FOCUS ON THE MAN OR ON THE PLAN?

Preachers sometimes baffle me. They often discuss topics that have little or no relevance to anyone or they make distinctions without a difference. Some preachers like Joel Osteen avoid all controversial topics and borrow most of their material from the so-called "positive thinkers," like Wayne Dyer, Abraham Maslow and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, although Dr. Peale preached more solid material than Joel Osteen or Robert Schuler. One preacher announced in his bulletin he planned to speak on the topic: "Do We Focus on the Man or on the Plan?" Our study today will be devoted to that topic.

I do not wish to be facetious, but I can answer the question, "Do we focus on the man or on the plan?", with one simple word: YES. If we wish to be faithful to our calling as preachers and teachers, we must focus on the man and on the plan. How can reasonable people claim to love the man - the Lord Jesus Christ - and not love the plan he ordained, the gospel of Christ? Did not Christ himself say: "For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Lk. 19:10)? The author of Hebrews asks: "How shall we escape if we neglect the great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them who heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will" (Heb. 2:3-4)?

It ought to be obvious from this passage that Jesus Christ had a plan which the author of Hebrews calls "the great salvation." Jesus began to teach that plan; the apostles confirmed it; and God bore witness to it with miraculous manifestations. How could anyone separate the man from the plan? Would it be legitimate to call that plan a "pattern?" In other words, did Jesus outline what the apostles and others were to teach men about salvation? If he did - and you know he did - why does not what he said constitute a pattern?

Luke tells of Christ's visit to Nazareth, his hometown. "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them who are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Lk. 4:16-19).

Is there the slightest doubt in your mind that Christ completely fulfilled the mission God had assigned to him? Did he not preach the gospel to the poor? Was not his appeal primarily to the poor? Paul told the Corinthians: "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, nor many noble, are called" (1 Cor. 1:26). Jesus wants all men to be saved - rich and poor, wise and unwise, noble and ignoble - but many people trust in their own wisdom, power and nobility and imagine they do not have need for a savior.

Our Lord spent much of his earthly existence healing the broken-hearted. The Apostle Peter told Cornelius and his household "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Our Lord fed the hungry, healed broken hearts and broken lives, comforted those who had lost loved ones and provided inspiration to those who had lost hope. He served as the perfect example for his immediate followers and for all subsequent generations, including our own.

The Lord Jesus Christ constantly preached to men and women who were held captive in the bondage of sin. The Sermon on the Mount summarizes many of the great moral and spiritual principles God demands that his children honor. None is better known than these inspiring words: "Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, do you also to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Mt. 7:12). Christ also told men they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven by simply confessing his name. We must do the will of his Father who is in heaven (Mt. 7:21). He provided guidance for our giving, praying and fasting (Mt. 6:1-7). Christ's every waking thought was devoted to doing the will of God (John 8:29) by carrying out the mission God had given him. And when he died on the cross, he said: "It is finished" (John 19:30). Jesus was saying, in effect, to God almighty: "I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4). Should we not be able to say, the man carried out the plan?

When John the Baptist heard of the great work Jesus was doing, he sent two of his disciples to ask Christ: "Are you he who should come, or do we look for another? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Mt. 11:2-5). All four gospel writers provide examples of Christ's healing the blind. On one occasion, Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth (John 9). But Jesus not only healed men who were physically blind; he also opened the eyes of those who were spiritually blind (Lk. 24:31).

Our Lord set at liberty those who were bruised. The English Standard Version uses the word "oppressed" rather than the word "bruised." Charles Williams and Dr. Hugo McCord translate the Greek "the down trodden." Jesus also preached the acceptable year of the Lord. If you have an open heart, you cannot fail to see that our Lord fulfilled the plan God had for his earthly ministry. Jesus Christ did exactly what God wanted him to do in the way God wanted him to do it.

But did Jesus Christ furnish his apostles and others a plan they were to preach to the lost? At the conclusion of his earthly ministry, Jesus gave specific instructions about the message of salvation he wanted preached. We commonly refer to these instructions as the Great Commission. Matthew ends his gospel with these well known words from the very mouth of Jesus Christ: "All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the age" (Mt. 28:18-20). Do you believe Matthew's readers had any difficulty understanding the words of our Lord?

The words of Mark's account of the Great Commission differ slightly from those of Matthew's account, but the import is the same. Jesus commanded his apostles: "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned" (Mk. 16:15-16). Luke quotes Jesus as saying, "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things" (Lk. 24:46-48).

Please remember the word "witnesses" as I read to you Christ's plan for spreading the gospel. "You shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be my witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Did the apostles and other God-ordained preachers follow the plan the Lord himself gave? If you have the slightest doubt, please listen to the remainder of our study.

Jesus told the apostles what they were to preach. They began their gospel preaching on the day of Pentecost. God performed some spectacular miracles to authenticate his preachers. There were the sound as rushing of the mighty wind, the cloven tongues as of fire and speaking in tongues they had never learned (Acts 2:1-4). Some of the people observing the events on that day wanted to know the meaning of the tongues-phenomenon. Others mocked and said, "These men are full of new wine," in other words, they are drunk (Acts 2:12-13). Men who are drunk have difficulty speaking their own language. How could drunken men speak in other languageslanguages they have never studied and did not know?

The Apostle Peter's sermon on Pentecost was very simple and very powerful. He told the Jews that the events on that great day were a fulfillment of the prophecies of Joel and of David. He emphasized the death of Christ and his resurrection. He concluded his sermon with these stirring and challenging words: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made this same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). What a painful revelation this must have been to the Jews! They realized they had murdered their own Messiah. When they heard what Peter said, "they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do" (Acts 2:37)?

What did the Jews want to know? Did they want to know how to escape the wrath of the Roman Empire? You know that is not the case. The Jews could not have crucified Jesus Christ without the involvement of the Roman government. Verse 21 spells out the reason the Jews asked: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" "And it shall come to pass," Joel had predicted, "that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." The Jews wanted to know what to do be saved from their sins.

Peter's answer to their question could hardly be plainer, although what he said has been twisted almost beyond recognition. He commanded the believing Jews: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:38-39). How did the Jews understand what the Holy Spirit guided Peter to preach? Did they know they were supposed to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins? Or did they think they had to repent and could be baptized if they wanted to? The Holy Spirit tells us what happened. "Then they who gladly received the word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (Acts 2:41).

God's plan called for the gospel to begin in Jerusalem. We know that occurred on Pentecost. The gospel was also to be preached in Samaria. Acts 8 tells us exactly what happened. Saul of Tarsus, a bitter enemy of the cross of Christ, "made havoc of the church, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they who were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them" (Acts 8:3-5). Philip's sermon on that occasion was different in some ways from the sermon Peter preached on Pentecost. The Samaritans had not been involved in Christ's crucifixion as the Jews had been. But Philip's sermon emphasized three vital truths: the kingdom of God, the name of Christ, and baptism. How can we legitimately arrive at that conclusion? "But when they (the Samaritans) believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12).

When Philip preached Christ to the Samaritans, did he emphasize only the man or also the plan? We know he preached Christ. Did that also necessarily include the plan? If it did not, how did the Samaritans know they were supposed to obey their Lord in baptism? Can you understand how preachers run into intellectual trouble when they do not take all the Bible says - not just what they like or what it popular in their circles?

The Apostle Peter preached the first gospel sermon ever recorded to the Jews on the day of Pentecost; Philip the evangelist preached the first sermon to the Samaritans; the Apostle Peter then preached the first sermon to Gentiles. Acts 10 records the sermon Peter preached at the house of Cornelius. He told Cornelius and his household "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he who was ordained of God to be the Judge of the quick and the dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive the remission of sins" (Acts 10:38-43).

What did the Holy Spirit lead the Apostle Peter to tell the Jews about the remission of sins? "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Did Peter preach a different plan of salvation to Cornelius and to his household? We do not have a complete record of Peter's sermon at the house of Cornelius, but we know what occurred on that occasion as a result of Peter's preaching Christ. He asked: "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit, as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 10:47-48).

Some of the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem were troubled by the events at the house of Cornelius. Peter recounted what led him to Cornelius. The Holy Spirit told Peter to go. Peter explained to those who questioned him: "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Forasmuch as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus, who was I, that I should withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11: 15-18). Did the Apostle Peter preach the man or the plan? He preached both.

Paul's travels carried him to the city of Philippi in the province of Macedonia. He and Silas met with a group of women who were meeting for prayer. He sat down with the women and taught them the gospel. "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things that were spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us saying, If you have found me to be faithful, come into my house, and abide there" (Acts 16:13-15).

Can you discern a pattern or a plan from the conversions I have mentioned? The Jews on Pentecost were baptized (Acts 2:41). The Samaritans heard the word, believed and were baptized (Acts 8:12). Cornelius and his household were baptized (Acts 10:48). Lydia and her household were baptized (Acts 16:15). Is this purely accidental or did the man ordain the plan?

There are other aspects of God's plan I must mention as our time draws to a close. God's plan demands that we worship God regularly and faithfully. In the very first century, there were Christians who were neglecting to worship God. "And let us consider one another to provoke to love and good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much more as you see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:24-25). All worshipping activities must be according to the divine plan. "Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by him" (Col 3:17).

God's plan also includes the moral values Christians must honor. We must also grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3: 18). And we must be dedicated to reaching out to the lost. Since the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1: 16), Christians must use every available means to preach the gospel to the whole world. The International Gospel Hour is dedicated to preaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

I urge you to read your Bible regularly and prayerfully and to obey its precepts. God has a place prepared for those who are prepared to go there. Are you prepared to meet the Lord in the final judgment?

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334