The Drawing Board

Bloody Hands August 26, 2009

There are some times when the reality of what I live to proclaim (the gospel) comes crashing down upon my own personal life in a way that cannot be explained.

This past weekend I preached from Acts 20 where Paul was giving his farewell message to the elders in Ephesus. This message was part of a series that I have been doing through the book of Acts for the past several months. Anyways, the basis for this sermon was the need for Christians, like Paul, to have an almost frantic urgency to “testify to the gospel of God’s grace”(20:24). Paul goes so far to say, “therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all people. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.” (20:26-27)

The implication is that Paul, understanding the urgency of the message of the gospel and its consequences, did not hold back any part of the message. Should he have done so, his hands would have been covered in the “blood” of the person under his spiritual care that did not hear the full gospel of God’s grace for them. Paul’s conscience was clear, and he was making sure that they knew that.

The main point of my sermon is that we must excercise some urgency with our proclamation of the gospel. We cannot play patty-cake with the message, we cannot fool around. The stakes are high, the consequences are immense. We must not waste anymore time. It was a powerful message that I felt very good about.

They day after I preached this message I received word that a couple I married about 11 months ago was experiencing a major tradegy. The husband had fallen out of a boat during the night and was never found. He was 26. He was 2 weeks shy of his one year anniversary. This young couple sat in my office, talked about their relationship with me, planned the details of their wedding, and talked of their future plans. Now, he was gone. Forever. And I have blood on my hands.

I didn’t share the gospel with them. And not because I thought he already knew the Lord. I knew he didn’t. It was glaringly obvious. I have no real good reason why I didn’t. It was one of those periods in ministry where I was swamped with work, just coming off of vacation, and just getting ready to start school. I just plain didn’t do it.

I cannot begin to describe the guilt that I feel in this situation. God had placed me in the perfect place to share the gospel with them, to tell them my story of how Jesus transformed my life, gave me eternal life, and how they could experience that too. Maybe some of it was fear (yes, I do still get afraid of sharing the message), maybe it was laziness, maybe it was a host of things….who knows. All I know is that I failed them. I failed him, and I failed the good news.

Don’t ever wait to share that message. It’s urgent.