Cold Water Principle
By Dr. Ken Matto
Matthew 10:41-42 (KJV)
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a
prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a
righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
{42} And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a
cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he
shall in no wise lose his reward.
Here Jesus speaks of receiving those who are involved in the ministry. Jesus is
saying that he that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shares in his
reward. This may be the type of prophet which is not necessarily foretelling
future events but one who declares the word of God. If one receives them and
gives them hospitality, then those people who help the preacher in his ministry
are sharing in his ministry. This is why there is no such thing as a small part
in ministry. Let us say you have a visiting preacher coming to your church for a
series of meetings. You are asked to design a flyer to hand out, in essence, you
are receiving that preacher and will share in his ministry. A word to wives. Let
us say that you do all the work around the house thus freeing your husband to do
ministry, you are sharing in his ministry. Then Jesus speaks about receiving a
righteous man. Let us say the righteous man is not a preacher but has the gift
or ability to build houses or repair them. You may be a helper to this man but
you are sharing in his ministry. You will also share in the rewards of the
ministry. What is the greatest reward a Christian can receive.
(Gen
15:1 KJV) After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
It is the promise of God Himself being our reward. If you are helping a preacher
or helping a person do repairs on a church building, it all comes down to one
thing and that is service. You are taking whatever talent or ability the Lord
gave you and are using it to the glory of God. So never think that any task is
menial in the Kingdom of God.
Then
in Verse 42, Jesus takes it down another notch to just a cup of cold water. He
is repeatedly emphasizing that not every single task in the Kingdom of God is
going to be a large task and just because a person is doing a task which seems
very small, they too will share in the reward. It takes many working together
and some doing the bigger tasks and some doing the smaller tasks to bring
together a ministry that sends out the Gospel. Sometimes I hear on the radio,
ministries which state that you should not hesitate to send in $5 or $10, and
that is true because they add up and as they add up, they widen the outreach of
ministry. So never look at a ministry task as being too small for being useful,
because Jesus doesn’t and neither should you.
Back in 1995, two television programs premiered which emphasized teamwork.
One was “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Xena: Warrior Princess.”
In the program Hercules, he traveled with a companion named Iolaus who
shared in all the campaigns of Hercules to help him attain whatever goal he was
focusing on in the particular episode.
By the way Kevin Sorbo who played Hercules is a born again Christian.
In the program Xena, she travelled with Gabrielle who was her companion
in helping her attain to whatever goal she was seeking.
In both cases, Gabrielle and Iolaus were called sidekicks which is also a
synonym for “associate, partner, or colleague.”
In other words, they were not secondary or inferior to their partners but
played a strategic role in whatever venture they attempted.
These are two good visible examples of how Christianity works.
We read in Matthew 10:41-42 that the Lord is talking about a cup of cold
water which is probably the most basic thing you can do for someone but for the
someone who is receiving the water and if they are parched, it is a welcome
gift. The Lord wants all his
children to know that there is no such thing as a meaningless and unnoticed task
in Christianity.
Hebrews 6:10 (KJV) For God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward
his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
The Lord is emphasizing the fact that no matter what your role is in
ministry, it is an important one.
Remember the person who made the fliers for the visiting preacher.
Christianity is a partnership where we partner with other believers for
the purpose of getting the gospel out to the world.
Let’s say you do not have the gift of speaking or mercy or you couldn’t hold a
tune in a bucket but you have 6 extra bibles at home, so you send them out to a
ministry which will forward them to 6 different indigenous evangelists in the
world. Those six bibles are now
being used to preach the gospel in places you never heard of and people who
heard the gospel have become saved.
The reality is that those 6 bibles were your cup of cold water and as a result
you shared in the ministry of those itinerant preachers simply because you sent
the 6 bibles for distribution. If a
thousand people became saved under their preaching from the bibles you sent,
then you have shared in the salvation of those thousand people.
The Lord also wants us to know that it does not take much to be a
partaker in ministry but some type of involvement is definitely necessary.
Satan could have deceived you by saying that “well what good are 6
bibles, it won’t have any impact so you might as well not send them.”
Can you imagine if you would have believed him?
There is a severe shortage of bibles in the world and even just six can
make an impact for the Lord.
Let’s look at another scenario. We
have a husband and wife and the husband is in involved in some type of public
ministry. Now the husband needs
time to prepare sermons, written materials, or whatever his ministry requires.
If the wife takes up the mantle of taking care of the house and even the
finances, it frees her husband up to continue to do ministry.
She shares in the ministry of her husband for 2 reasons.
First, she is one flesh with her husband and the second, is that her
function of taking over household duties is her cup of cold water and she will
share in the rewards of her husband’s ministry.
Now let me interject that this does not mean the husband is to shirk any
or all duties around the house and not give his wife a helping hand when he is
able to.
There is one fallacy which permeates even Christianity and it is the belief that
the person at the forefront of ministry is the one who receives all the credit.
Unfortunately, those who minister behind the scenes are normally the
forgotten ones but if we keep in mind the great promise God gives us in Hebrews
6:10 that he will never forget the work we do for the kingdom of God and for the
Saints when we aid in their ministry, even if it is handing out flyers or even
creating them. There are no
secondary jobs in the kingdom of God.
All have value no matter how small they are.
Revelation 5:10 (KJV) And hast
made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
In Revelation 5:10, we read that God has made us kings and priests and we
will rule on the earth. It does not
say he made “some” kings but all Christians are kings.
This means that Christianity is a faith of equality no matter what
position the Lord puts you in.
Whatever position the Lord places you in just be faithful and fulfill the duties
even if you are over-qualified for the job you are doing.
1 Corinthians 4:2 (KJV) Moreover
it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
Summary
The cold water principle is very simple. You just help get the gospel out in any way you are able to even if the job you are doing is very humble. If you do not fall into the satanic trap that others will get the credit and you will get nothing, then you will find that your ministry capabilities will be used of the Lord, even if you never walk out on stage or get a trophy. Remember we are not home yet! So continue to seek where you can give a cup of cold water and never be hindered by the fact that you are behind the scenes. Always keep in mind the promise of Hebrews 6:10. The only thing God forgets is our sins and iniquities. Hebrews 8:12 (KJV) For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. God never forgets our works and labors of love, no matter how menial they look in our eyes.