11/08/2018
What gives us the comfort and power needed to testify of Jesus Christ, and how is it that we witness to others? Some of us go into the world and deliver the gospel message verbally to those who haven’t heard it, or to those whose heart has been prepared to receive it, and then there are others of us who quietly go about preaching of Jesus simply by their day to day lives... witnessing by how they live them.
“Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.”
1 John 5:5-8 ESV
There are three basic ways in which we learn, and although most people are suited to one of them over the others, all three participate in some fashion as we go through the learning process. I used to think that Jesus sent us all into the world to verbally deliver the gospel message, but people hear and learn of Him in these different ways so each of these methods is needed, and quite often we are called to teach in one of them more than the others... just as we respond more easily to being taught in one of them.
The first method is most certainly hearing. We hear the gospel, and learn of it... even for those who learn best in the other ways they must hear the gospel at some point. Then there are those who learn best by seeing, and these are the people who respond most by actually watching something done... they are the folks that see how another lives their life for Jesus and learns of Him more fully in this way. Finally, there are those who must do something in order to learn it; after hearing, and seeing, they must actually do this thing in order to fully understand it... they need to feed, clothe, heal, or in some way do the things that Jesus did and spoke of before they can grasp them. Is there one of these methods that suits you over the others?
So as we witness of Jesus we typically do so by employing the method in which we are most comfortable as we are being taught. Some of us are inclined to deliver sermons, some teach by showing others what a life lived for Christ looks like, and then some of us help others to actually do the things that the Bible speaks of. We have Preachers, Saints, and Missionaries ... all doing the work of God, and each one impacting the souls around them. The Spirit, the water, and the blood. Are you learning? Are you teaching? Do you even realize that you are doing these things?
‘“But I bring you a message of joy. The Spirit who is in you, in however limited a measure, is prepared to bring you under His teaching, to lead you to the cross, and by His heavenly instruction to make you aware of what the crucified Christ wants to do for you and in you.” - Andrew Murray
Tell me, show me, help me do it... this was the life of Jesus. He taught in the temple through discourse, He showed those around Him his humility, and miracles, and then He sent out disciples into the world with nothing except a few simple instructions...
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.”
Matthew 10:8-10, 14 ESV
Now Jesus sits at the right hand of God, but the Holy Spirit has come to be within us, and the Spirit gives us instruction regarding our own faith... and how to teach others as well. He gives us understanding of the spoken Word, He shows us Jesus as He is being demonstrated in the lives of others, and He empowers us to go into the world and do God’s will there as we build churches. Yet, not all of us are called to teach equally in every way.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV
Don’t let Satan discourage you by pointing to a great orator and telling you how inadequate you are at delivering the gospel, or by showing you someone who is filled with humility and meekness then telling you that you can never be a saint, and most certainly don’t let him point out someone who builds many churches, or does other marvelous things, as he tells you how you have failed to do anything of worth for God. Satan is a deceiver, and He will work hard to use the gifts of others in an attempt to belittle the magnificent gifts you have been given.
Not everyone can understand an Ivy League lecture, so there are those whose gift isn’t to teach Divinity students, but to reach out to the common men and women who make up the world. Not every saint sees humility, meekness, or kindness, in the same manner, so to each who is given these things they are made to manifest them in different ways. And finally, not every missionary is sent to build a University, a cathedral, or a hospital... some build grass huts, and teach of Christ as they weave each blade of grass, or cast each mud brick... the dirt on their hands becoming holy as they do these things.
Take comfort in your relationship with God, and use the gifts of witness, teaching, and instruction you have been given. Jesus was a King in heaven, but a carpenter on earth; He was great before God, but hung between criminals on Calvary, and He was worthy of a crown... and yet he wore thorns. So it is in our calling and answer to God’s will in our lives. Not everyone is knocked down by Jesus as Paul was... some of us hear the gospel from a man dying of cancer in a seemingly insignificant vacation bible school in some nondescript building as I did... every gift is precious, every calling the call of messengers, saints, and carpenters.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit that teaches me how to deliver the gospel message to those few around me... or perhaps equally to the world. Thank you Holy Father for the child who was laid in a manger, and whose feet were later covered with the dust of the earth as He taught of your glory. Thank you Lord for the suffering and heartbreak that became the grandest gift of grace that has ever been known. Thank you for the gifts you have given me, and the use you have planned for them. Help me to see your strength in my frailty, your greatness in my meager gifts, and your holiness as I look at my hands caked with mud, and my feet covered in dust. Help me Father to understand more fully the meaning you intended when you revealed that the first shall be last, and that the meek shall inherit the earth. Let me see the fullness of your glory in the most innocent and humble. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, who leads me by Your Holy Spirit into the world around me and asks that I simply say “Come.”
Praised be your name, and all glory be to you who gave the greatest of blessings disguised in a single drop of blood sweated in prayer, and a teardrop that contained a mother’s heartbroken wail.
Rich Forbes