If we wanted to, or as a scientist might, we could reduce life to two essential things: “food and shelter.”
Living things, whether plant, animal or human, require food and protection to sustain life.
In a sense these bodies of ours are a special kind of machine, and these machines require fuel to run.
But if life only consisted of these two things, then it would hardly be worth living.
Some people might create a short list of things essential to their lives; other would have a very long list.
And the “life most abundant” requires the presence and gracious blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the essence of life is food and shelter, but life takes on meaning, color and character by all the things that are added on.
Like life, Bible Christianity can be stated in very simple terms.
And in fact, I think that Luke has done exactly that here in these two final verses of the Book of Acts.
preaching the kingdom of God, & teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.”
But that is a very, very simplistic perspective.
What is the Christian’s responsibility to his King, and what about those who reject Him?
There are two other pairs of words which briefly state important ideas.
Paul’s ministry was summarized by the words “teaching” and “preaching.”
These two things aren’t all that the Christian ministry is about, but they make for a good summary.
And two other things, which are not directly addressed here, express what should be peoples’ response to Christ and the Christian ministry – “repentance and faith.”
No Gospel preacher would deny the essential elements of repentance and faith, but at the same time, no true servant of the Lord would say that there is nothing else to being a Christian.
So we have four simple pairs of words, which basically describe their respective areas:
Food and shelter, Christ and His Kingdom, teaching and preaching, and finally repentance and faith.
This morning, we have no need to review the first two.
But let’s begin with the essence of the Christian ministry and think about the other two pairs as well.
someone asked me about the difference between teaching and preaching, but I couldn’t answer.
Now that I’ve been in the Lord’s ministry for nearly forty years, I think that I’m ready.
Christian teaching and preaching ought to have the same subject matter: Christ and His Kingdom.
But preaching is the proclaiming, the declaring, the trumpeting out of the Truth of God.
Teaching, on the other hand, is usually more intimate; it can be interactive; it ought to be more thorough.
Paul was a preacher, as every gospel pastor should be.
He enjoyed, as I do, the opportunity to declare: “thus saith the Lord.”
And as he has told us in I Corinthians, the ministry of preaching is something very special to heart of God. “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Why is preaching so special?
But I think that there is a logical answer:
and when the results are God’s, then the glory is God’s as well.
The public, explicit, vocal declaration of His will has always been God’s way.
But let God be true and every man a liar.
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
This is not to say that teaching is a human invention or that it is unnecessary.
Teaching is clearly taught and commended in the Bible.
The Lord Jesus was recognized to be a fabulous “teacher sent from God,” and over and over again, we are told that Jesus “sat down and taught the people” or something similar to that.
The Book of Acts begins with the words: “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.”
What makes teaching different from preaching is that it carries a more personal element.
The teacher can and should stop to make sure that his hearers are receiving each point and that the subject is growing logically.
There are some ministers who are better preachers than they are teachers, and there are some who are just the opposite.
In fact it seems that the Lord actually designed His ministry in just that way, because “he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
But something which is not said here in these verses has an important relationship to these two duties:
The Christian minister has no authority to devise his own doctrine and theology.
He is not a seeker of or an exponent of NEW revelation.
He is suppose to be one who declares what has been previously declared by God.
He should be taught well enough to teach others, but his subject should first have been taught of God.
I was disgusted by a television ad I saw the other day; maybe I should say that I was particularly disgusted.
The Mormons have been running television ads for years.
They pretend to be more moral, smarter, more kind and more just than the rest of Christendom.
Then they offer free copies of the fiction called “The Book of Mormon.”
I know that it is their doctrine, but in this ad they explicitly declared …
but that they were restored by Joseph Smith and the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
Then the ad had the temerity to say that Mormonism is the only church to have the complete Bible, because they have the “Book of Mormon.”
And right there they declared war on those of us who teach and preach the Bible as Paul did.
And my point is this: Mormonism isn’t a declaration of the revealed will of God; it is a pervasion with new revelation.
What’s more, that is precisely what they profess.
But the essence of the CHRISTIAN MINISTRY is the teaching and preaching of the Word of God; the original Scriptures; the only Scriptures.
In preaching the Kingdom of God, Paul undoubtedly declared its SOVEREIGNTY and DISTINCTIVENESS.
The last time I dealt with this subject, we began with Nebuchadnezzar’s vision.
But the last and most glorious kingdom was of God, and it destroyed all that remained of the previous kingdoms.
And when it comes to the Kingdom OF GOD, there never has been a more distinct kingdom.
It will be unlike any other kingdom because it is essentially spiritual.
It is not a kingdom OF men and FOR men; it is the kingdom of GOD and for GOD’S GLORY.
The kingdom that Paul preached was properly enjoyed only by those who were born-again – the saved.
True Christians are citizens of this kingdom, who love and embrace the king,
and there are rebels who will be judged, not blessed, by the King.
If Paul was given full opportunity, I’m sure that he would have preached about the character of those citizens.
It isn’t just that they are born into God’s family and into His kingdom.
As being the children of their Father, they all bare the nature and characteristics of their Father, each in their own individual way.
And another aspect of the Kingdom of God, one in which Paul, was very much a part, was its warfare.
Ours is not a warfare of lies and deception like most of the cults.
It’s not a system bait and switch like some of the others, offering one thing and providing something else.
The warfare of the Kingdom of God is not physical and fleshly.
As Paul reminded Timothy, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a GOOD warfare.”
Everything about the Kingdom of God is radically different from any of the kingdoms of men.
Its ECONOMY is different, and its CURRENCY is different.
Its LAWS are holy, just and good, and there isn’t the constant evolution of laws that we see in human countries or kingdoms.
The CRIMINALS in this kingdom will be distinctly and severely judged – eternally judged.
And the KING of this Kingdom will be literally worshiped without the slightest hint of idolatry.
But of course the primary thing about the Kingdom of God is THE KING.
During those two years in Roman imprisonment, Paul spent as much time as possible in preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.
It didn’t matter if he was evangelizing Jews or Romans, sharing Jesus with them was difficult.
The ministry of Christ has to include the HISTORY and BIOGRAPHY of the LORD JESUS.
And I’m sure that Paul was no different than a teacher in the 21st century in this regard.
Christ cannot be separated from His own teaching and doctrine.
Someone might argue that Paul didn’t have access to the Gospels of Matthew or John.
We have to remember that the man who was writing the Book of Acts, also wrote the Gospel which bears his name, and that for a long time he was the constant companion of Paul.
At some point Luke became familiar enough with the Lord of Christ, that he could boldly write: “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the CERTAINTY of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”
Who can say that some of what Luke wrote in his Gospel he didn’t get from Paul, who was himself directly instructed by God?
I have no doubt that not only did Paul know the Old Testament scripture about Christ, he also knew much about JESUS the Christ.
And he diligently shared and taught this to those who visited him.
And then there was the DEITY of Christ.
As we have seen before, there can be no doubt that Paul taught that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the King, the Second Person of the God-head.
He wrote that God has “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”
After the deity of Christ, Paul undoubtedly taught about each of HIS OFFICES.
He is our great High Priest, a priest after the order, not of Levi, but of Melchisedec.
And “we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus, the Christ is our Mediator and Intercessor.
And not only did he teach and preach about the grace of God in general, but he delighted to talk about “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
To the Corinthians he gave one of the greatest verses in all the Bible:
And then to Timothy he added:
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
And the bullet in that weapon is the message of God’s amazing grace.
But of course Paul’s message didn’t stop with salvation through the grace of Christ.
I’m sure that whenever the opportunity afforded itself, he taught about the UNFULFILLED PROPHESIES about Christ, and how many of them relate to His saints.
There is going to be a PHYSICAL kingdom on earth that will precisely reflect its SPIRITUAL aspects.
Christ rules in the hearts of multitudes today, but one day soon He will sit upon the throne of His father David and rule and reign with a rod of iron over all the peoples of the earth.
He will come in power and great glory after pouring out his seven-year wrath on the sinners of this world.
The reign of Christ has essentially just begun.
Get ready world; get ready ye rebels.
Luke tells us that for two whole years, while living in his own hired house, Paul preached and taught about the Kingdom of God and about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Preaching and teaching were the primary tools of Paul’s trade.
The King and Kingdom were the primary theme of his ministry.
In fact, just as the Lord Jesus did in Mark 1:15, Paul preached: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Just as the Apostle Peter preached to the Jews of Jerusalem,
Paul preached to the Greeks at Mars Hill, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
But coupled with the Christian call to repentance, the message of Christianity is to believe on the Lord Jesus.
“In the beginning was [Christ Jesus], and [Jesus] was with God, and He was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. here was a man sent from God, whose name was John. he same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
To the Jews in Pisidia Paul preached, “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
When he saw the repentant attitude of the Philippian jailer he simply told him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as he wrote to the Romans, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”
What is the ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY? The King and the Kingdom.
What is the ESSENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY? Teaching and preaching.
And what is the ESSENCE OF OUR RESPONSE? Repentance and faith.
Judge for yourself: is this the ministry and message of your church?
And – in the light of that are you living in repentance and faith?
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
ONLY THOSE who repent and call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.