One Important Duty Every True Christian Must Perform To Be Useful

Christians are not saved to do nothing; we must perform various duties of our faith, including trusting and obeying God, praying and fasting, witnessing Christ Jesus, making disciples, loving God and people, and living holy lives.

However, in this short article, we want to focus on a very important duty which every Christian whether educated or uneducated must perform. It is knowing what Jesus Christ has said. This is important because one can perform the duties mentioned above only when he knows the Word of Christ.

Most Christians, in this generation, find it difficult to live a genuine life of faith in God, particularly when faced with trials, because they do not know the Word of Christ. Paul, the apostle, instructs believers to have the Word of Christ dwell in them richly (Colossians 3:16).

Jesus Christ testifies about His early disciples that they knew what He taught. Those disciples followed Jesus and paid attention to knowing His teachings. The Lord gave the testimony when the chief priest questioned Him about His disciples and teachings during His arrest, leading to His crucifixion. 

“Jesus answered him, ‘I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; THEY KNOW WHAT I SAID” (John 18: 20-21, emphasis mine).

Jesus had taught His disciples many things for years, and He was convinced that those men, including illiterates knew everything He had taught them. The Lord did not say they may know His teachings or they will try to remember them. 

He authoritatively said, “they know what I said.” 

In other words, the disciples were ready to share Christ’s teachings with the high priest if he seriously cared to know them. This means the disciples truly heard Jesus speak, understood His words, retained His words, recalled His words and applied His words to their lives. Simply, they knew what He said to them.

With this knowledge, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John could write the gospel books by the help of the Holy Spirit years after Christ Jesus had ascended to heaven. The disciples accurately narrated the teachings of Jesus to the gospel writers, particularly Mark and Luke (Luke 1:1-3).

Now, some important questions we need to answer are: do we also really know what Jesus has said? Do we have His Word dwelling in our hearts? Can we accurately teach others to know them? Can Jesus confidently testify about our knowledge of His Word? 

We are also called to follow Jesus, learn from Him, and know His Word. We do not have the privilege of walking with Him personally, but we do so by walking by His Spirit and studying the Holy Bible.

However, the sad reality today is that most Christians, especially those in Africa, who are overwhelmed with poverty and unemployment have little or no interest in knowing what Jesus has said. If the educated refuse to read and study the Bible what will the unlettered do?

This is a major challenge which requires a greater attention and an immediate solution from both pastors and church members. Pastors, on one hand, must emphasise the need for their church members to know the teachings of Jesus. 

We must teach them the importance of knowing the Word of Christ. We must teach them to understand the skills of reading, listening, meditating and applying the Word. We must teach them to know the consequences of being ignorant of the teachings of Jesus.

Christians, on the other hand, ought to fathom that knowing the teachings of Jesus is knowing what He has said. And knowing what He has said is knowing how to perform other duties of the faith for the glory of God. 

This means that all believers must devote quality time to read and study the Bible. We must learn from Jesus how He sat down, concentrated on listening to the teachings of the Word of God and asked question (Luke 2:46). We must all learn to meditate on the Word of God taught by our pastors, pray with it and apply it to our lives. 

With these, we can comprehend, retain, recall and apply the teachings of pastors concerning Jesus. This will enable us to communicate the Word of Christ to other people to increase the knowledge of Christ in the world. By this, Christ Jesus  can confidently say that His children know what He has said.

By James Quansah