Last Sunday we began a new
teaching series called, “Don’t Have Ugly Feet.” The Bible says in Isaiah 52:7
and restates in Romans 10:15 that beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news. In Romans 10:14-15, Paul says that no one will know the truth of the
Gospel unless they are told. How can they? How did you first learn about
Christ? One person, or multiple seed planters, waterers, and harvesters did
their jobs along the way.
Many Christians believe that it
is the job of the church evangelism team or those “gifted” in witnessing to
share the Gospel. Maybe it is the “preacher” who has the responsibility. But
all of us have been issued the Great Commission. However, each one of us will
share the Gospel in vastly different ways. Some are gifted at one-on-one,
scripture-by-scripture leading. But all of us have the opportunity to live the
Gospel and display it for others to see.
In that verse in Romans it says
that the message must be preached. See, it’s the preacher’s job, right? The
word “preach” in Greek is kerysso, and it simply means to publish or proclaim
openly something which has been done. You don’t have to be a preacher or pastor
to do that! Then we also need to know what the “good news” is that we should preach.
That phrase is the Greek word, euggelizo. It means to instruct men concerning
the things that pertain to Christian salvation.
We each have certain people with whom we are meant to share the
Gospel. Each person will do it
differently and reach different types of people in different ways.
In Isaiah 52:7, where this quote
came from, the Hebrew that it was originally written in gives us even more
insight. The word good (as in good news) is the Hebrew word towb. This is the
same word that God used in the Genesis creation account – and the Lord saw that
it was good. It means good, excellent, rich, valuable and present. It is made up of three Hebrew letters – tet,
vav and beyt. In the ancient Hebrew these letters were pictures and had
meanings and concepts attached to each letter. When we look at those we see a
really neat picture of what is “good” to God.
The letter tet represented a
clay basket or mud enclosure. Our flesh is our dirt and mud enclosure. The
letter vav represented the tent peg used in the tabernacle to attach the
curtains together – the curtains that formed the walls of the mobile sanctuary.
Then beyt represented the household or the house of God. So, we see a picture
that shows us that it is GOOD for our “dirt” to be attached and connected to
His house. It is true that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit. Many think that this means the church is no
longer relevant. However, towb shows us there is another part that is important
to God – that our flesh stays connected together in His house. Our spirit is
renewed the moment we receive Christ, but our dirt needs to spend a lot of time
learning and growing.
When we look at the Great
Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, we see that Jesus’ command is consistent with
how God assigns tasks. First, He blesses – all authority in heaven and earth
are given to me. Why is the authority given to Him if we are the ones who have
to go? When the authority is given to man directly, he messes it up. The
authority is given to Christ. He purchased it. But we have been made joint
heirs with Him.
Remember that the blessing is
always about equipping for purpose. In Genesis 1, God blesses man and then
gives and assignment. In Genesis 12, God blesses Abraham and then gives Him and
assignment. In Luke 1, God blesses Mary and gives her an assignment. And here
in Matthew 28, Jesus blesses us and… gives us an assignment. We are to go and
make disciples of all nations. After the assignment He reminds us again that we
have Him and His power and authority available to us to complete the task – I
am with you always.
He also tells us how to do it.
He said we are to teach the things that He taught. Jesus did address sin and
wickedness, but it you were to break down by percentages, what Jesus spent His
time teaching, you would find that 75% of what Jesus taught was love (for God
and others), power and authority. I think the problem we have had in spreading
the Gospel is that we’re gotten our mixture wrong. The Body of Christ as a
whole has put too much attention on sin and wickedness and not enough on love. The greatest tool for us to
spread the Gospel is to love people around us. That love will open up doors to
share in ways that will be much more natural and effective.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
