Sent by God

From Henry: reprinted from December 5, 2005

⁶There was a man, sent by God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness, to give testimony about the light, so that everyone can believe through him. ⁸He was not that light, but he came to bear testimony concerning it. – John 1:6-8

“There was a man, sent by God . . .”

Such a simple statement, but so important.

God has chosen not to do his work himself, but to do it through various people.  We have the responsibility of being witnesses.  People were to come to believe through John.  People are to come to believe through our witness.

Have you ever considered what would have happened to the mission of Jesus without witnesses?  The gospels were written by witnesses, some first hand; some second hand.  Paul wrote letters as a witness.  Without those witnesses, Jesus could have lived and died in Palestine, and nobody would have known!

“There was a man . . . he came to bear testimony.”

The importance of testimony is underlined by the fact that the mission of Jesus was both preceded and followed by witness.  Witness is, in fact, the key to the gospel message.

That is still the key today.

There is a message for each of you as you go into the workplace.  God’s word about you is this:  “There is a man sent by God, and his name is ________.”  “There is a woman, sent by God, and her name is _______.”  Read it, and fill in your name.  Say it out loud with your name in place of the blank.

You may be going to do something routine and boring.  You may be going out to do something daring or exciting.  Your work today may look important, or it may seem trivial to you.

But no matter what type of activity you will engage in today, you go forth as a person sent by God.  Will you be a witness?  Will people come to believe through you?

You are a person sent by God!

Note from Jody: Henry has felt a ‘call’ to use the gifts and knowledge that God has given him through Biblical studies to translate Scripture.  I have said many times that it is useful for us to read a passage in various translations in order to receive different perspectives of a passage.  If you would like to use Henry’s translations as one of your Biblical resources, the web address is: http://hneufeld.com/tfbv