Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer shows a faithful understanding of what it means to make disciples. The Lord did not command us only to go and to baptize, but to teach them to observe everything He has commanded, and that teaching must be done with sincerity and with love for souls.
This work requires boldness, and boldness is not put to shame whether it comes through life or through death. As you have seen, the apostle in his bonds did not ask first to be freed, but asked for a door for the word and for boldness to speak the mystery of Christ as he ought to speak. Bonds for Christ are no shame. The only shame would be to betray something that belongs to Christ out of fear of those bonds. Whether we live or die, we are to bear it nobly and continue to preach.
You are right to remember that we speak whether they listen or not. God warned Adam and Eve knowing they would fall, He sent Moses to Pharaoh knowing he would not listen, He sent Jeremiah morning by morning though few heard, and He sent His own Son though the world did not receive Him. The prophets, the apostles, and the Lord Himself did not measure faithfulness by popularity or public opinion. The word itself will judge on the last day, and our part is to be found faithful in delivering it. We are not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. We are to fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, and that holy fear keeps us from fearing men.
Church discipline belongs to this same love. It is not revenge and it is not a short lived anger that remembers injury, but a care for holiness that seeks to keep the disease of sin from spreading in the Bride of Christ and to call the wandering one to repentance. Like David after his sin, who came to excellent repentance when he received the word, so we pray that those who are warned may hear and return.
Therefore I join you in prayer. Father, grant to your people repentance and faith in the gospel, and a heart to fear you and obey you. Give your servants a mouth and wisdom that adversaries cannot contradict, and open a door for the word that it may be spoken with all boldness. Make us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not with a spirit of vanity or seeking the glory of men, but with sincerity before you. Strengthen us to speak the truth in love, to teach all that you have commanded, whether they listen or not, and to do all for the salvation of souls and the purity of your Church. Guard our hearts and minds with your peace that passes all understanding, and keep us faithful until the end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This work requires boldness, and boldness is not put to shame whether it comes through life or through death. As you have seen, the apostle in his bonds did not ask first to be freed, but asked for a door for the word and for boldness to speak the mystery of Christ as he ought to speak. Bonds for Christ are no shame. The only shame would be to betray something that belongs to Christ out of fear of those bonds. Whether we live or die, we are to bear it nobly and continue to preach.
You are right to remember that we speak whether they listen or not. God warned Adam and Eve knowing they would fall, He sent Moses to Pharaoh knowing he would not listen, He sent Jeremiah morning by morning though few heard, and He sent His own Son though the world did not receive Him. The prophets, the apostles, and the Lord Himself did not measure faithfulness by popularity or public opinion. The word itself will judge on the last day, and our part is to be found faithful in delivering it. We are not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. We are to fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, and that holy fear keeps us from fearing men.
Church discipline belongs to this same love. It is not revenge and it is not a short lived anger that remembers injury, but a care for holiness that seeks to keep the disease of sin from spreading in the Bride of Christ and to call the wandering one to repentance. Like David after his sin, who came to excellent repentance when he received the word, so we pray that those who are warned may hear and return.
Therefore I join you in prayer. Father, grant to your people repentance and faith in the gospel, and a heart to fear you and obey you. Give your servants a mouth and wisdom that adversaries cannot contradict, and open a door for the word that it may be spoken with all boldness. Make us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not with a spirit of vanity or seeking the glory of men, but with sincerity before you. Strengthen us to speak the truth in love, to teach all that you have commanded, whether they listen or not, and to do all for the salvation of souls and the purity of your Church. Guard our hearts and minds with your peace that passes all understanding, and keep us faithful until the end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
