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WITNESSING AND EVANGELISM (Do I have to?)
Last time we looked at a brief introduction
to witnessing. Now we’ll look at
specific questions regarding witnessing.
Does
everyone have to witness?
I hear this question a lot, but I think it
comes in two ways. The first is a
sincere question. The person just
doesn’t know the answer to the question.
I believe that this is really rare, but I’m sure it happens. The second is a statement masquerading as a
question. This person either knows the
answer or suspects the answer is yes, and doesn’t really want to hear it or he
wants to find a way to get out of it.
Before we look too far down our collective noses, I have to say that it
is probably a typical reaction for believers.
Recall the stories of Moses and Peter. Moses argued with God about being His
spokesman. Peter, fearing for his life,
denied knowing Jesus.
Maybe you have your own story, but let me
tell you one of mine. I went to college
after spending four years in the military.
Well actually, I tried college right after high school, but that didn’t
work out well. I took a few courses
while I was in the military with an equal amount of failure. Then I worked for a year and a half after the
military before I went back to school for real.
Though I had been raised in the church, I was really not a believer
until after about a year into college.
One of the jobs I had while I was in college
was as a painter at the school. My
supervisor was an old, mean, crotchety, nasty, crusty, hard and wrinkled old
man. He liked to talk about Jesus a lot,
but not in the way you and I would like to hear it or how you and I would talk
about Jesus. Not long after I had become
a believer, this man let loose with some pretty awful jokes about Jesus and Christianity. This was perhaps my first test as a new
believer, and I said nothing. There was
a total and complete failure of my new belief.
I failed God, I failed myself, but I failed this poor lost soul
also. I’ve never forgotten it and never
will. It is a horrible thing to fail
God, self and others in one fell swoop.
I resolved that would never happen again, but
I was still faced with the dilemma of whether or not I HAVE to do this and, if
so, as I suspected, HOW do I do it?
Probably the best place to start is with what
is sometimes called “The Great Commission,” Matthew 28:19-20. This verse says, “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age."
There are other verses, of course, such as:
Mark
16:15: He said to them, "Go into
all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
Luke 24:46-48: 46 He told them, "This is what is
written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and
repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.”
John
20:21: Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I
am sending you."
Acts
1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will
be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of
the earth.
Rather than going through all of these, let’s
stick with the most famous of them, Matthew 28:19-20.
The main imperative in Matthew 28, is not to
“go,” as one might think, but rather to “make.” To make what?
Yes, disciples. The Great
Commission, then is to make disciples.
Of whom?
The answer is “of all nations.”
The word used here in the Greek, for nations, is ethnos, from which we
get our English word, ethnics. So we are
to make disciples of all ethnics, of every nationality or nation, regardless of
ethnicity. Christians take some heat for
this, for trying to proselytize other religions, like Jews or Muslims, but here
it is, in black and white (or if you are using the red letter edition, in
RED!).
How do we do this? This passage tells us to (1) go, (2) baptize
and (3) teach. Let’s break each one of
these words down.
How do we go?
To find the answer to this question, we have to take a look at the
preceding verse. Here, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me.” I know that was a
bit sneaky, saving the preceding verse for last, but it serves to make the
point to read the Bible for context by looking around the verse that you may be
studying, and it also tells us to watch for words like “therefore” and “thus,”
as they refer to something previous. So
it is important to know that we are to “go” with “all authority in heaven and
on earth (that) has been given to me (by Jesus).” That’s a lot of authority! Here’s the next great point. We aren’t out there on our own. The authority that we have is the same
authority that was given to Jesus. We
“go” with “authority.”
How do we baptize? You may wish to go back to the blog on
baptism, but the real point is not whether we should baptize up-stream or
down-stream, but rather we are to baptize as a part of the previously-mentioned
power. We are told to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.” This may be
a small point, but we do nothing in our own power. We do nothing in our own name. We do nothing for our own benefit. It is all about Jesus.
What do we teach? Verse 20 says we are to teach them “to obey everything I (Jesus) have commanded
you.” What is that? Nothing less than the Gospel. That
Jesus came and died and was resurrected in defiance and power and authority
over sin and death that we may have eternal life in Him.
So the Great Commission is this: Make disciples of every ethnic group by going
in the power of Jesus, baptizing them in the name of the trinity and teaching
them to be obedient to the Gospel.
Next we’ll look at why I have to witness.
Doug
