The New Testament revelation concerning the announcing of the gospel gives us a very high standard and a perfect example in the apostle Paul.
First, this announcer was chosen by God to be a vessel—not a carrier but a vessel to contain Christ (Acts 9:15). When you go out to contact people with the intention of announcing the gospel, you must realize that you are a vessel. Christ cannot be carried by you as something outward. Christ must be contained within you as your contents. Then you, the vessel, become one with the contents. When you go to contact people, that is Christ going. You are His vessel to convey Him to people.
Paul was appointed to be a minister and a witness of Christ (Acts 26:16). A minister is one who serves others. If you are going to announce the gospel, you must be a servant to serve others with Christ. A waiter in a restaurant is a minister. He ministers the food of the restaurant. As a rule, every waiter must also be a witness of the food. If a waiter can tell a customer that he has tasted a certain dish and that it is very nourishing and delicious, the customer will want it. We need to serve people with the Christ whom we have tasted. Then we become His witnesses.
In Ephesians 3:2 Paul said he had the stewardship of the grace of God. A steward is different from a waiter. According to the ancient custom, a steward was a general servant who directed everything. A steward of a rich man knew everything concerning the rich man’s house. God made Paul a steward of the grace of God. Here the grace equals the gospel. The gospel is the grace. Paul was made a steward to take care of God’s grace, God’s gospel.
Romans 1:1 says that Paul was separated unto the gospel of God. Galatians 1:15 and 16 say that he was set apart by God for the gospel from the womb of his mother, before he was born. When he grew up, he became a strong Judaizer, persecuting Christ and devastating the churches. One day while he was going to Damascus to arrest the callers of Jesus, he fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14). A goad on a plow is a sharp pointed stick used to subdue and prod an ox yoked to the plow. The Lord’s word here signifies that Saul was already yoked to the plow and had no choice but to take the Lord’s yoke obediently for the carrying out of the Lord’s commission. It was as if the Lord was saying to Paul, “You think you are free. Actually, you are yoked to My plow. I have set you apart already from your mother’s womb.”
I do not think that many of us have ever considered that God has set us apart from our mother’s womb. We all need to realize that we were set apart from our mother’s womb to announce Christ as the gospel. I was like Paul on the road to Damascus. When I was nineteen years old, I was endeavoring to advance myself by getting the proper education. One afternoon I heard the gospel, and I was caught by the Lord. I gave up my expectation to get a high education. I told the Lord, “Lord, from today I want to be a poor preacher, carrying the Bible to travel through the villages and announce Christ. I am willing to eat the root of the trees and to drink the water from the hills.” To announce the gospel is not a light thing, but something very special.
Paul said that he was commissioned as a herald (1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11). A herald is an official reporter. Paul was such an official reporter of God’s New Testament economy.