The Life of a Messenger

Have you ever had to deliver an uncomfortable message?  I remember the time I was asked by a friend to serve a mate with divorce papers.  Uncomfortable and awkward is how I would describe that interaction.  Many times when I worked at a church I would approach transient people in various stages of sobriety and volatility and ask them to leave the property.  There have been times in preaching when I have been led by the LORD to touch on a sensitive subject or confront an issue.  It is always hard, and my flesh tends to resist.  If I said it always feels rewarding to deliver God's messages it would be a lie.  There is nothing more rewarding than walking in obedience to God delivering His messages, but it is not easy, simple, or fun for the flesh.  Sometimes it is grievous, gut-wrenching, and painfully hard to say what is right.

As children of God, we are tasked to deliver His message to the world.  Praise Him we are not alone in this joyful duty!  The message is greater than the messenger, and the one who sends the message is greater than the message itself.  In a Christian's case Christ is our message, and we remain less than the message.  He is the Vine and we are the branches.  Any branch that would elevate itself will be separated from the Vine and rendered powerless.  King Saul is a perfect example:  he exalted himself over the commands of God, and God's Spirit left him and an evil spirit was sent to torment him.  Saul was once small in his own eyes, but he was lifted up with pride and great was his fall.

What message has God given you to deliver?  The other day I was struggling to pray and asked God what He wanted me to do.  Though I have regular times of prayer, it has been a challenge to remain focused.  As I waited on the LORD, the only thing He impressed upon my heart was, "I want you to open your mouth."  Now if you know me personally, you know I have no problem with talking.  I feel like I need to shut my mouth rather than open it!  But the LORD showed me that He wants me to open my mouth concerning His righteous statutes, judgments, and truth.  A lot of times I stay quiet when I should speak.

2 Tim. 4:2 says, "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."  I have never met a teacher who could not speak.  I am not saying you cannot learn from a mute teacher.  Communication is best done through verbal or written words.  Can a man convince, rebuke, exhort, or teach with hand signals?  He would probably not be very effective, persuasive, or clear.  The Word is our message, and before we can teach we must have learned.  A man who knows nothing is not convincing.  We must know what is right before we can properly convince, rebuke, or exhort.  Because this task requires spiritual discernment, we must be empowered with the Holy Spirit, whom the Father gives to all who ask Him.  Jesus says in Luke 11:13, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

Your life is sending a message to the world whether you choose to open your mouth or not.  What message does it hold forth?  Even if we speak the truth, we must remember to be longsuffering.  God is longsuffering, one of His wonderful attributes.  2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."  If God was not longsuffering, we would all be damned.  He is not lazy or a procrastinator.  We are the ones who excel at these vices!  I am glad that God is longsuffering towards the heathen and godly alike, for if God treated us according to our sins who should remain?

When I went on a mission trip to Israel in 2005, God opened my understanding concerning the delivery of the message of the Gospel.  People will not warm to facts, but to love.  When people realize that you come to them because of your love for them, they will listen.  When we bring a message because we are right and they are wrong, they will likely be defensive and closed to the message.  Though words are important, the way we say something is more telling than our words.  1 John 1:5-7 says, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. [6] If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

The messenger is not responsible for the reception of the message.  But we have a responsibility to deliver God's message with the grace, love, and longsuffering of Christ.  We need not apologize for the truth, and it cannot be diluted.  As a patient with a potentially terminal condition must hear the truth to be convinced to undergo radical life-changes for a cure, people need to hear the unadulterated truth of God's message:  we who were once far from God can now be brought near through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, and those who believe on Him will never die.  May God grant us the boldness to speak the truth in love.