Mark Huey of Outreach Israel Ministries delivers the following message, “Serving the Gospel,” as we each consider the role that we should be performing as an evangelist, representing the interests of the good news of salvation.
When John McKee graduated from seminary in May 2009, I recall how during the commencement, the Biblical text and attendant comments chosen for the commemoration address, entitled “Offer them Christ,” stimulated a multitude of conflicting thoughts as the speakers were encouraging the graduates to dedicate their lives to serving the Lord. Using John 12:23-32, a passage which culminates with the exhortation to boldly proclaim the gospel—and most specifically of Messiah Yeshua being lifted up so that He would draw all to Himself—reminded all those listening about the imperative to vigorously declare the good news of His redeeming work in whatever specific ministerial work they were called to perform.
Comments were made that alluded to this emphasis of service to the Lord, being replaced by a success orientation in the ministry in recent decades, as various communication mediums have been developed. The challenge presented to the graduates was to choose service to the Messiah over striving for perceived temporal success. As Yeshua states it in John 12:26, “if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (NASU). For those who serve Him, whether in full time ministry or in the daily devotion of following Him—do you want to be noted for success by the world’s standards, or would you rather be ultimately honored by the Father in Heaven?
These convicting comments encouraged me to review the John 12 passage in larger context, so I could make sure that the priorities of our own ministry efforts were focused on serving Yeshua and faithfully proclaiming the good news. After all, there is no more necessary and critical component to attain eternal life, than the salvation experience provided by one’s trust in the Lamb of God. Consider these critical words by Yeshua, comparing the attainment of the whole world—versus forfeiting oneself—as He addressed His Disciples in what they were to do in order to truly follow Him:
“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38, NASU).
Clearly, the recognition and even the proclamation that Yeshua is the Messiah and Savior of the world—is one thing that a born again Believer should communicate to all who will listen! Having the Messiah Yeshua as your Advocate and Redeemer is required for eternal life. But notice how you must lose yourself to gain eternal life. This is not only something that one who simply believes in the Lord must do, but most especially those who serve the Lord, and especially those who serve Him in a formal capacity. Yeshua’s teaching is quite convicting:
“And Yeshua answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, “Father, save Me from this hour”? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.’ Then a voice came out of heaven: ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.’ So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, ‘An angel has spoken to Him.’ Yeshua answered and said, ‘This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself’” (John 12:23-32, NASU).
These statements by Yeshua, and the attendant affirmation from the Father in Heaven, were given during the Passover season. In the previous week Yeshua had been visiting with the resurrected Lazarus, Martha, and Mary in Bethany. Upon entering Jerusalem, He was greeted enthusiastically with the salutation, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD [Psalm 118:26], even the King of Israel” (John 12:13, NASU). The testimony about Lazarus’ resurrection, coupled with the timing of the commemoration and His arrival, had various Pharisees and other detractors very concerned. They enviously sneered, “You see that you are not doing and good, look, the world has gone after Him” (John 12:19, NASU). The Messiah’s fame was spreading so rapidly, that even certain Greek converts were seeking to encounter this worker of miracles (John 12:20-21). With all of these circumstances coming to an apparent crescendo, Yeshua gives His Disciples some profound words about what was not only required to be one of His followers, but most importantly, what was to be the primary mission of His followers after He would be lifted up from the Earth.
We know these words of Yeshua to speak about His crucifixion, and how this sacrificial act was/is intended to draw all people to Him. The Messiah knew the fundamental agricultural principle about the requirement for seeds to be buried and die, before they can sprout as new life. So, He told His Disciples that they must be like a grain of wheat and die in the Earth, before they are able to bear any fruit: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Much greater elaboration of this principle comes from the Apostle Paul, as he explained the significance of the resurrection to the Corinthians:
“You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, ‘The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:36-50, NASU).
The viewpoint that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God is articulated, because the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. One who does not experience the resurrection—or at least the power that resurrected Messiah Yeshua—cannot enter into God’s purposes for a redeemed Creation. However, if we look back at Yeshua’s concise statement in John 12:24, what He essentially tells His disciples is that they would need to die to themselves like when a grain of wheat is buried, before they can bear any fruit for Him. To emphasize this point more fully, Yeshua says that people must “hate” life in this world in order to gain eternal life. A choice must be made by His followers to serve Him wholeheartedly above all, and the reward for serving Him is eternal life. One either chooses to lose his life and follow the Lord by serving Him, or one chooses to do something else.
As the selection from John 12:23-32 comes to a close, it is apparent that Yeshua is very aware of His imminent crucifixion. He knew the hour was coming for His sacrifice. He knew He was going to be lifted up like the symbolic brazen serpent during the wilderness journey, to keep people from being consumed by the venomous bite of their sin nature. But the key to surviving the bite of the serpents was the requirement to look at the raised bronze serpent:
“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.’ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived” (Numbers 21:8-9, NASU).
In a like manner, Yeshua instructed His Disciples—and those of us living today—that looking to Him being lifted up is required for our salvation! By so doing, He will draw all to Himself. The remainder of John 12 not only confirms that Yeshua knew that He was going to be crucified, but gives us the sober word that not all will believe in Him:
“But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. The crowd then answered Him, ‘We have heard out of the Law that the Messiah is to remain forever; and how can You say, “The Son of Man must be lifted up”? Who is this Son of Man?’ So Yeshua said to them, ‘For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.’ These things Yeshua spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED? [Isaiah 53:1]’ For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ‘HE HAS BLINED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONCERTED AND I HEAL THEM’ [Isaiah 6:10]. These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. And Yeshua cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me’” (John 12:33-50, NASU).
In these concluding verses of John 12, Yeshua continues to inform His followers that He is the Son of Man and the Light sent from the Father, but that despite the miracles and signs performed by Him, there would still be many who would not believe in Him and His work. This would be a fulfillment of some of the prophecies made about Him by the Prophet Isaiah. Still, we see an interesting comment made in regard to human approval contrasted against the approval of God, standing out in light of the choice between serving and gaining success according to the standards of the world rather than according to the mission of the Father.
In His era, rulers and others believed in Yeshua, but because of their fear of being cast out of the establishment and being disapproved by others, they kept silent. Today, in many regards in Christian—and, dare I say, some Messianic—circles, we are seeing a similar repetition of this syndrome when it comes to preaching the gospel. Declaring the good news of salvation is not primary, but rather a secondary or tertiary thought. Worse yet, in many cases it is simply assumed that everyone coming to the local assembly is already a born again Believer. How foolish have some become, and how far have some been removed, from the admonition of Yeshua Himself to proclaim the gospel?
Far too frequently, we do not see a proper spiritual or theological emphasis in today’s Messianic congregations. Sometimes, what is found in many assemblies is an ear-tickling teaching about the end-times or the beginning of the Great Tribulation. In others, it is the proper pronunciation of the Divine Name, or concocting new calendars to dispute the recognized Jewish calendar. And yet in others, there are those who entertain so-called nuggets from questionable sources like the Kabbalah, or convoluted interpretations of the Hebrew language related to superfluous teachings that are not based in fact. A required, Biblical emphasis on the gospel of salvation will often get laughed at.
But this is to be expected by those of us living today, as the Apostle Paul warned Timothy about things that would take place as the End of the Age drew near. Paul addressed both the hard times that would come, and that striving for “success” would be a by-product of specific, negative characteristics centered on self-aggrandizement:
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy 3:1-5, NASU).
The admonition given by Paul at the end of his list is to simply avoid these people. On the other hand, a servant of Messiah Yeshua is exhorted to preach the word and do the work advances His cause:
“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Messiah Yeshua, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:1-5, NASU).
We all have many choices to make as followers of Messiah Yeshua. First, we must believe in the message of the gospel and look upon His sacrificial atonement for our salvation. Being equipped and empowered by this, we are to carry on the work of an evangelist, and preeminently continue to proclaim the good news to those we encounter in whatever capacity we have been called into His purpose or ministry. Secondly, we need to avoid those who prey on others with motivations to become successful, rather than to simply serve the Risen Savior. You will know them by their works, and specifically if they diminish or minimize the proclamation of the good news.
I find it to be a great blessing to be convicted by the Scriptures to return to the essence of what ministry should be focused upon. While there are many called into full time ministry, with a great variety of gifts to minister to every lost and hurting generation, our ministry has benefited immensely from the ongoing education and research we continue to pursue. However, if this simple graduation message was used to confirm in our minds the need to always put the gospel first in our hearts and various ministry outreaches, then we praise God for the confirmation and the strength to always lift up Messiah Yeshua, so that He will draw all unto Himself!
For He is, and by His grace He will remain the focal point of all our efforts. To Him be the glory, the honor, and the power, forever and ever, Amen!
