Dancing to Doctrine: Participation in Purpose

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth;
it shall not return to Me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” 

—Isaiah 55:10-11

Doctrine is a systematic grouping of fact statements about God and Scripture that invite the believer into relationship with the reality the fact statements represent. God created man as His image bearers for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), but man sinned and failed to glorify God in the way God required. Unable to fulfill God’s lofty requirement of glorifying Him, as His Person requires because of the effects and results of Adam’s rebellion, man was doomed to a state of sin and death, apart from God.

But because of His love, God sent the divine Son to assume flesh and give His life to save man from his sin. God has given the threefold manifestation of the Word of God: the Word of God preached, the Word of God written (the Bible), and the Word of God revealed (Christ). We are allowed to participate in each of the three manifestations through reading, fellowshipping, and proclaiming the Word of God. It is the third in which I would like us to focus on today.

God has called us to Himself to experience the joy of knowing Him, and the joy flowing from that relationship radiates to others ushering them into this divine blessing. Perhaps an illustration here might help. Imagine seeing the most beautiful sunset of your life. The colors are revealed in shades that you have never known before. The sky displays the handiwork of God like a canvas for the world to see. You are overwhelmed with the beauty before you. But there is just one problem. You are by yourself. There is no one else there. The act of joy is not completed until it is shared and someone else can grasp the immense beauty before you. Just as the act of knowing Christ is not complete until we are able to share it with others. How do we share it? Simply by telling others about Jesus.

God allows us to partner with Him in proclaiming His good news of salvation made available through Christ. In fact, He commands us to do so (Matthew 28:19-20) because sharing Him compounds our joy. I hope that all of us might experience the joy of sharing Christ through the proclamation of His Word. God has guaranteed to bless it (Isaiah 55:10-11) and it is to our joy to do it. Amen.