A basic pattern of life is learning and putting it into practice what has been learnt. A baby listens and observes what is happening around him or her and soon begins to talk and walk. Every person follows the same pattern in life. He or she learns by listening, reading, studying and observing the right way to live. Listening and reading the wrong things will result in wrong behaviour making us act contrary to the
Word of God. We should learn to stop asking the question whether what we are doing is right or wrong but rather ask whether what we are doing will lead to life or death. “There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is death”. In today’s gospel reading, after spending time with Jesus, the disciples are sent out to preach the gospel, the good news of eternal life. It is good news because it is God’s undeserved favor made possible through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is because in Adam “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death”. Jesus Christ, without a sin nature and without sin was the only One who qualified to pay the debt of sin through His death, burial and resurrection. He paid the penalty for sin for our forgiveness and imputed to believers His righteousness to qualify them to become partakers of His divine nature. What better news can we share as believers who have been made partakers of God’s divine nature?
The good news is that sinful man did not deserve God’s love yet He loved us and sent His Son Jesus Christ to bear the full judgement of God on sin in our place “so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16). We are saved “By grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God”. (Eph. 2:8) The good news is that we did not do anything to deserve God’s forgiveness but receive it by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ was greater than the judgement of God on sin and no other sacrifice will ever be needed again.
The good news is just too good for believers to keep to themselves. It should not only be shared in the confines of the church but more importantly to unbelievers who are found outside the Church. Every believer owes the unbeliever a debt to share the gospel because their salvation depends on it. Someone loved us enough to share the gospel with us and should we not do the same for someone else? How can a believer be unconcerned when he knows people will be lost forever if they don't share the gospel with them.
The Lord doesn't want anyone to perish and went to great lengths to redeem mankind. Just as God sent someone to share the gospel with you to deliver you from slavery to sin and Satan so He is also sending believers to share the good news. The Basel Mission sent missionaries to Ghana to proclaim the gospel. The history of the Basel Mission in Ghana is one of determination on the one side and tragedy on the other. This was because whole parties of missionaries were completely wiped out by illness. Most of the early missionaries died of malaria and yellow fever and West Africa became known as the “Whiteman’s grave.” One of the early missionaries named Andreas Riis survived and the good news began to make an impact with the arrival of Caribbean Christian missionaries who were coloured and had learnt to speak the language of the People. The Basel missionaries did not keep the good news to themselves and neither should we. How excited are we today about sharing the good news? How many people have we shared it with? We should be addressing these questions to the youth who are very active to direct their energy to saving the lost and bringing them into the Kingdom of God.
We are without excuse when we consider what the early missionaries went through. The gospel leads to changed lives and the restoration of God’s godly nature that sin had corrupted. It gives us a new status as God’s beloved children. Jesus was forsaken and rejected while He hang on the cross that we might be reconciled and accepted as God’s beloved children who can come to Him and call Him Abba, Father. Our new status makes it possible to renew our minds and align the believers thinking with that of God’s word to give us a new direction in life. This is the only way to deal with the canker of greed, selfishness, bribery and corruption that has become a way of life for many people today. It is only the good news that can open the door to a life of obedience to the Word of God and every disciple has the responsibility to bring in the harvest. It is not enough to be concerned about the harvest, we need to get involved in bringing in the harvest. There will always be opposition to God’s work but God’s provision is far greater than any opposition. He supplies all that we will ever need and gives us authority “to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you”. (Luke 10:20)
Every Believer who has heard the gospel, must pass it on. We cannot limit our witnessing to within the Church because most people who are not saved do not go to Church. We need to go where the unsaved are. Any fisherman will tell you that he does not go to fish in his bathtub. If he expects to catch any fish, he would go where the fish are, in the sea, river or lake. One of the well-known names in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is Fritz Ramseyer. He was obedient to God’s call and served as a missionary of the Basel Mission. He was captured during the war with the Ashantis and he and his family walked all the way to Kumasi from Anum via Abetifi. In spite of all the suffering he had to endure, including the loss of his child, he fulfilled his mission and planted many Churches. After his release from captivity, he revisited Abetifi because of the favourable weather conditions and settled there to continue his missionary work. His residence there is now a museum and is next to the fetish shrine. Oral tradition indicates that his first convert in Abetifi was the son of the fetish priest.
A Ghanaian who contributed to the missionary work of the Presbyterian Church in the modern era is a former Rector of the Akrofi-Christaller institute, Reverend Professor Dr. Dr. Kwame Bediako. He attended a missionary school but did not become a believer. While studying in France someone, who later became his wife, shared the good news with him and the transformation led him to study theology. Today, he is well known for his work on African theology and Christian mission.
The good news is too good to be true and everyone needs to hear it. Our salvation depends on it, not on anything we have done but on what Christ has done. Let us prioritise the sharing of this news that many will be justified and made partakers of His divine nature to the praise and glory of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
