From Victory…
From the Field September 22, 2016
From Victory unto Victory His Army Shall He Lead…This Day the Noise of Battle, The Next the Victor’s Song
The Anglican clergyman, Michael Green, has written many books in his 89 years. Among the many are quite a number on evangelism one of which is “Evangelism in the Early Church”. As a historian and Christian he wrote, “The enthusiasm to evangelize which marked the early Christians is one of the most remarkable things in the history of religions. Here were men and women of every rank and station in life, of every country in the known world, so convinced that they had discovered the riddle of the universe, so sure of the one true God whom they had come to know, that nothing must stand in the way of their passing on this good news to others. As we have seen, they did it by preaching and personal conversation, by formal discourse and informal testimony, by arguing in the synagogue and by chattering in the laundry. They might be slighted, laughed at, disenfranchised, robbed of their possessions, their homes, even their families, but this would not stop them. They might be reported to the authorities as dangerous atheists, and required to sacrifice to the imperial gods; but they refused to comply. In Christianity they had found something utterly new, authentic and satisfying. They were not prepared to deny Christ even in order to preserve their own lives; and in the manner of their dying they made converts to their faith.” Oh for such a faith as this!
Look around you where you live and consider how the Christians are that you know. Look into your own heart and consider if you could be painted into the picture that Green paints of the early Christians.
We are the universal priesthood of all believers in action. As Peter wrote, …”you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” I Pet. 2:9 God has not changed. Have we as Christians?