LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Need To Be Sent
Romans 10:14-15 traces the path that God's work follows from the time it comes from God's heart until his message reaches man and he believes it. This path is traced by means of four very clarifying questions, which follow the inverse route of the Gospel message. That is, from man to God. From the addressee to the Receiver, that is, invocation for salvation, faith to invoke, preaching of the gospel by the preacher, commission to preach.
For merely didactic purposes, it is convenient to follow the route in the original sense: God sends, the one sent preaches, the preaching produces faith, and by faith the name of God is invoked for salvation. At the beginning of this process, at the origin of this work, is God. The last question that Paul asks clarifies it for us: "And how can they preach unless they are sent?".
Someone might say: "Had not the Lord already sent all his disciples in Matthew 28:18?". Paul was not unaware of that, but he still attributes the origin of the preaching ministry to God, who sends. It is necessary for God to send again each time.
The words of the Lord in Matthew 9:37-38: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest", arise from the vision of the forsaken and scattered multitudes. Before them, the Lord was filled with compassion. However, it is not the multitudes that motivate the movement of the workers. The Lord teaches that it is necessary to pray to God so that he sends workers to his harvest.
The compassion that the multitudes can generate in the heart of the worker is praiseworthy, however, it is not enough. The vision of the multitudes in need should, rather, awaken in his heart an insistent prayer on their behalf, so that God will attend to those needs. Perhaps God will then send him himself; however, the motivation will not be the multitudes, but God; not the work, but the Lord of the work.
When God sends, he enables and supports. When God sends, the worker knows he is entrusted, and his faith will stand firm in the midst of adversity, because he will be able to refer all his difficulties to the One who sent him. In this way, he will be able to feel the weight and value of the Lord's words in John 13:20: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives the one I send receives me; he who receives me receives the one who sent me".
Acts chapter 13 shows us how God initiates a work. First he attracts a group of men to minister before him. After they have recognized that the only Initiator is God, and have asked to be used, God points them out and sends them. If we attend to God's model, we will know where to begin, how to follow, and what means to use, to do God's precious work.