COURAGE AND HUMILITY
God give us the
courage to do great things, and the
humility to appreciate little things
1. Courage is important.
Christians
should proclaim the Gospel as authorized by Jesus and recorded in the Gospel of
Mark the Evangelist. Christians should
have courage to do great things, but at the same time, the humility to
appreciate the little things.
a) We
serve a Risen Savior! He lives within
our heart!
“Let the word
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your
hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Col
b) The Risen Lord is Our Man in Heaven!
“So then, after the Lord had spoken to them,
He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they
went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and
confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” Mark 16:19-20 (NKJV)
Mark
describes the Ascension of the Lord Jesus. Before ascending into heaven He
sends the apostles to preach the Gospel "to the end of the world",
not only in Jerusalem or in Galilee .
Go all
over the world. The horizon ... great horizon... And as you can see, this
is the mission of the Church. The Church continues to preach this to everyone,
all over the world. But she does not go forth alone: she goes forth with Jesus.
So they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord acted with them. The
Lord works with all those who preach the Gospel. This is the grace that
Christians should have. A Christian who does not demonstrate faith will not
have influence. This grace is part of
the Christian walk: always more and more, more and more, more and more, always
onwards! We grow spiritually!
2. First
Century Preaching.
The First
Letter of Peter defines the style of Christian preaching as one of
humility.
“Grace to you
and peace be multiplied. 3 Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of
God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:2-5
(NKJV)
The style of
evangelical preaching should have this attitude: humility, service, charity,
brotherly love. 'But ... Lord, we must conquer the world!' That word, conquer,
doesn’t work. We must preach in the world. The Christian must not be
like soldiers who when they win the battle make a clean sweep of everything.
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf,
be reconciled to God.” 2 Cor 5:20 (NKJV)
God is making
his appeal through us: Paul
doesn't say that he speaks for God; rather, God speaks His word through us. Christ's
redeeming work opens the way for all to "Come back to God!"
and be reconciled with Him. Christian
witness has this appeal at its heart. Paul was also appealing to the rebellious
Corinthians to come over to God’s side.
3. Life
style Evangelism.
The Christian
proclaims the Gospel with his witness, rather than with words. A joyful soul that is not afraid of great
things, that moves forward towards heavenly horizons, and the humility to take into
account the small things. This is like a tension between the great and the
small and Christian missionary activity proceeds along this path.
a) Jesus
is working!
The Gospel of
Mark ends with "a beautiful phrase" where it says that Jesus was
working with the disciples, confirming "the word with accompanying signs.”
When we go
forth with this grace and humility, when we are not scared by the great things,
by the horizon, but also take on board the little things - humility, daily
charity - the Lord confirms the Word. And we move forward. The triumph of the
Church is the Resurrection of Jesus. But there is first the Cross. Today we ask
the Lord to become missionaries in the Church, witnesses in the Church, but in
this spirit: a great grace and also a great humility. So be it.
“And when they had prayed, the place where
they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31 (NKJV)
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