Spreading the Gospel
Luk 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted Him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?It is quite obvious that Jesus defines our neighbor as anyone who is in trouble. He specifically uses terminology that steps outside the bounds of their cultural in-group by utilizing, in His story, a Samaritan as the one who rescues the injured party. Samaritans were considered "untouchables," to those who were practicing Jews. Conversely, He used as villains, the priest and the Levite, who are members of His own culture and religion. His point is quite clear. Our neighbors are anyone in any kind of trouble. Those who choose to pass them by and not offer any help (for whatever reason) may include some in the religious hierarchy, from leaders of any current religion on down. Richard Dawkins claims that "Jesus would turn over in His grave" if He had known His ministry was going to extend outside His own Jewish culture. Let me emphatically restate that there is only one truth. Everyone cannot be right about the nature of God and His creation, for there is no truth, if all beliefs are true. With that in mind, would God choose only a small group of His children for salvation and disregard the rest of the human race that He created? That is not the character and nature of the God that I serve. What actually happened was that God initially chose a segment or strain of the human race to impart His message to, but He always intended it to go beyond that strain and be spread to all "the ends of the earth." God's Word proclaims this truth in numerous places. Just before Jesus was lifted up (ascended up to heaven), He told His friends, who were with Him:
Act 1:8 But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (MKJV)The atheist does not acknowledge the Holy Spirit as real either, since He is part of the God's Triune existence (Father, Son and Holy Ghost). However, Jesus was teaching that soon (at Pentecost) His disciples would be imbued with the amazing power of God's Holy Spirit so that they might spread His teaching all through Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth. That includes the rest of us. Jesus was aware of God's plan to first give His teachings to God's "chosen ones," the Jews. After that, it would be spread to the rest of humanity. Jesus primarily did teach only His own people, the Jews, during His earthly ministry—but He knew that His teaching would be rejected by His own people, then accepted by the gentiles (or the rest of us). His great commission, that He gave to us all, is that the Gospel be spread to the ends of the earth. Later, after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, and, as Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit had come down on His many disciples and followers (numbering around 120) in the upper room, imbuing them with tremendous power to spread the Gospel, there was still a strong sense of separation with regard to who was to receive this Gospel. Were the Jews only to teach this to their own kind? This seemed to be the case until God intervened in a special way. Not too long later, Peter, one of Jesus' inner circle, was given a vision which explained God's expansion plan. Understand that the Jews kept themselves separate from the rest of the world (which they called gentiles) and were very careful not to associate with anyone who was "unclean" (or not Jewish). They would not dare contaminate themselves by even going into the gentiles' houses. In addition, they could not eat unclean animals, as defined in the Old Testament. The vision that Peter had, and shared with his fellow teachers, who were also empowered to spread God's good news, was a radical departure from the exclusivity that they had felt was necessary. In this portion of Scripture, which I quote, Peter is sharing his vision with the headquarters of the early church. Notice, with the testimony of God's vision, the "board of directors" quickly changed their position from their previous exclusivity, to understanding that all the world must receive this truth. What God had insinuated by the vision and experience of Peter (and the gentiles he visited), was picked up by the rest of the team and made part of the new expansion program:
Act 11:1 And the apostles and brothers who were in Judea heard that the nations12 had also received the Word of God. Act 11:2 And when Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision13 contended with him, Act 11:3 saying, You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them. Act 11:4 But Peter related the matter from the beginning and explained it by order to them, saying, Act 11:5 I was in the city of Joppa praying. And in an ecstasy I saw a vision, a certain vessel like a sheet coming down, let down from the sky by four corners. And it came even to me. Act 11:6 When I had fastened my eyes on it, I looked and saw four-footed animals of the earth, and wild beasts, and reptiles, and birds of the heaven. Act 11:7 And I heard a voice saying to me, Arise, Peter! Kill and eat! Act 11:8 But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered into my mouth. Act 11:9 But the voice answered me again from the heaven, What God has made clean, you do not call common. Act 11:10 And this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into the heaven. (MKJV)After Peter had this vision, three men who were gentiles, had just arrived at his door to ask Peter to come with them to Caesarea, where a gentile man resided. God's Spirit told him to go with these men. Apparently, the man they were going to see, had seen an angel who had told him to send some men to Joppa and call on Peter, inviting him to their house. God's coordination efforts were perfect, for Peter had been prepared to change his thinking by God's vision. Then, when that angel asked the gentile man to send for Peter, it becomes obvious that it was a wonderfully supernatural event that propelled the Gospel out into mainstream humanity. Upon arrival, Peter amazingly went into their "unclean" house, and preached. Right away, God's Holy Spirit fell upon all present, and Peter knew it was the end of the line for exclusiveness, and the beginning of a worldwide spread of the Gospel. Here is that part: Act 11:11 And behold, immediately three men stood at the house in which I was, sent from Caesarea to me. Act 11:12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, not discriminating. And these six brothers went with me, and we entered the man's house. Act 11:13 And he declared to us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said to him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose last name is Peter, Act 11:14 who will tell you words by which you and all your house shall be saved. Act 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Act 11:16 And I remembered the Word of the Lord, how He said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Act 11:17 If God gave to them the same gift as to us, they having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to prevent God? Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they were silent and glorified God, saying, Then God has also granted repentance to life to the nations. (MKJV)So I can proclaim that God did not intend for this teaching to remain exclusive, but God did start out with it that way. If you were God and had created many people all over the world, and they each had set themselves off separate from each other by race, location, culture, language, mannerisms, choice of foods, and more, and you wanted to get an important message to all the members of your creation, how would you have gone about it? We'll talk about that next. 12. Or the rest of the world, the gentiles. Back. 13. Or the Jews, the chosen people. Back.
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