The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

Ten Top Tips for God's Messengers

Billy Graham is still alive but he has already spoken his last words as a messenger of God to the world. These are the words that he will speak at his own funeral! He will speak to the people via DVD in a recorded message, reminding them that there is life beyond the grave and calling everyone who hears to put their faith in Jesus.

Ever since God called him to be his messenger in 1934, at just sixteen years of age, he has been a faithful messenger of the gospel. He has spoken to over 200 million people in person about Jesus. He has been a friend and trusted adviser to nine American presidents. His lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, has topped 2.2 billion. He has been determined to make the most of every opportunity, including his own funeral, to pass on God’s message to the world.

‘My messenger’ is the way John the Baptist is described by God (Luke 7:27). You too can be God’s messenger. Jesus speaks of ‘the message about the kingdom’ (Matthew 13:19). In the rest of the New Testament ‘the message’ is a synonym for ‘the gospel’ (see Acts 2:41; 4:4; 10:44 and so on). Our task is both to hear this message and to declare it to others (1 John 1:5). In the passages for today we can see ten top tips for God’s messengers.

Psalm 37:32-40

1. Stay close to God

If you want to hear God’s message you need to ‘Wait passionately for God, don’t leave the path’ (v.34a, MSG). ‘The spacious, free life is from God, it’s also protected and safe. God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil – when we run to him, he saves us’ (vv.39–40, MSG).

Lord, help me to stay close to you, staying on your path and hoping in you. Thank you for your protection and help.

2. Seek Peace

God’s messengers must be messengers of peace. ‘For there is a happy end for the man of peace’ (v.37b, AMP). God’s messengers should not be stirrers or seek to bring unnecessary division. Rather, we should be people of peace. Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matthew 5:9).

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
(part of a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi)

Luke 6:37-7:10

3. Do not judge

Jesus says, ‘Do not judge’ and ‘Do not condemn’ (6:37). ‘Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticise their faults’ (v.37, MSG). Jesus’ famous story about trying to take a ‘speck of dust’ out of someone else’s eye when we have a ‘plank’ in our own eye is a challenging one (vv.41–42). It reminds us that it is far easier to see the faults in those around us than to see our own shortfalls and weaknesses. If we live this way, we will always be falling out with others.

Jesus teaches us to pay more attention to our own faults and the areas where we need to grow. Only then can we help reconcile others to God in their struggles. When we treat others with the same patience God shows us, we are much more likely to get on with everybody else and recognise the validity of other people’s ministries.

Lord God, thank you for your grace and forgiveness to me despite my many shortfalls. Help me to remove the ‘planks’ from my life. Help me to extend grace to those around me.

4. Forgive others

Jesus said ‘Forgive, and you will be forgiven’ (v.37b). Forgive people even if they are not sorry. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred and the waste of energy. The forgiveness that God gives you should be a virtuous circle that overflows into your relationships with others.

Lord, thank you that you have forgiven me. Help me to forgive others, regardless of whether they are sorry or not.

5. Give away your life

As we saw yesterday, generosity is at the heart of Christianity. In this passage Jesus reiterates that message. As The Message puts it, ‘Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back – given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity’ (v.38, MSG).

Lord, help me to reflect your generosity in my attitude to others. Help me to look for the good in others, to forgive, and to give.

6. Hitch your wagon to a star

‘Hitch your wagon to a star’ was the best piece of advice I was given when I was looking for a place to train as a pastor. Jesus says, ‘The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher’ (v.40). As I looked at Sandy Millar I knew that he was the person that I wanted to train under because even though I felt I would never equal the wisdom and gifting of my teacher, at least I knew what I was aiming for.

That is why I often read biographies of people like William Wilberforce, Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham. Their examples enrich us and inspire us to aim higher. Of course, Jesus ultimately is the only star. Hitch your wagon to him.

Lord, thank you for the heroes of the faith who have gone before me, and for the leaders that you have put in my life. Help me to learn from them, and to aim higher in my walk with you.

7. Guard your heart

Jesus says, ‘Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their hearts, and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in their hearts. For out of the overflow of one’s heart the mouth speaks’ (v.45). If you want to be God’s messenger you have to fill your heart with his message, his presence and his love. Billy Graham always used to say he liked to speak ‘out of the overflow’.

Lord, help me to guard my heart and store up good within it. As David prayed, ‘create in me a pure heart, O God’ (Psalm 51:10). 

8. Obey God’s Word

Superficially the two houses looked the same. But the one that collapsed had no foundation (v.49). ‘If you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation’ (v.49, MSG).

This is a similar image to what we see in today’s psalm (Psalm 37:35–36).

The difference between the two is that the wise person hears the message and puts it into practice (Luke 6:47). It is not enough to study God’s message, we have to live it out. Knowing God’s Word and obeying it should be the foundation of your life.  

Lord Jesus, help me to listen to your words and to put them into practice in my life.

9. Be under authority

The centurion recognised that Jesus’ authority came from being under authority, just as his own authority as a centurion to give commands came from being ‘under authority’ (Luke 7:8).

Your message today will have authority if you are under God’s authority and are led by his Holy Spirit. This authority does not belong to you: you are authorised by God to be his messenger. The apostle Paul spoke of being an ‘ambassador’ of the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Lord Jesus, thank you that you have authorised me to be your messenger. Help me to be a faithful ambassador of the gospel to those around me.

Numbers 22:21-23:26

10. Finish well

According to the New Testament, Balaam’s life is a counterexample. He is cited as an example of a false prophet. ‘They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. ‘But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey – an animal without speech – who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness’ (2 Peter 2:15–16).

It is a warning against ignoring the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Three times the angel of the Lord tried to stop Balaam going with Balak. But Balaam was determined to go in spite of the fact that the angel of the Lord was trying to stand in his way and said to him, ‘I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me’ (Numbers 22:32).

Balaam had set out to accept a fee for giving Balak the oracle he wanted to hear. Yet, we see in the passage for today that at one stage in Balaam’s life he had tried to do the right thing. He said, ‘I must speak only what God puts in my mouth’ (22:38, see also 23:8,12,26).

Balaam’s life is a warning that even those who are used by God can get themselves into a mess. It is an encouragement to keep on doing what Balaam, at one point, set out to do – to hear God’s message and pass it on to others and to finish well.

Lord, help me to be your faithful messenger. Help me not to ignore your Holy Spirit, as Balaam did. Help me to discern your guidance, and then to follow where you are leading. Help me to be sensitive to the guidance of your Holy Spirit and to stay faithful to the end.

Pippa Adds

Numbers 22:21–28

I don’t like people being cruel to animals. Sometimes animals are more sensible than humans, as in this case where Balaam’s donkey had served him faithfully. God can even use animals to speak to us.

Balaam was determined to go on despite the obstacles. The difficulty we face in life is to work out what God’s plan is. It is sometimes difficult to work out whether God is stopping us from going down a disastrous route, or whether there is opposition we need to pray to overcome. Either way prayer is the key.

Notes:
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.