The Greatest Question

Nowadays there is a great reticence in Britain to talk about Christian things. In 1989 Nicolae Ceaucescu, the despotic communist leader of Rumania was executed. A 19year old Christian girl then came to England, joined our civil service and rose to a senior position. She said,

“It is harder for me to talk about Jesus in the Civil Service than it was in Ceaucescu’s Rumania.”

Another lady said,

“I am a school teacher in a Church of England school here in England and I daren’t ever mention the name of Jesus – I would be fired.”

There is immense pressure coming down seeking to intimidate us to be silent about Jesus. But this is nothing new. When Peter and John first began to tell people about Jesus in Israel, just a few weeks after the crucifixion of Jesus, they were commanded in a no uncertain way,

“. . . not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” Acts 4:18

But Peter and John robustly replied to this Council, the same Council that had handed Jesus over to be crucified a few weeks earlier,

“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20

There is so much misunderstanding now about christian things. A couple sent out a Christmas card showing a nativity scene and at the top were the words,

“Unto us a child is born.”

They were surprised to get a note from a neighbour through the door,

“Congratulations”

It is rather like an 11 year old boy in Bermondsey, who asked his school teacher,

“Miss, why did they give Jesus a swear word for a name?”

The apostle Paul was just the same as Peter and John. He wouldn’t stop talking about Jesus, even at the risk of his life, because he felt the news about Jesus was so important. Paul was teaching in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey, when he had a dream of a Macedonian man begging him to,

“Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Acts 16:9

Today some organisations would interpret this to go and take food aid or dig a well, but note Paul’s reaction,

“We got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Acts 16:10

All these disciples clearly remembered some of the last words that Jesus had said to them,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

Richard Wurmbrandt was a Rumanian Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned for 14years by the Ceaucescu regime because of his robust testimony about Jesus. In prison he still kept talking about Jesus to the other prisoners. As a result he was badly beaten and eventually was sent into solitary confinement in a cell 35 feet underground where he remained for three years. That didn’t stop him trying to pass on the message. He used morse code tapping to explain the gospel to someone in the next cell, and he also became a Christian.

When Paul got to Philippi, the capital of Macedonia, he went around teaching people that Jesus was God’s son and his chosen king or Messiah and that he had entered this world in order to die for us so that all people can become members of God’s eternal kingdom. Several people became Christians but there was also much opposition. This resulted in Paul and Silas being ‘severely flogged’ and then being thrown into prison where they were put in stocks. What did they do in prison?

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and (note this) the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25

It seems that nothing would stop them passing on this message. God was in control and they had a message to deliver. It is wonderful to know that if we are serving God everything that happens to us is under God’s control.

Roland Bingham was the founder of what was then the Sudan Interior Mission. He was involved in a serious car crash in Africa and spent several days unconscious in an Intensive Care ward. When he woke up he asked,

“Where am I?”

The nurse sitting by him said,

“Mr Bingham, you’ve been involved in an accident, but we’’ll take care of you.”

“Accident! Accident!” Roland retorted, “There are no accidents in the life of a Christian, it is just another incident in his perfect planning.”

There were Paul and Silas in prison, still sharing the message about Jesus, when suddenly a massive earthquake, on a divine Richter scale, shook the prison to its foundations and the prisoners were freed. The jailer, clearly fearing the worst and that the prisoners he was commissioned to guard had escaped, was about to kill himself. But Paul shouted out,

“Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The response of this hardened jailer was astonishing. We are not told how he knew that everyone needs to get right with God. Perhaps he had earlier heard paul preaching or overheard their conversations in the prison, but he comes rushing in and falls trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. I suspect they explained how everything, even earthquakes are under the control of the God who had entered this world as Jesus. He led Paul and Silas out of the prison and then asked the greatest question anyone can ask. This is why this question is so relevant as a final question for a quiz – except this question has eternal consequences. The jailer asked,

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

It is a worry that not many people ask this question until they face a crisis. Most people think that, at least to some degree, they are in control of their lives and their destiny. Yet disaster will come the way for all of us and our families. Illness, redundancy, family breakdowns or even earthquakes can wake people up to what really matters in life. Any of us can suddenly wake up in a Coronary Care Unit.

The reply was and remains very simple,

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your whole household.”

I remember the day when, as a first year medical student I realised that I had to make a response to the message about Jesus. I had just heard a talk about the gospel and went back to my room. I knelt down and wrestled with the decision I was facing, Should I make the decision now or wait a bit. I was playing a lot of tennis and in our college we had the England No 1, Mark Cox, who got to the semi-finals of Wimbledon, and I worried, ‘What will Mark Cox think.” After some time I, like the Philippian jailer, made the decision and gave control of my life to Jesus Christ - the best decision I have ever made in life.

What happened to the jailer?

“The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God.”

Please note what believe means – it means giving the control of my life to the Lord Jesus.

A girl came to my surgical clinic at the hospital wearing a beautiful silver cross. I admired it and said,

“Excuse me asking you, but does that mean you are a Christian?”

“Yes I am,” she said, but then added, “But it depends on what you mean by a Christian.”

There wan’t much time in a busy clinic to say much, so I replied simply,

“Surely it is someone who is sold out to the Lord Jesus.”

She looked down and said,

“Then I am not.”

There is no greater question than ‘What must I do to be saved?” The answer is simple but has far reaching consequences, ‘Sell out to the Lord Jesus, give him the control of your life, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” May I ask who controls you? Have you made the decision to let Christ take control?

BVP