Recently, a local preacher and I were holding lunch at a well-known 2-star Mexican-style restaurant. As we dined on refried beans, flour tortillas, and well-seasoned skirt steak, he cited that he loved to end each sermon with a “charge”. According to his philosophy, the charge was to challenge each member to take the well-planned sermon and its focal points into the world and disseminate them to those outside Christ. What a brilliant approach! Instantly, it reminded me of Christ and His well-pronounced charge to NT Christians to take the Word forth and proclaim it unto the ends of the earth. Jesus taught us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). This, in and of itself, is the most prominent charge given to mankind throughout all of humanity.
In my infantile curiosity, I asked how his technique was developing, and he intimated, “50/50”. He clarified his statement by stating, “I do not mean half of the congregation is participating and the other half is not. What I mean is that the challenges are half demonstrated in the congregation’s actions”. I asked, “Is there any understanding you have taken from all this?”. His answer somewhat caught me off guard. The good Brother stated “new skins”. My grandiose look of confusion must have forced him to cite some of Jesus’ teachings from the New Testament. For example, he noted the book of Mark where Jesus proclaimed, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins” (Mark 2:22).
I joked about being a Gospel preacher as well and being very familiar with these passages that our Lord Himself, would receive hostile reception with His earthly mission from mankind. As I pressed him further, the preacher claimed people, those in the Church, are constrained toward change. His issuance suggested even members of the Body, who claim to love the Lord and serve Him only, fail to follow the Scriptures, which lead to Heaven (Matthew 7:13-14). “So, what is the answer?” I cautiously inquired. He repeated, “new skins”.
In other words, do the work of an evangelist. Keep Jesus at the forefront and preach the word. Paul stated this: ” Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). As in Jesus’ time, “new skins” fit differently and often less comfortably than old ones. But the benefit comes in obedience and love of the Master, which always lends toward salvation. As soon as possible, “out with the old, and in with the new”. This is your challenge. This is my challenge. This is the most discomforting charge of Jesus, and it remains so today.
Think about these things,
Archie R. Green
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