Dave Chanski

If a ministry is properly Christ-centered, it will give the Lord Jesus Christ prominence as the One who has been anointed prophet, priest, and king. In the last article, we considered His office as priest. Now we focus on giving Christ His rightful place as prophet. A prophet is one who speaks the words of God to men. Christ is the Greatest Prophet ever. How do we accord Him His rightful place in any ministry God grants to us?

We do this by acknowledging the supreme authority of His word, the Bible. That means we regard Scripture as our only ultimate authority for faith and life. We must love the word of God (Psalm 119:97, 113, 163). We must tremble at the word of God (Isaiah 66:2). If we truly believe that the Scriptures are the word of Christ, we will give them the prominent place they deserve in our worship. The Reformers called this doctrine the primacy of preaching (see 2 Timothy 4:1-2). It means we ought to be jealous to maintain the honor of Christ our Prophet by resisting every trend to replace the ministry of the word by musical productions, films, liturgy, or prayer-and-share time.

Further, we give Christ His rightful place as Prophet when we regard the whole of Scripture as authoritative. We must avoid the “red-letter mentality”, by which some people give greater reverence to the words spoken by Jesus in the gospels than to those written by the Apostles in their letters. All are the words of Christ! Also, we give Christ His rightful place as Prophet when we preach “the whole counsel of God”(Acts 20:27), rather than simply the parts people don’t mind hearing. Jesus did this Himself. Instead of simply saying what He knew people wanted to hear, He said what He knew they needed to hear. As Martin Luther wrote, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ….Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battle front besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

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