Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
Text: Is. 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Acts 7:54-60
Today is Saint Stephens’s Day when we remember the first martyr of the Christian Church. His death in the service of Christ, taking place a day after Christmas, reminds us of the cost involved in discipleship. We cannot serve Christ through the preaching of the gospel without encountering opposition. Today because of our fear of opposition, instead of obeying Christ, we rather tell Him to do all the things we are to do as Christian believers. We pray for Him to visit the poor and needy, comfort the feeble, bless and provide for the destitute, encourage those in prison, sustain the weak and witness to unbelievers. We have developed a religion of convenience and want God to do all these things while we only pray. Although prayer is important Christ cannot do anything here without a body to operate through. Christ had a physical body when He visited humanity and with the presence of the Holy Spirit in us we become His body. Christ ministers through His body today the same way He ministered through a human body 2000 years ago. Today the Holy Spirit lives in our new created spirit and makes us His body. Christ can do nothing except through His body and we are His body until the time when like Stephen we can also say “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”.
Every disciple is commanded to preach the Word of God. In the words of Timothy we are to “preach the word in season and out of season”. (2 Tim. 4:2) We are not to say what we want to say but what God wants us to say. There are many topics in the world that one can talk about but when it comes to preaching the focus is on the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Like Paul we should not be ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. (Rom. 1:16) Christ must have a body to minister through. Paul and many saints throughout the ages, and now you and I, are His body and we are to preach the gospel. We are to preach Christ crucified, Christ Buried, and Christ risen from the Dead.
God has ordained that human beings are the ones to preach the gospel. If they do not it shall not be proclaimed and souls shall be lost. The preaching of the gospel and all phases of Christian living depends on our willingness to step out and allow Him to work through us. Christ cannot visit those in prison unless He can go in your body. Christ cannot reach the lost with the gospel unless He can go in your body. Preaching the gospel has always been very costly. History records the Jewish hostility that met the twelve disciples and later the Christians on their mission. They were brought before Jews, Gentiles, governors and kings. The preaching of the gospel has always been at great cost but this should be no surprise as Jesus, our Master paid a very great price Himself. Stephen knew this and preached even as he was being stoned. Like His Saviour and Lord Stephen prayed for their forgiveness. His forgiveness of Paul led to God’s forgiveness and his service to God. What a life? Christ rose up from His throne to receive him into heaven. As His disciples today our main message should also be the gospel no matter the cost. There may be times when we need to speak out against certain issues but we should never ignore the Gospel Message. It is the only message with the power to save. Every Christian believer has to fulfil certain responsibilities. He has to visit the poor and needy, comfort the feeble, bless and provide for the destitute, encourage those in prison, sustain the weak and preach the gospel to unbelievers.
Preaching the Gospel message goes hand in hand with meeting the needs of the people. Healing those who need healing confirms the truth of what we are preaching and this is the reason why Christ has empowered all believers. Our actions are to bear testimony to the truth of the message. There are many in the world today who are hurting. Many end up in psychiatric hospitals or end up committing suicide. We can and should bring deliverance to those who are hurting because of loneliness and because of a feeling of hopelessness.
We can bring healing and deliverance as we allow Christ to minister through us. As the Word of God takes its proper place in the lives of the people, their minds would be renewed and this ultimately brings healing and deliverance. We all know the popular saying “As he thinks so he is”. This is true and by focusing on the words of God we become who God says we are. When you feel defeated and sorry for yourself, you need to see yourself as Christ sees you - that in Christ you are more than a conqueror. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself because you have various needs you need to be assured that Christ shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We need to always remember John 6:63 that “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life”. People will never see God except they see Him in you. Christ’s love can only be manifested through the life of a believer. Let us live His live of compassion and concern that is able to impact our communities.
As disciples we must go expecting God to work. We must trust the Holy Spirit to speak through us. There will be times when we will have to speak without any preparation and God has promised to give us what to say. Sometimes there will be people who would not want to hear what we have to preach. If God does not convict them it does not mean that we are supposed to give up preaching. All that it means is that we have to go and preach somewhere else. We must preach the gospel without fear because of God’s promise of protection. Indeed we must be prepared for opposition and if we are not facing any opposition then we are in all probability not saying anything worth opposing. Persecution may leave its mark on us while we are here on earth. However, if we fail to accomplish our mission because we were afraid the consequences will last for eternity.
Jesus Christ has called us to become His followers, given us the Holy Spirit and then sent us with His plan for the spread of the gospel. This plan is contained in His words "But you shall receive power when the HS has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." This plan is both simple and practical. First each believer is to be personally empowered by the Holy Spirit. Second, each believer thus empowered by the Holy Spirit, is by his personal testimony to win others to Christ. And finally, these others are in turn to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to win yet others to Christ. This way the testimony of Christ is to be extended outward from Jerusalem in ever widening circles of power until it has reached the end of the earth, until it has reached all nations, all races and all people. There is no alternative plan, which can accomplish the same result. Christ has overcome the devil and freed us from bondage to sin. But He expects us to go out and free those who are still in bondage and are in danger of perishing. If we belonged to Christ we would obey His commands since obedience is the test of a faithful servant. Are we obeying Christ’s command to go as His witnesses with the message of salvation?
We may not face the same type of persecution that the first disciples had to face, but we will face people who are opposed to the message of Jesus Christ. Do you want to know what would happen if all of us in this room took the mission of preaching Christ seriously? First of all, people would be won to Christ. Secondly, we will encounter opposition. Why is that? Because Satan knows that there is power in the Gospel message. And when we preach lives are changed. When lives are changed there would be more people preaching. The primary responsibility of the Church is our worship of God and our mission in the world. The Church is a people who have been both called out of the world to worship God and sent back into the world to witness and serve. We cannot hope to spread the gospel if we do not go to the people. There are millions of sinners waiting, desperate, hungry, eager and ripe for harvesting. All we need to do is to go to them and present the gospel and they will accept Christ and receive His grace and salvation. Let us fulfil God’s will by sharing the Good News with those around us, the forgotten, hurting and unloved people. Let us see them as Christ sees them. Let us see them as Christ saw us. The story is told of a man who had experienced God’s transforming power. One day he saw a drunkard lying in his own vomit in the gutter. This man, instead of turning away in disgust as some Christians would, was filled with thankfulness to God and compassion towards the drunkard as he said “but for the grace of God, there lie I.” If we also would feel the same way, we would have no problem witnessing to those who need salvation. Jesus came to save Sinners and they were His reason for being in the world and it should be the same for every Christian. To be Christ like means to do what Christ would do, witness to Sinners, cast out demons and heal the sick. Christ's plan is our plan, His purpose our purpose and His mission our mission. As faithful stewards let us obey Christ’s command to witness and use the resources He has made available to us to the praise and glory of His name. Amen!
