Sometimes those who oppose us are more perceptive than we are about our most powerful weapons. D. M. Lloyd Jones reminded me of this phenomenon in the early church. There was one thing that the Sanhedrin wanted to stop the apostles doing in the early church. They did not mind the healing, or the breaking bread together, or the communal living, or the individual discipling. They wanted to stop the Apostles from speaking in public about Jesus. They wanted to stop the preaching. This was the one thing– “they commanded them not to speak or to teach in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18).
I think the same is true today. Satan is annoyed with healings, with small-group “share times,” with relationship workshops, with people meeting together for fellowship, so long at they are taking place without the people bodly “speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus.” But when the word is opened with power he is undone. When men like Peter, John, James and Stephen begin to boldly declare Christ as Lord — even at the cost of their life– Satan’s deceptive power vanishes like darkness before light. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ. And what is the victory that overcomes the world? Our faith. What makes all other parts of the Christian life- relationships, small-groups, workshops, fellowship, communion– purposeful and effective? Our faith.
So pray for us in seminary. May we become less like most scholars in academia today, who laud detached study that only goes so far as descriptive analysis. May we become like Stephen, men who can proclaim with sensitivity and passion, with precision and humility, with love and truth Christ as Lord today.
(originally posted on my previous webblog)
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