Go Tell Them

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

GO TELL THEM

Mark 13:9-11

9 "You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

NIV

It is doubtful that we know of anyone who has been or will be flogged in a synagogue, so what are we to make of this portion of Jesus’s dissertation? We do know from history that those men were handed over to local councils and most likely flogged and in fact died a very violent martyr’s death. But we also know those men did not personally preach to gospel to all nations, so in part Jesus is speaking to more than just those men. Now it may also be true those men actually preached the gospel wherever they went and stirred up the people so much they were arrested and brought to trial. That is something we surely have not had to experience, at least yet. Now that might be due to the fact we do not actually preach the gospel, but we just go to church on Sunday. As far as sharing the gospel message we people we come in contact with, some of us simply leave a pamphlet of the four spiritual laws somewhere, never actually seek to find out if that person knows about Jesus, about salvation, about the freedom  in Christ. That could be the reason we have not been flogged or brought before judges and asked about our faith where we would have to rely on the Holy Spirit as to what to say. These men actually did experience all that, but not us. Is that part still going to happen? It might if we were actually actively preaching the gospel as much as those men were, but it is doubtful that we have to apply this portion of the scriptures to our lives. If we were actually preaching the gospel, we might experience some difficulty in life, at least in this present culture we live in. We could lose our job, we could lose some friends, or acquaintances, we could lose something we hold dear, but it is doubtful we would lose our lives. Now it is true on some parts of the whole true believers have lost their lives for the sack of the gospel, but so far, not in our part, our country, our culture. But still we could apply the part about preaching the gospel to all nations. Sure we pitch in some dollars to send someone else to some foreign land to act as a missionary, but even then they may not be actually going around preaching the gospel as the disciples did. Sure we have to change the method of presenting the gospel based on the society we are in, and the times and the culture and then whatever else we determine will be more palatable for the people to hear. More recently we, the church, has determined we must make ourselves look like we are not a church, so the non-churched will come into our not-church service in our non-church building, so they can hear about how we believers ought to act, instead of hearing the gospel message. It just doesn’t look like we in anyway are actually preaching the gospel, but we live a safe life and that is what counts. But is doesn’t, we should be preaching the gospel to everyone. We should be always telling people about our experiences in Christ, we should forever be telling of the great miracles we have experienced, the healings, the power of the Holy Spirit as he leads us, speaks to our hearts and minds, guiding us where to live, where to work, where to worship and how to live a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. Everyone needs to know and the only way that will happen if we go tell them.