ARE YOU WILLING TO DIE FOR THE GOSPEL? DON’T BE COMPROMISED BY THE THINGS OF THE WORLD.
ARE YOU WILLING TO DIE FOR THE GOSPEL? DON’T BE COMPROMISED BY THE THINGS OF THE WORLD.
Bible Reference: 2 Kings 21:2-29 Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.”3 But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.”
Good morning everyone,
We thank our God for such a wonderful day, we thank Him for the life of our families, our friends, the church and the life of other believers who for sake of the gospel are going through persecution. May his name be praised now and forever.
As we have dedicated this week in remembrance of the good work done by Pastor James McKeown in his missionary, I decided to share with you a story in the old testament that might not look to us to be related to what we all know when it comes to evangelism, but I think the commandment given by Christ to the Apostles to go into the world to preach comes with consequences and that is what I would like to address today.
I asked the question, are you willing to die for the inheritance we have as Christians which is more precious than vineyard. From the account in 1 Kings 21, there are many things that can be applicable to us in our duties us people who are called to spread the good news. Are we ready to die for the truth we have? are we willing to go to the jungles and the parts of the world where the gospel has not yet been preached even if we must lose our family, our job, our life etc. The gospel we have now, are we willing to protect it just as Naboth was willing to die for his vineyard.
Is the gospel and winning of souls for Christ as important to us as the vineyard to Naboth? One thing we can learn from this story is that if we take upon ourselves to defend the gospel, then we should be ready to face the suffering that comes with it just us our master Jesus suffered. It is not a bread and butter affair, neither is it a pick and chose business, its about standing for the truth and defending the truth no matter how it will cost you.
Another important thing we should also pay attention to in this account is that people will try all means to use their power or wealth to deceive us and if possible buy us with their wealth so that we will turn away from the truth to the lies. If the king had a better vineyard as is seen in the account, the question one must ask is what was so special about the vineyard of Naboth. Is it just about the fact that it was close to the king? or there was more to that.
Lets us make it more practical, for purposes of our studies, the vineyard owned by Naboth in our days will be the salvation, the truth, the power, the gospel or in short CHRIST. The vineyard the king claims to have is the worldly things from the devil that seems good in the sight of the devil, but in the sight of God they are vanity upon vanity. Also, Naboth in the account represent true and faithful believers who have been saved by Christ and finally King Ahab in the account for the purpose our studies are the agents of the devil (false teachers, false prophets etc.).
So how does this work, the devil and his agent in this case King Ahab, Jezebel and the two base fellows know the value of our salvation we have in Christ Jesus and as a result will try all means to persuade us with worldly things and persecute us because of the truth, the gospel, the salvation we have in Christ.
It is interesting to see how one person is been targeted and envied by many people and this is exactly what we should expect if indeed we defend the treasure and the truth we have in Christ.
The result after they succeeded in killing Naboth is also more encouraging to us as believers that God cares for his people and He God will deal with the wicked in His own time. It is also important to note also the forgiving nature of our God in this passage that even in heat of his anger, He can still forgive, but it is also important to acknowledge that at the end of all evil deeds, God will never leave the wicked unpunished on the day of judgement and in his own appointed time.
There are many things we can learn from this account but time limits us so we will end here and at your own time, you can read the entire account and its my prayer that we will defend the truth, the gospel and also share the truth with others even if we have to lose everything for the sake of the gospel.
God bless you