Advent 3 2008
Stewards of the mysteries of God. When we picture the prophets of old such as John
Baptist, what images come to your mind? In his day, he was sternly rejected by the religious
elite due to making them uncomfortable from every possible angle. We live in a time where
we face similar responses from the world to God’s faithful people. It should not concern us
to have the ok or blessing from the world. Rather, the cause of Christ and His Cross is
foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Hebrews. As John Baptist and all
the others that were faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, our concern is eternal, not
what others think or feel at a given time or in a given culture. This morning, let us look at
the vital importance of being prophets in this world to impact it and transform it in and by
Jesus Christ to His glory.
No Excuses
The first element in stewardship is the bane of many a prophet we read about in the
Old Testament, that of making excuses for why we can’t do as we are called by God. In
Jeremiah 1, our Old Testament lesson, we read of the call of the Lord upon the life of
Jeremiah to be a prophet. In verse 5 of Jeremiah 1 we read the following about God’s call
on this man’s life, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I
sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” So, we see a clear call on Jeremiah’
s life to do the work of the Lord in preaching the truth. Yet, this awesome responsibility
being put on Jeremiah’s shoulders was met with an excuse as we see in the next verse,
“Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
It is amazing looking at the pages of Holy Scripture to see some of His greatest
prophets thinking of themselves as unworthy. For Jeremiah, he says that he cannot speak
on account of his youth. The issue though is that ALL MEN are unworthy to do the work of
the Lord in speaking forth His truth due to our fallen state. There is always going to be
something that we feel that is lacking in ourselves that we think prohibits us from doing
what we should be doing for Christ and His Kingdom.
Yes, we are unworthy just as Moses and Jeremiah was for our own reasons. Yet, our
excuses are met by the unwavering faithfulness of God through the Holy Spirit that helps us
grow in faith and the ability to speak when called upon. The duty of preaching the
unwavering truth of God’s Holy Word to the nations falls on every shoulder sitting in this
Church that faithfully calls upon the Name of the Lord. Our excuses should never be an
impediment to doing and saying as we ought to the glory of Christ. Excuses that I often
hear from laypeople are that the job of preaching truth to the world is exclusively the
Pastors call. With this excuse comes inaction, apathy, and eventually even caving in to the
pressures of a sinful society to go with the currents of sin rather than how God calls us to
live. We cannot give excuses and sit back to let others do our job. We have to move from
excuses to ACTION in God just as we read of in the life of Jeremiah and all the other faithful
prophets.
Not our Words, HIS
We need not worry about our unworthiness due to the fact that God always provides
THE WORDS. Listen again to the Lord’s answer to Jeremiah’s excuse in verse 9, “Then the
Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: Behold, I have put
My words in your mouth.” We cannot think we can go out to preach the truth on our own
power, charm, or anything else we can come up with as people. God has given us HIS
WORD in Holy Scripture to communicate His purpose to the world. The Holy Spirit enables
us to learn and draw inspiration to preach as we should both in our lives and in the words
we use.
To be good stewards of His Word, we must see that it is not by our power, but by His
power alone. The Lord when He called Moses, Jeremiah, and John Baptist did not choose
them because they were good car’s salesmen or insurance salesmen. He chose them out
of His chosen people to do His will by His standard and in His power. He provided the
words. The same is true today. Too often, people think a minister should be like a car’s
salesman. The problem with this is that it cheapens His Gospel of Christ and is unfaithful in
not trusting that the Lord can use any of His servants to do His work. We are not called to
be stewards of the Word as we feel about it, but rather stewards of the Word as HE HAS
GIVEN.
Goal
Next, the importance of being good stewards of the mysteries of God involves the goal
of such. Namely, the reason we are to be good stewards is outlined in Psalm 22:27, “All the
ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations
shall worship before You.” Such a statement is sheer foolishness to the world and culture
we find ourselves. This prophetic call on every person that has been called to salvation in
Jesus Christ puts all Christians in the same arena as John Baptist and Jeremiah.
One thing we see repeatedly today is an adverse reaction to the premise of Christ to
go to the entire world and preach His Word to transform and convert every nation and tribe
to His service. Sinful man and his hate of Christ will lash out in every way he can to try to
quell the march of the Gospel. So, language that Christianity as they see it as a white
religion from Europe should stay put is purely a lie. Christ’s religion from its outset has
NEVER been tied to a race, nation or tribe. Christianity spread to places such as Ethiopia,
Asia, and North Africa before it converted the pagan tribes of white Europe. When God’s
Word is applied first and foremost to sinful man, all are truly blessed. The goal should
always be in our minds and hearts. By nature, the Gospel is to be preached, not shelved or
silenced. Remember, the goal as to all the ends of the world.
Faithful
Our last issue in being good stewards of the mysteries of God is the fact that we have
to be faithful. I Corinthians 4:2 notes, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found
faithful.” We have a great duty just as the prophets of old to hold God’s Word dear as well
as being good, faithful stewards of it no matter the resistance we face. A faithless steward
will abandon the faith when things begin to get difficult.
We are called in Jesus Christ to faithfully stay grounded in His Word and to use His
Word when called upon. Stewardship and being servants go hand in hand. In order to
watch over His Word we must be servants of Christ, servants of each other in His Body.
The adversity and enemies we face today are not really all that different from enemies the
prophets of Scripture faced on a daily level as they preached the truth.
We know we are fulfilling our call when we meet resistance from the world, the flesh and
the devil through upholding God’s Word against every whim and sinful feeling of man. If we
were not facing resistance from sinful humanity, we would have a big problem because it
would mean we were no longer making an impact. To impact others means we will be
noticed for preaching the truth as well as meeting resistance of all sorts by those that do
not like the message of repentance in Christ.
Faithfulness allows us to be as John Baptist preaching repentance of sins to all. God’s
Word remains the same no matter how we feel about it or what time period we live in. It is
our call in being stewards of the Word to take it as it is in its pure and simple form by His
help through the Holy Spirit and present it in its pure and simple form to those in need of
salvation in Christ.
Conclusion
Are we good stewards of His Word as men such as John Baptist and Jeremiah? Do we
get mired down with our excuses or do we rely on Him to help us speak HIS WORD that He
has given? Are we on the same page as He is in terms of His goal for the message of
Christ to go unto all parts of the earth? Lastly, are we faithful witnesses and stewards of His
Word, concerned with what God’s sees and hears of us rather than what man thinks? May
we think and pray upon these things in this Advent Season of preparing the way of the
Lord to His glory as His Body. Amen.