A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy brings healing. (Proverbs 13:17)
Back to definitions. What makes a wicked messenger a wicked messenger? This is going to an extreme, but if a sniper were to shoot four people on his way to deliver a message, but he still delivered the message accurately and promptly, would he be a wicked messenger? I submit that he would be a good messenger while being a wicked man. I know that sounds ridiculous, but the point is that a wicked messenger must somehow be wicked about the message. A trustworthy messenger, on the other hand, opens the channels of communication. He brings the parties together in understanding.
So, the first way a messenger can be wicked is by being irresponsible. The message needs to be there by 3:45. He gets there at 3:50, or not at all. “Oh, I forgot to tell you….” The second way a messenger can be wicked is that the messenger communicates the wrong message, whether deliberately or because he can’t be bothered to get it right and keep it right. The third way is that the messenger doesn’t deliver the message only to the intended recipient(s). Do I need to point out that we are all wicked messengers at one point or another? To one extent or another? We all share information we haven’t spent hours verifying. We all share information from an understanding that is incomplete. We all forget to deliver that phone message. Fortunately, sometimes, no harm is really done.
One area where this is extremely important is with regard to God. When we are His messenger, we need to be careful to be a trustworthy envoy. Some folks have gone so far as to set up committees to vote on whether Jesus actually said something, Jesus definitely said something like this, Jesus might have said something like this, Jesus probably didn’t say something like this, Jesus definitely didn’t say this. As I understand it, they concluded that “The Lord’s Prayer” definitely consisted of the word “Father.” Everything else is suspect.
There are others who decide that the message only consists of certain parts of Scripture. They approve of the Beatitudes, or any time that Paul is a messenger, that part of the message can be ignored. Some folks claim that the message was written in a different time for a different time. The former is obviously true, and the latter is debatable, but here’s the thing. When you are being a trustworthy envoy, it’s not up to you to decide what part of the message to convey. Granted, there may not be enough time to share the complete message, but the point is that we need to be very careful in our choosing what we going to share, or neglect to share.
So, the first way a messenger can be wicked is by being irresponsible. The message needs to be there by 3:45. He gets there at 3:50, or not at all. “Oh, I forgot to tell you….” The second way a messenger can be wicked is that the messenger communicates the wrong message, whether deliberately or because he can’t be bothered to get it right and keep it right. The third way is that the messenger doesn’t deliver the message only to the intended recipient(s). Do I need to point out that we are all wicked messengers at one point or another? To one extent or another? We all share information we haven’t spent hours verifying. We all share information from an understanding that is incomplete. We all forget to deliver that phone message. Fortunately, sometimes, no harm is really done.
One area where this is extremely important is with regard to God. When we are His messenger, we need to be careful to be a trustworthy envoy. Some folks have gone so far as to set up committees to vote on whether Jesus actually said something, Jesus definitely said something like this, Jesus might have said something like this, Jesus probably didn’t say something like this, Jesus definitely didn’t say this. As I understand it, they concluded that “The Lord’s Prayer” definitely consisted of the word “Father.” Everything else is suspect.
There are others who decide that the message only consists of certain parts of Scripture. They approve of the Beatitudes, or any time that Paul is a messenger, that part of the message can be ignored. Some folks claim that the message was written in a different time for a different time. The former is obviously true, and the latter is debatable, but here’s the thing. When you are being a trustworthy envoy, it’s not up to you to decide what part of the message to convey. Granted, there may not be enough time to share the complete message, but the point is that we need to be very careful in our choosing what we going to share, or neglect to share.
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