TRUE and FALSE APOSTLES
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
by Ron Wood
If you're not drafted into God's army, don't volunteer without first
counting the cost. You may find the "suffering clause" a bit too
much to bear.
When Paul wrote his letters to young Timothy about three decades
after Jesus' resurrection, he was Paul the aged. He had been
imprisoned by Rome once before, he had been beaten with rods,
lashed with cat-o-nine-tails, jailed in a cold dungeon with his feet in
wooden stocks, been shipwrecked, often driven out of town, and
was continually hounded by Judaizers who wanted to stone him to
death to protect their religious traditions. (The spirit of murder is
quite happy in a religious disguise.)
As he wrote, Paul was under house arrest in Rome awaiting trial
before Caesar, as we see in the setting at the end of the Book of
Acts. By now all the other apostles among the Twelve, except for
John, had already been killed for their faith. The church had been
persecuted by the Jews but now the pressure had started coming
from Nero as the followers of Jesus refused to worship the Emperor.
(Malcolm Muggeridge, the famous British atheist philosopher, was
converted to Christ as he studied history and found that thousands
of Christians died with joy in the Roman arena, having believed that
a Man named Jesus had really come back from the dead.)
Reading Timothy, especially the second letter, you get the poignant
sense that Paul is passing the baton to Timothy. It is very personal
and has eternity in view. He obviously loves Timothy like a father
loves a son, yet he encourages Timothy to keep the faith and be
bold despite great personal risk. Paul says to him, "Suffer hardship
with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." (2 Tim 2:3) At the end
of his letter, he repeats it again: "Endure hardship, do the work of
an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." (4:5)
This expectation of suffering for a young apostle trying to fulfill his
vocation is in stark contrast to the fame or ease or fortune being
glamorously promoted by some ministries today. You would think
the mark of success is measured in budgets or buildings or
billboards, or ads in Charisma Magazine.
Listen, the Spirit of Jesus wants me to warn you - this is a terrible
time to volunteer for the ministry. It is an especially tough job market
if you are hearing a call to apostleship. If you can get out of it, run!
I mean, I thought being a prophet was tough: hearing voices, seeing
visions, having dreams, discerning things, always being out of step
with the present and pointing to things not yet, never seeming to fit
in with the status quo. But a little misunderstanding isn't bad
compared to what apostles have already suffered and will yet endure.
The job description of most of the early apostles included being killed
on the job! Apostles were KIA, "Killed In Action," which meant being
martyred for the sake of the gospel. How would you like to apply for
a job which included the probability of death?
Yet Jesus says to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth (an
apostolic term) laborers into the fields (Matt. 9:37-38). The call from
Jesus to become an apostle (one able to be sent; able to be
dispatched, or able to be deployed under Christ's authority) has
fine print in the contract. Are you willing to die?
Don't think you can escape this clause, for every real apostle's
calling and commissioning includes this hidden feature. Without a
willingness to die doing the will of God for Jesus' sake, there is no
genuine apostleship.
Some modern apostles have already sacrificed in a similar way.
Don't be surprised by their suffering. You can't have the true grace
of apostleship without something of our humanity suffering. History
has overlooked many of the apostles of China, India, Africa, Latin
America, and other non-western people groups where the darkness
has been driven back by servants of God who died on the battlefield.
In America and Europe, we have better records.
For example, John Wesley, the apostle who founded Methodism,
said that every Methodist preacher should always be ready to preach,
ready to pray, and ready to die. Pioneers always pay a dear price, a
price which those who follow later may not be able to fully appreciate.
Methodists in America once paid dearly to be Christians who lived a
sanctified life.
Years ago, I prayed with fellow pastors in an old Methodist church in
south Texas that was founded by a circuit riding preacher who rode
himself into the ground and died young bringing the gospel to
America's frontier. (Most such Methodist preachers never married
and died early by age thirty.)
The decision to follow Jesus for the Twelve meant they left their
nets - their vocational security - and they also left their reputations
behind and risked their future welfare. All but one of the first Twelve
died a terrible death because they preached the kingdom of God
without compromise.
The good news is that on the other side of suffering, if we handle it
right, is maturity and glory.
Jesus suffered more than any of us ever can or ever will. For this,
He was crowned with glory. "We do see Him, crowned with glory
and honor." (Heb 2:9) I once heard the Lord say to me, "Every
crown in its first appearing is a crown of thorns."
Your suffering in serving Christ is the gateway to experiencing God's
glory in your life and ministry. Why? Because when you keep your
faith despite it all, God gives more grace as reward. Grace precedes
glory. This is the promise made in 1 Peter 4:13-14. Notice, glory is
proportional: to the same degree. God is precise in His measurement
of glory upon His saints. It exactly fits the degree of faithful
endurance displayed before angels and men. More suffering equals
more glory. So, rejoice!
I tell you, to endure the sufferings of this present world which will
surely be inflicted upon God's holy apostles, to manifest the life of
Jesus in our mortal bodies, to be finally rid of all the fear of death,
we must touch the glory of God.
______________________________
(c) 2004 by Ronald Wood, Touched By Grace Ministries
Inc. Write us at: P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405.
Permission to copy hereby granted as long as byline
remains intact. [- touchedbygrace.org ]