I PROCLAIM JESUS' GOSPEL SOMETIMES UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: Ek dra Jesus se Evangelie uit al is dit soms onder moeilike omstandighede"
I hope this writing will encourage everyone who really has a passion to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ while sometimes undergoing hardship and suffering regarding this life – because I speak in this writing primarily with all who are truly in one way or another, even if only through their example, working and living for our Lord.
I want to show you today something that came to my mind as I thought about the amount of mail I receive from beautiful children of our Lord who ended up in difficult circumstances while serving our Lord and His Kingdom to the best of their abilities.
Some of them just cannot understand;
Here they try to live to the best of their ability to the glory of our Lord and in honesty win lost souls for our Lord – but now just look how pathetic, sometimes horrible their circumstances are compared to other people in the world around them.
I want to start by sharing with you what my great hero Paul says we should always do and then I want to show you a wonderful lesson from his life that I learned where he add deed to word.
He writes:
EFE 5:19-21
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
One thing you will always find in Christians who have a passion for winning souls for Jesus is:
"They walk the walk of the talk that they talk" and with Paul it was of course no different.
Now I want to draw your attention on something:
Paul, who once persecuted Christians and was complicit in the murder of many Christians, is now a true apostle of Christ and while living and working to the best of his ability for our Lord, he gets the following command from our Lord:
ACTS 16:9-10
9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Now believe me when I tell you that one does not just establish a church for Jesus Christ in a town, city, or anywhere in a few days, if no one there has ever heard of Christ.
But Paul and Silas could, because their hearts were really right before our Lord and our Lord knew that He could use them, as He had to use them there.
You can hardly do that today even though there are people in the town where you want to establish a congregation that has already heard of Christ. I know what I'm talking about and if you do not believe me just ask the pastor of your congregation where you are worshiping now.
However, Paul is sincere in his intention and in such a case, our Lord can and will use you in the best possible way that will help the lost people around you to pay attention and believe the truth you proclaim and accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and thus help you to gather treasures for yourself in heaven.
Back to Paul in Macedonia, for whom our Lord could use not only on that occasion but still present him to us today as what can be done if your heart is purely focused on Jesus and His gospel.
They do not have much time and the whole of Macedonia is ripe to be harvested and therefore our Lord is going to use Paul and his companion, (because they are sincerely willing), in the quickest way possible to establish the first congregation in Macedonia within the next few days.
You can read the whole event in Acts 16. I present to you here only what I consider relevant for this writing:
ACTS 16:20-40
20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, "These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.
21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice."
22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, (keep in mind what Paul wrote in EFE 5:19-21) and the prisoners were listening to them,
26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.
27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."
29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.
30 Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
If they had not been abused and imprisoned in innocence, all those people would not have repented – but our Lord knew what He had in Paul and Silas.
Not only does our Lord use them in that way to establish the first church in Macedonia but our Lord, to put it this way, also makes them victorious over their enemies, to show their new converts of what their God is able to do whom they have now accepted as their Lord and Saviour:
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, "Let those men go."
36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace."
37 But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out."
38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.
39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
Let's just look again with what is fresh in our memory from Paul and Silas’ perspective – but without their great faith. They could have reasoned:
“How on earth can one establish a congregation for our Lord, if He now allows us to be thrown into prison with wounded bodies and torn clothes – and that after He sent us to establish a church here?”
Did Paul and Silas reason like that? No. What did they do?
ACTS 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
Therefore, I want to encourage you. You, who live in the ways of our Lord, even if it is sometimes difficult and sometimes, very difficult, while you work hard to win souls for our Lord and even if you are not able to actively work for our Lord but you live your life in such a way that people can see Jesus in and through you –
You are gathering for yourself treasures in heaven – while your suffering on this earth is but a very short time compared to the Eternal Life that awaits you:
1PETER 1:6-9
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I have referred more than once to treasures in Heaven that you and I can gather. So let me mention something to you about this matter:
Can I look at something here on earth and decide – 'I take it as a treasure to Heaven' – and then do it?
The answer is then, of course, as I see it, a very definite; No.
God says in His Word:
1TIM 6:7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
Yet Jesus comes and tells us:
MAT 6:19-21
19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
You see, from what I understand in this regard, it works like this:
I can take nothing with me to Heaven, but I can gather for myself treasures in Heaven.
Every person whom you help to come to Jesus and who then accepts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour – is a treasure that you have gathered for yourself in heaven for all eternity.
Yes, to everyone to whom you and I have already preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are yet to preach, and whoever then accepts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and then follows Him for the rest of their lives to Heaven, is a treasure you and I have a part in.
Every person you and I help to stand until Jesus comes to fetch them, and then follows Him for the rest of their lives to Heaven, is a treasure that you and I have a part in.
Every human being whom you and I help to raise up again from the dust of this world and those we are still going to help, and then follow Jesus for the rest of their lives to Heaven, is a treasure that you and I have a part in – and it is such a precious treasure, that Jesus gave His life for that treasure you gather in heaven.
For all those who work really hard for our Lord and who are not doing as well now as, for example, the ‘prosperity preachers’ with their wealth that they obtained mostly from other Christians, I want to encourage –
You are, and praise the Lord for that, part of the fulfilment of what Jesus prophesied over us:
JOHN 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
Then Paul write and confirms Jesus' words – and also keep in mind what we read about Paul when we read the following:
1COR 4:11-13
11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,
12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
How wonderful!
In the midst of our circumstances – how terrible it may be – as we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can jubilant testify in the Spirit:
2COR 4:6-9
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, (that is our mortal bodies) to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
How wonderful it is then to look in the Spirit at your circumstances, keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus in your life and then read these remarkable verses:
ROM 8:28-31
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Let us praise our Lord in our circumstances and cast all our cares on Him.
Remember always: You yourself, as you work to win souls for Jesus, are the clearest proof you have to show the world around you – and that is that Jesus can and will save a lost soul for Heaven.
Greetings,
Sakkie