Of First Importance Go Fish

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) 

From several passages, we read Paul the apostle reminding the saints about important truths and traditions the church should jealously guard. Sometimes it is not a reminder but a charge. The church today must take heed of these things also. He sent Timothy to remind the Corinthians of his “ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17).  He also reminded Timothy who at one time was at Ephesus to “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). He urged him “to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:3) because it would lead to vain discussions. Now if there is anything the church must not do, it is to talk about vain things. And this is the reason why under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul and all the writers from the Old Testament to the New Testament never wrote vain things. Rather than concentrate on vain issues (Ecclesiastes 1:2) that the world sees as needing greater attention today, the Bible has had one central important theme from Genesis to Revelation; Jesus Christ.

There is therefore no reason for the church to move away from what God says is most important. And there has never been need, in any age or time where Christ could of necessity be moved to second place. Paul was torn only between two things (Philippians 1:23) and both centred on Christ when he said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Life or death did not matter to him because if he continued to live, it would mean fruitful labor for Christ. Death would mean gaining Christ and being in his very presence forever. These are the important things that the church should be teaching rather than take after the world.

Now, getting back to the important things, we see that Jesus did not waste time with his disciples. The first words he said to them were, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of man” (Mark 1:17) and more clearly, he told them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” (Luke 5:10). The Greek word ‘zogreo’ used for catching men in this verse gives a picture of one who arrests or takes people captive for Christ. It is far better and excellent to be a captive of Christ than to be a captive of Satan and sin. 

Among the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples was the declaration, command and promise; “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).  The basis and ground for us to go and witness is rooted in the fact that Jesus has all power and authority everywhere, be it at your house, workplace, school, supermarket or street corner. Since Jesus has authority everywhere, this should give every believer confidence to witness because the authority of Jesus everywhere means evangelism and missions can be done everywhere, anywhere, and any time. You do not need to fear to talk about Jesus to the unsaved workmate or friend because his presence goes with you wherever his word is preached by faith (Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 1:12). 

We also read about some of Jesus’ last words to his disciples from Acts; “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In order for the church to remain faithful to the command to go out, as well as to make sure the it maintains the things of first importance, the Lord promises to give them power. That power is power to witness and he fulfilled that promise from the Day of Pentecost and continues to give it to believers today.  The word witness comes from the Greek word ‘martus’ from which we get the word martyr. Having read John Foxx’s Book of Martyrs my first impression was that martyrs were only dead people, but that was wrong. Jesus was not saying the disciples were to be dead witnesses but living evidences of him. We thank God for the great cloud of witnesses of saints we read about in Hebrews 11. Their faith and courage spur us on and through their lives we can see the faithfulness of God. We can see how their patient endurance paid off. They lived as evidences or proofs for Christ. They did that in their day to day living. They did that through the word of their testimony. They proclaimed ‘God reigns’ and called all men everywhere to believe and repent.  

Due to the infiltration by the enemy into the church, there are unsaid and untrue beliefs about the Christian life and ministry among the saints. Coming home to Africa; I have seen that some feel like they should not witness because they are better educated or have a better socio-economic status. They think witnessing is a task for the unemployed youths in the church. Many think that God only calls the unemployed to the pastoral ministry and to witnessing. They think that he calls those who flunked at school. Some on the other hand think only a special class of educated people who dress in a certain way have the flair which allows people to open up to them. Now if there is no total dependence on the Holy Spirit but a reliance on self and what you are able to do then no true conversion will take place. You will be evidence of yourself; your intelligence, wardrobe, wisdom and strength (1 Corinthians 2:4). Martin Lloyd-Jones once said, “If you expect a natural man to believe the gospel simply because you are putting it to him, you are denying the gospel; you have not understood it yourself. He cannot do it. It is no use your getting excited or bringing pressure to bear upon him; it is all of no value. The man cannot help himself! He needs the enlightenment that the Holy Spirit alone can give. You needed it; he still needs it, (God’s Sovereign Purpose). This is the reason God gives the Holy Spirit to every believer; That you may be witnesses of Jesus. We do not cease to be witnesses or to do evangelism because we now wear suits or because we now work in high rise office buildings. It is in those places that God must be magnified. Your sonship does not change because you are now working as professionals or because you are farm workers. It is to every believer that he promised the Holy Spirit in order to give them power to witness. 

A few years ago, I took time to think about what Proverbs 18:16 meant by; “A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before the great”. I saw that from scripture, it has generally been used to show how far a bribe or gift (present) can be used to gain favor or access to resources that one would otherwise not get under normal circumstances (see Job 6:22, Proverbs 17:8, 17:23, 21:14, Job 6:22). Some preachers interpreted it as saying it is one’s spiritual gift or a talent that can open doors for him before the great. This might be a plausible application of this verse but it is not convincing because of the genre we are dealing with. Proverbs is part of wisdom literature and as part of that genre, we need to know that not everything that is written therein is prescriptive. Many wisdom passages are simply descriptive. For example, Proverbs 18:23 says “The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly”. Now, that is a descriptive verse. It is not prescribing or ordering how poor people and rich people ought to relate. The writer simply made an observation of what generally happens between people of different socio-economic statuses. But loving your neighbour as you love yourself is of first importance in the gospel. It cancels out any rough treatment of the poor. Rather the rich are to be humble (1 Timothy 6:17, James 1:9-10). I want to finish the exposition of Proverbs 18:16 by talking about one more point and after that, I want to link it with how the church has applied it in its evangelistic efforts.

The gift is said to make room for him and bring him before the great. Whether this gift is a bribe, a talent, a present, or any other ability, it is said to bring you before the great. The question that needs to be answered therefore is; who are the great? If we use worldly lenses, then the great are the billionaires and the millionaires, the business tycoons and the politicians, they are the philanthropists, the rich, the famous and the glamourous. The list does not end there; it is as long as you can imagine.  If this is not a bribe but a gift from God, then what is a believer supposed to do with it? Shouldn’t the believer do the same thing that Paul did? That is; to deliver to the great of this world as of first importance what he also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures? 

We thank God for everyone who has been stationed by God in different offices of employment whether they are teachers, nurses, doctors, shop assistants, gardeners, security guards, the police, politicians, farmers, mechanics, engineers or businessmen etc. We should however know that we don't need political influence to preach the gospel. It is us that need to influence the great of this world using the gifts God bestowed on us for the building of the church. We thank God for saving some of these great people but the church has become too reliant on them that it sometimes forgets who called it and who needs saving. The world is darkness (Ephesians 5:8) and the world is in darkness (Luke 1:79, Matthew 5:15, Acts 26:18 et al) and what the great of this world desperately need is a church set on a hill. A church that proclaims deliverance of the both great and small. But who are the great before God? Are they not the ones who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb? Are they not the saints of God? Are they not the little ones who are in the kingdom of God? “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26, see also Matthew 18:4, Luke 9:48, 22:26 et al). 

If you believe in Jesus and know that you are born again, you must know that God called, chose, and appointed you to bear fruit. You are to reach all of them. Without the message of salvation, the businessmen and the politicians, the professionals and the farmers will be lost for eternity. You are Christ’s ambassadors. You represent Christ on earth. You were given power to witness when God poured his Spirit upon you. Nothing should stop or derail you from that mission. That is a high calling, and the highest calling I must add. And I for one will not trade it for any position the world may offer. You are the great ones of God. Go and be witnesses of Jesus. Go fish. 

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About The Author:

Pastor Sam Machacka is co-founder of Brink Ministries Southern Africa. A wonderful colleague and good friend. Equipping Pastors and Church leaders in Southern Africa. He grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe with his beautiful wife Mildred and they are blessed with three lovely children namely Samantha, Munashe and Joshua but they are now serving as missionaries in Malawi since August 2018

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