Hear and Talk ...

Thursday, Feb 26, 2015. How is God interacting with us humans? I am still fascinated by the way it is carried out in the bible, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Often, we have our own ideas about how we think things should be going. Here we see how they are taking place in reality. God is speaking … and humans are asked to carry his word on!

Reach humans …

How do you reach humans best? By humans. By talking. By being with them, living among them, and by speaking with them. This is carried out in the bible all the way from the very beginning to the end.

In the biblical books, this is carried out by prophets. The people of Israel themselves demanded prophets to speak. They wanted a human voice - not strange events which caused fear and anxiety. So God spoke to them through prophets, through his people. And then, in the New Testament, he speaks first through the son, through Jesus. Then, he commands the disciples to take up this mission to speak and to reach people. His command is clear: everyone who hears the message becomes a messanger himself - a part of the team at least. Some have the gift to talk, to explain, to teach, to communicate. They are those who are commanded to speak and talk to their contemporaries.

We can hear this command in many places. If you search for the word “sent” in the bible, you get many hundreds of hits. In John 20 Jesus says to his disciples:

21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

(John 20, 21)

Consequences …

What are the consequences of the biblical way of communication. I see two sides of this, two layers of consequences. First, it is about hearing. If we want to listen to God, we should listen to the prophets, we should listen to the biblical books, we should listen to Jesus as the center point of creation and salvation. His words have been passed on, the gospels and the books of the apostles - the letters of the New Testament, are fantastic pieces of literature, are living words. They can change our life today. God can be found!

Second, you are asked to pass on these words yourself. If you came to faith in Christ, you are part of the team. You are commanded to open this message to other people. You cannot control what they do with it. You should be open: not everyone wants to believe. But some want and will. Salvation is an extrememly valuable thing. It is made for everyone, though not everyone will listen. But you are sent to provide the possibility for everyone to understand. We need to put sincere efforts into the communication of the gospel - in different terms and different circumstances, such that every human on the planet has a possibility to come to faith in the living God - in full freedom!

It is a huge priviledge that God trusts his words to ordinary people. He gives it to those who believe in him by heart. Some of us have sophisticated professions and education, others are more simple. But we all share this valuable words, these precious and powerful message, his wisdom, his truth, his love, his mercy and salvation. What a story! (RWEP) ... more texts