March 7, 2024

The Christian’s Call to Witness

Treasures

Audio length: 10:22
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But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.—Acts 1:8

A story has been told of a young lumberjack who worked at chopping down trees in the vast forests of northern Canada. One day while on leave in a nearby town, a Christian pastor witnessed to him on a street corner and led him to Jesus.

After the lumberjack prayed, the pastor explained, “Now that you’ve received Jesus as your Savior, your life is going to change.”

The pastor went on to point to scriptures in his Bible, and explained: “God’s Word says, ‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, all things have become new!’” (2 Corinthians 5:17). And he went on to say, “I want to warn you, Jake, that when you go back to that lumber camp, it could become difficult for you.”

When asked by the lumberjack in what ways things would change for him, the pastor explained that he would be different, no longer using foul language and engaging in drunken behavior. “You’re going to be so different, they may make life difficult for you because of your faith!”

Jake went back to the camp and a few months passed before he came back to the town for his next leave. He ran into the pastor again, standing on a street corner passing out gospel tracts. When asked by the pastor if he had found it difficult to live a Christian life in the camp, Jake replied that it hadn’t been hard at all. “You see,” he said, “they never even found out that I am a Christian.”

That kind of response is not representative of how we are called to live as Christians. If you truly believe in something, you will talk about it with others. People who are fans of a sports team talk about their team. People who believe in a certain political party will talk about it. People who are invested in their work or a cause or an ideal talk about it.

If you truly believe in and love Jesus, you will talk about Him and share His truth and love with others. Jesus said, “If people have a candlestick, they don’t hide it under a basket or a jar.” Likewise, people who genuinely come to Christ don’t sit alone in a corner and hope nobody will find out that they’ve become a Christian. Rather, “they put the candlestick on a stand so that it will give light to the whole house” (Matthew 5:15; Luke 8:16).

Christians are called to tell others about their faith and how it has transformed their life. Once you’ve received Christ’s gift of salvation, His Spirit in you will shine forth the love of God and the truth of Jesus, if you will allow Him to do so. If you have accepted Jesus and believe in Him, sharing His love and truth and hope of salvation with others is the least you can do for the One who gave His life on the cross for you.

The Bible tells us: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14). Many people will only hear about Jesus when a Christian shares the gospel with them.

Unfortunately, many Christians avoid standing out as being different from the norm or going against the flow. They lack the conviction and the boldness to take a stand for Jesus and to be fearless about what people say or think about them, or how they will respond to a witness. They are concerned about the opinions of people and their reputation, or they don’t want to offend people. They aren’t willing to go against the tide of popular opinion or be countercultural.

The Apostle Paul spoke of appearing to be “fools for Christ’s sake” and even “being held in disrepute” (1 Corinthians 4:10). A Christian businessman once walked down a busy street in London with a sign pinned to the front of his hat that said, “I’m a fool for Christ!” When passersby turned to look at the man, they would see another card on the back of his hat which said, “Whose fool are you?”

It is sad when Christians rarely dare to be different and try to tiptoe along in their walk with the Lord and not disturb or offend anybody. How unlike the Christians of the early church, of whom it was said, “these who have turned the world upside down have come” (Acts 17:6). And the world has never been the same since.

Christianity certainly disturbed the status quo of the world of that time and has continued to do so ever since. Christianity has survived and spread throughout the world from its beginning as a tiny movement because of the faithfulness of Christians to share the good news, spread the gospel, and make disciples in all the world, as Jesus commanded us to do (Matthew 28:19–20).

The Bible tells the story in the Old Testament of Naaman, a man who, if he had stood up for his faith, could have played a role in converting the nation of ancient Syria to faith in the true God. Naaman was the top general, the Minister of Defense, the second most important man next to the king. He was miraculously healed from leprosy by Elisha in Israel, and after his healing proclaimed, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. From now on your servant will not offer sacrifices to any god but the Lord” (2 Kings 5:15–17).

But when the king of Syria asked him to worship with him in the Temple of Rimmon, the pagan god that the Syrians worshipped, he failed to take a stand for his newfound faith, and he weakly apologized to Elisha, “The Lord pardon your servant in this one thing that I do” (2 Kings 5:18). When people saw him walking into the Temple of Rimmon with the king, they must have doubted the stories they’d heard about him being miraculously healed by the God of Israel.

The Christian life is a call to commitment to be a witness for Christ through how we live our lives, through our words and deeds, through sharing the gospel with others. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14–16).

As Christians, we are called to shine God’s light on the world to show people the way, the truth, and the life, and the only door to salvation—Jesus (John 14:6). We aren’t meant to be “secret” Christians trying to smuggle our own souls into heaven.

Do you practice your religion secretly for fear of the opinions of men? Or do you have the conviction and Christian courage to stand openly with the other great Christians of all ages, to stand up for your faith regardless of the cost in popularity or position? Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, took on the form of a servant and humbled Himself even to suffer death on the cross” (Philippians 2:7–8). If you find yourself fearful or lacking in the faith to witness, you can ask God for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, who will give you the power and the love to be a witness for Jesus.

The Bible says, “This is how we know what God’s love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). We are called to lay down ourselves—our personal desires, our fears, and our reputation—to do our part to witness to lost souls with the gospel message, to tell people about God’s love, and to show them the love of Jesus.

Every Christian is called to be an ambassador for Christ—in their community, their workplace, their home, their everyday life. The Apostle Paul wrote, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:19–20).

We have the privilege of being called to be ambassadors—not of an earthly country, but of the kingdom of heaven, and of the King of kings, Jesus. There is no higher position or calling than to be a child of God, and no greater honor than to be an ambassador for Christ and a witness for Him.

From an article in Treasures, published by the Family International in 1987. Adapted and republished March 2024. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.

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