The Messiah Road Map

(The following is a transcript of a podcast on the Energion.com Podcast by the same title.)

Today we are going to look at “witnessing” and what God expects from Christians based on Scripture. I will provide Scripture verses where appropriate so please have pen and paper available as I will not be reading these verses.

It seems today that some Christians do not take seriously Jesus’ instructions to take His message of redemption to the world. (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47). It is true that by living a good Christian life and doing Christian services, we can be passive witnesses. But is this enough? Don’t the previous verses suggest that God wants a more overt effort on our part? The fruits of one’s labor is proportional to the effort put forth in Christian love.

God promises, from His grace, that when we get to Heaven, He will bring with Him at His second coming added rewards for those based on their services during their time on earth (Matt. 6:20; 1 Cor. 3:13-14; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Peter. 5:4; Rev. 2:26; 22:12). I believe that witnessing through love is one of, if not the, most important ministries a Christian can be involved in, for it includes teaching and ministering, among others. Someone might counter with, “But salvation is from faith, not works as Paul says in Romans 3:28 and Galatians 2:16).” This is very true, but James tells of the importance of works in a Christian’s life and that faith precedes works, that works are the product of faith (James 2:14-17). James also says that faith without works is dead (James 2:17)—the Kingdom of God cannot be expanded when our witnessing is hidden. Paul was not ignoring the role of witnessing but recognized that a true Christian will willingly do good works (Acts 26:20). We can better understand these two viewpoints when we see that Paul witnessed to unbelievers while James witnessed to Christians (they were familiar with works). So we see, all Christians are “almost” surely required to confess Jesus to the world especially when the opportunity arrives. I say “almost” because a Christian will not lose their salvation because of a lack of overt witnessing but will lose some of their rewards and/or potential rewards (1 Cor. 3:13, 15).

God does not leave us on our own. He provides diverse gifts to each Christian for ministry in areas they will be effective (1 Cor. 12:4-10, 28; Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Peter 4:11). Notice that “witnessing” is not one of the listed gifts! That is because all Christians are to witness of God’s plan of redemption—some will witness more effectively than others based on their abilities. That does not mean that less effective Christians should shirk their duty to reach others. If one feels inadequate, they can simply plant seeds in hearts and let the Holy Spirit do the rest and/or direct individuals to more experienced witnesses. In my experiences, I have found that sometimes pre-Christians are more at ease with a simple introduction to salvation rather than being overwhelmed.

I said earlier that a Christian cannot lose their salvation because of a lack of witnessing effort. Why then should a Christian bother to witness? One should witness out of love, for this is the great command (Matt. 22:37-40), the ultimate reason. As I said earlier, witnessing is then a result of our faith in Jesus giving us a willingness to serve Him.

Some Christians especially the less assertive ones, might find the previous discussion intimidating. They may reason, “Why did God make me shy or nonassertive if he expects me to be so daring as to approach people about Jesus?” The answer is that God can use persons of all personalities to do His will. How is this done? Jesus, before His ascension, promised to send the Holy Spirit to help Christians spread the Gospel (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit works in various ways to help our witnessing efforts:

• Convict people of their sins and a need for forgiveness—preparing them for witnessing (John 16:7-8; Romans 1:19-20)
• Provide opportunities for witnessing by preparing sinners’ hearts (John 16:7-8; Romans 1:19-20)
• Guide the witness (Luke 12:11-12; John 16:13; Acts 1:8)

Let us put our complete faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit to lead us in our witnessing.

Tags: evangelism, witnessing
Filed under: Bible Studies