July 18, 2009
-
are you gossiping the word to one another?
Several months after our youngest son was born I went through a period of time in which I was pretty seriously depressed. I hadn't really said very much about it to anyone, though my husband knew. Though I was able to do pretty much what I normally did, I couldn't really function well. I had no real interest in anything. I felt there was no light at the end of the tunnel. If you've ever experienced that feeling, you know it's scary and frightening. I told my husband how I felt, and he said he would love me no matter what, even if things remained as they were for the rest of my life. So it wasn't that I was questioning his love or even God's love, it's just that everything was so dark at the time and there was no end in sight to that darkness.
It's easy to hide those feelings. We're embarrassed by them. We all want to appear sufficient and strong. (That was a long time ago, and since then God continues to show me the blessing it is to be insufficient and weak, e.g. - please see my recent posts here and here.)
One night at our small group I finally shared what was happening and my brothers and sisters laid hands on me and prayed for me. One gal looked and me and simply said something to me like, "Jesus loves you." It was no huge theological treatise. Just the simple Gospel. In fact, too simple. Yes, I know "Jesus loves you" in and of itself does not pass any real test of theological muster. But what I do know is that was the night things turned around. No, there wasn't a huge change initially, but as I look back there was a slow progression from that night on. The prayers of the people of God are powerful. The word of God ministered by the Holy Spirit through the mouths, pens and keyboards of the people of God is powerful.
In the final chapter of his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reminds us:
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. (KJV)
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (ESV)What is Paul saying here?
First, Paul is writing about our position and our relationship to one another because of our position in Christ. Because the Lord Jesus died for us, because He gave His precious blood to redeem the Church, all who trust in Him will live together with Him, both now and forevermore. He has saved us from wrath. We now have life in Him. We are now united to Him. And since each one of us is united to Him, we are now also united to one another. Because we are joint heirs with Jesus, we are also brothers and sisters to one another.
Second, Paul is writing about the privileges and responsibilities we share because of our relationship to Him and to one another. We live together with Him and with one another in this blessed life, and along with that life we have an awesome privilege and a great responsibility: we are called to minister comfort to one another and to edify one another. How do we do that? We do that in many ways. We do that by praying for one another. We do that by reminding one another of the truths of the Gospel, by gossiping the word to each other. That's what my brothers and sisters did for me that night so many years ago. (And of course, in addition to all that, there are the meals we might share, the child care we might provide and so forth...the concrete ways we can and must minister to one another, but that's not what I'm focusing on here today.)
A few days ago I blogged about how we are to gossip the word, that each one of us is responsible to evangelize the unsaved, even though we all do not have the gift of evangelism. I quoted a portion of Martyn Lloyd-Jones' commentary on Acts 8:4 ("Compelling Christianity" Crossway, 2007, p.44):
Some say that this text (Acts 8:4) should be translated, "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where gossiping the word." Preaching here does not mean standing in a pulpit, so to speak. That is what Philip did in the next verse (v. 5). In the Greek there are two different words here. Our word "preaching" translates one Greek word in verse 4 and a different word in verse 5. Two English words should have been used to translate the two Greek words: "They went every where gossiping the word," and Philip went down to the city of Samaria proclaiming Christ." These people were scattered abroad, and they arrive among strangers and were welcomed into their homes and sat down and had something to eat and to drink, and they began to tell the people in ordinary conversation about this wonderful message that they had believed and that now meant so much to them.We can never forget that the word, this glorious Gospel, isn't just for the unsaved. We're not just to be gossiping the word to the world but to one another, to our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.
Look at the New Testament letters. What do we find there? Gospel teaching. To whom were those letters written? They were written to those who had already believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Question: Who has the words of life? Who first brought us from death to life? Who first gave us the new life we have in Jesus Christ? God Himself through His Holy Spirit. When we are needing to be comforted and built up, where ought we go? As children of God we cannot forget we the blessed privilege we have of entering into our Father's presence through Jesus' body and blood. When we are in need (and at all times, of course), we can and we must first go to His throne of grace, to go to Him in prayer and to open up and read and meditate upon His word.
But where else can we and should we be going to be encouraged in the faith? Remember – because we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we are also in relationship with one another. Ought we not be going to our brothers and sisters in the Church? Indeed. That is part of our birthright as children of God: we are not only children of our heavenly Father, but brothers and sisters with one another. And God has placed us in the Body to minister His grace and peace to one another, to speak to one another the wonderful words of this Gospel life. And, of course, it goes without saying that we ought to be making ourselves available to minister comfort to one another.
Notice in this verse Paul is not telling the leaders to comfort and edify the members. No, these commandments are addressed to everyone in the Church. We're all to be comforting and edifying one another regularly. The author of the book of Hebrews tells us we're to speak to one another and exhort one another daily so we might spur one another on to love and good works (Heb. 10:23-24). That's what my brothers and sisters did for me that night when they laid hands on me and prayed. That's what my sister in Christ did for me that night when she reminded me that Jesus loved me. And that is what each one of us ought to be doing for and with one another daily. Instead of turning to all sorts of other resources when we are in need, let us turn to our God and to one another, to our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ, so we can truly be the people God has intended us to be so He might be glorified in and through us. I thank God for my friends (both real and cyber friends) who do this for me and allow me to do this for them.
Paul commended the Church at Thessalonica for comforting and edifying one another and he encouraged them to keep it up. What words would he have for you? What words would he have for your church?
How has God used a brother's or sister's words to comfort or edify you?
How has God used your words to comfort or edify another?
How might He want to use you to comfort or a brother or sister today?
How might He want to use another brother or sister to comfort or edify you today?For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
RSS feed