By Jason Charles on 7/8/2020 (4 years 166 days ago) Theology & Religion
I am always deeply moved and prefer the pure red letters of Christ when reading the Gospel narratives. The narratives transport me; I envision the situations He was confronted with, and seeing His response yields so much Truth. When reading these narratives, I am in constant realization that Jesus was truly the most dynamic leader the world has ever known or seen. Jesus gave strength to the cowardly, mercy to the sinful, rebuked the proud, exemplified leadership, always deferred exaltation toward God and willingly submitted to God’s justice and plan of salvation at the cross. Jesus is truly a remarkable testimony; His one life has changed billions of lives and the world has been better off because it.
The historical and public impact can’t possibly be measured in full, but what is interesting is upon analysis of those Red Letters we see the bulk of sayings attributed to Jesus were actually private discussions among himself and His called disciples.
Jesus knew His story would change the world, but He used men to tell His story, and charged them to be faithful to His teachings.
So, when we are reading the Gospels, we must first realize the context and audience that Jesus was regularly speaking too was His close twelve disciples. Men He was personally discipling regarding the rigors of ministry work that would very shortly be unleashed upon them.
In essence we are on the inside watching and listening to Jesus instruct His soon to be earthly ministers, establishing them in their call as pastors.
“For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” - Mark 13:34-37
The urgency in which Jesus molded, taught and chastised His disciples is ever-present in the Gospel accounts, consistent right up to the ascension itself. He was training them to embody their faith and boldly proclaim Him as messiah to the world; but what they had in their rabbinical trained minds was far from what God did at the cross. So, it was in death that He gave His final lesson, as He revealed a spiritual Kingdom rather than a physical Kingdom much to their surprise, confusion and even frustration of the disciples.
Jesus by dying and conquering death shattered that idea of a physical messianic kingdom in their little Jewish minds, God's plan was meant to kill this idea in the Jewish mind that had been set in stone over 100’s of years of oral traditions regarding the nature of the Messiah.
These conversations Jesus had with His disciples lays out the design and vocation of the New Testament pastor.
The Gospel narratives through the inside conversations with Jesus become a training manual for Christian leadership.
It is a great honor to be called, equipped and effective in ministry; and to know that God places a high call and accountability on those in leadership and it would be wise to listen to His warnings of potential failures and pitfalls. It is the Pastors examples and words that will cause their flock to falter or flourish in the Truth of Christ, their influence carries weight as it molds and shapes the behaviors of many, thus compounds accountability by degrees.
As James in his epistle states,
"My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation." - James 3:1
Here are six chastisements that Jesus had for the men He personally called and trained to be ministers of the Gospel.
Preach the Whole Truth of Scripture
Jesus didn’t minister in life, be betrayed and framed by wicked authority, die on the cross and rise again only for His disciples to simply teach a counterfeit narratives, half truths, and watered-down messages like many pastors and preachers do today.
Instead He said, “observe ALL things” as you go out and teach and preach to the nations,
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." - Matthew 28:19-20
If we are to list out all the things Jesus taught, then we must teach on the issues that got Jesus in trouble with the power establishment, against the popular cultural sins of the day, condemn dogmatic traditions of men and proclaim the principles of righteous authority in every sphere of daily life.
This is mandatory, the Biblical principles of resistance to evil authority and power is found throughout scripture and must be rightly applied.
So many Pastors and church leaders would rather face the wrath of God on this issue in the future coming judgment, than face the condemnation of their own congregations. Avoiding controversy becomes essential to amassing money and power among the fake church, and God hates that spirit. I recommend preachers read Matthew 23 everyday as a standard of condemnation of the power elite. Pray that God keeps you from the sins of these vile religious wolves.
The Least will be the Greatest
Jesus admonished the soon to be pastoral leaders of His church on the principles of humble ministering. The disciples on multiple occasions were consumed with the question as to what they would get out of their sacrifice for the cause of Christ.
But each time he reminded them that those that would elevate themselves would be last in the Kingdom of Heaven while those that ministered in humility and the fear of God, loving one another as Christ did, would be elevated.
“Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." - Matthew 13: 27-30
“But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” - Matthew 20:26
“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” - John 13:13-17
In light of the extravagance, showmanship, and personal aggrandizement seen in the modern church today, anyone pursuing ministry with these types of enticements and allures should really reflect on the humble ministry of Jesus as to its rightness. Ask would there be anything left of your ministry if you were to strip away everything apart from what Jesus actually did and how He operated? What would be left of your buildings and programs? The answer is nothing but a body of believers preaching Truth, supporting their pastor and loving one another as Jesus loved one another, everything is superflous to the example of Christ.
Speaking Truth to Power
This really should go without saying, the role of the prophet and preacher is to chastise, correct and proclaim the laws of God to anyone without thought or regard to their power or position. If there is error in the congregation preach against it, if there is error in the culture preach against it, if there is error in the governing class, preach against it without compromise. To be a respecter of persons at any level is to fail mightily in comparison to Christ and His example.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." - Matthew 23:23
Churches and pastors today notoriously avoid the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy and faith. They contrive feel good messages that offend no one and convict nothing in terms of the large whole of society. Jesus said they are as worthless as trampled sand in terms of preserving the culture and society in righteousness and Truth.
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." - Matthew 5
As a result we have amassed all sorts of sins and evils to ourselves, and will be judged accordingly.
Protecting the Flock
Jesus made it clear that there will be a satanic influx of spiritual assassins that would sneak their way into the flock. People looking to steal the loyalty, the peace, the unity and message away from what God would have you do in the house of God. These people were to be marked, exposed and put out of the church with great prejudice.
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." - Matthew 7:15
Many pastors today aren't protecting against the wolves because they themselves are the wolves.
They foolishly have a complete open door policy to every sinner and false prophet that would walk in off the street. They freely let people associate, befriend and even lead without so much as a weeks worth of scrutiny as to their core believes and hidden blasphemies. The banner of the modern church has been “Seeker Friendly” or “Sinners Welcome” and thus we have had false teachers by the scores, sinners who corrupt the morals of believers with their lies, and even to the shame of the church the allowance of sexual predators to come in contact with children through massive youth programs and Sunday schools that vetted no one.
The Truth is much of what we see in the New Testament epistles had to do with addressing these fallacious problems in the Church. They all warned us, saying the body is a closed body and to be very careful to let someone in the church in without first a long discipleship period by elders looking out for the larger body of believers under their care.
The pastors of today’s church want so much to be viewed as open, caring and compassionate by the world that they welcome anybody and everybody to the hurt of the larger congregation. That is not protection, that is facilitating the designs of the enemy upon that body of believers.
Shun End Times Speculation
Jesus, at His Ascension was asked if he would restore the Davidic Kingdom at that time. He said no, and to stop asking when that will happen because only God knows and it is not for you to know,
"When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." - Acts 1:6-7
Instead of listening to Jesus, preachers today, like the Jews in His time are obsessed with signs, and prophecies and mysteries. They spend countless hours trying to draw parallels from long fulfilled Old Testament prophetical verses with any and every current event that graces a newspaper. They in effect, steal from the domain and providence of God, and make millions of dollars on books and DVD’s on their prophetic speculations that never materializes.
People and churches that fall into this way of thinking become thoroughly Judaized because so much of it is tied to all of the trappings of the Jewish religion. A religion God hated and destroyed thoroughly in 70 AD as a “sign” against them. There is your “sign” preacher, anyone wading into this area needs to do so with great caution and trepidation, it has all come to a conclusion in Christ and there is nothing more to discus or add. Jesus demonstrated that ALL the Law, Psalms and prophets spoke of Him, and that any prophetic speech should point to Him as fulfillment of these things alone.
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.” - Luke 24: 44-48
To do otherwise is inviting the wrath of God into your life, I firmly believe that having seen what this trend has done to the American church. It is an evil spirit that has transfixed many believers on everything other than Jesus Himself, even to the point of worship of the anti-christ state of modern Israel.
Despise Jewish Religious Traditions
Jesus hated the oral traditions that had come to dominate Jewish life at the time. He hated what the Sanhedrin and Herodians did to the Temple of God, how they taught and interpreted scripture, their arrogance and pride, all of it.
He worked to confound the reasoning of these oral traditions at every occasion, demonstrating that they nullify and cancel the actual written commands of God in favor of their traditional explanations.
"Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." -Mark 7:13
But it was the oral tradition of a physical Davidic king and messiah that He hated most; so many Jews during that time have been led to believe that this was who and what they were to look for, that when the Messiah actually came, they were blind to His message and to Him. In essence they believed so strongly in these traditions that they were willing to kill anyone that preached against them.
The Pharisees could not and would not allow room for anything else, not even a different plan and work ordained by God. They figured if the Messiah didn’t come and present Himself to their authority, and be schooled and taught in their universities, under their guidance and tutelage then a messianic claimant was automatically rejected.
The Jewish religion is accursed and completely blasphemies the work of Jesus as Messiah, Christians should have no part in exercising any form of Jewish tradition or worship.
Conclusion
When reading through the New Testament, so much was directed at the body of believers and their ministers it often goes overlooked. When we remove the historical context and forget the audience that these books were addressed to, we lose much in terms of proper understanding and application of scripture. Pastors spiritualize so much of the Truths of scripture trying to make them relevant to a lost culture that they fail to grasp the hard Truths and accountability in scripture that is literally directed right at them. They think that if they soften the message and distract from the harder Truths in scripture they will win more souls to Christ? That is foolish and arrogant thinking, they can't do it differently or better than what Jesus did. Wickedness thrives in the environment that our current batch of pastors have left us, this is the fruit of their false methods of teaching.
Jesus taught His disciple how to be ministers of the Gospel, what was expected of them, and what was forbidden of them and it has largely gone unheeded and ignored.
The condemnation that awaits the average preacher who spent their life drawing up fluffy, feel-good sermons, avoiding the preaching of hard Truths, and the amassing of wealth, power and notierity will be harsh, there can be no doubt about it, that much is clear when you pull out the prescriptions and affirmations God made in regards to those who would become leaders and teachers of the Gospel.
"For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." - Romans 16:18
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