All Hands on Deck

The founder of Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham, stated, "An atheist once said to me, “Why doesn’t your God come and physically show Himself to us?" I replied, ”He did and they nailed Him on a cross.“" Such a simple, but truthful and profound, reply to a question many would shrink back from. For many Christians we cringe at the idea of being challenged about our faith or worry about what to say when questioned. There are many lessons which can be learned from this simple encounter shared by Ken Ham. The first lesson, and probably the most important, is the necessity for Christians to be familiar with the Word of God; the Bible. The Bible tells us to, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15)." When you know the truth of the Bible then it becomes second nature to respond to questions like the atheist posed. Knowledge dispels fear and wisdom is the application of knowledge. The second lesson to be learned is that when you are equipped with the truth you are always ready to respond. 2 Timothy 4:2 reads, "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction." I am not sure the circumstances Ken Ham was in when the atheist questioned him (probably after giving a lecture), but regardless of his environment, he was prepared to speak to the lost.

A third lesson is that Christians cannot rely solely on pastors, authors, seminarians, lecturers, etc. to be the main ones who "preach the word." The Bible says, "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care (1 Corinthians 3:10)." While one of these "leaders" may lay a foundation, "someone else," namely other Christians like you and me, may be the ones who build on it. Therefore, we must all know how to handle the word of truth. We must all be prepared to preach the word. We must all be ready to lay, or build upon, a foundation. A fourth, and final, lesson to be learned is what Jesus described in Luke 10:2, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." In other words, Jesus is in essence saying, "All hands on deck!" It takes many laborers in order to fulfill the Great Commission. Every born again Christian on earth is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, there are millions of laborers available to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians it says, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers... (Ephesians 4:11)" It says God gave "some" to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. That means God gave "many" for them to "equip for the work of the ministry." The work is "that you believe in Him whom He sent (John 6:29)." Time to get to work!