Loyally Supporting Christ's Brothers

WHO SHOULD PREACH?

Today, there are eight million disciples of Jesus, and most of them are not anointed.  Jesus did not give them the talents.  He gave the talents to his anointed brothers.  (Matthew 25:14-18) So some may ask, 'if  Jesus did not give them the talents, do they really need to preach? Yes. Let us see why. 

Jesus commanded all his disciples to preach.  After Jesus was resurrected,he told his followers to "make disciples" and to teach them "all the things" he had commanded.  So these disciples also had to obey Jesus' command to preach. (Read Matthew 28:19, 20) It is clear that all of us must preach, whether we hope to live in heaven or on earth. -Acts 10:42. 

From the book of Revelation, we learn that the preaching work would be done both by the anointed and by others. Jesus gave the apostle John a vision of a "bride" who invites people to come and drink water that gives life. The bride refers to the 144,000 anointed ones who will rule with Jesus in heaven.  (Revelation 14:1, 3; 22:17) The water refers to Jesus' ransom sacrifice that will help people to have life without sin and death.  (Matthew 20:28; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, 10) Anointed ones zealously teach people about the ransom and how they can benefit from it.  (1 Corinthians 1:23) But the vision mentions another group of people who are not anointed but who have the hope of living on earth.  they too are commanded to tell people:  "Come!" And they obey  that command by teaching others the good news.  So this vision shows that all those who accept the message of the good news must preach to others. 

All who obey "the law of the Christ" must preach. (Galatians 6:2) Jehovah expects all who worship him to obey the same laws. In the past, he expected both Israelites and foreigners living with them to obey his laws.  (Exodus 12:49; Leviticus 24:22) Of course, today we do not need to obey all  the laws given  to the Israelites. Instead, whether we are anointed or not, we must obey "the law of the Christ." One of the most important things  Jesus taught us is to love.  (John 13:35; James 2:8)  We must love Jehovah, Jesus, and people. And the best way we show that love is by telling people about the good news of the Kingdom. -John 15:10; Acts 1:8.  

What Jesus said to a few of his disciples can sometimes refer to many disciples.  For example, Jesus made  a covenant with just 11 of his disciples and promised them that they would rule in his Kingdom.  But 144,000 will rule with him.  (Luke 22:29, 30; Revelation 5:10; 7:4-8) And after Jesus was resurrected, only a few of his disciples heard his command to preach. (Acts 10:40-42; 1 Corinthians 15:6) But all of Jesus' disciples in the first century obeyed that command.  (Acts 8:4; 1 Peter 1:8) Today, too, we know that we must preach, even though we have not heard Jesus' voice telling us to do this work.  In fact, there are eight million of us doing the preaching work. We know that by preaching, we show that we truly have faith  in Jesus. -James 2:18. 

Next time: Loyally Supporting Christ's Brothers - NOW IS THE TIME TO BE LOYAL

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015