Apostolic Task
If the Lord wanted apostles today, there would be no shortage of applicants. It is a noble title. But how many would want to be an apostle knowing what they really had to do?
I don't think it was to sit at the managing director's desk. Apostles means "sent one." What were they sent to do? First they were sent to be evangelists. Second, to suffer for doing it. Let me tell you - to witness and to evangelize is our privilege. We are doing what the Apostles did.
The Lord appointed the Twelve as His first witnesses. They were sent to introduce the Gospel to the world, and our task is to follow on. Their distinction as apostles was to initiate all evangelism. Jesus gave them His teaching, and they passed it to us. They were foundation. We tread where they led.
"Apostle" was not a title of honor to make them famous. It describe what they should do - (Go), and what they should be - (Prime targets for persecution, not for prestige). We read, God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death" (1 Cor. 4:9).
The apostles were not divinely appointed church bosses. They left managements to others. In Acts 15, the man who did that kind of thing, James, wan not an apostle, because James the Apostle had been martyred already in Act 12. We read nothing about apostles giving out orders. Their special honor was that "they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name," and they rejoiced (Acts 5:41). Suffering as pioneers of Christ was the only high status they enjoyed.
In Mark's Gospel, the title of apostle was used because they had carried out a preaching and healing itinerary. Constantly, throughout the whole the New Testament, apostleship meant one thing - preaching the Gospel. Paul said, "Christ...sent me to preach the Gospel." he began his great letter to the Romans with a clear statement of an apostle's work: "Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God" (Rom. 1:1).
This was their area of authority. When Philip preached in Samaria and others evangelized in Antioch, the Apostles felt they had to give it their approval, as custodians of the truth,(Acts 8:14; 10:22).
Jesus had told them:
I don't think it was to sit at the managing director's desk. Apostles means "sent one." What were they sent to do? First they were sent to be evangelists. Second, to suffer for doing it. Let me tell you - to witness and to evangelize is our privilege. We are doing what the Apostles did.
The Lord appointed the Twelve as His first witnesses. They were sent to introduce the Gospel to the world, and our task is to follow on. Their distinction as apostles was to initiate all evangelism. Jesus gave them His teaching, and they passed it to us. They were foundation. We tread where they led.
"Apostle" was not a title of honor to make them famous. It describe what they should do - (Go), and what they should be - (Prime targets for persecution, not for prestige). We read, God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death" (1 Cor. 4:9).
In Mark's Gospel, the title of apostle was used because they had carried out a preaching and healing itinerary. Constantly, throughout the whole the New Testament, apostleship meant one thing - preaching the Gospel. Paul said, "Christ...sent me to preach the Gospel." he began his great letter to the Romans with a clear statement of an apostle's work: "Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God" (Rom. 1:1).
This was their area of authority. When Philip preached in Samaria and others evangelized in Antioch, the Apostles felt they had to give it their approval, as custodians of the truth,(Acts 8:14; 10:22).
Jesus had told them:
I will give you the key of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19).
(source: Evangelism By Fire, Author: Reinhard Bonnke)
God bless us all]
God bless us all]
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