1: 18, 19).
However, although
free from the bondage of sin we are still in bodies that experience
the results of sin, and therefore we await the future “redemption of
our body” (Rom. 8: 23) when “this corruptible” shall “put on
incorruptibility” (1 Cor. 15: 53). What a day that will be!
The Servant
Any weakening of the truth
of Rom. 14: 4 (“Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to
his own master he stands or falls”) must be resisted. Paul, as an
apostle, could order the Corinthian saints to action (see 1 Cor. 5:
13) but he could not dictate the movements of Apollos (see 1 Cor.
16: 12). Paul could not tell Apollos what to do because Apollos was
answerable to the Lord for his ministry and not to Paul. The
principle is that “each of us shall give an account concerning
himself to God” (Rom. 14: 12).
Questions
sometimes arise about where an evangelist goes to preach, but this
is a problem of our own making, for the preaching of the Gospel in
the NT took place in the public arena, rather than within halls used
for the gatherings of the saints. Nor were preachers ever invited by
assemblies but sent by the Lord (see Rom. 10: 15). What is practiced
today is based on tradition, not Scripture, and creates unnecessary
difficulties. The preacher is to go where the Lord sends him (see
Acts 8: 26; Rom. 10: 15 etc.)—on his own responsibility as before
the Lord. If a room is required (for example, on account of the
weather) then he must either hire it himself, or have others provide
it. Paul spoke in the Jewish synagogue at Ephesus for 3 months (see
Acts 19: 8), but when opposition became entrenched, he moved to what
was probably a secular building—“the school of Tyrannus” (v9).
Of course, where
invitation is practised, then due consideration must be given to
where the preacher comes from, and whether receiving such is to the
glory of God, or whether we are simply anxious to fill a slot in the
preaching calendar. Similarly, the preacher cannot ignore where he
is being invited—Paul would hardly have been consistent with his own
teaching to “flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10: 14) if he had preached
inside a pagan temple. The man of God from Judah was not invited to
Bethel but sent “by the word of Jehovah” (1 Kings 13: 1). It was
right that he went, but he was charged to decline any fellowship
there (see v9).
