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For Christs love compels us, because we are convinced that one
died for all, and therefore all
died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer
live for themselves but for Him who
died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we
might become the
righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
These verses focus our attention on the heart of the gospel
proclamation which, Paul tells us, is
the power of God to redeem us. This gospel is the foundation of
all the Paul is and does. If you are to
understand Paul you must begin by coming to terms with the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So often,
in biographies we encounter a question about the secret of the
subject of the biographys success.
Many theories are put forward as to why that particular person
accomplished what they did. If the
subject was a Christian however there is one chief cause of
their fame. Such is the case with Paul, andall true preachers of
the gospel. This is that they are people whose lives have been
mastered by the
gospel of Christ. They are who they are on account of this one
tremendous fact, the Lord Jesus Christ
has died for them and as a consequence they have died with Him
to their own selfishness and sin, so
that they might now live for Him. He is their sin offering, the
only ground on which they are reconciled
to God. They therefore have now committed their lives to making
this gospel known to as many people
as will listen to them.
This truth has been ably communicated by John Piper in his book
Brothers, We Are Not
Professionals, (B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tenn.,
2013, pages 3 & 4).
The life-giving preacher is a man of God, whose heart is ever
athirst for god, whose soul is
ever following hard after God, whose eye is single to God, and
in whom by the power of Gods Spirit
the flesh and the world have been crucified and his ministry is
like the generous flood of a life-giving
river. (John Piper and Wayne Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood
and Womanhood: A Response to
Evangelical Feminism (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991,
16.))
We are most emphatically not part of a social team sharing goal
with other professionals. Our
goals are an offense; they are foolishness (1 Cor. 1:23). The
professionalization of the ministry is a
constant threat to the offense of the gospel. It is a threat to
the profoundly spiritual nature of our
work. I have seen it often: the love of professionalism (parity
among the worlds professionals) kills a
mans belief that he is sent by God to save people from hell and
to make them Christ-exalting, spiritual
aliens in the world.
The world sets the agenda of the professional man; God sets the
agenda of the spiritual man.
The strong wine of Jesus Christ explodes the wineskins of
professionalism. There is an infinite
difference between the pastor whose heart is set upon being
professional and the pastor whose heart
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is set on being the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of death to
some and eternal life to others. (2 Cor.
5:15-16)
God, deliver us from the professionalizers! Deliver us from the
low, managing, contriving,
manoeuvring temper among us. (Richard Cecil quoted by E. M.
Bounds, Power Through Prayer (Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972) p. 59) God, give us tears
for our sins. Forgive us for being soshallow in prayer, so thin in
our grasp of holy verities, so content amid perishing neighbours,
so empty
of passion and earnestness in all our conversation. Restore to
us the childlike joy of our salvation.
Frighten us with the awesome holiness and power of Him who can
cast both soul and body into hell
(Matt. 10:28). Cause us to hold to the cross with fear and
trembling as our hope-filled and offensive
tree of life. Grant us nothing, absolutely nothing, the way the
world views it. May Christ be all in all
(Col. 3:11).
Banish professionalism from our midst, Oh God, and in its place
put passionate prayer, poverty
of spirit, hunger for God, rigorous study of holy things,
white-hot devotion to Jesus Christ, utter
indifference to all material gain, and unremitting labor to
rescue the perishing, perfect the saints, and
glorify our Sovereign Lord.
Humble us, O God, under your mighty hand, and let us rise, not
as professionals, but as
witnesses and partakers of the sufferings of Christ. In His
awesome Name. Amen.
