First,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your
faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. (Romans 01:08,
NKJV).
When
Jesus was arrested and interrogated by the Sanhedrin, the ancient
Jewish ruling council, in one of His answers to their accusations, He
declared that His message to the world was not spoken in dark corners
or hidden, but that He always taught in the Synagogues or Temple
where the Jews always met. He spoke in the open to all who would
listen.
Nothing
was said in secret.
This
is important to understand for two reasons. The first is that the
message of the gospel is a truth that has been made known to all the
world. That is its purpose, so that every mouth may be stopped and
all the world may become guilty before God so that they will seek
His Savior.
Second,
you may encounter in your life false doctrinal teaching that speaks
of secret mysteries of the gospel, special knowledge that only
special “Initiates” into the “Mysteries” can know; perhaps
even supposedly encompassing “new revelation”. But that cannot be
true, for all has been revealed that is necessary for godliness and
salvation.
Jude,
the half-brother of Jesus who wrote the very short, but important
Book of Jude in the New Testament, tells us:
Beloved,
while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common
salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to
contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered
to the saints. (Jude 1:3, NKJV).
Note
that key phrase: “once for all”. It is an ancient way of saying
“once and done”, or “once and for all”, meaning that
the subject or action in view is complete, with nothing missing.
This
doesn't mean that we have complete or perfect understanding of
everything the Bible contains, but it does mean that the truths that
we believe as Christians are themselves complete and, as importantly,
not hidden.
And
neither should we be.
Our
faith and life should be conspicuous, like the early Roman church
Paul was writing to whose faith was spoken of throughout the whole
world.
Now
this certainly does not mean that we as individuals should be on
parade, drawing attention to ourselves rather than to God, as if we
are something. But it does mean that there is no such thing as a
“closet Christian” or a “silent disciple”.
Nor
does it mean that we should use our knowledge of the truth as a
weapon or as a mark of our imagined and delusional superiority,
though, in truth, some will accuse us of just that by our merely
mentioning Christ or the Bible.
But
again, it does mean, that we are to live our lives unashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for all
those who believe.
Mockery
and false accusation are guaranteed to follow, but that is no
different than what happened to Jesus, Himself. And He has warned us
in His word that if the world hates Him it will hate us who follow
Him.
It
is hard to go against the grain of the masses, hard to stand up to
the majority and call out its evil and sin, but it is what we are
kept alive on the earth to do: to speak the truth in love, and to let
all who hear us know where our allegiance lies, with God the Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes
it may even be the hardest thing we ever do, and may cost us friends
and family, and even our very life. But we are never alone. Jesus
designed His church like He designed each of our bodies. He made
Himself the head, with each of us playing our part in spreading the
good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. And while some of us
play a more obvious part than others, each is essential for the
health and well-being and full-functioning of the entire body.
And
even if we are physically isolated, He will never leave us nor
forsake us.
People
should know we are Christians and what we believe. But that is not to
say that we should be preachy, or legalistic or obnoxious about it.
We get enough bad press without deserving it, so let's make sure that
our words are gracious salt and light, and not bitter and
contemptuous pills that choke people on the way down. Again, we are
to speak the truth, but always in love.
Now
in some places in the world, becoming a Christian is an automatic
death sentence, but in everyplace, Christians are targets of the
enemy, especially when we do not keep silent.
Why?
Because our words, our deeds, and our lives can be used by God to
bring others into His Kingdom, and the enemy hates that, and us.
Since he has already lost us as his possessions, the only things he
has left is to discredit us, persecute us and mock us so that we are
silenced.
Don't
let that strategy succeed. Yes, by fighting against it, you may
suffer and lose much, but in the end, you will gain more than you can
ever imagine.
Love,
Dad
