Our Prophetic Role

"A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and 

among his relatives and in his own household."

Jesus, Mark 6: 4 

I have been enjoying reading the OT every morning.  Reading the major and minor prophets is truly educating when you know the rest of the story of redemption.  One thing I have learned is that if I could go back in time and be any occupation or calling, I surely would not wish to be a prophet.

Why?

Jesus says prophets have some honor.  I believe this is true.  Yet, they also had a difficult time because all too often people did not listen to their warnings.  As you read the OT, so many of the prophets were rejected, denied, and maligned as false.  So were the apostles.  In fact, so was Jesus.

Why?

Who really wants to hear the message that we need to repent and believe in God?  It runs counter to our nature.  We would prefer to hear, "You are doing great!  Keep up the good work!  God is so pleased with you that you do not need to change anything!"  

I know I love these messages.  I cannot deny it.  I love being told how great I am doing.  My guess is that most of us love that message!  Fortunately or unfortunately, in today's and everyday's religious world, there are plenty of people who will only proclaim this message because they want to be positive.

I can understand wanting to be positive.  I think all of us can.  Yet, what if we really are not doing well?  What if we really do need to change?

Let me give an illustration.  Say you are coaching a basketball team.  They are not really good.  Yet, all you can do is say how great they are, how they will win every game, how everyone will see their greatness.  In fact, the coach doesn't even have them practice hard because they are so good, they don't need it.

Then, when it comes time to perform, they lose by 80 points.  They are completely crushed by the opposition.  They cannot defend.  They cannot run an offense that works.  To make matters worse, they were playing what was known as the worst team around.

In this illustration, the coach lied.  The team will be confused, demoralized, and much less trusting of the coach's "positive" message.  

It would have been better to have known the truth.  

What is the truth?  

As a team, you need work.  What seems right and natural to you needs correcting and refinement.  You need to learn to work together.  You need to work on your conditioning and the fundamentals.  There are still no guarantees of victory; but if you work at it and learn to play like a team, you have a much greater chance for victory.

In fact, after the 80 point loss, it would be good if truth were told by everyone.  We need to work on defense.  We need to work on offense.  The team will only improve if the coach confessed that he did not coach well.  He needs to confess that he lied and he did not prepare them for the battle of a real game.  If the team makes a commitment to turn from their destructive patterns and turn to learning new patterns, they will improve.  They might even win a game by the end of the year!

The role of a prophet is to declare the truth.  Some will accept the message.  Many will deny it.  In fact, some/many will "Be stubborn and continue in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation." (Acts 19: 9)

Yet, if we speak for God as His ambassadors, we have no choice but to tell the truth in love.  To do less would be a lie.  To do less would be to follow the father of all lies, which is the devil. (John 8:44)

While I would not wish to be an OT prophet, I do wonder if in our fallen modern world, true believers and true pastors must play the role of prophet?  

Who is equal to such a task?  None, but the Lord will give us strength and grace to carry on!

May the Lord bless this week of life and ministry!