ROOFTOP REASON

²³ But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: ...²⁶ Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

²⁷ What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light:

and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

²⁸ And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

T H E   W O R D S   O F   J E S U S   R E C O R D E D   I N   M A T T H E W   1 0 : 2 3 – 2 8

 

The LORD and 150 people willing, this coming Sunday Morning your Pastor will be preaching on the roof!

It was a fun conversation with one of our Seminarians, Tom Gober that started this idea.  Somehow we got to talking about housetop preaching and the next thing we knew we were talking about PR on the roof at FCC. “Oh,” Tom said, “that would be so cool.”  And so…

In the 10^th Chapter of Matthew, Jesus is urging His disciples to be faithful witnesses and warning them of coming persecution.  He urged them to speak with courage and conviction.  He told his disciples to not fear their enemies, but to publicly proclaim from the housetops what He told them privately. 

In ancient Jerusalem the teacher of God’s law often had beside him an interpreter of Hebrew who would softly whisper into his ear the exact meaning of the text.  The teacher would then speak what he had heard.

What are to say?

What the Lord Himself has and is teaching us to say.

How much are we to say?

All that the Lord Himself has and is teaching us to say.  We must be explicit.  We must declare the whole counsel of God. Half truths cannot suffice.  We must speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The problem with so much of contemporary Christendom is not what they are saying, but what they do not say.  They preach Christ without a cross.  They offer forgiveness without repentance.  And they offer discipleship without discipline. 

How long are we to continue?

Until we cannot continue! Jesus said, He that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Given the growing antipathy toward Bible believing Christians, it would seem that the LORD himself is drawing our attention to this passage. 

Years ago I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Get in, sit down, shut up, and hold on!”  When I saw who was driving I laughed!  I think I might have taken that advice if I were in her car.  J

Christians today are being told “Get in line, Sit down, Shut up, and Hold on to the world.”  And I’m laughing again.  There is absolutely no way I am going to line up with the godless, sit in the counsel of the ungodly, shut my mouth against deception, or hold on to a world that is opposed to the love of God. 

I’LL PREACH THAT FROM THE HOUSETOP!