Here are but a few examples to show that the Gospel must be proclaimed. Good works are not a proclaimation of Christ--even unbelievers can do "good" works (although not good enough to enter Heaven--their works are dead because they aren't in Christ Jesus nor doing things for Him). So what distinguishes the works of a Christian from that of a Buddhist or Hindu or New Ager? Silence does not proclaim Christ to dead and blind men. They cannot see your silent motive for what you do. Preaching Christ is necessary. This will likely bring persecution as Acts demonstrates so clearly, but that is a reason to rejoice. At least 16 times "heard" or "spoken" is used in relation to the Gospel. That's not counting the word "proclaim",either.
Luk 8:15 As for that in the good soil, they are those
who, HEARING THE WORD, hold it fast in
an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Rom 10:13 For "everyone who calls on the name of
the Lord will be saved."14 How then will they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never HEARD? And how are they to HEAR without someone preaching?15 And how are they to preach unless they are
sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach
the good news!"16 But they
have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed
what he has heard from us?"17 So faith comes from HEARING,
HEARING THROUGH THE WORD OF CHRIST.
Act 4:4 But many of those who had HEARD THE WORD believed, and the number of
the men came to about five thousand.
Act 10:44 While Peter was still saying these things,
the Holy Spirit fell on all who HEARD
THE WORD.
Act 13:46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly,
saying, "It was necessary that THE
WORD OF GOD BE SPOKEN first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the
Lord has commanded us, saying, "'I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'" 44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city
gathered to HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD. 48 And when the Gentiles HEARD this, they began rejoicing and
glorifying the THE WORD OF THE LORD, and as many as were appointed to eternal
life believed. 49 And THE WORD OF THE LORD was spreading throughout the whole
region.
Act 19:10 This continued for two years, so that all the
residents of Asia HEARD THE WORD OF THE LORD, both Jews and Greeks.
Act 24:24 After some days Felix came with his wife
Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him SPEAK ABOUT FAITH
IN JESUS CHRIST.
Eph 1:13 In him you also, when you HEARD THE WORD OF
TRUTH, THE GOSPEL of your salvation, AND BELIEVED IN HIM, were sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit,
Col 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,4 since we
HEARD OF YOUR FAITH in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for
all the saints,5 because of the hope laid up for you in
heaven. Of this you have HEARD BEFORE IN THE WORD OF TRUTH, THE GOSPEL,
Maybe some are, but we have good friends who went on a 2 week missions, they have a various objectives some were "good works" but all were centered around the GOSPEL.
ReplyDeleteThey took over a 1,000 pairs of eye glasses, our friend Matt who's a military chaplain was able to preach 3 times a day to crowds of over 300-500 every single time. He'd NEVER experienced such a thing before, after each sermon people were coming to Christ (they had translators.
They were sharing the gospel with children and adults.
They fed them, gave clothes, etc all beautiful acts of works, but most importantly in all acts they were SHARING the WORD.
Another friend of ours who went on the same missions trip, worked specifically with the children. He was able to share the Gospel to so many children and he said they all sat there with their mouths hanging open waiting to hear more and more.
All of them came back changed, in wanting to do MORE to bring the Gospel to more, and yet in awe of those who are full time missionaries there and when home were able to collect over 500 bibles to send over with the next group that was going just a couple weeks after our friends returned, in the correct language (they were in a country in Africa and I unfortunately can not remember which one).
To lump everyone who goes on missions trips in one category is as ignorant as saying all who proclaim they are Christians ARE Christians.
We're ALL to be missionaries, be it in a "foreign" land or in our own country. I can blog all day and night about my walk with Christ, but how am I proclaiming it outside of my living room to the unsaved?
My question to you is, are you going on missions and boldly sharing the Gospel?
I should state too, that I do think the kind of "missions" that this particular video is showing, is worthless, but I do not think that all missionaries/trips are worthless.
ReplyDeleteChristy,
ReplyDeleteI hope you took the 3.5 minutes to watch the clip, first of all.
Secondly I was pretty clear that works without the gospel (hence "Gospel-less) is nothing distinquishable between children of the devil and the children of God.
If a person's PRIORITY is proclaiming the Gospel, then they are in line with Scripture, but the fact that this group in the video couldn't even say what specifically they were doing to proclaim the Gospel while on a missions trip, is the travesty and frankly, its a sham. All those who are truly Christians ought to know the Gospel according to Scripture b/c that's the ONLY one that can be believed on and has the power to save, thus having firsthand knowledge of it and proclaiming it in return.
I've seen many people who have gone away "come back changed" and "wanting to do something more" from some trip and yet weren't anchored in the Truth or it fizzled out---experiences and "highs" are not what we are to set our trust in or gage our spirituality. Euphoria comes and goes and frankly is often carnal and not spiritual anyway.
Christians need to be VERY cautious in getting involved in the social gospel and social justice. This is not biblical. The mandate is not to build houses, but to go out and make disciples of all nations, teaching them everything Christ said. This means investing in the lives of people--discipleship, btw, is ongoing and should be done locally. There should always be a local church involved in missions so that those who truly do get saved can be added to that local church.
Also, I see the use of appealing to the flesh to be often a means of baiting a person to make the Gospel "more attractive" or less offensive. Its often used to butter up the people--as if we give them something, they'll like us and Christ more. Worse, many think that temporal goods can actually open up dead hearts and ears to the Gospel. This is not the pattern we see in Scripture. See how the Gospel was and was not proclaimed in Acts for example.
Christy,
ReplyDeleteAnd that was my main point, really. And I've never EVER said missions are pointless. We are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations (as I quoted in my response above--from Matt. 28). The issue I think is HOW we do it and why. Methodology is a reflection of one's doctrine. Wrong doctrine, wrong methodology, right doctrine leads to right methodology.
One yes I did watch the video and personally I think it was a performance from all of them. It was all too well put together. Maybe it did happen like that, but it did not come off to me that way. It seemed he was "READY" for their answers and they were more than willing to just stand around looking stupid. They could be, there are many people out there who are less than honest and proclaim to be Christians.
ReplyDeleteYou are preaching to the choir, in that we both believe the same thing, the big question though is that while it's fine and good to sit behind a computer screen and preach, are you going out into the world and doing it yourself.
I am finding that I have to be far more discerning in the blogs that I read. I can read a wonderful blogs such as this, but if I'm not reading how the author themselves are doing as they preach, I am no longer going to continue to read the blog.
I do not think it's being boastful to share ways of spreading the gospel locally and globally, that you're personally doing.
We can preach all we want, but we also have to walk it.
I am at a point where if I'm going to read a blog, I want to know that those who are very discerning in what they write and very well versed in scripture, are walking the walk as well.