The Urgency of the Good News
The good news is urgent because the Father wants us all to recognize our sonship and become reconciled to him now! Many religious authorities promote an end-time ministry focusing on the ‘end of the system of things’ or ‘the Great War of Armageddon’ or some other type of cataclysmic ending. But the reality is, we do not know when that day will occur or whether our own end will come first ‘because time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all.’ (Ecclesiastes 9:11) Rather than wait for the end of the system, the Father wants us to come to him NOW! Without delay!
“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.”
– Hebrews 3:12-14
And there is another reason why the good news is urgent. All who accept their sonship with the Father and become a part of ‘the body of Christ, which is the Christian congregation’ (Colossians 1:17-18, 24; Ephesians 1:22-23), are asked to be ambassadors substituting for Christ to help others come to appreciate their sonship with the Father as well. The Apostle Paul tells us:
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.’”
– 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
He emphasized the need to remain focused on the true message:
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage —with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
– 2 Timothy 4:1-5
When we understand the good news, we are moved to share it with others. But from the very beginning, Jesus recognized that not all would take up this ministry. We learn:
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”
– Matthew 9:35-38
Of those who would take up a ministry, not all would adhere to Jesus’ plain and open teachings and would, instead, teach ‘another sort of good news:’
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
– Galatians 1:6-9
The preaching of the ‘other sorts of good news’ overshadowed the true good news and caused Christianity to get off track. But now is the time to return to teaching the actual, authentic, plain and open teachings of Jesus – the true good news of the kingdom. We encourage you to respond to the urgency of the good news and become a kingdom ambassador, a harvest worker.
