Receivers or Reproducers?

I am just overwhelmed by truth right now. Thank you Lord for revealing yourself to me!

I just read two more chapters in this book called Radical by David Platt. (amazing! Go read it!) The question that this part of the book proposes is simple. Are we receivers or reproducers? We are all called to be teachers. We are called to spread the gospel to the world. We were not saved for our sake, but for the sake of God's glory. It is our responsibility as God's children to take His grace and His glory to all the world. This means the people around us, the people in neighboring states and the people in neighboring countries. This calling is not reserved for a select few. This calling is yours from the moment that you relinquish control of your life and let God live through you. This is a calling to teach and to disciple. The book speaks about how we often times think about that meaning that we have to have big productions and big performances. But Jesus took 12 men and invested 3 years into them. He spent all of His time showing them how to live, how to speak and how to spread the gospel.


David Platt explains it so well like this:

"For example, imagine "going" and leading someone to faith in Christ and then seeing her "baptized" in identification with Christ and his church. Now what? How is she going to learn to walk with Christ daily? If teaching is limited to a select few in the church who are equipped for that then we will immediately tell this new Christians she needs to sit in a classroom and learn from a teacher. Thus we get the common approach to "discipleship" today - a far cry from the disciple making of Jesus. It's not that sitting in lecture-style settings is not beneficial, but what if Christ has actually set us up to be the teachers? Think about it. What would be the most effective way for this new follower of Christ to learn to pray? To sign her up for a one-hour-a-week class on prayer? Or to invite her personally into your quiet time with God to teach her how to pray? Similarly, what would be the most effective was for this new follower of Christ to learn to study the Bible? To register her in the next available course on Bible study? Or to sit down with her and walk her through the steps of how you have learned to study the Bible?"

He goes on to talk about how this "raises the bar in our Christianity". We have to study the Word in order to be able to share what we have learned. We have to actually pray in order to teach someone how to pray. This should create a challenge for us to know God so that we can teach Him to others. Do I believe that people are given different spiritual gifts? Yes. But do I believe that I am relieved from my obligation to spread the gospel just because God hasn't given me the desire to go to school for a teaching degree? Absolutely not.

We have been raised in a society where life revolves around us. We have to pay attention in school so that we can go to college to make a good career to make a lot of money to provide a good life for a good family. There is nothing wrong with going to college and having a good career and providing for your family. But we are called to use those gifts and blessings that God gives us for HIS glory. This just puts everything in perspective. Yes, I have questions and stresses and whatnot about my life and the circumstances I am in. But I am called to be a teacher. So I need to turn my circumstances over to God and ask how I can use them in my life to teach the gospel to others. The question should not be what I can gain or how I can overcome the circumstance but how can I let God speak through this circumstance in my life?

These obstacles in my life are not about me overcoming them but about God being glorified through them.