I was speaking with Jordan tonight and he brought up the Scripture in Ezekiel 3 that talks about Ezekiel being punished for hearing a word from God, but not telling anyone. And if you don't speak to that person about the word of the Lord, then the Lord will require that persons blood on your hands. Is this how it is with the Gospel? If we do not preach the Gospel, will we be condemned? Paul did say necessity was laid upon him in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and also "woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" And Jesus says that whatever we hear whispered from Him we must proclaim on the housetops. He goes on to tell us not to fear man who can kill the body, but to fear God who can kill soul and body in hell.
This got me scared honestly. Anyone have any thoughts?
6 comments:
Matthew,
1)God's "wrath" was dispensed on Jesus at the cross. Everyone is "reconciled" with God, even unbelievers, they just haven't accepted their gift of new Life.
No more wrath.
2)You are salt and light by your very nature, which is by birth, not deed. Do you see salt trying to "be" salty or light "straining" to dispel darkness? (The Bible does say that salt can lose it's savor; its flavor of grace and then it is worthless to "change" its surroundings.) Your life is your testimony before men. There is NOT a WORK for you to DO, only a Life for Christ to live in you. You can rest in that if you will allow your mind to be renewed by the teaching of the Holy Spirit and the washing of the Word. You are complete in Christ, your noodle just hasn't accepted it. That's OK, He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. He will guide you into all Truth. REST.
3)Paul later said, "For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved." 1 Cor. 10:33. That is why he said, "Woe to me." This wonderful salvation we have received, this exchanged life, compels us to share the Grace we have received with others. The same way an apple tree shares its fruit, by just being an apple tree. The Life of Christ manifests in you because it has become your NEW NATURE. Cats meow, birds sing, and you righteous and the world witnesses it and says, "Whoa, what happened to Matthew?" and you say, "The Christ in me; Grace happened."
Ahhh. RJW said it all! But seriously, firstly, one is talking about prophecy and the other about witnessing. Although, I suppose the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy so that throws that argument out! Ok, seriously, there is no condemnation. NONE! There are times, God will show you that something you saw etc... was accurate and you should have trusted Him...but its always done with you safely in His arms. In saying that...when it comes to witnessing, I think of it this way...He loves unbelievers more than you do...seriously, the honest truth is none of us have enough love in us to love them, its His love IN us that gives us any love at all toward the unloveable. You don't obey a prompting, and you feel it, thats ok. He will make another opportunity, for we were all pre-ordained according to the Word. The awesome thing is you just had another lesson in learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. And next time won't sit in wonder of was it wasn't it? There is NO condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. EVER! For anything!
Blessings on you...and hope this was in someway helpful!
As has been said here already, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None. I think that truth is the main thing that needs to sink into all Christians.
As for Paul, he was operating in his particular giftings as a teacher, apostle, evangelist, etc. He knew what he had been set apart for, and there was no way he would consider doing anything else. His "woe to me" was not like an Old Covenant prophet's proclamation of woes. I think that along with what RJW said, his woe was simply an exclamation that evangelism was his life, as called out specifically by God.
Paul said things like "preach the word." But who did he say it to? Did he say it to all the people in all his epistles? He said it to Timothy, who was called as a pastor. Timothy was called to preach the word. I think one thing that confuses modern Christians is that all of Paul's words are preached as if all of it is supposed to be God's word for everyone. In Paul's other epistles, such as Romans and Galatians, he simply taught them the gospel and as far as I know he didn't tell them to all go out and preach the word.
What I'm saying in sort of a long-winded way... :) ... is that you are Christ's and Christ is yours, and you are in Him and He is in you, and all you need to do is to know Him, and if He leads and directs you in a certain way, then be obedient - as He enables you to be. And if you aren't, there is still no condemnation. Since you are His and He is yours, you do have a natural desire to follow Him in every way that He calls you. He never leaves you and He never forsakes you, and when you are faithless He remains faithful to you.
What it always comes down to is God Himself, not your attempts to please Him. :) Know Him and His life will flow more and more naturally in and through you.
Thank you, everyone for your encouragement and help. I very much appreciate it. You helped lift a heaviness off of me.
The verse that kept ringing in my head was "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Also, like you said, Joel, Paul never said "believe the Gospel and make sure you don't stop preaching it to people or else you will be condemned!"
Thanks again everyone. It's wonderful to have great brothers and sisters like you all. I'm spoiled!!
I also believe Paul's woe should echo in ours. When He says to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The idea is we have been given so much at such an expensive price and so our life of thankfulness will echo from this passion of Christ in gratitude.
While we may not lose our salvation we will one day see souls poor into hell that we passed over and did not witness to and God will wipe away our tears. So in that sense we will know and while Ezekiel opperated under the Old, this should still cause us to think of others and resist sin to the point of bloodshed because we are loving others as God has loved us. Sometimes God gives us opportunities to watch people die and get killed right in front of our eyes and then as we reflect we wished we said something to them about Jesus and so we take opportunity in the future to not keep silent for Zions sake. May His passion burn from our hearts with all singleheartednes.
Grace upon grace,
Brian
Yep, Matthew, if "witnessing" or "sharing God's word" becomes an "ought," then it's generally done out of a fear of condemnation. But we truly, truly must first become established in God's love and grace and in who He is in us and who we are in Him, and as we grow more and more in that, all of it will flow from us in more natural ways, as God Himself works in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure.
Rest in Him. Relax and let His life grip you in a way that our feeble attempts can never grip His. :) You're a part in His body just like everyone else and as the Head, He directs you to play your part, and nobody else's.
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