Worth Green, Th.M., D.Min.
In 1st Corinthians 12:10 Paul speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit called prophecy. Then, in 1st Corinthians 12:28, he talks about the gift of “prophets.” He says that God appointed in the church first apostles and second prophets. And in Ephesians 4, he makes it plain these two offices, and several others, are God’s gift to the church:
8 Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” …11 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry…
In Ephesians 2:20 the apostle writes that the church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.”
Notice the order of these two words: The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
You will remember who the apostles were. Jesus appointed twelve to be with him. The apostles were those disciples who accompanied Jesus in the days of his flesh. More than that, the Apostles, “the sent ones,” were also eyewitnesses to the Risen Christ. The twelve (I use the symbolic number as Paul did) were eyewitnesses and apostles, “then he appeared to the twelve.” (1st Cor. 15:5) Paul was also an apostle. In 1st Corinthians 9:1, Paul asks a rhetorical question saying, “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” According to 1st Corinthians 15:6 the Risen Jesus appeared to more than 500 brethren. We thus conclude there were at least 500 apostles.
So many apostles, yet the church is not built upon the foundation of the apostles alone. It is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
When I was in seminary, my professor of New Testament, Dr. Robert Lyon asked who the prophets of Ephesians 2:20 actually were. We were ready for him. We named names. We said, “Elijah was a prophet, and Elisha, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; and there were twelve Minor Prophets from Hosea through Malachi.” We were very pleased with ourselves, first year seminary pleased.
Then Dr. Bob pointed out something that should have been obvious. He said, “Yes, but those are Hebrew prophets. They are the beginning of the line of men directed by the Holy Spirit to speak God’s Word; but I think Paul included New Testament era prophets in this text. Dr. Lyon went on to say that the Apostles of the New Testament bore a unique witness to the life, death, and resurrection of the Risen Christ. The church needed the apostles to ground us in God’s saving history. Then he told us that the prophets of the New Testament bore a unique witness to the future, to the kingdom of God that is coming to us in Jesus Christ. He said that the church needs at least some leaders with a clear vision of the future of the kingdom of God that is coming to us in Christ, and a clear vision of what we who belong to the church must do to help God bring the kingdom of God down from heaven to our earth. He reminded us of a line from the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.”
Now, in the New Testament Era, when prophets speak the prophetic Word, they sometimes speak a personal word to individuals.
In Acts 21, Paul’s traveling companion, who may be the author of Luke/Acts, records how Paul came to Caesera and entered the house of Philip the Evangelist. Dr Luke then notes that Philip’s daughters were all prophets. He notes, too, that while they were there, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And Agabus took Paul’s girdle, or belt, and he bound his own feet and hands and said:
“Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
The Bible says that there are true prophets, and false prophets. It says there is a test. If a prophet is truly a prophet of God, then what he says comes true. God’s Word does not return null and void. False prophets may perform signs and wonders (Mark 13:22), but what they prophesy is a lie for they serve the father of lies. It never comes completely true. False prophets major in partial truths.
In Paul’s case this prophecy of Agabus came true. When Paul traveled to Jerusalem, James and the Elders of the church warned him that the rumor was circulating that Paul taught all the Jews among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs that Moses laid down for them. James urged Paul to go to the temple, and others with him, and to make a vow, and to demonstrate his commitment to the God of Israel. When Paul did as James directed, Jews from Asia, not Jerusalem, but Asia, stirred up the crowds, saying that Paul had defiled the temple. And an irrate crowd seized Paul and brought him out of the temple, and the gates were immediately shut, and they were trying to kill him. Paul was saved only when word of the riot came to the centurion in charge of the local company of soldiers. He went and arrested Paul, and bound him in chains in order to save Paul’s life.
Agabus’ prophecy to Paul was prophecy on a small scale. It was personal. Only Paul was bound in chains in Jerusalem.
Sometimes prophets speak a personal word with a larger application.
The Risen Christ spoke a personal word to Peter, but it was not on a small scale; it had a larger application. It was for Peter and for us. Do you remember in chapter 21, how Jesus looks at Peter and says:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go. “John 21:8
According to John 21:19 Jesus said this to show by what death Peter was to glorify God.
The author of the 4th Gospel assumes that his readers will know about Peter‚ and how he died. They do, but we don’t, at least not for sure. According to tradition, Peter died in Rome where he was crucified upside down, because he did not think himself worthy to die in the same manner of Jesus.
This prophecy was personal, but more than personal. It has also been called a prophecy and a parable of old age. It is not likely that you and I will be crucified upside down. It is likely, as we age, that we will stretch out our hands, and another will gird us, and carry us where we do not wish to go.
One night several years ago, when I got up in the middle of the night, and fell out in the floor and could not get up, my wife called 911. When the paramedics arrived to carry me out of my house, absolutely helpless, on the way to the hospital I told the paramedics that I was a Marine, and I hoped that I acted like one. Then, remembering myself, I told them that I was a Christian pastor, and I hoped I was acting like one. As they carried me into the hospital, I could not help but think of this prophecy of Jesus to Peter. It became very personal:
“Worth, if not now, then someday, you will stretch out your arms, and people will carry you where you do not wish to go.”
That is true not just for me, but for each of us, and for all of us. (Note: By the way, I was o.k. in a few days. I was brought down by an elevated white count caused by an infection.)
Some prophecy is on a larger scale. It is anything but personal.
The Old Testament prophets spoke God’s word to Israel and the nations. The God of the prophets rules over nature, and over the affairs of men and nations. The God of the prophets sits above the circle of the earth and laughs at the nations, because he has them in derision. The God of the prophets builds up and he breaks down. He plants and he plucks up. The God of the prophets sets ruler against ruler and nation against nation to achieve his purpose in the world. God rules over all, and his kingdom is coming. It cannot be stopped. God will not be denied.
Prophecy is never trivial. And it is not always pleasant, not even for the church. Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” (Mark 6:4) And H. Richard Niebuhr said, “No prophet ever received a salary.”
Let me give you an example, a Baptist pastor by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Like most prophets, Dr. King was popular with many, and unpopular with many. When I was a boy, my Sunday school teacher told us that Dr. King was a communist sympathizer bent upon the destruction of the United States.
On the other side, in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King himself wrote that the greatest disappointment of his battle for Civil Rights was the fact that so few white Churches and so few white Christians rallied to the cause. Some did, but not as many as Dr. King hoped.
Today, the evidence is that Dr. King may have saved these United States from a savage racial war. He urged African-Americans to Passive Resistance. He said, “We will match our capacity to receive suffering, and return love, with the capacity of the racist to inflict suffering, and we will win.” Dr. King got this practical doctrine of passive resistance from Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” He said, “When a man strikes you on one cheek, give to him the other.”
Now let me be honest. If I had been a young black man in America, and if I had been as proud as a black man as I have been as a white man, I don’t know if I would have chosen the way of Martin, or the way of Malcolm. Malcolm X did not counsel non-violence. He said, “By any means necessary.” He was not opposed to violence. Thank God for Martin! Thank God Dr. King lifted up a prophetic voice that pointed to a better future that was coming from God for men and women of all races. Thank God so many Americans responded to his appeal, and thank God that change actually came.
Dr. King gave his life for the cause, but he achieved his dream of freedom and equality non-violently. However, in one sense, the dream of freedom is worth fighting for. On this Memorial Day, we remember millions of Americans who have defended these United States against, “all enemies foreign and domestic,” to make us free and to keep us free.
As we celebrate our veterans and their courage, let us also remember that there is another kind of courage, prophetic courage, like that displayed by Dr. King. Listen to a few lines from his “I Have a Dream Speech.”
Dr. King said:
(Things are bad but) I will not wallow in the valley of despair. I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
Now, for a preacher, there is always a danger of “tilting at windmills.” It is a reference to Don Quixote. It means to preach at some evil that has passed. Yet, in this case, I think I am not guilty of that. Winston-Salem celebrated a big anniversary this week. On February 8th 1960 lunch counter sit-ins began in Greensboro and soon spread to Winston-Salem. Students from black colleges and high schools participated. So did students from Wake Forest. On May 23rd 1960 the city of Winston-Salem, and a number of local businesses signed a desegregation agreement. On May 25th, the first African American was served at a desegregated lunch counter. Winston-Salem was the first city in the South to desegregate its lunch counters without violence. I am proud of that. Despite my Sunday school teacher, some Moravians were prominent in the movement, and I like to think that the Moravian Church still has some influence in Winston-Salem. There were other factors; I suspect it was because blacks and whites had been working together so long at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Integration was something that the company did right, and those who worked there, as I did, can testify to it. This week, Reynolds moved the last of its manufacturing operations out of town.
This is Memorial Day. Today we remember that millions of Americans have fought and many have died for the idea of freedom. Many of our heroes have proved their courage on the field of battle, and given there their last full measure of devotion to this nation, their lives. But the battlefield is not the only place we need courage. We need prophetic courage in the pulpits of our churches (including this pulpit), and prophetic courage in the workplace (including your workplace), and prophetic courage in the marketplace (including our marketplace), and prophetic courage in our homes. On this Memorial Day, as we remember those who were willing to die for our country; let us also remember those who were willing to live for their Lord. If you are willing to live for him, please join me in the words of the prayer that he taught his disciples.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. for ever and ever.Amen