Considering Personal Work In My Life– by Matt Miller
When we consider the early church found described in the book of Acts, we quickly observe people who were just like you and I. They had obeyed the gospel, they were trying to learn and grow in their spiritual lives, and wherever they went, we see them spreading the gospel. Spreading the gospel of course, is the instruction that Jesus is recorded by the gospel writers just before Jesus ascended on high.
[Mat 28:19-20 NKJV] 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, [even] to the end of the age.” Amen.
How do we go about fulfilling our portion of this instruction today?
As we consider the New Testament, we find Paul traveling about and meeting with the Jews in the synagogues, stopping on the riverbank where others were meeting and praying or speaking at the public square. Of course we also find the sending of letters from the inspired Apostles with instructions to share and read these among the churches. From this we get an idea of a group of vibrant men and women who took the gospel to every corner of the world, wherever they went and under whatever circumstance they found themselves. Some were traveling because of persecutions, others were maybe journeying for trade or work, and still others finding themselves under the custody of the government took the gospel into the courts and to the households of those government officials before whom they appeared (these are facts as represented throughout Acts and gathered from language that Paul used in his prison epistles). In our present age, I think that there are a number of ways that communications, travel, and the world generally looks different from the world in which we find men like Philip traveling and preaching in cities that he wasn’t from.
While things may have changed over the centuries, we each one still have a responsibility to talk to those whom we have opportunity to discuss with and to spread the gospel. In order to do that, we must be diligent in our studies. We each cannot shirk our individual responsibilities before the Lord lest we are the embodiment of the lazy servant [Matt 25:26a-27 NKJV] ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 ‘So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.
So what does that look like and how do we each do our part in this?
Start with your own spiritual housekeeping. Am I being the greatest, the best, the fullest in Christ that I can be? Am I praying as a habit and custom? Not just blessing my food at meals, but really spending time laying my cares and needs before the Lord. This should be the practice where burdens that come to mind when I rise are taken to the Lord. Cares that come up and disquiet me throughout the day, I take them to God. Before I lay my head down and seek quiet in my mind (if you know me, you know this is a genetic struggle for me sometimes as my brain won’t quiet), am I taking those unresolved cares before the Lord?
If my prayer life is good, is my reading and meditation good? Do I spend time everyday with the Lord’s word? It is His word which will judge us. That is, it is His word by which we will be measured and weighed, so we must know and understand it, applying it in our lives so that we might not be found to be lacking on the day of judgement (John 12:48). The Bereans were commended for their diligence in study and considering what they heard compared to scripture (Acts 17:10-12). It is by devoting time to study and meditation that we can be fully equipped. Paul wrote to the younger preacher Timothy and instructed him, “[2Ti 2:2 NKJV] 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Further he tells Timothy that “[2Ti 3:16-17 NKJV] 16 All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” So if we want to use the tools at our disposal, we must be well versed in scripture and in the teaching of the Apostles.
Finally, we must live lives which speak to others. Paul wrote to the Romans, “[Rom 12:2-3 NKJV] 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what [is] that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”
As we consider these things then, our life being one which reflects Christ is the first step in contributing to the cause of Christ. This comes over time, and through growth as supplied by God. As we do this though, we should consistently be on the lookout to spread the message of His Kingdom. We are citizens of that kingdom and as we journey here we must be good representatives of that land to which we are going.
The media that we have access to is different than the public square that Paul and I’m sure others preached in during the 1st Century. We have access to social media, we can create stunning visual aids, charts, pictures and there is certainly no shortage of helps in the written form. We live in a day and age when we are blessed with the greatest access to God’s word and the best translations thereof into our own language, that maybe has ever been. Let us then use these things to spread the gospel message. It really is simpler than we make it out to be.
The world is dead because of sin, but God sent His Son, Jesus the Christ (Eph 2:1-3) who saves men from their sins and reconciles the same unto God. Let us bear this message far and wide.