26 February 2017

My dear readers,

(Extracts from RPG, Jan – Mar 1998, Edited by Dr SH Tow)

1. PRECIOUS GOSPEL PRIVILEGES
LUKE 8:16-21, MATTHEW 5:14-16

(a) Show your light. A true Christian is like a lighted candle: he shines for Jesus. Not to do so is hiding your candle under a bed or covering it over with a bushel – something too ridiculous for words! And yet this is exactly what many professing Christians do. They may admire Jesus and talk about the Gospel, but it is not seen in their lives. Our Lord's words must cause us to examine ourselves. Is your life pointing men and women to Christ? Do I strive daily to live so that others may come to know the Saviour and receive life everlasting? It is utterly unreasonable and selfish for a Christian to be content to go to heaven alone. May your Gospel light burn brightly that all men may see Jesus' love and purity in you.

(b) Hear with faith. "Take heed how ye hear". Hearing the Word of God is like receiving the light of God. To hear and do nothing is like hiding a light: it simply must not be done! We must hear God's Word with faith, believing it to be true every bit, and receiving it with joy. When the Word is faithfully preached, the sermon must be received "not as the word of men, but the word of God" (1 Thess 2:13). Our hearing must be attended with prayer: prayer before a sermon for Holy Spirit enlightenment; and prayer afterwards for filial obedience. To rush into God's house unprepared is an act of gross disrespect to the Almighty. Therefore come reverently, prayerfully, and expectantly. Those who ask no blessing from God receive none.

(c) Doing is the key to blessing. Hearing must lead to doing. It is like the man who built his house on a rock. Such a man is a true Christian. The Word of God leads to repentance and renewal of life. A true Christian ceases from evil to do good. He puts off the old man and puts on the new. Men see Christ in him: his light burns brightly. Our Lord says: "My mother and my brethren are these which hear ... and do."

THOUGHT: A light makes no noise. It just shines.

2. APOSTOLIC COMMISSION
LUKE 9:1-11, MATTHEW 28:18-20

To the apostles only did our Lord give "power and authority over all devils, and to cure all diseases". For some self-styled "faith healers" and "modern day apostles" to claim the same power and authority is presumptuous. This is not to say that there are no miracles of healing and deliverance from demon possession today. Of course there are. Our Lord is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He heals miraculously in response to the earnest prayers of His people, according to His sovereign will. But our Lord has not given "power and authority" over devils and diseases to any particular person or class of persons today.

The other principal work to which the apostles were commissioned was preaching. For us today preaching is our main thrust in the Great Commission. It is God's chosen means of grace by which sinners are converted and saints are built up in the most holy faith. A vital Bible-based and Christ-centred preaching ministry is absolutely essential to the health and prosperity of the Church. But the true servant must learn the principle of simplicity total dependency on Christ and contentment in Christ from the apostolic commission: "Take nothing for your journey, neither have two coats apiece."

Church leaders (pastors, elders, deacons) do well to heed the Apostle Paul's instruction in 1 Timothy 3 and elsewhere, that God's servants must not be covetous, not greedy of filthy lucre. "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation ... and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition" (1 Tim 6:8,9). America's "televangelists" pastors (Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, and others) who live in multimillion dollar mansions and boast multimillion dollar incomes fit the Apostle's description: "Whose God is their belly ... whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things" (Phil 3:19). These are apostles of deceit.

THOUGHT: Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light; so his apostles appear likewise.

3. HARVEST GREAT, LABOURERS FEW
LUKE 10:1-16, PSALM 126:3-6

What our Lord said has lost none of its truth. Today the world's white harvest field cries out for labourers but genuine servants of Jesus Christ are few, all too few. The Lord is not interested in "hirelings" – men who care not for the sheep, but only look after their own interests (John 10:12,13). True servants and labourers together with God (1 Cor 3:9), who are not greedy of "filthy lucre" (1 Tim 3:3,8) are truly hard to find today.
We who name the name of Christ and seek to serve Him, ought to have the qualities of the genuine labourer. We are to proceed about the Lord's business with simplicity total dependency on Christ ("carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes"), avoiding the detractions of social entanglements ("salute no man by the way"), not choosy ("eating and drinking such things as they give"), or moving from house to house ("in the same house remain").

God's labourer must declare God's message: "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. Peace be to this house." Preach the word, not a social gospel, not one's own ideas or any of the world's vain philosophy. Preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified: unto us which are saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18). We are to preach the Gospel gently and peaceably: "Whosoever will may come!" Those who reject the offer of God face the judgment of God because of the sin in their lives.

True labourers are few because men look for immediate, tangible and material benefits. Few will follow our Lord whose kingdom is "not of this world" (John 18:36), but "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom 14:17). To go with this message is to arouse the world's hostility – "as lambs among wolves". The true servant of God will meet with ridicule, rejection and rebuff. Only false teachers and false prophets receive the world's acclaim. "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets" (Luke 6:26): our Lord's words still apply today.

QUESTION: Now are you able to make out the true labourer of God?
PRAYER: Lord, send forth faithful labourers into the harvest.

God bless all readers.
Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,
Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor