"And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
To be a prophet is to be given a word which interrupts the world. And my clever thoughts will never interrupt the world. Because they’re part of the world. We are here to hear the word of God…
Jesus arrives in his hometown of Nazareth and announces the arrival of God’s kingdom – the year of Jubilee that all Jews anticipated. He announces the world to come and at first they admire him. At first they are entertained by him. Then someone says “Is not this Joseph’s son”. The thought is clear to everyone there. How can this boy from our town claim to interrupt our whole world?
To be a prophet is to interrupt the world and this boy from our town can’t interrupt our world. He has no authority. He’s one of us. He has a place in our system. How can he claim an authority over our village?..And so for the first time in his career (but not the last time) the people gather round him and seek to eliminate him. Somehow Jesus manages to escape a lynching on that occasion.
It must be a relief to you "All" that you are not called to be a prophet. Not only would you have no qualifications for the job, but you would also be in danger of a lynching…
For Jesus the future is a world in which the survival of the fittest is reversed. Remember his announcement that caused all the stir
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.
The oppressed and the poor, upon whose labor the whole structure of society depends, will be set free by God. Jesus speaks of an interruption of the whole structure of his society… And so he is a prophet.
But hang on… what are we called to? --->And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20) --->Jesus calls every Christian to step out in faith and spread the Good News....
So our commitment today is not to a club of (Prophesy) but to following Jesus, then our calling is to be a prophetic community. Our calling then is to bear witness to that interruption here and now… to be a place where the poor and oppressed have been set free.---> We all in Christ Jesus are called to share the good News Period.
Christ calls us to preach Salvation in Him, at no time does He call us to preach prosperity or the accumulation of wealth or riches, as a matter of fact He admonishes us to not even worry about those things, (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:32-33 (KJV)
Christ commanded us to tell others about Him and promised to give us power to do it. In the same way that a person is called to be a witness in a legal proceeding, we are asked to be His witnesses. In a legal proceeding, the witness will testify to the things that they have personally seen and heard; they will give an account based on what they have observed or experienced insofar as it has relevance to the current proceedings. As Christians, we have the opportunity and responsibility to tell others what we have "seen" and "heard" and what we have experienced in our walk with the Lord.
Jesus commands us to tell others of His great salvation. He wants everyone to know about Him. He suffered a horrible death so that all of mankind could be reconciled to the Father. The only way for that truth to be known is for someone to tell it. We are that "someone." Why should we tell others? We should tell others because they need to know that Jesus loves them and longs to give them life. He desires to rescue each one from the pit and consequences of sin.
So are we prepared to be prophetic? Are we prepared to confront the world with witness to
God’s interruption? It’s easy for each of us to say in our hearts what can we do we are so small and elderly. We don’t have the speaking skills, the rock bands the flash videos. We are oppressed by the enormity of the world, the media, the bureaucracy. We feel trapped and impotent. In short we are poor, and oppressed and captives.
And at that point we need to realize that in a strange way our lack of qualifications are our qualifications. Like Samuel we will be given what we need to bear witness. Because none of our special skills will do the trick. None of our special skills will interrupt the world.
Jesus is the word of interruption and his Spirit is alive in our midst becoming the word we need and the word the world needs even if it doesn’t like it.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Monday, August 30th 2010 at 2:18PM
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