Woe is Me if I do not Preach the Gospel!
For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Corinthians 9:16 NKJV)
What is My Gift?
One question I have been asked frequently by other Christians is, “What is my gift?” “How can I know my gift?” Because the Bible does make it clear that every Christian has a spiritual gift, I suppose I have been negligent in not being too concerned about what mine is. I love to preach the Gospel. People tell me I am a good teacher. Are those my spiritual gifts? I really don’t know, and I am not too concerned about finding out. What I do know is that ever since I was reached and saved, I have felt an obligation, even a compulsion, to help others find the same salvation I have experienced. I believe that whatever our gift is, we have a responsibility to make sure that we help as many people as we can prepare for that day when they pass from this life into eternity. We may do that by preaching and teaching and “sharing” ourselves or we may do that by supporting those who do that better than we do it. But there is no greater purpose in life than to see people saved for eternity.
What Do I Preach?
I still preach that there needs to be conviction before conversion. I still believe that trusting Christ is difficult and not easy. We are conditioned to depend on ourselves and on our own reasoning. In order to depend on Christ and Christ alone, we must give all that up. We must be honest about being sinners by nature and practice. We need to realize we are lost before we can be saved. I believe the hardest part of preaching the Gospel is getting people to admit their need and their inability to save themselves. When they finally realize that they are lost and unable to save themselves, it is usually easy for them to take in the truth that Christ died for them.
I still believe that we should “KNOW” that we are saved. It is dishonest to tell people before they die that they cannot know where they will be when they die and then to say that they are in heaven when preaching their funerals.
I believe that there is a heaven to gain and a hell (or a place of eternal conscious punishment) to shun. I believe that these things should be preached in a serious manner and in a serious reverent environment. I believe that the person who is saved should get the certainty of their salvation from the promises of Scripture and not from me or from something that I tell them to do.
Faithfulness
So what is my gift? I believe I know what it is but the important thing for me is to do whatever the Lord asks me to do on any given day whether it is my gift or not. But I do know that Paul says, “Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!” He was concerned about whether he could continue to preach it freely. I am concerned about whether I can continue to preach the Gospel Biblically. I would say, “Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel the way it was preached in the New Testament.” The way it is preached today is not always the way it was preached in the New Testament.
The Lord says that when we do what He asks us to do we are to consider ourselves to be unprofitable servants (see Luke 17:10). We may not feel that there is any success or reward for doing things Biblically, but we still need to do what the Lord has asked us to do the way He has asked us to do it. Preaching and teaching the Gospel may or may not be my gift, but it is my responsibility. And if you are saved, it is your responsibility as well.
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Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week May 5, 2019