Tuesday, May 29, 2018
When I
first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and
impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I
would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.
And my message and my preaching were
very plain. Rather than using clever and
persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human
wisdom but in the power of God. Yet when
I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind
of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are
soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak
of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he
made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not
understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. That is what the Scriptures mean when they
say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has
prepared for those who love him.” But it
was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and
shows us God’s deep secrets.
1 Corinthians
2:1-10NLT)
There are plenty
of mysteries to go around: Stonehenge,
the Lost Day in Time, Creation, and the entire nature of eternity, time, space,
and what makes humans tick. One mystery
that befuddles me more than anything is the deep mystery of connection with
God, wrapped-up in the simplest tragic story of all, the crucifixion of God.
This
surprising/mystifying part of the Gospel is not just the fact that God desires
to have us close, and wants to enjoy that fellowship, and give us His kind of
joy. It’s not just the fact that His
perfect, sinless life was ended on a cross (although it is astounding that the
creation would rise up so shamelessly against the Creator). The crux of this mystery (for me) is that
those two facts are in perfect harmony, totally-dependent upon each other;
without the cross there is no fellowship – and without the heart’s-desire of
God to be in fellowship with us, the cross makes no sense.
And then there is
the mystery of how the sinless life, substitutionary death, and unmatched
resurrection of Jesus…this Gospel…changes lives. I (like you, perhaps) have sat in a stadium,
listening to Billy Graham giving a simple Gospel message, uncomplicated, not
new or startling, and seen thousands of people glued to every word. Hundreds respond to the invitation to receive
the Gospel and are changed.
Some have tried to
explain it away as a sociological phenomenon of group hypnotism; the people
expect to be confronted with change (for the good), so they respond. Others are so desperate for a change they will
respond to any promise.
But it was the
same with the Apostle Paul; criticism came his way often and it was seldom to
his face. Mostly it was the mystery; when
people don’t understand, they try to explain it away, or discredit the one who
speaks it.
I never met Billy
Graham personally, but I have seen that gift of evangelism working in the lives
of several of my friends who have been faithful servants of God. I have walked with them in neighborhoods
talking to complete strangers about this mysterious Gospel and the Lord of that
Gospel. And I have witnessed a number of
people respond to the simple message of faith, praying to receive Christ . And while it is always a holy moment to see
someone respond to the Lord, it is never less than a constant reminder that
every moment you are with another human being is an opportunity to share that seed
of faith, or water the seed someone else has planted, or be the harvester,
leading someone to come to Christ. For
me, it is always a stark reminder that our time to share the Gospel is limited;
this should be a front-burner issue for every follower of Jesus.
For You Today
You chew on that as you hit the
Rocky Road; have a blessed day.
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title
Image: By Florida Memory [No
restrictions or Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
No comments:
Post a Comment