Revelation 12:11 “They overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
The early expansion of the kingdom of God into the Roman world was not without difficulties and obstacles. However, it was done by men with great faith who believed God in what they were doing.
Seeing the extension of the kingdom of God comes down to our faith. The world is not going to change until people change. We have to go from the internal to the external. But for many evangelicals today the basic approach is to rescue as many sinners as possible from a dying world and then to simply just hang on until the return of Jesus. But, we are told to “occupy” and not just to survive.
When the early disciples started out they started with a protest against the tyranny, slavery, and the injustice that was in the world. Their basic weapon was Truth. In his book, Shaking the System, Tim Stafford said: “It was truth that launched American anti-slavery. The truth was simple: Slavery is sin. Truth matters. Truth has the power to move people. When truth is recognized, the terms of debate change utterly. We need to be able to articulate the truth powerfully and convincingly.”
Jesus said that when we come to know the truth, the truth will set us free. These men/women armed with truth went out into the Roman world and within 70 years planted fellowships with the followers of the Truth.
Truth will lead to conflict and conflict will sort out our friends as well as enemies. The truth has enemies, but speaking the truth is crucial. When Paul and the other apostles went out, I am sure that they were faced with many frustrations and being faced with those frustrations they probably also had long discussions about tactics.
We see something of this when Paul and his team tried to go to different places in Asia Minor, but the Holy Spirit stopped them. They finally wound up in a place called Troas on the Aegean Sea. After Paul’s dream of the Macedonian Call, Paul and his team debated over tactics as to what they should do. We read that they concluded that they were to go into Europe. Their tactics had changed, but the Truth remained the same.
Having the privilege of being able to travel in so many countries of the world I see that each country is unique and every country has the need for different strategies at different times. For example, in Karnataka India where I first worked almost 40 years ago I could not find any village pastors, but there was need to get as much of the Word of God out as possible then. Now, 40 years later the strategy has changed. Instead of being in the villages, preaching in the markets, giving out as much literature as possible, we are now finding that there is need for teaching the thousands of village pastors who have come into existence. The strategy has changed. However, the Truth is still the same. We must never forget or neglect the Truth.
I thought it was rather interesting to see the strategy of Paul and what Tim Stafford said in his book, Shaking the System: “We need to have a strategy for presenting truth (Paul did. He went to key cities). First, we need to stick to principle, not sentiment. Second, we need to insist on public debate (Paul stayed several years in Ephesus in a rented hall. He also spent time in the synagogues to reason and persuade). Thirdly, the discussion should be thorough and deep. We need to get away from ‘sound bites.’ Fourthly, we need to emphasize facts. Fifthly, calmly present the truth to ordinary people and not the elites (often Paul was among the masses of ordinary people). Sixthly, we need to press for a decision. Facts must lead to commitment.” We should not only know the truth that undergirds what we are doing, but we should think and plan on how to make it prominent.
To me this was the basis of the early disciples’ strategy to see the extension of the kingdom of God.